Half of me wanted to strike back, while part of me was horrified at the thought of harming my mate. I yowled and punched the closest wall to me, splitting the already taunt skin of that particular hand. A thick stream of blood began running down my arm.
Irulan's face softened. When she saw the added damage to my hand, her own hands flew to her mouth and a look of horror passed over her face. “Oh my God, baby…I didn’t mean.” She took a small step toward me, and I snarled involuntarily.
“I know you didn’t. This is my fault. It's entirely my fault. Stay away from me, Irulan. I can't be around you when I’m like this.” I pulled the ruined jacket off and dropped it to the floor. “I need to feed. I’ll be at The Den.”
She let me leave without further argument.
Chapter 7
My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, as I walked to The Den. William Baker's case was becoming more dangerous by the minute. I was going to have to go to Tamerlane soon; Valerian was going to need a guard before this was over with. Whoever killed William's wife was an Extra and was willing to kill to make sure their identity was kept a secret. The next person I was going to interview was Constantine. He has to know an Extra is involved, or he would have never gone to Vedo.
My thoughts flipped to Irulan. She was scared; I understand that. Hell, I’d be just as upset, maybe more, if the roles had been reversed, but her reaction was so off the charts. That was my fault. Emotions held power, and every time I was around strong ones, I began drawing off of them. It wouldn’t be so bad, if I didn’t make everyone around me so angry they were ready to rip my head off, or so depressed they need stock in Prozac. Hell, if I could control it may be it wouldn’t be so bad, but half the time I don't even realize I’m doing it until it’s too late. Shit.
Then there was my David. He lost the tough guy exterior a few weeks after moving in. In the time he's been with us, he’s become as much a part of my life as Irulan's. It's funny; sometimes you never know how much you needed something until you’ve got it. One night you're sitting there and have an ‘uh-huh’ moment. David was that moment. I’d never given a second thought to having kids, but now that David was in my life, I could see it without him. Thomas Meriwether was a threat, and it’s time I confronted him about his intentions.
I turned a corner, and there was The Den. Unlike other clubs for non-humans, The Den didn’t make an effort to appear inconspicuous. The Den used to be an old strip mall, until it was brought by a resourceful shifter and changed into a club. It was in what was considered a bad neighborhood, so at the time humans didn’t object that much. Now that it regularly drew crowds close to a thousand on the weekends, it had come under fire, but the owner wasn’t worried.
The closer I got, the louder the hard pumping music got until I was bopping my head in time. The line to get in was wrapped around the building. Luckily I was a regular. I waltzed past the mix of humans and Extras, right up to the bouncer. “Hey, Georgie,” I said as I patted him on the back.
“V”, he exclaimed as he jerked me off my feet and into a hug. Georgie was a Serpentine shifter. His long lanky body didn’t give a clue to the strength he possessed. I heard a few gasps of surprise behind me, but I didn’t pay them any attention.
He eased me to my feet, “Where have you been, mama? It's been months since I‘ve seen you.” He grabbed my hands, and I yelped. “What?” He held them up and reeled. “What in the hell happened to your hands, V; you look like you boiled them alive.”
I dropped them to my side and shook my head. “Long story, Georgie. How’s it going tonight?”
He looked back to the doors and shrugged. “The usual, you looking for some fun tonight?”
Um, so he didn’t know I was married now. I was shocked, but then Georgie was never one to read the tabloids. “Not that much fun, Georgie, I just need to find a donor…maybe a few drinks.”
Georgie gave me another quick hug and waved me inside. “Alright, girl. I know I don't have to remind you about the no bloodletting policy, have fun.”
I walked through the darkened corridor and rounded the corner to the main floor. I was home. The huge dance floor was flanked by raised seating areas, while the far end was home to a large stage. Both the stage and the dance floor were packed with revelers. I pushed my aura ahead of me and felt a mix of people: weres, vampires, shifters, witches, and the faint pulses of hundreds of humans.
