Viper (28 page)

These clowns were fooling themselves if they thought simple cuffs and the backseat of a secured cop car could contain him. But for now he’d humor them. Kane needed to talk to Cara. Why hadn’t she called to warn him about what the hell was going down?

Gritting his teeth, feeling the ache clear to his ears, he leaned his head against the backseat of the cruiser.

Fuck.

He needed to get hold of Kaleb and fast. If Cara was indeed at home resting, that meant she was easy pickings for the primordial. Maybe that had been the ancient vampire’s plan all along. Once they reached the Sheriff’s Office, he’d make sure Ducat found Kaleb and delivered his brother a message to get Cara out of that house, out of town, and under the Sons’ protection, stat.

Chapter 26

Something wakened Cara. She couldn’t be sure of the cause as she’d been out like a light. No dreams, just a deep sleep. Shaking her head, she tried to dislodge the groggy remnants. When she first laid her head on the arm of the sofa, she thought she had no hope of catching any shut-eye. Every time she closed her eyes, the bloody mess of her room painted the back of her eyelids, that and her fellow officer wide-eyed and unseeing in her bed. Cara must have been more tired than she imagined or the shock of the day had totally drained her, for she had fallen easily to sleep once she allowed her eyes to close. She couldn’t be sure how much time had lapsed.

Sitting up, Cara peered into the darkness. Hadn’t she left on the kitchen fluorescent light over her sink? Even the safety light outside didn’t seem to add illumination through the windows. Total blackness hung thick in the room, with visibility being somewhere close to a foot. Maybe Higgins had turned off the lighting so he could catch a little nap himself. Slacker. The deputy’s feet were kicked out in front of him as he reclined in the chair sitting adjacent to the couch. Sure enough, he didn’t move a muscle as she stood.

Some watch dog they left in charge.

Cara made a mental note not to put Higgins on nighttime surveillance in the future. Using the arm of the sofa to steady herself, she stood and stretched her cramped muscles. The previous day’s images flooded her thoughts like a damn breaking loose: the blood staining her room, Jeff sightlessly staring at the ceiling, Kane by her side.

Kane
.

Now that she didn’t have anyone from the S.O. watching over her shoulder, she needed to warn Kane that Robbie would no doubt have a warrant out for his arrest. Though Robbie had presented her with the evidence of Kane’s chain clutched in the dead dispatch’s hand, she knew without a doubt Kane had not murdered those women and that the Primordial had somehow gotten hold of the choker and planted it on the body. 

Her breathing hitched and she strangled back a sob.

Poor Jeff. He hadn’t deserved to be caught in the middle of the nightmare that had become her life. Tears pricked her eyes, but didn’t fall. She needed to suck it up. The living still needed her, and getting caught up in emotion now would do no one any good, especially Kane. She needed to get to Kane before Robbie did.

And Higgins untimely nap had just given her the opportunity.

Cara did a quick sweep of the living room, looking on the end tables for her cell. Three end tables and the kitchen table behind her, she had come up empty handed. If Higgins had planned a little power nap, then possibly he had pocketed the phone. Approaching the deputy, she ran her hand across the surface of the end table next to his chair, finding nothing more than her black, wrought iron lamp. At this point, she doubted that if she turned it on, Higgins would even notice. She could have left the house and been long gone without him the wiser.

Reaching for his pockets, thinking maybe he had thought best to keep her cell where she might not dare search, she noted the deputy’s eyes weren’t closed after all, but staring right at her … or rather sightlessly through her.

Her scream cut short as a hand covered her mouth and a strong forearm wrapped her windpipe. Cara fought the hold, as she tried desperately to draw breath. Losing consciousness was inevitable if she didn’t break the iron hold on her throat. Dear Lord, she hoped Kane wasn’t sitting the night in county lockup. If she was unable to get word to him, he’d be too late to save her. Her limbs numbed, her ears buzzed. She couldn’t suck in oxygen.

“Nighty night,” her attacker whispered, warm breath feathering across her ear just before her world blackened.

* * *

Kane paced the cement flooring, waiting to hear back from Kaleb. It didn’t take much to reach each side of the six-by-eight foot cell with his long gait. Old iron, prison bars closed off one end, making him feel much like a caged animal. And truth of it, he wasn’t far from being one. He could easily jerk the old iron from the cinder block walls had he wanted and been on the street looking for Cara in the blink of an eye. But Kaleb had convinced him to hold tight, to not draw unnecessary attention to the Sons.

“This is non-negotiable, Viper. Stay put,” he had said. “I’ll find her.”

