Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (3 page)

The flood of genuine worry pushed her forward down the alley. She still had her finger poised over a bottle of pepper spray, but she strode past the dumpsters with purpose. There were a few sounds of scuttling feet, too tiny to be anything larger than a cat. The tip of her dark green heels hit the cone of light from the bulb and
immediately she felt better. Funny how a little light can scare away the bad men. At least in theory. Technically, it just made you easier to see, easier to find, but it was still a universal comfort against evil thanks to the cathedral architects of the early renaissance. Oh yeah, her internal monologue was definitely rambling.

The terrifying sound of metal scratching metal sounded just a little farther down the alley and she jumped whirling around. It felt like her heart leapt right into throat and pounded loudly in her ears.
The air smelled like death and decay, though that could have been the dumpsters. Deep down, she didn’t believe that.

Lilith
turned back to the door and knocked as loud as she could. She bounced impatiently and kept looking around her as the metal screech sounded again along with a very faint wet gargling sound. “Come on. Come on. Come on.” She whispered under her breath feeling completely terrified. She tried as hard as she could to banish the thoughts of a million different horror movie villains as her whole body trembled with the desire to run. Her pulse quickened with every passing second as her chest became painfully tight. Just as she was about to run for the street in sheer panic, the door swung open enough to let her into the bright kitchen and closed quickly behind her. Lilith scrambled in so fast that she bumped right into a six foot three wall of lean muscle. Even in her heels, she had to look up as Chance flipped the locks.

His laugh was warm, deeper than Alvarez’s, as he caught her by the arms to steady her. Unlike most men
his height, he wasn’t overly muscular or lanky. Chance was all lean muscle, just slightly bigger than the ideal swimmer’s body, with the agility and ease in his own skin that would make most people jealous. Years of martial arts training gave him fluid movements that made him seem light for his tall, lean frame. His medium brown hair with hints of auburn was tousled in a casual style that might have looked sloppy on anyone else. A very large part of her felt completely annoyed with the whole attractive package.

“Whoa, Beautiful.
Someone chasing you?” His hazel brown eyes were flecked with green and they glinted with his magnetic smile. That smile would melt any woman and Chance not only knew but definitely used it. The smile faltered as soon as he truly looked at her. “You’re pale as a ghost. Are you okay?” There was a strong undercurrent of concern in his voice. When she didn’t answer, he looked her over carefully, his hazel eyes narrowing and focusing on her frightened face. “Lily?”

Lilith pushed away from him with a frown.
Come on, get it together Lilith. “Uh…Yes.” Yeah it didn’t sound convincing to her either. When in doubt, resort to anger. After all, it’s an easy transition from fear to anger. “Could you guys have picked a worse place? Really not kidding with the cloak and dagger bit are you? I think there’s someone sharpening their machete at the end of that alley.”

His smile actually brightened for a minute and then eased into a more serious look as he leaned back against a counter
with all the agile grace of a jungle cat. “Hello, Chance. Nice to see you? How have you been? Thank you for saving me from the machete wielding madman. You’re my hero.” A sarcastic smile spread across his lips which only earned him a deep frown.

“Everyone’s in a cute mood tonight it seems. What the hell is…
?”

Chance held up a hand to stop her. “I don’t know why Gregor wanted to meet here and I have no idea what
it’s about. He just said he wanted to talk to you first, privately.” That warm, magnetic smile returned as he quirked a curious eyebrow. “And for the record, did you just call me…cute,
Cher
?” There was a faint touch of a Cajun accent to his voice. It was a very subtle undercurrent that people never noticed until he used some Cajun word like
Cher
. His head tilted to one side and she almost smiled despite herself. Almost.

Lilith narrowed her eyes for half a second and then pulled on her sickly-sweet, sarcastic smile.
“Yeah cute. Like one of those puppies at the pound, all scraggly and mangy, but you can’t help feeling sorry for the cute lil guy.” She winked, patted him on the shoulder as he actually faltered with a comeback. She ignored his gaping look and crossed the vacant, dusty kitchen and set her case down on the aluminum countertop.

“Harsh, Lilith.
I’m a dog now?” His voice almost sounded wounded. She turned with a smile, enjoying the pained sound in his voice.

“I just call them as I see ‘em. So how’s Sonja?”

Chance let out a chuckle and shook his head. “Last week’s news. That girl was all kinds of insane. A couple dates and she wanted to stitch our names on pillows and exchange keys.” Chance’s bravado faltered for half a second as his eyes fell to the floor. Instantly, he looked up and pushed himself away from the counter, all business. “Well, if you’re calmed down from your brush with death in the alley, I can point you in Gregor’s direction. Don’t want to keep you distracted all night.” There was a glint in his smile that made her frown.

