Nix grinned to see Betty’s toenails were painted neon green. Flamboyance was her mother’s middle name.
“I’m sure, thanks.” Nix took a sip and almost winced at the sweetness. “Are you sure there’s actually tea in this?”
“It’s the only way I can drink it.” Betty raised her wineglass to her lips. Her short, bouncy curls reflected the light with a blue black shine. Big, wide dark eyes framed by thick black lashes stared unblinkingly at her. The fact that the Betty Boop cartoon character had been created after her mother met the head of Fleischer Studios at a New Year’s Eve party was not a coincidence.
Nix looked at her mom, who stared back without speaking. Tension rode along Nix’s shoulders as the silence lengthened.
“So, why are you here?” Betty finally asked.
“How do you know it’s not just because I wanted to catch up with you?” Nix caught Betty’s slight eye roll. Yeah, right. Neither one of them were exactly full of fluffiness for each other. “Okay, I need your help on a case.”
“The vampire slayings?”
“You know about those?” Nix stared at her mom.
Betty fingered her wineglass. “Only what I’ve heard on the news. The reports have been rather sketchy on details.” She paused, circling one finger along the rim of her glass. “I take it from your expression they’ve been rather gruesome?”
“It was worse than that. The second victim was Amarinda.” Nix swallowed as tears threatened.
“Oh.” Betty leaned forward, almost as if she meant to reach out to Nix, but seemed to think better of it and slouched further in the chair.
Another awkward silence filled the room while Nix got her grief under control. She glanced around the living room, focusing on the large abstract painting above the fireplace. Slashes of reds, blues, and greens were encased by a stainless steel frame. Pillows of the same colors decorated the sofa and armchairs. She looked at her mother again and cleared her throat. “Yes, well, we’ve had three vampires killed in three days. The first body was mutilated a little, but Amarinda…” She wet her lips. “She was eviscerated. And her fingers were cut off.”
“Most likely in order to get rid of the evidence the killers may have left behind.” Betty took another sip of wine.
“That was what I thought, too.” Nix set her iced tea on the end table. “This last body was in pieces scattered over a large vacant lot.” She stared at her mom while she tried to find the right words to ask what she needed to ask.
“What?” Betty questioned. When Nix didn’t respond right away, her mother’s mouth twitched into a frown. “Just say it, Nix, whatever it is.”
Nix pulled her legs up onto the couch in a lotus position and rested her hands on her calves. “There was a scent of demon at the last two crime scenes. Not strong, but it was there.”
“And so…what? You’re automatically making the assumption that demons are behind these slayings?” Betty’s eyes turned hard. She started tapping her fingers on the padded arm of her chair. “That we’re the primitive animals the other prets say we are?”
“No. No, I just…” Nix huffed out a sigh. She met her mother’s gaze. “The council is going to hear about it eventually. It won’t look good for me if they find out I knew about it and didn’t say anything.”
“What does your vampire liaison have to say about it? I assume he’s smelled it, too.”
Nix wasn’t going to volunteer that the vampire liaison at the moment was her former lover. “Yeah, he smelled it, too. For the time being he’s agreed not to say anything to the council.”
Betty shifted in her seat and laid one arm out along the back of the chair. “That doesn’t sound like something Knox would do. He’s so by the book it’s sickening.”
Aldis Knox and Betty had once upon a time been friends. Nix had wondered if they’d been lovers, but had never asked. Now, with the disgruntled look on her mother’s face, she wondered anew. “People change” was all she said now.
“Not Knox.” Betty narrowed her eyes. “So why did he agree to keep mum?”
Nix pressed her lips together. Looked like she was going to have to confess. “It’s, ah, not Knox.”
“What’s not Knox? Nix, you’re not making any sense.”
“The vamp liaison. It’s not Knox.” She stared down at her hands. “It’s Tobias.”
Betty straightened from her slouched position, her eyes wide. “Tobias! As in Tobias Caine? He’s back in town?” Her round eyes narrowed to slits. “When did that happen?”
