The Darkest Kiss (24 page)

He surged to his feet and threw the bloodied shirt at me. “Smell that!
Feel
it! That’s
his
blood on the shirt.
His
fear! Whatever came for him, he couldn’t handle it alone. And he was military-trained.” He shoved a hand through his thick, red hair, then spun away. “I wasn’t here, Riley! I should have been and I wasn’t.”

I caught the shirt one-handed. The blood was thick and sticky to the touch, an indication that it wasn’t very old. And the smell of sweat and fear lingered—telling signs, considering I’d never known Liander to be afraid of
any
physical threat.

I tossed the shirt on the tipped-over chair and said, “This is no time for recriminations, Rhoan. He’s alive. Let’s start from there and try to find him.”

“I can’t.” The words were torn from him. “I can feel he’s in trouble, I know he’s hurt, but I can’t feel
where
he is. It’s not like you and me.”

“Then we find him the old-fashioned way—through good old-fashioned detective work.”

“How? We don’t even know who or what did this to him.”

“Actually, we do.”

He swung around to face me, and the sheer fury in his eyes was knee-quaking.

Be careful, Riley. He’s not thinking straight right now and he’s looking for something—or someone—to take his anger out on.

Tell me about it.
I held up my hands—a useless gesture if he actually decided to attack. “One of the cases I’m investigating involves what Quinn tells me is a bhuta—a vampire with no physical body in the daytime.”

“What has this got to do with Liander’s disappearance?” His voice was flat and cold, and his eyes had gone from resembling anything human to something that only saw death. Only wanted death.

The look of a guardian. The look of a killer.

I’d only seen it a couple of times, and it certainly wasn’t something I’d ever expected to see aimed my way.

I raised my chin a little and met his gaze defiantly. Perhaps not the best move when facing a wolf on the edge of madness, but I couldn’t afford to back down, either. If he smelled or saw any sort of weakness in his current state, he might just attack anyway.

“I’m not entirely sure how Liander’s involved, but Aron Young—the bhuta in question—seems to be intent on tracking down and killing anyone who was in the same class as him in tenth grade.”

“And Liander was?”

“Yes. I did tell him to be careful, Rhoan, but I really didn’t think he’d be in danger—”

I didn’t get any further and I never even saw the punch. One moment I was standing there, the next I was flying across the room. I hit the wall with enough force to knock a hole into it, then slithered to the floor.

I felt him move: a furious force coming straight at me. Battling stars and the need to throw up, I flung myself sideways, grasping the leg of a nearby shattered chair, then swung with all my might.

The blow hit him just below the left knee. There was an almighty crack as the chair leg broke, but the force of the blow knocked him off his feet and onto his back. I grabbed another chair leg then scrambled to my feet, sniffing back the blood beginning to run from my nose as I jumped onto his stomach, pinning his arms with my knees and thrusting the chair leg under his chin.

“Bitch,” he muttered, his eyes still glazed and furious, his body bucking like a bronco.

“Enough,” I yelled, and pressed the leg a little harder against his neck. He was wheezing, struggling to breathe, but I didn’t let up the pressure. I couldn’t when he was in this frame of mind. He wasn’t even seeing
me
. He wasn’t seeing anyone or anything except Liander lying bloody and hurt somewhere.

“Rhoan,
look
at me. This is stupid—we need to find Liander, not fight.”

He still wasn’t listening, too consumed by the grief wrapping around him. He continued to struggle, forcing me to grip tighter with my legs to even stay on top of him.

Blood dripped from my nose, splattering across his face and lips. He licked automatically, and suddenly his movements stopped.

“You’re bleeding,” he said, as the coldness began to seep from his eyes.

“Well, I fucking wonder why?” I swiped at my nose with an arm. “Are you going to hit me again? Or are you finally over your little hissy fit and ready to do something useful?”

“I didn’t mean—” He stopped. We both knew he
did
mean. “I’m sorry.”

“So you fucking should be.” I tossed the chair leg aside and got up. “You might want to shift shape. I think I did some damage to your leg.”

“Yeah,” he said, wincing as he tried to move it. He shifted shape, lying there in wolf form for several seconds before changing back to human form. He climbed to his feet and grimaced. “Better, but not great.”

I couldn’t feel sorry for him. I might understand why he’d lashed out, but that didn’t mean he was getting any sympathy. Especially when my jaw was aching and my nose was throbbing.

“First things first,” I said. “We need to find the old school photo Liander was going to give me, and check all the names on it. We need to know if it’s just Liander he’s snatched, or whether he’s taken them all.”

“That’s downstairs on the coffee table.” He spun and headed for the stairs. The anger still bubbled in him, thick and strong, but at least it now had direction. “He was showing me before we had our argument.”

I followed him down. “What the hell were you arguing about this time?”

“He wanted to move in with us.”

“So?”

He looked over his shoulder. “You knew?”

“He asked for my permission first.” I raised a hand to my jaw, massaging it lightly. It hurt to talk, but it didn’t feel like anything was broken. Maybe he’d pulled his punch at the last moment. “Don’t tell me that’s what you argued about.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”

“You’re never ready for anything he wants, Rhoan.” I hesitated, then added harshly, “And now you may very well not have to worry about it ever again.”

He stopped and swung around violently. “That’s unfair—”

“No, what you’re doing to
him
is unfair. He’s your soul mate, Rhoan. Dammit, why won’t you just start treating him like it?”

“Because of this! Because of things like this!”

