Dani laughed. “Yeah, you obviously haven’t met Ringo and his cronies. Smart, they are not.”
“I want to kill him,” I said softly.
She stroked my chest with her long red fingernails. “Of course you do, baby. I would kill anyone who hurt my family.”
“No. I wasn’t talking about Audrey’s murderer. Ringo. I want to kill him.”
She snorted. “Get in line. I’d love to kill him, too.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” I asked. “Why not cut the head off the snake? With him gone, we can be free to live our lives as we want. No hiding. No pressure. No deadlines. And most of all, no more killing of humans.”
She stiffened in my arms and looked up at me. “Do you think I only kill humans? I’ve taken out vampires, wolves, witches, and everything in between.”
“Wolves… witches…” I was silent for a few seconds. “Are you fucking serious?”
“What?” she asked, wide eyes blinking up at me. “They deserved it, trust me.”
“No. I believe that.” I shook my head. “But… those things exist?”
She let out a groan. “Oh, my God. Seriously… we need to have a long talk about the ridiculous amount of supes in Colorado.”
“Soups? Mmm. Chicken noodle.”
She laughed. “No, supes. Supernaturals. Not soups, like chicken noodle. I do miss a good hot bowl of tomato bisque, though.”
God, she was so cute. I couldn’t imagine not being able to eat food. Or have beer. “Okay we will, but for now… let’s discuss how we can eliminate Ringo.”
“We can,” she replied. “But once we do, we’ll have to move out of state. Or even the country. He’s not at the top of the food chain. There’s a higher organization he works for. He may be a dumbass, but they’ll definitely notice his disappearance, trust me.”
I sat up. This was all too much, too soon. Information overload. “What fucking organization?”
“They’re called the Vlasé. Ya know what? Let’s not go there. I’ll get you all caught up-to-speed after we take care of this whole keeping you alive thing. Then we’ll talk for hours about this world you thought you knew. But you really don’t.”
I nodded and relaxed. She was right. So many questions, but so little answers. “Okay, babe. Let’s stop the bleeding now, then we’ll talk about all the stuff I have no clue on. All these questions swirling around in my mind.”
“Speaking of bleeding,” she said in a playful tone. “I’m hungry, baby.”
I chuckled. “So is my dick. Get on and take a ride. You feed him, I feed you.”
She whipped the sheets back, and with unnatural speed, she hopped on top and began kissing me until I was so hard, she was easily able to slide on and take a ride. Then, she bit my wrist while staring into my eyes and I damn near exploded right then and there.
14
Daniela
I flinched when Ringo pounded his fist on his desk. “What the fuck do you mean it’s not him?”
Despite our discussion, I decided to try to explain to Ringo that Judson wasn’t the killer. As expected, the asshole was having none of that.
“I mean… it’s not him. We found who was really killing vamps. Even lured him out of a club. We set him straight—he’s done killing.”
“What has gotten into you, Diaz? You falling for this stupid Backstreet Boy motherfucker? Please tell me you’re not that fucking stupid,” he bit out, murder still swimming in his dark-brown eyes.
I shook my head and lied, “No, nothing like that. I lured a human male out of a club for a feed and he tried to kill me. Dude was wearing a hoodie and was about the same height and build as the subject. That’s when I realized it wasn’t Judson Creed. It was this guy.”
Ringo relaxed a little. “Okay then. Where’s his body?”
I bit my lip and looked away. “Well, therein lies the problem. After I fed, I knocked him out and lifted his wallet for some cash. But it wasn’t a wallet, it was a Deputy’s ID. I didn’t think killing a fucking cop would go over well, I so I left him.”
“Are you insane?” Ringo roared, pounding his fist again on the desk. “You don’t leave cops alive. He’ll be hunting you down until his last breath! And then there’s the problem of him continuing to kill our kind. I swear to Lucifer, I should kill you right now, you insolent little bitch!”
“Whoa, calm down, man. Listen, I compelled him to stop killing vampires. I think he’s done. I really do.”
He paced the space between his desk and the wall. “You know allusion of that kind doesn’t last more than a few weeks!”
That actually surprised me. “Um, actually, I didn’t know that. I also didn’t know humans could see silver in our eyes sometimes. You know, because you haven’t taught me jack shit. You’re a horrible maker.”
“And you’re a horrible bounty hunter! Now, get the fuck out of my office and don’t come back until that cop is dead. In fact, just to be safe, bring me the cop’s body and Creed’s! Now get out!” he roared.
I didn’t have to be told twice. I left and got into my car. As I drove, I said, “Call Judson.”
“Calling Judson,” the female computer voice repeated.
“Hey, beautiful,” he answered.
“Well, that went over like lead balloon,” I said dryly.
“That well, huh?”
“He wants the deputy’s body. Not that I expected anything different,” I replied.
“Fuck,” Judson said.
“That’s not the worst part.” I bit my lip.
“It gets worse?” he asked with a dramatic sigh.
“He wants your body, too. Ringo wants me to bring him both of you. Dead.”
“Goddammit. This guy needs to go. You need to kill him, Dani. Next time you’re there, just stab him.
