SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (46 page)

His body vibrated with anger, the demon clawing to be released, and he didn't fight it anymore. With a rough growl, he let him out and stalked toward his wife in full vamp mode.

“Do you actually expect me to just hide? Keep my head tucked under the covers so the slayers won't find me?” he yelled and thumped his chest with his fist.

She walked straight up to him, tilted her chin defiantly high and said, “I expect you to stop acting like a
mindless
vampire. It's what got you into this mess in the first place.”

It might have hurt less if she'd kicked him in the balls. At least that pain would have eventually gone away.

He held his hands out to his sides and with a harsh laugh said, “What happened with being okay with the vamp? Because that's what I am, darlin'. What I've been since the day we first met. What I'll be 'til the day someone drives a stake through my heart. Oh, wait. You just did.”

He whirled away from her and stalked a few steps back, his long strides eating up the distance to the windows.

Diana stared at his back, at the way he sucked in a huge breath and held it before expelling it harshly.

He was fighting for control. The control that had evaded him earlier that night. Twice.

Although she'd blamed the vampire, in the back of her mind came the fear that it hadn't just been the vampire out-of-control. Even in his human state, Ryder had been different lately.

Different in a way she understood because she had been that way at one time.

After her father's murder before her very eyes, she'd not only been wounded physically, but emotionally. It had taken her a very long time, years and years, for her to recover. To climb out of the abyss of darkness that had threatened to destroy her.

Darkness like that which had held Ryder for centuries until the two of them had somehow found each other. Found that love could help them climb out of the chasm of loneliness and despair.

She walked to him and laid a gentling hand on his back and like a wild animal experiencing its first human touch, he flinched before calming.

That flinch hurt more than a physical punch, but she pushed back that hurt because she needed to be strong right now. For both of them.

“All I'm trying to do is to protect our family, just like you. I can't do that alone, Ryder. I need you at my side. I need you.”

His head dropped forward as he said, “I know, darlin'. I know. It's what I want as well.”

“So we'll do this like a family, right?”

He nodded, but somehow she didn't feel reassured. Especially when he didn't turn, but stayed there, staring out at the darkness.

She stepped back and said, “I'm going to the Blood Bank to round up whatever video Foley has. I'll be back.”

“I'll be here,” he said, but as she marched away, she wasn't so sure
her
Ryder would be there when she got back.

Vampire Reborn
: Chapter Ten

Benjamin, Michaela, and Jesus stood in the cold night outside Diana and Ryder's condo building.

Jesus looked up toward the penthouse and Benjamin knew where his thoughts lay. With their friends who were clearly suffering.

“I don’t plan on waiting until morning to hit up the other slayers,” Benjamin said.

“How soon before they take Richard’s body away?” Jesus asked.

“They're probably doing it as we speak,” Ben said.

“Any way to get another look at the body?” Jesus asked.

“Maybe. I know where they take the bodies to be cremated,” Ben replied and at that Jesus looked toward Michaela.

“Will you both go there and try to hold up the cremation while I call Maggie and David? There may be other evidence we'll lose if they make him toast.”

Michaela nodded. “We can do that, J. We'll call once we're there to let you know if were successful.”

Jesus glanced at Helene and Miguel. “I know it's late, but could you head into the office and check those video feeds? Try to confirm Ryder's whereabouts, but also check the feeds around Richard's apartment building? We might luck out and find something hinky going on.”

Helene and Miguel hurried off and Ben was about to go with Michaela when Diana came charging out of the building, every line of her body vibrating with anger.

“Here come's trouble,” he muttered under his breath and the three of them waited until she approached.

“I thought you guys were going home for some rest?” Diana said and eyeballed her three friends.

“I thought you were going to call it a night?” Michaela challenged in a way that only Michaela could.

With a harsh chuckle and a shake of her head, Diana nodded. “Yeah, I did, only I'm too wound up to rest. I need some closure on this, at least with respect to Ryder's involvement. I'd lay odds on the fact that no matter what we find out tonight, this is going to be a much longer haul.”

