It had been years before he’d gotten involved with another woman again, and it hadn’t been until Tess that he’d dared to date another Normal. That had gone so well. He seemed destined to have his heart shredded by human women. So why had he even gone near Erin? It was a question he’d asked himself many times in the last year, and had yet to come up with a reasonable answer. He could only reassure himself that caring wasn’t the same as love, and they were only friends with benefits. He had his fair share of Normal friends. ‘Friends’ was a label he was comfortable with. Anything more than that and…no. The prospect was too painful to even contemplate. After Francesca and Tess, he doubted whatever was left of his soul would survive a third run-in with a Normal woman.
He startled when Erin’s soft hand stroked down his back, and when he glanced at her he saw tears making her blue eyes shimmer. “I’m sorry. Having someone you love treat you like that…I’m so sorry. No one deserves that.”
He’d never spoken of this to anyone since then. His family knew, but…they never talked about it either. Not to him anyway. Pulling her into his arms, he offered this Normal woman comfort and allowed himself to be comforted in return. Some inner tension he hadn’t even known was there gave way.
“Don’t cry,” he whispered. “It was a long time ago.”
“But you’re not totally over it, or the Normal-vampire nastiness with this case wouldn’t have wigged you out so much.” She held him tighter, her palms warm against his back. “Francesca’s reaction to you being a vampire, and Tess’s too, made you feel bad about being who you are. That’s shitty, especially from women you loved. You deserved better.”
He doubted either of those women would agree, considering one still claimed to hate him and the other went to her grave cursing his name. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. He couldn’t even say either of them was wrong. He’d made a lot of mistakes with both of them, and hurt them as much as they’d hurt him. But it felt good to have Erin think better of him. He didn’t deserve it, but he enjoyed it.
Get a grip, Cavalli. Friends only. Don’t go making the same mistake a third time. This was temporary until one or both of them found someone better suited to them. Someday he’d find some nice she-vampire to breed with, and Erin would settle down with someone Normal. Or maybe her family would even set her up with a wolf, to bring her into the pack’s fold.
The very idea left a sour taste in his mouth, so he shoved that line of thinking away.
He cleared his throat. “Since you’re over here, you can help me prep the skewers for the oven, or we’re never eating breakfast.” His voice was rougher than he’d intended, his tone ruder, but she just kissed his shoulder and did as he asked.
Gods, he liked this woman. She was…nice. It seemed a banal thing to call someone as decent as her, but there were very few people in his life who were nice. Most of them were fucked up, emotionally scarred or too damn magically ancient to give a shit anymore. Erin was a breath of fresh air. Humans tended to be frenetic, their energy jarring, but she was comfortable in her own skin, and he’d craved her energy from the second he’d met her.
It really was a shame that their circumstances were so in the way of their possibilities.
Chapter Seven
Luca didn’t want to be doing this, but it seemed he didn’t have a choice. Like so much with this case. His uncle’s secretary had called him to let him know the warrant for Robert Hammond remained unsigned. Twenty minutes after he’d hung up, he was in the courthouse. He nodded to the secretary as he walked past her desk to the judge’s chambers.
She grabbed her purse and stood. “I’m taking a break. Let him know for me, would you?”
“Absolutely.” He gave her a smile. “And thank you.”
Lifting an eyebrow, she shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Special Agent Cavalli.”
“Of course not. You said and did nothing except take a coffee break.” The words were wasted, since the woman had already disappeared. She was fast for a Fae. He wondered briefly if she’d used some kind of spell to increase her speed. Casting wasn’t a skill of the vampire race, so he had only a theoretical understanding of what was possible, and that constantly expanded as criminals found new ways to use their magic to break laws.
He sighed. Time to get on with this fiasco.
Not bothering to knock, he opened the door to his uncle’s office. “Zio Vito.”
The older vampire glowered, slapping the file he was reading on his desk. Even from this distance, Luca could tell it was the report he’d submitted. Vito growled, “This is a bad idea. It shouldn’t be me issuing this warrant. I’m your uncle. It hardly qualifies me as a neutral and detached party.”
“My father is fucking this man’s mother. I shouldn’t be involved in this case at all.” Luca crossed over to the cabinet where his uncle hid the good stuff and poured a finger of whiskey for both of them. Mellowing his uncle did a world of good when trying to deal with the wily old judge. “But the Conclave throws its weight around and rules get bent.”
“And now you’re throwing your weight around with me.” Vito jutted his jaw, but grudgingly accepted the snifter. His was as large and imposing a man as Luca and Salvatore, with similar features. Salvatore was the older of the two, something he never let Vito forget. Their relationship was as contentious as Luca’s was with his father. Not for the first time, Luca wondered who Salvatore managed to get along with amicably. Besides his mother and, apparently, Elinor “Medusa” Hammond.
“I wouldn’t come to you unless I had to.” Luca toasted his uncle before sprawling in the chair across from him.
“I know that. Damn it.” The judge’s eyebrows lowered. “Tell me you have this guy nailed and it’s not a bunch of circumstantial shit you want me to put my name on.”
“You read the report.” Luca nodded to the file lying open on the desk.
Vito waved that away. “Reports can be manipulated.”
