Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1) (38 page)

Lilith dug out her phone and dialed Cohen’s number. There was no answer. “Cohen, there’s a murder scene at Goditha Labs. It’s still extremely hostile. If you can, keep everyone clear of it. The last thing we need is a bunch of cops getting themselves killed. We need to talk.” She hung up and jammed her phone back in her pocket as Chance swung the car around a corner.

Once they were a good fifteen miles from the Goditha
Labs, Chance finally broke the silence. “What the fuck was that, Lily?”

For the first time since the lab, she really looked at Chance. His jaw was clenched, hazel eyes narrowed, nostrils flared,
knuckles white from holding the steering wheel in a death grip. Oh yeah, he was beyond scared. He was pissed.

“I…don’t know. It’s impossible. Nothing can heal that fast.”

Chance swerved through traffic as Lilith braced herself between the dash and the window. Her chest felt tight as memories of her earlier car crash flashed through her head. He finally brought the car to a screeching halt in a downtown parking space.

“Dammit, Chance.” Lilith leaned forward trying to breath
and slammed a fist against the dash. “Are you trying to kill me too? Seriously? It may have escaped your fucking memory but I just  barely survived my last car crash today!”

For a moment he just sat there, staring out the windshield and she
suddenly realized that something was very wrong. The tension sang through the air, twisting her stomach in knots.

“
Yes I realize that. I was there when you almost died. And I’m not talking about Ashcroft.” When he turned in his seat to look at her, all that anger and fury came with him, weighing on her like a lead noose. Her heart leapt up into her throat as a deep blush crept across her cheeks. Part of her was terrified, but part of her liked the anger, craved it, which only scared her more.

“What the hell is going on with you?
You see Ashcroft’s wrecked body torturing that doctor and your reaction is to move closer? Panting like you want to join in?”

She flinched back in her seat. She didn’t want to admit it but Chance was right. Part of her felt
drawn but it wasn’t desire. Still, being forced to face the fact that it had any effect on her at all besides disgust and terror made her want to throw up and crawl under a rock. It wasn’t right. None of it was. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. She couldn’t admit it out loud. Just voicing what she was feeling terrified her. Anger worked better.

“Well you would be the judge wouldn’t you? Why don’t you tell me about that heartless look in your eyes when you shot
Spencer’s head off? Certainly didn’t seem to bother you any, so what the fuck do you care?”

His eyes went impossibly wide. Just before the anger there was a flash of guilt. “Are you fucking kidding me? That man, family or no, engineered the death of his own sister, kidnapped his father and put him on a silver platter for this freak, killed his brother-in-law, and nearly beat you to death!
Hell, he was just about to put a bullet through your brain, Lilith! What the fuck did you want me to do? Distract him with a song and dance routine? Do not even sit there and tell me you’re feeling sorry for him.” Chance slammed his hands against the steering wheel, channeling his rage.

She knew he’d never hurt her, but she still flinched.
He was right about all of it. Somehow, seeing him hunched over the steering wheel, fighting with himself as much as he was with her, took all the wind out of her anger. She couldn’t think of a single response. There was no escape. Well, besides bailing out of the car and running off like some temperamental teenager.

“Lilith. You really need to talk to me.” The words were snapped, harsh, and they just seemed wrong coming from him. Before she knew it, tears were welling in her eyes as she struggled to breathe.

That seemed to take the wind out of him, well, at least most of it. When Chance spoke again, his voice was filled with gentle concern more than anything else. “Look. I’m worried about you. You’ve been acting strange ever since Cohen fed you. Not to mention that your face had a nasty bruise covering one side when I finally got in and shot the bastard in the head. And now…” His eyes flickered, a mixture of desire and fear that made her heart sink.

Lilith
reached for the visor mirror and when she flipped it down, surprise didn’t even begin to cover it. Not only was there absolutely no bruising, her skin was flawless. Supermodels would kill for her perfectly unblemished complexion. Even her eyes seemed a little brighter and her lips a little plumper, like she’d just spent all day in a spa, not getting the crap beat out of her. How was that possible? She frantically pulled at her shirt. The deep seat belt bruise was completely gone. With a rising panic she yanked the shoulder of her t-shirt down her arm. The bullet wound was just a pink dimple in her skin. What the fuck?

Then it hit her. Cohen. It had to be Cohen’s blood. That’s why she reacted the way she did when Nichols started screaming, when Chance blew up in a rage. Cohen had said that
any strong emotion would do. She was sure that Spencer’s death right in front of her probably contributed a hell of a lot. “It’s the blood. Cohen’s blood. I tried to tell you earlier. What he is, they feed on energy to stay alive, and it helps them heal. He told me it’s an extremely rare side effect, but it’s been happening to me. I can feel emotions like something tangible. I need to know more from him.”

The fear began creeping back into his hazel eyes and that sight made her eyes well up again. She couldn’t stand him looking at her like that. Not Chance, not now. She stared out the windshield as tears slipped down her cheeks. “Don’t look at me like I’m some kind of monster.
I’m not Ashcroft! Just fucking drive.” She wasn’t going to start slicing people up. God, the whole thing terrified her. She felt like an alien in her own body.

Lilith actually flinched when his fingers brushed lightly over her arm and slid down to take her hand. “Lily.” The soft tenderness in his voice just made
her angrier. She shoved his hand away.

“Don’t touch me! I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” The venom in her voice surprised even her.

Chance wasn’t putting up with it. He waved her hands away and she fought against him. “Lily.” She dissolved into tears as she tried to bat him away. She didn’t want him to touch her. He finally pinned her arms against her chest and leaned in close. “Stop. I know you aren’t Ashcroft. You scared the crap out of me and when I came out of that room and saw Spencer with his gun under your chin…” His eyes fell for a moment as he searched for the right words. “All I could think of was making sure that he never hurt you again.”

