Blood Secrets-Valorian 1 (10 page)

Even when the last of her tears fell, Eve didn’t want to move. She liked being held.

Enjoyed the feel of the soft cotton of his dress shirt against her cheek. It had been too long since she felt secure in another’s embrace. Too long without the comfort of human contact. Although the man she sought that solace from was anything but human.

That thought forced her to move. Raising her head, she looked up at his face. His eyes no longer glowed, but there was a low burn around the iris reminding her of a lunar eclipse.

His face was stern and his breath came in short pants, but she could see that it was not because he was angry.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice low and thick with what she hoped was desire.

She nodded, having difficulty forming any coherent words. She watched his mouth move as he spoke, suddenly and desperately wanting to press her lips to his. To feel the full softness against hers, to taste him.

She knew he could sense her desire. She could all but smell it herself, even without extraordinary abilities.

Caine raised his hand and gently stroked his fingers across her cheek. She nestled against his touch, wanting more but afraid to voice her need. Capturing a stray strand of her hair, he rubbed it between his fingers then tucked it behind her ear, like she had done on so many occasions.

“I’ve wanted to do that since I first met you.”

She opened her mouth to protest, or to say something stupid, she wasn’t sure which, but didn’t have time to decide. Caine leaned down and captured her lips with his.

His lips were as soft as she’d thought they might be, though anything but gentle. He ravaged her mouth, taking, tasting and seeming to savor her with every sweep of his tongue. She couldn’t catch her breath, as he demanded more from her, dipping his tongue in her mouth and nipping at her lips with his canines.

The flutters in her stomach turned into a tempest. Her knees weakened and she could barely stand as surges of pleasure rushed through her and gathered in a hot pool of desire at her center.

Finally, he broke the kiss, releasing her bottom lip from between his teeth and leaned his forehead against hers. His breath came hard and fast, mingling with hers.

“That was no simple kiss,” she exhaled.

“No, it wasn’t.”

They stood like that, forehead to forehead, their hearts in synch, until a deep voice sounded from the mouth of the alley.

“Paramedics. Someone need help down there?”

After a deep sigh, Caine lifted his head and dropped his arms, releasing her. “We’re okay, Mel. Thanks.”

“Are you sure? I heard there was a tussle.”

“We’re good. The guy in the back of Captain Garner’s car got the worst of it.”

“I must’ve missed him.” There was a pause and then, “Okay, Caine. Have a good night.”

Once the paramedic was gone, Caine looked down at her again and opened his mouth to speak. She could already see the regret on his face.

She put her hand up. “Don’t you dare apologize. I’ll hate myself if you do.”

“I wasn’t going to apologize, Eve. I was going to say that I’m afraid that this was reckless and inappropriate on my part.”

Eve took a distancing step back and rubbed a hand over her face. “You know that was a hell of a lot worse than an apology.” Shaking her head, she smoothed a hand over her shirt then lifted her chin. “I’m going to go get my kit from inside. I’ll meet you at the car.”

She didn’t wait for his response. At the moment, with anger now whirling around with desire, she was in no mood to hear anything he had to say. He had taken a perfect, beautiful kiss and sullied it with an uptight explanation for his actions.

She knew he desired her; there had been no mistaking that fact. Would it kill the undead bastard just to say so?

H e watched them from his perch on top of the roof of the neighboring building. They had no idea that he was there. He could move virtually undetected, but he could see and hear them as plain as day.

When the human woman came out of the alley and around the front of the bar, he tracked her with his eyes. She was attractive in a purely human way, he supposed. Full breasts and hips, long shapely legs, round expressive eyes in a comely face. Not his usual taste in a sexual partner. He liked them skinny, fragile, breakable. But cowed the right way, she might be an enticement. She had more guts and strength then he first gave her credit for.

Although sex was not his main reason for wanting her, he found himself growing heavy with desire, with hunger. No, she would be perfect for other, more culinary, reasons. He could almost taste her blood on the tip of his tongue.

When she disappeared into the Red Express, he turned his attention to Caine Valorian as he came out of the alley and walked toward the SUV parked on the street. The werewolf captain’s sedan was long gone, and his initial quarry had already come and gone.