Their fervor slammed into me and my own frustrated aura, beckoning me to join them. The flicker of the strobe lights changed, and I knew that my eyes had gone black. My control was sketchy at best, so admittedly this probably wasn’t the best place to be, but it I was beyond caring.
I hissed and began pushing my way through the crowd. I didn’t have to go that far to find someone to dance with. I’d barely made it five feet, when a hand wrapped itself around my arm. I flipped a burgundy streak of hair out of my face and turned to face my captor.
It was a human, a large, well-muscled human male, judging from the way his black wife beater was stretched across his broad chest. Nice and healthy. I jumped into his mind and saw that he was on the prowl, trying to lose his ’vampire virginity’. Well buddy, you won't lose it tonight, but I was going to liberate a few pints of blood.
I turned into his arms and gave him a smile that was all fang. “You look like a first timer,” I purred. “Are you sure you're ready for this?” I motioned to the crowd of pulsating bodies around me. “We aren't exactly the tamest crowd.”
His laugh was a deep rumble. “Baby, I just want to dance. I think I can handle that.” Liar, but that’s cool.
“Fine, show me what you can do,” I said. I held my palm up, and he pressed his to mines. I planted the suggestion of normalcy into his head. When he wrapped his fingers around my own, he didn’t see the mess that they were. There was no ’eww’ factor in place as his body started to sway with the music.
I let him lead me, twisting and rolling my hips into him, keeping beat with the suggestive R&B song that was filling the air. He ran his hands down my body and cupped my ass. Before I might have welcomed the move, but all I thought was, ‘his hands aren't Irulan's.
My brain was betraying me, but my jazzed up aura never would. I kicked the thought to the back of my head and let my aura guide me. I ran my nails down the sides of his arm leaving angry red marks.
His breath caught in his throat, and his heartbeat sped up, just here for some dancing my ass. By the time the song was done, I knew he was mine.
One of the reasons The Den was so popular was because the owner respected his patron’s privacy. He not only respected it; he also had methods in place to help the masses ensure, what went on inside stayed inside. No cameras were allowed; cell phones were turned in at a checkpoint, and people were given beepers. If you got a call, a staff member relayed the number.
Aside from that there was a strict policy of no blood letting on the premises for vampires, and no shifting for both weres and shifters. No supernatural drama whatsoever. There were witches, vampires, and wolves, sprinkled throughout the crowd on payroll that monitored the atmosphere.
None of those features interested me at the moment. The Den also has an underground exit that took you two blocks away in either direction. For those of us that didn’t want prying eyes to see whom we were leaving with, the setup was ideal.
I led what’s-his-name, through the crowd and down the dark passageway that would take us away from the club. “Hold on, baby,” he hesitated as we entered the darkened space. “This isn’t the way I came in.”
Why is it the big guys are always the biggest wusses? I leaned in, pressed my palms to his chest and gave him my best ‘sex me’ look. “If you want so fun tonight, this is the way to get it. Are you game?”
I inhaled, effectively thrusting my chest out for his inspection. He looked down and his fleeting fear caved under his libido. “Yeah,” he nodded eagerly, “I’m game.”
Poor sap. It took us about five minutes to reach the other end of the walkway
. Once we were safely away from the exit I gripped his arm and my face shifted. “What the fuck?” He tried to break away but come on; we know how good that went. His voice broke as it dawned on him how dangerous a situation he was in. “Come on; I didn’t sign on for this. I just wanted to bag a vamp.”
I flashed forward, dragging him into an alley. Not the ideal location, but there wasn't a chance in hell I was going home with him. I slipped into his head and flipped him off. Before I would have made the bite pleasurable for him, at least give him something for the blood, he was going to lose.
This wasn’t about pleasure, and I didn’t dare leave him conscious during the ordeal. Many a careless vampire had gotten staked through the back while they were feeding by assuming their victims wouldn’t be able to fight back. I never underestimated the will to survive.
