Vampire's Companion (7 page)

She’d pissed him off.

And even knowing it wasn’t smart, he wanted to stay pissed.

In the end, one way or another, she might cause him to be sent away. She might cost him Terach.

He wanted to hate her, but he’d glimpsed her fear, and it had done what her actions couldn’t—softened his attitude.

Cia might not consciously believe vampires existed, but whatever memories Terach had implanted to explain what had happened weren’t holding.

He’d read the truth.

What was he going to tell her? How much?

He pounded on the steering wheel. Once. Twice.

Then laughed, exhilaration rushing in. It had been years since he dared to express his emotions or demonstrate them for fear they’d draw the wrong kind of attention.

Estelle liked her pretty human trinkets to stay where she put them and not demand anything of her, most especially her attention after the fascination had passed.

She wasn’t averse to having said baubles beaten, though she didn’t get her hands dirty or bother to watch the lesson being administered.

He took a deep breath, savoring freedom. He’d make this work somehow. Sometimes the prickly ones were the most interesting to get to know.

She stopped in front of a quaint house in an older part of town where lots were large and offered privacy. It was one story, light green with white trim, the windows oversized.

Potted plants lined a tiled porch. Wind chimes and a swing hung from the underside of the porch roof.

He parked behind Cia and got out.

The house door flung open. A woman emerged and hurried toward Cia, the resemblance to Lucy Liu lessening but not disappearing.

The two hugged. He joined them when it ended. “I’m Israel.”

“Tessa.” She glanced at Cia, eyes sharp, questioning. “You didn’t say you weren’t alone.”

“She didn’t know I was going to show up.”

He placed a hand on Cia’s lower back, his thumb stroking her spine.

She stiffened, though a blush spread across her cheeks and her nipples hardened to become visible points.

He hid his smile. She wasn’t immune to him.

Tessa gave the slightest nod. He could practically hear her thinking,
lover’s tiff
.

Her gaze flicked to him. He allowed the smile.

People interested him, always had. He liked figuring them out and helping when he could.

It’d led him to bar tending and the fit had seemed perfect. His downfall had come in not understanding at first that a supernatural world existed alongside a human one.

Tessa led them to the kitchen and an assortment of sandwiches on the table, complemented by potato salad and macaroni salad. “Canned drinks in the fridge,” she said.

Terach reached it first, snagging a soda for himself and handing off a lemonade to Cia when she said that’s what she wanted. His cock stirred with the brush of her fingers against his, awareness flashing between them before she hastily turned away.

“Get you one?” he asked Tessa.

“I’m fine.” She dropped into a chair, waited until Cia took the one across from her before saying, “I really hate to spring this on you.”

Cia selected a ham sandwich. “Which is why you’re softening me up with food.”

“True. And you’ll notice I’m sparing you the donuts and coffee thing.”

Cia laughed. “Only because you were a cop.”

“That would also be true.”

“Does this have something to do with your prayers being answered?”

“Yes. I’m heading to Italy. A friend from college is getting married and I’m staying to explore afterward. That’s why your call went to voice mail earlier, I was on the phone frantically trying to find someone willing to hunt a runaway.”

“I’ll do it.” Just like that.

Israel admired her for it. Secretly smiled because the task just might be a way for Terach to demonstrate how useful it was to have a vampire for a lover.

“What’s the story?” he asked.

“The girl’s name is Kadence Kramer. She’s sixteen. Mother is desperate. That’s it in a nutshell, other than money is tight. Very tight.”

“Money’s not a problem.” A rock backward and he’d feel the thick wad of bills still in his pocket. He lifted his fork. “We can eat the costs. It’s the least we can do for the room and board.”

Across from him Cia twitched. But Tessa laughed. “Well, I don’t want to misrepresent the situation. I rushed to the deli before you got here. Unless you and Cia want to live on canned soup or rice or beans, you’ll have to grocery shop. I cleaned out my fridge.”

“We can handle a little shopping.”

Cia glowered at him. His smile widened.

