by Cat Devon
She shivered with the fierce pleasure created by his caress. His body was pressed against hers, allowing her to feel his arousal and igniting her passion even more. He kept kissing her as he lowered his hand over her stomach to the waistband of her pants and lower.
Her knees almost gave way as he threaded his fingers through the crisp curls on her mound before fingering her clitoris with the tip of his thumb. Every pulse in her body was beating with wild anticipation of the shards of rapture to come. The friction he created was driving her mad.
She gasped with excitement and held her breath waiting for his next move. Her entire body was vibrating on the verge of something spectacular when Alex’s phone pinged, indicating a text.
“No.” She would have grabbed his hand to prevent him from answering but he held her wrists captive.
She mourned the loss of his darkly intimate touch.
He swore as he read the message. He released her. “I have to go.”
He was gone in an instant, leaving her breathless, frustrated, and yearning for more yet again.
* * *
Alex couldn’t believe how powerful his feelings for Keira were becoming. He’d gone home to see if there was a tie between Craig and Bunny and The Executioner’s journal. Instead he’d been distracted and compelled to kiss Keira. He’d been ready to take her against that brick wall and she’d seemed happy to let him do so. She was passionate and fierce despite the fact that she knew he was a vampire. This was a first for him. Something as highly inflammable as his desire for Keira was a dangerous thing. Why did she have to be The One? The why-her, why-now questions kept flaring through his brain as he raced at vamp speed back to the police station.
The text he’d received was an urgent summons in regard to the blood thefts. It had come from Thomas Wentworth, the Chicago police detective in charge of the special cases unit in the Gold Coast district.
Thomas was waiting for Alex at Alex’s police district station. The two of them entered the specialized interrogation room where Alex had spoken to Bunny earlier.
“We’re on neutral ground here,” Thomas said. “Not on Vamptown or Gold Coast turf.”
Alex got right to the point. “Have you used your cleanup crews to hide evidence in these blood thefts?” The vampires in each clan had the means to correct any situation that might reveal their existence. They also had the ability to create new identities as needed.
“I came to ask you the same thing,” Thomas said.
“Why would we try to rob a location on our own turf?” Alex said.
“Why would we?” Thomas countered. “The blood banks are on our turf. The funeral home was on yours. The South Shore vamps have been noticeably quiet on this.”
“You’ve got a point.”
Even though Thomas was part of the Gold Coast clan, Alex had always had a relatively good working relationship with him.
“I’ve got some of my team watching the South Shore clan,” Thomas said.
“You’ve probably got some watching our clan as well.”
“Affirmative,” Thomas said. “Just as you’re watching us.”
“Are you aware that Lynch came to see me yesterday?”
Thomas nodded. “I am aware, yes.”
“Were there any reports in your area about more thefts?”
Thomas’s expression remained impassive but Alex picked up on something. “There was, wasn’t there.”
“We took care of it.”
“How?”
“That’s our business.”
“Not if it involves humans. You know that our treaty requires us to remain under the human radar,” Alex reminded him.
“As I said, we took care of it.”
“Do you have someone in custody?”
“Not in police custody, no,” Thomas said.
“Dammit, you know that wasn’t what I meant.”
“And you know I’m not at liberty to reveal Gold Coast intel.”
“Does the person you have in custody have ties to the South Shore vamps?” Alex asked.
“None that I could discover, no.”
“Do they have ties to Vamptown?”
“Yes.”
“You’re holding Warren,” Alex said. No wonder the research tech hadn’t shown up for work today. “Is he still alive?”
“Affirmative.”
“And you think he is behind all the thefts?”
“He was behind the one last night. We caught him red-handed,” Thomas said.
“He’s not a member of our clan,” Alex pointed out.
“He works for a member of your clan.”
“Wrong. He works for the same medical biochemical company as a member of our clan. There’s a difference.”
Thomas shrugged. “If you say so.”
“Have you tied him to the other thefts?”
“He appears to have an airtight alibi for the one in Vamptown.”
“Which serves to prove that there is still someone out there trying to steal blood,” Alex said.
“Or you could have staged the robbery at the funeral home as a red herring. After all, no blood was removed from that site. In fact, it is the only attempted theft out of the five so far.”
“We could have, but we didn’t.” Alex abruptly changed the subject. “What about the fire?”
Thomas didn’t pretend not to know what Alex was talking about. “The fire at the vampire hunter’s apartment? I have no knowledge of that.”
“No knowledge” was the vampire’s way of saying maybe I did it, maybe I didn’t.
“She’s not a vampire hunter,” Alex corrected him.
“She’s dangerous to all who would protect her,” Thomas said.
“Why?”
“I’ve already said too much.”
Alex could tell that he wouldn’t get any more information out of Thomas on that issue so he returned to the thefts. “What about Warren? What are you going to do with him?”
“Turn him over to you. Maybe you can get more out of him than we did. But before I do that, there is still the matter of The Executioner’s journal. We want it.”
