Bound by Blood (Vampire Romance)

by Tara Manderino

He helped her into his car, and started it before asking her for directions.

  She gave a tight laugh once they started. “You know, I’m usually much more careful, especially with men. I didn’t even ask to see your badge.”

  Alex raised his eyebrows. “I did show it around.” Even as he spoke he used one hand to pull it from his jacket pocket and tossed it to her. “Now, tell me what you did today and how you arrived at the play ground.”

  From the corner of his eye, he watched her flip open his ID, study it, then him. She folded the case and wordlessly put it in his hand when he held it out, then quickly she filled him in on her afternoon activities. “We had stopped at the grocery store to get some bread for the birds, first. We don’t stop every day, but today we did. This was after school,” she reminded him, “so it was still light enough to see. We were going to feed the birds, swing on the swings a bit and then be home in time for dinner. Mrs. Morgan doesn’t like to have dinner before six.”

  Alex drove past the store she indicated and then entered the park at the entrance she specified. It was full dark now, not that it proved any problem to him. And the play area was well lit enough no one would question his being able to see well.

  He stopped the car, but when he went to assist Lisa from her side she had already exited and was walking around the hood of the car toward the swing set. “We were here,” she said pointing to two of the swings. “Sandy had just climbed on the one, and I was getting ready to push her before joining her.”

  “Do you always join her?” he had no problem believing it. She didn’t seem much more than a child herself, except for the curves; the entire packaging determined she was far from child-like.

  She gave him a weak smile. “I know I’m too old for this, but I do enjoy it. And it makes Sandy feel like she has an older sister instead of a nanny,”

  Alex leaned against one of the swing set poles. He couldn’t resist letting his gaze travel from the top of her unruly hair down to her trim half boots. “I do have to admit you are not what I picture when I think of a nanny.”

  “That’s what Mrs. Morgan said too,” Lisa admitted, but she did not sound as light hearted as Alex had been. “Mr. Morgan was the one who hired me.”

  Alex’s gut tightened. Had he hired her for something besides nanny to his daughter? He wouldn’t believe that at this point. He would have sensed it.

  As if she knew what he was thinking, she raised her head a notch. “I am a certified nanny,” she told him. “I trained in England at the Nanny and Governess school.”

  Alex put both hands in the air, palm outward, as if warding off her blows. “I never suggested otherwise.”

  She gave a self-conscious laugh. “Sorry. Most people have something snide to say. Really, Mr. Morgan is a sweetie, but I only look after his daughter. That’s it.”

  Frankly, if he had been married to someone like Barbara Morgan, Alex couldn’t ascertain how much of a ‘sweetie’ he would remain. Not that anyone had ever called him by such an innocuous name. Not even Katherine.

  “After Sandy was on the swing, what happened?”

  “That’s it. That’s about all I remember.” She wrapped her arms tightly about her middle. She didn’t meet his gaze. “In the next moment, there was some guy standing next to her. I don’t even know where he came from, but it was like he never saw me, only Sandy. He grabbed her, and when she started screaming for me, he looked at me. I... I can remember him raising his hand; I tried to duck, but the next thing I knew there were people standing around me and I was coming to. The paramedics, when they were called, didn’t think I had been out for more than a moment. But Sandy was gone. No one had seen her disappear. No one else saw the man.”

  In spite of his resolution not to, Alex put out his hand and cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him. He had to pull himself back from looking into the clear gray of her eyes. A gaze that would pull him in if he let it. “You must remember something. Anything about the man.” He squeezed her chin gently, then let his fingers run over her skin as he released her. “Did you notice the color of his hair? His height?”

  She nodded. “I already told the police. He had black hair, really black, almost blue. He wasn’t as tall as you, but close.” She examined him closely. “He might have been built similar to you. He wasn’t very broad, you know, more lean.”

  Alex wondered if there was a note of approval in her voice. “Do you remember anything else? A ring? A tattoo? A scar?”

