"Have you gotten into the school's records, yet?" Winkler flipped the folder open to read. "Looks like they were searching for something in Lissa's DNA. They ran tests on the stuff we substituted," Winkler flipped through more records inside the folder.
"We're working on the school records, now. I asked Glen to go in person; he's been in Albuquerque since noon today. Too bad the vampires didn't get information on the ones they killed in Great Britain."
"Maybe they did and didn't share," Winkler said. "In the meantime, this information stays with us. If Wlodek discovers we let them touch Lissa like that, we may not see her again."
Davis nodded. "So, it looks like Kelvin knew Tate pretty well. Possibly from college," Davis said softly as he watched Winkler go through the gathered records. "And since Kelvin is a werewolf, maybe he ran with Lester Briggs' Pack. We just don't have any records of Kelvin with Lester's bunch."
"It's an assumed name," Winkler said. "His medical degree is certainly assumed. He may have been in pre-med or the early stages of med school, but he's no doctor."
"He knew how to use that speculum," Davis muttered. "You think he's played around with that stuff before?"
"I want to kill him every time I think about it. Lissa certainly wouldn't waste any time if she knew."
"Well, Gavin would torture and then kill, if he knew," Davis said.
"Yeah. And that's why we're not handing that information over. Not only would Lissa be kept from us, but our asses could be on the line."
"Yeah. There's always that."
* * *
I spent the next couple of days emailing Charles, who agreed to get some Christmas presents parceled out to people that I didn't know how to reach otherwise. He had a generic post box address I could use. Russell's gift was the easiest; I sent him a framed print of dogs playing pool for his billiard room. Will got a print of dogs playing poker; Charles told me both Enforcers lived in the same house (in separate quarters, of course). Radomir was a little harder to buy for, but I found a pair of cufflinks—he always wore dress shirts with cufflinks, I'd noticed. Wlodek already had the painting, so I didn't do anything other than a holiday card for him. Who knew if he celebrated Christmas or not? Charles, on the other hand, was getting a computer game. It was something new that I thought he might smile over, called Evil Alien Bunny Invaders. The bunnies looked innocent until they decided to kill, and then they became huge and attacked. The game had several levels. I'd seen an icon on Charles' laptop for a popular auto theft game, so I hoped he'd like this one.
The last thing I sent, and I had to think about it, was a gift basket of food—to Merrill's friend Griffin. I knew he wasn't vampire. I still didn't know what he was or how I knew his name, but he more than likely ate. I'd mulled him over in my mind, even though I'd only gotten a brief whiff of his clothing the night I was so sick. The term Wizard came to mind but that didn't really seem to fit, either. Merrill most likely thought I'd completely missed him or forgot. I sent the gift basket to the street address in New York that Franklin had given me. A pair of cufflinks for Gavin finished up just about everything; they'd go nicely with most of his dress shirts. Now if he'd just calm down enough so I could give them to him.
I was just getting Christmas dinner on the table for the werewolves when my cell phone rang, so I pulled it from the pocket of my jeans. The caller ID showed it was Gavin. I almost cursed, motioned for everybody to sit down and went into the kitchen to take the call.
"Hello?" There was a definite question in my greeting.
"Lissa, pack a bag and meet me at the front gate," Gavin growled. Fuck. Fuck squared. He was here. Why didn't he warn me?
"I'll be there in a few minutes," I said and terminated the call. "Gavin's at the front gate," I told Winkler who was helping himself to mashed potatoes. Daryl and Kathy Jo had come to spend the holiday with Weldon and they looked up at my announcement.
"Is everything all right?" Kathy Jo asked.
"Oh, sure. He'll just yell for a while," I said. "I have to go." I left them there and nearly ran to my bedroom. I tossed jeans, tops and two nice outfits into a bag, along with my toiletries, grabbed both of Gavin's boxed gifts and headed toward the front door. Winkler was right behind me.
"Call if you need somebody to come get you," he said softly.
"Merry Christmas," I said, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. He still had to lean down to receive it.
