Kiss of the Vampire

by Cynthia Garner

  “My name is Tobias Caine, I’m the vampire liaison to the Council of Preternaturals. These are my colleagues Liaison de la Fuente and Detective MacMillan. We’d like to talk to you about Amarinda Novellus.”

  Dr. Sahir sat back in his chair. His expression became sorrowful, but behind that Tobias sensed the beginning of desperation. They had yet to ask their first question and already the man was trying to hide something.

  The scientist tugged on the cuffs of his long-sleeve shirt. “Um, are all of you vampires?”

  “No.” Nix didn’t offer anything more.

  “We’re human,” MacMillan said, indicating himself and Nix.

  “Amarinda?” Tobias reminded the scientist.

  “Ah, yes. Amarinda. She was our most promising student.” He sighed and looked down at his hands, clasped together in his lap. “It’s a terrible thing.”

  Nix was busy looking at diplomas and award certificates that lined the wall. “How well did you know her?” she asked without turning around.

  Tobias watched Sahir closely.

  “How well did I know her?” The scientist swallowed. The fingers of his right hand began twisting his wedding ring. “As well as I know any of my student interns, I suppose.” His gaze flicked to Nix and then settled on Tobias. “They come here to learn. I’m here to teach. I don’t really get that involved in their private lives.”

  “I see.” Tobias picked up a stack of files perched on the only other chair. “Do you mind?” he asked as he sat down.

  Sahir shot out of his seat. “Of course not. Sorry.” He took the files from Tobias. This close Tobias could see the sweat forming on the other man’s forehead. Sahir went back around his desk and sat down, holding the files on his lap.

  Tobias drew in a slow breath. The acrid scent of fear clogged the air and pricked at the hunger that always roiled just beneath the surface. He focused his control, fighting back his body’s natural responses, and managed to keep his fangs to himself.

  “Do we make you nervous, Doctor?” MacMillan leaned one shoulder against the wall, his pen at the ready over his small notebook.

  “Not you. Him.” The scientist looked at Tobias and swallowed again. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I’m not usually around that many EDs. Amarinda was my first. And she made me nervous.”

  “Why is that?” Tobias leaned back and crossed one leg over the other, ankle resting on the opposite knee, and tried to look as unthreatening as possible.

  “You…vampires I mean…have a very penetrating stare, for one thing.” A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Sahir’s face. He swiped it away with his fingertips, then rubbed his hand against his jeans. “And she was always sniffing. Just like that!” He pointed toward Tobias.

  Tobias held the breath he’d just taken and sifted through the assortment of aromas coming off the scientist. Fear, of course. Unease. Building desperation. A little bit of guilt.

  Interesting.

  He let out his breath. “This makes you nervous?”

  “It’s like you’re reading our minds.”

  Tobias shook his head. “That’s just a myth. We can’t really read minds.” He leaned forward and held Sahir’s gaze. “What we can do is read emotions and reactions. And your emotions are very telling, Dr. Sahir.”

  Nix came closer. “We heard Amarinda was romantically involved with someone here, Doctor. Was it you?”

  “No!” Sahir appeared genuinely shocked. “I am a happily married man.” The ring twisted around and around.

  “Yes, well, most people who have affairs are married.” Nix picked up a paperweight off the desk and hefted it. She put it down and moved on to a nearby bookshelf. Tobias knew what she was doing, taking stock of the surroundings, which told a lot about the person in them, sometimes more than the person knew. “If it wasn’t you,” she asked, “then who was it?”

  “I have no idea.” Sahir tugged on the collar of his shirt. “It wasn’t me.” He cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. “If that’s all—”

  “It’s not.” Tobias glanced around the cluttered office. “What exactly did Amarinda do here?”

  “She kept an eye to the sky.” He smiled when he said it, as if they should get the punch line to a joke they’d never heard. When none of them reacted, his smile faded and he went back to looking uncomfortable. “Do you know what NEOs are?”

  “We’ve had it explained to us,” Tobias said.

