Blood Rogue, #1

by Linda J. Parisi

  “He refuses to go away. So he’ll be guarding you until sunrise.”

  “And you won’t.”

  He ignored the finality in her statement. “Aidan will need a place to stay until the sun sets. He refuses to come inside, so I gave him the key to your garage.”

  “That’s not necessary, you know.”

  “I do. He doesn’t.” Chaz sighed. “You’re safe in daylight, and if you decide to continue your work at your office, just make sure you’re back here before the sun goes down. I’ll be back when I can.”

  He didn’t say anything else, just continued to look torn as he tried to hold himself together.

  “I won’t let you change my mind. I won’t,” she said. “I may need some time to process all of this. But I refuse to let your vision of yourself denigrate what we’ve shared.”

  “Denigrate?” he whispered. “Never.”

  “Then stop this nonsense!” Stacy swallowed to hold onto her temper. “You’re the one who’s made the decision. Not me. Remember that.”

  He cocked his head as if to ask how he’d ever forget. His gaze told her the words he refused to repeat.

  “I won’t let you take my memories away. And I refuse to let you go.”

  He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. She wouldn’t have a choice.

  Stacy refused to give up on Chaz. Simple as that. And if he wasn’t going to admit she deserved a place—at least the right to remember—then she was going to force the subject. So she drove down to the hospital.

  She wondered as she walked into the med-tech school lab if Tori was the right person to share her secret of the dead with. Tori had certainly lived with enough death to understand, and she didn’t want to hurt her friend. She also didn’t have a choice.

  The picture on the desk was a cruel reminder of fate. One conference. One home invasion. Three dead and one life destroyed.

  Life wasn’t fair.

  Stacy caught a hint of the same citrus shampoo she used in the air, which hit her nostrils like manna from heaven. Hospital labs never smelled good.

  “Stacy?” Tori rose with a frown. “Hey! What are you doing here? Are you all right? When I called the office today about some missing paperwork, they said you were sick. Something about the flu. Maybe it wasn’t something you ate after all.”

  “Hey,” she replied. Uh-oh. Why did Tori look as if her problem meter was pinging a mile a minute?

  Tori came around her desk, and they hugged. As she let go, Tori eyed her up and down and then commented, “I was going to call you tonight to see how you were doing, find out if you wanted me to stop by.”

  No. After seeing the concern in Tori’s gaze, Stacy dared not risk putting her friend in that kind of danger. Then how the hell was she going to explain without explaining? Better yet, get the help she needed?

  “But you don’t look sick to me,” Tori continued. “What’s going on?”

  “No. Not sick.” Stacy shook her head. Every time she thought about Chaz going all noble on her, her stomach flipped. Was that fear or anger? “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

  “Try me,” Tori answered. “I’ve just finished another therapy session with Redmond. Suffice it to say, I know more about psychology than he does.”

  “Does it help?” Stacy asked, already knowing the answer.

  Tori’s face fell. “No.”

  “They say time heals.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Tori reached out to pat her arm to soften the blow as she walked around her desk. Then she indicated that Stacy sit down.

  “I’ll remember that.” Hell, Stacy couldn’t blame her. How could anyone bear losing so much and stay sane?

  “So, what are you doing here?” Tori asked. “What’s going on?” Tori paused, and Stacy figured if anyone would understand, Tori would.

  “I don’t know where to start.”

  Tori frowned, eyeing her up and down. “You…you’re not pregnant, are you?”

  “No, of course not!” Stacy cried.

  “Phew!” Tori said as she swiped her brow with her hand. “At least you took that advice. I mean, he’s gorgeous and all, but you need to get to know him first, no?” Stacy realized that her answer had been a tad too emphatic. Tori was way too astute not to know something was very wrong. Tori shrugged out of her lab coat and threw it over the back of a chair. Then her friend started rolling up her sleeves and started looking at her like she was an experiment just waiting to be dissected.

  Double uh-oh.

