The Vampire’s Kiss

by Vivi Anna

  “Well, I guess she’s about to find out. Let’s go, then. Daylight’s awasting.” Cale headed for the door, then stopped and glanced back at Olena. “Is the sun going to be a bother?”

  Standing, she smirked at him. “Nope. That’s what cool, expensive sunglasses are for.” She produced a pair and she slid them on.

  He smiled, pleased that their tense situation had passed. And hell yes, she looked damn fine in those expensive sunglasses.

  Chapter 13

  Ivy Seaborn lived in a bad part of town. Graffiti marked decrepit, dilapidated buildings. Garbage lined the gutters of every street. And the homeless made their nests in alleys and in doorways long unused.

  It saddened Olena that there was poverty and homelessness in a city like Nouveau Monde. But, she supposed, just because someone was vampire, lycan or witch didn’t make him necessarily immune from life’s hardships. Otherworlders had their fair share of junkies, too. Humans weren’t the only ones who had addictions.

  As Olena parked the car along one desolate street, she wondered how Ivy had ended up in a place like this. Especially with an uncle as wealthy as Luc Dubois. According to Valentino, they had been close.

  Close enough that Luc left everything to her.

  It was just another mystery on top of many so far on this case.

  The address was for one of those rent-by-the-week hotels. The ones where the bathroom was down the hall and almost always had roaches and smelled like someone had died in it recently. As Olena and Cale made their way through the dark and dingy lobby, Olena had the utmost pleasure of being flashed by an eighty-year-old lycan still half formed in his wolfish self.

  He ran up to her, from where she couldn’t say, opened his long dirty trench coat, flashed her a winning smile, then dashed out of the way before Cale could grab him. He’d been quick for an old man. Obviously his lycan reflexes were still in good form. Too bad the rest of him hadn’t been.

  Cale shook his head after the old man had escaped. “That was quite disturbing.”

  “He didn’t wiggle his you-know-what at you. I received the full show.”

  He laughed, and the hearty sound of it made Olena join in. After what had happened, she’d thought for sure that there would be nothing but tension between them. And not the good kind, either.

  But they were back to normal. She was glad. She liked Cale, liked being around him. She didn’t want that to change.

  Their attention returned to the stairs leading up to the five floors of the hotel. “What floor is she on?” he asked.

  “Third. Room 308.”

  When they mounted the stairs, Cale’s nose wrinkled. “What is that smell?”

  “Rotting meat, I think. I imagine most of the tenants here are lycans. There are far more wealthy vampire and witch families than lycan. Partly because of longevity and partly because most lycans don’t possess greed and a lust for power.”

  “Interesting.”

  “There are a ton of books out on the subject.”

  They made the second floor and were heading up the next set of stairs. Olena wished she’d worn gloves as her hand touched a sticky substance on the handrail.

  “What about you, then?”

  She glanced at him. “What about me?”

  “Longevity or greed and lust for power?”

  “I’ve been around for almost three hundred years and still choose to work for a living. What do you think?”

  “I think you’re…” He paused.

  “What?”

  “A good investigator. And you strive to make a difference.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Do I hear some be grudging respect in there somewhere?”

  “Yeah, but it’s not begrudging. It’s honest.”

  She looked at him then, really looked. His gaze was intense but not with the usual desire-laced darkening. It told her volumes about how he was starting to feel about her. There was respect, which he had already admitted to, and more. But she wasn’t quite sure what that more entailed. She wasn’t ready to dissect it quite yet, because then she’d have to investigate her own feelings toward Cale.

  She understood lust, desire, even friendship, but she wasn’t sure she could handle anything else.

  Not from this man, anyway. Because she knew it wouldn’t be casual, wouldn’t be cavalier. It would be serious and intense. And she wasn’t ready for that.

  Clearing her throat, she waved her hand toward a dark and dirty hallway. “I think it’s that way.”

  After carefully adjusting his tie, Cale nodded and followed her down the corridor.

  Olena reached room 308 and knocked on the door. There was no immediate answer, so she tried again. Still nothing. She put her ear to the chipped wooden door but heard no movement inside. Ivy wasn’t home.

  “Do we have a work address?” Cale asked.

  Olena shook her head. “This is all we could get from the lawyer. Nothing turned up in any of our databases, either. She doesn’t have a criminal record.”

  “We could ask around. Maybe someone knows where she works or goes during the day.”

  “It’s worth a try.”

  They returned to the lobby hoping someone was manning the front desk. It turned out there was. An old, grizzled looking vampire named Bartholomew, Bart to his friends.

  Olena leaned on the counter. “Ivy Seaborn. Room 308. Do you know her?”

  “I know 308. No Ivy living there.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded, seemingly more interested in picking the dirt from under his long, ragged nails. “A guy named Tick. He pays me in cash. That’s all I know.”

  “Do you know where this Tick works?” Cale asked.

  Bart shrugged. “Try the comic shop down the street. I know he reads a lot of those.”

  They thanked Bart and headed back out onto to the street to find this comic-book store. Olena glanced one way, Cale the other.

  “Shouldn’t be too hard to find,” she said. “There aren’t too many businesses open down here.”

