He shrugged. “Until the body is returned to Sampson, and we decide what to do with Kellerman, I've got time. Besides, the Chief ordered me to be your backup."
"I'll agree, for now. But don't take that as an invitation to try to follow me if I don't want you to."
He nodded. He'd probably been waiting for her to say something about his failed attempts at tracking her.
"Deal. I couldn't keep up with you anyway."
Surprised he'd just admitted that, she softened, but wondered how long could he work with her without letting personal feelings get in the way? “Then for now we have a truce?"
"Truce,” he said. “What about you? Are you feeling okay now?"
She straightened her spine. “Great."
"Really? Back to normal, then?"
Damn. Without a doubt, he'd seen her jump. Knew he'd caught her off guard. No sense lying about it. “Not quite,” she admitted. “But things are improving."
"How so?"
"I haven't passed out since that night in the alley.” Cynical, but what the hell.
"Jess, I know there's something wrong with you right now. You're not yourself."
She pushed off the wall. “No. To be honest, I lost some of my abilities again tonight. I didn't hear you approaching."
"What would cause that?” He shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Your guess is as good as mine. This has never happened to me before."
"We'll figure it out."
She grunted disdainfully. “All I can say is it's a good thing I'm not out with the team hunting vampires right now, isn't it?"
If she were truly honest with herself, maybe she'd never be able to go back to being human again. She'd grown accustomed to her abilities. A shiver ran down her spine. If nearly having sex with Britt made her regain some humanity, what would happen if they made love?
Britt touched her shoulder and she tensed.
"Jess, the other night, when you saw the man in the alley, what did he say to you?"
She'd almost forgotten about that. What the hell was wrong with her? When she forced herself to remember, gooseflesh broke out on her arms. “He said we meant something to each other."
"So, it was someone you knew?"
She shook her head. “No. I don't think so. There was something strange about his face though. It was surreal. Waxy, maybe a mask.
"Do you think he caused you to faint?"
She shrugged. “I have no idea. If he did, why did he let me go?"
"How do we know he did? Maybe you fought him and just can't remember."
Jess stopped in her tracks and stared at the ground. “That's something I've been contemplating, believe me.” Her memories were too fuzzy to dredge up anything concrete.
Britt pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is this job always going to be this complicated?” he asked. “Is there ever going to be a day when we go out and take down some nasty vampires, then go for a beer before we go home to relax?"
"Probably not.” She looked at him from the corner of her eye and began walking down the sidewalk. “You didn't really think being a vampire hunter could ever be ordinary, did you?"
"No, I guess not. I just wish things were a helluva lot clearer. At least with Prometheus we knew we were up against an old, master vampire and his team. If this stranger from the alley is able to cause you to faint, and lose your memory, how the hell do we fight that?"
Jess's hands started to shake. What if it wasn't another vampire who'd caused her recent episodes? What if she'd been completely taken over by her dark side that night? Is that what she had to look forward to in future? If so, how could she be trusted with anyone? Especially those she loved?
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Verlie Post checked her Rolex. Ten past nine. She'd be late. She paid the cabbie and dashed through the front doors of the club.
The bouncer recognized her immediately and let her in. She stopped just inside and looked around. What the...? There was no one else in the building. Strange. At this time of night the place was usually humming with people.
She'd been coming here for the past two months. As Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the NYC Police Department she rarely had time to go clubbing. But since she'd met Drago Vaslov, she couldn't seem to stay away. Sure he had appeal, but not in that way. At least not for her. She was gay.
So why did she keep coming here?
A funny sound buzzed through her head, and she felt her adrenaline surge. She turned to find Drago, tall and exquisite looking in his tuxedo.
"My dear, you're late."
"Sorry, the cab had a flat. I had to flag down another one."
"No problem, I'm glad you're here now."
She looked around the room. The place was as quiet as a mortuary without patrons. She frowned. “Is the club closed tonight?"
"Yes. This is a special night. One for just the two of us."
She held up a hand to stop him right there. “Wait, you don't understand, I'm not interested in..."
When he tipped his head and closed his eyes that buzzing started at the base of her skull and grew in volume until it filled her head. Suddenly, she felt as if she'd been sucked into a black vortex with no light at the end of the tunnel.
The last thing she remembered, was being taken for the very first time into Drago's office. Some weird equipment was laid out on his desk. She heard chanting before she felt the blackness envelope her.
* * * *
Jess's cell phone vibrated on her hip. Funny how well the thing worked when she remembered to charge the battery. “Captain Vandermire speaking."
"Jess, Sampson here. You'll never guess who just returned to the lab."
"Our latest victim?"
There was a pause at the other end of the line. “How'd you make them do it so quickly?"
She laughed. “I can't take any credit. Chief Brown said he'd have her sent back to you within a few hours. He's working against the current, it seems. He doesn't want those bodies going to the other morgue either."
"Who's pushing for it then?"
"That's something he wasn't willing to share, but I intend to find out."
She stepped outside the Rectory and came face-to-face with Britt. Apparently he was taking Chief Brown's word very seriously about sticking close to her. Too close.
