Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (12 page)

Lilith was just about to close out the email when the address caught her eye and she stopped breathing. It was the Italian restaurant she
’d met Gregor in. There was no way that was a coincidence. She flipped over to the crime scene photos and squinted at it. There were dozens of cuts and bruises all over and his right arm was bent at an impossible angle. Lifeless eyes stared out at her from the next photo and Lilith’s heart stopped. She dropped the phone and pulled back like it’d stung her.

Chance
leapt forward, toward her, looking her over carefully and finally bent down to grab the phone. “What is it? Do you know him?”

Tears were stinging her eyes as her mind raced a million miles an hour. “This is totally fucked. I have to call Alvarez.”
Chance frowned and peered closer at the photo. “What is it, Lily? Who is this?”

Lilith ignored him, grabbed her phone and dialed Alvarez. He didn’t pick up until the fourth ring.
“Alvarez, its Lilith. Yeah, that case you sent, I have an ID for you.” Her eyes found Chance’s finally and knew she was displaying every bit of sadness and despair. “Malachi Sanders… Yes, Miriah’s husband. Do me a favor. Go over to Gregor’s and let him know in person. Thanks.”

She hung up the phone and Chance still looked shocked.
“Holy shit.” He fell back against the desk like he’d been hit. Things definitely weren’t getting any better.

Chapter 6

“W
hat the hell was Malachi even doing in New York City?” Chance was a barely restrained powder keg of anger. Every muscle in his body was tense as he stalked the room back and forth.

Lilith
slumped in the chair, trying to make sense of everything and failing. “I don’t know.” Her voice sounded tired even to her. “He was tortured, Chance.” Her haunted voice just hung ominously in the air. She just kept seeing those lifeless eyes staring out of the photos on her phone and it made her stomach churn violently.

“
Alvarez is going to send the autopsy report as soon as it posts but it won’t be for another day or two. If Miriah was with him…” She couldn’t even finish that sentence. She leaned forward, with her elbows on her knees and just buried her face in her hands. She forced her brain to work, thinking things out. “She couldn’t have. Spencer said he sent her to pick us up at the airport, so she had to be in Tennessee. Maybe Duncan sent him. That might explain the cryptic letter and how it got there. But why didn’t Malachi just come see me?”

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder as a shaking breath threatened to pull a flood of tears from her. She didn’t move or even
breathe for a moment, trying to keep it all at bay. She’d give anything to just be investigating some emo kid that took his fantasy too far. Malachi’s death was not only shockingly horrible, but it reminded her too much of her mother’s brutal attack. Everything together was just overwhelming her.

“Lily.” Chance’s voice was so tender that she just wanted to
wrap it around her and escape the world. When she finally looked up, he was kneeling in front of her. Both his hands caressed her arms and his eyes were full of worry. “I know you feel like the world is falling apart, and maybe it is, but right now I need you to keep it together.” She wanted to be angry at him, scream at him for being selfish, but all she could do was stare at him.

He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face and she felt her heart pounding in her chest
like a drum. “You are amazingly brilliant and you are the best chance to find Duncan and Miriah alive.” Her lip trembled despite her best efforts to keep from breaking down. She sprung forward and wrapped her arms around Chance so fast that he released a surprised grunt. His arms folded around her and for one completely selfish moment, she felt the warmth melt everything away.

When she finally pulled back, she felt her focus start to return. She wiped at her face and took in several deep breaths. She looked up to find Chance leaning against the door frame, staring out into the rest of the basement. She frowned at his back and suddenly realized that maybe there was some rule against hugging your body guard.

“I’m sorry if I was out of line.” Part of her felt a little wounded about having to say that to his back. This time the silence felt horribly awkward, but it didn’t look like Chance was going to break it anytime soon. There was a sudden surge of unreasonable anger that clenched her fists. “Fine. Never hug your body guard. Got it.” She snapped the words and started cleaning off the desk, packing things into her kit and depositing the notebooks into their bag.

She heard Chance cross the room toward her, but she pointedly ignored him and continued to busy herself with cleaning up. “Lily.” He didn’t sound angry, just tired. It just made her angrier, but she couldn’t figure out if she was mad at him or herself
or perhaps the world in general, the world that tortured Malachi to death. “Lilith.” When she didn’t acknowledge that he’d even spoken, he grabbed her arm and tugged her away from the desk.