I looked at him incredulously. “Why has him being kidnapped got anything to do with your relationship?”

“It’s what could happen to him. I’m a guardian—”

“That’s just a fucking excuse, Rhoan, and you know it.”

“How can you say that when you lost Kellen for the very same reason?”

“Kellen left because he didn’t want to sit at home wondering if each night was going to be the night I didn’t come home. Liander’s accepted that possibility and is willing to live with it.”

“But I’m
not
. If I commit to him, if we do the moon ceremony, and then something happens to me, he dies. And I don’t want that. I couldn’t live with that.”

“Death isn’t always the end result of the moon bond.” Although I had no proof of that. Ben might have survived the death of his soul mate, but they hadn’t sworn their love to the moon. Maybe that
was
the difference.

“I don’t care.” He spun around and clomped down the stairs. “I refuse to risk full commitment.”

“But he’s not
asking
you to risk it, Rhoan. He’s just asking to move in with us and become part of our family. Why is that asking too much?”

“It’s a risk—”

“Life itself is a goddamn risk! As Liander being caught by a serial killer proves.”

He muttered something under his breath. I caught the words “bitch” and “ridiculous,” and smiled. “This bitch is going to kick your ass to kingdom come if you don’t start acting sensibly where Liander is concerned.”

He snorted softly and strode across the living room, snatching an old photograph up and thrusting it in my direction. “This is it.”

I took the photo from him and then looked around. “Where’s the phone? My cell’s in the car.”

He pointed to the left, then crossed his arms, his nostrils flaring. “Why is Quinn here?”

“Because I was getting emotional hits from you, and it was shaking me up so badly I couldn’t drive.” I picked up the receiver and dialed Jack’s number.

“I suppose I should be grateful he couldn’t pass the threshold, or my ass would be history.”

“Too right it would be,” Quinn commented calmly from the doorway. “You’re too old to be acting like a petulant child.”

“Christ, first my sister tells me off, then her lover.” He paused. “How come you two are together again? When did that happen?”

“We are not together, as such,” Quinn said. “Not yet, anyway.”

Rhoan raised an eyebrow as he glanced at me. “Funny, because you have his scent all over you, which kinda indicates you
have
been together.”

“Having sex doesn’t mean we’re together. It just means we were horny,” I answered, then said, as Jack picked up the phone, “Boss, we’ve got problems.”

“Sal told me. You and Rhoan okay?”

“Yeah, we survived the encounter. Rhoan’s thinking a little more clearly now.”

I looked at Rhoan as I said it. He grimaced, and thrust a hand through his hair. His body was still taut with tension, and the smell of his anger and frustration stained the air. He was in control, but only just.

“What about Liander?”

“He’s missing. I think Aron Young might have him.”

“Why? What is his connection to the other men Young has murdered?”

“As far as I can see, the only connection between any of them is the fact they all did tenth grade in the same school as Young. It’s not much.”

“For twisted minds, it often doesn’t have to be. What do you need?”

“I need a trace on a van and the following names. Liander’s not dead yet, so he’s been snatched rather than killed outright. Young knows we’re onto him, so maybe he’s gone for the rest of them, too. Maybe he’s planned on one big killing party.”

“It’s possible. Give me the details.”

I read the names out, then added the plate number the bouncer had given me. “I’m about to head on over to Vinny’s. She tasted him, and I’m sure knows more than what she’s saying. I think it’s about time she anted up.”

“Just be careful,” he warned. “Emos don’t have to be touching to suck emotion from you. She and her crew can drain from a distance if they wish.”

“She wouldn’t want to try it on Rhoan right now. Trust me on that.”

“I can imagine.” His voice was dry. “You sure you two are unscathed?”

“We can walk, we can talk, and we can certainly throw a punch or two. We’re fine.”

“Good. I’ll contact you as soon as we have any info.”

“Thanks, boss.”

I hung up.

“So who is this Vinny?” Rhoan said.

“An emo vamp who has set up camp in one of the abandoned government housing towers. I mentioned her before, remember?”

“No.” He frowned. “When?”

“After the premiere—when you and Liander came home pissed.”

Darkness ran across his face, and he took a deep, shuddering breath. “Yeah, I remember. Let’s go see this Vinny, so that there
is
a next time.”

I gave him a hug, and his arms wrapped around my waist, holding on to me briefly. I could smell the fear on him, smell the pain. Feel the quivering in his limbs that was a mix of anger and the need to hit out, to hurt those responsible.

Vinny had better
not
try anything on my brother.

I pulled back. “Quinn should drive, in case you get any more hits from Liander.”

He nodded and thrust a hand through his hair again. “It’s gone quiet on that front.”

“He’s okay, Rhoan. You’d know if it were otherwise.” I turned and headed for the door, so he couldn’t see the worry in my eyes. Him getting nothing from Liander was
not
a good sign.

It meant he was getting weaker, that the link between them was fading.

He couldn’t die.
God, fate, and whatever else might be up there watching—please don’t let him die.

Quinn was no longer at the door. I led the way down the street, following his scent, and heard an engine start up. Rhoan’s car, not Quinn’s. There was more room in my brother’s car.

Quinn reversed out of the parking spot then stopped to let us in.

“Where to?” he asked, glancing at me as I climbed into the front. His eyes were alight with anger and concern, and just a hint of hunger. He might have fed off me earlier, but the smell of blood was on me, and it was teasing his vampire senses to life.