“How’d you get in here, Alley?” Jake asked, reaching back to pick her up. He’d named her Alley after the alley where he’d first seen her, or some other cat that looked like her, the cat that had attacked the vampires and saved his life. Of course, if he’d listened to the doctors his parents had sent him to, he’d believe the cat and the vampires were all a figment of his imagination. According to them, his friend had been killed in front of him, but he’d died from a severe beating which ended in cardiac arrest, not from a vampire attack. His parents never believed him, and even Jonah thought he was insane until he ran across Christian and his vampire friends and finally had to admit paranormal beings really did exist.
Alley mewed softly and rubbed against his chest as if she could hear his thoughts, comforting him as she always did. “I’m all right, Alley. Confused as hell, but all right. We got a wacko to find. Are you coming with me?”
Alley stepped off his lap and gracefully sauntered over to the passenger seat, tugging a map open with her teeth. Jake laughed to himself. “Girl, sometimes I swear you know what I’m saying to you.”
NYLA STRETCHED AND yawned at the foot of the bed after she watched Jake’s eyes finally close. He had beautiful eyes, a thin band of warm caramel brown encircling a soft green. They sparkled when he laughed, but unfortunately he didn’t laugh often enough. The weight of his guilt was bearing down on him.
She had followed Jake since the night the vampires attacked his friend. He’d made a vow all those years ago to track down the vampires who’d killed Bobby and avenge his friend’s death. He’d researched and hunted until he found the names of three of them—Lionel, Niles, and Detra. Lionel had been his first kill. Detra was the first kill he cried over, despising himself for killing a woman but knowing inside it needed to be done. He hadn’t yet discovered the name of the fourth vampire, the one who’d attempted to take him that night. Nyla prayed he never did. Demarcus was pure evil, rotten to his soulless core.
She’d attacked him that night, saving Jake but losing part of herself in the process. She had always been different, a pantherian from infancy when her mother sacrificed her to the pantherian queen, Priscilla. She had undergone a deadly ritual few survived. She was strong. She had survived and hated herself for it, more so since her encounter with Demarcus. The deadly vampire was strong and swift, and he’d managed to bite her and infect her with his curse. Now, not only was she a shape-shifter but a vampire as well. The very thing Jake hated. And an eternal link to the beast he wanted to destroy.
Nyla jumped from the bed and pattered toward the small table sitting against the wall of the motel room. Jake had tossed his maps and papers on top of it. He was going after Curtis Dunn, a man who could quite possibly have knowledge of scientific experiments that could prove gravely dangerous to mankind. Jake’s laptop sat atop the desk, the light from the monitor spilling into the dark room. He’d searched the Internet for leads and pored over countless documents taken from the Dunn twins’ home. The newest victim’s body was found in Louisville, Kentucky. Jake had driven here nonstop, but he’d had no idea where to go once he entered the city.
Nyla closed her eyes and focused. Her body turned into mist and within seconds she stood in the room in her human form. Shifting used to hurt. It had felt like swallowing a lightning bolt. Since Demarcus had bitten her she shifted effortlessly, quickly, without any pain at all. Unfortunately, she craved blood in human form, a characteristic she despised in herself and avoided for as long as possible, not just because she didn’t like the idea of feeding off humans, but because she could feel Demarcus inside her head when she did.
Demarcus. Her sire, and the creature Jake Porter couldn’t wait to kill.
She glanced over at the bed where Jake slept peacefully and forced herself to shut down all thought of Demarcus and to rein in her growing hunger for fresh blood. If she wasn’t careful, the mental blocks she’d set up around her thoughts could fall, and Demarcus would creep inside her head. He’d not only know where she was but who she was with. She would never forgive herself if she led Demarcus to Jake. Jake had destroyed demons, evil spirits, and vampires, but she’d seen the inside of Demarcus’s head and knew he was far more dangerous than anything Jake had gone up against.
Nyla sat at the desk and quietly went through the papers. Even in human form, she maintained a catlike stealth, and with her sensitive hearing, she was able to listen to Jake’s breathing and would know the second he woke. She’d be in cat form before he could lift an eyelid, so the thought of getting caught in his room rifling through his things didn’t scare her. Being a half-shifter, half-vampire had its perks, but she’d gladly take mortality if given the choice.
After reading through the stack of papers, she could understand why Jake had been so frustrated before finally falling asleep. There was nothing linking the Dunns to Louisville. Why had Curtis come here?
And why did she have a nagging feeling that things were going to go horribly wrong here?
Nyla shivered, trying to shake off the cold chill creeping along her spine. The feeling had started when Jake got the call from his brother, when the original murders first started. It had steadily grown stronger as the days rolled past and had intensified once they entered Kentucky. The feeling wasn’t like any other sense of danger she’d experienced in the past. It was much stronger than a sense of impending doom. It was a sense of . . . impending death.
Nyla rose from the chair and stood at the side of the bed, gazing down at Jake Porter’s sleeping form. She’d watched over him for years, observed him as he grew from a boy to a man. Her feelings for him had grown over time as well. As a child, she’d wanted to protect him from the dark creatures that haunted his tormented mind, doing the job his parents had failed to do. As a man, he called out to her heart, and she wanted to touch him, hold him . . . love him.