"Same to you," he said. I'd left the werewolves' gifts under the tree while they weren't looking; they were planning to open them after dinner.
Gavin had a rental car—a Lincoln—parked outside Winkler's gate so I punched in the code and let myself out. He was out of the car, a huge frown on his face and tossing my bag into the trunk in seconds while I placed the other two boxes in the back seat. Gavin came up behind me, almost dumped me into the passenger seat, buckled my seatbelt in less time than it takes to blink and we were off.
He didn't talk and I was afraid to ask where we were going. I glanced his way a time or two, but his face was set in the usual mask. I decided to stare out the window after pulling my knees to my chest. We ended up at a safe house in Dallas. A nice one, actually, in a better neighborhood. The ground floor was spacious and well furnished, as was the basement. Gavin carried my bag down; I brought the boxes and my purse. Once my bag was deposited in the largest bedroom right alongside his, he came and watched me place the wrapped boxes on the table. I imagine he wanted to put his hands on his hips before he started yelling.
"Why did you hang up on me?" he demanded. I sighed and slumped into a chair at the kitchen table.
"Gavin, you were yelling. In languages I don't understand. What was I supposed to do, stand there and hope you'd start speaking English again someday? Yes, the whole thing was stupid but I didn't know what else to do. Do you think I haven't called myself all kinds of an idiot for not doing otherwise? Do you? And to top it all off, that girl was turning. She didn't die right away, Gavin. I had to kill her when Merrill and the others showed up." I was wiping tears by that time. The whole incident still unsettled me and Gavin's temper wasn't helping.
Gavin just stood there for what seemed like forever, staring at me. "Here," I shoved the wrapped boxes toward him. "Your Christmas presents. I can get myself to a hotel or back to Winkler's." I sniffled as I got up to leave.
"Lissa, Cara, why is it like this? I get angry and you cry." Gavin grabbed my arm and pulled me against him. I had the front of his shirt gripped in my hands while I sobbed against his chest. I couldn't help it. Too many things had built up and the dam had finally burst. More than likely, I was staining the snowy whiteness of his expensive Italian shirt with my amber tears but he wasn't stopping me. In fact, he lifted me up, convinced me silently to wrap my legs around his waist and let me cry against his collar, my arms tight around his neck while he spoke softly in Latin. The only thing I got out of all of it, that I understood, anyway, was the "shhhh."
Gavin eventually carried me to the bedroom, settled me on the bed and proceeded to undress me slowly and carefully, kissing, nuzzling and stroking, until I was naked and then he pulled his own clothing off and lowered himself over me. The love was so gentle. So tender. Even the climax with the bite belonged when it came. I knew he wanted it, so I reciprocated. The string of words he uttered when he reached his own orgasm expressed his pleasure, no matter what the language.
* * *
"How did you know the size?" Gavin seemed to like his cashmere coat. He should, I'd spent nearly twenty-five hundred on it. My credit card was groaning from its Christmas burdens. Merrill was going to have to transfer some of my funds to pay for all of it. He couldn't complain that I didn't use the card anymore, though.
"I saw the sizes on some of the stuff you had when we were here before," I told him, sipping my blood. He'd worn me out, almost, in bed. "The suits and shirts you normally wear must be tailored because those things don't carry any sizes in them."
"I have many things made," he agreed, examining hi
s cufflinks. "These are nice—very nice. You have such good taste, Cara. You must look at yours, now."
He brought several velvet boxes from his suitcase and set them in front of me. There was a ruby and diamond necklace with matching earrings, and another set made with sapphires.
"Honey, this is way too much," I said, admiring the sapphires. Blue is my favorite color, after all.
"Tell me you will not have to go back to the werewolves until after the New Year; I wish to take you dancing," he said, drawing me into his arms.
"They're not planning on leaving until the third."
"Good. You will call them later and let them know you will be with me until then." Gavin was back to being bossy. I mentioned it to him. He nuzzled my neck.
"I have not seen you for weeks. How am I supposed to be?" He quirked an eyebrow after pulling away.
"Fine, O autocratic fiancé," I grumbled.