“If you intend to list all the insane people you’ve dated it definitely would take all night.
Like I said, Dog.” They both chuckled this time, a familiar feeling. Lilith met Chance 13 years ago when she was just 15. He was a 17 year old Half-blood that had fallen through the cracks.  It happens a lot with Half-bloods. Vampires aren’t born needing blood, won’t find any baby bottles that look strangely red. The need doesn’t hit until puberty. After that, Half-bloods only need blood to replenish their own once a month or so and sometimes it’s so minor that it’s actually diagnosed as Anemia or an Iron deficiency. The second diagnosis was dangerous. A lot of half-bloods died from Iron Toxicities thanks to powerful supplements. Most human doctors just couldn’t figure out our unusual physiology.

Some of the more thorough doctors actually label the disease Thalassemia. Chance would be what they call a severe case. Someone whose blood has such low levels of hemoglobin, that they require regular infusions of blood monthly.
They would be at a complete loss with a full-blood like her. Most of the documented cases of Thalassemia are in the Mediterranean, India, Thailand, which makes a certain sense, since the Mediterranean is the cradle of civilization and all. Our families stretch back a very, very long time there with little dilution of the blood lines.

Gregor found
Chance in a children’s hospital in Louisiana through some of his contacts. It was an underfunded city hospital, so they never really looked into his condition. Had it been someplace like St. Jude’s, they probably would still be researching him in some lab someplace. Her father became Chance’s mentor and placed him with a family. His own
parents died when he was 14 in a horrific car accident.

Chance trained in a Dojo for years and took courses in criminal justice at the community college
, working his way through school by running errands for Gregor. Contrary to popular belief we don’t come standard with bad ass fighting 101. Those that care to, train, just like everyone else. Eventually Gregor assigned him as his bodyguard. Lilith spent a good bit of time around him over the years, but nothing beyond a little friendly banter between acquaintances. Gregor never really talked about him much and he was more a part of the scenery than an acting participant when it came to dinners and meetings. Attractive scenery perhaps, but still scenery.

“Well as much as I enjoy swapping dating horror stories with you, I should see what Gregor wants. “ She pushed off the counter and grabbed her kit again.

“Oh come on, kitten. Swapping would imply that you had any stories to share.” He winked and strolled past her through a double swinging door. She stared daggers at his back. Somehow that didn’t seem very effective.

Chapter 2

T
he open dining room was just sad. Dusty linens clung desperately to abandoned tables. Dead, decaying flowers drooped sadly from glass vases with only remnants of moldy water left in them. Chairs were knocked over or tossed carelessly on top of one another. The big plate-glass windows were filled with cracked holes behind the plywood. Some were the size of rocks, others looked suspiciously like bullet holes. Whoever thought a fine dining restaurant would go over in this kind of neighborhood definitely discovered how wrong they were in a hurry, not that any of them really lasted all that long. There were at least 5 restaurants opening each week, and just as many closing down. It was the social cycle of New York City that extended equally to nightclubs.

Chance led her to a flight of stairs in the rear of the dining room and started jogging up them. Lilith glanced down at her dark green heels with a sigh and slowly made her way up
the stairway. She loved her collection of high heels and stilettos, but they weren’t always practical. Her father often argued that since Lilith was five foot nine barefoot, she didn’t need the heels anyway. They agreed to disagree. The wooden boards creaked dangerously as her pointed heels clicked against the surface. She looked up to see Chance leaning against a wall at the top of the stairs with his arms casually crossed and a Cheshire cat grin.

“The price you women pay for those things
, and I don’t just mean the outrageous price tags either.” He nodded at her shoes and laughed as she flipped him off and stepped onto the landing. Lilith shouldered past him with a glare and opened the only door, closing it firmly behind her.

“Lily.” The warm richness of Gregor’s voice rolled over her easing everything else away.
No matter how bad things got, Lilith’s father always made her feel better. She was definitely a daddy’s girl, no doubt about that, but Lilith made no apologies for it either. There was nothing wrong with having a good relationship with your father just because it’s about as rare as a movie vampire in a polo and khakis.

She smiled and turned to see her father leaning against an old desk.
Lilith took a second to glance around, taking in the rusting file cabinets and layers of dust everywhere except the desk and a chair in front of it. A huge glass window covered in dusty spider webs looked over the restaurant floor. The diffused light from the remaining fixtures downstairs filtered through the dingy window giving Gregor a sihlouette effect that made her chuckle under her breath.

