by Cat Devon
“Words are different than images,” Alex said, washing his dagger under the bathroom hot-water faucet.
“Who was that?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Was he from Vamptown?”
“Of course not. There’s no way they’d—”
“They’d what?” she interrupted him. “Try to kill you? You said they wanted to kill me.”
“They don’t want to. They just think that you are a threat to them.”
“Oh, that’s okay then. As long as they don’t want to kill me, everything is just peachy,” she shot back. Maybe she wasn’t as calm as she thought.
“They’re not the only ones who want to kill you.”
“What happened to that vampire you just fought? He disintegrated. Does that mean he’s dead?”
“He’s not coming back, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe you should have let me question him before you killed him.”
“Right. Like that would have worked.”
“It might have. We’ll never know now. He said we had a bounty on our heads. Who do you think set that up? I feel like we are wanted by everyone.”
“Several names come to mind.”
“Maybe to your mind. Not mine. And since I can’t read your mind, I have no idea who is on your list.”
“I’ll tell you later.” He returned his deadly dagger to his boot. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?” she said.
“Neutral territory.”
“Switzerland?”
“Lake Michigan,” he said.
“I can’t swim.”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re heading for a yacht. No swimming required.”
“Wait!”
“For what?”
“For an explanation. Like how we’re going to get to this yacht.”
“The same way we got here,” he said.
“You can walk on water?”
“No, but I can levitate above it for short periods of time.”
“How short?”
“Short enough to get us on board.”
“How can you be sure? Have you done this before?” she demanded.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means not exactly. Come on. We don’t have all day.”
“It’s the evening, actually.”
“Fine, we don’t have all night then.”
Keira paused to take a deep breath. The day was starting to take a toll on her.
Alex turned and looked at her with a question in his eyes.
“I’ve never seen a vampire fight before,” she said quietly. “You’re right. The image is different from the words.”
“Is that what has you spooked?”
“All of this has me spooked.”
“Good. Maybe that will inspire you to stay close to me.”
She was already inspired, as he put it, to stay close to him. Too close. Seeing him battle that other vampire had scared the hell out of her on numerous levels. She’d been afraid of the vicious hatred in that other vampire’s glowing eyes. She’d been afraid Alex would be hurt or killed. She’d been afraid that the vampire she loved … whoa.
“You’re thinking too much,” Alex told her as he took her in his arms. “Let’s go.”
* * *
“What do you mean they got away?” Lynch viewed the four vampires in his office with deadly anger. They were members of his clan. They had sworn allegiance and obedience to him. Their duty was to accomplish whatever order he gave them. “As temporary acting director of operations, this is on you, Pierre. I’m terminating you effective immediately.” One precise throw and one throaty gurgle later resulted in Pierre disintegrating.
“Our guy only ran into them by accident,” the tallest of the three remaining vampires said. Lynch knew his name was Robin but he liked to be called Yuri, which is why Lynch didn’t call him anything at all. It was all about maintaining discipline and power. Lynch got to decide how to address his underlings.
“So you’ve said. ‘Our guy,’ as you so poetically refer to him, was at this questionable hotel indulging in questionable sexual activity when he stumbled upon Sanchez. A stroke of luck,” Lynch said.
“That’s right.”
“Yet he wasted an excellent opportunity presented to him by fate.”
“He paid for that mistake with his life.”
“I am aware of that. I saw the video our guy took with his smartphone before he was obliterated. Thankfully all video feeds from Gold Coast vamps go through my office or I might never have known about this mishap.”
“True.”
“Forcing Sanchez to leave Vamptown is the best way to capture this hunter’s granddaughter. But it’s only a matter of time before they figure out what is going on. That would be a very bad thing for our operation. Do you understand?” Lynch said.
“Yes, master.”
“Then you must understand that I can’t allow these kinds of mistakes.” Lynch’s voice turned kind.
Robin aka Yuri had been around Lynch long enough to know that kindness was not a good thing. His face reflected his fear. “But master, I’m just the messenger.”
Lynch nodded in commiseration. “I know that saying about not killing the messenger. Normally I might believe it. But not today.”
“But—”
“Silence! It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.” With one swift move, Lynch stood and killed the tall vampire, who disintegrated into tiny bits before disappearing. Reaching for the white napkin next to the shot glass of blood on his desk, Lynch wiped Yuri’s blood from the knife he’d just used on him.
“Do the rest of you comprehend the seriousness of this situation?” Lynch asked the three vampires who remained in his office with him.
“Yes, master.”
“I can’t hear you.”
“YES, MASTER!”
“Just so we are perfectly clear, I will not tolerate stupidity or mistakes. Understood?”
“YES, MASTER!”
“Good. I’m relieved to hear that. I really don’t enjoy having to slash throats, and it’s petty of you to make me do so. Don’t do it again.”
