Wanton With a Vampire

by Cassandra Lawson

  “We should clean up and head to bed,” she suggested. There was a beat of silence before she shook her head. “You must be exhausted if you aren’t making some suggestive comment about what I just said.”

  Oh, he wanted to say something, but he wasn’t going to.

  Alek loaded the dishwasher while Trish put away the leftovers, then they both walked into the living room so they could go to bed— separate beds, he reminded himself.

  “Goodnight,” Trish said and gave him one last smile over her shoulder before heading into her room.

  Alek merely stood there watching her door. Shaking himself out of his strange mood, he grabbed his bag and made his way into one of the spare rooms. His eyes nearly popped out of his head at what he saw. “What the hell?”

  He heard Trish’s giggle from across the living room before she called out. “That’s Caitlin’s room. As you can see, she and Justin still use it. You might want to sleep in Lyd’s old room. It looks like Barbie puked in there, but at least you don’t have to dodge the swing in the middle of the night.”

  Alek took one last look at the room with the sex swing hanging in the middle and the handcuffs attached to the headboard. His nephew was definitely much more adventurous than he would have guessed.

  Chapter Ten

  Trish’s hands shook most of the trip out to the place where her father had died. She was afraid of what she would see, but more afraid she wouldn’t be able to see anything. There was also the freaky stuff she was seeing every time she opened her eyes, but keeping her eyes closed in the car was difficult, especially when Alek kept reaching over to pat her knee.

  Her nerves kicked into high gear as she stepped out of Alek’s car and looked around.

  “Are you okay?” Alek asked, looking like he really wanted to help her but had no idea what to do. Twice, he moved like he was going to put an arm around her, but he stopped himself each time.

  She nodded and gave him a wobbly smile. “Thank you again for coming with me, and for insisting that Ivy meet us. You were right about me needing help.”

  Ivy and another woman were waiting for them by the train tracks. The other woman was petite like Ivy with brown hair pulled back in a severe bun. Round, wire-rimmed glasses covered her blue eyes. The disgusted glare she gave Alek was quickly masked and followed by a comforting smile directed at Trish.

  “This is my cousin, Willow,” Ivy said. “At short notice, her talent is the closest I could find to yours.”

  “I see dead people, usually ones who died in horrible ways,” Willow announced, sounding a little like a ditzy teen.

  Trish just stared at her, not quite sure what that had to do with her own new ability. Then again, she didn’t understand her own ability, so maybe they were related in some way.

  Willow laughed, looking younger and much less annoyed. “I totally get why you’re so confused. When Ivy asked me to come with her, I felt the same way. I was like, ‘seriously, you think just because we both have freaky abilities that we’re, like, the same?’ Welcome to the exciting world of having a talent that creeps everyone out.”

  Trish gave her a nervous smile. “I hadn’t thought about how what I do makes other people feel yet. I’ve only been doing this a couple of days, and it freaks me out.”

  Willow slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You’ll get used to it. We’re working on getting one of our clairvoyant cousins out here to work with you. No one does exactly what you do, but they’ll understand you better. Until then, you’re stuck with me.”

  “Thank you,” Trish said, more than a little overwhelmed.

  “Just breathe,” Ivy said in a soothing voice.

  The train tracks weren’t far from the road, but her father had died at just after midnight when the lighting was bad and very few people were out. A witness might have made the whole thing easier for her mom to accept, but no one had seen anything. Even the train operator hadn’t seen her father jump onto the tracks.

  Trish had been here dozens of times, but today, she was filled with a dread like she’d never experienced before. She had no idea what she expected to see, but she was surprised to see nothing more than the train tracks in front of her. Everywhere she went, she saw things from the past, but looking at the spot where her own father had died, she saw nothing. How was that even possible?