“I’m aware.” Alex deliberately used the same words his Gold Coast counterpart had.
“If you have it, I recommend turning it over to me.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Thomas said.
“Won’t.”
“So you do have it?”
Alex just smiled.
“I don’t envy you, my friend,” Thomas told him. “I have a feeling things are going to get very rough around here very soon.” With that warning, Thomas was gone, leaving Alex wondering what the hell was coming next.
* * *
Lynch stood looking at the spectacular view of the Chicago skyline from his penthouse apartment. The windows were specially treated to block out the worst of the sunlight. Turning to face his temporary acting head of operations, Pierre Dubois, he said, “Vamptown won’t know what hit them.” He paused a moment before happily admitting, “I’m looking forward to messing with them.”
He was still peeved that he hadn’t discovered the means by which the vampires in Vamptown were able to tolerate sunlight with such ease. While it was true Gold Coast vamps didn’t sizzle when in the sun, that ability was a drain on their system. But his current medical project was much more important. The blood thefts were a necessary component of his experiment, which was cloaked with the utmost security. He was the only one who knew the details. The time was quickly coming when the world would know of his brilliance, but for now the information remained highly classified by him.
Eyeing Pierre, he said, “There’s nothing you’re keeping from me, is there? And remember the new protocol of calling me master.”
“No, master. I’m not keeping anything from you.”
“I’m asking because your predecessor’s predecessor Douglas should have come to me with his suspicions about Keira. Instead he had her followed from the press luncheon to the police s
tation without telling me anything about it. Had he informed me of his actions, I could have grabbed her at that time.”
“He wasn’t certain of her tie to The Executioner.”
Lynch glared at him. “You’re not defending him, are you?”
“No, master.” Pierre hung his head.
“Good.” Lynch was running out of qualified applicants for the position of director of operations. He’d hate to have to terminate another so quickly. But he would do so if necessary.
“Can you fill me in on your master plan, master?”
“I could but I don’t think I will at this point,” Lynch replied. “It is rather brilliant if I do say so myself … and I do.”
“I’m sure it is, master.”
“I’m aware that there were those in the Gold Coast clan who doubted my ability to run things when I took over. But since that time I’ve tripled our wealth in a relatively short period of time. And that’s nothing compared with what is going to happen soon. My medical project is projected to increase our wealth a thousandfold. I’m the only one who is capable of these accomplishments. No one else. No other chemist. No other innovator. No other leader. Just me.”
“There is no one like you, master,” Pierre quickly acknowledged.
“Exactly. I’m glad we see eye-to-eye on that fact.”
“If there is anything I can do to be of assistance, master?”
“Just do your job,” Lynch said. “That’s all I ask of anyone. Do your job perfectly and there won’t be any problems.” He paused for a moment before smiling. “Unless you live in Vamptown, that is. In which case you’ll be dealing with plenty of problems. As I said earlier, they won’t know what hit them.”
* * *
“I’m getting stiff from just sitting around doing nothing,” Keira told Bruce, who had joined her within moments of Alex leaving. Actually most of her restless body aches were Alex’s fault for leaving her on the verge of orgasm. Not that she was sharing that with Bruce. “I need to get some fresh air and take a walk.”
“I’ve got the next best thing,” Bruce said. “A Pilates workout DVD. I’m qualified as an instructor. I took an online course.”
“I’m not interested in a workout,” she said impatiently. “What about the news? Have there been any other incidents?”
“Incidents?”
“Trouble. Alex lit out of here…”
“As if on fire.” Bruce completed the sentence for her.
She grimaced.
“Sorry,” he said. “Bad choice of words given your apartment fire.”
“I’m glad you got some of my things out. The photo albums in the bookcase mean the world to me.”
She opened one up but the pages were blank. “What?” She could hardly frame the word. “Who took the photos out of here? I want them back.” She jabbed her finger against Bruce’s chest, wrinkling his impeccably pressed lavender shirt. “Hand them over!”
“I don’t have them.”
“Then who does?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But we’ve got bigger problems at the moment.”
“Like what?”
“Like that siren going off.”
Keira frowned. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Only vampires can hear it.”
“Why is it going off?”
“Because we’re being invaded,” Bruce said.
Chapter Eleven
“Invaded?” Keira repeated in alarm. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Stay calm,” Bruce said. “I’m pretty sure we are supposed to stay calm.”
“Who is invading us?”
“Hostiles of some sort. We have to head for the shelter.”
“What shelter?”
He rushed over to the bed and pushed a brick above the intricately carved headboard. A panel in the wall slid open, revealing a dark entryway.
“Come on.” Bruce held out his hand. “We’ve got to move fast.”
She vehemently shook her head. “No way. I’m claustrophobic. I am not going in there.”
“Yes, you are,” Alex said, appearing out of no place as he so often did. “Keep her safe,” he told Bruce before shoving her into the dark confines and closing the panel.
