A Midsummer Night's Demon

by Brenda Sparks

  “Captain said you’re working a tough case.”

  “Yeah, it’s a puzzler.”

  “How so?” Tarina asked. “Talk it out. Maybe I can help.”

  “Speaking of which, you coming back any time soon?”

  A pregnant pause filled the line. Okay, that answered that question. Ky didn’t wait for Tarina to respond before he filled her in on the events that happened at the bar.

  “What I can’t figure out, Tarina, is why the debauchee drugged her.”

  “He should have been able to use mind control.”

  “Exactly.” Ky took a swig of the beer.

  “Maybe the guy’s lost it,” his partner suggested. “Like gone crazy from a traumatic event.”

  Over the centuries, Ky had taken out his share of males who had gone insane from the grief of losing their mates. In fact, it was not unusual for a vampire to lose his mate then his own abilities as he allowed himself to deteriorate. Certainly a valid theory worth consideration.

  “You mentioned earlier, Ky, that the vampire used a drug instead of the mind control. Perhaps he is insane and losing the use of his mental powers”

  “Maybe the male is a serial killer, gets his jollies off playing with then draining his female victims. He is evil incarnate.”

  “And will most likely be obsessed with finding the one who got away,” Tarina chimed in.

  Yeah, no shit. “That already occurred to me. Especially when we went to Lyn’s house to get some of her things.”

  “Really, what did you find?”

  “When I took Lyn to her apartment I smelled the rogue.” Of course he had pushed Lyn behind him and scanned the home immediately, but the debauchee had already gone. “In her bedroom, I found proof he had been there.”

  “What proof?” his partner asked.

  “The bedroom was a complete mess. Her clothes lay thrown about in piles. The drawers of her dresser hung open, her…delicates dangling out of them.”

  Images of her room flooded his mind’s eye, raising his ire. The room had been a disaster. Lyn’s foot tangled in the bedspread, and when she used the mattress to right herself, her hand slipped into one of the deep cuts made there. Ky rushed to her and took her in his arms to quiet her scream. He’d cradled her head against his shoulder keeping her eyes from the mutilated bed.

  “You sound pissed,” Tarina observed.

  “You’d be too if someone threatened your heartmate.” He was angry at the monster for defiling her things, angry that the male had been in her home. And though he hated admitting it, he’d also been a little relieved, because finding her bedroom in such disarray had convinced Lyn that she could not return to her life until they caught her attacker. That night she had readily agreed to stay at Ky’s home until the criminal could be caught.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I almost feel sorry for the bastard.”

  “Don’t. He’s going to get what’s coming.”

  “I don’t have any doubt about that.”

  Ky knew he had a reputation for being threatening, intimidating. Tarina called him a masochistic hard-ass on more than one occasion. But he wasn’t the only one. He and Tarina made a great team for good reason. They were both powerful and cunning, a force to be reckoned with.

  “Do you have a plan?”

  “I need to find out more about the rogue so I can find and destroy him. Until he is dead, my mate will be in danger and that is unacceptable.”

  “Have you told her what you are?” Tarina asked.

  “You mean that I’m a vampire?”

  “Yes.”

  “Not yet.” He couldn’t. She wasn’t ready to know about the breed yet. He would have to broach the subject subtly, after he disposed of her attacker.

  “You planning on telling her soon? You shouldn’t keep things from your heartmate. It doesn’t work out well.”

  “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

  “Just saying.”

  Uh-huh. He could tell she was keeping something from him. You didn’t work side by side for decades and not get to know a person—unlike the rookies he’d been working with since she left for the special assignment.

  With her gone he’d been assigned one rookie after another, and he hated training the greenhorns. They were sloppy, their instincts weren’t yet honed. They could get him killed.

  “So you coming back soon?” Ky fought to keep the hopefulness from his voice.

  “Not yet. Listen, I gotta jet.”

  Ky knew a blow off when he heard one. And he knew his partner well enough to know that he should not press the issue she obviously wanted to avoid discussing.

  He took a long pull from his beer. “Safe travels, Tarina.”

  “And you to, Ky. Good luck with the debauchee.”

  “No luck needed.” He punched the “end” key to disconnect and swallowed the last of his beer.

  Realizing he still was no closer to catching Lyn’s attacker, he pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration. He’d done everything he could think of to find the debauchee, but he still didn’t have a name or an address. It left him with only one option, and he didn’t like it.

  Ky stood, palming the empty bottle as he made his way into the kitchen. After putting the bottle in the recycle bin, he tugged a cooler from under the sink and popped off the top. Ky pulled a bag of blood from the ice within, hoping that it would nourish his brain so he could think of another option.

  His fangs punctured the bag as he made his way back onto the porch to sit and think. Ky’s mind sorted through what he had already tried.

  He used the surveillance camera from an ATM near the bar to capture a picture of the vampire’s face and run it through a face recognition program. No matches came up.

  He traced the emails and live chats from Lyn’s computer. The IP address led him to a wireless internet connection at a local coffee shop.

  He’d gone back to the bar, hoping the rogue might show up. He hadn’t.

  He traced the phone number that the vampire had called Lyn from. It came from a disposable cell phone.