 
“You two arguing again?” There was a distinct humor in his voice. He was very aware of the friendly banter, but there was a fleck of concern in his face that she never quite understood. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it, of course, but it was always fleeting. Besides, she didn’t usually make a habit of pressing her father for information that he didn’t volunteer, especially when it was probably something inconsequential. The most likely he just didn’t want her pissing Chance off. Gregor had a backup bodyguard in the extremely rare and elusive event that Chance might take vacation time, but good people were hard to find.  Gregor had never been what you would call openly trusting.

The thing that amazed her was how
Gregor always looked natural, handsome and forgettable all at the same time. For as old as he was, he never looked dated. As he sat there dressed in charcoal grey slacks and a casual grey polo, she tried to imagine him in the black and white outfits of the puritans and just chuckled to herself. His face was lightly patterned with smile lines, but his skin was soft and pale which made him look no older than mid-forties. His dark hair was sprinkled with gray as was his closely trimmed beard.  It always seemed impossible to her just how unassuming he could appear. She knew otherwise.

Humans always display vampires reeking of power, standing out in a crowd, intimidating anyone in their path. They’d never met Gregor.
He was always placidly calm, even when he was angry, but there was an intimidating strength underneath it. Very few people argued with him for long. Well, except her, of course. They didn’t have volatile fights or anything that dramatic, but she was as stubborn about some things as he was calm.

Even with that quiet strength
he wasn’t the sort of man who would stand out in a crowd. Average height, average build, average features, average age. He had centuries to perfect blending in and that’s precisely what he did. His clothes were always well made, but even they were neutral and average. Memorable people caught interest from all the wrong places, especially reporters. It was hard enough to stay out of the public eye being a successful investor in New York City. The last thing he needed was to be prodded by some reporter on his anti-aging secrets. It was getting tougher and tougher to hide in the electronic, inter-connected age of homeland security.

“
You’d be worried if Chance and I weren’t fighting.” She dropped her case by the chair and walked up to hug her father. His arms were strong and soothing and everything a hug from your dad should be. “It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve had dinner. “ She soaked in the comfort before pulling back and looking seriously at him. “So what is up with the cryptic meeting? Seriously, I thought I was gonna be hacked to pieces in that alley before Chance could open the door.”

The smile faltered on his face for a splint second. Most people probably wouldn’t have even noticed
, but then part of her training was reading faces and body language. There was a slight shift as he sat farther back on the desk. “Have a seat, Lily. I’m glad you made it safe. I was a little worried about asking you to meet me here, but, well, it’s a delicate thing and if I sent Chance it would have broadcasted exactly who you were meeting. I thought here it wouldn’t be unreasonable for one to assume that you were simply processing another crime scene.” There was the familiar hint of disapproval in his voice. One of those stubborn moments of Lilith’s involved taking her current job. Gregor made no secret of disliking it, but now wasn’t exactly the time to discuss those over-protective urges of his.

“I just might be processing one here tonight.” She meant it as a joke but it came out
as a flat statement. Logically everything he said made sense. Well, all except the need for such secrecy. She slowly lowered herself into the chair with an expectant look and waited for Gregor to continue. When he didn’t say anything she figured that maybe she should help him out. “So what is this delicate situation?”

Gregor looked down at his hands, pausing, like he didn’t know where to begin. “I received word from Spencer today.”

That caught her attention. Spencer was her cousin. Gregor’s brother, Duncan, and his family lived down south somewhere. Contrary to popular culture, vampires don’t congregate in large groups. With technology these days a mass amount of vampires in one city would draw far too much attention eventually.  As a result they were all pretty spread out. She hadn’t seen Duncan, Spencer, his sister Miriah, or the rest of the family down there in quite a few years. A knot of worry began building in the bottom of her stomach. “Is he ok?”

Gregor let out a sigh and looked up at her. There was a definite weight in his sky grey eyes.
“Duncan is missing.” He hurried through the words like he was pulling off a band aid really fast. “He’s been spending more and more time at his winter home south of Knoxville. Spencer and Miriah were supposed to have dinner down there the night before last. He wasn’t there. They figured perhaps he’d forgotten, so they stayed in the guest room. He never showed up and Duncan wouldn’t be caught out past dawn. He’s too old to survive that." Gregor’s voice was heavy with concern as he looked back down at his hands. The expression seemed to age him instantly. Of course, it could have just been the guilt and worry weighing on him.

“Could he have gone back to the city?” She knew as
soon as the question left her mouth that Spencer wouldn’t have called if he hadn’t checked something so obvious but she didn’t know what else to say. There were too many possibilities racing through her mind.

