The Vampire's Curse (9 page)

Just that image in his head brought on another little fantasy of her writhing beneath him while he sucked her neck like Dracula.

Her body heated under his arm, and maybe it was a vampire thing, but he could feel her pulse becoming quicker as well. The blush on her face while he had these thoughts was very curious indeed.
Probably because my arm is around her shoulder
, he told himself.

Grinning, he then proceeded to not remove his arm.

The police showed up, and Kyle snatched his hand away and clenched his jaw when Detectives Cowboy Hat and Baldy cast their hard eyes on him.

As if this was somehow his fault.

Detective Carter was the first to speak. "When we released you we figured it was the last we'd see of you."

Kyle smiled, showing a hint of his fangs and delighted when Carter stepped back. "Thought wrong didn't you?"

“Jesus Christ,” Miller said, “Those definitely weren’t there last night.”

"Mike, he chased off the last ferals and saved Evey and me." Jackie put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed when she defended him. A rush of satisfaction filled him.

Carter seemed to accept that and fisted his hands in his pockets. "So, Mr. McKane, you just happened to be in the right place at the right time?"

"Well, yeah, I just really thought I needed to be there." Kyle stopped himself before he could say anything else. He didn't want to tell two cops and Jackie that he believed she was in danger based on nothing more than a feeling in his gut.

A feeling that gripped his heart, lungs, and body was more like it.

"Lucky, huh?" He asked.

He could feel Jackie's eyes on him while Carter decided whether or not he believed him. "And, did you find your Sarah yet? Because she's not in any of our records."

The rush of satisfaction he felt was nothing compared to the overwhelming glee when Jackie's fingers tightened on his shoulder.

Ah, jealousy.

"No, not yet. Though aside from the phone book and asking my neighbors I have yet to do any real searching in this town."

“And you think she’s here because when your brother looked for her he couldn’t find a thing anywhere else on her.” Carter said.

Kyle snapped his fingers at the repeat of what he’d told them last night during questioning. “Bingo.”

Jackie removed her hand. "Who's Sarah?"

Kyle stood. "She's the woman who cursed me."

Carter held his hand out and stopped him from moving any farther. "Wait, wait. Now I know we already did this dance last night but you both are goin’ to answer some questions before anyone can go anywhere."

Kyle worked to keep his impatience in check. "Am I under arrest again?"

"No, but it would be better if you and Detective Miller could both go somewhere private and talk while I speak with Jackie."

Kyle looked at Jackie, at her mouth as she darted her tongue out to wet her lips, and he chewed his bottom lip to hold back a groan.

Getting a kiss out of her would have to wait for later. But he
would
be seeing her again.

He allowed Detective Miller to take him someplace private so they could begin the questioning all over again.

***

Jackie clutched her jacket—or rather,
Kyle’s
jacket—tighter about her and hid her face under her hand.

What was
wrong
with her? Evey was in a hospital bed and she couldn't stop thinking about Kyle beneath her sheets.

Mike sat next to her but she barely noticed him. Everything in her head involved the fantasies that kept coming on and off so vividly in her mind. And what Kyle had said unnerved her.

He just thought he needed to be there? She was sure she'd heard something about vampires having a faint psychic sense, but she's always assumed it was just a rumor.

Now she knew better.

Jackie rubbed her face. Not only was she a terrible excuse for a witch, but she knew nothing about the other living creatures she shared her world with.

"I called your mother, she'll be here any minute."

Jackie listened to the careful tone in Mike’s voice. In all probability he thought she was hiding her face like she was because she worried for Evey.

If only he knew.

Then she realized what he said and sighed. "She'll bring Carly." Her eyes widened when she realized what else would happen. "She'll see what happened to the store!"

"My people have already been there to take away the bodies, but if you need any help cleaning up ..."

Jackie smiled at him and desperately wished she could take him up on the offer, but she knew what he was really asking for.

He only wanted the chance to spend the time with her. It was probably why he was the one questioning her now instead of Jason. When was he going to take the hint? She didn't want to hurt him but he refused to stop pushing ...

"It's only a broken window and a door, the rest is just stuff that got knocked over. You don't have to worry."

Mike raised an eyebrow at her, skepticism all over his expression. "You looked pretty upset about it one minute ago."

"Yeah, well, I guess after everything that happened I'm still a little uptight."

Mike leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "You're sure he wasn't the one behind the attack?"

"I looked out the door, and he was the one who chased off one feral and then killed the other one." She stared him in the eyes, so that he could see her sincerity, and also to have a better look inside her head.

Mike’s eyes went all focused. He was in. Jackie focused her thoughts on what she remembered happened, praying it would keep him from glimpsing her naughty little dreams.

Blinking, Mike pulled out. "Hmm," he said, that sound a person made when they didn't want to agree or disagree with anything. "Alright.”

Jackie sighed.

“I'm going to show you somethin’, and I'll assume it was on the neck of the feral vamp your rescuer chased off too because so far it’s been on the necks of all the dead ones."

Jackie sat straighter, her curiosity peaked. "What is it?"

Mike lifted the side of his leather jacket and pulled out a sealed bag from an inside pocket. When she reached out to take it he pulled his hand back.

"Look, don't touch. Wasn’t even supposed to take it out of the station," he said when she gave him a questioning stare. So she looked at it.