  She looked straight ahead, not seeming to see him at all. “He did have jewelry, she said, touching her ear lobe. “He had a small gold earring, a stud. And he wore a ring. It was on his middle finger; I thought that was odd. I don’t remember anything else.”

  “Have you told this to the police?”

  “No. I didn’t remember it until now. I don’t know how much it will help. People take off their jewelry all of the time.”

  “And many do not.” He absently fingered his ring. “Do you know that in some cultures, the wedding band is put on the middle finger, not the fourth?”

  “I didn’t know. You think it was a wedding band?”

  Alex shrugged. “Just making an observation.” He pushed away from the pole. “Now, if you are ready, perhaps we should go back.”

  Lisa gave a tiny shudder. “I don’t know if I’m ready yet. Why don’t you go and I’ll be by in a little bit. I think I need some time to myself.”

  “That would not be a good idea.”

  “Maybe not,” she said giving him a weak smile, “but right now Mrs. Morgan hates me and I don’t blame her in the least. I don’t know if I’m ready to face her.”

  “There is nothing you could have done differently.” His voice was harsher than he intended, but it got her attention.

  “Do you honestly believe that?” Her voice was raw with pain. She moved her hands around in agitation, punctuating her points. “What if I had been quicker to reach for her? Maybe if I had hit the man as soon as I saw him he wouldn’t have been able to grab Sandy?”

  She had to have asked herself those questions hundreds of times since this afternoon. If it was as he thought, there was nothing she could have done. “Nothing would have changed.” He took her by the arm, surprised to find she was shivering. Without thought, he draped his arm about her shoulders as he led her back to the car. She didn’t push him away.

  “Let me take you back, and we’ll see if anything has developed. In the meantime, you can have something warm to eat and drink. It will make a difference.” He kept his voice even and soothing.

  Everything was as they had left it, except for the fact that Mrs. Morgan was sleeping. Jason explained she had decided it was all too much for her and let the doctor prescribe a sedative.

  “It’s better this way,” he said after explaining the situation. He studied Lisa’s face, and lightly touched her on the arm. Alex found he didn’t care for the gesture.

  “Did you remember anything more?”

  “Not really,” she told him, and stepped just out of his reach. “Detective Aguilar suggested coming back here.”

  She had stepped aside with such a natural movement if Alex hadn’t been looking for it he wasn’t sure he would have noticed it.

  The captain joined their small circle and confirmed nothing had been called in aside from the first report of a blue sedan. “Frankly, that does puzzle me,” he said. “I’ve never worked on any missing person’s detail where at least one person hasn’t called to say they thought they saw the person. Human nature.”

  It was at that, Alex had to admit, human being the operative word. What little Lisa recalled had helped him somewhat, but he couldn’t imagine it would mean much to the captain. He let her tell it.

  “Not much to go on,” the captain predictably said. “Lots of people with black hair. And jewelry. Probably as soon as he remembered he had it on, he ditched it. I’ll mark the notes, but I think we’re going to need something more.

  Alex was sure of it.

  “We nee
d our baby back,” Jason said. “Tell me what else to do and I’ll have it done.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Morgan, but I can’t think of one more thing we can feasibly do that’s not already covered. The best thing I can tell you is to try and get some rest. We have no idea when the kidnapper will call, or even if they will.

  Nodding, Mr. Morgan made his way to the coffee set up on the far side of the great room.

  To Alex, Lisa still looked rather pale. It amazed him the Morgans weren’t more concerned about her. The thought surprised him, and he had to wonder when he began to care about the hired help. “Listen,” he told Lisa, “I don’t think anything much is going to happen at night, at least not tonight. I would strongly suggest you try to get some sleep. I’ll report to the captain and the Morgans tomorrow and see if they have any new information. I’ll check with you at that time too in case you think of anything else.”

  Nodding agreement, Lisa gave her good nights and headed to her bedroom.

