A Vamp About Town

by MICHELLE KELLY,

  ‘We found it left on top of the body,’ Lina explained as Nick extracted the card from the bag with the tweezers and held it up in front of them. It was the sort of card you might find with a bunch of flowers.

  ‘Like a calling card,’ he said.

  ‘More like a message.’

  Nick sucked in a shocked breath as he turned the card over and read the scrawled message on the back.

  For Ruby. I haven’t forgotten you

  Ruby stepped back, a hand flying to her mouth. What the hell? Lina was watching her, no doubt judging her reaction.

  Nick thrust the card back at the cop, his face red with anger. ‘You decided to mention this now?’

  Lina nodded.

  ‘Yes, Detective. So I could see your girlfriend’s reaction – and yours. Isn’t that what you would do?’

  She was right, of course. Any investigator worth their salt would withhold information like this until the best moment to reveal it to a possible connection to the killer. Nick’s shoulders relaxed but he put an arm around Ruby’s waist and drew her in to his side where she trembled against him.

  ‘So, Miss O’Shea, any ideas who could be behind this? Because they clearly know you.’

  Ruby shook her head, composing herself. She was damned if she was going to fall apart in front of this arrogant young woman. Sure, Lina had a job to do, but after this so did she. When Ruby got her hands on whoever was killing young girls in her name, she was personally going to rip their throat out and bleed them dry.

  ‘I have no idea. I don’t socialise with other vampires, as Nick – Detective Carter – can verify. Most vampires hunt alone and only rarely make bonds with each other. I honestly don’t know who is behind this – or how they know me.’

  ‘It could be another Ruby,’ Nick pointed out. Lina nodded.

  ‘We’re looking into it; we’ll ask around at Crimson Shade, see if there are any “Rubys” currently donating or otherwise possibly connected. But come on, Carter, it can’t just be coincidence. The victim looks like Ruby, the card is addressed to a Ruby, and Ruby herself is of course the only resident vampire in New York. I’d bet my badge this is meant for her. The question is –’ Lina narrowed her eyes at them ‘– why?’

  ‘Better to ask “who”.’

  ‘Figure out the “why” and the “who” will become clear,’ Lina said flippantly, ‘isn’t that something you used to say, Carter?’

  It was indeed one of his sayings, which when he was on Homicide he had drummed into many a rookie. Nick had never met Lina while he was with NYPD so the fact that his old colleagues still repeated him gave an indication of the esteem they had held him in. And that’s why they hate me, Ruby thought. The guys at Preternatural Branch anyway. The general population – including the general police force – had no real idea of the existence of preternatural creatures. Which meant they would have to hush this case up pretty quick.

  As with the original vampire murder that had brought them together, it was finding the body that was unusual. Most vampires preferred to keep their existence a secret and those that killed hid the bodies well. Last time, although the killer had been the same bastard who had turned Ruby two centuries ago, he had had a human accomplice to pin the murder on to appease the general public. If the press got hold of this one, there would be mayhem.

  And if the powers that be thought Ruby’s presence in New York was becoming a concern, she would be run out of town or worse. Yet as Nick led her away from the scene, promising to call Lina if they thought of anything that might help she found that was the least of her worries. It was the look of wary suspicion in Nick’s eyes that truly chilled her.

  Chapter Two

  Dublin 1792

  Ruby passed the man his ale and forced a smile as he continued to drunkenly stare at her cleavage, wishing her father-in-law didn’t insist she wore her décolleté so low when she worked in the family’s tavern. She was a married woman, after all, and didn’t fancy being mistaken for a barroom wench.

  ‘The more they want to look at you the more they’ll drink, girl,’ her father-in-law had responded to her complaints, giving her a cheeky pat on the buttocks that made Ruby’s stomach turn, but she had smiled politely and swallowed down her disgust. Part of her wanted to tell her husband about his father’s lascivious ways, but at the same time she had no wish to upset the mild-mannered young man who had all but saved her from a life on the streets when he had first persuaded his father to employ her, and then married her.

