Landing softly on the lawn behind a tree, I bit my lip, imaging how good he would taste. I just wouldn’t take his life as Nicholas had suggested. I’d be careful this time and drink to take the edge off. Maybe I could mind wipe him afterward.
The curtain fell away once I morphed into my cat form, and I pounced out from behind the bushes. Mewing softly, I limped up to him and wove around his feet.
The file the man held fell into the box sitting on the front seat. He bent down to scratch my head. “Where’d you come from? Are you hurt?”
I lifted my chin and froze. Harry watched me curiously. Then Nicholas’ anger flooded the air. Suddenly I felt fear for the man. Fear for me.
Run! I thought.
Harry’s eyes lifted and tightened on the house. Panic deliciously filled his body, and I was barely able to contain myself. Somewhere through the craving, I remembered a car’s threshold worked the same as a home’s did, and without an invite it repelled vampires.
Get in your car! I thought. Now!
Harry’s heart took off like a bucking bronco and before I could stop him, he picked me up by the scruff of my neck and slid into the passenger seat, pushing the box to the floor.
“I can’t leave you here alone,” he said while shutting the passenger door.
He set me in the box, then shot the flashlight beam and scanned the second story. I stood on the cardboard ledge, trying to get a glimpse of what he saw, seeing nothing.
Harry clicked off the light, chided himself before he made the sign of the cross. He popped a pill in his mouth from a bottle in his pocket and shimmied over to the driver’s seat. Slowly his breathing calmed.
“I need to stop watching zombie movies.” He turned the ignition as I leapt to the passenger seat. “You be good and I’ll get you some food, okay?” He scratched my head for a quick second, eyeing the house. “And then we’ll find your owners.”
My eyes slipped shut as my hunger surfaced once again. For some reason, I had restraint against attacking his jugular. I curled onto the seat, focusing on staying feline.
The last thing his poor heart needed was a naked girl to appear in the front seat of his car. One death was enough for tonight, only if I kept Nicholas away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
We arrived at the station and parked in front. Nicholas had followed, but instead of attacking, he merely watched from across the street. Did he know, though he didn’t look like it, that this was his mentor from the past?
Hurry, I thought.
Harry darted inside, caring me in the box. Fear from earlier still permeated the air, making my hunger worse.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a cat guy.” The blonde receptionist sitting at the front desk chuckled.
“I’m not.” He placed the box on her desk. “It’s not mine.”
She smirked at him. “Well, cat sitting isn’t one of my duties.”
A girl with large brown eyes one desk over walked toward the box.
“Oh, bless. Ain’t she precious?” she said with a drawl. “And those big ole blue eyes. I’ve never seen a cat with eyes like those before. What’s her name?”
Before I knew it a feast of hands were rubbing my back and head. I purred loudly, hardly able to contain my desire to bite one of them.
“Don’t know, but maybe I need to rethink my strategy with the ladies.” Harry smirked as he combed through his messages.
Brown Eyes hit him in the arm. “That’s rude.”
“Whose cat is it?” the receptionist asked.
“Found it at the Parker’s house. They seem to have left her behind.”
The girls moaned sadly in unison. “Behind? Why would they leave such a sweet kitty to fend for itself? She must be starving.”
You have no idea. I nudged Brown Eyes’ hand. Take me in the back room.
Harry shrugged, then moved toward a nearby office. “Don’t look at me. That’s why I brought her here.”
“I have some tuna in my lunch.” Brown Eyes lifted me from the box.
Yes, that’s it. I let out a happy mew. Harry was definitely on the no-no list, but these ladies—who could resist southern charm?
“Callahan.” A balding man walked around the corner and laid a glare on me in Brown Eyes’ arms. “You know we don’t allow pets here.”
“Oh come on, boss. Don’t be such a grump.” I licked Brown Eyes’ arm as a reward. “That tickles.”
If she’d only take me around the corner, then I could get a real taste. My licks turned into playful nips. “Okay, Bluey, I get the message.”