  Once she was gone, Alex found he had little reason to stick around. He had learned all he could from her, which wasn’t much but at least it was a starting point even if it wasn’t one he could share. For now, he would leave the captain and the others to their own devices. After repeating his directives to the captain and the officers, he took his leave.

  Lisa had given him two clues she probably was unaware of, one being the speed in which the child had been abducted, and the ring. The fact that the child was of his lineage he did not dismiss. The question was why and who. Much the same as what his mortal relations were asking. Tonight, he would meet with more of his kind and see what he could glean. Tomorrow he would ask Lisa more pointed questions. The thought of seeing her again appealed to him more than it should have. Actually, more than anything else had in many years.

  Chapter 3

  Parking his car near one of the downtown office buildings, Alex made his way to the Ross Towers Plaza. Although it was dark, it wasn’t yet nine o’clock and he was certain Louis would still be there.

  “Knew you would still be hard at it,” Alex said when he entered Louis’s office.

  “Where else would I be?” Louis barely looked away from the computer monitor, finishing his task.

  “True. You’re always hard at work. Probably contributes to your financial success.”

  “May as well be a success at something,” he said. “Being human was a failure. But yes, business does have its advantages.”

  Alex chuckled. “Give over, Louis. You know you enjoy what you do. Who you are.”

  Hitting the enter key with a flourish, Louis pushed himself away from the desk and stretched before settling into the chair opposite Alex’s and away from the business side of his desk. “Is that how you knew I would still be here?”

  “Are you ever anywhere else?”

  “You would be surprised,” he answered.

  Alex raised one eyebrow. “I’m sure I would be. Care to enlighten me?”

  Louis waved it away. “No sense in it. You would just say it was still work. So, what brings you here? It must be related to your work.”

  “It is.” Alex ran both hands down his face, leaving his fingers pointed and his hands folded at his lips. Coming to a decision, he let his hands fall to his side and leaned back in his chair. He still wasn’t positive coming to Louis was the best move, but it was the only option he could come up with. “Which vampires do we know wear an earring, a wedding band on the middle finger and has true black hair.”

  “Raven. Carlos. Thaddeus.” Louis shrugged. “I could name a few more. Can you narrow it down any?”

  “Who would want something of mine?”

  Louis raised his eyebrows. “Maybe you better tell me what is going on here. What do you have that anyone would want, let alone those I named?”

  Alex gave him a tight smile. “That’s the question.”

  “You’re not making sense, Alex. Is this for work or about you?”

  “It started out for work, but I think it must be about me. A little girl was abducted this afternoon.”

  “I listen to the news.”

  “Let me go back. The little girl who was abducted this afternoon is my great-great-- Oh, I don’t know how many times removed.”

  “You know this?”

  “Oh, yes. You know I have followed my lineage.”

  “Yes. There are not many others who can do so.” Louis extended his hand and rolled it in the air, indicating Alex should move forward.

  “She was snatched while the nanny was watching her. The nanny remembers certain things, just as I told you. But the key is how quickly the child was abducted. No one saw anything. The nanny barely remembers. You have been around humans enough to know people see things and think they see things, yet no one around the playground has any recollection of anyone else being there, let alone actually abducting this child.”

  Louis nodded in agreement. “You believe he’s one of us?”

  “He has to be. Or someone who knows about us and is after me.”

  “I hate to disabuse your sense of self-importance, but he may not really know who you are.”

  “You think I’m overreacting?” Alex stood and paced the perimeter of the room. There was the possibility Louis was correct and it had nothing to do with him at all. But the child was still his. So far, she was the last of them and unless the Morgans had a few more children, he would have to take care of this one even more than the others. Not that he had ever been hands-on, if that was the term these days, but he always made it his business to know their whereabouts, what they did and how their lives progressed, and always, how many children they had. It was the only part of him and Katherine that had lived on. And he had loved Katherine desperately. Surprisingly though, it wasn’t her face that came to mind as it had for decades, then more faded around the edges over the centuries, but the nanny’s. Probably because she was the one closely associated with the case. She was his only link to Cassandra’s disappearance.