"Where you are concerned, I am not only autocratic but possessive and insanely jealous," he pulled me into a tighter embrace and nipped the skin on my neck.
"Yeah. Like I didn't notice," I grumbled. Gavin backed me against the wall in the tiny kitchen, grinding his hips against my belly. Gavin isn't small and his suit pants did nothing to hide his cravings. I knew right away what he really wanted for Christmas. A claw slid out on his right index finger and he slowly and casually ripped through every bit of clothing I wore, until the ragged strips of it dropped to the floor around me. His clothes were removed in a similar fashion shortly after. Then, cupping my buttocks in his hands, he lifted me up and held me against the wall before settling my body over his. I was screaming Gavin's name, along with a few other things before it was over. Yep, God sure knew I was having sex that night.
Gavin's arms were around me and his body was leaning halfway over mine when I woke the evening after Christmas. Of course, we were completely naked—Gavin had seen to that. "You are such a sleepyhead," he mumbled against my hair.
"Well, why didn't you wake me up?" I turned in his arms so I could face him.
"I did try. New ones are this way," he said. "They sleep longer."
"Oh, so the big, tough, older vampires wake up quicker?"
"Yes. And go to sleep later, much of the time," he kissed me, then sucked and nibbled on my lower lip. I didn't get the shower I wanted until long after that.
"I think you did get your wish, your hair is definitely growing out," I ran my hands through it; it was nearly an inch in length, now. "Charles told me that hair grows about half an inch a year."
"For the younger ones, perhaps," he said. "Would you like to go out? We can go to the West End, if you like."
"You want to go to the West End? That's so unlike you," I smiled. "What are we wearing?"
"Casual, I think," he smiled back, his dark eyes twinkling a little. They should twinkle; he'd gotten sex nearly a dozen times since he'd shown up without warning. Gavin dressed in nice jeans after his shower but he still didn't have a shirt on.
I wore my short cashmere coat over a nice top, jeans and boots when we went out. Gavin had a long sleeved dress shirt on but it was a button down in (gasp) a light blue. He also wore the leather jacket he sometimes used with a more casual outfit. We parked where we could find a space and walked down the sidewalk. Plenty of people were out and wandering—Christmas had fallen on a Friday so this was Saturday night in Dallas. With all the time Gavin and I spent there earlier in the year, we hadn't gotten to see much of it at all.
Gavin pulled me closer to him when we saw a group of young people coming toward us. All were dressed in long black leather coats, their hair dyed black, fingernails black, lipstick, if they wore it—black. They were harmless, only out to have some fun, I think. Gavin, in his usual, overprotective way, was making sure. I wondered if those kids would ever realize they'd walked right past an Assassin for the Vampire Council.
Nowadays I looked at everything with different eyes. None of the vampires I'd met appeared to be anything other than human. Why would they want to stick out? That was just an indication to someone of what they might be. Vampires are hidden for a reason, Merrill said. The race had to be protected. I'd learned the hard way just how vulnerable we were during the day—I didn't wake until nightfall and had no way of knowing how long Gap and his werewolves stood over me, waiting for sunset to come. I slid an arm around Gavin's waist at the thought and he tightened his arm about my shoulders.
We sat and had a glass of wine at a bar after a while, watching people come and go. There were all sorts there, some of them coming from the basketball game down the street. The West End isn't what it once was, but it still draws plenty of people.
The week I spent with Gavin at the safe house was almost perfect. He didn't lose his temper and he took me shopping several times, helping me choose a dress to go dancing in and then appropriate shoes. The dress was a deep blue so I could wear my sapphires. On New Year's Eve, we crashed a party in a hotel. Gavin employed compulsion to get us in and we looked as if we belonged with that crowd, all of whom were wealthy. I think the Dallas Mayor was there, plus some state representatives or senators. It was a black tie affair and Gavin had come prepared, let me tell you. I don't know how many women stared at him over the course of the evening. Gavin was there to dance, though, and we did.
