Edge of Night (9 page)

His chin dipped in a nod. “But Conclave politics are working against my team doing their jobs.”

“Ugh. Politics.” She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her, his body warm against her skin. “My aunt and uncle deal with that in the pack. I’m guessing the BS is similar, even if it’s sacrilege to compare vamps to wolves.”

“Right on all counts. The two races have more in common than they like to admit.” His jaw rested on the top of her head, his sigh ruffling her hair. “In this case, my father is involved with the suspect’s mother.”

“Sticky situation.” She ran her palm down his side. “This could blow up in your face no matter what you do.”

His chuckle was humorless. “I have a feeling it might. Don’t mind me if I come hide out at your house so the big, bad bloodsuckers don’t get me.”

Her heart squeezed, and she absolutely refused to acknowledge that she might like the idea of having him around, getting to know more than just his sexual tastes. For so many reasons, she had to resist wanting that. What she’d never counted on when she’d jumped into bed with him was how hard it would be to keep her emotions out of the equation. She already liked him far more than she should—knowing more about him would only make it harder. The harsh reality was that this thing between them would eventually end. It had gone on far longer than she’d expected, but the sex had been too good and the affair too convenient to want to walk away.

Maybe it was time to start pulling back. For her own good.

Chapter Four

What was it with him and Normal women? Luca suppressed the irritated growl that wanted to erupt from his throat. He hadn’t stayed past dessert at Erin’s the night before. It was obvious she wanted him to go, so he’d gone, but he wasn’t sure what had happened to change the tone of the evening. Sure, he was in this affair for the sex, nothing more—and so was she—but they’d never done the fuck and get out routine. It had always been…friendlier,
warmer
than that. Though he didn’t spend the night every time he visited, he’d never felt as if he was unwelcome. Until last night.

Damn it.

Did this mean she wanted to bow out? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t like the thought. He
enjoyed
his time with her, not just the sexual release, but the mental break she offered from all the craziness of his job. He thrived on that insanity, but everyone needed some downtime. When he was with Erin, he could unwind. Something about her was relaxing, easy to be with. He didn’t want to lose that tiny patch of serenity in his life. But if she wanted out, there was nothing he could do about it, and that sent his mood into dark and vicious territory.

It didn’t help that he now had to put up with the hostility of the last Normal woman he’d dated. Well, Normal-turned-werewolf, but still. His shit luck was holding. He pressed the button to call the elevator with more force than the action required. He’d already been to his office, fetched himself coffee and talked to Delta and Jack about any updates on the Hammond case. There was no more putting off going to speak to Tess about her findings during Dillon’s autopsy. Luca wasn’t looking forward to any part of that particular interaction, but using his rank as agent in charge to delegate it would be the coward’s way out. No one else would know, but he would, and he had to deal with her someday. Best to get it over with.

It was almost a relief when the elevator doors parted and he found the team’s seer, Merek, in the car. Luca dipped his chin in greeting. “Have you had a chance to go through the scene yet?”

Merek nodded. “This morning.”

“Great.” Luca stepped in and stabbed the button for the medical examiner’s floor. “Ride with me and fill me in.”

The doors slipped shut and they moved down. Merek propped a shoulder against the wall, and the powerful warlock eyed Luca critically. “You look like hell. Women troubles?”

Working to keep his expression carefully bland, Luca met the other man’s gaze squarely. “Are you guessing or seeing?”

Merek’s grin said it didn’t matter, since he’d gotten his answer from Luca’s evasion. “Guessing. You know I don’t often get visions about people I know well.”

“Uh huh.” Thank gods for that, considering Luca was fucking Jack’s cousin. He’d prefer that little tidbit not make the rounds of office gossip. Time to get the conversation back on track. “What was your reading of my crime scene?”

