by Cat Devon
“I know.”
“Why would she say something like that?”
“She felt guilty. Not because she’d stolen blood but because she suspected that her lab tech Warren had. Apparently there were budget cuts that stopped their research project funding.”
Craig nodded. “I know about that but I didn’t realize Bunny’s feelings were that intense. I’ve been married to her for decades so you’d think I’d know her by now.”
“That’s another thing. I didn’t realize you guys were around during the Chicago Fire.”
“We don’t talk about those days much.”
“Why not?”
“You don’t talk about the days before your transformation.”
“Keira said her grandfather’s journal started right before the fire.”
“What’s that got to do with us?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out here.”
“I’m not aware of any connection.”
“It’s the stuff we’re not aware of that worries me,” Alex said.
That was still the case when he pulled into the parking lot of the biotech company. He flashed his badge at the security guard, who gestured for him to him pass through a metal detector. Since Alex had vamp weaponry like daggers on board, he wasn’t about to do that.
Looking into the guard’s eyes, he said, “You will not make me go through the detector.” Then Alex pointed his hand at the security camera, pausing it in a way that would not alert the security person watching it. “What do you know about the blood theft?”
“It wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t on duty.”
“What have you heard?”
“That everyone suspects the lab tech in that department.”
“Warren?”
“Yeah, that’s him. He’s usually here first thing in the morning but he didn’t show up for work today.”
On the way over, Alex had asked Neville for background checks on the security crew. Neville could do it faster and with more detail than going through official police lines. No doubt doing so broke all kinds of privacy laws, but it had to be done. The situation was too risky with the threat of a turf war with Gold Coast vamps.
“What else can you tell me about Warren?”
“He was on the nerdy side. Most who work here are. But he was weird. Had a strange look in his eyes.”
A strange look as in someone who had been compelled? Alex had seen the ID photo of Warren, who’d looked like someone who’d be right at home in one of Alex’s fave sitcoms, The Big Bang Theory. He hadn’t noticed anything strange about his gaze.
“Did he always look that way?” Alex asked.
“No.”
“When did you notice him appearing different than before?”
“Yesterday.”
Alex tried asking a few other quick questions but decided he’d gotten all he could from this particular guard. “You won’t remember me asking you any questions.”
His next step was to return the security cameras to their normal operation before going to the lab area where the blood was taken. Bunny met him at the door to Lab 7 with its huge RESTRICTED sign.
He did his thing on the security camera in the corner aimed at them before speaking.
“Any sign of Warren?”
“No. I’m worried.”
“Right.”
She put her hand out to stop Alex from going through the doors into the lab. “When was the last time you fed?”
He frowned. “Why?”
“If you haven’t fed lately the scent of blood can be overwhelming given our heightened sense of smell.”
“It’s not like I carry a six-pack of blood with me,” he said.
“And it’s not like you can drink from one of the human employees.”
“Of course not.”
“Then you’d better have this.” She handed him a beaker filled with a red liquid.
He eyed it suspiciously. “What is it?”
“Something I’ve been working on.”
“That doesn’t tell me much.”
“You need to drink it.”
“Hold on,” Craig said from behind them.
“What are you doing here?” Alex said.
“I thought you might need this.” He handed Alex a certified bottle of Vamptown blood.
“I wanted him to try my special blend,” Bunny said.
“I love you, hon, but that stuff tastes awful,” Craig said.
Alex downed the blood and handed the empty bottle back to Craig.
“Let’s get this done,” he said, nodding toward the door.
Bunny swiped her employee ID card on the security panel as well as putting her finger on the scanner. Inside, the place was full of scientific and chemical equipment all beyond Alex’s understanding, but it did remind him of Doc Boomer’s lab. Bunny was right. The place was permeated with a strong scent of blood. Even though he’d just fed, the smell was distracting, almost making him forget to address the security cameras in this area.
“Where do you store the blood?” Alex asked Bunny.
She showed him the refrigerated unit.
“How much is missing?”
“All of it. A total of several hundred units.”
“Have the crime scene investigators come and looked for fingerprints?”
Bunny nodded. “They were here earlier.”
“I checked with them when I left,” Craig said. “There were too many prints on the doorway to lift anything definitive. Warren’s prints were included, though. So were Bunny’s and a several other employees.”
“When did you discover the theft?” Alex asked Bunny.
“Around ten this morning when I went to access some for our project,” she replied.
“We will consider this an official police investigation as well as a Vamptown investigation,” Alex said before checking his smartphone for a text. “Neville didn’t find anything suspicious among the security staff or the rest of the lab employees, either. Just Warren. He apparently had some bad habits.”
“Bad habits?”
“Very bad. The kind that can get you killed.”
* * *
Keira focused on the bottle of water on the kitchen counter. Stretching out her hands, she focused on it.
“You need to focus,” Zoe said. “All powers require intense focus.”
“I am focusing,” Keira said. She squinted but nothing happened to the bottle of water. It stood there mocking her.
