Blood Dark (13 page)

T
hey’d been
stood by the speakers for so long that Caitlin wasn’t sure her eardrums would ever return to normal.

Even though Meghan led the way to a quieter spot, the vibrations still made her feet throb – it was either that or the three-inch heels stilettos in which she’d been dragged to and from bars.

She’d quickly learned that Meghan was as shameless outside the office as she was in it. At least fifty per cent of her drinks had come free already from a barrage of reciprocal flirting.

Meghan was equally not shy about being tactile with Caitlin, taking her by the hand and leading her wherever she wanted her to go – this time over to a booth and thankfully away from the speakers at last.

‘Why did you join the VCU?’ Meghan asked her. ‘Knowing about the soul ripper coming after you, I mean. If you were so convinced you weren’t going to make it, why waste those last years doing that job? Why not give yourself an easier life?’

‘Stick to shadow reading?’

‘Not that that’s easier but, yes, why not?’

‘Because, at the time, I wanted more.’

‘Morgan was your partner when you worked the Malloy case, wasn’t he?’

‘In some field work, yes.’

‘And now he’s your boss.’

‘Yes.’

‘And is that the full story?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Is there anything between you?’

‘Me and Matt? No! Heck, no.’

‘So nothing’s ever happened?’

‘It’s not like that between us.’

‘Why not?’

Caitlin knocked back a mouthful of her drink. ‘Why should it be?’

‘Because am I the only one to notice he’s hot? A little straight, yeah, but
hot
. He seems like a nice guy, good at his job, dependable, smart. And I’ve had a tease of his guns. He
seriously
works out.’

‘He also lost his wife only three years ago and has two little girls he’s bringing up alone.’

‘Wow,’ Meghan said, her eyes wide, her hand over her heart, a smirk on her lips. ‘Gorgeous, successful
and
a committed family man with a tragic background. I’m already falling in love.’

Caitlin shook her head. ‘That’s not even funny.’

‘Lighten up,’ Meghan said. She knocked back a mouthful of her drink. ‘I’m serious though, Caitlin, it wouldn’t bother you if I made a move?’

‘He’s your
boss
.’

‘I wouldn’t do it in the office,’ she said with a playful wink.

‘All the same, I think he’s got enough on his plate.’

‘I promise I’ll be gentle with him.’

And Matt was big enough to take care of himself. Matt who had asked her for a favour when she knew she owed him more than one.

‘So what about you?’ Caitlin asked. ‘Why the move here, Meghan?’

‘I’ve always liked to keep an eye on high-profile cases across locales. When all of this went to court, it captured my attention. When word was out that they didn’t want to fill the position internally and a call was put out to agents from other locales, my boss approached me. I jumped at the chance – not too dissimilar to how you did. But for very different reasons, obviously.’

‘And what are yours?’

‘Catching Malloy would make for major career progression. I want to head up my own unit one day. Then there’s the personal – the thrill of the chase, the impossible catch. I think we have that in common, don’t we?’

‘Do we?’

‘Is that not a big part of what it is with Kane for you? The thrill of the chase?’ She knocked back another mouthful, her playful gaze glinting. ‘That must have been quite the buzz when you finally caught him. Especially achieving what none of your colleagues had. You must have loved rubbing it in their faces.’

‘I would gladly feel more smug about it if he hadn’t been there waiting for me.’

‘He still wanted you, Caitlin.
You
got his attention. Come on, just between us, is he really
that
good?’

But there had been more than one too many probing questions from her that day; too many attempts to test where things lay between her and Kane. If Sirius wanted to know if she could be used in some way against him, Meghan was the prime candidate to get answers.

‘He knows what he’s doing,’ Caitlin declared before knocking back a mouthful of drink, grateful that the darkness would hide the heat flooding her cheeks at recollections of that afternoon.

‘I know I gave you a hard time back in the office, but I was only playing devil’s advocate. I’m not immune to seeing the appeal. Not that I’m stupid enough to do anything about it.’ Her eyes flared, her palm held up as a peace offering. ‘No offense.’

