The Darkest Kiss

“So if he attacked you straightaway, when did you get the chance to call Ben?”

He closed his eyes. “I didn’t.”

I looked at Ben, who said, “Maybe the shock and blood loss is affecting his memory.”

Maybe. And maybe he was telling the truth and something strange was going on.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and as I looked toward the doorway, a voice said, “Ambulance officers. Who needs the help?”

“Down here,” I shouted.

The footsteps drew closer, and a second later two men appeared. “Well, that was a hairy experience,” the first man said. “Never been in a place where so many vamps haunted the shadows.” He glanced at Ivan and clicked his tongue. “The vamps do this?”

“No. They just didn’t stop it.”

“Vamps tend to be like that,” he said philosophically. “It’s all about their needs, not others’.”

And that, I thought, as I rose to get out of his way, was the best summation I’d heard of vamps in quite a while.

I followed Ben across the living room. He crossed his bare arms, his blue T-shirt straining across his chest as he leaned a shoulder against the wall. He must have left the bike leathers at home in his haste to get here, but the T and the jeans were a damn fine look.

I tried to concentrate on the business at hand. “Does Ivan work at Nonpareil as well?”

Ben shook his head. In the bright living room light, his blue eyes looked almost sapphire with the anger that still overwhelmed his scent. “He’s an investment advisor.”

“Then how did you two meet?”

“We go to the same gym, and became friends a few years ago.” He hesitated. “Why?”

“Because I think it’s odd that two people you know have now been attacked in an identical way.”

He frowned. “Why would either of the attacks be related, let alone related to me?”

“Well, you’d have to tell me. Why would someone want to get back at you by attacking your friends? Because one thing I’m sure of is the fact that they’re related.”

His frown deepened. “Impossible. I mean, Ivan and Denny didn’t even know each other. And why do you think it was the same killer going after them both?”

“Because I recognized the vampire’s scent. The vampire who was in Denny’s bedroom—and who might well have killed him—is the same vampire responsible for stringing Ivan up by his wrists and slicing him open.”

Chapter 4

He stared at me for a moment, his expression neutral. But his blue eyes were even darker than before, and the sense of his anger increased. This time, it was aimed at me.

“Are you sure?” he said eventually, and the effort of control was evident in the burly, thick notes invading his rich tones.

“Yes.”

“Then why in the hell did you let him go?” He said it with such force that it blew the sweaty strands of hair away from my face and had the ambulance guys looking around sharply.

I waved a hand to tell them it was okay, and met Ben’s anger head-on. “Because he was a fucking vampire who jumped out the window and then probably flew away. I’m many things, Ben, but I haven’t quite learned to fly yet.”

He looked at me for a moment, then took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Sorry. You’re doing me a favor by even being here, and I shouldn’t be taking my frustration out on you.”

I smiled and touched his arm lightly. Warmth tingled through my fingers—a reaction not so much to the heat of his skin as to simple contact. I might have denied my need for it over these past few months—well, as much as any wolf could—but the hunger would always be there.

And I was beginning to doubt whether it could be restrained for much longer.

“It’s okay. I’m well acquainted with the need to lash out when people you care about are hurt.” Hell, I’d done it myself often enough.

Amusement crinkled the corners of his eyes. “I don’t care about them that way, if that’s what you’re implying. They were just good friends—people I could trust—and that’s rare in this cynical world of ours.”

“True.” I let my hand drop from his arm, but my fingers still tingled from the contact. I resisted the urge to clench them in an effort to retain the sensation for that little bit longer. My hormones didn’t need that sort of encouragement. “I think my next call of duty should be our local vampire master. Are you going to accompany Ivan to the hospital?”

“I’d better, at least until his family get there.”

“Keep me updated, then.”

“I will.” He touched my cheek lightly, briefly. “See you tomorrow.”

“You will.” I stepped away from the lure of his closeness, then turned and walked out the door. Once back in the darkness of the corridor, I said softly, “Hey, Sal, you got any information on one Vincent Castillo?”

“No details on either a Vinny or Vincent Castillo. If he’s the head of that little shindig over there, he’s kept himself under our radar.”

Which wasn’t to say that Jack didn’t know about him, just that there was nothing on record. “You want to ask the boss about it when you see him?”

“He’s not coming back in until tomorrow, but I’ll leave a note.”

“Thanks, Sal.”

“Don’t thank me, wolf girl. Thank the gods I’m feeling helpful right now.”

I grinned. No doubt she’d be her regular snarky self tomorrow, but that was okay. I don’t think I could handle too much of the super-efficient, super-pleasant Salliane.

I touched the com-link lightly, switching off voice but not tracking. It was doubtful the vampires would attack us now—if for no other reason than the fact they’d draw too much attention from the Directorate.

The vampires at the other end of the corridor still hadn’t moved. I strode toward them, noting for the first time the fact that all five seemed to have been turned around the same age. They all had that lanky, almost awkward look boys seemed to get in their late teens. They were all blonds, too.

I stopped in front of them and tried not to breathe too deeply. “I need to speak to Vinny Castillo.”

They glanced at one another, then one said, “Top floor. You’re expected.”

“Great.” Though I wasn’t sure it was.

I headed for the stairs and began to climb. The unwashed scent of vampire began to fade the farther I went up, so that by the time I reached the eighth floor, it had all but disappeared. In its place was a mix of blossom and pine that reminded me of springtime and made my nose twitch with the need to sneeze.

I stopped on the landing and looked around. Darkness haunted the corridor to the left, but the right was lit by a series of red candles in stylized, rose-shaped sconces. The flickering light danced warmly across the graffiti- strewn walls and gave the hallway an oddly forbidding feel. Given that Ivan still had power in his apartment, the candles were obviously for effect rather than a necessity.

At the far end of the corridor, a woman waited. Like the vampires on the floors below, she was young and gangly. But unlike them, her blond hair had been recently washed, and shone like pale gold in the flickering candlelight.

Two things were obvious—Vinny liked them young and blonde, and it didn’t seem to matter whether they were boys or girls.

I lowered a shield and reached out carefully, feeling psychically for those in the room beyond. I might as well have been trying to source out a big black hole. It didn’t feel like there were psychic deadeners involved, nor did it feel like any kind of natural psychic wall I’d ever encountered. It was just a hole. Or maybe it was more like a black star, because it seemed to suck away any sort of mental resonance.

Even the kid at the door wasn’t showing up on my psychic radar, though she didn’t look like an old enough