Strangely enough, we ran into Winkler and Weldon at the party. Winkler had an invite, of course. We only talked for a little while. Well, I talked, Gavin glared. And then, Gavin pulled me away before Weldon or Winkler could ask me for a dance. Winkler did tell me to be at the house the evening of the second; they were flying out the morning of the third. I must have frowned because Gavin asked me about it later.
"I think I hate that stupid body bag, even though they get me out right at sunset," I grumbled, taking off my jewelry.
"Better that than getting burned, Cara," Gavin kissed my bare shoulder. The dress had narrow straps and he'd slipped them down for better access.
Gavin kept me in bed most of the first, making love to me one last time before I had to clean up and go back to Winkler's on the second.
* * *
We did a whirlwind trip back to the east coast; the werewolves of the now defunct Sugar Grove Pack had cost us time and several visits had to be postponed so Weldon, Winkler and Kelvin could recuperate. Before our trip back east, Weldon carefully leaked information regarding the fact that vampires were now cooperating with werewolves. He hoped to avoid further incidents. I wasn't sure what Wlodek might think about that but I couldn't blame Weldon. I was a little sick of the problems myself and I sure didn't want a Sugar Grove repeat.
We were in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas and Florida during that trip, some states having more than one Pack to visit. It was while we were in Florida however, that something happened to worry me and raise my suspicions.
At his request, I'd been lending my mystery books to Kelvin after reading them. He hadn't returned any of them to me, though. Some people are very lax about that sort of thing, but I couldn't see that he was lugging books around in his bags. Maybe he was one of those people who left things behind in hotel rooms. Maybe. One night in Sarasota Springs, after we were returning from dinner with yet another Packmaster and his human wife, Kelvin stopped at the front desk of our hotel. Handing an envelope off to the desk clerk, he asked her to mail it for him. Weldon and Winkler didn't pay it any mind but my skin itched. I tapped Winkler on the shoulder when Kelvin wasn't looking and told him I wanted to go outside for some air. The werewolves rode the elevator to the third floor without me.
The girl at the desk handed over the envelope without protest after I placed compulsion, and I laid a second one for her to forget she saw me. Once inside the women's restroom just off the lobby, I opened the envelope. It was addressed to someone in Dallas. Inside, I found six pages from the novel I'd last loaned to Kelvin.
All right, that had me stumped. Why would he be tearing pages out of a novel and sending them to anybody? And why wasn't he tell
ing me about this if that's what he intended to do with my books? The book itself was a best-seller, so those pages could be obtained anywhere by anybody. I sat there in the stall for the longest time, trying to come up with an answer. When I did, the knowledge frightened me. I looked up a number on my cell and made a call to a local bookstore that stayed open late.
The desk clerk might have wondered why I was telling her to rip six pages from a paperback I hadn't read yet, stuff them inside Kelvin's envelope and then re-seal it, but she was under compulsion and didn't ask. Once again, I instructed her to forget the whole thing. The envelope was placed into the outgoing mail pile, the girl nodded at me and I went on my way.
"Did you get enough air?" Winkler was teasing me when I walked inside Weldon's suite—he was there watching the late news with the Grand Master.
"Yeah. The view is nicely bland from the rooftop," I lied. Kelvin was puttering around in Weldon's bathroom when I arrived, but left quickly to go to his own room. I went inside the bathroom afterward and sniffed around. Kelvin had touched Weldon's deodorant and his shaving cream. He hadn't tampered with them further than that (not that I could tell, anyway). Kelvin was now on my list and would get as much of my attention as possible from now on.
We were in Arcadia, Florida, which is near the center of the state, the following evening. The Packmaster owned farmland and allowed his pack to run on some of it. Unfortunately, we didn't get to visit the beach while we were in the state; there wasn't any time. I kept my eyes and ears open around Kelvin, though, and I overheard one phone conversation, saying there was more coming. More coming. Well, things were getting interesting. I did notice that Kelvin didn't ask for any more books. Maybe he had as much from me as he wanted.
* * *
"I don't know how she knew your name," Merrill passed the gift basket over to Griffin. "Franklin kept this in the fridge for you since some of it was perishable."
Blood Passage (Blood Destiny #2) Page 17