“It’s from the family on my case. It’s not staying,” Harry said quickly, moving to intercept me.
The lieutenant stepped in our path, but kept his distance. “I don’t care whose it is, or where you got it from. It doesn’t stay in here—” He sucked in a large breath, then sneezed. “Get rid of it. Now! And Harry, I need a word about your case.”
Brown Eyes huffed and returned me to the box. “How was I to know you were allergic?” She scratched my head with her long red nails. “Sorry, Bluey.”
The lieutenant eyed me like I was contagious, before he pulled Harry aside. “Jackson just found out our missing girl goes to the same school as Julia Parker.”
My furry ears perked up. What missing girl?
“And?”
“Mom says she’s supposed to be on a school trip with that history teacher, Horace Cruor. Now she’s not answering her phone and Mom can’t get ahold of anyone in the group. Of course, the filthy rich son of a bitch has a private jet and an apartment in New York, which Mom didn’t know about. But there’s no flight record of Horrace’s departure and the apartment staff hasn’t seen them either, so your guess is as good as mine where he’s taken the girl.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Harry scratched his head. “Julia moved into the Cruor mansion along with her parents days ago. Though they don’t trust us anymore considering what happened at the school, they’re supposed to tell me if they leave town.”
“I don’t care if Cruor dances in a tutu on the Empire State Building, we need to find that missing girl,” the lieutenant barked.
I held my breath. History was repeating itself.
“Alright, I’ll go over there in the morning and talk to the family.”
“You’ll go now!”
Fear jolted through me. If Harry went unprepared especially at night, he could become dinner, and if by any chance his old memories were locked inside his brain somewhere, they’d vanish. With a hiss, I jumped from the table and skittered out of the open door just as someone new walked in.
“Bluey!” Brown Eyes exclaimed.
“Shit!” Harry darted after me.
Just stay here, I wanted to say as I eluded him in the alley.
And as if he could hear me, he froze at the doors, unable to take a step further.
Staring at him through the glass door, I watched for a moment, then scanned the night sky. Did I compel him to do that? Or had his fear from earlier surfaced?
Nicholas crossed the street and walked toward me. I darted around the corner to hide. If I wanted to stop Harry from going to the mansion, I needed clothing, but not before I found myself a snack.
Within moments, the girl that lived three stories up from the precinct lay bleeding and barely breathing at my bare feet. After smelling her delicious scent, I’d mewed for her on the alley landing. Like an idiot, she opened her window and let me in. Only because the blood soured from her sadness, did I stop before it was too late.
Rummaging through her closet, I tried to distract myself from my horrid deed and found a dark shirt and jeans to put on. Pictures of her family hung in frames along with a bouquet of dried roses on the wall, haunting me. People in her life that loved her, a life I’d changed in an instant, just like Nicholas had done to mine. And now, I had a decision to make. Finish her off, or let her change.
She groaned and licked her lips. “What are you?”
I sat down next to her and put finge
rs through her dark curls. She flinched, but was too tired to fight. Her newly rising fear tempted me to drink a second helping.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You don’t need to be afraid.”
Her body relaxed.
Bloodied fingerprints covered the face of her cell phone. I lifted it to find out what she’d done. Had she called someone while I rummaged through her clothes? The locked screen prevented me from having access.
Heavy footfalls stopped outside her door. A rap on the wood made me jump.
“Open up! Now!” a man yelled.
I held my breath as if I were still human, as if I didn’t have a way to kick whoever’s ass was on the other side of the wall.
“Julia! I know you’re in there.” My breath let loose at Nicholas’ voice. “If you don’t open this door, you’re going to make things very difficult for us,” he said softly.
“Go away.”
He tried the knob, breaking it in the process. The door slowly swung open. Nicholas’ eyes canvased the room. He shook his head and sighed when he saw us.
I gritted my teeth. “At least I didn’t kill her.”
