Allison ran her fingers through his hair and pulled his head close to her breast.
“Yes...” she whispered aggressively. “Do it.”
Xander knew immediately what she wanted, and he hesitated a moment before giving in and biting the soft flesh around her nipple. Allison gasped in a mixture of pain and pleasure as she felt his sharp teeth break the skin. A moment later, Xander was suckling on her flesh.
Allison couldn’t stand the anticipation much longer. She reached down with both hands and grabbed Xander’s hips, guiding him inside her. She climaxed almost immediately, feeling herself wrap around him as he grew even larger inside. Her hips ground against his, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, locking her ankles together. He was her prisoner now.
Xander’s head rose from her chest, his lips tinted with her blood and his eyes glowing a deep red. The two of them rocked backwards on the bed, Xander thrusting deep. He kept eye contact with her, letting soft moans escape his throat.
Allison reached down to her left breast and felt the wetness of her blood. She coated her finger in her blood and then slid the crimson tip into Xander’s mouth. He gasped, then took it in his mouth. She immediately felt him grow warm inside her, thrusting faster. She climaxed again, pulling at his hair with her right hand.
A moment later, Xander closed his eyes and bit down on her finger, releasing inside her and filling her with warmth.
And then they collapsed together, breathing heavily with sweat glistening from her brow, arms and legs still entangled, enjoying each other’s flesh.
† † †
Allison had no idea how long she lay in Xander’s arms. When she was with him, time had no meaning. However, it was still dark, and the moonlight was still shining through the window, so she knew it had only been an hour or two at most. She was happy to stay there for another hour or two, but the buzz from her cell phone brought her back to reality.
She sat up, and Xander’s hand touched her lightly on the back.
“Can’t it wait?” he asked.
She shook her head and stood, feeling his finger trace down her spine to her bare hips, then drop off to the bed sheet. “I need to check it at least,” Allison said, walking over to the kitchen table where she had left her phone. “I’m waiting on some things.”
Allison looked at the screen and saw the text alert from Georgia: “Just emailed you.” She then swiped the screen and accessed her email. After scanning through what Georgia had sent her, she grinned.
“That girl has done it again,” Allison said. “She worked her magic.”
Then she looked over to the bedroom, where Xander was still entangled in sheets speckled in drops of her blood. He was smiling.
“What?” she asked.
“Look at you,” he replied.
Allison looked down at herself, completely naked with tacky rust-colored smears across her left breast. She was suddenly embarrassed and covered herself. “I look a mess,” she said.
“No,” Xander said, standing and heading into the kitchen. “You’re beautiful.” He walked to the sink, tore a paper towel off the roll, and wetted it under the faucet.
“No, I’m not,” she said. “My hair’s a mess, and I’ve got – you’ve got – blood all over my chest.”
Xander walked over to her, using the wet paper towel to gently wipe the crusted blood from her left breast. “You are beautiful. You’re beautiful, and you’re passionate. And here you are, not at all bothered that all the windows are open because you obviously just got a lead on something.” He paused for a moment, then added, “It’s admirable.”
Allison smiled and blushed, stroking her hair back into place. She looked down at her nipple to see a small red bite mark. Then she looked at her left index finger, which also had Xander’s teeth marks on it.
“You’re going to have to be more careful, honey, or there won’t be enough Band-Aids.”
Xander frowned. “I didn’t mean to do that to your finger. You know I don’t like to leave marks where other people can see them easily.”
“It’s nothing,” Allison said. “People cut their fingers all the time. And it was my fault, after all. I’m the one who put it in your mouth like that.”
Xander continued to frown. “Still,” he said. “I may have marked you, but that doesn’t mean you’re mine to do with as I please.”
Allison fake-pouted at Xander, trying to lighten the mood. “It’s a cut on my finger, Xander. I’ve lost more blood from a paper cut.”
Trying to deflect the conversation, Xander said, “Was that Georgia?”
Allison looked down at her phone and suddenly remembered she had a new lead.
“Yes!” she said, hopping up from the chair and running into the bedroom to get dressed. “Georgia found a connection.”
“To this batch of killings you are looking into?”
“Yup. Almost every single victim made a purchase at the Stop ‘n’ Save convenience store on Superior within a week of their murder or disappearance.”
“You think the perp hangs out there?” Xander asked, putting his own clothes back on.
“Most certainly. Here’s where Georgia’s magic really comes into play. There’s a clerk who works there named Ed Saunders. Not only was he scheduled at the time each one of the victims came in close to their disappearance, but she was also able to access the records of several pawn stores in the general vicinity. He has been issued claim checks for at least a dozen items on the day after each of the disappearance.”
“So he’s not taking souvenirs...” Xander began.
“He’s making a little money on the side,” she finished. “Let’s go get this dirt-bag.”
