The Vampire's Seduction (31 page)

Even with the water running, I heard the scratch of metal in the lock and the steel door creaking open. Shit. Had Reedrek done away with William and come to claim me? I shut the water off and shook myself like a spaniel. My hearing, extra sharp to begin with, seemed to be even finer. Since the power sex, all my senses had become stronger. I could probably hear hummingbird wings. Footsteps approached my office; by my reckoning they were just on the other side of the bathroom door.

I didn’t have a weapon, but I knew I was strong enough to take almost anybody down with my bare hands, even a pretty strong vampire. Maybe even Reedrek. I took a deep breath, flung the door open, and leaped toward the sound of the footsteps.

And ran smack into Connie, knocking her up against my old metal desk.

She landed on it and her butt skidded across the slick surface, scattering my blotter, pencils, and pictures of Renee to the floor. She wound up sitting in the middle of the desk, feet apart, mouth open in a little
o.
During the slide, she’d managed to draw her service revolver, but luckily she recognized me before she pulled the trigger.

The gun pointed squarely at my chest. Her eyes rested squarely on my penis.

“Hmmm, hello there, Jack. You’re looking . . . well.”

“What . . . what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be off work by now?” I said as nonchalantly as I could. Just to be safe, I raised my hands. If she shot me she’d learn, faster than a speeding bullet, all there was to know about Jack, the immortal vampire. Not to mention really piss me off.

“I’m working a little overtime. I passed by here a while ago and the office light was off, and then when I came back by it was on. Rennie said you’d closed the shop for a few days so I thought I’d check on things for you.” She finally looked me in the eye. “Don’t you remember telling me where you hide the extra key?”

“Oh, yeah. Right. Well, thanks.” I lowered my hands.

“You know, after we talked the other day, I figured I’d be seeing more of you.” She looked back down at my privates, rather appreciatively if I do say so myself. “And so I am, but I had a more romantic setting in mind. You never called.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.” I grabbed my pants off the doorknob where I’d left them and quickly stepped into them. It seemed like I’d been putting my pants on in front of a lot of different women lately. Five different women had seen me naked in the last couple of days, if you included Reyha. That was a record for me. “I think you can put that gun away now,” I said, zipping my fly.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” She grinned and pointed the revolver at my feet. “Dance.”

“What?” I froze.

“You’re no fun.” She sighed and holstered her weapon. “I always wanted to say that to somebody. This seemed like a good opportunity.”

I grabbed the spare shirt I kept hanging on a peg behind the door. “Sorry. I’m not in the mood for jokes.” And this was a really bad time to be playing the dating game. Although with the way things were shaping up in my world now, I might not get another chance.

She hopped off the desk and together we picked up the stuff that had slid off. “Had a bad couple of days?”

“You have no idea how much more complicated my life has gotten since I last talked to you.”

“That helps my ego a little bit, I guess. I take it you’ve been too
busy
to call, even after that toe-curling kiss we shared.”

“Oh, yeah. That.”

“Yeah. That.”

How could I tell Connie that right after we kissed and decided to date each other I’d discovered I was a menace to nonhuman women? If she was entirely human, she would not be subject to the power-draining phenomenon. After all, I’d had sex with more human women than I cared to count in my existence as a vampire. But with my heightened strength and senses, I was surer than ever that she was—not inhuman exactly . . . but somehow
extra
human. There was something otherworldly about her, and not just her overall hotness. It was a mystery—yet another thing to add to the growing list of stuff I had to figure out once all this trouble with Reedrek was over.

Or maybe I didn’t have to wait. I suspected she didn’t know what she was, but that was just an assumption. Maybe she did know, and maybe if I dropped a strong enough hint, she’d even tell me. I knew she wasn’t a vampire, but she might be something, well, compatible. “Um, this thing with my uncle Reedr—I mean Fred—has been taking up a lot of my time. I haven’t been able for us to get together like I’ve wanted. But I really do want to get to know you better. You know, you’ve never really told me about your background, where you’re from, stuff like that.”

Her eyebrows rose and her nose twitched like she smelled something fishy. “Huh? You want to know who my people are? I never figured you for a society guy like William Thorne.”

“I’m not. I’m just interested, that’s all.” I sat on the edge of the desk and patted the spot beside me. “You told me one time that you grew up in Atlanta. Are you from there originally?”

She sat down. “No. I was born in Mexico City and adopted by a couple from Atlanta.”

“No kidding. Do you know anything about your biological family?”

“Nope. Just that someone abandoned me when I was a few days old. A nun found me at the foot of a makeshift shrine to some pagan goddess or something and took me to an orphanage. Then it was off to Atlanta, going to private schools, playing sports and cheerleading—yada yada yada. I got a college degree in law enforcement, and, boom, I wound up here. That’s about all there is to tell.” She swept her hair off one shoulder and looked away.

“You were left at a shrine? Sounds like someone wanted to protect you from someone. Or something.”