  When she looked farther down the tracks, Trish clearly saw three boys running toward them. One of the boys fell, and then the lights from the train came in the distance. The boy tried to stand, but had somehow managed to get his foot stuck in the tracks. The terror was obvious in his large brown eyes as his friends struggled to pull him from the tracks. His mouth opened to let out a scream. At least, Trish assumed it was a scream. One of the most disconcerting things about these visions was that she couldn’t hear any of what was happening. Releasing the breath she was holding, Trish was relieved when the boy was dragged from the tracks in the nick of time. Strange that she was worried about something that might have happened decades ago.

  “Is it your father?” Alek asked, pulling her back to the present.

  She reached out and gripped his hand, needing the anchor to the present. “No.”

  “You might not be able to see what happened because you’re too close to the situation,” Ivy suggested.

  Trish looked at Ivy. “Does it work that way?”

  Ivy shrugged. “Actually, I have no idea. This is new territory for me.”

  “Your dad wasn’t a cop, was he?” Willow asked. She’d moved away from the group and now stood closer to a copse of trees.

  “Yes,” Trish said. “Although, he was on leave at the time of his death.”

  With a nod, Willow’s attention returned to the copse of trees. “He was,” she said to empty space before turning back to Trish. “Detective Williams?”

  Trish nodded, and her skin was prickling as she wondered if Willow was talking to her dad. When Trish looked back at the tracks, there was a bright flash, and then she saw the past. It was strange knowing it was daytime while seeing night.

  Three men wearing black stood by the tracks. They were holding up her dad, who was bruised and looked drunk. The three men appeared to be arguing, but she couldn’t hear them. Then they pushed her dad and stepped back to watch the train in the distance. It looked like they were laughing as her father struggled to get to his knees, only to collapse on the tracks again. One of the men looked at her, giving her a clear view of his face and the ugly scar on his cheek. The man’s eyes widened, and he yelled something before all three men ran toward her. She braced herself as if they might hit her, but the echoes went straight through her toward the trees. She felt nothing as they passed through her body. When she turned, there was a young woman running from the men.

  “Someone saw what happened,” Trish gasped, hoping the woman had gotten away.

  “They caught her and strangled her,” Willow said sadly, still looking at the empty spot.

  “She’s here?” Trish asked.

  Willow nodded. “Not for long. She just wanted someone to know. She was a runaway, and her family has no idea what happened to her.”

  Trish shivered. This wasn’t really a world she wanted to know about, but it was time to put on her big girl panties and help do the right thing. “I suppose we need to call the police, but who’s going to believe any of this?”

  Ivy pulled out her cell phone. “I have a friend who can help us.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Trish wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t a police detective in paint-splattered clothes.

  “You getting into trouble again?” the detective asked Ivy. He was handsome with black hair, olive skin, and dark brown eyes. While he was probably in his forties, he had a trim muscular build and only a few fine lines around his eyes.

  “Thanks for coming out today, Carlos,” Ivy said with a warm smile.

  “This is not my jurisdiction, so I hope you called me just because you missed seeing my face.”

&n
bsp; Ivy blushed prettily, flashing a shy smile. “That goes without saying, but this is something more serious. Trish, this is Detective Ramirez. He’s kind of used to dealing with weird stuff.”

  Detective Ramirez waited, tapping one foot.

  “There’s a body buried off the hiking trail about five miles from here,” Ivy explained.

  “And you know this how?” he asked, but didn’t appear to doubt what Ivy had said in the least.

  “I just do,” Ivy replied. “I also need you to help my friend, Trish. Her father was killed.”

  Detective Ramirez gave Trish a sympathetic look. “I’m very sorry for your loss, ma’am. Have the police already been notified?”

  “Sort of,” Trish said hesitantly. “It happened twenty-one years ago, and it was ruled a suicide.”

  Rather than giving her the placating smile she’d expected, Detective Ramirez shifted his gaze to Ivy. “Care to explain how you discovered all of this? Or will this be another thing you refuse to share with me?”

  Ivy smiled at Trish. “You can tell him if you want. He’s trustworthy. Carlos doesn’t know specifics of what my family does, but he knows they have unusual talents.”