  “I didn’t say that,” Louis said. “I’m just suggesting you look at all the alternatives. What does her father do? Could he be the target? Is he wealthy?”

  Alex snorted. “Of course he’s wealthy. I saw to it. You even handled some of the investments.”

  Louis waved his had to dismiss the comment. “I’m trying to think of reasons for the child to be missing, not stir you to righteousness.”

  Running his hand through his hair, Alex grinned down at him. “That’s too easy to do. So, how do I find Carlos, Raven, or Thaddeus? They can be my starting point.”

  “Most likely at El Lago,” he said naming one of the more popular nightclubs in the city. “At least it’s Raven’s favorite place. We can start there.”

  Within half an hour, the men were well ensconced in one of the curved booths favored by the club. Alex wanted to hold his ears. He had given up the loud music about a century before, and he let Louis know it.

  “Hey, I’m just leading you to where you want to be.” He pointed to the back of the room. “It’s quieter there.”

  After giving his friend a dark look, Alex was on his way. Louis stopped at the bar and ordered two drinks which he carried to the back.

  “Raven?” Alex asked even as he searched the room.

  Louis discretely pointed to the other side of the room. Spotting the black haired man Alex studied him. He could see the earring, but there was no wedding band. No ring, he corrected himself. It might not be a wedding band. But would he know Carlos? Leaving his drink on the table, he stood and made his way over to the other vampire.

  “What do you want with Carlos?” Raven asked without looking at him.

  “That’s my business. I want to know where he is. If you know, that would also be my business.”

  Raven shrugged then went back to watching the dancers. Alex, moved in closer, and grasped the man’s wrist in a crushing grip. “I want to talk to Carlos.”

  Finally, Raven pointed to behind the bar with is chin. “There’s a room back ther
e he uses. I have no idea if he’s there or not.”

  Releasing the man, Alex headed behind the bar, only to be stopped by the bartender. Looking the man over, Alex decided he was only doing his job. For him, he pulled out his badge and was given immediate access. Sometimes it really did help.

  It was less noisy behind the bar, and there was more light. Of Carlos, there was no sign. He searched the entire area. Empty. Since the man had no need to pack anything, Alex looked around. There was a photograph, one of him with a young woman. His wife? It looked to have been taken in the early 1900s, which meant Carlos was a bit younger than himself. This was definitely one of Carlos’ lairs. From the lack of personal effects, it was obviously not his home. From the picture, the woman appeared to be a Spanish or Mexican bride. Picking up the photo, he examined it, studying the picture for a ring. And he found it on the couple’s fingers. The question remained, would Carlos be the only one looking for him. And was he looking specifically for him? If so, why? He replaced the photo on the shelf.

  Satisfied with his discovery, he went back to the club and motioned to Louis it was time to leave. “I found what I wanted,” Alex told him.

  “So, Raven is your man?”

  “I didn’t say that. But I will be making more visits.”

  Louis nodded his understanding. “You know where to find me if you need anything more.”

  Leaving his car near Louis’s office, Alex headed home for rest. It would take too long to drive. He had already had a long day since he had spent some time in the daylight hours while working. If he left now, he could stop in the police station, and then head for needed rest until tomorrow evening. He had a feeling he would need it. Stopping at headquarters would give him easier access to the information he was searching for.

  “’bout time you showed up,” his partner said when he entered the room.

  “I was working on a case. Didn’t anyone tell you?”

  “Yeah, they did.” Nick got up from his desk and joined Alex at the coffee pot. “I thought maybe you wanted a permanent shift to day.”

  Alex poured his coffee, and shook his head at his partner’s suggestion. “Rest assured I’m strictly a night shift person. Works better with my biological clock.”