He'd been trying to follow her for days, but she'd kept giving him the slip. She felt a little mean about it, but he really shouldn't infringe on her privacy. Not even if it was for the right reasons.
She moved the phone away from her mouth. “Sampson's got the third victim back,” she said to Britt.
"Anything solid to report?” he asked, opening the door of the vehicle for her then grinning absently when her gaze shot daggers at him. She hated that. She'd told him before not to do it.
"Any results yet, Sampson?” She said.
"I haven't had much time to work on her yet, but I did find one thing. Not something we should talk about over a cell phone line, though. Can you come over?"
"Sure can, we're on our way.” Jess snapped the phone shut, and gave Britt a shove for opening her door.
He laughed out loud.
The last thing she needed right now was to share a personal moment with the man she couldn't allow herself to love. Fingernails on a chalk board would be less irritating.
She slammed her door, and gave him a black look when he jumped in beside her. “You're pushing it, Brittain. Let's go. I'm very curious to hear what Sampson has to say."
A short time later they entered the elevator to the lab in the sub-basement. The elevator had never felt as small as it did tonight. Heat from Britt's body and his delicious scent permeated the small enclosure. She loved his fresh-from-the-shower scent to the point where she'd rather be sniffing anything but him at the moment.
Pretending indifference, she inched toward the left wall. At least she'd regained her abilities. Over the last hour she'd noticed her enhanced hearing and sight gr
adually filtering back. What would cause them to come and go? It didn't make sense.
Right now, she was thankful Britt didn't make small talk. He was the perfect partner on the job. He only spoke if there was something pertinent to say, probably because he was the consummate detective, always had his mind on the job.
The doors opened and she slipped past him. They went to the viewing area above the lab. Sampson wasn't there, nor was the corpse. He'd finished already?
"I thought he'd still be working on her,” Jess said absently.
"Haven't started yet,” a voice echoed through the room. Jess grinned. The speaker system in the room picked up their voices and filtered them into the lab below. Sampson had to be in the anteroom.
"We'll be right down,” Jess said, wondering how he could have something important to tell them if he hadn't done the autopsy yet.
"In here kiddies,” Sampson said, pulling off his mask and gloves and smiling at them as they entered the scrub room.
"You look like you're finishing up after an autopsy, Sampson. What gives, if you haven't started working on our corpse?” Jess asked.
"I've been doing a little blood work. Our corpse has something strange in her blood. I've never seen anything like it before, and I haven't been able to categorize it yet. I've got the blood sample running through all the tests to see what I can come up with."
Jess pushed two fingers to her temple. She didn't get headaches, but she felt a band of tension close enough to a headache.
"There were high doses of an unknown substance in the vic's body. Most vampires I know prefer to stay away from toxic meals,” he added, pursing his lips. “But, since I don't know what this element is, I have no idea if it's toxic."
Britt's eyebrows rose. “What about the hookers taken by vampires? A good many of them are on drugs."
Sampson nodded and rubbed a hand across his shiny, bald head. “True. But those who are actually vamped are clean."
Britt whistled. “Shit! That's a kicker. They stay away from drugs, and end up as some monster's breakfast.” He turned his attention to Jess. “You sensed a vampire that night at the crime scene, didn't you?"
She nodded. “But the scent was very faint. I tried to follow it when I left,” she snapped her fingers. “One minute it was there, the next minute gone."
"There's something else you need to know about our latest victim,” Sampson cut in. “I don't think our big, bad vamp bit this one. She was exsanguinated, and she had the holes in her neck, but there was no VNA."
"How is that possible?” Britt asked.
"I haven't figured that out yet, but I'm working on it."
"Okay, given what we know now, what's the correlation between our victims? I'd swear these women were killed and left on the path by the same perp. Everything is the same except the method of their murders. And we know for sure that victims one and two were vamped. You got VNA from victim one, and we watched victim two turn,” Jess said.
"So far I haven't had time to match the VNA we found in victim one to our collection of VNA samples. By the way, that victim is still a Jane Doe. I'm beginning to think I might need an assistant."
Jess frowned. “You do have a lot of work to accomplish for one man. Why don't you look into hiring someone to help?"
"I'd like to. I'm just not sure I'll find someone trustworthy who's got the expertise we need.” Sampson rubbed his hands together. “All that aside, when do I get to work on Beverley Kellerman? I'm interested in finding out if these two women have the same VNA in their system."
"Now that you've got the third victim's body back from the police, I'll see that Beverley Kellerman is returned too."
"Do we know who the third victim is yet?” Sampson asked.
Britt cleared his throat. “I think her name is Sally Marshall. She's on the missing persons list, and I have a photo of her.” He dug into his breast pocket and handed it to Jess. “This photo is ten years old but it looks enough like her that I'm sure you'll be able to verify her identity through the information we've been given by the family members who reported her missing."
Jess paced back and forth. “What are we missing, here? All three women looked alike. Slim, tall, dark hair. Not to mention their bodies were left in the same place in the park. Why?” Jess asked.