I bit into his neck and pulled the first mouthful of blood down my throat. The thick liquid coursed through me filling me and rushing to the areas of my body that needed it most.
I drank his life until I heard someone call my name. I let my unwitting meal fall away, and I settled down into a defensive crouch, hissing a warning.
“Oh calm down, Valeria, it’s me,” Irulan huffed. I stood up, and wiped the blood from my chin with a hand that was well on its way to being healed.
“How long have you been following me?” I said softly.
“I’ve been behind you since you left the house. You weren't really yourself, so I thought I needed to keep an eye on you.”
I nodded and took a step toward her. “I’m sorry, Ire. I didn’t know…I hate this. I can't control it.”
She closed the distance between us and swiped her thumb across my lip. “I know you can't. But you'll learn.” She slipped her thumb into my mouth, and I swirled my tongue around it, removing all traces of blood.
The wind shifted, and a familiar-unfamiliar scent slapped me in the face. I shoved Irulan behind me and shifted my hands. My eyes flipped to UV, and I scanned the area around us. The scent was so strong, whatever it was; it was close.
I felt Irulan touch my conscious. “What’s wrong, Val?”
I motioned my head toward a nearby stretch of trees. “Whoever was at the Baker home is out there somewhere. I can smell them.”
I scanned the trees but didn’t see a thing. That didn’t make sense. There weren't many creatures that could mask their heat signatures. I made a move to head toward the tree line when Irulan grabbed me. She jerked her head to the unconscious body slumped on the ground. Oh yeah.
I knelt down and gripped his head, slipping into his mind and essentially flipping him back on. He wouldn’t remember a thing. The entire night would be one big blackout.
I turned toward the direction of the smell when something dawned on me. “Irulan,” I asked. “Who took care of getting my car to the garage?”
“Valerian, why?” She looked puzzled.
He didn’t tell her. “Irulan, someone fucked with my car. That means someone has been following my movements and knows what I am. I’m betting that person is the same one that’s out there now.”
Her expression didn’t change. Irulan didn’t look the least bit upset, but her power levels spiked, sending a chill down my spine. She took off for the woods leaving me to catch up with her. My baby was fast…but not as fast as me.
I easily overtook her and held up my hand motioning for her to follow me and stay as quiet as possible. I followed a haphazard path through the trees, zigging and zagging, trying to keep up with the scent until it just disappeared. “Fuck,” I screamed to no one.
Whoever, whatever it was, it was good. I didn’t feel the touch of an aura; hear a single footstep, or anything. It was time to let the cat out of the bag and talk to Tamerlane. If this thing was following me, then Valerian and Constantine could be in trouble also.
Chapter 8
The next morning, I left home early for the second time in two days. As I drove down I77, I leaned forward and squinted at the early morning sun. “Can’t keep me down,” I muttered as I leaned back into the upholstery and took a bite from a sausage biscuit that I’d snagged from some fast food place.
I downed two of the spicy sandwiches by the time I drove past the huge metal globes that lined the driveway leading to Trumaine Tower. There were six of the massive forty foot high creations, three on either side. Inside each globe was a camera array that inspected every inch the vehicles that passed by them.
I waved to the globes, and whoever had monitor duty today. Glad it wasn’t me. I parked and slipped in through a loading dock entrance. I didn’t want to run the risk of being assigned a task until it was time for me to go on duty. My reasons for coming in early were purely personal. Whatever was tracking me has made this more than a case.
Sometimes finding something unknown, meant eliminating the known from the equation. I headed for the fourth lower level and the library that was housed there. I’d tried the electronic route and came up with zilch, now it was time to go old school.
As I browsed the towering shelves of books, it struck me that Irulan would never believe I willingly went to a library. Sometimes it got to me that she thought I was void of the desire for anything intellectual. Just because I wasn’t overly fond of reading that didn’t mean I lacked the ability to comprehend. I had a brain in my head.