Tessa hid amusement behind a fist and hasty cough, going cop-serious in a blink and asking Cia, “Why are you on leave?”

Cia got busy scooping potato salad onto her plate. “I shot someone.”

“He’s dead?”

“Yes.”

Tessa drilled him with a look, like he should be doing something or saying something. He didn’t dare, didn’t have a clue. He’d been in Las Vegas less than twenty-four hours when he’d been presented with the tights and told to put them on, along with the slave bands, so he could accompany Karen.

“You don’t really think you can leave it there, do you?” Tessa said. “Has the department made a ruling on the shooting?”

“Justified.”

“Case related?”

“Yes. It started with a missing girl, Brittany Armstrong, and got strange.”

Tessa perked up. “How strange?”

Cia stopped concentrating on her plate. She favored him with a thinned-lipped stare. “Kids wanting to become vampires. Black magic ceremonies.”

“Okay, that’s freaky, even for Vegas. And the shooting?”

“It happened at a place called Toppers. My partner was there. Right after I walked in his… Skye was attacked in a tight hallway. She had a knife. The guy had a gun. He fought like a cornered animal that didn’t intend to die alone. There was only one way to stop it.”

Her hand trembled. Israel stood but Tessa was there first, bending down to give Cia a hug. “First time, right?”

“Yes.”

“It takes a while to process. Then it gets better. I know. I’ve been there.” Tessa gave Cia another quick hug then returned to her seat. “Why does the name Skye ring a bell?”

Cia’s knuckles whitened on the fork. “Skye Delano. The captain has a file on her.”

“The vigilante.”

“That’s the one.”

“Now that I’m not a cop anymore, I don’t have to be so upset by the idea of someone taking out child molesters.”

“Tessa—”

“I know, I know. All black and white with no gray, otherwise there’s chaos. But—”

“No buts.”

“Moving on then, I gather your partner is dating Skye.”

Israel’s laugh was met by Cia’s scowl. He sent her a smile that was equal parts challenge and wicked satisfaction. “More than dating. Only death will separate the three of them.”

“Three?” Tessa stood. “Now it’s killing me that I don’t have time to hear all the details. I should already be on my way to the airport.”

“You want me to drive you?” Cia asked.

“No. I’m good.” Tessa fished a set of keys from her pocket, handing them to Cia. “Donna Kramer’s phone number and address are on my desk. Walk me to my car?”

Cia left the kitchen table. Israel followed, stopping in the house doorway.

The two of them continued to Tessa’s car, a hybrid like Cia’s, except a Prius instead of a LEAF. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have been able to hear Tessa’s reassurance that Cia would ultimately be able to handle having taken a life in the course of doing her job.

The blood connection changed that. His to Terach’s. Terach’s to Cia. As if the leash of his slavery had been transferred from vampire to companion.

His lips pulled back at the analogy. The lingering taste of macaroni salad turned bitter on his tongue, only fading when the topic of conversation changed.

“You don’t have a thing for your partner, do you?”

He might have laughed at the way Cia’s spine straightened except the possibility of it made him ache. He’d wanted Terach long before he knew about vampires, would have gladly accepted a wedding band where now he craved the companion necklace he couldn’t even be sure Cia wore.

“We’re just partners, that’s all.”

Truth. Reluctant truth from the sound of her voice. She stood in profile and he couldn’t be certain without reading her expression.

“Good. Because I really like Israel. He’s a keeper.”

“You just met him.”

“So? I’m a good judge of character. My gift and lucky for me it comes in handy in my line of work. Whatever you two are fighting about, kiss and make up. I changed the sheets by the way.”

His cock pulsed, desire moving through him. Cia’s slim figure appealed to him. She was small-breasted, her hair worn short, emphasizing her femininity rather than masking it.

They hugged.

“Have fun,” Cia said.

“You too.”

Tessa got in her car. Cia watched her drive away, giving him another glimpse at what it might be like to be cared about by her.

Join us
, Terach had said, and he could more readily imagine her lying on the bed between them, his hands and mouth exploring her, the two of them discovering the ways she liked to be touched.

