A Rush of Wings (16 page)

“Try,” Heather said. “I’d like you to keep breathing.” Her gaze shifted to the anarchy symbol behind him. For one heartbeat, he was a part of the symbol—a sharp black dagger piercing the heart of chaos, night-wrapped and unpredictable.

No way the killer would’ve left New Orleans without Dante dead or beside him. Whoever lay on that tray in the Pensacola morgue wasn’t her perp. But she had to be sure. Collins would be expecting her at the airport and she still had to stop at her hotel.

“Walk with me,” she said, turning and opening the studio door.

She felt Dante behind her in the hall; his silence unnerved her, even with bare feet and carpet, he should’ve made
some
sound.

“What happens if it ain’t your guy in Pensacola?”

“Then I’ll be back.”

***

HEATHER UNLOCKED THE SUBARU, then slid inside. Starting the engine, she turned the defroster and heater up to high. Dante stood beside the open driver’s side window, barefoot in the late-February chill, sunglasses perched on top his head.

He’s got to be cold
. Heather thought.
I know I’d be freezing
.

“I’ll call you as soon as I know something,” she said.

Dante bent down and held out a piece of paper. Heather took it, pulling it free from between his fingers. She glanced at it. Phone numbers. Written with a lefty’s slant; one marked CLUB, one marked HOME. She looked up at him.

Arms folded over his chest, Dante shrugged. “In case,” he said. His gaze skipped past her. “That’s my jacket.”

“Huh?” Heather shifted in her seat and glanced in the direction he was looking. Dante’s leather jacket was crumpled in the passenger seat. “Oh! Yes.” She picked up the jacket, then passed it through the window to Dante. “I’ve been holding it since you were arrested.”

Dante shrugged on the jacket. Metal jingled. “
Merci
,” he said. “Did you go through the pockets?”

Heather smiled. “What do you think?”

“I think…” He paused and looked at her for a moment. “Yeah. I know
I
would.”

Heather’s smile widened. “You seem pretty experienced in rifling pockets.”

He grinned, and Heather caught a flash of slender, curving canines. He was either delusional or undead, so why did he make her feel like a teenager swooning over her first sullen and leather-jacketed bad boy?

“Look, when this is over…”

“Yeah?” Dante leaned in even closer. Faint green light from the dash streaked the steel ring on his bondage collar.

She could smell him, crisp autumn leaves and dark earth—a warm bed, the scent of sex. Her cheeks burned as heat fluttered through her belly. “Uh…I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.” Forcing a smile onto her lips, she rolled up the window.

He straightened, then backed up a pace as she stepped on the gas.

She followed the curving driveway carefully, passing the van and the MG. The Harley was gone.
I was going to ask if I could see him again
. So much for objectivity. So much for professionalism. She glanced into the rearview mirror. Dante still stood in the driveway, watching as she drove away. A breeze blew strands of hair across his night-shadowed face.

A figure suddenly appeared beside Dante. Heather hit the brakes. The Subaru screeched to a stop. The red glow from her taillights wasn’t enough to see well by, and she was on the verge of throwing the car into reverse or stepping out and drawing her .38, when Dante slipped his arm around the other figure’s shoulders.

A cloud drifted free of the moon. Southern-winter moonlight frosted the trees, the iron gates, the looming mansion, and Silver’s gel-spiked hair and shining silver eyes. Moonlight gilded the boy’s smile. He snugged an arm around Dante’s waist.

Releasing her breath, Heather wrenched her gaze away from the rearview. Too much adrenaline and too little sleep had left her feeling shaky and weak-limbed. She stepped on the gas and drove through the opened gates.

Maybe she’d baited the hook simply by leaving.

In that bleak moment, she truly wished Dante
was
a vampire.

Maybe then he’d have a chance of surviving if the killer took the bait.

13
Keepsakes

«
^
»

R
ONIN UNLOCKED THE PADLOCK looped through the metal door’s hasp. The door screeched when he yanked it open, the sound reverberating through the empty warehouse. He flicked on the light switch beside the door and stepped inside.

Huddled on the cot, arms wrapped around his legs, the shivering youth looked up, blinking in the sudden harsh light. The fluorescent overheads buzzed, marring the silence. At the sight of Ronin, the youth scooted into the corner, his back to the wall.