* * *
Keira opened eyes that she had kept clamped shut since Alex had grabbed her at the hotel and headed for the lake. She didn’t want to see him levitating over water. She didn’t want to worry about the height of the waves on Lake Michigan or all the other vessels out there. She told herself she just needed to have blind faith in Alex and his abilities.
He’d certainly gone above and beyond to protect her.
They were a team. When she was in his arms, it was difficult if not downright impossible to keep a clear head anyway.
Her feet hit the deck with a gentle slap. Time to open her eyes and look around. She was no expert but this looked like a nice-sized yacht. Not billionaire-helicopter-pad big or sailboat tiny. “Nice ship,” Keira said.
“It’s a boat. You can fit a boat on a ship but you can’t fit a ship on a boat. That’s how you can tell the difference. A little something from my days as a United States Marine.”
She wanted to ask him more about his days as a marine but realized he didn’t like to talk about his past. Not that that had stopped her before. But she didn’t feel like having Alex put up defensive walls right now. There was enough stress just trying to stay ahead of everyone after them. “Whose boat is this?”
“A guy who spends most of his time in Abu Dhabi.”
“Is he a vampire, too?”
“Some would describe him that way. Come on, let’s go belowdecks.”
She made it down the steps leading to a salon with deep couches in a rich burgundy and what looked like original artwork on the walls when the first hint of claustrophobia hit her. There was a small galley kitchen with stainless appliances toward the back.
“Are you hungry?” he asked her.
She was too panicky to be hungry but knew she should eat.<
br />
“Won’t the owner be upset with us trespassing on his boat?” she said.
“He’ll never know.”
“He will if we clean out his fridge. But if he’s rarely on this boat, there probably isn’t any food in there anyway.”
“Good point. I’ve gotten out of the habit of thinking about food.”
“You just think about blood.”
“Not all the time,” he said.
“Are you thinking about it right now?”
“Only as far as trying to figure out this latest blood theft and the killings. I knew Thomas. I just spoke with him earlier today. Why would someone want to obliterate him?”
“You’re asking the wrong person.”
“You’re right. I am. I should be asking Lynch.”
“I only met him for a brief moment but he didn’t seem like the kind to confess his crimes.”
“True. Listen, if you’d like to take a nap there is a bedroom below with a bath.”
“No thanks. In fact, I’d rather get back on deck.” She scrambled up the steps. The sky was getting darker now. “The fireworks should be starting soon.”
“That’s right. It’s the Fourth of July. When I was a kid growing up in Chicago this holiday was a big deal at my last foster home.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“My mom died when I was a toddler. I never knew my dad.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. There are worse things.”
“Things like being a vampire?”
“So we’re back to that, are we?”
“I’m just saying that it’s a lot to process in a day or two.”
“You’re handling it well.”
His compliment surprised her. “You think so?”
He nodded.
“It doesn’t always feel like I’m handling it well. I kept my eyes closed the entire trip here.”
“I know.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek.
“I’m not a wimp.”
“I know that, too.”
“I got a little claustrophobic belowdecks.”
“The first time I boarded a transport ship I hated it,” he admitted.
“Did you get seasick?”
“That wasn’t the problem. The sleeping bunks were on top of one another, three to a vertical row. Little did I know that would seem like luxury once we hit land and we had to dig foxholes.”
“Are you saying you’re claustrophobic, too?”
“I’m just saying I know what fear is.”
“You didn’t show any fear when you were fighting that vampire.”
“Just because I don’t show it, doesn’t mean I don’t feel it,” Alex said gruffly before changing the subject. “If your grandfather is really still alive, do you think he’d come looking for you?”
She answered truthfully. “I would think so, but he’s not who I thought he was so I can’t be sure.”
“We’ve got to get to his journal. There is information in it, or so legend has it, that pertains to how vampires process blood that would be extremely detrimental if it got out.”
“It’s in a safe place,” she said.
“You still don’t trust me enough to tell me.”
She nervously fingered her evil eye ring. “I want to trust you completely.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“This could be a con. Maybe you and Pat arranged to make it seem like we had to go on the run.
“You think too much.”
“Before you told me that I didn’t think enough. There’s no making you happy.” She held up her hand. “I know, I know. Handing over the journal would make you happy.”
He took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips, where he kissed the center of her palm before caressing her skin with the tip of his tongue.
“That tickles,” she warned him. It also made her seriously hot and filled with the urgent need to get naked with him immediately.
“Then I must be doing something wrong,” he murmured.
“No, you’re pretty much doing everything right,” she told him. Wanting him to put his hands and his lips all over her wasn’t practical given the logistics of the yacht. They’d have more privacy belowdecks, but that wasn’t an option. Stripping up here wasn’t an option, either. Yes, night was falling, but there were other boats on the water waiting for the fireworks.
