Tempt (Ava Delaney #3) (8 page)

The
vampire relaxed in his seat, his lips curving upward. That wasn’t
reassuring. I waited for his decrepit skin to tear apart at the
action. “I get to drain a virgin once a month.” He licked his fangs
slowly, as if he could still taste blood on them.

I leaned
back in my chair. I really hadn’t expected that answer.

He
cocked his head to the side. “I made my deals in another time. My
involvement with the Council has saved me from
renegotiation.”

I wanted
to vomit. I was helping those people?

“
Why the distaste?” he asked, a hidden warning in his voice.
“Once upon a time, you could be guaranteed that the young were
innocent and clean. Pure of blood. Now I have to look a lot harder.
Slightly more tedious, but worth it.”

“
Can’t you just use donated blood?” I blurted. “A…
volunteer?”

His eyes
widened with surprise. “Oh, I do. But nothing is worth that sweet
ecstasy at the moment the heart stops. Near the end, the heart is
so very desperate to survive, so willing to put up a fight. That
gloriously final, traumatic pump makes the search worth it. Trust
me, once you taste it, you don’t go back, little dark thing.” He
gave a little moan that made me think he wasn’t as controlled as
people seemed to think.

I leaned
forward, my head thundering with anger. “I’m not dark.”

“
So you say. I see differently. You may not be consuming your
natural diet, but you are using other… gifts. I can smell it on
you.”

My
cheeks burned with shame. I kept thinking I was so much better than
them, but there was more to darkness than murder and
blood.

He
sniffed the air like a hound, his fangs much more noticeable. “I
can smell so much more. What a waste.” He stared into my eyes, and
I felt a hand grip my soul. I touched his darkness, and it left a
distinctly sour taste in my mouth.

I shook
myself, and pushed my chair away from the table, desperate to get
away from the vampire. Everything about him disturbed
me.

Eddie
laid his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Reuben. To the point,
please.”

Reuben
looked away for a few minutes. When he finally looked at me again,
the danger was gone from his eyes. “Yes, the point. We need speed
on this situation. You need to take down the beast before something
worse comes. There are mutterings of interference from others, and
the Council can’t afford to have this used as an excuse. Drink the
blood. Consume it with the kind of pleasure you were born to have.
It’s the only way you’ll stop her. Trust me, you’re not strong
enough without it.”

“
I don’t believe you,” I lied. Shrugging off Eddie’s hand, I
stalked out of the room before I made a huge mistake. I had to stop
pissing off the wrong people every time they terrified
me.

Downstairs, I sat behind the counter with my head between my
knees, breathing deeply. Counting couldn’t help the ache in my
chest. Too much pressure. Too many harsh truths
revealed.

“
Here.” Eddie handed me an envelope full of cash. “Calm down,
Ava.” He pressed his palm against my forehead. I felt him summon
power, but I couldn’t gather myself enough to stop him. A warm
feeling soothed the ache, and the wheezing soon stopped.

“
You should hand this over to Daimhín,” he said, his eyes full
of pity. I hated that I couldn’t hate him when he looked at me like
that.

The
drop-off was pleasantly uneventful, and I spent the rest of the
night running the streets looking for Becca. The chase lasted until
sunrise. Nobody died.

For two
weeks straight, I hunted, even when it wasn’t my shift. I chased
Becca, followed her around, kept her kills to the bare minimum. I
worked alone because being around others seemed to hold me back. I
avoided Peter’s calls, knowing he would only give me bad news from
the Council. I didn’t want to believe I was working with the kinds
of creatures who would allow people to be sacrificed to keep an
incredibly creepy old vampire satisfied.

I kept
getting the urge to call Carl, but every time I broke down and
dialled, he either didn’t answer or ended the call as quickly as
possible. A sense of foreboding kept drawing over me as I realised
I hadn’t spoken to him properly in a fortnight. The self-pitying
haze had shifted a little, letting me see clearly. He had been so
eager to talk to me, then suddenly switched to avoiding me. It made
no sense, unless he suspected I knew about his little
secret.

Still,
it wasn’t like Carl to be secretive. The more I thought about it,
the less sense it made. He might have made some stupid decisions,
but he tended to be pretty open about them, even when he knew he
would be hassled.

I tried
calling him again, but it went straight to voicemail. Deciding to
bite the bullet, I rang Peter instead.

“
Have you seen Carl?” I asked.

He
hesitated. “Not exactly. He sleeps during the day a lot
nowadays.”

“
Is he with you now? Wait, sleeps during the day? Doesn’t he
work for Eddie anymore?”

“
I thought so. He’s at his parents today, I think.” I heard
some things fall. “Yep, he left a note. Is something
wrong?”

I let
out a loud sigh, thinking of Carl’s lies. Peter would only say it
was none of my business. Maybe he was right. “I don’t know.
Probably not. Never mind. I’ll see you.”

“
Wait! You coming over today for a training
session?”

I bit
the inside of my cheek. Not a chance. “I’m a bit busy today. I’ll
call you when I’m free.”

I hung
up before he could say anything else. Flipping through the
phonebook, I found Carl’s parents’ number. I had no real reason to
call them, except to prove my own point to myself. I rang, had a
particularly awkward call, and discovered Carl’s parents hadn’t
seen him in a month.

I mulled
it over. Carl was lying to everyone. It worried me because he still
had blank moments. They were rare, but there were times when he
looked like he had while I accidentally mind-warped him. The pain
of the broken bond had been bad enough, but the lingering effects
scared me into thinking that maybe little pieces of his mind would
never be the same again.

Mentally
exhausted, I took a break from the hunt that night, but I was still
thinking about Carl the following day when a sharp rap on my door
made me flinch. At least I had money if it was the landlord. Still,
I never lost that shivery feeling whenever he knocked.

