Dangerous Games (17 page)

He glanced at me. “Why were you fucking the human?”

“Quinn, just give with the information for a change.”

A smile twitched his lips again. “I’m looking for the person who raised and controls the demons. Given such types are usually drawn to the darker emotions, my best bet is to follow the woman who runs one of three clubs catering to dark needs in Melbourne and see who she interacts with.”

He was lying. Or rather, not telling the entire truth. I’m not sure why I was so positive—not sure if it was intuition or merely past experience—but whatever the reason, I was sure there was more behind his reasons for following this woman than what he was admitting.

“Might not your demon master be drawn to one of the other two, though?”

“Perhaps. But my target’s club is the biggest, and therefore would have the stronger pull to those who relish such things.”

I remembered the card I found in Jin’s drawer. “Don’t suppose this club is called the Hellion Club?”

“Yes.” He glanced at me again, expression concerned. “How do you know of it?”

“Found a business card in Jin’s drawers.”

“If you were going through his drawers, then he is a target rather than just a good time.”

“Well, he was originally a good time, until I saw he was wearing a ring similar to one found at a crime scene.” I paused. “Have you been able to access the personnel files of the Hellion Club?”

“I have people working on it. Again, why?”

“Because the business card I found had Jin’s name on it.”

He looked at me briefly, expression unreadable. “Then this Jin likes his sex rough?”

“A little. Not to the extent that the club apparently caters to, though.”

“Even so, I was under the impression you didn’t like it rough.”

“I don’t. Jin controlled himself.” I looked at him sideways. “And it’s not as if anyone else is bothering to cater to my needs in
any
way at the moment.”

“Sex isn’t everything, Riley.”

“It is to a werewolf when the moon is rising.” I shook my head. “You’re never going to get it, are you?”

“From your expression, I’m guessing probably not.”

He had
that
right. I glanced around as he turned left into an unfamiliar street, and realized we were heading away from my apartment rather than toward it. “Where the hell is this restaurant you’re taking me to? I need to eat, and I need to sleep.” Not to mention report to Jack.

“You wanted breakfast. I thought I’d cook it for you.”

“You cook?”

“Twelve hundred years does tend to give one a lot of time to practice the skill.”

“So where is this palace of yours located?” In all the time we’d been going out, he’d never taken me to his Melbourne home. We’d either gone back to my place, or his plane, or whatever plush hotel room he’d rented for the night. But never anywhere that was personal to him. “And why take this step now?”

He shrugged. “Because I owe it to you. Because you’re right in saying that I need to share more of myself if we are to become anything more than fuck-buddies.”

“Wow. This has to be a first—the vampire actually admitting I was right about something.”

“I can still go somewhere else, you know.”

I did the wise thing and shut up.

We ended up in Warrandyte, a small but extremely trendy “arty” community situated on the outskirts of the city, right next to the Yarra River and a state park. It had the reputation of being conservation-minded and neighborly, and was not the sort of place I figured a security-conscious, privacy-seeking billionaire would want to live.

His house was another surprise. A white picket fence lined the front yard, and the small, weatherboard home looked in serious need of not only a good lick of paint, but the services of a gardener. To say the plants had overrun the garden was the understatement of the year.

“Where’s the mansion?” I said, as he helped me out of the car. The luscious scent of lavender and eucalyptus spun on the air and I breathed deep. Some of the tiredness clawing at my body eased under the freshness of the air.

“The mansion is in Brighton. That’s my house. This is my home.” He wove his fingers through mine and led me down the steep steps. The deck’s wooden flooring creaked as we walked across it and I warily looked down as he stopped to open the door. “Is this thing going to support the weight of two people?”

“It’s old, not rotten.” He pushed open the door. “Welcome to my world.”

His world was warm and comfortable, and totally the opposite of anything I’d ever imagined him living in. The house itself was tiny, consisting of little more than two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and living room. And yet there was nothing claustrophobic about the place. Between the Baltic pine floorboards, stonework, and rich paintwork, the whole house exuded a warm airiness and peace that just felt…right. And this feeling was aided and abetted by furniture that was well-worn and yet comfortable.

“Lovely,” I said, wandering over to the back windows. His yard sloped down to the banks of the Yarra itself, and the view beyond was incredible. If not for the occasional glimpse of a roofline, it would have been easy to believe we were alone in the wilds.

“What would you like for breakfast?” he said from the kitchen. “Pancakes? Bacon and eggs?”

I looked over at him and smiled. “Would both be greedy?”

“Both it is.” He grabbed a frying pan from under the bench and started messing about. I watched for the sheer pleasure of watching a gorgeous man cooking, then shook myself into action and said, “I’ve got to ring Jack. What’s the phone reception like out here?”

“There’s no phone in the house. If you’re using your cell, you’d better go outside.”

He threw me a key. I dumped my handbag onto the nearby chair, grabbed my phone, then unlocked the door. Outside, the sunlight dappled through the trees and the air was quite cool. Somehow, the tranquility of the setting more than made up for any chill.

I walked down to the far end of the balcony, then leaned on the banister and called Jack.

“Well, good to see you’re back to bad habits,” he said, by way of greeting.

“Boss, don’t expect miracles. Especially when I’ve been working my ass off on behalf of the Directorate.” Which was no less than the truth. My ass
still
smarted. I gave him a brief rundown of events, then asked, “You found out anything more about Karen Herbert yet?”

“There’s been no sign of her, and she’s been missing from work for several days. But given our workload, she’s currently listed as low priority.”