“Two days ago. The first time I saw him was at the crime scene with Amarinda.” Nix was proud of how matter-of-fact she sounded. “She’d called him and when the council knew he was here, they appointed him temporary liaison.”
“And just knocked Knox off his beat? For the likes of Tobias Caine? Those sons of…” Betty shrugged at Nix’s grimace. “You know I’m right. Sanctimonious, arrogant… And they wonder why demons have no interest in having a seat on their precious little council.” She gulped down some wine, then pointed a slim finger toward Nix. “If you ask me, you never should have taken that job. It’s brought you nothing but trouble.”
Nix couldn’t help but stare. Betty had abandoned her as a child, had shown no interest in her until Nix had already reached her early twenties. Now all of a sudden she was giving career advice? That was more than Nix was willing to let her get away with. “I didn’t ask you.”
Betty raised her brows. “No, you didn’t,” she said in a low voice. She got out of her chair and walked into the kitchen where she poured herself more wine.
Nix turned sideways on the sofa so she could watch her mom. She couldn’t tell what Betty was thinking. Was she angry that Nix had sassed her? Or was she sad, regretting the time she’d lost with her daughter?
With her back to Nix her mother said, “Demons didn’t do this.” She turned. Her expression gave away none of her thoughts, nor did her even tones. “If we had, you wouldn’t be here asking the question. You’d know.”
Which was exactly what Nix had told the council. But she needed to be sure. “So Luc didn’t sanction a blood feud?”
Betty swirled the wine in her glass. “As much as most of us hate vampires and might want to see as many of them dead as possible, we’re not stupid enough to slaughter them and leave their bodies out in the open.”
Nix was well aware that most demons did hate vampires, Betty included. It was something ingrained in them from birth, almost on a genetic level. As a teenager Nix had forced herself to overcome her innate hostility toward vampires. Maybe that was one of the things that drew her to Tobias early on, the chance to prove to herself that she’d mastered her prejudice.
On the few occasions Betty had been around when Nix and Tobias were dating, she hadn’t tried to hide her animosity. That Tobias insisted on calling her Sheena of the Seventh Circle didn’t help. That he then went on to break her daughter’s heart merely solidified her already low opinion of him. The loyalty Betty had shown toward Nix at first had made her feel better regarding her relationship to her mother, until she’d realized Betty was mostly just choosing to side with her own kind rather than with a hated vamp.
Nix realized her mother hadn’t answered her question, not really. “So you’re telling me Luc hasn’t sanctioned an official blood feud?”
Jaw tight, eyes flaring with demon yellow, Betty slammed her wineglass onto the kitchen island. “Don’t you dare treat me like one of your suspects. I am your mother.”
They’d had versions of this argument before, and Nix wasn’t going to back down. “You’re my mother because you gave birth to me. Otherwise, look at us. You can barely bring yourself to be affectionate with me, and you want me to treat you like…what? Like we have this wonderful mother-daughter relationship?” Nix stood. She stared for a moment at the flames on the biggest candle and tried to rein in her anger. She looked at her mother again. “We don’t. Just where were you when I was being raised by a woman who hated me? Who blamed me for her son�
�s death? Blamed me. Not you, the one who actually killed him.” Fire roiled in her gut and burned in her eyes. “Where were you when I was living on the streets, picking money out of wallets and food out of trash cans?”
“You could have stayed in the foster system.” Betty crossed her arms and glared. There was no regret, no remorse, absolutely no pity in her voice. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Can you honestly tell me you’re not stronger for all you’ve experienced? That it’s not made you better at your job? In life? Besides, living among demons was no place for a part human child.”
Finally some emotion peeked through that hard demeanor, but not the kind that Nix was looking for. “You were ashamed of me?” Nix asked, hurt etching her words. Why had it taken so long for her to realize that? She’d just thought Betty had been uncaring, not the nurturing type. It had never crossed her mind until now that her mother had been embarrassed by her own daughter.
“Of course not.” Betty turned and picked up her wineglass and took a long swallow, refusing to meet Nix’s eyes.