Sampson ran his stubby fingers across his shiny head and stared hard into space. “Maybe once I've completed my autopsies and lab work on the three women, I'll be able to help with that question."
"I'll keep my cell phone charged,” Jess said.
"There's something else,” Sampson's expression darkened.
"What is it?"
"I've got the results on your blood work, Jess."
"Oh?” Judging by the look on Sampson's face, she wished Britt wasn't here.
"If you want me to, I'll wait outside,” Britt said, as if he could read her mind.
As much as she'd like to agree, he needed to know what the hell was going on, too. Especially since he was her only option as protector—when, and if, she ever asked him.
"What is it?” Jess asked Sampson.
"There were trace amounts of that same unknown substance in your system.” Sampson's brow furrowed and he looked more worried than she'd ever seen him.
"What did you say?” Britt eyebrows turned murderous. “How the hell did that happen?"
Sampson shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. I couldn't find any point of entry on Jane Doe, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any.” He turned a weary gaze to Jess. “Since you passed out and lost track of time, the drug could have been administered then."
Shock registered. “That was the very last thing I expected to hear."
"Me, too,” said Britt.
"You think someone injected me with a drug?” She planted her hands on her hips.
It was true, she had no recollection of the time she'd lost during her blackout. Anything could have happened to her. Anything!
A quick look proved Britt must be thinking the same thing. Her blood pressure rose and she bit back her fangs. Whoever had injected her with drugs was going to be very, very sorry they ever touched her.
"We'll find out who did this to you, Jess.” Britt promised.
She wanted to say something, anything, but her insides tightened as she worked at controlling those never-ending inner demons. She made for the exit.
"Wait,” Sampson called out. “You can't leave now. First you have to tell me how you got Beverley Kellerman out of the morgue without being caught. Don't forget I'm stuck here in the basement most of the time. I need to hear a bit of the exciting stuff. What happened when Beverley turned into a vampire? Did it happen at the police lab? Did she bite anyone?"
Jess and Britt exchanged glances. Britt flushed at how it must've looked when Jess caught him standing over the naked corpse. Not his finest moment. Damn it.
She looked at her watch. “Okay, but I still have a full night's work ahead of me and I'm on a time limit before sunrise. We had to fight off a couple of low-level vampires who didn't have a clue how to handle a transitioning vampire. They didn't make it. Britt killed Ms. Kellerman for real, and we stashed her in the cemetery."
"Good place for a dead person.” Sampson leaned against the scrub sink in a relaxed position, obviously hoping for more.
"Now we have to get back there before someone else finds Ms. Kellerman."
As much as Britt hated that damned cemetery, he'd go back for Jess. Even if chills crawled up his spine at the thought.
They reached the Starr crypt at ten p.m. just about the time it got truly dark. He shivered involuntarily, even though the cemetery was blessedly quiet when they arrived. Not a vampire in sight. No one waiting to jump them. At least not yet. He wouldn't let his guard down, just in case.
Jess got out of the vehicle and opened the crypt door. When the door squeaked on rusty hinges, he said, “Remind me to bring some oil for those hinges next time we come."
Jess laughed. “What makes you think we'll be here aga
in?"
"I don't know, we just always seem to end up here."
"Not your favorite place, is it, John?"
She never called him that. Why'd she use his first name? Oh hell, he was over-thinking everything about her.
He prepared for the worst while Jess looked inside. “She still dead?” Not knowing what state of decomposition she might be in also irked him. Made him edgy. He hated showing Jess what a wimp he was when it came to skeletal remains.
"Don't know. She's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean? How could she be gone? Did she turn into a vampire after all?"
"Nope. You staked her good. A newly transitioning vampire won't be coming back after that.” Jess left him standing outside the crypt door and walked back to the truck. Waited for him. “C'mon, get in. We need to leave."
"Why? What's going on?"
"The body's gone. No sense staying, is there?"
He frowned. Didn't understand her calm and sudden urgent need to leave the cemetery. “You're doing some strange things these days, Captain Vandermire, but since I can deny you nothing...” He paused and grinned. “And, because you're the boss, I'll do what you tell me to."
Jess pulled her door shut and waited for him to get in the passenger side. “Smart man."
"Why aren't you upset about the stolen body?"
She turned the key in the ignition and stepped on the gas pedal, causing the tires to kick up pine needles and gravel.
He thought about the cemetery's security guard. After all of the weird events and vandalism that taken place here over the past few months, he wouldn't blame the guy if he quit.
The speed limit was supposed to be fifteen and she was traveling at least fifty through the cemetery grounds. “What's the hurry?"
"I'll tell you when we get out on the highway."
"Okie dokie.” He crossed his arms and leaned his head back against the headrest, faking a relaxed pose when in actuality her erratic driving made him nervous.
He chanced a glance at her profile. Her face was set, and her luscious lips were slightly pursed and totally kissable. She wore her leathers tonight, and her milky white skin drove him to the point of distraction—until they hit the highway and she sped up to 100 miles per hour. At that point he grabbed the dash and gritted his teeth.
Beyond the Grave Page 10
