Vengeance (Night Roamers) Book Three (11 page)

“Uh
,” he grunted, taking a step back. 

“Whoever did this is one sick fuck,” she muttered.
“Shows no mercy.”

“
I agree,” he answered, moving over to the man’s neck. Fortunately, whoever had killed him, had failed to cover up the tiny holes near the man’s collarbone, just like the last victims. Obviously, this vampire was proud of his calling card.

Damn vampires.

He glanced at the mutilated jewels again, and felt his blood boil. Closing his eyes to calm himself, he vowed to destroy this bastard with his own bare hands. Not only for the killings, but for rubbing every one of these deaths in his face.

“What the hell are those?” asked Rena,
leaning over the holes.

“Someone messing around,” he
muttered. “Who knows, maybe the sick bastard thinks he’s a vampire.”

She
snorted. “Like I said, sick fuck, living in his own fantasy world.”

“Agreed. Well, at le
ast we know it’s the same perp. Did anyone see anything?”

“
Doesn’t look like it, but I haven’t had a chance to interview anyone but the wife yet,” she sighed, “who’s probably still hysterical.”

“Where is she?”

“Downstairs receiving counseling from one of the chapel ministers.”

“What was her story?”

“Says she went down to gamble while he was in the shower. I guess he was supposed to meet her downstairs, and never made it. That’s all we know up to this point. Hopefully CSI can tell us more, right, Harry?”

The older technician, a balding man with glasses, gave her a solemn look. “We’ll try our best, Rena.”

She smiled grimly. “I know you will. Anyway, Max, let’s start interviewing the other guests on this floor and see if they’d heard or seen anything unusual in the last few hours.”

Even if they’d witnessed the attack, they wouldn’
t remember. Not with vampire persuasion. It would be a total waste of time, but he certainly couldn’t admit to knowing that. “Sounds good,” he replied.

“Wait,” said Rena, bending down. “Look
ie at what we have here. Harry?”

Harry
walked over and picked up a long red strand of hair with his tweezers. He smiled. “Good eye, Rena.”

“Thanks.”

“Is that the wife’s?” asked Max, staring at the strand.

“No, she has short blond curls,” replied Rena.
“This just might be something. Finally a break?”

Max rubbed the side of his goatee and nodded
. “Very well could be.”

“Could a woman
really be
this
sadistic?” asked Rena, glancing back towards the body. “And have the strength to pull these murders off?”

“
Well, she might have someone helping her,” replied Max. “Could be two perps.”

“Or the murder
er could actually be a guy with long red hair,” replied Harry. “Don’t always rely on the obvious.”

“True,” said Rena.
 

“Although, the
vic is in bed and naked,” stated Harry. “Some kind of kinky sex rendezvous gone bad?”

“It’s Vegas, very good possibility
,” said Rena. “Hopefully we’ll know more from the lab reports.”

Max
nodded. Although it was unusual for a vampire to lose hair, it wasn’t unheard of. Obviously, the old man had put up a struggle and had gotten extremely lucky. An image of Caleb’s daughter, Celeste, flashed through his brain. He always knew that bitch was insane.

Nathan

Glancing at his watch, he wondered what in the hell was keeping Celeste. Unfortunately, his cell phone was dead and nobody had thought to grab his charger from the cabin. Frustrated, he decided to give her five more minutes before starting his own search for Nikki at some of the nearby chapels. He knew it was a longshot, but better than sitting around, twiddling his thumbs. Besides, he really didn’t want to face his mom after the embarrassing incident with Celeste.

Thinking back at the horrified expression on his mom’s face, he
cringed.
What in the hell was I thinking?

Truth was
, he
hadn’t
been thinking, at least about anything other than seeing Celeste or any other hot girl naked, for that matter. Except for an occasional pondering of cars, boats, and his missing sister, his mind couldn’t gravitate away from sex for too long. He didn’t feel too guilty about it, however. It was the curse of being an eighteen-year-old guy with a constant boner.

“Hey
, sexy,” purred Celeste, coming up behind him. She brushed his cheek with her lips and clutched his arm. “Miss me?”

He ignored the question
. “I almost didn’t think you were coming.”

She rolled her eyes.
“God, I had to listen to my dad yell at me for an hour. He really flipped out. But,” she smiled, “it’s all good now.”

He
pulled her towards the hotel exit. “Seriously, I’m surprised he wasn’t angrier at
me
. Most dads would have gone totally ape-shit, walking in on something like that.”

She smirked. “
Well, he felt sorry for you. Blamed it all on me.”

“Seriously?
”

“I know. C
razy, right?”

Jesus, w
hy weren’t more dads like Caleb?

He chuckled.
“I guess there was one benefit of me being laid up in bed the past few days. It saved me from getting my ass kicked by your dad.”

“We’re eighteen and legal. I
seriously doubt that he would have gone
that
far. Besides, he adores your mom and wouldn’t dream of making her mad.”

“You’re his daughter
, though.”

Her eyes hardened
. “Sometimes I think he forgets.”

“Come on, he adores you. You’re all he talks about when he’s not trying to impress my mom.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“
Hell yeah.”

She bit her lower lip, a pensive look on her face. 