Gregor simply shook his head. “He checked. It’s a delicate situation because as you know, Duncan and I have been discussing taking things public with some of the other elders.
There are only a handful of others that know anything about our discussions, like you, Miriah, Malachi and Spencer. It’s possible that something leaked out. Maybe this is some sort of retaliation. Of course, it could be something more mundane, like an accident, but with the possibility of it pertaining to our communications about going public…” He shook his head again like he was deep in thought, running through things in his head as if she wasn’t even there. Suddenly he looked very tired.

“Surely there isn’t that much opposition to the idea? I know people don’t really like change, but with technology advancing and national securities tightening down it’s getting harder and harder on us. If it wasn’t for the brilliant idea of our own private labs to develop treatments and secure small blood banks for research purposes we’d be in a world of hurt. Even with that it really only takes one determined reporter to bring it all out into the light in black and white.
It’s only a matter of time.”

He nodded, grateful for the turn of conversation. I suppose logical, political thought was easier to deal with than thinking about his brother. 
“There is opposition of course, more so among the elders. Not all of us old stuffy bastards are as comfortable leaving the shadows. There is the fear of the knee-jerk reaction due to popular culture’s portrayal of our kind. There’s the fear of being studied, researched, dissected. They aren’t unreasonable fears. But this? Turning on our own kind?” He let out another tired sigh. “I just don’t know.”

Lilith glanced down, like she shouldn’t be seeing her father look so vulnerable and her eyes caught on the aluminum kit next to her chair.
That reminded her. She looked up quickly. “Why did you ask me to bring my kit?”

An actual smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, that. Yes
, well, I thought it would look appropriate for you to be carrying it, in case you were followed. Can’t process a scene without a kit, right?” There was the familiar warm glint in his eyes for a second. He seemed to actually enjoy the intrigue and charade of a possible crime scene. He didn’t like her working crime scenes but making some superspy secret meeting was cool? The thought was almost enough to make her smile. Almost.

Lilith narrowed one eye and just watched him. There was something else
, something behind the youthful glint in his eyes. “Why would you be so worried about me being followed?”

“If Duncan’s disappearance has anything to do with our plans, it’s entirely conceivable. I simply wanted to be cautious.” He shifted his weight, slightly. He was lying. It felt like a
slap in the face. He’d never lied to her about something that mattered, but there it was. The slight pause in his voice, the quickness in his eyes, the small flex of the muscles around his mouth, the slightly elevated pulse. It was all there, but the steely undercurrent in his voice was enough to tell her that pushing the issue would be like pushing against a brick wall.

Lilith swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to move past the gut wrenching moment. “
What about other motives? I know Duncan did a lot of research in the Goditha lab down south somewhere. I know he was instrumental in developing cloned blood to keep us farther under the radar. Perhaps he had another breakthrough, something someone wanted or wanted to stop?” She leaned forward to dust a speck off her shoe, giving her a moment to compose herself.

“
It’s just outside of Knoxville and it is not beyond the realm of possibilities, though his work in the lab as of late has been minimal. He’s been devoting more and more time to his personal research projects. He hasn’t felt it necessary to share the details with me or Spencer for that matter.”

“What about Miriah?
Would she know what he’s been working on? He’s always been closer to her than Spencer anyway.” When there was no verbal response, she supposed she should probably be more concerned about her cousins. “How are they holding up?” She busied herself with straightening her pant leg, still struggling with seeing more than she wanted to in Gregor’s face.

Being able to re
ad faces was sometimes a curse, especially in close relationships. She’d lost a few boyfriends that way. White lies compound and you start to notice every little one until you just can’t seem to trust anything about them. Lilith didn’t want that kind of relationship with her father. She wanted to trust him. Whatever the reason, he wasn’t holding back out of malicious intent. That much she was sure of. Still, it stung.

“
Well, that’s why I wanted to see you, Lily.” That caught her attention and she looked up at him, knocked out of her thoughts. Lines of worry and nervousness crossed his smooth face.  “I need you to fly down to Knoxville and look into this for me.  You’re exceptionally skilled in your field of investigation and you’re the only one that knows all the possible facts.”

Her eyebrow arched automatically
at that last bit. If Gregor noticed, he didn’t say anything. “I suppose I can see how that makes sense, even if I don’t know all the possible facts, just more than most.” Gregor definitely noticed that, but she continued before he could say anything. “I can make a call to Alvarez, talk to him about covering things for a few days. I won’t tell him the reason. I can probably arrange for a flight out tomorrow, pack a few things. I might need to bring the laptop and a few other pieces of equipment.” Her mind was running through all the logical lists of things to be done, items she needed. Oddly, it always relaxed her, gave her a focus that freed her from the chaotic emotions in her head. In some ways she was more like her father than she realized.