Nix stared at her for a minute while memories dashed over each other like burgeoning waves of the ocean. “When I was five,” she said in a soft voice, “I gave my grandmother a birthday card I’d made myself. Do you know what Nana did?” She paused. “She tossed it in the trash. When I was ten, I taught myself to sew and made her a dress. I did a good job, too, spent hours and hours on it. I got the prettiest wrapping paper I could find, scrounged around for a box, and wrapped the package. I was so anxious about how she’d react when she saw the dress. Would this finally be the time she’d be proud of me? Accept a gift I’d made with my own two hands?” Nix drew in a breath and held it. Even after over a decade the memory still had the power to hurt.
“What did she do?” Her mother’s voice was as quiet as Nix’s had been.
“She didn’t even open it. She just went over to the trash can and dumped the wrapped box, then walked out of the room. I gave up on pleasing her after that.” Nix shrugged, trying to look nonchalant when the memories sliced her to shreds inside. She picked up her purse. “I guess I went out of my way to prove she was right about me, about everything. I made sure that I was just a good-for-nothing daughter of a filthy whore demon.”
Betty’s lips firmed. “Is that what she called you?”
“Every damned day. Usually more than once.” Nix slung the strap of her purse over her shoulder. She rooted around for her car keys, then looked at her mother. “Would you answer my question, please?”
Betty glanced to one side. “Luc hasn’t sanctioned a blood feud, officially or otherwise.” A car door slammed in the driveway and she arched an eyebrow. “You can ask him yourself.”
Crap. Nix wanted to talk to Lucifer Demonicus, the Lucifer, even less than she’d wanted to come see her mother. But while the driveway of Betty’s house was long enough for two cars to park, it was narrow, which meant Lucifer had just blocked her exit. She couldn’t get out. She was trapped and about to come face-to-face with the devil himself.
Two seconds later the front door swung open. A tall man, slim hipped and broad shouldered with black hair, olive-toned skin, and dimples, strolled in. “Honey, whose car is that out in the drivew—” He caught sight of Nix. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Yeah. Hi.” Nix watched as her mother went up to Lucifer and gave him a long kiss on the mouth.
“You’re home early,” Betty murmured, leaning against his side.
He had one long arm around her waist, hugging her closer. “I missed you today.” His voice was soft, intimate. He placed a kiss on her forehead and then glanced at Nix. His face hardened. “So to what do we owe this pleasure?” His black eyes looked anything but pleased, and his voice was no longer gentle.
“She’s here about the slayings,” Betty said before Nix could open her mouth. “Can I fix you a drink?”
“Not right now, thanks.” He walked with her to the sofa and they sat down. Betty cuddled up against him, her shoulder tucked under his arm and one hand resting on his thigh.
Nix fought back hurt at the tender way her mother dealt with Lucifer. Why couldn’t she have ever dealt with her own flesh and blood that way? Of course, Betty was a succubus, so to be placating and gentle with her lover was probably second nature. Maybe that’s why she didn’t have a mothering bone in her body—all her nurturing instincts were set aside for males.
With a small sigh Nix took a seat in one of the armchairs. “I need to know if you’ve sanctioned a blood feud against vampires,” she said to Lucifer.
His black brows went up. “Don’t tell me the council thinks we’re behind these deaths.”
“They think you’re behind everything,” Nix said dryly.
He gave a mischievous grin. “So how is it you come to ask me this question?” He crossed his leg and idly swung one Italian loafer in the air.
Nix leaned forward, clasping her hands and resting her elbows on her knees. “At each of the last two scenes I’ve smelled the scent of demon.”
“You mean ‘we’ have smelled, don’t you?” Betty asked. Without waiting for Nix to respond, she turned to Lucifer and said, “You’ll never guess who the vampire liaison is on this case.”
“Tobias Caine,” he responded.
“Or maybe you would.” Betty’s full lips formed a pout. She lightly smacked his thigh. “How did you know that?”