“Uh-oh,” Zoe said. “The sirens have gone off.”
“I thought only vampires could hear them,” Keira said.
“Vampires and witches,” Zoe said.
“So you’re not the only witch? There are others?”
“There’s my grandmother Irma. I told you we both moved here from Boston.”
“And there’s me,” a disembodied voice said.
Keira looked around and saw no one.
“Down here,” the voice said.
There at her feet sat a gray cat.
“Is this your cat?” Keira asked Zoe.
Zoe nodded and reached in the pocket of her maxi skirt for a small bottle. “Sniff this,” she told Keira.
Keira shook her head and took a step back. “No way.”
“She’s a feisty one.”
Keira looked at the cat.
“Yes, I talk,” the cat said. “Get over it. We’ve got more urgent issues to manage. Like the fact we’re under attack.”
“I am not going back into that damn tunnel,” Keira said vehemently.
“This is just lavender. A calming scent,” Zoe said, waving the uncorked bottle under Keira’s nose.
Keira felt the effect instantly. Her rising panic was stilled.
“It’s just lavender … and magic,” the cat said.
Zoe reached for the brick over the bed that opened the hidden entrance to the tunnel before returning to Keira and putting an arm around her. “It will be all right,” Zoe said. “We just need to get to our safe plac
e.”
Keira blinked as the cat leapt or floated onto the crook of Zoe’s other arm.
“Maybe you should have sniffed some of that soothing spell yourself, Zoe,” the cat said. “My name is Bella, by the way, Keira. Can she hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you,” Keira said. She felt as if she were floating on a cloud—like something out of a hazy dream.
“We’re going the wrong way,” Bella said as the door into the tunnel closed behind them and they started moving forward. “We’re supposed to go left, not right.”
With a jerk of her head, Zoe jacked up the lights, intensifying them to almost sunlight brightness. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Bella said.
“You’re trusting our safety to a cat?” Keira said.
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” Bella said. “Now we go right at the next intersection and down these stairs. Careful now.”
“Where are we?” Keira asked, suddenly confused.
“Where do you think we are?” Zoe said as she guided Keira along.
“It looks like we’re in a park near Lake Michigan. The gardens at Millennium Park.”
“Your happy place?”
“Is it real?” Keira whispered.
“Does it matter?
“You drugged me and now I’m hallucinating.”
“But you’re not panicking and that’s a good thing,” Zoe pointed out.
“What about you, Zoe?” Bella sounded worried. “Are you panicking?”
“Nope,” Zoe said in a nervous rush. “I refuse to panic. No panicking allowed. No one is allowed to panic. Are we clear on that?”
“You’re hyperventilating,” Bella said.
“You’re okay.” Keira felt the need to reassure the witch who’d put a spell on her. How bizarre was that? She should be fighting to escape, not trying to be empathetic and patting Zoe’s hand.
“If you two are done with that touching besties display, the all-clear just sounded,” Bella said.
“That was fast,” Zoe said.
They quickly retraced their steps. Once they reentered the loft, Keira saw a woman with white hair waiting for them. She reminded Keira of Betty White. At first she wondered if she was channeling some sort of Golden Girls hallucination.
“Gram, what are you doing here?” Zoe said.
Then the woman spoke. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yes.”
“I had to make sure.”
“Was there another attack?” Zoe asked. “The all-clear came fast.”
“No attack. It was another false alarm. If the truth be told, I really wanted to meet the girl who has Alex and Damon so riled up.”
“That would be me,” Keira said with a big grin as Zoe guided her to the couch.
”I had to give her a soothing lavender spell,” Zoe explained. “She doesn’t like small places and didn’t want to go into the tunnel.”
“I heard she blasted a hole in the tunnel,” Zoe’s grandmother said. “It’s been fixed of course.”
“So vampires do freaky-fast construction repairs, too?” Keira said.
“Why yes, they do,” Gram said.
“I’m hungry,” Bella said as she leapt from Zoe’s hold to the back of the couch and sat next to Keira. “I don’t suppose you have any caviar in the fridge, do you?” She blinked up at Keira with adorable anticipation.
“I haven’t looked in the fridge lately,” Keira said.
Bella’s ears perked up. “So there could be caviar in there?”
“Doubtful,” Zoe said.
“Come with me, Bella.” Zoe’s grandmother gathered the cat in her arms. “We’ll go home and have some eye of newt. Just kidding.”
Shortly after they’d made their departure, Alex appeared.
“Another hard day at the office, dear?” Keira greeted him.
He eyed Zoe suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”
“She’s babysitting me,” Keira piped up.
“Zoe, I told you to get Sierra,” Alex said.
“And I told you that she is busy,” Zoe said. “You’ve got to stop ordering us around, Alex.”
“I tell him that all the time,” Keira said.
“There’s been another theft,” he said.
“Here in Vamptown? What?” Zoe said in answer to his angry glare. “She knows about Vamptown.”
“You told her?”
“Yes.”
Alex swore under his breath.