  Sahir nodded and cleared his throat. “Yes, well, we calculate their trajectory so we know how big a threat, if any, they might pose to Earth.” A bit of the nervousness left his posture. “Some of them are slow enough they can be visited by exploration craft, and samples taken. It’s very exciting.”

  “And the rift?” Nix asked, turning around with a paperback in her hand. She held it up.

  Even from the other side of the desk Tobias could read the title—What’s On the Other Side? He glanced at the bookshelf and saw what appeared to be a dozen or more books on the subject. He looked at the scientist. “Well, Doctor? Are you investigating the rift here, too?”

  “The rift?” Sahir shifted in his chair. “It falls within our mandate, so, yes, we investigate it and the Moore-Creasy-Devon comet that opens it. Or, rather, we will investigate it when it comes along again.” His voice took on a defensive tone. “It’s a very fascinating phenomenon.”

  Tobias fought back a grin of triumph. Get the man on the defensive and they’d won half the battle.

  “And was that part of what Amarinda was doing here? Was she investigating the rift?” MacMillan turned and rested his back against the wall.

  “Not officially, no.” The nervousness returned, and Dr. Sahir’s gaze darted to Nix, who was still at the bookshelf to his left and a little behind him, then to the two men in front of him.

  “But unofficially?” Tobias raised one brow.

  “She seemed rather fascinated by it.”

  “But she wasn’t one of the scientists who was charged with observing and documenting it?” Nix moved around to stand at the front corner of his desk.

  “Documenting it?” Sahir parroted. He tried and failed to look surprised.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Doctor. That’s what scientists do. They observe. They measure. They document.” She placed her palms on the desk and leaned forward. “What exactly was Amarinda involved with down here?”

  Tobias could smell the burned paper scent of demon and knew Nix was getting worked up. He leaned forward and peered at her more closely. She darted a glance his way and he saw the yellow flecks in her irises.

  Tobias didn’t know if she had called the demon on purpose or if her emotions were eroding her control. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, because he didn’t think it was wise of her to do it on purpose. It meant she actively courted the possibility she could lose her grip on it.

  But regardless, it had the desired response as Sahir slammed his chair back so it bounced against the wall. “I…I thought you were human.”

  “Half human. Trust me, you really don’t want to see more of the half that’s not.” Nix straightened. “Answer the question.”

  The scientist’s throat moved with his hard swallow. “Even though she came through the rift centuries ago, she didn’t really know anything about it. She wanted to understand it, understand how…you people came from where you were to where you are.” His gaze darted from Nix to Tobias and back to Nix again.

  “For the record,” Nix muttered, crossing her arms and tilting her head to one side, “I didn’t come through the rift. I was born here. On Earth. In Glendale, to be specific.” She raised her eyebrows. “Was Rinda researching the rift in an official capacity?”

  “Officially?” He shook his head. “No. Well, yes as far as it was part of her thesis.”

  “Is it no or yes?” MacMillan pushed away from his place by the door. He scribbled something in his notebook and looked back up. “You seem a bit confused.”

  The man rubbed one earlobe between fore
finger and thumb. “It wasn’t research that we here at the observatory are involved in. Okay?”

  “Talk to us, Doctor.” Nix braced her hands on the desk, leaning forward again. Tobias could tell she was gearing up for an offensive. He sat back in his chair and let her go. “Just how long were you and Rinda involved?” Nix’s eyes narrowed.

  “How long were…” He stood and slashed his hands through the air. “I told you—”

  “Blah, blah, blah.” With one hand she made a talking motion in the air. She straightened and folded her arms over her breasts again. “You weren’t her lover or so you say. But you’re the man in charge. You know everything that goes on here, I’m sure. So if it wasn’t you, who was it?”

  “It wasn’t me.” He slowly took his seat again. “You should talk to her friend, Samantha Smith.” He lifted his chin. “Those two seemed more than just friends, if you know what I mean.” He waggled one hand and then assumed a pious expression. “Not that I care about such things.”

