by Nina Pierce
* * *
Alex sipped at the cup of hot water Reese had set in front of her. It was the only thing she was sure would stay down at this point. He’d given her a spare toothbrush, a dry T-shirt and some time alone in his bathroom to pull herself together while he shuttered the windows. She’d refused the blood wine he’d offered, his brow furrowing when she’d pushed it away, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat. Reese stood leaning against the sideboard, his arms crossed defensively over his heart. And didn’t their timing suck?
“I need to know, Alex.”
She inhaled deeply. Her head pounded with the pressure behind her eyes, her stomach twisting in painful contractions. After what Alex had seen of John last night, she had no doubt things would only get worse as this day progressed. At least someone had put the vampire out of his misery. She wondered how the end would come for her.
Before she told Reese a sanitized version of how events had unfolded last night—because damn, she needed to tell someone—she needed to know exactly what Reese thought he’d uncovered. “You need to know about what specifically?” she asked.
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s me you’re talking to, Alex. Don’t insult what we have by playing games.”
“I didn’t kill anyone as you seem to think.”
His eyes grew dark, the corner of his mouth curving in a malicious smirk. He cocked an eyebrow, straightening his arms and wiggling his fingers in invitation to rebuke his theory. His silent recrimination filled the air and Alex could hardly draw breath. Jesus. She’d only been grabbing at straws. He really thought she’d started the fire that had killed Glenn and John.
“He was my father.” Alex’s chin trembled, but the words had come out strong. “I’ve been listening to him in my head since the day he saved me … and now there’s nothing.” She swallowed the sorrow threatening to overwhelm her. “Hope is my best friend. What could ever make you believe I could hurt either of them much less …” She couldn’t say the word. Refused to acknowledge that the man in front her believed she was capable of murder.
In one long stride, Reese was in her face. “Then make me understand how every human and every vampire who’s been killed in the last eighteen months has some affiliation with you. Because from where I’m standing, Alex, it’s hard to see past those facts.”
His words were like a hard slap that jerked her head back. “Firefighters don’t investigate deaths. And if the fire marshal suspected anything, I’d be sitting in a jail cell and not at your kitchen table.” Her gaze raked his face, watching emotions playing over his features. “Who the hell are you, Reese Colton?”
“An investigator for the tribunal.”
“If they think I’m guilty of killing vamps, why haven’t they taken me?”
“They don’t know what we know. We just uncovered the information yesterday.””
“You’re not the only one?”
“No. Josh and Ronan too.”
That would explain the weird interaction between Ronan and Reese in the wine cellar yesterday morning. She’d known the two had been connected somehow. “And there’s the explanation for Ronan’s kind offer of a ride last night.” She shot him a sarcastic smile. “He didn’t want me to get away.”
Reese simply shrugged in agreement. “We’re here at Glenn’s request to the tribunal.”
“Glenn never said anything.” It was all too much to process. Alex got up, pacing the kitchen, trying to make her mind work through the haze of confusion and pain. “Glenn believed this evidence also implicated me?”
“We never had a chance to tell him.” Reese dropped into the kitchen chair, as if the information they’d found were a burden he couldn’t carry. “Hope discovered your connection to the fires over the last eighteen months and shared it with Josh yesterday. We think that’s why she’s missing.”
The last Alex had seen of her friend, Hope had been running from the barn. She had tracked John for nearly two hours. By the time she’d followed his trail back to Glenn’s, the barn had been burning wildly and she hadn’t seen anyone else. Alex believed Hope had gone for help. “I didn’t hurt her.” Alex’s stomach dropped and it was all she could do to keep her legs under her. Details were running together in a sickening haze, confusing the sequence of events, but she was sure she hadn’t seen the yellow VW at Glenn’s when she’d returned to the barn. “Reese, I didn’t hurt any of them.”
“Let’s start with the fire last night. Why were you at Glenn’s?”