His brother had given him a direct order. And with Kaleb acting as club pres while he sat incapacitated, Kane was expected to follow the directive without question. He needed to keep the Sons’ best interest in mind. Breaking out of jail would only cause them more problems and draw questions the club wasn’t equipped to answer.

Thankfully, he had been able to get hold of his twin upon arrival at county lockup. Kaleb had been pretty pissed at having to prioritize finding Cara. After all, the detective wasn’t high on his brother’s list of favorite people. To Kaleb, she had done nothing but cause trouble from the minute she entered their lives, not to mention she fronted the team trying to convict Kane of murder. Now here he stood, in the very cell she had first tried hard to put him in, but hopefully didn’t believe in his guilt, no matter the evidence presented her.

Kane sat heavily on the thin mattress covering the molded cement bed and ran his cool hands down his tired face. He probably looked like death warmed over. The last time he had taken communion was three nights back when he drank from Cara. And the truth of it, he had been careful to draw very little. He held out his hands, noting the map of blue veins beneath the surface. His skin had taken on the translucent look and his body felt the stirrings of the death chill. He needed to feed soon if he hoped to keep his strength, or getting out of this cell on his own wouldn’t even be an option.

With no windows in this part of the Sheriff’s Office, Kane had no idea if the sun had even begun to rise, though his senses told him morning had not yet come. Every minute that passed put Cara closer to danger of being bled dry by this son of a bitch. Whoever the fuck he was, he had managed to take Kane out of the equation, though he had to know no jail cell would ever hold him. The ancient vampire had to know he operated on a tight time schedule.

Kane couldn’t leave another moment to chance.

Waiting for Kaleb might mean the difference between life and death for Cara. He needed to find her, the consequences of breaking yet another rule and not following Kaleb’s order be damned. Approaching the door barring his freedom, Kane gripped the bars tightly in his fists at chest level. He braced his booted heels against the cement pedestal of the bed and pushed steadily outward. Cement crumbled; chunks fell to the floor. With one last push and an inhuman-like growl, the bars separated from the walls. Thankfully, he had managed to do so with a minimal amount of noise.

Kane leaned the bars against the adjacent wall and headed down the long hallway to the locked door with the window looking out at the dispatch area of the Sheriff’s Office. He hoped the night shift deputies were still making rounds. The fewer he had to hypnotize, the quicker he was outside the office.

The cylinder in the lock crunched, steel scraping steel, as he twisted the knob and easily broke the fixture. Kane’s gaze locked with the dispatch’s through the door’s window—her mouth hung agape. No ordinary man could have broken the fixture.

“Don’t move,” Kane ordered as he stepped through the doorway and into the adjacent room.

The young woman’s fear was evident in her scent. Other than the tremble of her hands, she did as Kane asked.

“Are you alone?”

She shook her head, her forefinger pointing toward the back of the station. “Just one.”

“Good. Look at me,” he said, his eyes heating, becoming obsidian.

She couldn’t have looked away from him if she tried.

“Erase the surveillance tapes for the last hour, then turn them off.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You can,” he leaned in, “and you will.”

The woman messed with the computer, typed in a series of numbers, then hit the delete key.

“Done.”

“You didn’t see me and you don’t know what happened. You will not call for backup and you’ll sleep until someone finds you.”

“I’ll sleep,” she repeated, then yawned. “I’m suddenly tired. I can’t hold my head up.”

The woman laid her head on her crossed arms atop the desk and promptly fell asleep. Kane pushed a button on the desk near her elbow, causing the exit door to buzz, giving him five seconds to exit. He headed out the door, thankfully unseen by the second party in the Sheriff’s Office. Hitting the pavement running, he knew he’d reach the clubhouse in less time than it would take to drive. Kane needed every spare second he could get.

* * *

“What the fuck are you doing?” Kaleb roared, his gaze zeroing in on Kane as he entered the clubhouse.

Grayson, Alexander, Nicholas and Joseph all turned in unison, their look no more approving than his twin’s. Kane got it. He had just broken another rule by not following Kaleb’s order as acting president. But what the hell did they expect? He wasn’t about to sit around while Cara got her throat slit from ear to ear. Kane slammed the heavy entrance door.

“Are you fucking insane?” Kaleb continued. “The cops will be swarming this place before we even have a chance to get out there and look for Cara, and we’ll have you to thank for that. Don’t you know how to follow rules any more, Viper?”

Kane took a deep breath, slightly winded from his sprint. “Look, I don’t have time to explain my actions. You can dole out my punishment later. Right now I need to find Cara.”