  Very well then, time to minimize the risk, and that was going to require some delicacy. She started playing with a test tube that was sitting on Tori’s desk. That was when she knew Tori’s radar started pinging. Stacy wasn’t one to hem and haw about things, which was one reason they were friends. Whatever was going on, it had to be serious.

  “You can talk to me, Stace. You know you can. I won’t judge, simply listen.”

  Stacy sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

  Tori shrugged. As curious as Stacy knew Tori was, Tori wouldn’t press, but she’d always be there to listen. “Try me.”

  Something warm and fluid filled her. Kind of sweet, kind of sad, but also filled with irony. “When Charles picked me up at Adrian’s, he didn’t pick me up, he picked me out.”

  Tori’s eyebrows shot up into her forehead then leveled. “Explain.”

  “He asked me for help. Said he needed me, needed a forensic chemist who specialized in blood banking.”

  Not many people needed someone like that. Ever. Unless the guy was a writer. Or— “He didn’t want you to help him figure out how to murder someone, did he? I mean, you’re a cop.”

  Stacy shook her head no and gave her friend an exasperated glance. “Look, I need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone anything about what I’m going to reveal to you, okay?”

  “Then we need to go somewhere public, so we can talk in private,” Tori replied. “The walls have ears around here. Which is kinda weird considering most of the people down the hall are dead.”

  Stacy’s mouth quirked as she rose. “Right.”

  Tori grabbed her bag and hung up her lab coat. “I’m off duty now anyway. Come on, we’ll go to Trattoria Rustica. Not as good as Luigi’s, I’ll admit, but decent.”

  “You feel like walking? I’ve been glued to a computer for what feels like a week,” Stacy complained. Her neck popped a couple of times as she rotated.

  “Long walk, you sure?”

  Stacy nodded.

  “So, what’s going on?” Tori asked as soon as they were on the sidewalk.

  “First of all, everything I’m about to tell you is hush-hush, okay? I’m not even supposed to be talking to you.”

  Tori nodded.

  “I’ve been running some experiments on the side.”

  Stacy hesitated, and she pictured Chaz lying next to her, his hair spread against the pillow, watching her with that damned quirk of his lips that melted her bones. “Plus, I’ve got a non-disclosure agreement.”

  “Big pharma?”Tori asked, a light of understanding filling her gaze. “You’re stuck on a problem, aren’t you?”

  Stacy’s heart began to pound. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “Charles works for a…a security firm. They’re investigating a possible copy of a formula. He asked me to find out if the copy worked. The pharmaceutical firm can’t do it without tipping off the suspect.”

  Tori lifted her brows and pursed her lips. “You’re having trouble figuring out if it works?” she said.

  “I’m afraid so.”

  They waited at a corner for a light to change and asked, “What’s the first thing you were taught about the scientific method?”

  “Use my experience. Consider the problem and try to make sense of it.”

  “And have you?”

  Stacy laughed. But there was no missing the undertone of bitterness beneath her laughter. Tori flicked her a look.

  “What I can tell you is that
the formula I’m working on is for a blood disorder.”

  Tori’s face cleared, and she lifted her hair off her shoulders, settling them beneath her coat. “Makes sense. Were you able to create a hypothesis?”

  Stacy’s mouth quirked, but she couldn’t hide the far off look in her eyes that told Tori there was more to the story than her friend would probably ever find out. “To a certain degree.”

  “And were you able to form a conjecture?”

  “Yes.”

  Stacy watched Tori rub her chin as she thought about that for a moment. “Then, your testing isn’t going right.”

  Stacy nodded. “I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong.”

  Tori smiled and looped her arm through Stacy’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Maybe, instead of trying to prove the hypothesis, you should try to disprove it.”

  “You mean, work backward?”

  “It’s been done before.”

  Stacy gaped in stunned silence for about a minute. “You’re a genius.”

  “I’ve always thought so.” Tori beamed with pride. “Goes for the other problem you’re having, too, with Charles.”

  Stacy thought she was going to choke. “Am I that transparent?”