“I agree,” Jesus said. “Anthony said only slayers can touch Richard, so Ben and Michaela are going to try and intercept Richard's body to get some more evidence.”

“Thanks,” she said and glanced at them. “Ryder had marks on his arms where Richard grabbed him. Maybe whoever drained Richard left similar hand prints,” she said and ran her hands along her own arms to emphasize her point.

“We'll get photos if they're there,” Michaela said.

“Try to put something in the photo to show scale. A dime or penny will do,” Diana advised and turned her attention to Jesus.

“Are you running this op?”

“I think that makes sense for now. I've sent Helene and Miguel back to headquarters to review videos. Since you're here, how about the two of us go to the Blood Bank to see what Foley may have?”

“That was my plan,” she said. “I just hadn't planned on having company.”

“Always good to have backup, Di. My car's around the corner,” he said and motioned toward First Avenue. Bending slightly, he skimmed quick kiss across Michaela's cheek in an obvious sign of possession. She returned the kiss before she and Ben glanced at one another and then took off in a blast of vamp speed.

“I don't think I'll ever get used to that,” Jesus said with a wag of his head.

“There’s lots of things I don’t think I’ll ever get used to,” she said and took off at a hurried clip toward his car, feeling a chill that only had a little bit to do with the winter’s night.

Jesus had remote-started the sedan, so heat blew from the car’s vents. Diana slipped into the passenger seat and turned a number of them in her direction, hoping to chase away both the cold and her disquiet.

Her boss and friend took the wheel and drove off, making a series of turns to get them going south and toward the Lower East Side. Despite the late night hour, there were still a good number of vehicles along the city streets, but not enough to slow them down as they rushed to reach the Blood Bank.

For the first few minutes, Jesus said nothing, although she could tell he was itching to ask. But he knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t going to talk until she was good and ready. The thing was, she needed to talk. Needed to get her worries out there where she could maybe make sense of them.

“We had a fight,” she said and watched his reaction from the corner of her eye.

He shrugged. “Couples fight. Hell, Michaela and I have had our share of disagreements.”

She had no doubt that he had, understanding the dhampir slayer all too well because in some ways, they were a lot alike. “It’s not easy loving someone who’s headstrong,” she said and risked a glance at her friend.

He shifted his gaze from the road for a second before acknowledging her statement with a nod. “It’s not easy, but it’s worthwhile. But I suspect we should be talking more about him than you.”

She shrugged, uneasy about sharing her fears, almost as if she was somehow betraying Ryder, but Jesus would keep her counsel. She had no doubt about that.

“He’s changed in the past month. Ever since everything that went down, he’s been different. Distant.”

“Dangerous,” Jesus added, his hands clenching on the wheel, almost as if he was bracing for her response.

But she couldn’t deny what he’d said. “Yeah, there’s that. It’s like he’s losing control. Losing himself to his dark side,” she said and nervously rubbed her hands up and down her thighs.

“He was already there when you first met him, Di. Somehow you managed to reach him.”

Yeah, I had
, she thought. The man she had first come to know and fall in love with had been dark, dangerous, and so alone. So much like she had been at that time. She had often wondered in the years since then if they hadn’t been brought together to bring balance to their lives. To bring them light, security, and love.

She reached up to the gold crucifix she had started wearing again months earlier and clutched it in her hand. She’d told herself time and time again as she prayed for Charlie to be born alive and healthy, that she had to have faith.

She told herself that again. Reminded herself of the darkness into which she’d slipped after her father’s death when she’d lost faith in so many things. God. Justice. Even her family.

Sucking in a deep breath, she said, “I don’t know whether I reached him or he reached me, Jesus. But I was reborn when he brought love into my life and now I have to do the same for him.”

Jesus offered her an understanding smile. “He’ll come around, Di.”

She nodded and glanced out the window as they continued the drive in silence. The alley where the Blood Bank was located was too narrow for cars, so they parked by the mouth of the alley and hurried to the door.

