by E A Price
Technically, Alma had called in sick for the last couple of days. She didn’t really want Marcus to know what she was up to. If he knew, he might be tempted to send one of the bounty hunters to help out, and then Viktor would leave her behind. No way was she allowing that to happen; he’s never leaving her behind again.
She was a little surprised at the Tender Blossoms office. It wasn’t glamorous, or inviting, it was in a low-rent office building, that looked like a big cube of concrete. It looked like an undistinguished building; from the outside, no one would guess at the seedy agency it housed, but, she reflected that was probably the point.
Viktor stopped at the door; his hand lingered on the handle. He considered warning her, but couldn’t find the words. In the end, he just forced a smile and told her he loved her.
She looked at him curiously but wordlessly entered the building as Viktor held the door open for her.
A young woman with bright pink hair sat the reception desk; she immediately looked up and gave Viktor an appreciative glance. Alma was about to get annoyed when the woman gave her an equally approving glance. Apparently they were both her type.
“Hi, there! I’m Lilac, how can I help you?”
Viktor gave her a devastatingly handsome smile. In spite of reason, Alma couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. Those smiles should only be for her.
“Hello, is Lavender here?” drawled Viktor, smoothly.
“I’m sorry; Lavender doesn’t come in anymore. Ever since she got married, she works from home.”
The bubbly girl pointed at a photo on the wall. Alma squinted; it was clearly a tropical beach, there was a tall, curvy, blonde woman in a skimpy white bikini and a veil being clutched, adoringly by a young man. Alma marveled at the woman; she had the biggest breasts Alma had ever seen. The man must have been in his early twenties, but Lavender was easily in her forties.
“Lucky Lavender,” murmured Alma. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear Viktor breathed a sigh of relief.
“Perhaps you can help me, Lilac,” he purred in a silken voice.
Lilac simpered, and he heard his mate mutter ‘oh, brother.’
“I would like to book a couple of girls.”
Lilac beamed. “Of course, sir. We charge an excellent group rate, perhaps you would like to take a look and let me know if any of the girls take your fancy.” She winked and placed a large book on the reception desk.
He leafed through the pages until he alighted on Daffodil. Or at least, the new Daffodil. “She seems…nice.”
Alma huffed as Lilac nodded her head vigorously. “She’s just started with us; I’m sure she’d be thrilled to meet you. Vampire, right?”
Viktor inclined his head, indicating yes.
“All the girls love vampires.”
Lilac’s eyes wouldn’t meet his. Viktor imagined that was true before what happened to two of their ranks. Now, he envisaged they were all a little wary.
“And will your lady friend be joining in?” Lilac looked to Alma, who balked at the young woman.
Viktor quickly answered. “No, actually the booking wouldn’t be for us, but for a friend of mine. That won’t be a problem will it?”
Lilac giggled. “Of course not, a lot of people like to book our girls as birthday presents.”
Alma scowled; she didn’t approve of giving a young woman as a gift.
Viktor idly flipped through the pages of the book. “You know, I was looking at your website last week, and I could swear that Daffodil looks different.”
Lilac’s smile twitched. “Yes, unfortunately, the old Daffodil no longer works for us.”
“Oh my, that is a shame. She was such a lovely looking girl, what happened?”
Lilac tried to blink back tears, but a stray one made it down her cheek, blurring her mascara. “I’m sorry…” Her voice cracked.
Alma immediately leaned forward and took one of Lilac’s hands. “Hey, it’s okay. Oh my god! Was Daffodil one of the girls in the paper? One of the girls the vampire killed?” Alma gave her a look of horror.
The young pink-haired woman nodded sadly. “I can’t believe she’s gone…” She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
Alma dropped her hand and swiftly ran around the desk to sweep Lilac into a hug. “You poor thing! How awful it must be to have lost your friends.”
Lilac nodded as she nestled against Alma’s body, clinging onto the witch tightly. “I just can’t believe it! One minute she and Tulip and there and the next, poof! They’re dead!”
