A VAMP ABOUT TOWN
Michelle Kelly
Ever since former NYPD detective Nick Carter and 200-year-old vampiress Ruby set up their private agency for preternatural crime, things have been heating up both at work and at play. Yet Nick's refusal to share the ultimate intimacy with Ruby is putting a strain on their otherwise passionate relationship, a strain which may lead her dangerously astray.
When a new, mysterious vampire arrives in New York and begins leaving the bodies of young girls as messages for Ruby, her past and her future become inextricably entwined.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Epilogue
Chapter One
Ruby leaned back in her chair and looked across at Detective Nick Carter. He looked delicious in blue jeans and a tight white T-shirt moulded to his chiselled upper body, his face intense as he frowned at a piece of paper in front of him.. Good enough to eat. In Ruby’s case, as she was a 200-year-old vampire, that meant literally.
If only Nick would let her.
He felt her gaze and looked up, flashing her a smile that lit up his whole face and made him look boyish, rather than the hard-bitten ex-cop turned paranormal private detective he was.
‘Just what are you thinking over there?’
She smirked.
‘Can’t you tell, Detective?’
Nick pretended to glare at her. The fact that Ruby was a vampire meant that his telepathic powers didn’t work on her and he couldn’t read her mind. Although she teased him, she knew it was one of the reasons they worked; Nick had been sworn off women for good after he had seen visions in his last girlfriend’s mind of her sleeping with his best friend. Compared to that, he obviously thought pointy teeth and a 170-year age gap a walk in the park.
‘I was thinking,’ she said in the low, husky voice she knew he loved, ‘of coming over there, unzipping those jeans of yours, getting down on my knees and …’
‘Don’t you two ever give it a rest?’
Ruby quickly fell quiet as Bane walked in, his lip curled in disgust. She sighed. Not only did Bane and Nick dislike each other, but the werewolf only came to see them when something was wrong. He was their liaison with the local Paranormal Alliance in New York and, as all inter-Pack crimes were generally dealt with by the werewolves themselves, his presence signified something was going down that would affect them all.
‘What’s up?’ Nick said, and Ruby realised he sounded eager. Work had been slow lately, and their last case had involved finding a missing spell book and tracking a woman whose husband believed she was having an affair with a shape shifter. The husband had seemed almost disappointed when it turned out his wife’s beau was ordinarily human. Although Ruby quite enjoyed the human-interest cases, Nick was an ex-homicide detective and although she knew he certainly wouldn’t want anyone to die just to keep him busy, he did need something to stay occupied.
Bane’s answer however failed to ignite his curiosity.
‘One of our trackers sensed a new vamp in the city.’
Nick shrugged. Ever since the local ‘vampire lifestyle’ club Crimson Shade had been taken over by its current owner, it had become a haven for passing vamps looking for a willing human donor to provide a quick snack. Whereas before the club had existed for humans calling themselves ‘vampires’ without any knowledge of the existence of the real thing, since it had been at the centre of Nick and Ruby’s first case six months ago it had become a front for humans who not only knew about the existence of vamps but were happy to provide for them. As a result New York had seen more vampire traffic in the last six months than it had in six decades. As long as they were only passing through and not staying, Ruby didn’t interfere. But vamps were fiercely territorial, and New York was hers. Not to mention the fact that the Alliance were less than happy about the sudden glut of vampires on their turf. Most paranormals got along well enough, provided they all stayed within their own parameters, but no one trusted vamps. Not even other vampires. Unlike weres, or the Fey, or even most demons, vampires had no intrinsic loyalty to their own kind. Which meant they were unlikely to have any for anyone else, either.
‘The tracker said he smelled … angry. And focused.’
‘Here for a more pressing reason than just a visit to Crimson Shade then,’ Nick said thoughtfully. He looked over at Ruby. ‘Any ideas?’
She shook her head. Vampires didn’t exactly socialise with one another. They were solitary predators, like tigers. Only usually much more dangerous.