The vampire was proving to be more of a problem than expected. He had underestimated Caine’s abilities, both as an investigator and as a predator. The vampire hid himself well under all that polish and self-righteous indignation. He suspected that if pushed, Caine would reveal his true colors. Those of a bloodthirsty killer.

Smiling, he wondered how far he could push the vampire. Maybe if he used the right bait, he could turn Caine into an ally instead of an enemy.

Killing him would be far more satisfying that way.

C aine popped a breath mint into his mouth while he watched from behind the two-way mirror as Detective Mahina interrogated Xavier. The other one, Gnash, lawyered up immediately, so they had got nothing from him.

So far, the only thing Xavier owned up to was playing a gig across city lines after curfew.

A misdemeanor offense, but at least it was enough to hold him for a few hours while the lab processed his DNA to see if it matched what they’d recovered from the victim. They also checked the prints they pulled from the band poster in her room.

From the way Xavier had reacted when Caine had said the victim’s name, he figured the suspect knew her. It was just a matter of how well. They weren’t able to get any clean prints from the hotel room, so his DNA, if a match, was the only thing they had to link him to the victim’s death. He might have known her, but Caine wasn’t sure if he had killed her.

Caine glanced to his right, risking a look at Eve as she watched the interrogation. She hadn’t said two words to him since they’d arrived back at the lab. He couldn’t blame her.

He had acted like a complete idiot in the alley.

When he’d seen her in the suspect’s grip, tears staining her cheeks, he’d nearly lost his self-control. Rage, pure and intense, surged through him like a brush fire. He had wanted to tear the boy’s throat out. And when he finally was able to rescue her and had her safe in his arms, he found he didn’t want to let go. She had felt so right in his arms, pressed against his body.

He hadn’t been able to resist kissing her, tasting her on his lips.

And when he finally did, it was like an explosion rushed through him. One feeling was indistinguishable from another. He had wanted to take her, right there. Pick her up and ram her back into the cement wall, so he could ravage her, plunging himself into her until they both screamed.

Even now the urge to touch her itched at his palms. What was it about her that made him respond this way? So primal and unthinking. He’d spent the last few decades conditioning himself against these urges, but here they were, threatening to escape no matter how hard he tried to rein them in.

Clenching his hands into tight fists, he returned his attention to the interrogation room, where it was safe.

“We found this in Lillian Crawford’s room.” Mahina slid the promo poster wrapped in an evidence bag across the table toward Xavier. He barely glanced at it.

“So?”

“It has your prints on it.”

He smirked. “Yeah, I handed them out before the concert. Doesn’t prove shit. I must’ve handed out over two hundred of them.”

Mahina leaned across the table. “I have confirmation that Lillian was at your concert and she did talk to you.”

Xavier glanced down, and Caine could see his right leg bobbing up and down as if on a spring.

“I talked to lots of chicks.” He smirked. “Why do you think I’m in a band?”

“Well, I don’t care about the other chicks. I care about just one.” She slid the photo of Lillian across the table again. She tapped the photo. “This one.” Keeping her finger on the photo, she asked, “Do you want to amend your statement that you don’t know her?”

“I might have talked to her. So what?”

“So what is she’s dead.”

Xavier looked at the photo and started to chew his bottom lip. “I didn’t kill her.”

“But you knew her, right?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Mahina slammed her hand on the table. Xavier jumped. Caine even flinched.

“Yeah or maybe? Which is it?”

“Yeah, I knew her, okay. I talked to her for a while at the concert and that’s it.”

“Did you have sex with her?”

“No,” he answered.

“Are you sure you didn’t bite her?”

“I’m sure.”

“So your DNA isn’t going to match the DNA we pulled from her neck, right? You’re not lying to me, are you, Xavier?”

He shook his head.

Mahina leaned back in her chair. “Are you vamploverX?”

Lifting his head, he stared at her. “What?”

“VamploverX, isn’t that your screen name?”

“No.”

“He’s lying,” Eve blurted out.