“What the hell do you think we’re doing here? Throwing a fucking party?”

Kaleb was angry. That Kane understood. Acting as president, he had every right to be pissed that Kane had not followed his order to stay put. He’d lost Ion; he wasn’t about to lose Cara, too.

“Did you try her house?”

Kaleb scratched a spot just above his left ear, telling Kane that he tested his twin’s patience. He blew out a stream of air through pursed lips, then skirted the four other Sons and approached Kaleb.

“Well, you’re here now. Might as well give us a hand. I was about to split the territory among us. We’ll travel in twos.”

“Where’s Blondy?” Kane asked.

“Don’t know. Not answering his cell. Likely got piss drunk last night and is sleeping it off in some bitch’s bed.”

“Let’s hit the streets then,” Kane said. “You and I can check her house first.”

“Already been there, Viper. It’s not good.” Kaleb laid a hand on Kane’s shoulder. “The deputy they put there to watch her got his throat slit and Cara’s nowhere to be found.”

“Jesus!” Kane’s pulse kicked up, his anxiety hitting a high note. “Any ideas?”

“The primordial’s scent was all over the fucking house. I’m betting he took Cara, though I doubt they went far.”

“What makes you think that, Hawk?”

Even thinking of Cara in the hands of that psycho made him want to kill something and this piece of shit was number one on his hit list. “Why not kill Cara and get the hell out of the states, head back to Italy?”

“Because she’s never been his target. Think about it, Viper. It’s always been you. If he took her, it’s only to lure you to him. These murders started before Cara became your obsession of the moment.”

He bit back a retort to the reference. Getting angry would serve no purpose. “She’s not an obsession.”

“Whatever you want to call her. I see it differently.”

Kane didn’t have time to argue with his brother. “I hope to hell you’re right that his target is me, because that means we still have time.”

Not wanting to undermine his brother’s authority in front of the men, even though his no longer being incarcerated meant the role of pres returned to him, he asked Kaleb, “So what’s your plan?”

Chapter 27

“Someone want to tell me what the hell just happened back there?” Robbie growled.

His thumb pointed behind him, indicating the long hallway where a set of bars leaned against the cement block wall. The blocks were crumbled where the door had been bolted, littering the floor with dust and debris.

Sheriff Ducat didn’t like the captain one bit. Smug bastard and self-important is what he was. Walking into the office this morning, he felt like he was stepping into a gigantic pile of shit. He just wished he could rid himself of the dung that was Robbie Melchor as easily as scraping the bottom of his boot. Instead, because Major Thomas of the Police Services Bureau of the Oregon State Police said they had to follow orders from this ass wipe, he had to play nice.

He had no idea how Kane managed to break out of that cell block without being seen or heard, but he was pretty sure how he managed to yank the bars from the walls holding them. These jerk-offs were foolish to think they could lock up one of the Sons. They had no clue what those boys were capable of. But Sheriff Ducat did. It was better to work with them, than against them. Oh, he had known they were vampires for some time, but their secret was safe enough with him.

Truth of it, he liked having them as part of his community. Anytime the law failed the county and some criminal went free on a technicality, he’d pass along that information to Viper and his boys to be sure justice always prevailed. The Sons of Sangue and the S.O. had a nice little understanding going. He wasn’t about to let this fuck come here and mess that up.

“I swear heads will roll.”

Melchor fisted his hands and leaned on his knuckles, coming nose to nose with the crying dispatch.

“If she says she doesn’t know anything, Captain Melchor, then she doesn’t. Bullying her isn’t going to change that fact,” Sheriff Ducat said, using his thumbs to hook the belt loops and hike up his pants. “I don’t suppose making her piss herself will work either.”

The captain turned on him, his cheeks mottled red in his agitation. “All I know is there were two people working last night’s shift when this all went down. Deputy Miller was in the restroom taking a shit. His words, not mine. And this one”—his forefinger jabbed in the dispatch’s direction, narrowly missing her face—“had her head down on the desk, asleep. You always let your employees sleep on the job, Sheriff?”

“My employees are not your concern, Captain, nor is their insubordination. You’re overstepping your bounds here.”

“The state has jurisdiction. That gives me the right.”

“Maybe on this case, but not over my office.”

“Your lackadaisical employee cost me my prisoner!”

Sheriff Ducat squared his shoulders. “Then maybe you should have transported him last night to the regional jail instead of leaving him in my county lockup. Don’t blame my office for your lack of attention to detail. The entire reason we have a regional jail is because most of the county lockups are in disrepair. Case in point.”