  Ky growled around the plastic bag in his mouth. He was at a dead end. Frustrated, he squeezed hard on the bag forcing the remaining blood into his mouth. It slid down his throat in an icy slide tasting nothing like the woman he craved. The woman inside his home, lying upon the bed. Her blood called to him. God, he wanted her.

  He crumpled the empty bag in his hand.

  Their relationship grew a little each day. He’d been cultivating it bit by bit. A surreptitious glance here. A stolen kiss there. A lingering touch when he passed her a glass, all carefully planned movements in the dance of their liaison. Each designed to wrap her up in his desire, make her hunger for him grow.

  “Hi,” a sultry voice said, pulling him from his reverie.

  He hastily pushed the crumpled bag under his thigh, and turned to look at the vision that stood in the doorway. With her dressed in a blue tee and matching plaid pajama shorts, Lyn’s sleep-tussled hair and hooded eyes gave her the look of a vixen. She perched on the arm of his chair, and he could not help but appreciate the way her full lashes framed the beautiful eyes that gazed upon him.

  “Hi, yourself.” Ky curled his arm around her bottom. “Did I wake you?”

  “No. I had a dream and when I got up to get a glass of milk I noticed you out here.”

  “Did you have another nightmare?”

  “Yes, but this time you weren’t there to save me. He started doing terrible things to me.”

  Hearing the hitch in her voice, his hand automatically reached for the nape of her neck to massage the tension there. “I promise I’ll find him, Lyn. I’ll make sure he will never be able to hurt you again.”

  She nodded, looking at him with trust in her eyes. “I know you will. Did you find anything out at work tonight?”

  “No. The facial recognition program didn’t produce any results from the ATM picture. It was a long shot to begin with, but it was worth a try.”
/>   “I had better luck.”

  Dread snaked up his spine, winding around his neck to strangle the words in his throat. What did she mean by she had better luck? She’d better not be trying to find the vampire on her own! He couldn’t speak; only stared in trepidation, as his fingers dug a little deeper into her neck.

  She cleared her throat. “I figured we could use me for bait."

  His hand dropped to his lap. “Never going to happen.” His voice carried a low menace at the thought of her in danger. “I don’t want you anywhere near that monster again.”

  She laced her fingers in his. “Ky, think about it. I could call him, or email him requesting that we meet up again then you could be there to catch him when he showed.”

  He brought her fingers to his mouth, running his teeth over her knuckles as he thought. He had already considered using her to lure the vampire out and dismissed it immediately. It did not surprise him that she could have contemplated the same plan. She’d told him she wanted to do something to help get her life back, take control, and put the nightmares to rest, but she had no idea what she would be getting into. She didn’t realize she’d be facing a vampire with preternatural speed and strength.

  She deserved his complete honesty. Once he destroyed the debauchee, he would explain about vampires, make her understand that while becoming one might change a person physically by changing your organs and making your body require extra blood, your personality stayed the same. He’d help her to understand that just like people, some vampires were good and some were sick, sadistic bastards who deserved to die.

  “I don’t want you contacting him, Lyn. He is a dangerous man. It is too risky.”

  “I already did,” she stated softly, her eyes downcast. She had the decency to look contrite.

  Anger flared to life, running through his veins like molten lava to heat his blood. He must have heard her wrong. She could not have gone behind his back, put herself in grave danger. He worked hard to keep his tone normal when he spoke. “What did you say?”

  Their eyes met, and his icy stare held her captive. She swallowed, taking a deep fortifying breath before she spoke. Her words flowed from her lips in a rush, like the mighty Mississippi. “Please don’t be mad. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. He texted me. On my phone. Asking me to email him. I logged on tonight to my email account using your laptop. I emailed him, and pretended I didn’t remember the attack. He sent me back a reply. He wants to meet me again. I have the email. You can read it. Please don’t be mad.”

  He brought her hand over his heart. Fear for her safety made it beat harder in his chest. He needed a minute to calm down, needed a second to think things through. “Go get the laptop. Show me the email.” His voice sounded surprisingly even despite the emotions churning inside him.

  Ky watched her disappear inside. He pushed his hands under his thighs to keep from punching a hole through the wall. How could she be so reckless? If she gave the vampire the slightest hint of where he could find her, she would no longer be safe here, and he would have to find a new place for her to hide. The fingers of his right hand bunched around the empty blood bag. He shoved it in the pocket of his jeans when Lyn emerged from the house carrying his laptop.

  She balanced it precariously on one hand while her fingers punched the keys.

  “Come here.” He reached out to gather her into his lap as he had done most every night since they’d met.

  She went willingly and cuddled into the warmth of his body. It felt right having her in his arms, like coming home to change into your favorite pair of sweats after a long day at work. Her figure molded to his. Her soft curves fit perfectly against the hard planes of his muscles. His arms enveloped her like a shield of strength.

  With the computer in her lap, both her hands were free to work the keys. In no time, she brought her email up and read it aloud to Ky.

