Crimson Vengeance (8 page)

“Bull.”

“Look, I didn’t come here to pick a fight with you.”

Ivy leaned back against the booth and crossed her arms over her chest. “Then enlighten me, what did you come here for?”

“I came to help.”

Of course he did. “You can’t help if you don’t have an open mind. You need to know
all
the facts before you pull out your holy water and wooden stake.”

She thought he’d continue to argue and was surprised when, instead, he began to laugh. At the sound, her shoulders tensed even more. The guy was certifiable. It had to be a full moon, because every head case within a hundred miles was showing up on her doorstep. She obviously has some real bad juju going.

“I like you, Ivy Hernandez,” he said when his laughter subsided.

His green eyes were soft and seemed sincere.

Despite the desire to embrace her anger like a shield, his words made her shoulders relax just a touch. Maybe she was a sucker for a pretty face. “Yeah, well the jury’s still out on you, Colin Jamison.”

He took both her hands this time. His touch was gentle, warm as his thumbs stroked her skin. “Tell me what I need to know about your friend, and I promise to keep an open mind.”

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. “An open mind?

You swear?”

“On a stack of Bibles. Now, tell me what I should know.”

So she did.

It was like a rewind from the night before. Riah stood in the loading area under the artificial light and waited as Ivy backed up the coroner’s van to the double doors. At least it was a repeat until the passenger’s door flew open at the same time Ivy jumped out of the driver’s side. A pair of long jean-covered legs came out first, followed by the rest of a tall, lean, and handsome man. The same man who’d barged in last night. Now, he stood at the back of the van and returned Riah’s stare. With a chance to really study him, Riah finally recognized him for what he was.

Riah jumped back as if a blowtorch had burned her, the reflex sudden and instinctive. She couldn’t have stopped if she tried. “Ivy,”

she sputtered. “What are you thinking? Would you care to explain?”

“Soon,” Ivy told her as she popped open the back of the van and began to slide the gurney out. “Let’s get Jorge inside first. The clock’s ticking, chica.”

Riah didn’t like it. On the other hand, Ivy did have a point.

She shot the man a last hard look, then hurried to the doors to hold them open. “You know the way,” she snapped. She didn’t direct her comment solely to Ivy.

At the same time, she glanced toward the guard office. Who was on tonight? Hopefully it wasn’t Brett. Things wouldn’t go easy or simple if he saw who accompanied Ivy in the van. Brett really could be difficult, which was only one reason he wasn’t among her favorite guards.

She didn’t have to wait long for her question to be answered. A few seconds after the trio passed the guard office, a young man, tall and lean, rounded the corner and nodded to her. Thank goodness. It was Andrew Schneider, the newest of the security crew, and a recent return to the city after a four-year stint in the navy. Things were bound to be easier without Brett. Besides, Andrew seemed like a nice kid. She’d always had a soft spot for sailors.

“Everything okay, Doc?”

She smiled and nodded. “Fine, Andrew, thank you.”

Without pausing, Ivy and Colin pushed past with the gurney.

“You let me know if you have any problems like last night.

Heard about the assault on Officer Barton.” His thumbs hooked in his belt, his eyes moved as he surveyed his surroundings and the two people who hurried down the hall to the autopsy suite.

“You’ll be the first one I call.” She started to follow Ivy and Colin.

“Doc?”

She stopped. “Yes, Andrew?” Now wasn’t the time to chit-chat.

Ivy wasn’t kidding when she said the clock was ticking.

“You can call me A.J., everybody does.” The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly.

She looked at him and the smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. He was a very serious young man. “A.J. it is.”

He gave her a slight nod and then continued down the corridor in the opposite direction. She rushed to follow Ivy. Inside the autopsy room, she had already transferred Jorge’s body, still inside the sealed black bag, from the gurney to the stainless table. Riah stopped just inside with her back to the door. With her foot, she pushed the door open a crack and took one final glance just to make certain A.J. was gone. The hallway was empty.

Satisfied they were alone, she snapped the door shut, turned the knob to engage the lock, and stood with her back to it. They wouldn’t have any surprise guests tonight.