Inside was a black dog collar with a yellow metal, square clasp, only the clasp had small buttons and a single broken light that was tinier than a Christmas tree bulb. She cocked her head at it for a better look. "Could you," she motioned with her hands. "Turn it a bit."

He did, and on the underside of the yellow metal was a sharp spike, as thin as a thumb tack but twice as long.

"What is it?" She asked when nothing came to mind. It gave her a chill.

Mike carefully deposited the bag back in his inside pocket. "We didn't know at first. These were on the dead vamps in the alley you ran away from, and again they were collared to the four dead vamps we found at your shop, but because of the way they burned all that was left were the clasps. One of our new guys, a desk worker, saw it and told us what it was."

"And what is it?"

"Have you ever heard of Dr. Charles Clayton?"

Jackie shook her head no.

He gave her a hard look. "Are you sure? Never met him, spoke to him, exchanged disagreeable words? Or maybe your mother did? He was the kind that a lot of people had bad words about."

Jackie couldn't hold back her frustration. "I just said no, Mike. Now I don't know about my mom, but what is this about? Who is he?"

"He's a professor at Griffon University, and he showed some of his students a design that essentially looked like the collars we have now. They're designed to fit against the back of the neck so the little spike you saw could puncture the spine."

At Jackie's blank look he kept on going. "He invented this to control problem creatures."

"Problem creatures?"

"Just what it means. Essentially anyone he thought was a problem. The spike, when inserted correctly sends messages from the yellow transmitter, from what we think is a host computer, to the brain."

Jackie suddenly knew what he was talking about, and she wanted to be sick. "Charles Clayton, is sending feral vampires out into the city?"

Mike took her hand. "We don't know that for sure yet so do me a favor and keep it to yourself. I don't want the press finding out about this unless we can give them something ourselves."

"Well, when you question my mom you might want to do it away from my sister. She'd run to the press just to get the attention." Jackie warned. Even in a city where paranormal news stopped at the town boarder, Carly would still want everyone to know that she had been in the store that was attacked only minutes earlier.

Mike nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Jackie twisted in her seat to fully face him, a hopeful thought occurring to her. "So, if you know who this guy is, you must know where he is, you must have him by now, right?"

Mike leaned closer to whisper. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but I want you to be safe and aware of what's happening. Don't walk alone at night anymore, get a cell phone, and keep your garlic spray on you."

His words didn't have the reassuring effect he was going for, and Jackie just about jumped out of her seat with pent up fear. "What's going on?"

Mike took a breath. "The woman who was killed last night, Margaret Clayton, is Charles Clayton's daughter. And we can't find him anywhere."

SEVEN

Jackie's mouth fell open. "His daughter? He killed his own daughter?"

Mike stroked her hand. "The only reason why I'm telling you any of this is so that you don't get confused about the questions I'm asking, and right now, there's no way of knowing for sure if it's him or not."

"But you think it is?" Jackie prompted.

"Right now, he's a suspect, yes. It is his collar on the dead ferals and because he can't be found …" Mike trailed off. "We also got people from the University where he worked saying that he and Margaret disagreed over his invention entirely."

"What? Why? Those could actually be useful and keep more people safe."

Mike gave her a look.

“Useful and safe in the hands of the right person.” She amended. Jackie couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want a collar like that on the necks of feral vampires.

Carter shook his head. “No, it actually couldn’t. Think about how difficult it already is to catch a feral vampire when one or two do pop up. Even if people were to risk their lives to get this collar on their necks the feral in question would still have to be terminated.”

Embarrassment rushed up her neck. “Oh.”

"And to answer your question, Margaret argued with her father because Dr. Clayton didn't want the collar on just feral vampires. He was talking about sticking it on werewolves, vampires who posed no risk of turning feral, as well as people convicted of certain criminal offenses in prison.

“His daughter didn't agree with that. Her boyfriend of three years was a werewolf, and she was reported to have had loud arguments with him over the uses he’d planned for it."

Jackie sat back in her seat. "That poor man, to hear that your girlfriend was murdered ..."

When she looked at Mike he knew what she was asking for without speaking. "We spoke to him, and his alibi checks out. Guys Night or something. He was at home watching the game with about ten other people, all mixed company of vamps, weres and warlocks, when she was killed outside the park. I was there when he was questioned."

Mike shook his head. "I know I have trouble looking into the minds of weres and such, but I don't think he was faking his grief. It's hard on a werewolf to lose a mate."

Jackie stood up. She couldn't be around such gloomy news anymore and needed to speak with a friend before her mother arrived. "I'm going to see Evey now."

Mike nodded and let her go, and she was grateful for his understanding.

The idea that someone might be out to kill her had never crossed her mind, and tonight Mike had to ask her if she ever got on the bad side of a man she'd never even heard of.

Thank God Kyle came along when he did, otherwise she and Evey might not have made it.

Getting to Evey required moving to another area of the hospital entirely, and passing through two sets of double doors with a security guard on both sides, all just to get to the light tight part of the hospital. The fact that it was still dark outside it didn’t matter,  protocol still needed to be followed.

The light tight side of the hospital was of a decent size because of the number of vampires in the city. When she crossed into the section of the hospital for vampires, all of the windows were deeply tinted, but that was the only noticeable difference. Nurses and doctors still hurried by with clipboards and the walls and floors were still a sterile white.