Caine glanced at her. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the suspect. “Maybe. But we need to prove it.” He turned back to the room.

Mahina smiled. “Ah, come on, you’re going to tell me you don’t go by vamploverX? I mean look at you, you’re a good-looking guy, in a band, and your name starts with X.”

She pushed to her feet and started to pace around him.

Caine knew she was just getting her groove on. He’d seen Mahina do her moves so many times before, it was as if he could predict her actions before she thought of them.

“Let me tell you what I think, Xavier. I think you met Lillian at the concert. I think you liked her, or at least knew you could manipulate her since she was just a silly little human girl and she thought you were so dark and sexy.” She paused for effect, and then continued. “I think she gave it up to you that night and you knew an easy mark, so you started e-mailing her, knowing she was hooked on your darkly mysterious ways. You told her to meet you somewhere close to the edge of town, you picked her up, smuggled her into the city, took her to a hotel, screwed her and then sucked the life from her.”

“No!” Xavier shot forward, his hands grasping the tabletop. “That’s not how it happened.”

Mahina rounded him and sat on the edge of table near him. “Then tell me how it did happen.”

“I want a lawyer.”

Sighing, Mahina slid off the table. “Okay. I’ll just pop out, get you that lawyer and check with the lab to see if your DNA match is in yet.” She walked to the door, and then glanced over her shoulder at him. “Don’t go anywhere.” She knocked once, and the door opened.

Caine continued to keep an eye on Xavier as Mahina left the room and made her way to the little room where Caine and Eve were watching.

The door opened, and Mahina slid in. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know. He’s lying about something.”

“I agree, but I don’t think he killed her.”

Caine nodded. He didn’t think so, either. The vampire was certainly capable of it, as they all were, but he seemed affected by the scenario Mahina had spelled out for him. Guilt maybe? Remorse? But over what? That she was dead or that he’d been caught?

“He may not have killed her, but he’s involved somehow.” Eve turned and glanced at Caine.

He agreed. Nodding, he was about to say something, when the beeper in his pocket vibrated. He took it out and glanced at the message. “The lab. The results must be in.”

“Well, let’s go get them.” Mahina motioned toward the room. “He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Minutes later, Caine, Eve and Mahina gathered in Gwen’s lab eagerly waiting for the results.

Gwen handed the paper to Caine. He didn’t need to read it to know what it said. They had the wrong person. “No match to the DNA or the hair.”

Mahina shook her head. “Damn. I was hoping we had him.”

“Yeah, I think we all did.” Caine sighed. “It would be nice to have this case wrapped up neat and tidy, but my gut tells me we aren’t going to get that lucky.”

“He may not have had sex with her that night or bitten her, but he was involved.” Eve pushed away from the table she was leaning against. “Maybe he was the lure.”

Caine looked at her, eyebrow raised. “What makes you say that?”

“The e-mails on her computer. I checked the ones in her send file, the ones she sent to him. Very eager, very…smitten, I guess is the word. She was definitely attracted to him.

She wanted to be with him.”

He nodded, now eager they were on the right track. “Yes. Yes, that’s good. Were there any notes about meeting him somewhere? Maybe if we can find the place she was picked up at, we can trace her path to the city.”

“Not that I could see. She might have been instructed to delete the note after she received it.”

“Can we trace the message from his account?”

“If I could get into the account…”

Caine slid his phone out of his pants pocket. “I’ll get us a warrant and access.” He glanced at Gwen. “Thanks for the quick work.”

She grunted and went back to work.

He looked at Mahina, then at Eve. “Okay, we’re at least moving. I’ll get Jace to get on our trace evidence and see where our fibers and wire lead us, and see if our witch has deciphered those symbols yet.” Caine turned to leave the lab, Mahina leading the way.

“Wait,” Eve called after him. He stopped and looked at her. “We’re not letting him go, are we?”

Caine could see the unasked question on her face. She was still shaken up from the incident in the alley. He could tell by the welling concern in her eyes that she thought they would let the vampire go even after he had assaulted her. There was no way in hell Caine was going to let that slide. Xavier had hurt Eve, and he would pay for it one way or another.