‘I’ll pay a visit to the club, see if I can find anything out,’ she offered, then wished she hadn’t as Nick turned his face away from her so she didn’t see his expression. Although she had drank from him before, he didn’t much like it, but wasn’t happy with her having ties to a place where young guys were only too ready to offer their wrists and God knows what else to her.
‘Thanks for letting us know,’ he said abruptly to Bane, looking back down at his paperwork in obvious dismissal. Bane visibly bristled, and Ruby sent out calming thoughts that instantly relaxed him. Although she didn’t like using her vampire mind control powers on someone she classed as a friend, she didn’t want Bane and Nick bickering either. Both headstrong alpha male types, they had a tendency to butt heads. They were too alike. Apart from the fact that one of them turned furry now and then, of course.
Bane smiled happily at them both, unaware of Ruby’s effect on his mood, and blew her a kiss as he left. Ruby grimaced as this time it was Nick who bristled. Perhaps she had overdone it a bit.
‘I don’t know how he’s got the nerve, considering he nearly killed you,’ Nick all but growled. Not for the first time Ruby wished her powers worked on Nick. Unfortunately they were immune to each other. That had been a strong factor in them falling in love.
‘He only does it to annoy you. And as it was me he attacked and I’m over it there’s no need for you to defend me.’
When they had first met Ruby had been tracking the vampire who had killed her family, and seeing them together Bane had attacked her, thinking she was in league with him. Nick had given her his blood in order to heal her and they had been inseparable ever since. Although after that first time he had never so willingly let her drink from him again.
‘What do you think about what he said?’ Nick changed the subject abruptly, a sure sign he didn’t want to talk about it further. Ruby got up and walked round her desk, letting her hips sway seductively and allowing herself a smile as Nick’s eyes travelled over her body. She might not be able to use mind powers to relax him, but she had other means. She sashayed towards him and leant over him from behind his chair so that her velvet curtain of red hair fell forwards over him, and her cleavage, straining against the confines of her white blouse, brushed against his neck.
‘I think,’ she began as she kissed his earlobe, ‘that there is a very, very bad vampire in town, and Mr Detective needs to do something about it right now.’
Nick spun his chair round and pulled her into his lap so quickly it took her off guard and she half squealed, half laughed in delight.
‘Exactly what would you suggest Mr Detective does about his bad vampire?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow as he began to unbutton her shirt, revealing her breasts swelling over her lacy white bra. He slid a hand up her skirt and smiled.
‘Stockings? You are bad.’ He lowered his head and kissed her, and Ruby lost herself in the taste and smell of him. Her preternatural senses made every touch, every kiss, that much more intense and as a result she could hardly get enough of Nick – she craved him. As he claimed her mouth she kissed him back fiercely, moaning softly into his mouth when his hand moved further over her sto
cking tops and brushed the flimsy silk that was the only barrier between his hand and her skin. She parted her legs unashamedly to allow him to hook his fingers around her panties and pull them to one side so that he could explore her with his touch. As his fingertips brushed over her now swollen clit and then dipped inside her she made a noise low in her throat and nipped his lower lip.
‘God, Nick, I want you.’
His mouth smiled against hers.
‘The feeling’s mutual, sugar.’ Giving her that wicked grin that always made her heart melt and her insides tighten he picked her up, kicked the chair away, and sat her down on the desk. She needed no prompting to widen her legs and wrap them around his waist, her hands going to his zip.
His cock sprang into her hands, already hard and ready for her, and as she ran the pad of her thumb over its velvety head, she felt the moisture beading there and grinned. He was more than ready.
Nick pushed himself inside her body and let out a low moan that was echoed by Ruby as she steadied herself on the desk behind her so that she could move with him, rocking her hips in time to his thrusting.
‘Damn, you feel so good.’