That was a loaded question. “Glenn didn’t show up for his shift at the tavern. Since he was supposed to bring the week’s supply of pig blood for the winery, someone needed to get it.” The lie she’d concocted last night as she’d run from the tavern came out strong and even. “John Sampson was there feeding the animals. He’s done it before.” Alex kept her voice steady through the deceit. Reese didn’t need to know why either of them had been at Glenn’s. Her reason had nothing to do with hiding a murder. Now she wondered if it had something to do with John’s death.
“What time was that?”
“I don’t know, seven or eight? Does it matter?”
“Yeah, it fucking matters.” Reese’s hand came down hard on the metal table. “Glenn called us in because vamps were being burned in fires throughout South Kenton. Since we’ve arrived, not only have the numbers of fires escalated, but now they include humans who have been sucked dry. And within the last two days the only human who knew about our covert investigation, Paul Morgan, has been murdered along with the vampire who got the ball rolling. It’s not just anyone who drives a stake in a man’s heart and burns them to death. We’ve got a rogue vampire on a rampage. So yeah, Alex, I think any information you have about the fires fucking matters.”
“Reese, I just don’t know. It was dark by the time we finished with the animals. John left and I went to get the pig blood out of the cooler where Glenn stores it.”
“Did you see anyone else at that time?’ His voice, smooth and thick as blood, dripped with bitterness.
She shook her head. There’s no way she could explain Hope’s involvement in the night’s activities. Besides, the woman had been alive when she’d left her. Tears welled in her eyes as the sadness pressed hot in her throat. She dropped in the chair across from him.
“You didn’t see anyone around who could’ve started the fire?” Reese asked again.
She’d been too intent on stopping John to know if anyone but Hope had been at the barn. “Not until I got back, after dropping off the wine.”
“What sent you back?”
“I hadn’t heard from Glenn.” It frightened Alex how easily the lies tripped off her tongue and rolled into a huge tangle of deceit. The final details of the fake scenario had been pieced together as she’d sat by the river in the early hours of dawn, waiting for Reese. There was no reason for anyone to know she’d run after John in hopes of saving him. No one would believe her anyway. Not when everyone who mattered to her was dying. They hadn’t died at her hands, but obviously knowing Alexandra Flanagan was a pastime you didn’t survive.
She’d come seeking solace in Reese’s arms—and his bed. She’d wanted one day of lust to take with her when she left. That had been something else Alex had decided while she’d sat by the river. She needed to leave and take her secrets with her. The cracker and blood wine mash hadn’t stayed down. Alex had puked on the side of the road on her way to the barn. The blood wine she’d tried to drink last night at the tavern had suffered the same fate.
If she couldn’t help herself, there was no way she could save others from John’s fate. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Life as she knew it was over.
Without the professor, there was no way to save herself—another conclusion she’d drawn.
Reese squeezed her hand, pulling her from her morose thoughts. “Hey, you need a minute?”
She grabbed a napkin from the metal dispenser on the table and mopped up her tears. “No. I’m fine. What did you ask?”
/> “I asked you what time you got back to Glenn’s.”
“I have no idea. When I got there the second time, the barn was on fire.” It was the one solid fact she’d based her whole story upon. “I panicked and tried to go in to see if I could put it out.” Her voice grew weak with exhaustion. “But it was too hot and it was spreading so fast. I dialed 9-1-1 and went looking out back for Glenn. His truck was there.” She looked at Reese with renewed hope. “Dispatch should have the time of my call. That should help piece everything together.”
Reese’s eyes didn’t reflect her optimism. “They do. Nine forty-seven.” He paused. “According to Katie, you left the tavern a little after six. I checked with her this morning. She said you didn’t come back.”
“I went directly into the cellars from outside.”
“And no one saw you?”
“I didn’t want anyone to see me with the pig blood. I took a chance bringing it during business hours, but I needed to get another batch started. Glenn …” She shook her head. The vampire’s name opened her to the grief squeezing her heart. She swallowed hard, pushing her words past the hot lump of emotion clogging her throat. “I didn’t know Glenn and John were in the barn. I should’ve tried harder ….”