Caitlin flashed her a smile of feigned indifference before glancing back across at the dance floor. It was almost easy to forget Sirius’s threat even existed. Looking around the club, instead of any indication of looming disaster, it was a room of those making the best of a horrendous situation they’d been forced into. A room that had no idea that any time there could be an invasion of catastrophic proportions. An invasion she was more certain than ever Kane intended to do something about. Something she was potentially standing in the way of if she didn’t give him what he wanted – what he said he needed.

But Meghan’s insinuations in that afternoon’s interview still felt raw. Like skin tingling after the plaster had been ripped off, those re-instilled doubts lingered. Doubts that had been made worse by Kane’s aloofness with her
until
he had wanted something.

With that little snippet of contention gnawing away at her since, she knew that was part of the reason she was willing to do what Morgan asked and join Meghan for a drink. She knew she needed a distraction, something to stop her running straight to Kane – something that would stop him thinking she was at his beck and call.

‘So is that what it was like with Rob?’

The mention of her ex made her heart jolt for all the wrong reasons. Her attention snapped back to Meghan. ‘What?’

‘The thrill of the chase. I told you, I read all the files. I spoke to Max and Rob about them holding Kane down in the cellar. Rob and I got talking.’ Meghan smirked conspiratorially. ‘From what he tells me, you lusted after him all through your teens.’

The mere mention of Rob made her skin crawl, let alone the thought that he and Meghan had been sat talking about their personal relationship.

Kane was one thing. The thought of Meghan prying into her private past, and that Rob had been willing to engage, was entirely another.

‘That’s what he told you?’

‘Didn’t you?’ Meghan’s eyes were playfully intrusive until distracted by a male watching from about ten feet away. Meghan flashed him a smile and he raised his glass in response.

‘You make it sound seedy. We didn’t do anything until I left college,’ Caitlin remarked, recapturing Meghan’s attention.

‘Who ended it?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘See, years of the chase and then I bet it all just fizzled.’

‘Actually he ended it, not me. If you must know, he was okay with me being a shadow reader but he didn’t want me transferring into the VCU. I dug my heels in.’

And finally uttering it added to the queasiness that had plagued her since Meghan’s earlier interrogation.

Just like Kane.

‘So you chose the VCU over Rob?’

‘That’s how he saw it.’
Just like Kane.
‘The truth was Rob had known about the soul ripper and he left me because he was scared. Because I was a lost cause.’

‘Just as you thought that anyone else you got involved with would run for the same reason.’ Meghan paused as she ran the rim of her glass pensively over her lower lip. ‘Except for Kane. Not only would Kane not run, he could slay your demon.’ She took another mouthful before lowering her glass again. ‘To be completely upfront with you, I think you’re more in control of this situation with Kane than a lot of people acknowledge, Caitlin. Like you pointed out to me earlier, you’re the one who survived
and
got the outcome you wanted, whatever Kane’s intentions. To be honest, I admire you. I bet you could snap your fingers right now and he’d be there.’

‘Is that what you’re hoping I’ll do?’

Or what Sirius was hoping she’d do.

‘Either that or he’s going to fuck up before too long,’ Meghan said with a shrug. ‘The fact is, you still have access to Kane Malloy and I think you need to decide what you want out of that. If you ask me, you should be running this unit. The job’s going to be up for grabs soon, right? Once the dust settles. If you played this right, you could make a
real
difference out there.’

‘I have no intention of taking on that role.’

‘Why not? A woman heading up the VCU, or even the entire TSCD, in the most-notorious locale? Can you imagine how immense that would be?’

Meghan glanced back over at the male who was still stood there. This time, she let her gaze linger to confirm she was definitely interested.

‘You should be careful,’ Caitlin reminded her.

‘I’m a big girl. And it’s your round,’ she said across her shoulder as she slid out of the booth. ‘Get them in.’

Caitlin watched Meghan edge through the crowds, the confident sway to her hips complimenting her unashamed hand instantly sliding down the male’s behind as she guided him onto the dance floor.

Caitlin had no intention of being parked in the booth alone. She knew how it worked, and a lone female was going to attract attention – linked with Kane Malloy or not.