  “Yes, we’ll do that.” Tobias wasn’t about to let the man know who they had or had not already spoken to. “For the record, where were you yesterday between two thirty and six thirty?”

  “You’re asking me for an alibi? I had nothing to do with her death!”

  “Answer the question.” Tobias let a wash of pheromones drift toward the scientist, using the subtle chemicals to influence the man’s reaction.

  And react he did. He stiffened in his chair. His face paled and Tobias saw his fingers clench around the armrests. As if every word was dragged out of him, he said, “I was with my wife and daughter.”

  “Doing what?” Nix asked.

  He stared at her. “We had lunch around one, then went to the movies, then some shopping at the mall. We didn’t get home until close to nine p.m.” He turned his pleading gaze onto Tobias. “Please. There’s no need to get my wife involved in this, is there?”

  Tobias caught the triumphant look Nix sent him. In so many words Sahir had just admitted to being in an affair with Amarinda.

  Tobias stood and stared down at the scientist. “We’ll take your word for it, for now. We’d like to talk to everyone here.”

  Dr. Sahir also stood. He looked relieved. “Well, I don’t know what they can tell you, but you’re welcome to talk to anyone who isn’t tied up with telescope operations. You should know that most of the staff isn’t in yet. We do our best work after dark.”

  “So do I.” In case the human scientist needed reminding of just what he was dealing with, Tobias curled his lips in a slow smile so that just the tips of his fangs showed. He held out his hand and waited while Sahir slowly reached out to shake it. “Thank you for your cooperation, Doctor.” Tobias let go of the man’s hand and reached inside his pocket for a business card. He put the card on the desk. “If you think of anything, please call me.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Without a word, MacMillan turned and opened the door. He waited until Nix and Tobias went through, then he left the room and pulled the door closed behind him. “Well, he was lying through his teeth. He’s the man your friend was involved with.”

  “Yeah, I think so, too.” Nix stared at the door for a moment. “He’s very good looking, and has to be smart to be the leader of this team. Not sure about the sense of humor, because I didn’t find anything remotely funny about the man. Though it could just be we intimidated him.” She blew out a sigh. “It’s too bad we can’t smack him around a little.”

  “To get the truth out of him, you mean?” MacMillan grinned.

  “No, just for the hell of it. He’s a married man.” She lifted her chin. “Vows are sacred. If you’re not happy in your marriage, get out of it before you start…spreading the joy.” She gave a little growl and looked at Tobias. “How do you want to handle this? Split up and question people separately?”

  He studied her for a few seconds. Her eyes were once again her normal lovely dark brown, no sign of the demon present. “Can I talk to you for a second?” He drew her away from MacMillan. In a low voice Tobias asked, “Was that on purpose, in there? Letting the demon show?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “What if it was?”

  “It’s just a question, Nix.” He held her gaze. “I worry about you.”

  “Oh, you do, do you?” Her lips tightened. As he started to speak she held up one hand. “You know what? I don’t want to hear it. I’m fine. I can let the demon peek out now and again without any repercussions.”

  He was skeptical.

  “I’m fine,” she repeated as she started toward MacMillan. “Now, how do you want to handle the questioning?”

  Tobias followed her. He had to take her word for it at this point, but he’d keep a close eye on Nix. He’d take control the second it looked like the demon was on its way. To MacMillan he said, “You take them.” He pointed to two human scientists in jeans and polo shirts, one typing away at a keyboard and the other working near the larger of the two telescopes.

  “Got it.” MacMillan gave a two-fingered salute and headed off. He seemed happy to get off on his own, making Tobias wonder just how much of a lone ranger the detective might be.

  Tobias looked at Nix. “I’ll question, you listen. Pick up on what they’re not saying. You’re good at that.”

  She cocked her head to one side. “So, what exactly are you saying? That I’m sly and sneaky?” Her face was serious but her eyes sparkled with the beginnings of humor.

  It gave Tobias hope that maybe, since she could tease him, she’d moved past her hurt and anger. Or would someday be able to. Maybe they could actually get through this case without putting her in jeopardy, and then he could leave again before any real damage was done. He gave her a smile and said, “You’re one of the slyest and sneakiest people I know.”