She had fallen for him. She couldn’t pinpoint the how or the when, but at some point she had quit seeing the boy and only saw the strong, sexy man with the unquenchable desire for justice, and she’d fallen head over heels, or paws in her case. And he would never feel the same way about her. Hell, if he knew his pet alley cat was a shifter, he’d kill her.
Even with that knowledge, she couldn’t let anything happen to him if she could prevent it. Jake couldn’t walk into this looming danger by himself, and there was only so much she could do in cat form. If she changed into a panther in front of him, her cover would be blown. He’d probably put a bullet through her before she could open her mouth to explain.
There were a few hours left before dawn. She had just enough time to sneak out into the night and make arrangements. And tomorrow, Jake Porter would meet Nyla, the woman.
Chapter Two
NYLA CREPT DOWN the darkened street, staying alert for danger. She knew nothing about Louisville, had no idea how strong its shifter or vampire population was. But she knew if Curtis Dunn was here killing women to further his experimentation, there had to be a decent number of vamps and who knew what else lurking in the shadows.
She had her gun, and her knives rested in the sheaths adorning her arms beneath the long sleeves of her T-shirt, but they could only protect her if she was a better fighter than her opponent. She touched the gun where it lay in the shoulder holster beneath her leather jacket, needing the boost of courage it offered. She was thankful she was a therian and not a lycanthrope. When therians shifted, anything on them made of fabric, flesh or metal changed with them. She never had to worry about popping up naked in the wrong place or leaving her weapons behind. Two things that came in handy while traveling with Jake.
She was going to “meet” Jake tomorrow night, posing as a bounty hunter. She’d never appeared to him in human form before, afraid he would see through her, recognize her as the creature she was. But something in her gut told her she had to do this. Jake could not battle the danger waiting for him alone. His brother, Detective Jonah Porter, was in
Baltimore. Jake needed an ally with him here in Louisville. The problem was that he never partnered with anyone, so she knew better than to offer her services to him in the form of a partnership. She’d have to use reverse psychology and present herself as his rival—and hope he didn’t try to take her out. She’d hate to have to hurt him.
But she was pretty sure it wouldn’t come down to that. And if it did . . . well, she wouldn’t hurt him too much.
She reached a small motel sitting on the corner of two west end streets. She didn’t need to live in Louisville to know the west end was the bad area of the city. The neighborhood was obviously home to low income residents, judging by the state of the buildings, and the fact that she’d seen several police cars patrolling the streets indicated the crime level was high. She hadn’t seen nearly as many police cars near the Dixie Highway motel where Jake was staying.
She could have stayed at the same motel he’d chosen, but that would have been too coincidental. Jake wasn’t an idiot. He’d know she was deliberately following him. Besides, a tough-as-nails bounty hunter would have no qualms about staying in the city’s roughest neighborhood, mingling with the other badasses.
She entered the motel, walking up to the young African-American man behind the check-in counter. He had a medium complexion, with rich chocolate-brown eyes and dark brown hair divided into long cornrows. His gaze slid appreciatively over her body as she approached.
“I’d like a room for two nights, please,” she said, shifting the plastic shopping bag she carried in her right hand. She’d know tomorrow whether or not she needed the room longer. It was only for cover anyway.
“Just you?”
“Yes.”
The man grinned. The name tag on his shirt read Andre. He punched in something on the keyboard before him and held out his hand, stating the amount due.
Nyla reached into her pocket and extracted a small wad of bills, thankful again that she was a therian and cash stayed with her throughout her transformations. She was more thankful she did so well in poker games. Following your dream man in cat form didn’t exactly pay. She counted out the right amount and gave it to Andre.
“You really shouldn’t pull out your money like that,” he warned her as he put the bills in the cash register and counted out her change. “Nice-looking white girl like you all alone in the hood, you’re a walking target for these fools around here.” He handed her the change. “Be a shame if something happened to such a pretty face.”
“Thanks for the compliment and the warning, but I can handle myself,” she said with a smile as she took her change.
Andre simply raised his eyebrows, as though he didn’t believe her, before handing her a key card. “I can show you to your room.”
“That’s all right. I’m sure I can find it,” Nyla said, turning to go. She could feel his eyes exploring her backside as she walked away.
The room was small and musty-smelling, the only furnishings a bed, small table, and a TV sitting on a small dresser. She’d done some light shopping at a 24-hour Walmart before looking for a motel and had purchased a week’s worth of clothing and toiletries.
She dumped the contents of the large shopping bag on the bed and set to work removing the tags from the clothing. She worked fast, feeling the hunger for blood growing inside her. She hadn’t fed in weeks, and she didn’t know how much longer she could resist. The craving would leave her the moment she shifted, but she had to prepare her room for the off-chance that Jake would see it.
She collected the discarded tags and tossed them into the small garbage can next to the dresser, then proceeded to shake and bunch up her clothing, trying to work out the brand-spanking-new appearance.