“Why were you trying to keep that secret?” Keira asked.
“That intel was on a need-to-know basis,” Alex said. “And you didn’t need to know in the beginning. Keeping it secret was a way to keep Vamptown safe. As we used to say in the marine corps, ‘Loose lips sink ships.’”
“Vampires tend to be pretty suspicious,” Zoe said. “They don’t trust easily.”
“We especially don’t trust witches or vampire hunters easily,” Alex said.
“Yet we are able to work well together in the end,” Zoe said cheerfully.
“How much did you tell her?” he demanded.
“Everything,” Keira said.
“Not everything,” Zoe corrected her. “Just some of the highlights. I’m not sensing any danger from her,” she added.
“Thank you,” Keira said. “Right back atcha.”
“High five.” Zoe fist-bumped Keira.
Alex couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “I only left you alone for a few hours.”
“Not alone,” Keira said. “You left me with Zoe.”
“It’s not like I let her escape,” Zoe said. “I could have done that but I didn’t.”
“I’ve decided escaping might not be in my best interests after all,” Keira said.
“Ya think?” Alex drawled.
“Zoe said I had to learn how to manage and control my powers before trying to go solo.”
“Actually I said that going solo was not a good idea given the fact that you couldn’t control your powers,” Zoe corrected her.
“So now you think you’re Wonder Woman?” Alex said.
“Of course not. Besides, if we are talking about superheroes then Spider-Man has a special place in my heart. He’s … he’s Benji’s favorite.” The thought of her godson was enough to put a lump in her throat.
“You’re not going to cry, are you?” Alex eyed her with equal parts alarm and concern.
“I’ve got to get going,” Zoe said. “And I’m sure you two can get along just fine without me.”
Keira was so distracted by the intensity of Alex’s gaze that she didn’t even say good-bye to Zoe. She distantly recognized that the witch had departed the loft, but most of Keira’s senses were focused on Alex. Had he looked this good when he’d left this morning? Or was her attraction to him growing each time she saw him?
She remembered the silky feel of his dark hair between her fingers and longed to touch him again.
“Tell me about the latest theft,” Keira said somewhat desperately. It was either that or plaster herself against his hot body.
“I’ve got to do this first.” Tugging her into his arms, he kissed her with sensual skill and total confidence. She didn’t know if those were natural attributes of his or a result of his vampire heritage.
“This is something special,” she whispered against his mouth. “You feel it, too, right?”
“Oh yeah.” He ran his hand down her spine to caress her bottom.
“Is this some normal vampire thing?”
“No, this is something unique.”
“This is going to get complicated, isn’t it?”
“It already is,” he said.
“I know. But I can’t seem to fight it,” she muttered as she nibbled her way around his lower lip. “I don’t want to fight it. I just want you.”
“I want you, too.”
“I know you do.” She could feel his arousal pressed against her. Whatever this was between them, it was wild and raw.
Alex deepened the kiss, stroki
ng her tongue with his. She moaned with pleasure. He was a master at the art of seducing her with his mouth, knowing just when to thrust and when to slide.
Cupping her derriere with both hands, he lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his hips so that her moist core was pressed against the throbbing power beneath his zipper. The shot of desire was like a high-voltage shock that coursed through her entire body. She was achingly aware of every move he made. She wanted him inside of her right now.
She was hot and throbbing from the erotic friction he was creating. His heart beat with raging power against her. So did the rest of his body. There was so much raging power going on her that all she could do was eagerly respond to the pounding, pounding, pounding … Wait, was that pounding on the front door?
The noise seeped through her sex-hazed senses. So did the voice. “Open up, Alex! It’s Pat. I have urgent news!”
Chapter Fourteen
Swearing under his breath, Alex released Keira and went to the door. “This had better be good,” he growled as he let Pat into the loft.
“It’s not good,” Pat said. “It’s bad. Very bad.”
“Go on.”
“We have reason to believe that The Executioner is still alive,” Pat said.
“My grandfather is alive?” Keira repeated. “But how is that possible? Where is he? Is he okay?”
Pat said, “He’s okay enough to have obliterated two vampires a few hours ago, including Thomas Wentworth from the Gold Coast clan.”
Keira took a step back at the look of hatred that Pat shot her way. “I don’t understand. How could he come back from the dead?”
“Easy if he never died in the first place,” Pat retorted.
“He had an aneurysm,” she said. “He was dead by the time we got to the hospital.”
“Did you see the body?” Pat demanded.
“Yes,” she said unsteadily. “I didn’t get to say good-bye to him while he was still alive so I told him after he passed.”
Pat remained unmoved. “Everything you say could be a lie.”
“Why would I do that?” she said.
“To catch us off guard,” Pat said. “Like the Trojan Horse, you come into Vamptown and then attack.”
“I haven’t attacked anyone except for the tunnel, and that was as much a surprise to me as it was to all of you,” she said.
“So you claim.”
“I’m telling you the truth. Give me a polygraph test. That will prove I’m telling the truth.”