  She seemed inordinately pleased by that. “Well, then. I’ll do my best.”

  “I know you will.” Tobias motioned toward a woman seated in front of a computer console. Nix nodded. Walking beside her, Tobias felt the warmth of her body, smelled her determination enhanced by the mixture of feminine musk and floral perfume. His body tightened.

  Focus, Caine. He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted. There was too much at stake, not the least of which was Nix’s hold on her sanity. He glanced over at her, her curls bouncing as she walked, her breasts…

  She was the biggest distraction in his life. She always had been, probably always would be.

  Stopping at the workstation, he brought his attention back to the job and said, “Excuse me.” When the woman paused and looked up at them, he showed her his ID. “Dr. Sahir said we could talk to you.”

  She sat back in her chair. “About what?”

  “Amarinda Novellus.”

  Her lips pursed. “I didn’t really know her, so I’m not sure what I can tell you. She was here mostly at night and a lot during the week, and I’m usually here on the weekends.”

  “You never know what you might tell us that ends up being crucial.” Tobias watched her closely. “We were told she was involved with someone here. Any idea who that was?”

  The woman’s eyes flickered but she didn’t take her gaze off him. “No idea. She was a very private person.” She said this last bit in a hushed tone as if it were a secret she didn’t want anyone to overhear.

  “I see.” He glanced around then leaned forward, keeping his voice low. “So she and Sahir weren’t… You know.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

  “I can’t say.”

  “Can’t? Or won’t?” Tobias straightened. “There’s a big difference.”

  “I can’t.” She looked back at her computer and spoke softly. “Some of us still have to work here after you leave.”

  That told him all he needed to know. He shared a glance with Nix and saw the same knowledge in her eyes. Sahir and Rinda had been involved. This woman had confirmed what they’d concluded in their interview with Sahir.

  No big surprise there. One infallible truth he’d learned in his many years of existenc
e—people lied. All the time. About big things and little ones. Sometimes they lied to cover up something, sometimes they lied just because it was easier than telling the truth.

  Like him. Telling Nix five years ago that things weren’t working out between them rather than telling her he had to leave because he was a negative influence. Instead of being truthful, he took the easy way out and left. Maybe someday they would talk about it. Though he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

  “One more question,” he said. “Do you know where Rinda’s research on the rift is?”

  She looked at them with a blank expression. “I would assume it’s at her home.”

  “There were a few books there on the subject, but nothing that looked like research.”

  “I know she typed up her notes and kept them on a flash drive. But I don’t know of any secret hiding place, if that’s what you’re asking. I don’t even know why she’d need one.” She looked from Tobias to Nix. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

  Tobias could tell her regret was genuine. But she wasn’t going to jeopardize her job for his investigation. He could appreciate that even if it was frustrating as hell. He murmured his thanks and started to turn away.

  “Wait!”

  Tobias stopped and looked at the scientist.

  “There was a guy that came to see her here one night, an ED. I don’t know exactly what kind of ED he was.” Her brows crinkled in a frown. “He wasn’t vampire. Maybe a shape-shifter of some kind? I’m sorry, I just don’t know. But Amarinda wasn’t happy to see him.”

  “Do you know his name?” Nix took a few steps forward.

  “She called him…oh, it started with an F, I think.” The woman’s eyes darted down and to the side while she thought. “Fee…Fo…Fi…” She snapped her fingers and brought her eyes back to them. “Finn! That was it. Finn.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Tobias heard the strain in Nix’s voice and wondered at it.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Does that help?”

  “Yes, it does. Thank you.” Nix turned and strode toward the door. Tobias followed, checking to see what MacMillan was up to. The detective was talking to the scientist sitting at the computer console. Tobias caught up with Nix before she could head outside. “Nix, wait. Just wait a minute, would you?” He looked back at the woman they’d just talked to. “You want to tell me what the hell that was all about?”