“There’s just got to be more to this. It seems a little too neatly packaged. Yes, you’re obviously the glue holding all of these crimes together, but there’s got to be some small thread we’re not following that will unravel this whole fucking mess.” Hard lines creased the corners of his eyes and mouth as he grabbed a large pad of paper and a pen from a kitchen drawer. “We’re going to start from Glenn’s and work backwards through all the fires. Tell me about Thursday night and the professor …”
Reese continued talking, working methodically backward over the last year. He asked questions, jotted down notes about her answers. Fire by fire. Death by death. Alex had remembered how every loss had stolen a piece of her heart, but not where she’d been when the fires had started. She’d touched the lives of every vampire and every human Reese asked her about, either at the tavern, the university or in her personal life. The evidence against her was almost insurmountable.
Over the two hours Reese grilled her, Alex focused on the facts and not the panic working to tear her apart. But as Reese leaned back in his chair, stretching his cramped muscles, she could no longer deny that the tribunal had a solid case against her.
Restless, she got up, clearing away the bottle of blood wine neither of them had touched, the empty snack packets Reese had restlessly consumed and her empty cup. The tepid water had managed to tamp down the nausea, but not her hunger.
“I don’t know why someone’s done this,” she said quietly. “But they certainly have crossed every ‘t’ and dotted every ‘i’ on my death certificate.” Alex stared at the shuttered window over the sink, as if she could see the gentle flow of the river beyond. Dark. Her future seemed to hold nothing by darkness. Maybe the tribunal’s punishment would be an easier ending. She certainly didn’t want to feel the desperation John had been experiencing last night. She guessed it was inevitable given the path she’d chosen months ago that her life would end in a slow, agonizing hell.
“So you’re just going to give up?”
She turned back to Reese as he pushed back from the table and stood.
“Someone’s been systematically slaying vampires to make it look like I’m a killer.” She waved at the pages of notes spread across the table. “They killed my friends and neighbors, murdered my only family …” Sorrow ripped open the raw wounds, bringing a fresh sting of tears behind her eyes, but she refused to give in to them. “They stole my father from me and now have done who-knows-what with my best friend. What’ve I got left?”
“Me.” His strong arms wrapped around her waist, holding her up, pulling her into the security of his body. “Alex, what became crystal clear as we laid out all the facts, is that there’s no way in hell you would do any of that.”
“That’s not what the tribunal will think.”
“Then we’re going to have to find out who’s setting you up and why. And do it all before Josh or Ronan take anything to the tribunal.”
She wanted to fight him, but the look in his eyes said he had enough faith in his convictions for the both of them. “I have to warn you, hanging with me could be hazardous to your health,” she whispered.
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take.”
His mouth came down hard on hers. No soft exploration. No gentle probing. Just raw male lust devouring her mouth. His hands fisted in her hair, angling her head so he could deepen the kiss. She opened herself to him, wanting to fill the void Glenn’s death had left in her mind and heart. Alex needed to feel alive in the midst of so much death. Her lips parted and welcomed the heat of his tongue. It tangled and danced with hers, teasing and tasting.
“Alex … we’ll figure it out … later.” His lips wandered her face, kissing her lids, her nose and trailing fire down her neck. “Right now, I need your body thrashing hot and wild beneath me.” His teeth scraped across the tender flesh of her throat, his fangs stretching long. “I want your soft cries of pleasure to fill the missing voice in my head.”
Her world spun and shifted as he lifted her into his arms and covered her mouth with his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, molding her lips to his and swallowing his groans of pleasure as he made love to her mouth. Dizzy with need and hunger, she had no idea where he was taking her until his body shifted and his foot kicked closed a door. Without preamble, Reese laid her on the soft mattress of a bed and came down heavy on top of her. Reveling in the sensation of his hands on her body, she didn’t open her eyes. The essence of him permeated the air. The pillows around her head were filled with the thick male scent of him and she wanted to drown in its heady aroma.