“Somebody want to tell me what’s going on here?”

Ivy pushed the empty gurney toward the door. “It’s a long story and you won’t believe it. Or even like it, for that matter.”

“Give me a try.” Riah folded her arms across her chest and stayed in front of the door. Ivy stopped just short of her, the gurney between them.

“I’m a vampire hunter,” the man announced from across the room.

Riah turned her gaze away from Ivy to study the man. Her chest tightened. She’d seen his kind before. Not once. Not twice.

In fact, she’d lost count of the number of zealous vampire hunters she’d dispatched over the years. Each time she took one down, the church sent in another. The resolve of those who waited in the wings never seemed to diminish. It was an old and tiresome battle. Heavy on the tiresome.

When she stopped taking human blood several centuries ago, she stopped looking over her shoulder for the never-ending hunters.

She’d hoped that part of her life was over. Not for the first time, she was wrong.

Things were dangerous enough without this newest complication. She couldn’t deal with a rogue vampire and a hunter at the same time. She looked him square in the eye. “Get out.”

Ivy jumped in and held up a hand. “Wait, Riah. Listen to what he has to say before you send him away.”

She didn’t even look at Ivy. “I don’t need anything from his kind. He should be grateful I didn’t kill him the second he stepped out of the van.”

She might have given up her old way of life, but her memories were a hundred percent intact. Hunters had destroyed too many of her friends through the years. Technically children of the church, these hunters certainly failed to grasp the concept of redemption or forgiveness.

“Jesus Christ,” Ivy blurted loudly. “You’re as bad as Colin.”

The hunter had the nerve to smile. “I said get out.” Riah pointed to the door.

Ivy touched Riah on the arm. “Do you honestly believe, after all this time, I’d bring someone here who might harm you?” Her question was whisper-soft.

Riah paused. She wanted to disagree with Ivy, yet she couldn’t.

What she said was true. Not once in all the years they’d known each other had Ivy done one single thing to jeopardize either Riah’s secret or their friendship.

“Do you?” Ivy demanded of her, fingers firm on Riah’s arm.

She stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “No.”

Ivy nodded and relaxed her grip. “All right then, give the man ten minutes, and if you don’t think he can help, you can do whatever you want with him.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” Colin took a step back. “I didn’t agree to that.”

Ivy shrugged. “It was sort of implied when you got in the van.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t have a choice. I’d suggest you start explaining.” Ivy crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him with an expectant expression on her face. “We don’t have all night, you know.”

Riah raised an eyebrow and stared at him too. Against her better judgment, she’d humor Ivy and give him ten minutes. “That’s a very good suggestion.” She looked up pointedly at the clock on the far wall.

Colin looked from Ivy to Riah, then held up his hands. “Okay, okay. My name is Colin Jamison.”

“And you’re one of the church’s vampire hunters.” Riah didn’t mean to sound bitter but couldn’t help it. Five hundred years of hiding from his kind didn’t exactly nurture feelings of goodwill.

Talk about vampires being killers, these guys came in droves and they killed first, asked questions later. They always struck her as more than a bit hypocritical.

“I’m the last vampire hunter,” he said pointedly.

Okay, now that did surprise her. When she was turned, it seemed as though there were as many hunters as vampires. Possibly more.

Of course things change, especially when it involves a time period of five centuries or so, give or take. Still, it seemed impossible to Riah the man could be the last hunter. Then again…

“The church having trouble recruiting these days?”

“No.”

She tilted her head and studied him. A handsome man, his eyes told her he’d seen the black side of the universe. Like her, darkness had touched his soul somewhere along the line and left its undeniable mark. Still, she didn’t understand why he now stood alone in a crusade as old as the church itself.

“Explain.” Riah could hardly wait to hear this story.

He told her then of an army of soldiers that the church recruited to hunt down and destroy all who had been turned to the darkness.

He told her of the battles and the victories. Some she knew of. Some she didn’t. He held back nothing, including their failures, and by the time his words trailed off, she was astonished.

“You’re telling me your church has wiped out all but two of us?”