  “You lead, I’ll follow.”

  Olena smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

  “I thought you would.”

  Olena walked east down the street. After two blocks they found the comic-book store. Cale pushed open the door for Olena. The little bell overhead chimed, announcing their arrival.

  It was dark, musty and smoky. Olena waved her hand in front of her face to get rid of the sweet odor of marijuana and the haze that blinded her.

  Squinting, she looked around the shop. She spotted a young guy sitting on the counter by the cash register reading a comic; she thought he probably worked here. And there was another young man in the corner pawing through a huge stack of comics.

  She glanced at Cale. He seemed to understand exactly what she was thinking, because he went toward the guy in the corner while she went toward the one on the counter.

  Olena flipped open her law enforcement badge and held it up beside her face. “Which one of you is Tick?”

  The young man on the counter glanced at the guy in the corner. The guy Olena suspected was the one and only Tick. And that was all it took to set everything in motion.

  Tick pushed the stack of comics aside, and leaping over a shelf of graphic novels, headed toward the back of the shop.

  “Damn it! I didn’t think he’d run,” Olena said even as she sprinted across the shop floor. Cale was right on her heels. As she ran through the torn-open back door, she glanced over her shoulder. “Think you can keep up?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m human, but I’m quick on my feet.”

  “Yeah, well, we’ll soon see.” She looked down the alleyway and saw Tick heading around the corner.

  She had a suspicion he was a lycan, hence the clever name. “If he shifts, we won’t have a chance.”

  Without another word, she started down the alley, full sprint. She wasn’t a good runner, but she was faster than an average human male. Except maybe for Cale. He seemed to be keeping up with
her just fine. But in no way did she find the man average, so it didn’t surprise her.

  After two blocks, they lost Tick. He was fast and agile and obviously very good at hiding.

  “Where do you think he went?” Cale asked, slightly doubled over, breathing hard.

  Olena scanned the streets. “Ducked into one of these buildings maybe. They all look abandoned.”

  “Do you want to keep looking?”

  She nodded. “Yes. We need to find Ivy.”

  “Okay.”

  Side by side, they searched the first building. It was mostly empty except for a few squatters happily shooting up their drug of choice. It didn’t take them too long to search the three floors, but they came up with nothing.

  When they exited that building and were walking to the next, Olena heard music coming from another abandoned building. She motioned in the direction of the sound. “Let’s check over there. I hear techno music.”

  Cale followed her across the street to the other building. When she neared, she could see that the front door had been torn open. It was still swinging in the slight breeze.

  The moment they entered the building, the music became louder, clearer. It definitely was some sort of techno. She could hear other things as well. Voices.

  As they crept up the stairwell, Cale stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Be careful,” he said. “We don’t know how many people there might be.”

  She nodded, touched by his concern. He was an odd one for sure. Here he was likely the only human within miles, completely outmatched without any super powers, and he was worried about her. The fact that he was said a lot about him and his character. Character she was really starting to like a lot.

  When they reached the first-floor landing, Olena could see flashing light down one long hallway. Maybe they’d stumbled across an underground rave. There were many around the city. Raves were not considered illegal per se, but what happened during them usually was—drug use and underage drinking.

  She nudged Cale with her elbow and pointed down the hall. He nodded and without a word followed her lead.

  Walking tall, fangs out, Olena walked down the hall, which opened up into a large room that she imagined was once an office space. Loud music thumped out of the multitude of speakers lining the walls. A DJ was up on a makeshift platform spinning his tunes. There was a small crowd dancing, maybe fifteen teens, like awestruck zombies in the middle of the room, every single one with a drink in their hand.

  Olena’s gaze swept the room looking for Tick.

  She found him in the corner crouched on a beat-up old sofa. He was talking animatedly to a young girl with spiky white-blond hair and multiple facial piercings.

  As she moved farther into the room, with Cale behind her, people started to shift out of her way.

  By the time they reached the middle, pretty much everyone was aware of their presence.

  Tick’s head came up and his eyes widened. The girl beside him also started. She rose to her feet, her vivid blue eyes as wide as saucers.

  Cale grabbed Olena’s arm and nodded toward the girl. “That’s her. That’s Ivy. I saw her in one of my visions.”

  Chapter 14

  The girl must’ve either overheard him or sensed that they were looking for her, because she bolted. Tick went one way, she went the other. Maybe because they were trying to throw him and Olena off or because they were in a panic and didn’t have a clue what to do. Cale voted for the latter. They both looked like scared kids.

  As the girl sprinted by him, Cale made a grab for her. But the moment he touched her, a jolt of electricity surged through his fingers, into his hand and up his arm. He instantly released her.

  “She shocked me,” he said incredulously to Olena.

  “I heard she has powerful magic.”

  “Now you tell me.”

  “I’ll get her.”

  Olena moved faster than Cale could see. One second she was beside him, and the next she was standing in front of the girl, her hand wrapped around her biceps before she could run out the door.

  The girl struggled against Olena’s grip. And it looked like Olena was trying not to show how much pain she was in. He could just imagine how much current was going through her.

  “Ivy,” Olena said. “We just want to talk to you.”