Melchor hardened his jaw. “You’re damn right I shouldn’t have trusted you with such a high profile prisoner. But it’s too late for that now, isn’t it? Where’s Hernandez?”

“Due in within the half hour.”

“Good. I want an APB put out on Tepes and his band of misfits.” He looked at the dispatch. “Call Deputy Superintendent Wiles of the State Police, make sure he’s apprised of the situation and they have every available car out there looking for the escaped prisoner. Tell them Tepes should be approached with extreme caution. He is thought to be armed and dangerous. If they come across any of the Sons, they are to be apprehended as well.”

“What’s the Sons got to do with this?”

“Come on, Sheriff, you and I both know Kane did not walk out of that cell by himself. I’m still not sure how the hell they waltzed right in here sight unseen but we’ll surely discover that when I get a look at the surveillance tapes. In the meantime, I think you should get every one of your deputies on the road looking for them.”

Melchor dismissed the sheriff and looked at the dispatch. “Can you pull up the last few hours of feed?”

She sniffled, then swiped away a few stray tears. Turning to her bank of computers, she typed on the keyboard, then sat back and glanced queerly at the monitor.

“That’s odd.”

“What is it?”

“The cameras weren’t running. As of six-o-five this morning, the feed just ended. Those cameras are never turned off. They run twenty-four-seven.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Robbie’s brow furrowed as he slapped the desktop. “What kind of rinky dink operation is this?”

The sheriff approached the monitor and stared at an image of Kane sitting in his cell on the mattress, hands running down his face, then the screen went static. Sheriff Ducat hid the smile itching at his lips. He didn’t know how the hell Kane had managed to stop the live feed without his dispatch’s knowledge, but everything beyond that point was useless.

He cleared his throat, fist covering his mouth to hide his amusement. The captain whirled on his heel and glared at him. If a man’s gaze could strike you dead, he’d be lying on the wrong side of the dirt for sure.

“What kind of equipment do you have, Sheriff? This is useless!”

“It’s always worked.”

“You want to tell me how it conveniently quit last night, right about the time Kane Tepes walked out of here?”

The sheriff shrugged. “I don’t have a clue.”

“I do! It’s obvious,” he pointed a finger again at the poor girl. “She’s working for them.”

The dispatch’s mouth dropped and she sputtered. “Honestly, I have no idea.”

Melchor let out a curse not fit for anyone’s ears as he raised his hands in the air and stormed from the room. The sheriff could no longer hide his smile as he patted the poor dear on her shoulder.

“Why don’t you head out, get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on it until day shift gets here.”

* * *

Cara awoke, a migraine stealing her breath, making her wish she stayed unconscious instead. Sitting up slowly, she rubbed her forehead, trying to alleviate some of the pain shooting through her head. On a pain scale of one-to-ten, she’d give it a solid eight. The damn ache packed one hell of a wallop.

Deputy Higgins’ sightless gaze filtered through her fog-filled brain.
Jesus!
Her body quaked. A hand had covered her mouth, a forearm across her throat kept her from drawing breath. She’d struggled to stay conscious, but had lost the fight, her world going black. Evidently her attacker had only cut off the oxygen until she passed out. The headache came from a sizable knot on the back of the head, which she now rubbed. The son of a bitch must have dropped her to the floor and bounced her head off the wood decking.

Cara groaned, nausea gripping her gut and making her head swim. Standing on shaken limbs, she stumbled to the corner of the room and dry heaved, one hand bracing herself on the rough-hewn wooden walls. She had eaten little in the last twenty-four hours, and her stomach had nothing to give but bile. A likely concussion caused her nausea. Leaning against the empty shelving behind her, Cara took a look around. The fuzziness holding her brain captive slowly started to lift, leaving only the massive headache.

Tiny, dust-filled rays of light filtered through the slats of the boarded windows. Where the hell was she? Swiping her sleeve across the back of her mouth, she approached one of the windows and peered through the cracks. Large evergreens stretched as far as she could see, giving her no clue as to her whereabouts. She could have been in any one of the numerous woods around Lane County. Somehow Cara doubted they’d gone far, not if this psycho hoped to lure Kane.

Taking a look around the dirt-littered shed, Cara hoped to find something, anything, to use as a weapon. But everything had been removed. Not as much as a stray nail remained. The son of a bitch had the foresight to make sure nothing could be used against him, that or the shed had been empty to begin with. Cara couldn’t tell how much time had passed or what time she had awaken. For as much as she knew, an entire day could have passed. She needed to break free, to find Kane, before the primordial returned. Maybe her sketchy description would aide him in finding the ancient vampire murdering Pleasant’s residents. With any luck, her captor had left her alone.