Their hands were everywhere at once, tugging at clothes, ripping away buttons, clawing at zippers. The desperate need to have flesh searing flesh was all that drove them until they lay naked and gasping in each other’s arms. Their lips, teeth and hands moved in frantic hunger to taste and touch. She couldn’t get enough of him.
Alex’s palms slid down the hard muscles along Reese’s spine, pressing into the well of his low back before curving up the rounded arch of his taut ass and digging her nails in deep. Air hissed through Reese’s teeth, a low moan vibrating through the wet heat of his mouth at her neck. His teeth dragged down her throat and his lips replaced his hand at her breast. His mouth suckled and bit first one aching nipple then the other. The sharp thrill of pain shot straight to her core, clenching her muscles.
“I want you, Reese.” Her words came out on rasping breaths. He acted as if he hadn’t heard her, so she fisted her hands in the thick curls of his hair and pulled his head from her breast. His eyes were clouded with lust and heavy lidded. His fangs, long and gleaming white, jutted from the deep red of his full lips. “I need you now,” she whispered. Rolling slightly, she pressed her thigh against his erection. “You. I want you.”
As if emerging from a sexual fog, his eyes brightened to the soft green of a summer ocean. A slow smile slid across his mouth and his fangs retracted. “I’m acting like a horny teenager.” He kissed between her breasts. “What am I thinking?” He scraped his teeth down her breastbone. “We have all day, Alexandra.” Several slow kisses dragged down her tummy. “Silly me. There is absolutely …” his tongue stroked her belly button, “no rush.”
“Make love to me.” The words came out unchecked and Alex held her breath, hoping he hadn’t heard the emotion behind the statement. But Reese simply nibbled his way back up her body, once again taking possession of her mouth. Her breath came in hiccupping moans of pleasure as he reached between them, stroking his fingers across her most sensitive flesh. This was only sex to him. That was fine. It would make leaving so much less complicated. Alex pushed the thought from her mind. The heat of Reese’s body surrounded her, and she wanted to remember every detail of his glorious angles.
She lifte
d her hips, opening wider and offering herself to him. Reese aligned their bodies, burying himself slowly in her silken heat. The sublime pressure drew a sigh of euphoria from her lips. When he was buried to the hilt, he ground his pubic bone against her, jolting her system with sparks of ecstasy. Alex wrapped her legs tightly around his thighs, digging her nails into his ass and pulling him deeper.
Reese released her mouth and stared down at her, his intimate gaze searching her face. The unspoken question hanging between them was as clear as the fangs jutting long and sharp from his mouth. He wanted to bind them, to drink the blood thrumming hot and hard through her veins and truly fuse every part of them.
She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but the vampire joined so intimately with her— his heart pounding in synchronized harmony with hers, his breath the very air she breathed—had taken possession of her thoughts, her body and her heart. But the most intimate part of her? The essence of everything that kept her alive? It was the one part of her that Alex could no longer offer him.
With regret, she rose to meet his mouth, licking at his distended canines and hoping it was enough for him. He moaned at the contact, accepting her kisses with a passion that had her whimpering for more.
She lost herself in the sensations overwhelming her senses. The heavy weight of him making her feel whole. The sexy sounds of his pleasure vibrating in his chest. And the electric currents of bliss rippling over her muscles, building to a crescendo.
Writhing beneath him, her body countered his every thrust, the fire of pleasure burning through her and stealing her breath. Frissons of heat seared over every nerve until Alex thought she would liquefy in its heat. She climbed the torturous peak of ecstasy urged on by Reese’s whispered epithets of lust. Just as her body fell headlong into the wild abandon of release, he threw back his head and cried out her name, the hot surge of Reese’s orgasm filling her as he gave into his own release.