I
regretted opening the door as soon as I saw Peter.

“
Still busy?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at my unbrushed
hair.

“
Yes.” I stood aside to let him enter. “What’s
wrong?”

“
Nothing much. Just a supernatural serial killer running the
streets. Oh, and I keep having to waste time watching you have
catfights with Guardians, then put up with you ignoring me for
weeks.”

I rolled
my eyes. “I wouldn’t call that a catfight. And like I said, I’ve
been busy.”

“
You punched Esther! And you know the Council is on my back
about helping you.”

“
She swiped me first with her stupidly big bear claw. Besides,
I couldn’t care less what the Council or their Guardians
think.”

He
grinned suddenly, knocking me off guard. “You won’t be happy until
everyone turns on you.”

“
It’s not that, and you know it. Look at those people. I told
you Coyle had to have had something to do with that shifter who
committed suicide in Gabe’s bar. I’m positive those shadows are
down to him, and he’s a Guardian, so who knows how far that goes?
Oh, and I met creepy Reuben, the virgin-blood-drinking vampire
diva. Things have gotten a lot stranger than I bargained
for.”

“
Speaking of strange, what was with the hand-shaped bruise on
your forehead?”

I
touched my head self-consciously. I had been wearing my hair over
the creepy mark for weeks. It had taken that long to go away.
“It’s… hard to explain.”

“
Try me. I have time.”

“
Well, I don’t really want to talk about it. Besides, I’m
exceptionally busy worrying about Carl today, thank you very much.”
I didn’t have a clue how to start explaining the bruise, even less
of an idea since Carl had filled my head with notions of astral
projection and opening Hell.

Peter
relaxed on a chair, uninvited. “What now?”

I sat
across from him, my voice rising in excitement. “He’s a filthy
little liar, that’s what now.”

“
Carl? Yeah, right,” he scoffed.

“
Seriously. You told me he was going to see his parents, but I
had already followed him here. Then when I called his parents, I
found out he hasn’t seen them in ages. Oh, don’t look at me like
that. I was just curious. Why is he lying?”

Peter
sat up straight. “That’s odd, but haven’t we talked about
boundaries? Maybe he’s seeing his fiancée again and doesn’t want
you breathing down his neck, keeping him straight. I know it’s not
your fault, but you’re really going to have to find a way to deal
with this leftover possessiveness of your food.”

“
Oh, ha bloody ha. It’s not like that.” I got up to find a
hairbrush. “I’ve seen him here. Like, in this building. I think
he’s coming here to see my neighbour. I don’t understand why he’s
acting so weird, avoiding everyone. He hasn’t been… all there since
the bond was broken. We need to look out for him.”

“
And that involves stalking him?”

“
Oh, shut up. Just trust me when I say there’s something off
about him right now.”

“
Is that coming from your spidey senses? A miniature vampire
Seer, perhaps? Or maybe you can read thoughts now.”

I threw
a cushion at him, which he caught effortlessly. “I can’t wait to
say I told you so, Peter. I love how you give me so many
opportunities. What are you doing here anyway? Aside from bothering
me, that is.”

He
grinned. “Training.”

I
groaned. “Not today.”

“
I know you. ‘Not today’ means ‘Not ever, so go away and leave
me alone.’ Not going to happen. We need to build up your stamina so
you can keep up with Becca.”

“
The only way I can keep up with her is if I drink blood.
Apparently, Reuben knows best. That’s still not on my list of
things to do.”

He made
a face, but his heart rate remained relaxed. Unlike mine. He
glanced around the room, frowning. “Why are you still living
here?”

“
Ooh, subject change. Um, because it’s my home.” I moved into
the kitchenette because Peter always made me uncomfortable on my
own territory.

“
It’s a shithole. You should get a nicer place.”

“
I happen to like it here. This place was the first thing I
ever did for myself. It’s been my home for a long time, and if you
don’t like it, you’re free to leave at any time.”

A grin
spread across his face as he followed me, leaning on a counter, far
too close for my liking. “The things that get you to open
up.”

My
entire body tensed. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“
Then come hit something. I promise it feels better than
talking.”

It was
my turn to grin. Peter had strange methods when it came to dealing
with my moods, but they sometimes worked. “How could I turn down an
offer like that? Fine, I’ll train. Happy now?”

The
smile fell off his face, and his forehead creased into a frown
again. “It’s not me. Gabe keeps pushing. He’s constantly on me
about you. You know what he’s like.”

I folded
my arms. “Yeah, a total arsehole. I can’t stand him.”

He
inched closer. “Really? Because you go all gooey-eyed around
him.”

“
That’s just me seeing past his mask. Nice as it is, it’s just
what he wants us to see. Can’t trust something that doesn’t show
their true face, right?”

Peter
stared at me until I fidgeted uncomfortably and made an excuse of
having to get ready in order to leave the room. I might have put up
a fuss, but I wasn’t all that opposed to going out. Although I
liked my home, I had noticed I seemed to reenergise whenever I left
it. Maybe fresh air agreed with me. I refused to believe it had
anything to do with Peter.

“
All right, let’s go,” I said as soon as I was ready. “But
you’re confronting Carl with me.”

He
rolled his eyes and didn’t commit. Exactly what I expected, but it
felt nice to make demands every now and then.

We left
my flat and had started down the stairs when an overpowering floral
scent hovered in the air. My slutty next-door neighbour made her
way up the stairs as we descended.

“
Do not say a word,” Peter hissed, probably guessing she was
the one Carl had been seeing. I chewed the inside of my mouth in a
bid to keep quiet. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t like the woman, but
something about her always set me on edge.

Although
the stairway had plenty of space for all three of us to walk, she
managed to brush against both of us as she passed. Looking over my
shoulder, I saw her glance back at us with an unmistakably smug
grin.