“Unfortunately, I’m not going to be as helpful as you’re hoping. It wasn’t the kid’s first trip down the stairs—that much I can tell you. The way things played out yesterday…your vampire was smacking around his kid at the top of the staircase, the wife tried to get in the middle, the bloodsucker grins at her—fucking
grins
at her—backhands the boy and he takes a tumble. So it comes down to motivation. Hammond hit his son on purpose, but did he mean for him to die? That’s not something my visions can tell us.” Merek shook his head, anger flashing in his gray gaze. “Poor boy never had a chance. I hate assholes who mess with kids.”

Luca couldn’t agree more. The whole case made his skin crawl and molten rage flood his belly. The elevator opened and Luca gestured for the other man to precede him. “How’re Alex and Chloe? I haven’t seen them in a while.”

The warlock’s fierce expression eased at the mention of his wife and their adopted werewolf son. “Chloe’s pregnant. Alex is still a genius, working on his graduate degrees at UW. Yes, I mean
degrees
, plural.”

Luca shook his head. The teen wolf was a force to be reckoned with: driven, brilliant, and an old soul that made him far wiser than his years. He, Chloe and Tess had all survived the same attack by werewolf terrorists. Chloe was a witch, so she couldn’t be Changed even if a werewolf bit her; Alex had been born a wolf, but Tess had been vulnerable as a Normal. That night had tested the mettle of everyone involved, and Luca had always been impressed by Alex’s grit. He’d survived what would have broken men twice his age. “How old is he now? Eighteen?”

“Just turned nineteen last weekend, actually. We took a family camping trip.” Merek chuckled. “If you call a palatial cabin at a mountain resort
camping
.”

The first smile he’d managed all day broke out on Luca’s face. “Sounds like Chloe’s version of roughing it.”

Merek, Chloe and Alex had spent weeks on the run, hiding out from those terrorists, and that had meant occasionally camping out in the wilderness.

“I’m pretty sure I’m never going to get her in a tent again. Not after Leonard Smith and his band of merry men hunted us down.” The warlock shook his head.

“Can you blame her?” Luca arched an eyebrow.

Chloe had been and still was working on a serum to control the worst effects of werewolves’ forced Change at the full moon, and the terrorist cell leader had decided he’d do whatever it took to get his hands on it. Genius Alex had been Chloe’s research assistant at the time, so when the wolves had come after them, Merek had gone into hiding with them to keep them safe.

“Nope.” Merek shrugged.

Over two years later, Chloe’s serum was in the final stages of testing. Luca wasn’t sure when it would be declared officially safe to sell on the open market, but he thought it shouldn’t be too much longer.

“She’ll take city lights over wide open spaces any day, and she’d not shy about saying so.” The warlock’s grin oozed with the kind of satisfaction only a happily married man could manage. “She’s going to get worse now that she’s pregnant. I don’t even need to be clairvoyant to know that.”

Luca pressed his fingers to his forehead, humming as if he were a television psychic. “I foresee many trips to baby stores in order to find just the right decorations for the nursery.”

“Yeah.” Merek groaned, punching Luca in the arm. “But don’t worry, you’re invited to the baby shower. Tess is hosting it along with Chloe’s great-aunt, Millie. You remember her, don’t you?”

“Vividly.” He smiled wryly. The old witch had ripped him a new one when Chloe had had to go on the run because Luca’s team hadn’t been able to protect her. What Luca hadn’t told anyone at the time was that he’d used the incident to get a double agent into that terrorist cell, which had ultimately helped save Chloe, Alex and Tess’s lives. Still, Luca doubted he’d ever be on Millie’s favorite people list. “Let’s see if Tess medically confirms what your clairvoyance showed you.”

“I’d put money on it, if I were a betting man.” The warlock’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Though the All-Magickal Council doesn’t condone powerful clairvoyants using their prophetic gifts for gambling gains.”

“I believe you can get arrested for that, in fact.”
Luca took the last few steps toward the morgue, depressed the door handle, and the glass panel slid aside to admit them.

“Be with you in a moment, gentlemen.” Tess didn’t even glance up from where she was bent over a large man’s prone form, slicing delicately into his testicles. Luca saw Merek wince out of the corner of his eye, and fought the urge to do the same. If he’d been sitting, he would have crossed his legs. Whoever said there was dignity in death had no idea what a woman with a scalpel could do.