  “I saw it happen,” Trish explained. “Not when it happened, but I can see things— like echoes. Okay, that didn’t make any sense, but I can see things from the past.”

  Willow chimed in. “The dead girl was a runaway who kinda stumbled on the whole murder and got killed. Poor girl is still hanging around, hoping someone will find her body.”

  Detective Ramirez sighed. “How do I end up in the middle of these messes?”

  Ivy gave him a brilliant smile. “Because you’re the only one I trust.”

  “Lucky me,” he grumbled. “I don’t have any contacts out here, and I’m on vacation. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m going back to work after this vacation.”

  “Why?” Ivy all but gasped.

  Detective Ramirez’s eyes landed on Alek. With his dark sunglasses masking his icy blue eyes and the lighter shade of his hair, many wouldn’t connect Alek to the Draksel family. “Draksel, right?” he asked Alek.

  Alek nodded. “Aleksandr,” he said.

  The detective studied Alek for a long time before speaking. “We need to have a serious talk, one that doesn’t involve me pretending I don’t remember what happened or you playing any mind control games, Mr. Draksel. I also expect this talk won’t involve any more lies,” he said before pinning Ivy with a pointed stare.

  “My place is only about thirty minutes from here,” Trish said. “The unit next to me is vacant, and the garage is right below me, so no one will overhear us.”

  Tension radiated from every pore of Alek’s body, and he hadn’t taken his eyes off of the detective. “What makes you think someone tried to control your mind, or that I would try? Hell, what makes you think that sort of thing is even possible?”

  Detective Ramirez threw his hands in the air and started to storm off. “Screw this. Call me when at least one of you wants to be honest.”

  Ivy raced after him and caught his arm. “Carlos! Please wait. You just shocked everyone. I’m sorry we haven’t been totally honest with you.”

  The detective looked down at Ivy, his lips pressed into a thin line. “I haven’t exactly been honest with you either, but I want that to change.” Before Ivy could respond, the detective cupped her chin and kissed her. It was a soft brush of lips, and Trish felt like a voyeur for watching, but she simply couldn’t look away.

  Ivy had trouble maintaining her balance when the kiss ended. “Oh,” was all she said before pulling away.

  “Text me the address, and I’ll meet you there,” the detective said as he walked away.

  Trish went over to Ivy. “Are you okay?”

  Ivy was still standing in the same spot, soft brown eyes wide and mouth slightly open. With a shake of her head, Ivy pulled herself together. “That was a bit of a surprise.”

  Trish giggled and covered her mouth. It was more of a nervous reaction than a matter of her finding any humor in the situation. “Which part was a surprise? Was it where he basically admitted that he knows the vampires tried to use mind control on him? Or were you just surprised that he kissed you?”

  Ivy flashed a shy smile. “Both, I suppose. He’s always known my family had some extra abilities, and he’s never freaked out over it. I guess I just never thought about what that meant. Are you okay?”

  Trish wanted to say yes, because she always avoided telling people her problems, but she just couldn’t pull off carefree at the moment. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “What I just saw was . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  It was a relief when Alek’s arms wrapped around her from behind. Leaning into his powerful chest, some of her tension eased. “It’ll be okay,” he murmured against the top of her head. “Let’s get this meeting over with.”

  “Are you okay with him knowing you aren’t human?” she asked.

  “He doesn’t know that,” Alek said. “He knows I have extra abilities like you, and there’s no need for him to know more.”

  Trish nodded, but something told her Detective Ramirez wasn’t going to be satisfied with that answer. He obviously knew a lot more than anyone had given him credit for.

  Chapter Twelve

  Trish found the detective waiting on her front porch when she arrived. “Thank you for agreeing to help us, Detective Ramirez,” she said.

  “I haven’t agreed to help you yet,” he reminded her before adding, “Call me Carlos.”