“Dammit, Lily.”
He pulled her to face him. The soft, chiseled face was full of all the micro expressions of pain and his eyes were red rimmed. “I have a job to do here. I can’t let how I feel about you get in the way of that. At the end of the day, I have to keep you safe. That’s not just my job, it’s my sworn duty. Gregor trusts me and I won’t let him down. It’s the whole reason Gregor sent me, specifically.”

She tugged her arm away from him and stepped back. Why was she so angry? “I got it. You work for my dad.
Nothing personal.” The words seemed to ring with venom and she was immediately sorry she’d said it. Chance hung his head and all the anger just flooded out of her. She just wanted to hug him again and take everything back. “Chance…” Her voice came out as an unsteady whisper. “I am so sorry… I didn’t mean…”

The sound of laughter totally startled her. When Chance looked up his ey
es were red rimmed and glistening but he was definitely laughing. “Nothing personal?” He laughed harder and shook his head. He ran his hand through his hair, turning away to walk toward the door and then stopped. He turned back and walked right up to her.

“
Were you even listening to a word I just said? Like I said, there is a reason that Gregor sent me with you and not Timothy or Ray. You know what? It’s entirely personal. That’s why I can’t do this.” He waved his hands in general between them. “You know that tattoo that you wanted to know about so damn much?” There was anger in his voice. All she could do was stare at him, trying to comprehend everything. “I got it as soon as I turned eighteen. Any idea what it is?” She just shook her head with her eyes wide. “It was going to be a surprise, but when I talked to Gregor about it, he went ballistic. So I buried everything, kept it all to myself.”

Lilith frowned at him and took a step back. She was totally confused now. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to find her voice. “What is it?”

Chance clenched his jaw and looked away at the desk for a moment. His eyes snapped back to her, a mixture of pain and anger. “It’s a Lily.”

The words hit her like a ton of bricks, knocking all the air out of her lungs.
Before she could compose herself, Chance stalked out the door. "I’ll wait for you upstairs. We should get some work done.” His voice was flat and seconds later she could hear him stomping up the steps.

Lilith dropped into the chair, feeling totally disconnected. Was it just her or did the entire universe just do a massive 180? She rubbed her temples and tried to organize her thoughts. Okay, so Duncan was missing, Miriah was missing,
She’d come pretty close to dying of a serious head wound, Malachi was tortured to death, Spencer was possibly insane, they didn’t have much to go on, and now Chance reveals he has a tattoo that he got for her when he was 18. She just burst out laughing despite herself. “Holy hell. It sounds like a damn soap opera.” She pushed out of the chair, still feeling a little shaky.

Chance was ultimately right. There was way too much work to do right now. There was no time for personal crap when so much was riding on the line. Still there was a little glow in the pit of her stomach. There had been moments on the
trip, moments that made her feel warm all over. Logically, she dismissed them. Chance was never serious about women. He wasn’t some asshole using girls or tricking them. He was just honestly casual, like it didn’t mean anything. It never occurred to her that there might actually be a reason why.

There was time to figure that one out later. She needed to get over to Miriah’s apartment in Knoxville. Duncan said he’d
trusted her with a lot of things, maybe there was something there. There was also the property that Duncan mentioned in his note. She could look it up online and head to the county records office. Maybe she’d get lucky and find a name. Maybe they could get really lucky and get something out of Spencer.

Lilith grabbed
the bag of notebooks and her coat before heading up the stairs. She found Chance staring out the dining room window with his arm against the frame. She stood there for a moment, really looking at him. Suddenly she remembered all the photographs in his place and in that moment he resembled them. Isolation. No one really knew him, really understood him.

She walked to the tab
le set down her things and cleared her throat. She saw Chance’s spine stiffen and his head drop to one side, indicating he was listening but definitely not turning around.

“You’re right. We have work to do. I panicked downstairs.” She fought against the nervousness rising up her own spine. “Thank you, for snapping me out of it. I had no right to be so cruel.”

Chance relaxed and finally turned toward her. As soon as she could see his face she continued. “However,” He froze, his eyes flashing wide with some deep down fear for a moment. “Do not think for one damn second that we aren’t having a long discussion about this tattoo thing later. I understand why you needed to clear the air, but it’s not exactly the most convenient time ever.” She flashed a soft smile at him that instantly eased away the terror in his face. He’d been carrying his secret a long time. She understood why he was so defensive now.

