Duncan (2 page)

Walking up to Tessa, Jared grabbed her from behind, kissing her soft cheek. “What trouble are you two brewing up?” He frowned when they both jumped, looking guilty. Glancing closely at them both, he cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously, what trouble are you two getting into now?”

“Nothing.” Nicole cocked an eyebrow back at him. “Are you boys done beating the crap out of each other?”

Jared eyed them a second longer before pulling Tessa against him tighter, wrapping his thick arms around her waist. “You need to get used to that, Nicole. We Warriors get a little…” he grinned as he searched for a word, “heated sometimes, but it’s always good in the end.”

Rolling her eyes, Nicole started out of the room. “Heated, my butt,” she snorted, glancing at Tessa. “I’ll see you in half an hour.”

Tessa nodded as Jared turned her in his arms. “What’s going on in half an hour?” Jared tilted her chin up when she continued to watch Nicole walk out of the room.

Hesitating for a second before answering, Tessa tiptoed to kiss his chin, avoiding any eye-contact. “Just girl stuff.”

“What kind of girl stuff?” Jared wasn’t falling for it. He knew Tessa well and knew when she was lying.

Grasping the back of his head, she moved to his mouth. Jared let her have her moment, because in all honesty, he loved her mouth on his and anywhere else her mouth found on his body. He never knew he could love so deeply, but damn, this woman had him wrapped around her little finger. Before long, his body had hers pressed against the wall, his hand working eagerly up under her shirt.

“My God, would you two give it a break!” Sid groaned as he walked in. “I can’t walk anywhere in this damn place without you two slobbering over each other. It’s downright disgusting.”

Pulling his hand out of her shirt, Jared snarled, “Get out of here, Sid.”

“No, you get the hell out of here,” Sid snarled back. “This is my domain, and from here on out, anything but eating in this kitchen is against kitchen law.”

“Kitchen law?” Jared tilted Tessa’s chin for one more kiss before turning to face Sid.

“Yeah, Sid’s Kitchen Law will be posted by the end of the damn day. Now, get the hell out of my kitchen and find a private room.” Sid slammed a few pots around. “But before you do that, Duncan wants to see you. He wants you to take his classes tonight.”

“Shit.” Jared frowned. “We had plans.”

“It’s okay.” Tessa fixed her clothing, her cheeks flushed from Jared’s heated kiss and embarrassment at being caught once again by Sid. “We can do dinner and a movie another night. I’m going to check on Gramps. I’ll talk to you later tonight.” She touched his cheek before hurrying out of the room.

Sid and Jared both watched her closely as she left. “She didn’t seem too broken-hearted,” Sid snorted.

Jared frowned. “I found her and Nicole in here with their heads together, which usually means trouble.”

“You poor bastards,” Sid chuckled, adding oil to a skillet.

“Sid.” Jared glared. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Just sayin’.” Sid grinned, chopping onions. “Women are nothing but trouble.” His comment was made to an empty room since Jared had already slammed out the door.

*****

Nicole pulled into Pam’s old apartment building, parking in the back. Clicking off the lights, she shut off the car with a long sigh. “You ready?”

Tessa flipped the hood of her black hoodie up. “Lead the way.”

Glancing around as they made their way across the parking lot, Nicole walked to the sliding glass door knowing it would be locked, but tried it anyway. Next, she tried a window, and sure enough, it opened, as Pam said it would.

“Hope my ass fits through that,” Tessa whispered, eyeing the window.

“You and your ass will fit.” Nicole laced her fingers together. “Come on, before someone sees us.”

Putting her foot in Nicole’s cupped hands, Tessa grabbed the windowsill and slid the window open. With one heave, Tessa was half in and half out of the window, her ass flashing out into the parking lot. Thank God, the window was above the sink. Placing both hands down on the counter, Tessa shimmied her way in, but ran out of counter space and fell the rest of the way through the window, landing on the kitchen floor in a clumsy heap.

Nicole hopped through the window with ease, landing with grace. “You okay?” Nicole whispered, reaching down to help Tessa up.

“Well, that was graceful. Yeah, I’m good.” Brushing off her pants, Tessa frowned. “Some days I guess it pays to be a vampire.”

“Yeah, it does come in handy.” Nicole grinned, handing Tessa a mini flashlight. Being a vampire, she could see perfectly at night. “Come on, let’s get busy.”