  “Screw you, cops,” she hissed, still trying to get out of Olena’s firm hold.

  “We’re not cops. I’m a crime-scene investigator and this is Agent Braxton from Interpol. We want to talk to you about your uncle Luc.”

  That stopped her struggle and brought tears to her eyes. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

  Olena nodded, letting go of the girl’s arm. “I’m very sorry. Your uncle is dead.”

  The tears fell freely. “I knew it. I knew it.”

  “Do you know who killed him, Ivy?” Cale asked.

  “Anything you can tell us will help.”

  She glanced from him to Olena and back to him.

  It looked liked she was searching for the truth in his statement. Looking to see if she could truly trust them.

  “I told him it was wrong. I told him they’d find a way to kill him for it.”

  “Who, Ivy?”

  Wringing her hands together, she pursed her lips, then opened her mouth, but she didn’t get a chance to say anything before all hell broke loose.

  Olena must’ve sensed something was wrong before Cale did because she grabbed Ivy and wrapped her body around the girl, propelling them both to the floor before two masked gunmen dressed completely in black burst into the makeshift club.

  The remaining young people screamed in panic as the assailants opened fire. Cale’s first instinct was to aid Olena, even though logic told him the vampire would be all right.

  He drew his weapon as he dived to the floor, barely being missed by two bullets that slammed into the wooden post inches from him. He crawled across the floor to one of the torn and frayed sofas and popped back up with his weapon raised.

  It was pandemonium in the faintly lit room. Some of the colored lights had been shot out so it was difficult to see much of anything. He knew that the gunmen were still at the front of the place near the exit, but he couldn’t pinpoint their exact location, not with some of the young people still staggering around, some shot and bleeding, others in shock.

  He glanced behind him and saw Olena still down on the ground. He couldn’t see her clearly, but it appeared that she wasn’t moving. What if the gunmen were using silver bullets? Would they damage her enough to kill her? He couldn’t be sure.

  He knew vampires could take a lot of damage and that most times the only thing that could kill them was decapitation, fire, or having their hearts ripped out. But a silver bullet to the heart?

  The gunmen opened fire again, grazing the room with bullets. They were still at the front of the room.

  Squinting into the gloom, Cale could make out one shape, holding the distinctive outline of a rifle, near the door. At the lull in gunfire, Cale jumped up, fired three shots in that direction and ran toward Olena’s prone form.

  He heard a muffled curse from that direction, so he was hoping that meant one of his bullets had hit the target. In a panic to get to Olena, he slid down on his leg alongside her. He grabbed her around the waist to move her.

  “Olena.”

  She grunted in response.

  He quickly surveyed her body. There were two holes in the back of her shirt. Blood oozed out of both wounds. His stomach churned over, his heart hammered in his throat. Maybe he was too late. He had to bite down on his lip to calm himself.

  “I’m okay. Help me up,” she groaned.

  “You’ve been shot.”

  “I know.” She pushed up with her hands, and then looked around. “Where’s Ivy?”

  “I don’t know.” With his arm still around her waist, he helped her to her feet. She wobbled once but then stood straight. But he wasn’t going to let go of her. He didn’t think he could.

  More
shots were fired in their direction. Firing back, Cale propelled them both across the room. As they neared the far wall, Olena kicked out her leg and made a hole in the wall. They fell through it and into the other room. As they rolled onto the floor together in a heap, Cale could hear sirens in the background. Finally, the cavalry had arrived.

  He pushed up into a sitting position. Olena was beside him, her face grimacing in pain. He tore off his jacket, then his shirt and balled it up. Turning her slightly, he pressed the fabric against her wounds.

  “I’m fine, Cale, really.” She tried to stand up, but he kept her sitting. “We have to find Ivy.”

  “You’ve been shot, Olena. You’re not fine.” He pressed the shirt tighter against her back. “We’ll find her after you’ve been looked at.”

  “It’s just lead. My body will expel the bullets. If it had been silver then I might be in some trouble.”

  He shook his head in amazement. Most people would’ve been bleeding to death with two holes in their back, but not his girl. Nope, she was going to pop the bullets out of her body just like that. It was very strange.

  And the notion that he was thinking about Olena as being his girl wasn’t lost on him, either. He’d been nearly out of his mind when he saw that she’d been shot. Even though deep down he knew because she was a vampire she’d survive, that one moment of pure panic at her eventual death had nearly paralyzed his heart.

  Olena turned to smile at him. “Thanks for the first aid. I’m really touched—” Then she paused and her eyes got wide and her mouth gaped open.

  She reached for him, her hands scrambling to touch his chest. He grinned, his ego swelling. She was crazy for him. It was a weird time to have sex, but he wasn’t going to say no this time. Nope, he wasn’t going to say no ever again. He wanted her way too much to deny himself any longer.

  “God, Cale. You’ve been shot.”

  “What?” He looked down and saw a thick crimson trail down his side along his ribs.

  She took the same balled-up shirt he’d used on her, found a clean section and pressed it up under his arm. And when she did that, the pain that had been absent this whole time came hard. In a rush, it swooped over him, making his head spin.