Riah would call few vampires her friend, yet theirs was a world insulated because of their fundamental difference to mortals. It made them all a strange sort of family. She’d know if they were all gone, wouldn’t she? Yet, if he was to be believed, they were indeed. Had she removed herself that completely from the world of vampires?

Colin Jamison nodded slowly. “Actually, three, counting yourself. I wasn’t aware of you.”

“What are their names? The other two.” Riah was almost afraid to find out. Though she despised her dark existence, to think so few were left gave her a feeling of loneliness. It was one thing to choose to be alone; it was another altogether to find herself an endangered species.

“The one I’ve tracked here, the same one who killed Jorge, is known only as Destiny. She’s a beautiful woman with pale hair and green eyes. She’s also deadly. The other, we know very little about, other than she was the last child of Henry
VII
. He announced to the world that the infant, known as Princess Catherine, died at birth. The truth was, his wife died in childbirth and the king, not interested in raising another daughter, willingly gave her up in a game of cards. A favored duke, childless and wanting to please his wife, took the infant and raised her as his own. Catherine was turned after a nighttime raid on her carriage, and we’ve been hunting her ever since.”

The tension in her shoulders returned and a knot formed in her stomach. “Where is she?”

Colin shook his head. “I don’t know. Once I’ve destroyed Destiny, I’ll hunt her down and take her head.”

“And what about me?”

He looked troubled, and it was a moment before he answered.

“Again, I don’t know. You’re a surprise in more ways than one. If I’m to believe what Ivy’s told me, we’re on the same team.”

“Yet I’m the very thing you hunt. What you’re sworn to destroy.”

His green eyes narrowed. “Indeed. Let’s finish this hunt, take out Destiny, and see how the universe shapes up from there.”

Riah raised an eyebrow. “Very philosophical for a hunter.”

Colin shrugged. “Hey, it’s the twenty-first century, and although your friend here accuses me of being a closed-minded jerk, I prefer to call myself enlightened.”

She wasn’t sure what to think. At the same time, her heart pushed her toward trust. Truthfully, Riah was tired. Five centuries was a long time. It was about time for something to give, somewhere. Perhaps together with her friends, she’d find what she’d been seeking, or perhaps it was simply time to end her existence on this planet. Colin Jamison might very well take the problem right out of her hands.

She studied Ivy and Colin for a long moment before she made up her mind. It might be stupid but, oh, well. “Let’s get to work.”

She headed to the table where Jorge’s body twitched, the black plastic bag moving as though filled with a dozen snakes.

Oh, shit…” Ivy’s stomach took a huge lurch and she quickly made the sign of the cross.

Riah didn’t even look up, her voice tense. “If you can’t handle this, leave now.” She yanked the zipper, the sound machine-gun loud in the tiled room.

Oh, yeah, she so needed to leave and couldn’t. Once upon a time, she’d loved Jorge and married him on a beautiful June afternoon in front of all their family and friends. So handsome in the black tux with the crisp white shirt, he’d smiled radiantly when he looked up to see her coming down the center aisle of the church in her long white gown and filmy veil. How his dark eyes had sparkled.

Whatever else might have happened between them, Jorge had loved her, and for that alone she owed it to him to be here.

She took in a huge breath and let it out slowly. “I can do it,” she said firmly, and hoped it was the truth.

“Hey.” A muffled voice came from the other side of the locked door.

“Let her in.”

Colin, the closest to the door, turned the lock. Immediately it banged open and Adriana flew through like a flash of dark lightning.

He locked the door again before coming to stand beside Ivy.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she said in a rush before skidding to a halt, her gaze flying from Riah and Ivy to Colin. “Did I miss something here?”

“You’ve missed quite a lot,” Riah told her bluntly. “Right now, you need to get the samples and quickly. Explanations will have to wait until later.”

“Sure thing, Boss.” Adriana whirled around to one of the counters and began to unpack her case.

“I can hold him,” Ivy said as she pulled handcuffs from her pockets. The steel felt ice-cold.

Gently, Colin tried to take the handcuffs out of her grasp. “Let me.”She started to protest, her fingers curling around the metal cuffs so tight that her fingers turned white. “I can do it.”