She let him know she felt the same by tipping her head back and moaning, wrapping her legs tighter around his back. Their movements sent papers flying off his desk, but neither of them bothered to grab them. Work could wait.
Nick gripped her thighs hard enough that she would find bruises later and began to thrust harder, spurred on by her cries as she lost herself in the sensation of being filled by him, of his cock plunging relentlessly in and out of her, driving her to the edge. She moaned his name as she climaxed, her nails leaving marks in the wooden desktop, her legs tightening around him like a vice.
Hearing her come and seeing his cock now slick with her juices was enough to bring Nick to a shuddering climax, gazing into Ruby’s eyes as he did so. She sat forward and lay her head on his shoulder, nipping his neck as he shuddered into her then pulled back smiling like a cat with the proverbial cream.
‘I do love daytime quickies.’
He pinched her ass playfully. ‘Who are you calling quick? I’ll get you for that later.’
‘Oh really?’
‘Oh yeah,’ he smiled in lazy satisfaction at her as he helped her down off his desk, ‘I’m gonna fuck you until you can’t walk.’
‘I’ll hold you to that,’ she threw back over her shoulder as she sauntered into the restroom to freshen up.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror a few minutes later, Ruby saw the dark shadows under her eyes, visible in spite of the becoming flush their passionate lovemaking had brought to her usually ivory skin. She needed to feed.
Thankfully, Ruby’s blood thirst was mild compared to other vamps who needed to feed deep and often. A small amount once a week was enough; but it had been, she realised, nearly a month. Like it or not, Nick was going to have to face facts; either she drank from him or somebody else.
As she came back out, wondering how best to bring it up, she came face to face with an attractive female police officer standing near Nick’s desk with a worried expression on her face. As she saw Ruby she took an instinctive step back, and Ruby heard her first thought loud and clear; So it’s true what they say, Carter really did leave us to partner with some vampire bitch. Ruby glared at her.
‘I’m not about to rip your throat out, though if you continue to look at me like that I might throw you out.’ She folded her arms mutinously as Nick gave the stranger an apologetic look.
‘Lina, this is Ruby. Ruby, Lina’s our new liaison officer with the NYPD, Secret Preternatural Branch. I did tell you about her last week.’
‘I forgot. She clearly isn’t very interesting,’ Ruby sniped, though inside she was horrified at her own sniping. But the woman’s reaction to her had put her back up. That, and the fact she looks like Megan Fox, she admitted to herself. Wow, for the first time in 200 years she felt insecure next to a human. This “being in love” thing sucked.
‘Maybe not,’ Lina replied, ‘but the reason I’m here is. The body of a young woman has been found; suspected vamp attack, and I’ve been asked to call you – both of you – in to take a look.’
Ruby cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘Since when has the powers that be at Preternatural Branch asked for Nick’s help unless they actually have to? In fact, you lot have treated him like shit since he left and went private.’
‘You’ll see when you get there.’ Lina said cryptically.
As they followed her in Nick’s car, a flashy red number that he always said matched Ruby’s hair, Nick looked at her in concern.
‘You OK? You seem rattled. Whoever this new vamp is, we’ll deal with him – or her.’
Ruby didn’t currently care about that.
‘You didn’t tell me about Lina,’ she accused.
‘I did. I told you last week we had a new police liaison.’
‘You didn’t say she was pretty.’
Nick looked at her in surprise, and then laughed, but his eyes were warm.
‘Babe, are you serious? It didn’t cross my mind it was important. I’m committed to you, you know that.’
She did know that. Felt the depth of his love for her every time he looked at her, in fact. Why she was being like this she didn’t know; jealousy was a human emotion she didn’t want or need. She really, really needed to feed. Too long without blood and she began to feel more emotional, more vulnerable. More human.
‘Besides,’ Nick went on, ‘as well as the fact that I am completely uninterested in anyone other than this beautiful but grumpy vampire I know, Lina is secretly dating Bane.’
Ruby’s eyes widened at this unexpected knowledge.