  “Of course not, but I’m your friend. If it hadn’t been for you and Kelly and…” Tori swallowed hard. “Let’s just say we’ve weathered a few storms together, now haven’t we?”

  “Yeah.” Stacy grinned. “I guess we have.”

  Tori snared her gaze. “Are you in love with him?”

  How did she answer that? She wasn’t even sure she wanted to acknowledge the question. “I don’t know, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

  Tori smiled. “Damn. This is one man I have to meet again.” Her friend’s smile faltered. “You do realize it’s way too soon, don’t you? A little brake pedal could be a good idea, no?”

  Stacy wasn’t sure and looked down at the sidewalk, so Tori wouldn’t see the anguish in her gaze.

  Horror spread through her insides like a slow-moving poison, forcing her to stop dead in her tracks. Their arms pulled apart as Tori kept walking.

  “Stacy?”

  Stacy didn’t answer at first. Then she turned and started walking very fast in the opposite direction, her eyes never leaving the ground.

  “Stacy? What’s wrong?”

  Stacy ran. She could hear Tori behind her.

  “What in the hell is going on?”

  Stacy dared not answer. She ran as fast as she could as fear started bubbling up through her stomach. Finally, caught by the elbow, Stacy pulled around and stopped.

  “Will you answer me, please?” Tori cried. “What the hell’s gotten into you?”

  Stacy stared at her friend, not knowing what to say. Did the rogue have Tori’s scent now too? She’d never been this frightened before.

  Stacy drew in a deep breath and let the air shudder out, trying to stay calm, knowing Tori knew she’d lost that battle before it began. “I need to take a rain check on dinner.”

  “Rain check? We’re half a block from the restaurant. Well, maybe a block now.”

  “Tori, listen to me. I can’t tell you what’s going on. Something occurred to me while we were talking.” Stacy grimaced. “I can’t elaborate, I’m sorry. You do understand, don’t you?”

  Tori stared, trying to read the emotions flying across her face, and Stacy clamped down on them. “Yes, and because I can’t help myself, I’ll ask. Do you need my help in any way?”

  Shaking her head, she reached out and squeezed Tori’s shoulder, but then Tori pulled her into a quick hug. When they pulled away, Stacy had her emotions under control again and even managed a quick smile.

  “No, but thanks for asking. You go have dinner. When this is all over, maybe we can try again, my treat.”

  Tori couldn’t argue. Well, she could, but that wouldn’t be fair. Above all, they trusted one another. “All right. It’s a deal. You’ll call me when you can, right? So I know everything’s okay?

  “You bet.”

  Stacy stared down at the drops of pink salivate on the sidewalk, her stomach swimming with worry. Tori had hugged her, so now Stacy’s scent was on her friend. They used the same shampoo, the one Tori had recommended. Oh, no. What have I done? She needed to call Sam immediately. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  Interlude

  Tori couldn’t shake the worry that crept into her chest as she watched her friend walk away. Stacy was off her game, and that notion more than anything else had her turning just a half a block after she left her friend. She wanted to make sure Stacy would honor her promise.

  Surprise filled Tori as she watched Stacy bend down and peer at something on the sidewalk. Totally focused on what she was looking at, Stacy didn’t seem to see Tori watching her, or that she’d crept back. Stacy took a tube out of her pocketbook and swabbed the sidewalk.

  What the hell?

  Why was Stacy using an evidence kit in the middle of the block, and what the hell was that pink goop she was putting in a test tube to analyze?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Stacy

  Stacy got out of the car and walked up her driveway, staring at the evidence envelope in her hand. Her fingers itched to tear the damned thing open and get to work on it. She wanted to drive straight to her lab to start analyzing the salivate, but she owed Aidan a check-in first. After all, he was putting his life on the line for her.

  “Aidan! Aidan!” Stacy cried as she ran up the steps to her home.

  A shiver ran down the back of her neck, and she paused on the porch. Where was he? Normally, he would come out of the shadows and let her know he was there.