Smiling, Ronin shook his head. “It’s not me you need to fear,” he said. “It’s my companion—the one who brought you here. Do you remember him?”

The boy shook his head, kept his eyeliner-smudged gaze on Ronin. He pressed himself harder against the wall, like he could seep into it and vanish. Ronin’s smile widened. The boy’s gaze locked onto his revealed fangs. He went still.

Ronin sat on the edge of the cot. The youth’s fast-pounding heart intrigued him. He smelled the adrenaline-laden blood pulsing hot through his veins. He glanced at the youth’s lace-edged throat. An iridescent bat tattoo nestled at its hollow. How often had Dante kissed that white flesh? Pierced it with his fangs? Drank the dark blood that poured through those veins?

Leaning over, Ronin brushed a strand of blond hair from the boy’s face. The boy’s muscles—knotted and tensed—trembled. His green eyes never left Ronin’s face.

“I hear your every thought, boy,” Ronin said. “You might as well speak them.”

The youth closed his eyes for a moment. He drew in a deep breath, trying to calm himself and order his mind, but he remained pressed up against the concrete wall, his heart hammering against his ribs.

“Let me help you,” Ronin said. “Gina’s dead. Yes, I know you have Dante’s mark. And you
will
die at the hands of a serial killer—
if
I leave you here.”

The boy turned his face to one side as though sucker punched by the blunt words.

“Oh, and as for
why
all this is happening, call it destiny.”

“I don’t believe you,” the youth said, voice low and strained. Opening his eyes, he turned to face Ronin. “Gina’s not dead. Dante’d find her, he—”

“He
did
find her,” Ronin said, pleased by the sudden spark of fire lighting the boy’s eyes. “
After
my companion had finished with her.”

The youth blinked away unshed tears. Swallowed. “You’re full of shit.”

Seizing the boy’s slender throat with one hand, Ronin jerked him away from the wall and against himself. “Am I?” he whispered. “Dante’s looking for
you
, now. It’s up to you whether he finds you
before
my companion returns or
after
.”

The youth struggled to get free, pulling at Ronin’s wrist with one hand while shoving against Ronin’s chest with the other. Eyes half-closed, Ronin listened to the youth’s triple-timing heart. Smelled anger, fear, and desperation in equal measures. His blood would be a heady brew of natural pheromones.

“Before or after,” Ronin said. He looked into the boy’s emotion-dilated green eyes. “It’s up to you.”

The youth stopped struggling. He went still once again, kneeling on the cot. His gaze turned inward. For a moment, Ronin couldn’t hear him. Not a whisper of thought, not a word or image. A barrier had dropped between them, and the only sound disturbing the silence was the pulsing of their hearts.

With a shudder, the boy met Ronin’s gaze. “Before,” he said.

“Wise choice.”

Grasping a handful of blond hair, Ronin tugged the boy’s head back and sank his fangs into his throat.

***

E STEPPED INTO THE darkened house, closing and locking the door behind him. He glanced around the room. A bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon stood on the side table beside the La-Z-Boy, a tumbler beside it. The ashtray held a single cigarette butt. E sniffed. Grimaced. The air reeked of that towelhead crap Ronin liked to smoke.

The Camaro was gone. And so was Tommy-boy.

Just as well. He was in no mood to put up with the bloodsucker’s anal-retentive bullshit. He touched the knot on his forehead. Pain radiated out from beneath his finger and E jerked his hand away. His grin faded. If the Big Guy wasn’t made of stone, he might as well be. Kee-rist!

E crossed the room, then shuffled down the hall to his bedroom. Maybe some Vicodin and a little whiskey would ease the pain. Pushing open the door, he stepped into his room. He plunked down on the edge of the unmade bed. His head throbbed. His stomach clenched in uneasy sympathy.

E pulled open the nightstand drawer and rummaged through the contents—several red and white packages of Marlboros, a lighter, a nudie pen—tip her upside down and watch her strip!—until his fingers latched around the Baggie of pills.

E unzipped it, his hands shaking a little, and poured the pills onto the nightstand. Peach, old-lady blue, and yellow, the pills bounced and tumbled across the wood.