“I have people.” Lucifer smoothed one palm over Betty’s springy curls, then looked at Nix again. “You must have a low opinion of your own kind to think we’d be so stupid as to be behind this bloodbath.”
“As a matter of fact, I’ve been saying that demons aren’t behind it.” Nix sat back and crossed her legs. This guy intimidated the hell out of her, but she wasn’t about to let him see it. “Not because demons aren’t stupid, because let’s face it, you have some pretty dull swords in your arsenal.”
He grimaced and lifted one shoulder as if to agree she had a point.
“But I don’t think demons are behind it because you’d have no reason to hide it. If things had gotten bad enough to start killing vamps out in the open, everyone would know about it.”
“Yet here you are.” He rested his arms along the back of the couch. “Questioning us.”
Betty turned accusing eyes on her daughter. “Just like we’re suspects.”
“Quite so.” Lucifer stretched his legs out beneath the coffee table.
If she wanted his cooperation, Nix couldn’t go off on him like she had with her mother. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to treat you that way. I’m just trying to do my job.”
That seemed to placate him, because after a few seconds his lips tilted. It was such a slight movement that she wouldn’t exactly call it a smile, but one of his dimples peeped out, softening his face. She’d take what she could get.
Being the dogged investigator she was, she asked the question she’d already asked three times and had yet to get a straight answer to. “Have you sanctioned, officially or otherwise, a blood feud against vampires?”
“I have not.” His black gaze pinned her to her seat. “Nor have any of my kind, your kind, gone rogue.”
Why was it, when it suited people, demons were her kind, and her humanity, something she fought to hold on to every day, was conveniently overlooked? Lucifer looked upon her being a demon as a good thing, the council as bad. She was always in the middle, being pulled in one direction or another. No wonder the possibility of insanity was so great. All hybrids, regardless of their parentage, had a continual struggle to find where they belonged in both the human world and the preternatural one. When neither one wanted you, it could make life excruciating.
She stood. “Okay. Thanks.”
“There is something else you should know.” He gestured toward her chair and waited until she sat back down before he added, “Word has come to me that there are dissatisfied preternaturals who have made a device that opens a mini rift between the dimensions.”
“What?” Nix scooted forward to perc
h on the edge of her seat and stared at Lucifer in complete stupefaction. She glanced at her mother.
“Why haven’t you told me this?” Betty asked him, drawing back slightly from his side.
“I just heard it today, darling,” he muttered, giving her a pat on the knee. To Nix he said, “There have been transmissions shared through this rift.”
“Transmissions. What kinds of transmissions?” A pulse started thumping fast and hard in her throat.
“Radio transmissions.” He lifted one foot and rested it on the coffee table. “Someone here on Earth is talking to someone in the other dimension. And before you ask, I don’t know who.”
Nix’s heart thumped against her ribs, a dull, shocked beat. “Just how do you know this?”
He shifted his position, crossing his legs again. He hesitated as if wondering just how much to tell her. He glanced at Betty then back at Nix. “As I said, I have people.” He waved a hand. “How I know isn’t important. What’s important is that someone here is communicating with someone there.”
Nix’s mind went back to the scrap of paper they’d found at this last scene. The words “dimension,” “radio,” and perhaps “transmit” had been written on it. Had it been some sort of note passed between contacts? Or a diary entry? A confession, maybe?
“And the council knows.” Lucifer’s next words brought her back to the present.
She straightened, once again dumbfounded. “The council knows about the transmissions? You’re sure?”
“Some of them at least, yes.”
“And?”
“And what?”
Nix raised a hand to the pulse in her throat, pressing down, trying to force it to behave. “Are they doing anything about it?”
“Not that I’m aware of.” He gave a shrug. “My network isn’t that far reaching. Yet.”
Nix felt an urgent need to get out of there, to get home to be alone with her thoughts. She needed time to mull over the facts: first, that someone was actually able to open a rift without a comet in sight and, second, the council was aware of it. “I wonder,” she mused out loud, “if any human governments know about it.”
Kiss of the Vampire Page 16