“What exactly are we looking for?” Tessa kept her voice low, testing the flashlight, but keeping it from shining toward the windows.

“A syringe vial.” Nicole headed out of the small kitchen. “I’ll check the bedroom. You check the bathroom.”

“That sounds familiar.” Tessa rolled her eyes. A syringe vial is pretty much what brought Tessa and Jared together.

“It does. I forgot about that,” Nicole snorted. “So I guess you don’t need a description.”

Tessa followed Nicole, stopping at the bathroom door. “Why didn’t you tell the guys that Pam contacted you?” Tessa herself had just found out before Jared had interrupted them in the kitchen.

Stopping, Nicole turned to look at Tessa, her face lined with worry and stress. “Actually, I was going to tell them, even though I promised her I wouldn’t, but Damon and Duncan were too busy beating the crap out of each other.” Nicole shrugged her shoulders. “I know I should have, but they pissed me off fighting, and the more I thought about it, I have never broken a promise to Pam. She said she isn’t in any danger, but was dealing with something and needed this vial if I could find it.”

Tessa nodded in understanding, wanting to help Pam as much as Nicole did. “Well then, let’s find that vial.” Tessa ducked into the bathroom and started rummaging through drawers and cabinets.

Nicole walked into the bedroom and stopped. The scent of old blood hit her highly-sensitive nose as soon as she walked in the room. Looking around, her eyes zeroed in on the bed. Making her way closer, she spotted two chains locked onto the head post. Her stomach clenched.

The bed was a mess of covers and a few clothes, Pam’s clothes. Grasping the edge of the cover, not really wanting to see what the cover hid, and even knowing exactly what is was, she flipped the sheet back. Her eyes welled up at the sight of old brown blood stains that told the horror of what happened in this room. “Oh my God.” Nicole felt the room closing around her. She had to get out of here.

“Don’t move.” A man’s voice and the click of a gun echoed in the silent room.

*****

“If you knew they were up to something, why the hell did you leave them alone?” Damon slammed into the Cincinnati Police Department with Jared hot on his heels.

“I didn’t leave them alone,” Jared defended himself as he passed Damon. “I caught them talking in the kitchen, and they looked guilty as hell. Nicole left and then…”

Damon stopped, a suspicious frown forming on his lips. “And then what?”

Jared thought about the ‘then what,’ which was Tessa’s sweet mouth.

“Wipe that goofy-ass look off your face and come on.” Damon gave him a disgusted look before heading to the front desk.

“Oh, like Nicole hasn’t turned your brain to mush with her sexy little…” Jared chuckled when Damon flipped him off over his shoulder.

Stopping, Damon loomed over the counter, glaring at the officer who was unlucky enough to be the one on shift.

“Can I help you?” he asked, looking back and forth between the two huge Warriors.

“Buzz them through,” Officer Pete Rosen ordered before Damon could answer.

Damon and Jared passed through the door. “Where are they, Pete?”

Frowning, Pete tilted his head for them to follow him. Stepping into a room, he closed the door. Pete Rosen had been on the Cincinnati police force since he was twenty-one years old. He was six months from retiring at the age of fifty-five. He had seen a lot of shit during his years on the force, but nothing had prepared him for working with vampires. To his surprise, he had enjoyed his short time working with the Warriors and respected them deeply. So when he saw Nicole come in handcuffed with another woman he didn’t know, he had called Damon right away. Nicole was well known around the police station, and he always had a soft spot for her; she was the best when it came to the kids she worked with. She was always hitting up the police department for charities.

Pete leaned against the closed door and sighed. “Detective Ferguson is interrogating them.”

“Who the fuck is that, and why is he interrogating my wife?” Damon growled taking a step toward the door.

“What the hell did they do?” Jared crossed his arms, not sure he wanted to hear the answer to that question. The only thing that Pete had told them over the phone was that they had Nicole and another woman in custody, which Jared assumed was Tessa.

“They broke into Pam Braxton’s apartment,” Pete replied. “And Tom Ferguson is lead detective on Sheriff Bowman’s murder.”

“Dammit!” Jared rubbed his hand up and down his face.

“Dammit is right.” Pete frowned. “Ferguson is an asshole and will do anything to close a case. Rumor has it, he plans on running for mayor, so the more bad guys he puts away, the more votes go in his pocket.”