The girl whimpered next to me.
“Like that matters. Finish her off.”
I sucked in a breath. “No. That’s cruel.”
A flicker of compassion colored his eyes, but it wasn’t for the girl. “If you would have quit running, and followed my instructions earlier, I could have prevented this from happening. Invite me in.”
“Why, Nicholas? Why?” I stared at him, wanting so badly to cry.
“Invite me in,” he whispered. “I’ll fix it.”
My eyes slipped shut. How could I live like this, driven moment to moment by my hunger and emotions? Maybe being locked up for now was a good idea.
A car’s engine rumbled outside, breaking my trance. I jumped up and looked outside to the front of the precinct.
“It’s gone.”
“What’s gone?” Nicholas asked.
“The car!” I snagged the girl’s phone off the floor and tried to unlock it. I had to warn Harry before he entered the snake pit. “What’s your password?”
The girl’s eyelashes fluttered open and shut before she went still. Her heart, though, was hanging on.
“What are you doing?” Nicholas’ helplessness and anger filtered toward me, but I didn’t care. He’d made me this way and he’d have to deal with the mess.
The bloodied prints were over four numbers, which could net many combinations. I tried a few. None of them worked. “Damn it!”
I ran to the bedroom and was out of the window and on the ground before Nicholas could follow.
Brown Eyes startled at my quick arrival through the precinct doors. “Can I help you, Ma’am?”
“I need Detective Callahan’s cell number, please.”
She tilted her head to the side. “What’s this about, sweetheart?”
“I’m Julia Parker—”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, sugar. Have a seat.” She punched something in the phone on her desk.
I need it now! I thought as I tried to remain calm.
“No need to get testy,” she said as she finished dialing with the receiver to her ear.
I frowned for a moment. Was she talking to me? “No, you don’t under—”
She held up her index finger. “Julia Parker is here to see you… Yes. He just left… I know…. Fine.”
My keen hearing picked up everything her idiotic Lieutenant had said, none of which included instructions to contact Harry.
I slammed my fist on her desk, crunching into the wood. “I said I need his number!”
“Good gravy girl!” Brown Eyes yelped, jumping to her feet.
A loud boom sounded behind me. I turned. Nicholas’ hands rested against the glass doors.
Other officers stopped talking and stared at us, resting their hands on their guns.
“Everything okay here?” one asked, walking forward.
I moved backward. “It’s okay. I’ll come back later.”
“No, sugar.” She eyed Nicholas who stood behind me. “You should stay.”
“I—I can’t.” Running out the doors, I headed for the alley.
“What the hell, Julia?” Nicholas clasped onto my wrist, swinging me around before I could fly off.
“Let me go!”
“What’s going on?”
“I have to go,” I said.
Nicholas grabbed my arm. “You’re not leaving without me.”
“I can handle this myself.” I tried to shake him off of me.
“Miss,” a man said from the street. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I growled, when my legs buckled in exhaustion. Nicholas’s grip faltered, seeming to have felt whatever was weakening me.
Then the delicious fear wafted into the alley and my flight response morphed into a feeding frenzy. He could be mine in a matter of moments, quick and easy.
“Step away from the girl,” he commanded before calling for backup on the radio attached to his lapel.
I laughed sarcastically. Yes, come save me.
Nicholas tilted his head to the side. “No, sweetheart. Not him. We’re going.”
Before I could pounce, Nicholas threw me over his shoulder and sprinted down the alley in the opposite direction, keeping a firm lock on my waist.
I beat my fists on his back. “Put me down!”
“You’ll thank me later.”
The man’s shriek, ending in a gurgling gasping moan made Nicholas stop. A jealous chill crept through my bones. I knew what had happened, what I’d caused.
He placed me on my feet as his anxious eyes swung to mine and then back to the alleyway entrance. There was someone crouched down over the fallen cop. “You didn’t finish off the girl, did you?”