‘Bane? Really? How do you … Oh. The telepathy.’
Nick looked embarrassed. ‘I didn’t mean to pry. I only scanned her mind to see what she was holding back about this murder, but all I got was images of Bane. I backed out of her mind pretty damn quick.’
‘Aren’t Pack members forbidden to date humans?’
‘Yep. Hence why they’re secretly dating.’
Ruby fell silent. She still didn’t like the woman, but she felt sympathy for her situation. An inter-species relationship wasn’t easy even without a whole werewolf pack and even the Alliance gunning for your blood. No wonder Lina was stroppy.
Her sympathy for her vanished when Lina let them into the crime scene – a student apartment near NYU.
‘I normally warn civilians about the smell, but I guess you’re used to dead bodies,’ she sniped at Ruby, who had to resist the temptation to send her a mental image of Ruby ripping her throat out. Instead she approached the girl’s body calmly, with Nick by her side pulling out his voice recorder so he could save his first impressions of the scene.
Not that he was likely to forget this body. Ruby took one look at it and stepped back, hissing, her fangs elongating as she sensed a personal threat.
The girl looked like her.
OK, so she was clearly human and the long red hair was obviously coloured, given the inch long brown roots, but the similarity was striking. With the pallor of death on the girl’s skin and the lack of any visible damage other than two neat puncture wounds above her right breast, Ruby could have been looking at herself sleeping.
Nick laid a calming hand on her arm and glared at Lina.
‘What exactly is going on here?’
‘As you can see, the victim is a dead ringer for your girlfriend. We’re assuming a connection.’
Nick snorted derisively.
‘Do you know how many young women with red hair there must be in this city? Just because it looks like a vampire kill, you assume this has anything to do with Ruby?’
His tone was cold enough to freeze Hell over, but Lina just shrugged, though she was eyeing Ruby’s fangs nervously. Ruby quickly retracted them before the bitch tried to arrest her for possession of an illegal weapon or something.
‘Take a closer look at the body, Detective.’
Ni
ck knelt down next to the murdered girl, being careful not to disturb anything. His eyes took on a glazed look that Ruby knew meant he was scanning the girl for any lingering psychic impressions. This was the main reason Preternatural Branch still needed Nick and resented him handing in his badge; his psychic powers were invaluable.
‘It’s definitely a vampire attack; no human was involved with her killing. But I can’t tell anything more than that, other than that she was terrified.’ If the killer had been human, Nick may have been able to confirm their identity, but vampires didn’t leave a psychic imprint that he could see as much as a void that he could feel. A lack of energy where there should be a human aura. The fact that Ruby knew that was how she appeared to his psychic eye was more than a little disconcerting.
Nick got to his feet. His eyes betrayed no emotion, but Ruby knew that sensing the girl’s last terrified moments of life would affect him. He would concentrate that emotion into the focus he needed to help find her killer; it was what had made him such a good cop. Ruby, looking down at the corpse of a girl who looked uncannily like herself, felt shaky and weepy and had to fight to pull herself together. As her eyes alighted on the teeth marks on the girl’s chest a wave of nausea swept over her, followed by a ravenous hunger that made her step back and turn her eyes away from the girl, disgusted that mixed in with the pity she felt for her was the urge to feed on whatever blood her attacker had left in her body.
As she turned her head, Ruby saw Lina staring at her with a contemptuous smirk and knew that the woman had guessed what she was thinking. She turned her back on the cop, fighting to get herself under control. As soon as they left the crime scene, she would tell Nick she needed to feed, and tonight. Breathing deeply and being careful not to look at the body Ruby turned back to her partner and Lina to see the woman handing Nick a small card wrapped in an evidence bag, with a pair of tweezers to remove it without leaving prints.
‘You might want to look at this too.’ Lina inclined her head to Ruby and, hearing something in the cop’s voice that worried her, Ruby leaned over Nick’s shoulder to look at the card.
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