Lilith slipped
on her dark green coat, pulling her auburn curls out of the collar and quickly looked up at him. “Seriously though, a Lily?” She grinned in amusement.

Chance laughed but she saw the slight blush to his cheeks. “Yeah, well, it seemed a brilliant idea at the time.”

“Second guessing that right about now?” She chuckled as she reached for her bag, thankful that they could still laugh like this.

“Actually…” He smirked at her and grabbed the
heavy bag of journals for her. His green flecked eyes caught hers and it sent a shiver down her spine. “Not even for a second.” When he smiled, it was soft and genuine, full of everything but promising nothing. Then it was gone. “So, boss lady, what’s the plan?”

It took her brain a moment to shift gears. She wanted to really think about what he’d just said, but they still had a lot of work to do. This was definitely not the time to indulge in a bunch of complicated romantic crap.
“Well it looks like Spencer is still out. I really don’t want to wake him, considering how unstable he’s been. I do want to take a look at Malachi and Miriah’s place, though. I found the address down in the office. It’s up in Knoxville. Should take us about 45 minutes to get there I think.”

Chance looked down at his watch and nodded. “It’s just about sunset now.
Should make for good timing. Let’s hit the road.”

They managed to just discuss theories and details of the case on the forty five minute drive. There was no mention of tattoos or anything else. Honestly, she was relieved by that. There was too much to process right now without throwing that into the mix.

Soon they were staring up at a four story apartment complex in a rather nice neighborhood. The building was painted in white with dark brown trim, giving it a British cottage sort of feel. The bushes in front were well groomed as was the plush, green yard. A wooden fence ran behind the building, most likely to completely enclose the back yards.

Chance frowned at the building. “Miriah’s an accountant, right? And
Malachi is in Real Estate?”

Lilith nodded. “Yeah they have their own businesses actually. According to Gregor they’ve been pretty successful.” She realized they were talking about
Malachi like he was still alive and she immediately felt horrible. He was gone. He’d suffered so much…

Chance’s voice shook her out of her morbid thoughts.
“Why don’t they have a house? I mean this is a gorgeous apartment building and all, but if they have the money, why would they live here?”

Lilith shrugged and started up the front walkway. “Maybe they hate yard work or maybe they like having neighbors.”

Chance just shook his head, completely baffled by the idea that someone would actually want to live in an apartment if they had other options. The thought hadn’t actually occurred to her. She’d lived her whole life in apartments in New York City, except college, but even then she’d lived in a dorm. It just seemed normal to her.

“Oh come on now. Like your warehouse is that much different? I didn’t see a yard surrounding the graffiti walls.”

Chance narrowed his eyes at her smug grin. “It isn’t the love of landscape architecture that makes a home more appealing to me. It’s the absence of loud, nosey neighbors.”

“Well, you definitely went to the extreme on that one. Go big or go home? You’re only neighbors are the drunk vagrant you have to shoo away from the bottom floor.”

This time his frown wasn’t as light-hearted. “I like my space and I take precautions. I don’t have homeless people living in the bottom floor, thank you very much.”

Lilith chuckled and bumped his shoulder with hers. “Touchy.”

Chance reluctantly bumped her back and his wounded pride took a backseat to a smart ass smile. “Keep it up, Princess. I might just make you brave the whole bottom floor of my building…at night… with a bottle of booze as bait to prove it to you.”

Lilith feigned a dramatic gasp. “You wouldn’t.”

Chance turned to her with a sly grin, a little twinkle of mischief glinting in his eye. “Oh don’t tempt me.” His playful wink made tiny shivers travel over her skin. “Now what do ya say we check out the apartment that Miriah and Malachi loved so much?”

“Only one problem with that.”
Lilith peered through the glass door leading to the inside stairs and elevators. Of course, it took a key, a key they didn’t have. Lilith frowned at the door as if she could scare it into opening. She could use her lock pick gun, but if anyone happened by that could mean big trouble. The last thing she needed was to end up in jail.

“Leave it to me, Lily.” Chance winked and stepped up to the bank of buzzers. He pressed the button for the apartment
across from Miriah’s.