  An orphan, working as a pickpocket for the notorious Madame Betty, only her superior skills at lifting wallets and trinkets from the gentlefolk of Dublin delaying her obvious career move into selling her body under Madame’s tutelage. A career move that her less nimble-fingered but more seductive sister had taken. After her older sister had run off with a patron, however, Madame Betty had made it clear Ruby was expected to take her place, or she was out on the streets. She had chosen the streets, but was on the verge of returning to Betty, come what may, after a few days of wandering. Then she had knocked on the tavern door looking for work, and Patrick had fallen instantly in love with her.

  Ruby had never thought to make herself a respectable marriage. So even if her initial puppy love for Patrick had gradually died away, she owed him – and cared about him – a great deal. He loved her; worshipped her even, but in some ways was still a boy in his father’s shadow. Nevertheless, Ruby could hardly complain about her lot in life. She had a full belly, a warm bed to sleep in, and a husband who treated her kindly. She hoped for a child soon, so she could shower on it the parental love she had never had the chance to know.

  The thought of children made her think that the drunken customer in front of her looked very much like a baby himself, with his eyes unfocused and spittle showing at the corners of his mouth. Repressing a giggle she came out from behind the bar to collect the empty jugs and goblets left behind by the rowdy group of men who had just left. As she did so, she saw a man sitting alone in the corner of the tavern, watching her intently. Not with lust perhaps, but she sensed he wanted something from her.

  He looked like a libertine from a past era, with his curly black hair, deathly white face, and ruffled linen shirt. Almost effeminate with those long slim hands, but there was a quiet power about him that told her few men would dare to call him so. He was handsome in his way, but his gaze left her cold.

  The man had eyes like a snake.

  ‘Can I get you some refreshment, sir?’ she asked, trying not to betray her anxiety. She noticed his goblet of wine was untouched.

  In answer, he stared at her long and hard, then dropped his gaze to her throat. Not her breasts, she was sure, having enough experience with the tavern regulars staring at her modest charms, but her neck, where she was certain her pulse must now be beating visibly. Something about this man scared her on a primal, instinctive level. The way he watched made her feel like prey.

  ‘Perhaps,’ the man said, still staring at her throat so that Ruby placed a protective hand around her neck almost without realising she was doing so. She forced a bright smile.

  ‘Well, let me know if you should decide, sir.’

  ‘Oh, I will.’ His accent sounded European, yet not from anywhere she could immediately place. He smiled, then turned his face away as though he was dismissing her. Relieved she no longer had his attention, Ruby cleared the tables on the far side of the room before retreating back to the relative safety of the bar. The tables nearer this strange newcomer could wait until he had left.

  Unfortunately, the night drew on and the man showed no sign of leaving, even though he spoke to no one and his wine remained untouched. Neither was it just Ruby who sensed the need to be wary of him; none of the regular customers tried to speak to him or jest about his strange appearance, and her father-in-law was uncharacteristically quiet towards the man who sat in his tavern for hours without purchasing another drink or any food. Gradually the tavern emptied, with Patrick and his father having to carry out the dr
unk at the bar, who had fallen asleep in his jug of ale, yet still the man sat. He had an eerie stillness about him, Ruby had noticed, as though he wasn’t breathing.

  It was Patrick who approached him. A simple and honest man with no slyness about him, he didn’t seem as wary of the man as his wife and father, and strode over with an easy smile.

  ‘You’ll need to drink up now, sir,’ he said amiably, ‘for we’ll be getting off to bed soon.’

  The man looked up slowly, saying nothing but staring at Patrick until even he shifted uneasily. His father stepped forward, blustering to hide his nerves.

  ‘Now see here,’ he said angrily, but he would never have the chance to finish his sentence. The stranger moved so fast he was but a blur of black and white. Ruby barely realised what had happened before her father-in-law lay on the ground with his throat torn out and the man’s arms were around Patrick, who bellowed in rage and fear as his attacker ripped into him.

  Ruby ran, grabbing the firearm that was kept in the corner, and whirled round with it to see Patrick lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, already dead, and the man – monster – moving towards her at incredible speed. She fired into his chest but it had no effect and within seconds she felt his hands gripping her with an inhuman strength. His eyes burned into hers, and when he opened his mouth the sight of two wicked looking fangs made her scream in terror. He clapped a hand over her mouth.