  Stacy turned in a small circle. The silence seemed to close in on her. She scanned the street, the other yards, but nothing seemed amiss. She pulled out her key to put it into the lock.

  She stopped. With the lowering of the sun, the temperature had fallen. A cold wind whipped her hair against her face, but that didn’t come close to the icy dread inside her belly at the thought of the rogue being so close. Or Aidan not being here.

  “Aidan?” she cried again.

  When the vampire still didn’t appear, Stacy’s heart started to pound. She turned to open her front door and found she didn’t need to use her key.

  And she realized she wasn’t wearing her gun.

  She crept through the doorway, trying to still her frantic heartbeat. If the rogue was nearby, the sound would be like a homing beacon. She hated that she had to go back to her bedroom to her gun safe but breathed a sigh of relief when she made it there. In several seconds, she had the safe open, her gun clip loaded, and a back holster clipped to her jeans. As she crept out of the house, she scanned the floor looking for pink salivate but found none.

  Since her block was fairly short, Stacy tracked the sidewalk in front of her house first. She didn’t see any sign of the rogue or any other sign for that matter. All was still and quiet. Too still. Too quiet.

  A crashing metal garbage can sounded behind her, followed by a low grunt. Stacy ran towards the alleyway between the two houses across the street. She followed a trail of pink droplets on the ground. The rogue crouched over a body, but she couldn’t see who it was.

  Rather than fire her weapon, Stacy ran full tilt and jumped on its back. The smell of decay made her gag, but she hung on, bringing the butt of her gun handle down on the rogue’s head as hard as she could. Once. Twice, with enough force to at least stun the damned thing.

  The rogue shook her off as if she was a feather and Stacy went flying, slamming into the side of one of the houses. Her shoulder took the brunt of the impact, and she felt it pop.

  Oh God, the pain. Stars danced inside her brain. Fire radiated down her arm and through her chest, but that didn’t stop her from rolling to her feet and preparing to fire. “Come on, you little bastard,” she cried. “I’ve got a bunch of bullets here for you.”

  The rogue twisted, greasy tendrils of hair swinging to and fro. Blood covere
d its mouth, the tatters of its shirt spotted with red. It growled with ire, intent only on finishing its meal. Then it straightened, twisted, and started moving towards her.

  Stacy wrapped her finger around the trigger. She wouldn’t be able to steady the gun with her other arm, but she was certain she’d get in some pretty good shots.

  Scrape-drag. Scrape-drag. The rogue almost crawled towards her. Then he hesitated. He cocked his head and leaned forward, almost as if he were trying to see something. The creature lifted up. He stilled, seeming to fight with himself. He seemed eager to drain her dry, but something held him back. It almost seemed as if he was staring at something. Stacy tightened her hand, ready to shoot. Then the rogue turned and sprinted off once again, leaving her with one question pounding through her brain.

  Why?

  She latched the safety on the gun and bent over to slip it inside her back holster. Then she realized. She’d worn the silver chain and cross for safekeeping so she could give it back to Chaz. Some good had come from it after all—it had just saved her life.

  With only one useful arm, Stacy ran to the person lying on the ground. Aidan.

  “Aidan? Oh, God. No.” The rogue had been feeding on Aidan. “This is all my fault.”

  He couldn’t talk. His throat was pretty torn up, but he shook his head. His gaze filled with gratitude and something even more important—respect.

  “Aidan. Listen. I have to be able to use my arm to help you, but I can’t. My shoulder is dislocated. I need you to help me put it back in place.”

  He saw her arm hanging by her side and nodded. He lifted his hand and grabbed her wrist. “On the count of three. You pull, and so will I. One. Two. Three….”

  Stacy screamed as pain shot through her shoulder, but as soon as Aidan let go, her shoulder popped back into place, and the pain subsided to a dull throb.

  “Come on. Now I can help you get back to the house. I have a couple of blood bags for you.”

  He shook his head. His throat was already healing. He beckoned her to come closer. “You must help me die,” he whispered.