She placed the clothes in the dresser and put away her toiletries before falling back on the bed. There wasn’t any interesting art on the walls, no arresting color schemes on the curtains or the bedspread . . . nothing to take her mind away from the growing hunger inside her body.
She could just shift, change into an alley cat and run back to Jake’s motel. Shifting wouldn’t help her make it through the next night, though. She needed to feed, and it was best she did before meeting up with Jake. One good feeding would hold her for a week, maybe two.
She recalled Andre with his chocolate-brown eyes, all alone behind the check-in counter. She wondered if his blood was as sweet as chocolate . . .
“DAMMIT TO HELL!” Jake continued to curse violently, gripping the phone in his hand while he absorbed the information his brother had just relayed to him.
“Jake?” Jonah’s voice echoed from the phone.
“Yeah?”
“Why are you so bothered by this? I mean, obviously you’d be bothered that people have been killed, but this seems like it’s personal.”
“I came here to stop the crazy bastard, not to watch while bodies pile up.” Jake bit the words out. Another body had been found just outside Louisville. The body was drained of blood and sported two fang-sized holes in the neck. That damned possessed Dunn had struck again.
Alley mewed, rising from where she lay in a patch of morning sunlight spilling through the window onto a small square-shaped section of carpet, looking completely full and content. She must have found herself something to feast on while she went out prowling the night before. Jake still didn’t recall leaving the window open. He’d have to be more careful.
“Jake? You all right, bro?”
“Yeah,” Jake answered, gliding a hand down Alley’s back as she jumped up on the bed, nuzzling against him. She always seemed to know when he needed comforting. “I’m just pissed.”
“So I gathered. I got some good news, though. I found out the first victim’s name. Janie Paxton. She worked at The Crimson Rose.”
“Where’s that?”
“Bardstown Road.”
Jake scooted Alley off his boxers-clad lap and rose from the bed, crossing the room to the table. He took out the Louisville street map and looked up Bardstown Road. “You know anything about the area?”
“Not a thing. That’s all the info I could get, and the only reason the LMPD shared it with me is because I gave them everything I knew about the suspected killer.”
“Everything?” Jake raised an eyebrow, even though he knew his brother couldn’t see it.
“Well, not everything. I couldn’t tell them the original killer disintegrated because of a prayer recited by a vampire and that this new killer is his demon-possessed twin brother, who just happened to be his father in his previous life.”
“Why not? Sounds like typical daytime talk show stuff to me.” Jake sat at the table and woke his laptop from sleep mode, preparing to look up information about the club Janie Paxton had worked at. “What exactly did you tell the locals?”
“I told them what I told my guys. An anonymous tip led me to the Dunn residence, where I was attacked by Curtis Dunn. The body—what was left of it—of Carter Dunn was already there when I arrived. Curtis fled the scene after getting the jump on me, and the fact that his lab refrigerators were filled with jugs of blood was enough evidence to show that he, Carter, or both of them had killed those women.”
“The blood matched the victims’ DNA.”
“Right.”
“I’m sorry we had to leave you there.” Jake recalled the night he and the vamps rescued the Dunn brothers’ prisoners. He’d found his own brother chained to a wall in their basement laboratory. The woman Jonah had been trying to protect was bound to a metal table, her blood dripping into a bucket beneath it with the aid of tubes in her neck that were designed to leave what looked like fang marks. A vampire was clamped to another wall, nearly dead.
They’d rescued Eron and Aria from that basement, but unlike the vampires, Jonah needed human medical attention. There was no way Jake could have taken Jonah to the hospital as injured as he was without the cops being called an
d questions asked that they couldn’t possibly answer. In the end, Jonah persuaded him that leaving him there to call in the “attack” was the best option.
“You had to. How else was I going to explain what happened that night without all of us winding up in the nut house?” Jonah let out a small laugh, devoid of humor. “And to think that all these years I thought you’d imagined these creatures. Demons and vampires. Shit.”
“Yeah, sometimes I don’t even believe the things I’m up against until I’m actually up against them.”
“You be careful, Jake. This stuff you’re dipping into is nuts, man. Don’t get yourself dead.”
“Or undead.”
“Jake!” Jonah’s voice clearly displayed his lack of amusement. “I’m serious. You go too far with things, always trying to prove something.”
“We have the same job, Joe. My bad guys are just scarier than yours.”
“Why do they have to be your bad guys? You don’t even get paid for some of the things you do.”
“I get paid for enough, and it’s not about money. Why’d you become a cop?”
“To protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.”
“Exactly.”
“No, not exactly. You’re like this because of Bobby. It’s not your fault they took him that night.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t kill the bastards.” Jake’s voice came out as a growl.
“Don’t lose your own life trying to avenge his. You’re the only brother I have.”
“You be careful too. Don’t get strung up on any more walls.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“And I’ll be there if your best backfires, sissy-boy.”
“Back at cha, ass-wipe.”
“Bitch.”
“Pussy.”
Jake grinned as he hit the end button on his cell phone. The Porter brothers never actually said the words “I love you.” They didn’t need to.
Slayer's Prey Page 2