“God… I wish I could shake off this dizziness,” said Nathan, wiping fresh beads of sweat from his forehead. “I just feel like crap.”

“I still
think you should be in bed, with me nursing you back to health.”

An image of her naked an
d tucking him into bed almost made him turn back around. “As interesting as that sounds, I seriously need to try and find some answers about Nikki, and get something to eat. I’m so hungry I could clear out all of buffets in Vegas.”

“We’ll
find you something to eat. I have Daddy’s credit card.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Did he give it to you?”

With a small smile she replied, “He normally doesn’t refuse me anything, so in a matter of speaking, yes.”

“Good enough for me,” replied Nathan, although he was certain Caleb was going to be pissed off when he found out.
He’d already heard him complaining about hotel charges. This was not his problem, however. As they stepped outside, he stared in awe at the multitude of neon lights on the crowded strip. It looked like a giant amusement park for grownups.

“Wow,
this place is sweet. Better than what they show on television,” he said, staring at a transvestite dressed in a purple sequined gown and stilettos getting out of a cab.  

“
Oh, it’s
much
better,” murmured Celeste next to his ear. “They can’t show everything on television, and this is Sin City, Nathan. They don’t call it that because of the cheap buffets and exotic white tigers.”

“I
hear that,” he replied as a group of loud, scantily-dressed women walked by. One of them leered at him, and it was obvious as to what kind of fun they were looking for in Vegas.

Celeste tightened her grip on his arm.
“So,
where are we going?”

“Let’s get a cab and check out the chapels around town.”

“Guess what? I’ve already got us a car,” she said. “Forget the cab.”

He grinned. “Why didn’t you say so? Where is it?”

She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. “Hi, Tristan. Oh yeah? Perfect timing. You can pull around to the front of the hotel.”

“Who was that?” Nathan asked as she hung up.

“One of my minions,” she replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

“
Funny,” he smirked.  “No, really, who was that?”

“
Tristan, an old friend of the family. Dad hired him to chauffer me around town whenever needed.” She shrugged. “No big deal.”

“Must be rough,” he replied
, wondering how a small town sheriff was able to afford the things this one did.

“
It’s pretty cool,” she admitted. “I have to admit.”

M
inutes later, a brand new silver Mercedes SLS pulled up next to them.

Nathan
whistled. “Nice,” he replied as she pulled him towards the luxurious car.

A guy not much older than him
, dressed in dark chinos and a blue dress shirt, stepped around the car and held the door open for them. “Hi, Celeste. Looking beautiful as ever.”

She
fluttered her eyelashes and smiled. “Thanks, Tristan.”

Tristan turned to Nathan
and smiled. “Nathan, right? You’re in back, sorry.”

He
slid into the backseat. “Dude, I’m not complaining. I appreciate the ride.”

Tristan shut th
e car door, walked around to his side, and got back in. “Where to?”

“We’re visiting the chapels today,” replied Celeste. “Since you know the city so well, head over to the closest one and we’ll go from there.”

Tristan’s eyebrow arched. “Don’t tell me you’re getting married?”

She threw her head back and laughed.

He smiled in amusement. “I take that as a no?” he asked, turning up the radio.

Nathan stuck his head between the seats. “My sister is missing. Supposedly, she’s getting married out here to this asshole named Ethan.”

“Ah, yes, Ethan,” replied Tristan.

“Y
ou know him?” asked Nathan.

He smirked.
“We’ve met.”

Nathan looked out the dark window.
“My sister is supposedly marrying the dickhead.”

“A
nd you don’t approve?”

“
Not really, but more than anything, I want to find out what’s going on. This isn’t like her at all.”

“Well, guess what,
I have some kick-ass news for you,” said Tristan, glancing back towards Nathan. “Your sister isn’t married,
and
she’s waiting to meet up with you.”

Nathan’s eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously, you know where she is?
”

“Yep.”

“That was quick,” said Celeste, tapping her nails on the door. “I’m impressed.”

“
Hunting is our specialty.”

“What are you, some kind of bounty hunter?” asked Nathan. “Hired on by Caleb?”

“I hired them, actually,” replied Celeste, her lips curling up.

He
reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “Nice. Thanks, Celeste.”

“You can thank me later, when we’re alone.”

“
So, where is she?” asked Nathan, sitting back in the seat.

“
Not far. Just outside of town,” he replied. “In a house near the desert.”

“Is Ethan there, too?”

“That, I’m not sure about. I’ve just heard that they have your sister and she isn’t going anywhere at the moment. She can’t.”

The way he said it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Nikki sounded more like a prisoner
, and bad decision or not, she was still eighteen, and shouldn’t be held against her will. Still, as long as she was safe, he couldn’t complain too much. “Well, I’m grateful you found her. My mom’s certainly going to be happy about that. Celeste, can I use your phone to call her?”

“I have a better idea, let’
s surprise her,” she said, turning around. “Both your mom and Caleb.”

“I
’d rather tell her right away. She’s been worried sick.”

She tilted her head.
“Come on, another hour isn’t going to make a difference.”

“
It will with her. If she knows, she can relax and start enjoying herself.”

She turned away from him and stared out the window.

“Come on, Celeste. Can I use your phone or not?” he repeated.