Deadly Desire

'It ain't cheating-'

'It is when he's keeping you all fed and safe, isn't it?'

'I guess so,' he muttered.

I smiled at his sullen expression. 'So what did the woman say?'

'She agreed, like, and said she'd meet me at the cricket ground, near Vale street, at eleven. But that thing came after me before then.'

And why would he not have expected that? Honestly, anyone intent on a little blackmail ought to be prepared for the fact that the recipient of said blackmail wasn't going to be happy about it, and just might be inclined to react. But then, I guess Joe was still a kid and somewhat green to the foibles of others, even if he had lived on the streets and learned his lessons the hard way.

'You said the first woman-does that mean the woman you talked to on the phone wasn't the same woman?'

He frowned. 'I don't think it was, but that sort of thing is easy to fake, isn't it?'

It was, but I very much suspected it meant we had two different women involved in these murders. Joe obviously thought the same, given his choice of words.

'How did she find you?'

'I don't know. I was scouting possible marks and heard footsteps behind me. I look around and saw that thing coming toward me.'

'How did you know it was after you?'

'Well, there was only me and the marks in the cafe, and when I ran, it followed. So I kept running.'

So how did the zombie find him? The sorceress couldn't have gotten into the hospital in crow form, and even if she had been there somewhere in human form, how had she pinned his position so accurately? The only possible answer was magic. 'Where's the card the first woman gave Kaz?'

'Here.' He reached down into his pocket and withdrew a business card.

The minute my fingers touched it, I felt the magic. It wasn't strong-more a faint residue that made my fingertips tingle than anything dark and nasty. Perhaps the magic was fading.

The card itself was black, with a single staked heart sitting in the middle of it. On the back was a phone number, and a set of times. Those times suggested-to me, at least-that it wasn't even a manned phone, but one that was simply checked remotely. Whoever these woman were, they were playing a cautious game.

I wondered if the other murdered teenagers had held similar cards, although it would have been easy enough for the sorceress to direct her creature to destroy it. Maybe this one was still in one piece only because Joe had stolen it.

'She was probably using this to track you,' I said, waving the card lightly. 'Which means we can't take it with us. Come on.'

I walked back to the zombie and dropped the card next to the top half of his body, then left the building with Joe in tow.

Once we were on the road, I started the onboard computer and got the address for the safe house.

'Why we going there?' Joe said, as I switched over to the nav-computer.

'We need to keep you safe. The sorceress will keep coming after you until she kills you.'

'But she can't find me now that I no longer have the card.'

'We can't know that. And she seems to have found Kaz all right without the card.' I frowned at the thought. Maybe the magic on the card somehow transferred to whoever was touching it, which meant both Joe and I would have to 'disinfect' ourselves from its trace.

'I guess.' His face suddenly brightened. 'Will this place have a TV and a fridge and a bath?'

'Yes, and we want all three to be there after we've caught this bitch and you're able to leave.'

'I wouldn't steal-'

'Yeah,' I said blandly. 'Tell it to someone who is going to believe you.'

He grinned and settled back in the seat, watching the road and probably contemplating his next thieving exploit. I got him to the safe house, and was relieved to see that Sal had lived up to her usual efficient ways and had gotten one of the night-shift guys. I handed over my charge, rang the Directorate to tell them my suspicions about the business card, then headed off to my dinner with Ben.

Of course, I was way late, so I grabbed a nice bottle of wine from a nearby shop then headed up to his office.

Nonpareil-the stripper business Ben managed-was situated on the first floor on a nondescript brick building in the middle of old North Melbourne. It was surrounded by factories that looked to be carrying the dirt of centuries on their facades, and the air was thick with the scent of oil, metal, and humans.

Not the nicest of places to visit, but I knew from experience that the inside more than made up for any outside ugliness.

I pushed open the glass door and stepped through. The air was warm and rich with the scent of vanilla and wolf, the latter stronger than the former. I couldn't help a happy sigh. There was nothing nicer than the musky scent of a man-whether or not the moon was on the rise. I climbed the stairs, one hand on the shiny gold railing and my feet sinking into plush red carpets.

The lobby was all gold drapery and overstuffed, lush-looking furniture. A large mahogany desk dominated the far end of the room. Behind it was a wolf whose skin gleamed a dark amber, and who aptly went by the stage name of Goldenrod. Of course, everyone working here had stage names. Ben's was Shadow.

He leaned back in his chair, and waved a finger at the bottle I was carrying. 'And you think that is going to make up for Shadow missing his dinner?'

I grinned and undid a couple of buttons on my shirt, so that the swell of my breasts and the mauve edges of my bra were visible. 'How about that?'

'Much better,' he said, voice low and throaty, sending a ripple of delight through me. He pressed a button on his desk, opening the door to his right. 'He's in his office.'

'Thanks, Golden.'

'Definitely my pleasure,' he said, then laughed as I worked the hips just a little bit more. 'If you ever get tired of the old man, you know where to come and play next.'

My grin grew, but I didn't answer as I walked through the coffee room and into the hallway beyond. Ben looked up as I entered his office, then leaned back in his chair and gave me an insolent grin. 'Well, well, look what the dog dragged in.'

I sat on the corner of his desk and tried to ignore all the beautiful black skin his tank top exposed. 'I bought wine.'

'What type?'

'Wolf Blass.' It was his favorite, not mine. I was more a Brown Brothers gal.

'I guess I'd better forgive you, then.' He rose, giving me a fuller view of his long, strong body. My nostrils flared as I sucked in the delicious scent of him, and my ever-dizzy hormones sizzled.

'I had to rescue a street kid from a zombie,' I said, concentrating on opening the bottle rather than on the delicious-looking man walking back from the liquor cabinet. That way lay trouble, and I had enough of that on my plate already-no matter what my hormones might think.

Ben raised a dark eyebrow as he held out the glasses. 'Street kids and zombies? The Directorate has branched out.'

I snorted softly. 'You have no idea.' I poured the wine, then put the bottle on the table and accepted one of the glasses. 'Here's to a quick capture of zombie masters and vampire killers.'

'Now what the hell kind of toast is that?' he said, his grin flashing brightly. 'Here's to pretty redheads. May they find their way to my bed sooner rather than later.'

I laughed and touched my glass to his. 'Your bed is the last place I need to be right now.'

'Hey, I'm versatile. I can do desks, walls, floors, whatever.'

'Heard that about you.' I took a sip of the tart wine, then said, 'Tell me about Man Hard.'

His sigh was dramatic, but the effect was spoiled by the twinkle in his bright eyes. 'There's no such place as Man Hard. There is, however, a Meinhardt's. Different pronunciation, emphasis on the front half of the word.'

'If they wanted it pronounced properly, they should have gone for an easier name.'