“So in other words, he’d make a deal with the devil.” Jared knew the type all too well.

“If he hasn’t already.” Pete opened the door and headed down the hall to another room where two men sat watching a monitor.

Jared and Damon both looked at the screen, seeing Nicole and Tessa seated at a small table that was attached to the wall. A tall balding man in a suit stood in the middle of the room, his hands clasped behind his back.

Damon noticed Nicole wincing. The man moved, and he saw why. Her hands were in front of her on her lap, handcuffed. “Those better not be silver handcuffs.”

One of the men sitting at the monitor snorted. “She’s a fucking vampire, of course it’s silver.” His laugh died a quick death when he turned and met the black eyes of Damon DeMasters.

Jared stepped in front of Damon. “Well, since she is a vampire, as dumbass over there has pointed out, we have authority.” He nodded toward Pete and the door. “Lead the way, Pete.”

Damon growled, flashing his large fangs at the man who was visibly trembling in fear. His partner quickly pushed his own chair out of harm’s way, clearly stating his partner was on his own.

“Come on, bro.” Jared pushed Damon toward the door. “You can decapitate the asshole later. Let’s try to get the women out of trouble.”

Two doors down, Pete gave a one-knuckle knock before opening the door. The older officer headed toward Nicole and unlocked her handcuffs. Damon and Jared followed, filling the tiny room.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Detective Ferguson stepped in front of Pete before he could unlock Tessa’s handcuffs.

“The VC Warriors are here, so there is no need to handcuff these women.” Pete stood his ground with a half grin on a weathered face that had seen too much. “I’m sure they’ll protect you.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Jared mumbled, his eyes leaving Tessa’s handcuffed hands to shoot a nasty glare at the detective.

“You have no right coming in here, Officer Rosen.” Detective Ferguson looked quickly away from Jared’s intense glare, putting his focus back on Officer Pete. “I could have your badge for this.”

“The Sargent is in his office.” Pete nodded toward the door. “Be my guest.”

With one last hard glare at everyone in the room, Detective Ferguson stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

“You have ten minutes tops before he’s back.” Pete headed toward the door.

“Thanks, my man.” Jared slapped him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, well, you owe me one.” Pete grinned closing the door behind him.

Once the four of them were alone, Jared turned toward Tessa and Nicole. “So who’s going to start?”

“Don’t need an audience.” Damon nodded up toward where the camera was hidden behind a fake smoke detector.

Walking over, Jared gave a hard glare into the smoke detector that held the camera before taking the face-front off. With a twist of a wire, the red recording light went dark. “Secure.” Jared turned back around.

Both women sat staring at the Warriors. “What?” Nicole broke the silent staring contest they were having.

“You know exactly what,” Damon growled, looming over his mate.

Nicole stood quickly. “Don’t you growl at me, Damon DeMasters,” she hissed standing toe-to-toe with him.

“What were you two doing in Pam’s apartment?” Jared glared at Tessa, giving Damon and Nicole some cooling off time.

“We were getting some clothes for-” Nicole answered, still having a stare down with her mate.

“Bullshit.” Jared didn’t let her finish.

“I will call Adam if I have to.” Damon pulled out his phone. Adam was Tessa’s brother who had been turned into a half-breed. He had the power to read people with just a touch, no matter how hard they tried to block him.

Nicole wrinkled her nose at him before plopping back down in her chair. “We were looking for a vial.”

“Why?” Damon’s tone hadn’t changed. He was pissed, and it showed in his voice, body language and scowl that slashed across his handsome face.

“I’m not sure,” Nicole replied then frowned when they both continued to glare at her. “I don’t know.”

Damon rubbed his hand down his face, clearly irritated. “Why didn’t you come to me with this? Duncan has been looking everywhere for her, and here you are talking to her.” Damon shook his head, disappointment radiating off him in waves.

Nicole looked away for a second, but her eyes quickly found his again. “She is my friend and asked me not to say anything.”

“Where is she?” Damon’s tone deepened, his eyes narrowed.

“I have this under control,” Nicole replied, standing her ground. “She’s fine.”

“I demand you tell me where she is.” Damon’s voice rose with each word.

“Okay, why don’t we just calm down.” Jared tried to smooth the situation over, but Nicole stood again, this time knocking her chair over.