“Not by me,” Luca retorted coolly. “There is more than sufficient probable cause and you know it. If it were anyone else but Hammond, I’d have had my warrant so fast the ink on my original report wouldn’t have had time to dry. We have evidence of systematic abuse of both the child and the wife. We can prove he fed from the child, and tried to turn him after he fell down the stairs.”
“Pfft. A good lawyer will wiggle out of that.” Vito steepled his fingers together under his chin, pinning Luca in place with a look. “Can you prove he killed the boy?”
“My team’s clairvoyant will testify to the fact that his vision showed Hammond hit his son and sent him down the stairs. Kingston’s word carries weight in the Magickal world. We know Robert killed Dillon. Was it accidental or deliberate? That’s for the DA to argue.”
The judge grunted. “Did you get a confession?”
“From a politician? You must be joking, Zio.” Luca chortled, but ruthlessly kept his temper in check. “He admitted to feeding from his wife, and there was no elixir in the house. At all. We have him on child abuse, endangering a minor, assault and battery of a Normal and keeping a sheep. The DA is willing to try for murder one, but—”
“But he’s up for reelection and he’s a werewolf, so of course he’d like to nail a politically prominent vampire.” Vito scowled, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Luca recognized the look as one his father had worn before. The Cavalli family genetics at work.
“Politics have complicated this entire case.” He locked his gaze with his uncle’s. “What this comes down to is a child died. A child who spent his entire life being abused and used for food.” He leaned forward and stabbed his fingertip against the top of the desk. “We can’t pretend that didn’t happen. Maybe it’s not politically smart, but no man should walk away scot-free when he’s violated his blood oaths so heinously. Tell me you really want to condone that, Vito. This is the fundamental tenet of vampire culture. Do we want to throw that away over politics?”
Uncle Vito glanced away, grumbling, “You should ha
ve stayed a trial lawyer, mio nipote.”
Snorting, Luca sat back. He’d made his point and they both knew it, so he didn’t push further. “Maybe when I get too old and tired to chase bad guys around, I’ll go back to it.”
“Fine, I’ll sign the warrant.” Vito jerked the file toward him, flipped to the prepared document, and scrawled his name. Then he jabbed a finger in his nephew’s direction. “But you owe me, and it’s on your head if this goes south for the family.”
“Duly noted.”
“It better be,” Vito growled. “Your father is going to kill me. Even if, by some small miracle, we don’t take a serious hit to our influence in the Conclave.”
Luca thought it would have to be a rather large miracle for that to happen. His family would suffer for this; Medusa would see to that. Guilt twisted through him, a century of family values rearing their ugly heads—he’d been raised a Cavalli, and Cavallis protected their own. By choosing to push forward with arresting Hammond, he was going to hurt his people. There was no way around it. Of course, this was the point where his father would say that if Luca gave up his menial civil servant position and focused on something that really mattered—like vampire politics—he wouldn’t have these kinds of dilemmas.
There was no winning. It seemed to be the story of his life at the moment. He was caught in a limbo with this case, with his relationship with Erin. There was no good side to be on, no matter what he did. Nothing sat quite right on his shoulders. Letting a vampire abuse his own family and kill his child wasn’t an option. Especially when Luca had the ability to bring the boy some justice and peace in the afterlife, while possibly saving Hammond’s wife from the same fate. But when Luca considered how his own family might be hurt by it, how he might shred what they’d worked so hard for, his path seemed murkier.
Some days, he envied the relative simplicity of a Normal’s life.
As if his uncle had read his mind, he said, “This boy was human, so is his mother. That makes it worse for you, doesn’t it? When it comes to Normals, you’re a soft touch. Always have been.”
“True.” There was no reason to deny it. Luca had never shared the vampire disdain for other species—be they Magickal or Normal. Perhaps a leftover trait from first falling in love with a human. It was difficult to be prejudiced against that which you loved.
Vito’s gaze was speculative. “Even now, with that human woman.”
Ah. No doubt his family still thought he was tangled up with Tess. It seemed everyone knew the details of that fateful night, and what came after. “Not a human anymore, Zio. She was turned into a wolf.”
“Not that one, the new one.”
Erin. Luca arched an eyebrow as if he had no idea what Vito might be talking about.
The older vampire’s eyes gleamed. “Ah, you thought I didn’t know about her? I know everything.”
A tinge of panic mixed with—relief?—in Luca’s chest. He tried to keep any emotion from showing on his face. He didn’t want news of his affair to get out, and yet it was a relief that someone in his life knew about Erin. She wasn’t some meaningless fling. Not anymore. What she did mean to him was still unclear, but someone he cared for at least knew she existed, understood there was a woman who mattered in his life. The acknowledgment was somehow important, but he wasn’t sure why.
“Saw you with her the day you two met, didn’t I? I officiated her cousin’s wedding. Your Normal agent and that elf cop.” Vito’s grin was smug. “I noticed the way you looked at your human girl, not at that werewolf changeling everyone thinks you still want. No, I could tell which way the wind blew, and I saw you at her café a few months back. So. The affair continued long beyond that first night.”