Viktor growled lowly. He wasn’t sure he liked just how hard Lilac was clutching his mate. The young woman was upset, but his keen senses detected the kindling of arousal.
Alma ignored him and rubbed the young woman’s back soothingly. “Do you know what happened?”
Lilac hiccupped and looked at Viktor accusingly. “Only that the vampire killed them.”
He was about to object when a warning look from Alma stopped him. The witch started stroking the young woman’s bubblegum colored hair. Lilac pressed herself against Alma’s chest a lot more closely than necessary in Viktor’s opinion.
Alma affected a clueless manner. “So, did that vampire hire the girls himself? It seems mad to hire them and then do that to them.”
Lilac sighed. “No, he didn’t. He’d booked girls from us before, but this time it wasn’t him.”
“Oh?” said Alma, trying to restrain her curiosity. “Who did then?”
Lilac pulled herself out of the embrace. She blinked a few times before her eyes glazed ever so slightly. “I… I don’t remember.” She screwed up her face trying to think, before relaxing back into a glassy stare. “I remember nothing.”
Viktor stilled. He’d know that look anywhere. “We need to leave,” he said gruffly.
Alma looked at him in surprise but didn’t say anything.
Lilac shook her head as the fog of confusion lifted. “Don’t you want to hire some of the girls?”
Alma rubbed her arm. “We’ll come back another day when you’re feeling better.”
The young woman nodded; a small smile shining through her tear-streaked, snot laden, pretty face.
Lilac pressed a card into Alma’s hand. “Hey, if you ever want to get a drink or something, call me.”
With that, the young woman turned and retreated to the restroom, dabbing at her face as she went.
When she was out of sight, Viktor grabbed hold of Alma and speedily ran out to his car. When safely locked inside he let out a vicious snarl.
Alma blinked for a few seconds before placing one hand on Viktor’s leg and looking out the window. Viktor trembled with the effort of controlling his jealous rage. Logically he knew Lilac was no threat to him, but all he could focus on was the fact that she had made a pass at his mate, and he wanted to tear her limb from limb.
The soothing touch of his mate calmed him slightly, and he was able to relax and ignore the red-hot fury bubbling inside.
“So, how do you know Lavender?” Alma’s voice cut through his anger like a knife.
She already suspected how he knew the woman, and had already felt the tingles of her own jealousy on that matter. But she needed to take his mind off what had just happened. A rampaging vampire was not a pretty sight. God knows she liked to tease him, for some reason Detective Leeman was a particularly sore point with him, but she couldn’t bear it if he really were hurt.
She was actually a little surprised at his reaction. At his insistence, she’d been out on dates with numerous men over the last four years, and he always kept himself in check. Perhaps the situation with Julian was pushing him closer to the edge than she realized.
Alma turned to her mate and was pleased to note he was looking a little sheepish. “I’m guessing you had a relationship…”
“I wouldn’t call it a relationship,” he said quickly.
“Ah, so you were just having casual sex.”
Viktor spluttered as his temper deflated.
Alma tried to hol
d back her sly grin. “Is that why you’ve been quivering like custard all day, because you were worried about me meeting one of your ex-girlfriends?”
“She wasn’t exactly an ex-girlfriend, we just…
“Fucked?” suggested Alma, dryly.
Viktor winced although the word was accurate. Viktor met Lavender six years ago. Lavender was a highly sexual hyena shifter; she eagerly pursued Viktor, keen to take a vampire to bed. Viktor hadn’t played hard to get, he never had in all the centuries he’d been alive. Another reason he didn’t want to disclose the details of his sexual past to his mate, he could hardly remember all his conquests.
“Yes… I’m sorry; I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want to rub your nose in my previous romances.” Again he winced; romances was a very generous word. Sure he’d a few special relationships. Well, three in fact. Not counting his sire, never counting his sire…
Alma squeezed his thigh. “Why would you think that would bother me? I would have been very surprised if you had been a virgin when I met you. So you’ve been with other women, who cares? You’re mine, now.”