Maybe there was a deck chair somewhere that would do the trick?
She saw his eyes darken even more, reflecting the sexual hunger she was feeling. She had to take a step back or she would have tossed caution to the wind. Had he attempted to hold on to her, she doubted she would have argued with him, but he let her go.
Alex’s voice was calm as he returned their conversation to the case. “Is there someplace special your grandfather would go if he wanted to meet with you?”
“I assume he’d call my phone but I don’t have that with me right now.” She was rather pleased with how calm she sounded. “It’s back at your loft. I still can’t believe you think he’s alive. We spread his ashes over Lake Michigan.”
“You spread someone’s ashes. I’m not sure they were his.”
“You think he killed your friend Thomas?”
“Someone did and they made it look like The Executioner’s style of beheading.”
“Why would he fake his own death?” she asked.
“So no one would look for him.”
“I thought you said there hadn’t been any killings since his death.”
“He could have just been biding his time.”
“If he was alive, he would have come to my mom’s memorial service,” she said. Her throat felt like sandpaper as she said the words. “He would have been there somehow, someway.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t? Maybe he was in disguise.”
“It was a very small ceremony and I knew everyone there.”
“Maybe he watched from a distance.”
“Or maybe he’s being blamed for something he didn’t do because he’s no longer with us,” she said.
“That is another possibility.”
“If that’s the case, then who would profit by such a con?”
“It could be a deliberate distraction to keep us off the blood theft case.”
“There were more thefts, right?”
He nodded. “Last night and again this morning. The thief last night was caught and questioned.”
“By the police?”
“By Thomas from the Gold Coast clan.”
“And what did he discover?”
“Thomas told me Warren didn’t talk.”
“Is that the same Warren that Daniella was talking about in her premonition? You remember she said that war was coming and then added maybe Warren is coming.”
“It’s possible. He was a research assistant in a biotech lab. I’m still trying to track Warren down.”
“How are you going to do that when you’re on the run with me?”
“It will be a little more challenging,” he admitted. “But not impossible.”
Another thought occurred to her, stirring up new fear. “What about Benji and Liz? Will your clan go after them in an attempt to get to me?”
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“That’s not how we do things.”
“Is it the way the Gold Coast clan does things?”
“Possibly, which is why I have someone watching out for your friends. I have since you first told me about them.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Are they okay?”
“So far, yes.”
“What do we do next?”
“I’ve put out a BOLO on Warren. Hopefully the Chicago police will pick him up, and when they do I’ll take him off their hands.”
“And do what with him? Disintegrate him like you did that vampire?”
“Warren isn’t a vampire. At least not a full vampire.” Alex ran an impatient hand through his dark hair. “It’s compl
icated.”
“Like anything about this is simple?” she said before looking over his shoulder. “Does your cloaking ability only work on humans?”
“Why?”
“Because something is crawling up the side of this boat.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Not something. Someone,” Alex said as he leaned over the railing to help the figure in scuba gear onto the boat. “What the hell, Craig. How did you know where to find us? Are you alone?”
Craig shoved his goggles away from his face. “Yes, I’m alone.”
“Were you followed?”
“Only by a couple of carp,” Craig said.
“Is that some kind of supernatural being?” Keira asked.
“No, it’s an invasive species of fish in the lake.”
“Right. That kind of carp. The Asian carp. I did a story about them.”
“You must be Keira. I’m Craig.” He held out his hand. “I’m Alex’s partner at the police department.”
She shook his hand. He had a firm grip and a direct gaze. “How did you find us?” she asked.
“It wasn’t easy. I figured you might head for neutral ground. Or neutral water in this case. Neville has a face recognition drone going along the shoreline but it’s not working now that it’s dark. He doesn’t have the model with night-vision capability. He is pissed because he ordered it that way but there was a problem. They had a tail on me but I lost him. I came because there’s news.”
“Which is?”
“Warren is dead. Bunny is devastated. She blames herself.”
“Thomas told me that they caught Warren red-handed trying to steal blood from one of the blood banks in Gold Coast territory.”
“And now both Thomas and Warren are dead.”
“They knew too much,” Alex said.
Craig nodded. “Bingo.”
“Are they blaming Warren’s death on The Executioner?”
“I don’t know. But I did have a brief phone conversation with Warren before he was obliterated. He said to follow the money trail. That there was more to this story than he expected and he was very close to figuring it all out.”
“Too close apparently,” Alex said. “You still haven’t said how you knew where to find me. There are a lot of boats out here. How did you know which one I was on?”
“The name.”
“What’s the name?” Keira asked.
“Latin Lover.”
“He’s lying,” Alex said.