  ‘Sssh now,’ he said almost tenderly, looking over her as if he were sizing her up for something, and then nodding, finding her satisfactory. ‘You’re far too pretty to kill,’ he said before lowering his head to her neck.

  Ruby screamed and screamed and screamed …

  ‘Ruby! Wake up. Wake up, sweetheart, it’s just a dream.’ Nick pulled her into his arms, pushing her sweat-drenched hair back from her forehead as she opened her eyes, her body stiff with terror until she took in her surroundings and gradually relaxed. She was shivering, and felt as cold as a corpse. Nick lifted one of her hands to his mouth and kissed it.

  ‘The same dream?’

  Ruby nodded.

  ‘The night I was turned; it was like it was happening all over again.’

  Ever since Ruby had killed the vampire who had butchered her husband, Patrick, and her father-in-law, after realising he was the murderer in the case that had brought her and Nick together, she had been plagued on and off by the nightmares of that night. Lately they had seemed to dissipate, but the murder scene today had brought it all back. She sat up, Nick rubbing her back and making soothing noises. Ruby shrugged him off, irritated by his attentions and then immediately feeling guilty.

  ‘I’m sorry, it’s just … that girl today. It was meant for me, I know it was, but it makes no sense.’

  Nick nodded. He had gone over the same ground the NYPD had, questioning friends and relatives, using the advantage only he had, but he had picked up nothing. As far as those around the victim knew, she had had no supernatural contact; was likely not even aware of their existence. The girl had apparently been targeted purely because of her resemblance to Ruby. The look of stark terror in Ruby’s eyes made it obvious what she was thinking.

  ‘It couldn’t have been him, Ruby. We killed him.’

  Ruby looked over her shoulder at Nick, drinking in the sight of him and his naked manliness. His humanness.

  ‘Are you sure, really sure? Did you oversee the disposal of the body?’

  ‘Well no, but the disposal team know what they’re doing. And we shot him, set him on fire, and beheaded him. That’s about as dead as you can get.’

  ‘Even so …’ Ruby shook her head. While any one of those methods would probably be enough to finish her off, some of the older, stronger vampires were truly immortal. ‘He could have healed if his remains were buried intact.’

  Nick shook his head. ‘His body would have been burnt.’

  ‘But you didn’t see it happen,’ she accused. Nick shook his head, conceding defeat.

  ‘No, I didn’t. So if it sets your mind at rest I’ll check it out and confirm it for you tomorrow, OK? It’s not the guy who turned you, Rube, it’s not possible.’

  Ruby lay back on the pillows, her hair tumbling over her naked body like blood on snow. Nick’s eyes swept over her appraisingly. He laid a hand on her thigh.

  ‘Then who?’

  ‘It has to be someone,’ he stated the obvious. ‘In 200 years, there must be other vampires you’ve had contact with. A spurned lover, perhaps? That card he left – assuming it’s a he – looks to me like someone goading an ex-girlfriend.’

  Ruby didn’t miss the note of jealousy in Nick’s voice. She had seen it in his face earlier when he had brought her back from the crime scene. For the rest of the day following their investigations they had hardly spoken, and Ruby, by nature a nocturnal animal, her vampirism giving her a low tolerance to sunlight, had actually gone to bed early to escape the oppressive silence that lingered between them, trying to ignore her growing urge to feed. She shook her head decisively.

  ‘There’s no one.’

  The look of disbelief on Nick’s face was acute. ‘C’mon, sugar. In 200 years you must have had lovers.’

  ‘Of course I did. But most of them were human.’

  ‘Most? What about the ones that weren’t?’ His voice was tight with tension.

  ‘There were only a few. Just dalliances. No dramas, no horrible endings. No reason for anyone to do this.’

  Nick was quiet, staring into the darkness, before he rolled over and pulled Ruby back into his arms.

