The Darkest Kiss

Sure enough, there it was, shoved right at the back, under the fluorescent pink and lime-green socks I’d given him for his last birthday. I thought he’d adore them, as he usually loved all things bright. Obviously, I was wrong.

I dragged out the shirt and slammed the drawer shut. “Would this be the shirt you’re looking for?” I said, holding it up on one finger as I walked out.

“Yes. Thank God.” He walked across the room and grabbed it from me. “Where’d you find it?”

“In the dead clothes drawer.”

“Ah.” He paused, then added, “I like the socks. Really.”

“About as much as I like those shiny yellow snake-skin shoes you gave me.” My voice was dry. “What time is Liander getting here?”

“He said he’d pick me up about seven.” He glanced at his watch. “Damn, I’d better move it. You sure you don’t want to come along?”

I shook my head. “Zombies, trolls, and whatnot running around creating havoc is not my style.” And I got enough bloodshed and havoc in my day job. I didn’t need to explore it any further on the big screen. “Give me a nice romantic comedy any day.”

He gave me a quick hug. “You’re just a girly-girl at heart, aren’t you?”

“Takes one to know one, bro.”

He snorted. “I am the man of my relationships, thank you very much.”

I glanced at my watch. “And if the man doesn’t hurry, the wife will beat you up for being late.”

“Good point.”

He rushed back into his bedroom and I headed into the kitchen to make myself coffee and a toasted sandwich. I wasn’t the world’s greatest cook, but I could usually manage the basics without burning the place down.

But I’d barely even sat down on the sofa to eat it when my cell phone rang.

“Phone,” Rhoan called out helpfully.

“Gee, thanks,” I said, barely resisting the urge to throw a cushion his way. I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Riley? It’s Ben. I need your help again, and quickly. A friend of mine has just called, and he’s in trouble. As in, dead-in-a-few-minutes trouble.”

“The cops?”

“He said it was a vamp. The cops won’t help.”

I blew out a breath, and wondered what the odds were of two of his friends being attacked by vamps. “Give me the address.” I picked up a pen and scrawled it down on the overdue electricity bill sitting nearby. “Got it. I’ll be there in ten.”

By which time, if it was a vampire, his friend might well be dead.

“It’ll take me longer, but I’ve told Ivan I’d be calling you for help. He’s expecting you.”

If he was still alive, that was. I hung up, picked up my ham and cheese sandwich as well as my badge and car keys, then headed out.

I could smell vampire as soon as I got out of the car. The night air had gone from crisp to cold, and the rotten smell of unwashed vamps seemed to cling thickly to the night.

I pocketed my keys and studied the apartment block as I walked up the pavement. It was one of those high- rise brick-and-glass affairs that the government had built some fifty years ago in an effort to relieve the low-income housing crisis. Of course, governments tended to work with minimal budgets—except when it came to their own comforts—so the resulting buildings were neither pretty nor truly functional. Add tenants who didn’t really give a damn about the place, and you were basically left with a large hovel. One with many smashed windows and doors, and decorated by multi-colored graffiti.

It wasn’t the sort of place I expected a friend of Ben’s to live.

I walked past the front of the building, heading for the main entrance. The stink of vampire grew stronger, until the cloying, unhealthy smell all but surrounded me, filling every breath and clinging to my clothes.

This wasn’t a human low-income building. Not any longer.

Which was unusual. Vampires tended to be solitary souls, and except for those who had newly blooded young to look after, they rarely lived together. Surely the fact that this lot were would have come to the attention of the Directorate, but I couldn’t remember seeing any mention of a vamp encampment this close to the city. But I guess if the vamps were behaving themselves, they might have avoided Directorate scrutiny.

Footsteps whispered across the night, the sounds so soft regular hearing wouldn’t have caught it. They were pacing me, watching. Worse still, the raw taste of their excitement and blood hunger tainted the air.

Young vamps, I thought. Great. I dug out my badge, holding it toward the building as I kept on walking.

“Directorate, folks. Mind your own business, or there’s going to be a heap of trouble.”

I didn’t bother raising my voice. They were close enough that they’d hear me, even though I couldn’t see them through normal vision. And I didn’t want to see them through infrared. Just knowing how many there were might get a little scary.

The blood hunger abated a little, but I had to wonder what had them so worked up. If they were old enough to control their hunger, then why had the sight of me caused it to rise so sharply?

I could think of only one thing that would cause such a reaction—blood. The scent of fresh blood was a call few vampires could ignore, and with the young it stirred the blood hunger to life, making them react hungrily to even the slightest beat of life.

And yet the night seemed free of that scent. Or was the aroma of vampire overwhelming everything else?

I didn’t know, but I had a suspicion I’d soon find out. And if Ben’s friend was a wolf and living with this lot, then he was a braver soul than me.

The vamps were still following me, and my skin crawled with the sensation. I breathed through my mouth and pretended to ignore them. Though, being vamps, they’d hear my accelerated pulse rate. I was just hoping they’d take it as readiness for action, not for any sort of fear.

Of course, if they decided to attack en masse, I was one dead puppy no matter what. I might have a vampire’s strength and speed, but I’d still be one against dozens. Not great odds, in anyone’s book.

I loped up the steps and through the smashed glass front doors. The yellow light of a solitary bulb broke across the darkness, making the corner shadows seem even deeper. Thankfully, there were no vamps in those shadows. Not yet.

The building had two elevators, but neither of them seemed to be working—one was sitting on the fifth floor with the floor light flashing, and the other had no numbers lit at all. I hesitated, switching to infrared before looking down the left, then the right, corridors. As I suspected, it was pretty scary. There had to be at least twenty vamps crowded against the walls, their eyes glinting brightly and their sharp canines prominently exposed.

I still couldn’t smell blood, but a vampire’s sense for life’s nectar was far sharper than mine. And it was obviously still calling to them.

This would not be a pleasant place to be if things got out of control.

I flicked the small stud in my ear, turning on the two-way com-link—which had been inserted when I’d been going into a madman’s lair, but was now standard equipment for all guardians. Jack didn’t like losing his people, and the com-links also doubled as trackers.

The vamps melted back into the deeper shadows as I headed for the stairs, so hopefully that was a sign they didn’t want any trouble.

But I wasn’t about to take a chance on that.

“Hello, anyone listening?” I said softly.

“What now, wolf girl?” Sal’s tone seemed even sharper than normal, coming though the tinny confines of the com-link.

“What, are you pulling a double shift or something?”

I ran up the stairs as I spoke, heading for the fourth floor. Thankfully, the vamps didn’t follow, though the scent of them didn’t lessen any. Meaning there were plenty more ahead.