* * *
Alex was ready for battle. “What have we got?” he demanded even as he activated the loft’s flat-screen TV monitors, which were tied into Vamptown’s security command center. Thomas had just warned him that things were going to get rough. Moments later Alex heard the Vamptown siren go off. Vampire hearing was such that even though Alex was outside of the limits of Vamptown, he wasn’t outside the range of the siren system installed to protect them all.
“Unknown hostiles,” Nick replied through the system.
Alex watched the screen as shadowy figures walked with rapid precision down the street. There were multitudes of them. A small army with daggers and swords.
Alex was downstairs in a flash with his own weapons in hand. Damon met him at the door leading outside. “Where are they?”
“I’m not seeing or sensing anything,” Damon said.
“You’re a Demon Hunter. If they were demons, you’d sense them, right?” Alex said.
“Right.”
“So they must be something else. Maybe they have cloaking abilities to make them invisible,” Alex suggested, keeping his back to the wall as he quickly surveyed their surroundings. “What about the humans in the vicinity?”
“Neville sent out a text alert that this area is under a tornado warning and to seek immediate cover. Hopefully that keeps them indoors.”
“We know what you did.” The message—at a frequency only vamps could discern—floated in the air all around them.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Alex said. The message sounded personal. Was it directed at him or all of Vamptown? Was it referring to the blood thefts or something else? “Who is protecting the funeral home?”
“Nick and Ronan are in charge of that,” Damon said.
“Everyone else is in the shelter, right?”
“Right.” Damon said.
Alex blocked out the raw panic he’d seen in Keira’s eyes as he’d shoved her into the tunnel. He couldn’t think about that now. He needed to focus on the imminent attack.
“Something is off about this,” Damon said.
“Did you get that message about knowing what we did?”
Damon nodded.
An eerie howl filled the air.
“What the hell?” Alex had never heard anything like it. “Demons?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m not standing here waiting for something to happen,” Alex growled before stepping onto the deserted sidewalk. “Bring it on!” he yelled. “Show yourselves, you bastards!”
* * *
“I need to get out!” Keira’s words came out as a gasp instead of the shout she’d intended. “Get me out!”
“So you really are claustrophobic?” Bruce asked a tad nervously.
“Yes!” She was in full-blown panic mode now. “Out! Get … me … out!” She frantically scratched at the wall.
“This way out.” Bruce pulled her close and did that vamp-super-speed thing down some stairs and then through a maze of dark tunnels.
“Who goes there?” someone shouted out.
“Doc, that’s the wrong security question,” Bruce said before coming to a stop. “You’re supposed to say ‘Identify yourself and your first pet’s name.’”
“Identify yourself and name your first pet and who’s that slung over your shoulder?” Doc demanded.
“It’s Bruce, pet was Brutus, and this is Keira.” He set her down. “Not sure about the name of her first pet.”
“It’s not in the system,” Doc said.
“She has claustrophobia,” Bruce said.
“Too bad she can’t be compelled,” Doc said. “That would have cured her symptoms. Uh, what’s she doing now?”
Keira knelt down in pain. Her head felt as
if it was about to explode, and she couldn’t breathe.
“Don’t panic,” Bruce told her. “Doc is a doctor.”
“I’m a dentist actually. Currently, anyway. Doc Boomer at your service,” he said.
The pounding in her head was so bad that Keira could barely hear him.
“Do something, Doc,” Bruce said, sounding very far away.
She was aware of someone putting a hand on her back and then her arm before sliding it down to her wrist. She tried to pull away.
“I’m just checking your pulse,” Doc said in a deep loud voice. “No big deal.”
She was in a confined space surrounded by two vampires. The confined part was enough to set her off even without the cheerful bloodsuckers. Hell yes, this was a big deal.
“Talk to me,” Doc said, much the way that Alex had earlier.
This was all his fault. Alex was to blame for her being in pain. He was to blame for her home being torched. He was to blame for everything.
Her fingertips burned. She closed her eyes and saw flames leaping from the floor of her apartment up the drapes and over the furniture. Her emotions flared, consuming her in their vividness.
“I thought you said she wasn’t a witch,” Doc said.
“She’s not supposed to be a witch.”
“Then how is she able to do that?” Doc pointed to the lights that were flashing and flickering.
“Are we sure she’s doing it and not someone else?” Bruce said.
“Let me out!” she screamed, standing up and stretching out her hands. A second later she’d blasted a huge hole in the wall in front of them.
* * *
“What the hell?” Alex said. There was no sign of anyone or anything appearing on the sidewalk or streets where the screens of the security system indicated they should be. “Where are they?”
“There’s trouble beneath the funeral home,” Neville told Alex and Damon via their secure system.
An instant later they joined Nick and Ronan. “A wall from the tunnel beneath has been compromised,” Nick said.
“Compromised? It was blown to hell,” Ronan said.
“Did you catch the hostile that did it?” Alex asked.
“Yeah.” Nick pointed to Keira, who was shivering in a corner of the corridor in the funeral home basement.