  Willow and Ivy were right behind her. Trish was surprised Willow had decided to tag along since she seemed to dislike Alek and Carlos. Of course, she seemed determined to find the dead girl’s body. Trish still wasn’t sure what Willow’s deal was and got the impression there was much more than met the eye.

  Alek tried to take the keys from Trish to let them in, but she turned her body so he couldn’t reach them.

  Carlos laughed and put a hand on Alek’s shoulder. “You need to understand that these women don’t like having men take care of them.”

  “Actually, it’s just that the lock is sticking, and I don’t want Alek breaking the key like he almost did yesterday,” Trish explained. “I hardly think letting a man open the door is taking care of me.”

  Willow let out a little snort. “It always starts out innocent like that. Before you know it, they’re trying to give you orders. You should totally not trust this one especially. The men in his family are way too Neanderthal.”

  Trish had no idea why Willow hated Alek so much, but she didn’t have time to explore that. More importantly, she didn’t care enough to ponder Willow’s hatred of Alek.

  “I’ll start with the honesty part,” Carlos said as he examined the front room of Trish’s condo. Technically, it belonged to her friend, Lydia, but Lydia hadn’t lived there in many months. Carlos took a deep breath and turned to face Trish. “I knew your father, and I never believed he killed himself.”

  Okay, she hadn’t expected that. “How did you know my father? You aren’t old enough to have worked with him.”

  Carlos shook his head and flashed a smile that made him look much younger than she suspected he was. “Your dad caught me shoplifting when I was fourteen. That was far from the worst of what I was doing back then. I was couch hopping at the time because I’d run away from a group home. My mom couldn’t handle me anymore, which is how I ended up in a group home to begin with. Your dad’s the reason I’m not dead or in prison now. He was a good man, and he’s also the reason I wanted to become a police officer.”

  Trish nodded, a sad smile playing on her lips. “That sounds like my dad. I was pretty young, so I didn’t always understand what he was saying, but I remember him talking about kids who just needed a little guidance. I even remember him being involved in some special programs with local schools.” Shaking her head, she pulled herself from her musings and met Carlos’ eyes. “So, you’ll help us?”

  “How about if we finish up with the
full-disclosure part of this conversation first? Your turn to be honest,” he pushed.

  “I died a couple of days ago,” Trish said with a sweet smile.

  “I really wish you wouldn’t say that,” Alek muttered.

  “That’s what happened,” Trish argued. “My heart stopped, and after I was revived, I started seeing things from the past.”

  “So, you really did witness your dad’s death?” Carlos asked.

  “Sort of. While I can see the past, I can’t hear anything, so I don’t know what was said,” she explained, feeling surprisingly calm.

  “Christ!” Carlos exclaimed. “That must be terrifying.”

  “Not as much as it was at first,” Trish said. “I still keep my eyes closed when I’m in the car, but I’m no longer trying to convince myself it’s just hallucinations.”

  “The woman has an amazing way of adapting,” Alek explained, and Trish did her best to ignore the way her heartbeat quickened at his praise.

  Trish suddenly felt a little overwhelmed as images of her father’s death flashed through her mind.

  Alek’s arms came around her from behind, and she was grateful for his presence. Later, she’d worry about relying too much on Alek. For now, she needed the support.

  “We all have some special abilities,” Ivy said. “As you can imagine, we don’t want that getting out because it could create serious problems for us. Tempest was kidnapped so she could be used as a lab rat by her ex. I’m sure you can understand why we don’t just go around sharing what we can do with the world.”

  “I get it,” Carlos said, but he sounded frustrated, and Trish was pretty sure he didn’t get it. “The thing that bugs me is that I thought you trusted me. You call me every time some weird shit happens, and I keep thinking you’ll open up. Instead, you keep lying to me. I’m going to help with this mess, but only because it’s personal. From now on, maybe you should find some other idiot to lie to.”

  Ivy’s mouth hung open like she wasn’t quite sure what to say. Her eyes moved helplessly to Willow, who looked bored.