The venom oozed into my parched mouth. How quickly I’d forgotten about leaving her alone. I was a menace with a growing trail of graves. “No.”
Nicholas’ nostrils flared as he cursed. He yanked on my arm. “This is why you can’t leave my side, do you hear me? Come on.”
Storming toward the ruckus, he snapped off a piece of wood from a two-by-four in the dumpster and ran off.
Though I knew I needed to stick with him and clean up my mess, I didn’t follow.
I couldn’t.
Harry needed me before it was too late.
CHAPTER EIGHT
While flying over Scotts Valley toward the coast, I scanned the ground below to look for them. I didn’t hear or sense any of them which was good, but knowing the humans were sleeping unaware in the houses below increased my thirst. Lucky for them I couldn’t take a pit stop and enter uninvited.
Off in the distance, the strobe lights lit up the Cruor mansion like a freaking Christmas tree. Thankfully, Harry sat parked out front of the mansion, staring at it like it would spring legs and start dancing.
Stay inside, I thought as I landed behind the car.
Playing on his radio, I caught pieces of the commotion at the station. My legs momentarily stiffened as a wave of strength hit my tired muscles and an urge to lift Harry’s car and throw it toward the precinct entertained me for a moment. I cracked my knuckles instead. Whatever new power flowing inside me made me feel invincible.
The car door opened.
“Julia?” Harry asked. “What are you doing out here so late?”
I tried to look innocent, opposite of the hungry killer I was on the inside. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“I can see why.” His gaze drifted to the house, before he eyed me up and down suspiciously. “You look like you’re… better.”
I clutched my left hip as if it hurt and cracked a smile. “Oh, just have some good drugs. Why are you here?”
“I came to talk to your parents.”
“At this hour?”
Harry shrugged. “Tell that to the worried Mom on my hands.”
“They’re asleep, but maybe I can help.”
“Asleep? How? I know Cruor is a lit
tle showy, but this is a bit much?” Harry took a few steps forward. “I thought the goal was to stay anonymous.”
Mind yourself, I warned in my head.
His eyes narrowed. “What’d you say?”
My spine stiffened. Had I spoken out loud instead of in my head?
“Yeah, uh… Not sure what’s going on with the lighting.” I faked a yawn. “But I think the walk worked. I’m pretty tired now.”
“I’ll keep this quick then. I’m looking for Katie. Is she staying here?” His eyes lifted toward the house. He frowned.
I traced his gaze to the room I’d tried to escape from earlier. It looked like Swiss cheese from all the holes.
I stepped over to block his view. “No. She’s in New York with Mr. Cruor.”
Harry raised his right brow. “Have you talked to her today?”
“Yeah,” right before my boyfriend drained her dry.
Harry took a step backward, eyes wide. “What do you mean drained her dry?”
My mouth opened and shut. He had heard me, or heard my thoughts. Crap!
“I need backup at 1401 Highway 1,” he said quietly into his radio. “Stay where you are, Julia.”
“No!” I had Harry pinned against the side of his car before I could stop myself. He grunted, trying to fight me off. Fear plumed in my face. My canines responded and ached for the sweet pressure of his jugular.
“Let me go, Julia,” he said softly. “This isn’t worth it.”
I fought through the desire. “Call them off. Please. For your safety. I’m warning you.”
He blinked at me when the fear swirled into confusion. Then something yanked me backward. Harry tumbled onto the road.
“I said follow me!” Nicholas barked.
Harry got up and drew his gun. “Get down on the ground. Both of you!”
“Now now,” a soft voice said from the walkway. “This is unnecessary.”
Wearing a long black gown, Alora cleared the trees and came into view. She waved her hand toward Harry. “Sleep.”
Harry dropped his gun and slouched to the ground, his eyes falling shut.
“I had it under control.” Nicholas huffed.
“I see that. But we don’t need any more attention.” Her eyes found mine, blue and crystalline like before. “Any progress?”
Blood Wars: Book 4 (The Talisman Series) Page 19