She leaned over and pulled him in for a searing kiss, hot arousal shot through his cold veins. “Come on, Magnum, let’s get this show on the road.”
Chapter Fourteen
As he drove, Viktor explained why he had been so keen to leave Tender Blossoms, other than his jealousy of Lilac.
Viktor knew why Lilac couldn’t remember who hired the girls; he’d seen the look on her face, as she strained to grasp at the memory, over a hundred times before. She’d been mesmerized.
As vampires grow older, some develop certain skills. It took centuries, but some vampires were able to read minds, others like Julian could hide their scent and a few could even start fires with their minds. There was no rhyme or reason as to who developed these skills, some never did, but then others may develop a numbers of different abilities. There were also vampires who could mesmerize people; they could take control of people’s free will and force them to do whatever they wanted, up to and including forcing them to forget things.
A vampire told Lilac to forget who hired Daffodil and Tulip to visit Julian. Presumably, the same vampire who actually killed the girls.
Alma mulled that over. “So, this vampire turned up at the Tender Blossoms office, hired the girls and paid for them. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been a booking, and Lilac wouldn't have been hypnotized into forgetting who he, or she, was.”
Viktor let out a long unnecessary breath. “It appears that way, yes.”
“Then there will at least be some record of the financial transaction, the vampire couldn’t have erased that.” Alma tapped her blue nails against the dashboard. “With any luck, whoever it was, paid using a credit card, and if they did, we could find out who they are.”
Viktor hope blew up like a balloon, but soon deflated. “What if they paid cash?”
“I bet they didn’t. Nobody pays cash anymore, and I saw those prices, those girls were damn expensive. And if this were a vampire, he or she would have been far too arrogant to think anyone would even get this far. They probably didn’t even think they had to bother to not use their credit card.”
Viktor glanced at her, an amused smile playing on his lips. “You think vampires are arrogant?”
She smiled sweetly. “Oh, Viktor, of course, I think that! Vampires are the strongest and toughest creatures around; most of you have your heads up your asses, going around telling everyone you’re the ‘master race.’”
Viktor bridled. “We’re not all like that; I’m not like that!”
Alma tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Well, sometimes you are, you’re just lucky you have me to keep your ego in check.”
“Gee, thanks,” he muttered sarcastically.
“My pleasure, now hush up, I have to make a phone call.”
Alma fiddled with her phone and a few seconds later Mia’s happy, laughing voice answered. “Hello.”
“It’s Alma.”
“Oh hey Alma, are you feeling better?”
“What?” Oh right, yeah, she was supposed to be sick. Alma coughed a couple of times and in a pathetic voice said, “A little.”
Viktor pursed his lips disapprovingly; he could hear every word. Alma ignored him and turned her back to him, so she was looking out the window.
Down the phone Alma heard a deep, rumbling, yet muffled voice in the background. It kind of sounded familiar, but she couldn’t be sure…
“Am I interrupting something?”
“No!” yelped Mia quickly and then tried to make shushing noises. “I was just… watching TV, what can I do for you?”
Alma took a deep breath. “I need you to do me a favor, but it’s not strictly legal.”
Mia paused for a few seconds. ‘What is it?”
At least she hadn’t said no. “I need you to hack into the records for a business called Tender Blossoms, it’s an escort agency. I need to know who paid for two escorts to go to Hotel Jinx four nights ago.”
Alma imagined the small rabbit shifter scrunching her nose, the way she always did when she was thinking. “Wasn’t that the night…”
“Yes it was,” admitted Alma shortly. She had kind of hoped that Mia wouldn’t realize, but the rabbit was a smart little cookie.
Mia thought about it. Technically it would be illegal, yet the likelihood of getting caught was slim to none. It briefly occurred to her what she could ask Alma to do in return. Now and then the influence of her father, a ruthless boa constrictor shifter, shone through. Brief thoughts of a raise, a promotion and a more comfortable desk chair flittered through her mind. But no, she was happy as she was, but there was something Mia was dying to know…
“I’ll do it, but… I want you to do something for me.” Mia forced her voice not to tremble; she wasn’t used to being pushy, that was actually more Alma’s style.