Approaching the rickety door, Cara gripped the metal handle and pushed. Something held the latch fast on the opposite side. Not that she expected to just waltz out the door, but it would have been nice. Cara stepped back, then slammed her shoulder into the door. The old wood held fast, surely giving her a bruise for her efforts. Her energy waned. Her limbs hung like limp noodles.

Not one to give up, she lifted her leg and thrust-kicked the door, even if it was a half-assed attempt. The dry wood creaked and the door shook. She didn’t think she had the energy to give it a second try. But running on pure adrenalin, she gave it another. To no avail. Cara leaned back against the built-in bench, on the verge of collapsing, her head ready to split it two.

Just as she took a deep breath and was about to give it another try, the lock on the outside scraped against the wood and slid free. Her heart damn near stopped beating as fear immobilized her.

The door swung outward.

The obsidian-eyed blond vampire stood before her, fangs pressing against his upper lip, his prominent brow and sunken cheeks much more pronounced than Kane’s. Cara had no doubt this was the primordial they had been seeking and that he would kill her without conscience. Unless Kane found her soon, he’d slice her throat, drain her, and bury her in a shallow grave like the others.

“Going somewhere?” he asked with a smile so evil he could give Hannibal Lector a run for his money.

“I hoped. I don’t suppose you’d point me in the direction of home.”

“You have a sense of humor. I like that.” He held out a white sack. “I brought you food.”

Cara harrumphed. “What did you lace it with? Arsenic?”

“I have no need of poisons, Detective. If I wanted you dead, you would be.”

“You threatened me if, I recall right. That lipstick was hell to get off my mirror.”

This time, the primordial did chuckle. “Sorry to inconvenience you. But I needed to get Viper’s attention.”

“You could have done so by using
his
mirror.”

He shoved the sack into her hands. Cara didn’t think she’d be able to stomach whatever he had brought.

“The dear boy is a bit hard headed. I fear merely threatening his life wouldn’t have produced the same results. Go ahead.” He pointed at her lunch. “Eat.”

“If you meant to give me my last supper, it would have been polite to ask what I wanted.” Cara opened the bag and peered in, the smell of rye bread greeting her. “Death row inmates get treated better.”

He shrugged. “You were still out cold when I left. I took the liberty of ordering you a turkey on rye.”

Cara did have a weak spot for turkey, but she couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her tone. “How did you guess I have a soft spot for turkey? Next, you’ll be picking the movie, too.”

“No wonder Viper fancies you. I have to admit, your sense of humor appeals to me. Too bad beyond getting revenge on him, you serve no purpose. Pity.”

She held out the sack and shook it in his face. “If you plan to kill me, then why the hell bother feeding me?”

He didn’t take it. Drawing his brows together over the bridge of his nose, he said, “Because I’m not cruel. I wouldn’t want you to suffer. It could be a while before your boy finds you.”

“You don’t want me to suffer, and yet you plan to kill me. What the hell do you call that?”

His smile turned wicked. “Trust me, dear, you won’t feel a thing. There will be no suffering involved.”

Before she could form a response, the door shut and the lock slid in place. Cara kicked at the door again, the wood rattling on its old hinges.

“Tsk, tsk, my dear,” he called with a chuckle. “You might as well save your energy. Should you break through the door, I’m right on the other side. You won’t make it a foot, forcing my hand to expedite your end. After all, I really don't need you alive to flesh out Viper. He’ll come either way.”

And Cara knew the truth of it. If Kane didn’t come to rescue her, he’d come to avenge her death. She slid to the floor in a cross-legged sitting position, the white bag of turkey and rye still in her hand.

* * *

Kane balanced his Fat Bob with his thighs, the heavy machinery rumbling beneath him, as Kaleb and he sat at a crossroads. The woods surrounding Cara’s house had been his obvious first choice. But an hour later, they had come out empty handed. His chances of finding Cara alive diminished by the hour. Hopelessness washed over him at the thought of her life depending wholly on him. He had been too late to help Ion. God help him, he couldn’t survive it a second time.

He adjusted his sun glasses, the mid-morning sun too bright to his UV-sensitive eyes, one of the disadvantages of his kind. Where his night vision enhanced as a vampire, the sun diminished it. Relying on his other senses, Kaleb sniffed the air, hoping to detect the primordial or the scent unique to Cara. He had a feeling that this shit hadn’t gone too far, that his ultimate goal was to flush out Kane.