When she stopped pushing against his grip, he slowly released her arms and
very lightly, cupped her chin. The fear was still there, but it was outweighed by determination and traces of desire.  “You are not a monster. I just need to know what’s going on. It’s just something we have to deal with, together. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She wanted to be angry, but her voice just fell into quiet sadness.
“Something already has! Don’t you get it? Cohen may have saved my life, but it’s changed me. Even Ashcroft knew it. He said I smelled different. What if it’s not temporary? What if I’m like this forever?” Lilith pulled back as the panic took over, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I just want to go back to my normal life, investigating stupid crime scenes. A world where Ashcroft doesn’t exist.”

“You can’t go back.” His tone was sharp again, but not with the same condemnation. Instead, it was familiarly close to patronizing. “Suck it up, Lily. You have got to get yourself together, find your balance. Ashcroft is still out there and we have to find a way to kill him. This has been a nightmare for everyone, but you
cannot fall apart now. I need you to be strong. I need you, Lily.” She managed to stop crying and wiped at her eyes. He was right, she couldn’t fall apart now. “Look, we’ll figure this out, but for now, knock it off and don’t make me smack some sense into you.” The amused tone in his voice coaxed a smile out of her.

Lilith nodded as she
continued to wipe at her cheeks. She could break down later. Assuming there was a later, of course. Assuming they didn’t all die at the hands of some immortal monster that got his jollies by torturing people.

“Do you think it’s possible that Ashcroft is healing the same way you are?”

Her logical brain kicked in instantly, giving her the cold calm she desperately needed right now. All those tears and emotional baggage slid down to the confining depths, leaving her free to think. One of these days she might have to really deal with the entire contents of that deep dark pit, but not tonight. “As far as I know, Cohen is the only one of his kind up here and he certainly hasn’t been attacked. Plus, healing a bruise or even a small bullet hole is one thing, healing half your missing head, actually generating new tissue is a whole other ball game. I just don’t see how it’s even possible.”

“Well it looked pretty damn possible from where I was standing. If these effects are permanent though,
he could have fed at any time, right? Maybe the effects build up over time with regular use?”

“Technically, I suppose. I think he’d have to drain a whole family line to pull off those special effects though
, even if he was drinking regularly. Maybe certain strong emotions are more potent than others? It still doesn’t explain how fast he is, or strong. My senses are a little more heightened but I don’t feel any quicker and I’m definitely not any stronger. Not to mention, how did he survive being changed into a vamp in the first place? It’s supposed to be theoretically possible, but no one’s ever seen it happen, until now. We need to talk to Cohen and Gregor. Cohen first though, I need some answers now.”

Chance leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before settling back into his seat. “Off to the precinct then.” Lilith stared at the half smile quirking his lips and
couldn’t help but smile softly. The whole world was going to hell, but somehow, the quirk in his lips made it all seem inconsequential. Okay, well maybe not inconsequential, but at least a little less terrifying.

The churning growl of Chance’s stomach interrupted her peaceful thoughts. “Uh, perhaps we need to hit a drive thru joint on the way. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve eaten.” His eyes narrowed at her in sudden thought, studying her. “Aren’t you ravenous?”

Lilith looked off through the windshield and honestly couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten either. Croissants and coffee, first thing in the morning. She should be starving, but somehow, she didn’t even feel vaguely hungry. It had to be the damn blood. She wanted to be angry with Cohen, furious even, but it was either deal with this side effect or be dead and buried in the ground. She didn’t really remember exactly what had happened, but from everything Chance and Cohen told her, she was seconds from dying.

When she looked back at Chance, she couldn’t bear to see that fear in his eyes again, so she lied. “You know, I really am starving
for a big huge burger. I’ve been running on adrenaline for too long. Must be the survivor instinct or something.”

There was a slight look of suspicion in his eyes, but he shifted back into the driver’s seat and put the car in gear. “Well, let
’s see what 24-hour places are near the precinct. We can eat and grill Cohen at the same time.”

Half an hour
later, Chance and Lilith were jogging into the Police station with an armful of greasy drive-thru burgers. It wasn’t until Lilith saw the shocked face of the desk clerk that she realized that her clothes were soaked in Spencer’s blood. Chance hurried her past the desk clerk and stormed through the bull pen, heading straight for Cohen’s office. He didn’t bother knocking. He just burst in with Lilith trailing behind him.

Cohen looked up
in surprise which quickly turned to concern when he saw Lilith. Whitmore surged to his feet, and stalked right up to Chance. The difference in height made it a little less intimidating than the Detective wanted it to be.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Whitmore.” Cohen’s voice boomed with cool authority. “Give us a minute.”

The stocky detective turned to his partner with an exasperated look. “Cohen, you don’t owe
these two anything. They can’t just barge in here…”

“A minute.”
Cohen cut him off with a weighted look. Whitmore just stared at his partner for a tense moment. Neither Chance nor Lilith dared even move. With a final death glare at Chance, he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

“Sorry about that. He’s really starting to crack.”
His grey eyes lingered on the closed door with a twinge of sadness.

“Have you been working with him long?” Lilith hadn’t really considered the possibility that Cohen might actually view Whitmore as a partner.
She just assumed that since Whitmore was human and Cohen was whatever he was, that he’d just treat him as someone to be careful around. Guess that said more about her than Cohen that it was her first assumption.

“A few months now.
He’s not a bad cop. He just isn’t very patient or open-minded.” Cohen stood and walked around his desk. He looked Lilith over carefully and finally rested his cool grey eyes on Chance. “I’m assuming things aren’t going well?”

“You could say that.” Lilith could feel the anger rolling off Chance and by the bristled look on Cohen’s face so could he. Before she started drowning in testosterone, Lilith slid into an empty chair.