  ‘Whatever this is, we’ll deal with it,’ he whispered into her hair. ‘Preternatural Branch is on it, and we’ll see what we can uncover. Lina might be a bit prickly, but she’s a good cop and she cares about the victims.’

  ‘But Nick,’ Ruby voiced her earlier fears, ‘if I get taken in for questioning …’

  Nick’s arms tightened around her protectively. ‘I wouldn’t let that happen.’ When he had first met Ruby and thought she was a suspect he had delayed taking her in for questioning in case the authorities had kept her in custody, eager to ‘study’ a real live vampire. Being his partner now offered her some protection, but they were careful to keep her powers under wraps in case they brought unwanted attention from either the police or the mysterious leaders of the Alliance, who so far had thankfully left her alone. Right now, she was seen as a fairly weak example of her species and they were happy to keep it that way. If it was ever discovered, for example, that in their last case she had nearly made the human accomplice shoot himself with his own gun, she would be perceived as a threat to the good people of New York. One that might well need stamping out. Ruby didn’t give voice to the thought that if that happened there might not be much Nick could do to prevent it. Instead, she sat up and leaned over him, her eyes searching for his in the darkness. As she lowered her mouth towards his, trying to kiss her fears away, he buried his hands in the sides of her hair and looked at her.

  ‘Your eyes always look so beautiful in the dark,’ he murmured, his gaze drinking her in, ‘they’re like emeralds.’

  Ruby smiled self-consciously and closed her eyes as their mouths met. Although she knew Nick loved her she could never shake the feeling that he loved only the human side of her. Whereas in the beginning that had been a major part of the attraction, the fact that Nick had made her feel like a woman again and not the cold-blooded hunter the centuries had shaped her into, now it was a source of concern. Because as much as she might sometimes wish otherwise she couldn’t deny the vampire part of herself. Nick treated it much as he did his own psychic skills; as an aberration that could sometimes be useful but was otherwise best ignored.

  The hunger that grew in her when she needed to feed was not something she could ignore for much longer. As Nick kissed her, his hands trailing down her naked back to cup her ass, she felt the familiar desire for him build inside her, bringing with it an almost dizzying rush of hunger that made her kiss him harder, crushing her mouth to his. Tak
ing her response as lust Nick pulled her tighter to him, only for Ruby to wrench her mouth away from his. Her fangs had elongated, ready to feed.

  Trying to disguise her discomfort, she buried her head in his chest, flicking at his taut nipples with the tip of her tongue in a way that made him groan and ball his hands in her hair again. She tried to concentrate on his body, on the sensation of desire and the slickness growing between her legs as she kissed her way down his strong, warm flesh, but overriding it all was the hunger. She could smell the coursing of his blood under his skin, and a sudden vision of sinking her teeth into his flesh and tearing it apart like so much meat, lapping up his blood as it flowed, had her rearing up and away from him in sudden horror.

  ‘Ruby …’ He caught at her wrists, trying to pull her back to him, but Ruby straddled him instead, placing a hand on his chest to keep him lying on the bed. He smiled at the display of dominance, taking it as a game, not realising she was deliberately putting a distance between them. It was natural for her to get the urge to bite him when they made love, but in a need for intimacy, not sustenance. When she was this hungry, she couldn’t trust herself.

  Instead, she smiled wickedly down at him, opened her legs wider and squeezed his now rock hard cock. Slowly, teasingly she rubbed herself over the tip, dampening him with her own arousal. Nick closed his eyes and groaned again.

  ‘Damn, Ruby, just do it.’

  ‘Say please.’

  He opened his eyes and shook his head at her, reaching for her hips to pull her down onto him but she only raised herself higher, away from that part of his body that was now straining to reach her. Nick made a strangled sound that was half laugh, half growl of frustration. Ruby grinned, genuinely this time, her hunger for blood fading into the background as her body caught fire for him.

  ‘I said, say please.’

  ‘Goddamnit … please,’ he surrendered, letting out a guttural, almost primal sound as she finally sat down slowly on his cock, enveloping him in her warmth. He watched in fascination as he slid inside her, then closed his eyes in bliss as she started to ride him with a fierce urgency that made their earlier liaison in the office look leisurely.