Jennifer Rardin - [Jaz Parks 1] - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

whispered. He nudged the door open and squeezed through. Snapping my watch band for maximum stealth, I followed close behind. My disquieting feeling doubled. I concentrated on it, tried to pinpoint its source.

'Something's really wrong here,' I hissed as we crept past a six-burner stove, an immense island, a three-door fridge, 'somebody's feeling extreme… it's hard to explain. They're… on some sort of edge.'

'Yes, I feel it too. What do you think? Are they waiting for us?' Vayl asked.

'I don't know.'

We found the back stair that Cole had used to escape from the guards at the party. Vayl gestured that he would check the rooms along the furthest hall, so I took the three closest, working my way from the back toward the restroom where Cole and I had met.

No one occupied the first room, but Derek's scent lingered, the way it will beside an empty trash bin. The second room had been an office, and might be again. But the file drawers sat open and empty. So too did the desk drawers. And a dust outline showed where the computer had rested.

'They've cleared out,' I said. 'This room used to hold a paper trail. Now even the shredder's clean.'

'So far only two deserted bedrooms over here,' Vayl told me. 'Empty hangers. Empty drawers.'

'Damn! So much for solid evidence.'

'Maybe not. I hear something coming from the third room.'

'I'll be right there.' I hurried across the front hall to where Vayl stood, poised to open the third door once he'd satisfied himself it didn't hide an army.

'That's the source of the bad feelings I'm getting,' I whispered, 'behind that door.'

'Did you hear that?' Vayl asked.

I nodded, trying to identify the sound. There it went again, the deep, throaty utterance of a person in pain. And then—'Is that…?'

'Crying? I think so.'

'Let's get in there.'

For an answer, Vayl tried the door. It was locked.

'No problem,' I whispered, pulling off my necklace. I slid the shark tooth into the lock, waited a second, turned it. The door yielded to my funky key with a soft click. I left the key in the lock and drew Grief. Vayl had left his cane in the van, but he was hardly unarmed. I felt his power shift and rise as we prepared to enter the room.

'On three,' Vayl whispered. He raised his fingers in quick succession, one-two-three. Vayl threw open the door, shoving his power in front of him like a winter storm. Anyone inside would feel it as a compelling need to do whatever Vayl required before their eyelids froze to their eyeballs.

I dove inside, staying low and looking for targets. The only one I saw was bleeding too heavily to be any sort of threat.

I holstered Grief and ran to where she lay on the floor of a bedroom so frilly and sumptuous I could not have imagined violence occurring there, except for the beaten woman sprawled on the Persian rug.

'Amanda?'

She moaned, tried to open her swollen eyes. Only the right one obeyed, and that by just a slit. 'He said you'd come.'

'Assan?'

She shook her head, winced, and fresh tears tracked down her torn and broken face. 'Cole,' she croaked. I could hardly believe talking was still an option for her.

'Give me your phone,' Vayl said, 'I am calling an ambulance.'

I fished it from my pocket and tossed it to him.

'Too late,' Amanda gasped. 'I'm… you must listen.' She reached up and I took her hand. It seemed to comfort her. 'I thought that… since I couldn't sneak you in here… I could find some evidence for you.'

'Oh, Amanda. Didn't Cole tell you how dangerous your husband is?'

'Yes.' She licked her lips. 'So thirsty.'

'I will get you some water,' said Vayl, his call already complete. He left the room.

'Is that the vampire?' she asked.

'Yes.'

'Mohammed… thought he was dead.'

'How do you know that?'

She took a couple of breaths, seemed to steel herself. 'I overheard him talking on the phone. So I confronted him.'

'I sure wish you hadn't done that.'

'We fought,' she went, her voice bleak. 'He… admitted he killed my brother. He said Michael was in on it at first. That the trip to India was his idea, to get some relics they needed to summon… but then, he tried to back out.' In my imagination I could see them, fighting over Assan's virulent plans, with Michael dying horribly as a result. But what in the world did he think would happen? It angered me that this family had no sense of self preservation. Somebody should've smacked them upside the heads years ago and said, 'Wake up, fools! You can be hurt!' But even as I raged, logical me wondered why the move to the U.S. when they already