  “Dear Juan. I used ‘dear’ because I was trying to play like I didn’t remember what happened. Anyway, Dear Juan, I hope you are all right. I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner, but I have been in the hospital. I don’t remember exactly what happened. One minute we were enjoying drinks and the next I woke up in a hospital bed. The doctors didn’t know what had happened; only that I came in with a wound on my neck, and I was bleeding badly. Please write back when you get this so I’ll know you are fine. Love, Lyn.”

  “Love?” Ky questioned with a raised brow.

  “Well, I wanted him to believe that I didn’t remember anything about the attack. Don’t you think that if I remembered he attacked me the last thing I would have said was ‘love, Lyn’?”

  What he thought was that she was a very clever woman. The email she composed sounded sincere. She explained why she had not been in touch sooner, given the impression that she did not remember the attack, not given away where she was staying, and seemed genuinely concerned about the monster’s safety, which would play to his narcissism. Ky had to admit, maybe she could handle herself better than he’d thought.

  If she could handle herself as well in person as she did in the email, she might just be their best chance to capture her attacker. A plan formed in his head.

  If the vampire returned her email, they could arrange for the two to meet somewhere secluded, and Ky could kill the male when he arrived. Since her attacker was a vampire, Lyn would have to be present, otherwise, the monster could sense her absence, and they would lose their opportunity. He also couldn’t sense Ky anywhere near or he would know it was a trap. Ky would have to wait some distance away then materialize into the spot, taking the vampire by surprise. But how would he know the vampire arrived if he waited miles away?

  Lyn’s cell. The answer came to him in a moment of pure brilliance. She could call him, long before the appointed time to meet with the vampire, and put the phone on speaker. When the vampire showed up, he would hear him and could materialize to her side to dispose of the monster.

  Everything would have to go off without a glitch. They only had one shot. If the vampire sensed the trap, he could dematerialize out of there before Ky had a chance to materialize in. But the risky plan might just work. It definitely seemed like their best chance.

  A tone rang softly on the laptop. “I have new mail,” Lyn clicked open the email with a dramatic stab of her finger. “It’s from him.”

  “What does it say?” Ky read over her shoulder as she spoke.

  “My dearest Lyn, I was so thankful to receive your email. I have been worried sick about you. Yeah, I just bet he was.”

  “Go on,” Ky encouraged.

  “I have to see you. I want to see for myself that you are all right. Will you meet me?”

  Ky hit the reply button on the email and typed. His fingers flew over the keys as he read aloud. “I’m glad you are okay. I’d love to meet you too, be sure you are really all right. How about the Eighth Avenue Park tomorrow night at nine o’clock?”

  He hit send. “Done,” he announced.

  Lyn gave him a slanted stare. “I thought you said you didn’t want me anywhere near him.”

  “I don’t. But I also don’t have any other ideas about how to find him.”

  She smiled at him, a smug, satisfied grin. “See, I knew you’d let me win.”

  He captured her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. “This is not a game. If he agrees to meet you, you must do everything I say. I will be in charge. You will just be an innocent bystander. The minute he appears you are to get to safety.”

  “But…”

  “No buts, Lyn. I will have your word, that you will do everything I tell you tomorrow night or I will not allow you to meet him. This is too dangerous. You could get us both killed.”

  “I know how dangerous this is.” She attempted to pull away, but he held her to him. “I will do what you say.”

  He searched her eyes for the truth, pushing into her mind to find her determination to do whatever it took to bring her attacker to justice, even if it meant following his orders and running away. �
��Thank you. I will keep you safe, I swear it. Let’s hope he agrees to meet.”

  “Do you think he bought it? The email I mean.”

  “I think he…” The sound of the chime signaling a new email cut off the rest of Ky’s thought.

  Lyn brought the email up. “Looks like he bought it. He agreed to meet me.”

  Ky couldn’t help but sense the trepidation in her announcement. Her nervousness about meeting her attacker proved to Ky just how smart she really was. Anyone would be nervous being used for bait to lure a killer, but her determination to see this through spoke volumes about her spirit and tenacity.

  He’d learned much about her these past few days, about her personality, but not so much about her life. He found himself wondering what all her favorites were. Favorite color? Favorite movie…Favorite position in bed?

  Okay, that line of thinking was going to have his shaft standing at attention. He needed a distraction from his thoughts.

  “What is your favorite holiday, Lyn?”

  “Litha,” she replied with a wide smile that reached the corners of her eyes.

  Not what he expected. “What’s Litha?”

  “The Litha Sabbat is a Pagan holiday to celebrate both work and leisure. It is a day to celebrate the end of the waxing year and the start of the waning year, prepare for the harvest to come.”

  “When is it?”

  “Midsummer, the end of June.”

  “How do you celebrate it?”

  Her eyes sparkled with memories. “We dance, tell stories, and sing. We also build a huge bonfire on the beach.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  “It is. You should come.”

  “I tell you what. I’ll make a vow to you tonight that I will accompany you to the festival.” He knew he would have no trouble keeping that vow. He would be with her in June and each of the following Junes for the rest of their lives.

  “You promise?” she asked, anticipation bringing another grin to her pretty face.

  “I promise.”

  The sound of fins slicing through the water drew his attention. He cocked his head to one side, focusing his hearing.