Meaning he’ll only start to worry if she turns up dead somewhere. Bastard. “What about Gautier?”

“What about him?”

“Do you think he’s behind the sudden rise in baby vamps, and would he be doing it just to piss us off?”

“Probably.”

“So have you figured out how he managed to walk out of that apartment when it was past sunrise?”

“All he needed to move around in was a van with blacked-out windows.”

“If there was a van around, the old biddy next door would have seen and reported it. She didn’t, so there wasn’t.” I paused. “Dunleavy and his girlfriend must have known something pretty vital to be killed the way they were. Did a full background check reveal any clues?”

“No. But the security tapes from the Cattle Club show Trudi and Jin working together on several occasions. Maybe she overheard something she wasn’t supposed to.”

Maybe. But that was something we’d never know now. I scratched at an itch on my leg irritably. “Here’s another odd one for you, boss. How can Jin, who’s listed as human and feels human, defeat a vampire?”

“I don’t know.” He paused, and I could almost hear his brain ticking over. It wasn’t hard to guess in what direction. Eventually, he said, “But I think you need to hang around him and find out.”

“Like that’s a surprise.”

He snorted softly. “Hey, you admitted you enjoyed yourself.”

“That’s beside the point. There’s something more going on with his brand of sex, Jack. There’s an odd energy in the air—something I’ve never felt before.”

“Does it feel dangerous?”

“No. But—” I hesitated, not sure I could fully explain the odd mix of unease and desire Jin’s energy inflicted. “I’m a werewolf, Jack. There is no known way sex with a human should leave me as shaky as I was feeling this morning.”

“Unless he’s some kind of emotive vampire.”

“Meaning he feeds off emotion?” Which is what Quinn was probably getting at when he said blood vamps weren’t the only kind out there.

“Yes. Some feed off pleasure, some feed off pain. Some like a mix. Jin sounds like the latter type.”

“So why does he read as human?”

“I don’t know. He shouldn’t.”

“If he
was
an emotive vamp, could he beat a regular blood vamp? One who wasn’t a baby?”

“As a general rule, no. Emotive vamps are more energy beings than physical beings.”

Well, Jin was
definitely
physical. “So how can I protect myself against his feeding?”

“You can’t. You just have to ensure you take a break between sessions and get some food into you. The richer the better, because it refuels your energy faster.”

Which was why Jin had been feeding me gooey chocolate cake last night, obviously. “So, even though he’s sucking down emotions, I have to eat to keep my physical energy up, same as with regular vamps?”

“Afraid so. Though emotive vamps do tend to leave you a little more strung out emotionally for a few hours afterward.”

I must have slept through that period of recovery, because I was feeling okay by the time I’d left Jin’s. “And if I don’t eat and refuel? Can it become dangerous?”

“Well, he could drain you to the point that you’re physically unable to defend yourself, but he can’t kill you with his feeding as a blood vamp can.” He paused. “See if you can grab some hair samples. We’ll run some tests and see exactly what we’re dealing with.”

“He said he’d ring tonight, so I’ll see what happens.” I paused. “Have you decoded whatever was written on the inside of the ring?”

“Not yet. It appears to be some form of glyphs. We’re trying to find a match.”

“Anything else of interest in Cole’s report, then?”

“Yeah, you were being a pain in the ass at the scene. Not that
that’s
a surprise.”

“Hey, I was just asking questions. He needs an attitude adjustment.” And a good dose of werewolf sex. “How did Dunleavy actually die?”

“Heart attack.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

“The initial attack happened during the skinning, the fatal one after eleven.”

Which was about when I’d been entering his apartment. The poor man probably thought I was Gautier coming back to finish him off. “What about the time of death of the woman?”

“About eight. Which means Gautier had to have some means of getting out of there without facing sunlight, even if the old girl next door didn’t see it.”

“Logically speaking, I’d agree. But I’ve just got a feeling something more is going on.”

“You tried to clarify that feeling?”

“I can’t clarify something that’s as tenuous as a feeling.”

“Yes, you can. You just need more training.”

“What I need is more sleep. Especially if you want me out with Jin tonight.”

“Take the day off, but keep your phone on in case I need to contact you.”

“Done deal.”

I hung up and headed back inside. The smell of hazelnut coffee swam through the air and I just about drooled. “You’ve been preparing for my visit.”

He nodded as he dished up several pancakes. “It’s the only reason I have food in the house. Normally, I don’t.”

I propped on a stool and leaned my arms against the bench. “So it’s been a while since you invited another woman here?”

He added bacon and eggs to the plate, slid the lot across the bench, then looked me in the eye. “I’ve never invited a woman here before.”

I raised my eyebrows, even as a warmth I couldn’t even begin to explain spread throughout my body. “Never, ever?”

“Never, ever.”

“Wow.” I picked up my knife and fork. “Thank you for the honor.”

His sudden smile was filled with warm amusement, and once again my hormones stirred to sluggish life. Jin had better be a short-term job, because I sure as hell
wasn’t
liking the impact he was having on my sex life. I mean, normally I’d be jumping over the bench after a smile like that.

“At least you can no longer say I don’t share anything of myself.”

I wanted to point out that this was just a house, even if it
was
his sanctuary, and that what I’d been talking about was
him
. His past, his hopes, his dreams—everything that had made him the vampire he was today. But I didn’t. It was a step forward, and for now, that was enough.

“So, are you just planning to tease me with that delicious coffee smell?”

His smile stretched, then he turned to grab a cup and pour the coffee. I admired the view, wished I had more energy, and began consuming the meal he gave me.