Even with the late hour there were nearly two dozen or more people waiting to get in.

Humans, Diana noted from the lack of power drifting off them.

As the bouncer saw them, he smiled and opened the door, earning assorted grumblings and complaints from those on the line until he said, “Shut the fuck up or you won’t ever get in.”

And that was the epitome of the Blood Bank
, Diana thought with a chuckle.

It was crowded inside with a mix of humans and vampires of all ages. No elders, a goodly assortment of undead, and thankfully only a few fledglings. The newly turned were the worst for a number of reasons, from blood urges they found hard to control to cockiness at their new powers.

Never a good mix
, Diana thought as Jesus and she approached Foley, who was bartending. All of the stools were taken and waitresses called out orders before flitting back and forth from the bar to the various patrons.

As they reached the bar, Foley grinned and said to the two men sitting in front of him, “Go get yourselves a table and the next round’s on me.”

Tempted by that offer, the two scooted off and she and Jesus took their spots.

Foley called out to a second vampire bartender that he was taking a break and turned his full attention to them.

“You’re looking radiant as usual,” Foley said and slapped some cocktail napkins on the counter in front of them.

Diana waved him off as he placed glasses on the napkins. “This isn’t a social call, Daniel.”

He grasped his hands and clutched them over his chest theatrically. “I’m heartbroken, Di.”

She controlled her chuckle and shook her head. “Get serious, please.”

“Yes, sir, Special Agent. So what can I do for you?” he said and glanced between her and Jesus.

“Ryder tells us you’ve got security cameras here,” Jesus said.

Foley nodded and motioned to a far point in the club and the camera in the corner. “A couple in here and one outside. Put them in after that nastiness with the slayer’s brother slicing and dicing up my waitress.”

“Do you think we could get a copy of the outside video feed from earlier tonight?” Jesus asked.

Daniel’s brow furrowed and all hints of playfulness left him. “Is something up?”

Jesus hesitated and looked toward her. Obviously he thought it was for her to say.

“Ryder was here earlier, right?”

“Yeah, he was. Popped me. Twice. It was good to see him finally having some spirit,” Foley said and rubbed at his jaw, although there wasn’t a hint of any damage there.

“Spirit? Maybe if he’d shown a little less spirit we wouldn’t have to be here, losing sleep and worrying,” she shot back, angry about his almost cavalier attitude.

“He’s a vampire. It’s in his nature to fight and bite. Or would you rather that he was fangless? Moping around like some kind of neutered pet?” Foley said, and a bit of neon crept into his gaze. Emotion was eroding his control and she understood. At one time Foley had been controlled by someone else, fangless to some extent.

She covered his hand with hers. “I know you fought when you needed to, but this wasn’t the time to pick a fight with the slayers.”

“The slayers, huh? Yeah, probably not wise with all that’s happened lately,” he said and jerked his head in the direction of a door to one side of the bar. “The video system is in the back. Give me a second to make a copy of the file.”

He rushed into the room and Diana swiveled on the stool to face her friend and boss. His face showed no emotion, but hers must have since he said, “Don’t worry, Di. I have no doubt we’ll alibi Ryder.”

With a sigh, she said, “Yeah, I know. But like I told you during the drive down, it’s about more than that.”

“I get it, Di, but you’re not alone. You’ve got all of us to lean on.”

She gave a small smile, well aware that she had quite a few friends, new and old, mortal and undead, who would have her back.

“When we can drop Ryder from the list of suspects, we’ll still have to solve Richard’s murder. Especially if it looks like a vampire did it.”

Before Jesus could reply, Foley exited the back room and slapped a thumb drive on the counter. “Here it is. I hope it gets you what you need.”

“Thank you, Daniel,” she said and leaned across the bar to give him a quick hug.

“You’ll keep me posted on anything that’s happening?” he asked.

“We will. Just keep your eyes open for anything weird.”

Foley chuckled and motioned to the patrons of the bar, most of whom qualified for that kind of scrutiny. “Anything weirder than this and it’s probably the end of the world.”