“She’s an excellent chef. I can eat anywhere I want without it meaning anything.” Keeping his tone even and unaffected was a struggle, but Luca managed it.
“It was after closing and you had your tongue down her throat, boy.” The judge slammed his hand against the desktop as if it was a gavel and he was rendering a verdict. “I may have been born a vampire, but last time I checked, that’s not how Normals feed.”
Luca sighed. “Does my father know?”
Uncle Vito made a rude noise. “I have to keep a few over on my brother or else he thinks he’s the smart one.”
Well, thank gods for sibling rivalry. “You’ve told no one else?”
“You’ll do it yourself when you’re ready.” His uncle squinted, his focus turning inward for a split-second. “Which will be soon, I think. You’ll know when the time is right.”
A tingle of premonition went down Luca’s spine, and he suppressed a shudder. Of all the vampires he’d ever met, Vito was the only one who came close to having the sight. It wasn’t a usual gift for their race, and it came nowhere near the level other Magickals could claim, but Vito’s hunches had never proven false in the hundred years Luca had known him.
Definitely not something he wanted to consider now. He had a murderer to arrest. Thoughts of Erin would have to wait.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Rising, Luca snagged the signed warrant off the desk. “Thank you, Zio. For everything.”
“Get out of my office.” Vito flicked his fingers dismissively. “I have trials to hear today, which gives me an excuse not to tell Salvatore anything about the Hammonds until after you do what you need to.”
“I appreciate it.” With that, he got out before the other vampire decided to change his mind. They both had qualms about this, and it was best not to dwell on them.
“All right, the party is in two hours. With traffic, that should give us just enough time to get there and have everything set up.” Erin kept a watchful eye on the three guys loading racks of food into the restaurant’s delivery truck. It was jam packed, so she planned to take the grouping of five cakes in the back of her car. The hatchback design made it possible to lay the backseat down and create a flat space from the rear window all the way to the front seats. Tina would ride shotgun to keep an eye on the cakes while Erin drove.
One of the men bobbled a loaded rack, and Erin cringed, bracing herself for it to fall. “Careful with the hors d'oeuvre trays, Jordie! The spun sugar decorations on those tarts are fragile.”
“Got it!” He managed to right the rack before it tipped too far. She suspected the werewolf used a bit of his superhuman speed and strength to make sure it stayed upright, which was technically illegal since they were out in the open, but Erin wasn’t about to quibble since it spared her a boatload of wasted work and extra stress.
Five more minutes and everything was secured in the truck. “Okay, you guys have the address?”
All three men nodded. Jordie offered a weak smile. “I’m driving. They’re staying in the back to make sure nothing falls.”
She returned a wry grin. “I’m sure you’ll do fine. Tina and I will follow with the cakes.”
“We’ll meet you there, Chef Bates.” Jordie signaled to the other men, and they hopped into the truck.
Turning away, Erin sighed. Catering events wasn’t her favorite part of the job, but it generated good income so it was a necessary evil. Holly wanted to expand that part of the business, but Erin had resisted. She might consider suggesting that Jordie take on those tasks if he continued to perform well, today’s little bobble notwithstanding.
Tina stuck her head out the back door of the bistro. “Boss lady, let’s get a move on.”
“Coming!” After hustling inside, Erin slung her purse over her arm and picked up one of the larger cakes. They’d jigsaw the smaller cakes between the big ones.
She nodded to get Tina to precede her out to the parking lot. “Thanks for volunteering to do this.”
“No problem. A change of scenery is always welcome.” She adjusted her grip on the cake she carried. “Plus, a surprise fiftieth wedding anniversary thrown by the kids and grandkids? That’s so awesome and nice of them. Fifty years of true love. Super sweet.”
“Tina, hon.” Erin chuckled. “Your inner sappy roma
ntic is peeking out.”
Tina just stuck out her tongue, faced forward and didn’t comment further. Then she blinked. “What the hell happened to your car?”
“Huh?” Erin had been watching where she stepped so she wouldn’t drop the cake, but she stopped and took a good look at her vehicle. Her heart slammed against her ribcage while the bottom of her stomach dropped into freefall.
The words NORMAL BITCH were carved into the driver’s side door and the tires she could see were flat. Since the car sat evenly, she could only guess the other two resembled pancakes too. Slashed. Fear clutched at her chest, closed her throat so she could barely breathe. It was the first real, true confirmation that she wasn’t making this all up in her head. Sure, it could still be a prank, but at this point she had to see it as a preponderance of evidence. Jack always said he didn’t believe in coincidences, and it was way too much of a coincidence that she’d been getting crank calls, felt like she’d been watched and followed and now her car had been vandalized.
“Wow, that’s like adding insult to injury. You’re not even an extraordinary bitch, just a plain old normal one.” Tina tittered nervously. “I’m sorry. I make inappropriate jokes when I’m freaked.”
As a human, Tina had no idea that “normal” had other meanings. Erin wasn’t about to educate her.
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Talk about laying it on a little thick. It’s not enough to slash my tires and carve shit into my car, then they have to tell me I’m not even special while they’re doing it.”
Tina clamped her lips together, trying to smother a laugh. “Okay, I know it’s horrible and not funny.”
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