E tossed five or six of them down his throat. He picked up the whiskey bottle from the nightstand and chased the pills down with a long swallow of gut-burning Canadian Hunter. Nausea rolled through him. Shaking again, E set the bottle on the floor beside the bed, then stretched out on the mattress. He stared into the darkness, waiting for the pills to kick in.

Closing his eyes, E snuggled his face into the pillow. He smelled Gina, dark cherries and sweet sex. He’d hidden her stocking inside the pillowcase. He loved keepsakes, little things that said,
Remember when
? He touched his right front jeans pocket, his fingers tracing the smooth rectangular shape of his newest keepsake.

He wakes in a vampire’s house, sprawled on a vampire’s sofa. He slits his eyes open. Candlelight flickers, etching wavering shadows on the wall. Only the steady tick-tock of a pendulum clock disturbs the silence
.

Head aching, he rolls onto his side. His gaze falls on the figure curled into an easy chair across from him
.

He wonders if she’s faking, playing with him, watching him from beneath long, black lashes. But her deep, even breathing convinces him that she’s asleep. He’s never been this close to her—not even when peeking through windows
.

If he touches her, what’ll happen
?

His lovely Heather, his very own stalker, sleeps in his presence. Allowing herself to be vulnerable before a god
.

He watches her for several minutes, drinking in the color of her hair, the curve of her cheek, the parted lips
.

Above him, the ceiling creaks once. He suddenly remembers where he is—in a house full of bloodsuckers. The warm, golden godlike feeling evaporates
.

Rolling to his feet, he crosses the short distance to the easy chair, practically on tiptoe, his gaze locked on Heather—his beacon. He tries not to think of what else walks soundlessly through the house
.

He bends over Heather until his breath ruffles her hair. He touches a strand and it slides like silk between his fingers. He picks up his cell phone from the arm of the chair. Tilting his head, he regards Heather for a moment. What message is she trying to send him by setting his phone out
?

The ceiling creaks again. He backs away from the chair, from the woman nestled between its arms. Reluctant, he turns away. Piled on the floor beside the sofa are his wallet and shivs and every little thing he kept in his pockets
.

He squats and gathers up his belongings. When he stands again, he finds himself walking into the kitchen. A voice in his mind tells him he’s a fucking idiot, get out, get
out, get out!,
but it’s too late, really, he’s already claiming keepsakes
.

Heather’s purse and trenchcoat are draped over the back of a chair. He searches both until he finds what he wants, then he takes it. His gaze skips around the kitchen, looking for some trace of Dante—some reminder of the hot, hot, hot little vampire who’d earned looks of lust from his Heather. A token from his Bad Seed bro
.

Finally, he seizes the black coffee mug and slips out of the kitchen
.

He pauses beside the easy chair, a shiv sliding without thought into his hand. Heart pounding, he forces himself away from her. Forces himself to the door. Forces himself to open it. Outside. Ease the door shut. Run like a motherfucker
.

E smiled and opened his eyes. He pulled his keepsake out of his pocket. The magazine for a Colt .38 gleamed in his palm.

***

DANTE KNELT BESIDE TREY’S recliner. Computer light and images flickered across the web-head’s composed face, danced across the cables connected to his neck and to the tips of his fingers.

“Can you get into the morgue’s system?” Dante asked.

Images and pages winked across the monitor’s screen. Trey’s fingers blurred in the air. Dante listened to the electronic crackle and hum. He wondered if data burned like fire through Trey’s veins, ever-changing and molten.

A page locked onto the monitor. MORGUE—INTAKE.

Dante squeezed Trey’s biceps. “
Très bien, mon ami
.”

A smile flickered at the corners of Trey’s mouth, then vanished. Dante tugged affectionately on one of his dreads.

Scanning through the intake photos, Trey stopped on the most recent—a young man, throat slit. Dante leaned forward, studying the photo. The hair might’ve been blond, but wet, it was hard to tell. Eyes closed. Face and lips drained of all color. A gaping bloodless wound stretched across the throat.

Dante sat back on his heels, relief flooding through him like hot, fresh blood. Whoever the cops had pulled from the Mississippi, it wasn’t Jay.