CHAPTER 10
Allison drove with Xander in the car as long as possible. While he was more than adept at moving around the city by himself at night, it was a strange comfort to be in a car together. Perhaps because it was not necessary but felt normal, which was something missing from their relationship at the time. While they were driving together through the streets of Cleveland, Allison could almost pretend they were the same people as before Xander was killed. The small talk, the moments of silence, the bickering over a radio station... all of these things are what regular couples go through on a daily basis. And while Allison didn’t necessarily miss normalcy, it was nice to be reminded that it existed at times, even in the bizarre and abnormal life she had begun to live.
The first stop they made was at the Shop ‘n’ Save on Superior Avenue, where Ed Saunders worked. Allison knew she didn’t need anything specifically from the store, but she couldn’t just show up at Saunders’ home without a reason. The information that Georgia had gotten for her wasn’t exactly legal. In fact, it was quite illegal, and when it came to securing a possible arrest warrant, probable cause, and likely a search warrant for Saunders, she needed to create a paper trail first.
The information that the victims had been seen going into the Shop ‘n’ Save so close to their disappearances could have been gleaned by interviews with people on the street. Those could be explained easily. However, at the very least, she needed to make an appearance at the convenient store to show she was looking for him.
During this quick visit, Xander stayed in the car silently. However, Allison knew he used his keen and honed senses to keep tabs on her inside. Sure, she was a cop, but that didn’t mean that dangerous things never happened to cops on routine stops.
Fortunately, her visit to the Shop ‘n’ Save was uneventful and revealed what she already knew: Saunders wasn’t scheduled for a shift that night. And even though Allison knew there was a chance that the clerk on duty would call Saunders to tip him off that the cops were looking for him, she worked the hunch that he didn’t really have any friends where he worked, and no one would bother.
That hunch paid off at their next stop, which was Saunders’ home, a seedy, run-down apartment less than a mile from the Shop ‘n’ Save.
First, Allison dropped Xander off in an alley a block from Saunders’ apartment.
He would be her eyes in the sky, her back-up. That’s how they worked together now. Xander may not be pulling a salary from the city of Cleveland any more, but at least he could still help her out and keep her safe.
Allison parked her car in front of the apartment building and walked to the door. On her way there, she did something that few people living in a big city actually do: she looked up. There, atop the roof across the street, she could see the tall figure of Xander looking down. Then she saw him leap silently to the roof of Saunders’ apartment building.
Allison entered the interior hallway and walked up to Saunders’ unit. She heard the blasting of a television through the door, so she figured he was home. Allison put her right hand on the butt of her gun, but did not draw it. Better to be overcautious than overzealous at a time like this. With her free hand, she banged on the door.
A moment later, she heard the TV go silent. She banged on the door again and yelled, “Saunders! Edward Saunders!”
Through the paper-thin walls of the apartment, she could hear whispering and scrambling inside the unit. These people were going to do it the hard way. They always chose to do it the hard way. That’s why Allison had made a point to call for back-up before she even entered the building, not because she thought they’d come out shooting (though that was always a possibility), but rather because she knew she’d need someone here to help secure the location while the suspect ran.
They always ran. That’s why she had Xander with her.
Allison got ready to pound on the door again, but it suddenly opened. A tired woman in her thirties, who was probably attractive at one time but had lost her luster due to years of hard living, stared back at her from under the security chain.
“What do you want?” the woman asked. Allison recognized her from the dossier that Georgia emailed her. It was Saunders’ on-again-off-again, semi-live-in girlfriend Stacy Keane. Her rap sheet included arrests for drugs, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and a prostitution charge about five years ago. Nothing out of the ordinary, but not the cream of society either.
“Police. I need to speak with Edward Saunders,” Allison said.
“He ain’t here.”
Allison sighed. “Ma’am, I could hear more than one voice when I knocked on the door.”
Stacy looked annoyed. “That was the TV,” she replied with a sneer.
“I heard the voices after you turned off the TV, ma’am.”
Stacy opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when there was a loud bang from the back of the apartment.
There it is, Allison thought. Probably Saunders jumping out a window to run away. Allison smirked at Stacy and said, “Please stay here, ma’am.”
Then Allison burst into a sprint down the hall to the back of the building. This time, she did draw her gun.
She ran out the back door, which spilled her into the back alleys of the neighborhood. It was late enough that they were deserted. No people; just garbage and trash cans. It was empty enough that she could hear the running of footsteps off the brick walls to her right.
Immediately, Allison looked up and saw a dark figure seeming to skate across the rooftops. Xander was in pursuit.
Allison kept her gun drawn and chased Saunders on foot through the alleys.
Saunders was more spry than Allison expected. He gave good chase, cutting back and forth down the alleys, dumping trash cans and throwing other obstacles in her way. She knew she could catch him if she really wanted to put on the speed, but Allison knew that was unnecessary. Instead, she chased him enough that he would wear himself out.
Soon, she heard a scream, and she knew the chase was over.
Allison came around the corner to see Xander standing in the middle of the alley, blocking the way. Saunders was on the ground, soaking in a dirty puddle of icy water, his hands over his face, shrieking.
“Do you have to be so theatrical?” Allison asked Xander, holstering her gun and pulling out a zip-tie.