“Like what?” demanded the witch, savagely.
Mia took a deep gulp of breath. “I want to ask you two questions, and I want you to answer them honestly.”
“What sort of questions?”
“Nope, you have to agree to it before I tell you the questions.” Mia thanked god they were doing this over the phone, in person the timid little rabbit would easily have caved in to the formidable witch.
“If it is something secret…”
“I won’t tell a soul.”
Alma groaned. “Fine, go ahead, but you don’t say a word to anyone about what I’ve asked you to do.”
“Deal. Okay, first question, are you and Viktor in a relationship? And secondly, are you trying to investigate the deaths of those two girls?” Mia held her breath, waiting for the witch to shout at her, and tell her it was none of her business.
Nothing happened.
After what felt like an age, Alma’s sultry voice answered both questions, “Yes and yes.”
Mia almost jumped up and down. She knew it. Alma could be downright vicious when she wanted, but there was something about her behavior toward the vampire that didn’t ring true for Mia, she sensed there was an attraction between the two. God, she was good!
“Remember your promise…” started Alma.
“Of course! Now, can you give me a few more details about Tender Blossoms?”
*
Alma ended the phone call to Mia and turned back to her mate. “So Jessica Fletcher…”
Viktor snorted a laugh. “Oh, have you run out of male detectives already?
“Nope, just run out of the serious ones.”
Viktor bristled. “I’ll have you know Jessica Fletcher was a fine detective.”
“Ugh, figures you’d watch that.” He was such an old man.
“Hey, when you can’t go out in the sun you become hooked on daytime TV.”
“Yes, it’s one of the many things I’m looking forward to when I become a vampire,” she said dryly.
He grinned, flashing his fangs at her. “Oh, I’m sure we can find something much more entertaining to
do.”
Alma felt a shiver of arousal shoot straight to her sex; it always did when those fangs came out to play. Damn she was twisted, sometimes she wondered if she actually liked getting bitten more than he liked biting.
She shook away her desire. “Anyway, I found out who hired the girls. Turns out the cocky dumbass did pay with a credit card.”
“And do we have a name?”
“We do indeed,” she told him smugly. “Turns out it was paid for by a company card belonging to something called Heavenly Bodies.”
Viktor veered off the road and slammed on the brakes; they were followed by the honking of horns, and the yells of other irate drivers.
“What the hell, Viktor?!”
Viktor stared ahead, gripping the steering wheel until it started cracking under the pressure. “Heavenly Bodies is a club near the harbor. I know who runs it.”
Alma’s brow creased. “That’s good news isn’t it? It means we’re one step closer.”
His jaw ticked. “It’s a vampire called James Marlowe. He’s my brother.”
Chapter Fifteen
Viktor could still remember the day he was changed. At first he thought it was a curse, but over time he realized that, as a vampire, he had a better life than he ever did as a human. Meeting Alma was also a tremendous bonus.
He wasted his human life. He was the third son of a farmer. His family was by no means rich, but they were comfortable. His older brothers were honest and hard working. He… wasn’t.
He spent his time drinking and chasing women. He was a handsome man and damned charming when he wanted to be.
His sire found him stumbling home one night after an evening of drinking. Her name was Celine. She appeared out of nowhere wearing a flowing, white nightgown. She asked him to follow her, and he did, without hesitation. Even if he weren’t drunk he probably still would have. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on; with golden blonde hair, pale luminous skin and shining silver eyes, he thought she was an angel. How wrong he was.
She dragged him into the woods and kissed him passionately. He was excited beyond belief, but this soon turned to horror. Viktor recalled her teeth on his neck and the sharp twinge of pain, before he was overtaken by a rush of ecstasy invoked by the feeding. He was amazed that he orgasmed right then and there, but as he came down from his high he panicked. She continued mercilessly taking his blood; his body was in agony as she drained him, and he weakened. He faintly tried to beg for his life as he felt it slipping away, but she did not stop. He blacked out.