She eased her way through the crowds. At one point, like swimming against the current, she wasn’t even sure if she was moving or not despite the effort.

Finally reaching her destination, she found a gap at the far end of the bar, slightly around the corner. She placed her clutch bag on the counter and tugged the front of her dress up a touch and smoothed down the back of her flared skirt as she waited to be served.

The strapless, mid-thigh-length dress she felt painfully conspicuous in was just as much for Kane’s benefit as the only appropriate thing she had to wear on a night out. As Meghan had waited back in her apartment, Caitlin had pulled out the box nestled beneath all of her sweaters. Placing it on her bed, she’d opened it up, half expecting moths to fly out after almost three years of it remaining sealed. But the paper had kept it fresh, faultless.

Even all those years ago when she’d bought it, as she’d examined herself from all angles in the dressing-room mirror, she’d wondered what Kane would think if he saw her in it. Now she’d ensure he would.

But as much as the dress was laced with personal motivations, Morgan’s plea still occupied her thoughts. She had a responsibility to her locale, and clearly there was something going down out there or Kane wouldn’t have given her the pouches – pouches she’d left in her jacket pocket, her clutch bag too restrictive for anything other than her gun and her wallet. And if he was pre-empting more of those creatures, she needed to know why. She needed to know what was coming. She needed to know what could be done about it more than a few grains and some ash. And Meghan had been right: she
did
have the advantage. Now that, yet again, Kane needed something from her, she’d be a fool not to make the most of it. If he wanted information, then he was going to have to be willing to meet her halfway.

One more round and then she’d make her excuses and leave.

She stretched over the bar slightly as she strained to see where the bartender had got to, wondering if maybe that was why she’d been able to find a gap at the far end.

‘Business or pleasure, Parish?’ Kane asked, mirroring her as he rested both arms on the bar beside her.

Despite her resolve to play it cool, the butterflies in her stomach instantly felt like they’d been let out of a claustrophobic jar.

The bartender joined them a split-second later. Four shot glasses were placed in front of them.

She refused to show she was impressed.

‘You’re being rather brazen talking to me here, Malloy,’ she said, despite knowing the busy club was ironically the perfect choice not to get spotted amidst the mask of smoke and bodies and movement. ‘I’m not alone.’

‘I know. Yale is being kept distracted on the dance floor thanks to one of my more persuasive associates. The two guys who followed you in here are well out of range, and I’ll know as soon as circumstances change.’

Caitlin glanced over her shoulder, her spine prickling at the thought of being followed – proving, as she’d suspected, this was far from an innocent drink as far as Meghan was concerned.

Kane knocked back his shot. ‘So since when did you start socializing with your colleagues?’ he added, meeting her gaze. ‘Especially when you’re supposed to be coming to see me.’

‘I do have other things to do in Blackthorn aside from just you, Kane.’

His smile was fleeting.

She flinched at the feel of his cool hand against the heat of the inside of her thigh as he turned to face her fully, his back to the crowd.

His thumb slid over the top of her thigh holster before unclipping it, letting it fall to the floor as he removed the blade she had tucked there.

‘As long as the dress is for my benefit,’ he said, his rasp playing against her ear.

Her heart skipped a beat.

She met his gaze, her lips inches from his, her hips still facing the bar. ‘Possessive much?’

‘Of what’s mine, yes.’

She flinched as he deftly, and surprisingly gently, brushed her sex, his thumb not breaking through the thin fabric that prevented skin on skin contact. She shuddered at the tenderness, the sensations coursing through her body, knowing her dampness was betraying her as much as her clenched knuckles.

The crowd, the noise, the rhythmic beat and breathless huskiness of the female vocals echoing through the speakers, caused a distraction from reality to the point she was oblivious to anyone else but him. Anything but the music in her ears and the vibrations beneath her feet and the cool vampire hand that caressed her so unashamedly.

The possessiveness of his touch – the intimacy of somewhere so public, something neither had afforded each other before – felt as intoxicating as their surroundings. All the same, his blatant disregard for anyone who could be watching reminded her of the old Kane – the Kane she had pursued, not the Kane whose bed she’d shared those past two weeks.