Xander shrugged. “You know I like to have a little fun.”
Allison approached Saunders cowering on the ground. “Do you have a weapon?”
“That thing!” Saunders yelled. “He just dropped from the sky!”
“Hey!” Allison yelled at Saunders. “Do you have a weapon?”
“He’s not human!” Saunders hissed.
Allison kicked at the ice in the puddle, splashing it at Saunders. “Hey! Hey!” Saunders finally stopped shrieking and looked at her.
“Do you have a weapon?” she asked.
Saunders shook his head erratically.
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it,” she said. “But if I come over there and restrain you, and you pull a knife on me, there’s gonna be a problem.”
Saunders nodded. “I’m clean,” he said.
“You’d better be,” Allison said. “If not, you’re his to deal with.” She cocked her head in Xander’s direction. He smiled at Saunders and showed his bright white teeth.”
“I ain’t got no weapon,” Saunders said. “Just keep me away from him.”
Allison nodded and opened the zip-tie. “Let me see your hands,” she said to Saunders, who obediently held out his arms to her. Only when his hands were fully secure did Xander disappear into the shadows.
† † †
By the time Allison got back to Saunders’ apartment, the back-up she had called for had arrived. There was a uniformed officer in the hallway and several in the apartment. When Allison went inside, she saw Stacy Keane sitting on the couch, glowering at the officers. Her hands were restrained in front of her with a zip-tie, and her eyes were puffy from tears. Allison looked at the officer standing next to her. Red welts stood up on his cheek, and he looked embarrassed about it.
“Did she get feisty?” Allison asked.
The officer nodded, looking down at his feet.
“Is that search warrant on its way?” Allison asked. The officer nodded again.
“Should be here in the next fifteen minutes or so,” he replied.
Allison nodded and turned to walk out of the apartment. She knew she could start searching with the knowledge that the warrant was coming, but she figured with this case it’d be better to have all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted before moving ahead.
Saunders was already in a patrol car out front, ready to be taken back to the station and booked. The excitement was over. The rest of the job was the routine part, so Xander had already disappeared. She knew he wouldn’t stick around, waiting in the car for her like a bored husband waiting for her to finish in the dressing room at the department store. Plus, it would be an awkward discussion if someone who had worked with him back when he was alive saw him there.
Allison turned away from Stacy on the couch and started to head out of the apartment.
“I love him,” Allison heard from behind as she started to leave. She turned and looked at the woman on the couch, who looked impossibly small in an oversized tee shirt and stringy hair over her eyes.
“Excuse me?” Allison said.
“Whatever he done, I still love him,” Stacy said defiantly.
Allison paused for a moment, considering her words carefully. It was easy to stand in judgement over someone like this, especially in her position of authority. However, she did not want to stoop to that level. Plus, there were enough ears in the room that Allison knew anything she would say to this woman would not be private.
“We will be done here soon,” Allison said, deciding to go for the off-topic response.
“You don’t know what it’s like,” Stacy replied. “When you love someone?”
Allison sighed. “I’m sorry, miss –”
“It don’t matter what he done,” Stacy interrupted. “Even if he killed someone. I still love him. That don’t stop me from feeling. I will always forgive him. I have to.”
Allison opened her mouth to respond, but could not find the words.
Even if he killed someone... The words rang in her ears, and she could not help
but think of Xander. What had happened to him between the night he died and when he reappeared to her in his new form a year later?
At this moment, Allison realized that she hadn’t even questioned Xander’s life before he returned to her. She had never questioned what he had done and how he had survived. He had told her he never killed anyone, but how could she be one hundred percent certain he was telling her the whole truth?
Even if he killed someone. I still love him. That don’t stop me from feeling. I will always forgive him. I have to.
The woman’s words haunted her immediately, and Allison knew she would not get them out of her own mind anytime soon. They haunted her because they were the truth. She felt the same way about Xander.
Without responding to the woman, Allison turned and walked out of the apartment.
CHAPTER 11
Before she went back to the precinct, Allison stopped back home. Normally, she would simply head into work to finish up the paperwork for the evening, but she had received a text while she was driving. It was from Xander: “Come home first.”
Xander was not prone to cryptic texts, even when he was still alive. In fact, for the most part, he hated using text messaging services, saying it was the beginning of the breakdown in human communication that cut the user off from the outside world.
Even in his current condition, he maintained that philosophy. Allison was certain he didn’t realize the irony in that.
So when Xander texted something so innocuous but mysterious, Allison knew it was important.
She entered her apartment to find Xander standing in her kitchen, the police files for the open cases strew across the table. The moment the door opened, Xander looked up at her from the papers.
“Is everything okay?” Allison asked.
Xander nodded. “Oh, everything is fine right now.”
“What’s with the texts? I thought you hated texting.”
Xander smiled. “I do. But I wanted to show you something before you went downtown.” He beckoned Allison to come closer to him. She stepped forward, and he put his arm around her, gesturing to the police files on the table.
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