A few excruciating minutes later, she finally straightened and set her tools aside. Stripping off her gloves, she strode toward the two men.

Merek’s gaze lingered on the poor, dead bastard on the table. “Do I even want to know how that guy’s balls could possibly be relevant to a case?”

“No, you really don’t.” Tess’s grin was pure evil.

Snorting, Luca shook his head. “You had something to tell us about Dillon Hammond?”

Her smile disappeared as if it had never been, and for once he could tell it wasn’t about her virulent dislike of him. This case seemed to be getting to everyone. Child deaths tended to hit hard, but child murders? Hell, he didn’t know anyone who
wanted
to touch a case like this.

Tess led them over to a wall of square metal doors, pulled one open, and tugged out a long slab with a tiny, pale body on it. She cleared her throat and folded the sheet down to reveal all of the corpse. “There are signs of systematic abuse.”

Mottled bruises and shiny, raised scar tissue marred the boy’s limbs, torso and face. That wasn’t even taking into account the massive gash Luca knew was on the back of Dillon’s head. Even with all the blood cleaned off him, it wasn’t a pretty picture.

“His x-rays show several bone breaks from different times. They could have been from accidents, of course, but combined with some of the other indications of deliberate trauma, I’d guess the breaks are somewhat less than accidental.” She took hold of the boy’s left leg and rotated it outward. “There are three thin slices on the inside of his calf, another set on the side of one of his feet and another on the back of his neck. The cuts are precise—not deep enough to cause permanent damage, very little scarring, but I’m guessing there was quite a lot of blood.”

Merek jerked a little. “Hammond was feeding from his child.”

Sliding his hands into his pockets hid the tremor in Luca’s fingers. He had to swallow twice before he could speak. “Some old-school vampires keep Normals as a food source. It was more common before we developed the elixir we now drink as a replacement for blood, but the Vampire Conclave has outlawed keeping…sheep…anymore.”

“Sheep?” Tess’s gaze burned with feral fury, her canines extended to deadly points. “You assholes call the humans you victimize
sheep
?”

“I don’t.” He balled his fists in his pockets. “But this kind of thing would be much harder to regulate, to prove, if a vampire had married his sheep. I think we know why Robert never turned his wife.”

“Yeah, he’s eating her,” Tess snapped. “What do you guys call abusing your sheep? Tenderizing them? Playing with your food?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Luca tried to keep his face impassive, knowing she intended to make this about their brief relationship. As usual. “This is a very small sect of vampires, Dr. Jones. One to which I don’t belong, and you know it.”

“Do I?” She folded her arms. “You bit me on more than one occasion. I just didn’t know you were sucking my blood. Me being an uninformed Normal at the time.”

“I bit you during sex,” he ground out. “I hardly kept you under lock and key for my daily feedings. And you were more than happy to be bitten, if I recall correctly. You liked it a great deal, in fact.”

She cut him a fulminating look. “I wonder if the vampires ever told little Dillon here about magic, him being a mere human and all. Did he understand what was going on when his daddy started gnawing on him?”

“Being
related
to a Magickal, yes, I’m sure he knew about magic. The non-disclosure laws make allowances for human family members, just not for anything as temporary as, say, dating. Which is all you and I did,” he replied evenly while Merek pretended absorption with the tile pattern on the floor.

“I loathe you,” she snarled, her fangs fully extended, her fingers tipped with deadly claws.

Always it came back to this. It was an exhausting merry-go-round of blame and guilt, and Luca just wanted off this sickening ride. Frankly, he thought she needed to get off that ride and get on with her life too, but if he said that now, she’d probably take a swing at him. Another time and place, perhaps. He didn’t want to deal with it today, especially after the unsettling night he’d had with Erin. He’d had more than enough of women in the last twenty-four hours. “I don’t really give a damn what you think of me. Now, is there anything else can you tell us about your autopsy, Doctor?”