She turned, catching him looking and accurately reading his thoughts.

Heat sparked between them with memories of what she’d witnessed.

He touched his chest, fingers brushing across a nipple bar. A blush spread across her cheeks before her chin lifted and she became tight-lipped again. Prickly.

Too late. The damage was already done.

Now the challenge was how far would he get with her before nightfall arrived? And Terach soon after?

Cia managed to suppress a shiver of need. Barely. But the rest of her body betrayed her.

Heat coiled in her stomach, sliding downward to dampen her panties. Her nipples ached, wanting the same attention he was giving his own.

His thin black tank top did nothing to hide the taut muscles or that both his nipples were pierced. He could earn a living as a gigolo, not that Terach needed to pay for sex. He probably had his share of offers from both sexes every night at Fangs.

Her lips mashed together further. She refused to think about his asking anyone else to his room, though clearly he had and that person was blocking the doorway.

Answers. That’s all I want.

She just had to endure Israel’s company until nightfall.

This time she couldn’t suppress the shiver. It didn’t take a great leap of imagination or even much in the way of deductive ability to figure out that Terach would come to Ventura.

Not my problem.

The lie didn’t even have the grace to harden into resolve.

“Move,” she said at reaching the door.

He yielded just enough space for her to pass, but not enough to avoid brushing against him and inhaling Terach’s cologne, either because they used the same brand or it still clung to Israel’s skin.

Her nipples tightened. She clamped her jaw but caught the flash of a knowing smile. She ignored it the same way she tried to do him, finding Tessa’s office and tearing the top page off a legal tablet in the center of the desk.

Donna Kramer answered immediately, her gratitude pulsing through the phone when Cia identified herself and said she could start looking for Kadence as soon as they met.

“My car or yours?” Israel asked when the called ended. He lounged in the office doorway as seductively as he’d done at the front door.

“Mine.”

She punched Donna’s address into the GPS then started the car.

This was a mistake.
Yards from the end of the long driveway she rolled down the window in the hope that his scent and smoldering sensuality would be sucked out of the car and replaced by normalcy.

It didn’t help.

He asked, “Why did Tessa think you had a thing for Rico?”

The car jerked to the side as if a student driver was behind the wheel.

“Eavesdropping is considered rude.”

He laughed. “Oh, that’s right, you’re a woman who sees the world in black and white.”

So what?
She refused to defend herself.

He leaned in, voice dropping. “I meant what I said at the table. Only death breaks the bond between an Angelini and either of their mates.”

A chill swept over her despite the warm air blowing into the car. He was baiting her. She knew it.

Angelini wasn’t anywhere in the captain’s file on Skye.

Maybe it needed to be.

And what would that mean for my relationship with Rico?

Her fingernails dug into the steering wheel. He’d made his choice.

“Angelini?”

“Hunters.”

“Killers.”

The female voice on the GPS indicated a turn.

Israel shrugged. “It’s your bullet that ended a man’s life.”

She stopped hard at the corner, rocking the car.

Get out!

The words shouted across her tongue but her locked jaw prevented their escape.

The mechanized female voice said, “Turn right.”

She turned. Managed a full block of silence before a response erupted. “I was justified.”

“Absolutely, and no doubt Gian considers himself in your debt. That’s no small thing.”

The tightness in her chest eased. It lasted until he said, “The actions of the Angelini are also viewed as justified.”

The implication momentarily trapped her breath in her throat.

“You’re talking about a group of vigilantes. If there’s any such thing as an Angelini.”

“You assume human law is the relevant law.”

It was nearly too much. Worse, she couldn’t deny the surge of disappointment, though she should have known better.

“So you’re like the kids who hang out at Fangs. You believe in vampires and other things that go bump in the night?”

He turned toward her, breaching her personal space with just the merest shift of his body and the challenging intensity of his gaze.

“Didn’t anything you encountered when you worked the Armstrong case make you question your beliefs or consider the existence of the supernatural?”

Sweat trickled down her sides.