I scanned row after row and shelf after shelf until I finally found what I was looking for. It was a hand written account of different Extra species.
The tome was compiled over five hundred years ago. Hopefully I would run across a description that would match my unknown killer. I carefully pulled the heavy, leather book down and found an empty cubby.
I opened the hand-bound book and gingerly flipped one of the handwritten pages. Wow, there was no index. I settled in for the long haul and started reading.
I’m not sure how long I sat there with my head stuck in that book. I was surprisingly intrigued by the wealth of information it contained. There were even pages concerning different types of Fae that are often found on our plane.
There were pages for pixies, elves, Pantheras and Lupines. There was an entire section devoted the Sidhe, but not a single description came close to what I was looking for.
I read for hours, scanning pages two and three times to make sure I didn’t miss a thing. I read for so long that words began to run together and looked like one big blob of squiggly lines. This wasn’t working.
By the time I drug myself out of the library, I was pretty certain my entire morning had been a bust. I called Irulan to check in and make sure everything was okay with David. We hadn’t heard a single thing from Thomas, so we weren't sure what to make of the situation. Sitting with my hands tied behind my back was killing me but, Valerian assured me he was on top of everything.
I walked down the wide corridors heading toward the wing that was devoted to our department, so deep in my head that I didn’t notice all the strange looks from passersby.
What finally caught my attention was the set of arms that wrapped themselves around me. I recoiled from the intrusion, jerking my head away from the red hair that was thrust under my nose. Mike. I disentangled the lifeborn from my person and debated whether or not I was going to draw on him.
“Ms. Trumaine,” he coughed. “I can't tell you how glad I am to see you're alright.” I felt a cloud of nervous curiosity surrounding me; my eyes shot past him. Every person in the hallway within one hundred feet in either direction had stopped to watch our exchange.
I groaned and shoved my hands into my jacket. “I’m fine, Mike. Thank you for asking.”
The little man was beaming. “No problem. We were all worried about you when we heard you got caught out yesterday.” He shoved his heavy, black-framed glasses back on his nose and frowned. “To be honest, Ms. Trumaine, we didn’t expect you back to work for a couple of weeks…you know the sun damage and all.”
I nodded my head and scanned the growing number of bodies. I haven’t exactly been advertising my newfound p
owers to people outside of my immediate family and Thade, powers that included an amplified healing factor. I didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention. Coming in today was doing the exact opposite.
Everyone was expecting a sun damaged Valeria to be home staying away from the light to give her body time to heal. Nope, I was out walking around in a hallway lit with the afternoon sun and about thirty witnesses. So much for keeping a low profile.
Thank God that most of the day staff was human. I hated to do it, but I was going to have to glamour them. I dropped my shields and pushed my mind across the bodies around me. I felt it the moment their wills broke to my intrusion. The sense of self that dominated each mind barely put up a struggle as I pushed it aside for my influence to take hold.
It was a lot easier shaping their memories; than it was the first time I tried to control so many minds at once. I took the image of me from their minds and put in the suggestion that I was out on medical leave for two weeks. I eased out of their thoughts and flashed down the hall before they could come to and see me.
I wish all my problems could be handled as easily as that one. If I could glamour everything back to normal that would be a power worth bragging about. I chuckled to myself and walked up to the heavy red steel security doors that separated us from the rest of the building.
As I tapped the correct sequence of numbers into the keypad to let me into our unit, I ran over what I was going to say to Tamerlane. I felt like I was betraying Valerian by going to Tam without his knowledge, but I know he'd ask me not to. I wasn’t known for telling my brother no.
I walked through door with the words; ‘Tam can we talk’ on the tip of my tongue, but they died when I heard him yelling on the phone.
“How can you be so fucking careless? Who was working that day? Get me names and their personnel records. I want them on my desk when I get there.”
Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Page 7