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Now, why in the world would a nice cheerleader who went to private schools want to be a street cop? And why would they make you start at the bottom when you have a four-year degree? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“You’re not the first who’s asked.” She brushed a wisp of blue-black hair off her cheek. “Let’s just say I acquired an interest in addressing the problem of domestic violence, and where better to be than the front lines? I had a . . . good friend whose boyfriend was abusive. It’s become a calling, I guess. As far as the rank issue is concerned, well, put it this way: the old-boy system lives.”

Speaking as one of the oldest boys . . . she didn’t know the half of it. “That’s it, huh?”

“That’s it.” She didn’t meet my eyes. There was more that she wasn’t saying, much more. But I sensed she was telling the truth about the little she’d revealed.

“So what about you, Jack?”

“Me? Oh, there’s not much to tell. What you see is what you get.” I gestured around the shop with one arm.

“Where do you live, anyway? I don’t believe I’ve ever heard you say.”

Live? “Oh, nowhere.” I pretty much stayed dead.

She socked me in the arm. “You’re being evasive. I have ways of making you talk.”

“Do they involve those handcuffs you have fastened to your belt?” I reached out and tweaked them.

“Maybe. If you don’t tell me where you live, I’ll use all the interrogation techniques I know on you.”

“I give. I live out by Bonaventure.”

“Is Uncle Fred staying with you out there?”

“Mmm. I really don’t know where Uncle Fred is right now. That’s part of my problem.”

“Why? Does he need a keeper or something? He seemed pretty spry the day I met him.”

“Oh, he’s spry all right.” Spry enough to kill William, me, and most of the human residents of Savannah if the urge struck him.

“Speaking of Uncle Fred, I saw him with William Thorne last night in a bad part of town. Right out on the street on foot. We were called in—shots fired. Funny thing, when we got there a guy had his throat slit but there were no bullet wounds. What could Mr. Thorne have been doing there at that hour?”

I felt my mouth fall open. Olivia had made it sound like Reedrek was holding William somewhere. Now here Connie was telling me she’d seen William loitering on the street with his supposed arch-nemesis. “You’re kidding. Tell me exactly where you saw him and what he was doing.”

Connie told me the intersection nearest where she’d seen them. It was a bad part of town, all right. If I had to go and tow a car from there, I’d have to watch my back and be ready to sink fang into some gang member or drugged-out mugger.

“I think he saw me,” Connie said. “But it’s hard to be sure. They were just standing there. And then they walked away.”

“There wasn’t anything unusual about how they were acting?”

“No, not that I could tell. Nothing unusual except the time and place, of course.”

That’s right. She wouldn’t have been able to tell unless she was close enough to see blood on them and then only if they’d been sloppy. There was only one reason for a vampire to go into a neighborhood like that.

. . .
a guy had his throat slit but there were no bullet wounds.

To hunt.

A neighborhood full of homeless addicts and lowlifes meant easy pickings. And not only in terms of being able to find someone stoned or drunk who couldn’t act fast enough to get away from you. In a neighborhood like that, life was cheap and even someone you knew might be willing to kill you if he were desperate enough for cash or for a high. The police knew that, and most of them wouldn’t exactly bend over backward to find out who’d rid them and the town of another scumbag. Or they would just round up the usual suspects. Who wouldn’t be vampires.

Yes, William—who knew the city better than anyone, having lived here for hundreds of years—had known just where to take Reedrek to hunt. Had William allowed himself to be enthralled by Reedrek? No. I couldn’t believe it. William was too good at cloaking his feelings when he wanted. It made sense that he’d be able to cloak any incoming influences, too. Even Reedrek couldn’t make him do something he didn’t want to do. What the
hell
was going on?

“What’s wrong, Jack? You’ve been staring off into space so long it’s scaring me. Do you have a problem with Mr. Thorne? Something I should know about why he’s taken to hanging out in high-crime areas after dark? Does this have anything to do with the trouble you keep talking about?”

I looked back at Connie. “No. Nothing that I know of. I think it’s pretty strange, too. I’ll ask him about it next time I see him.” I’d find out, all right. Even if I had to beat it out of him. With my increased strength I might just be able to best William in a fair fight.

“So finish telling me about yourself, Jack. How long have you been in business here with the garage?”

“Uh, can we get into this later?”

“Yeah. I guess.” She looked a little hurt.

“You know those complications I mentioned before? Well, they’re really . . . complicated.”

Connie looked at me evenly. “Mmm-hmm. And do they have anything to do with that platinum blonde who came into town a few days ago and is staying at Mr. Thorne’s?”

Dang. Nothing got by this girl. I was surprised she hadn’t figured out I was a vampire already. But I guess first you’d have to believe in vampires. “Well, yeah, but—”

“Good-bye, Jack. Let me know when your life gets less complicated.”

With that she stood up and walked out. Just like that. I wanted to stop her, to run after her, to turn her around and hug her to me, but what was the use? How could things possibly work out for us? I was a damned vampire for pity’s sake, a bloodsucking killer, and she was the law. Add to that the problem of her being not quite human, which could spell disaster, too. I mean, what if she was some kind of creature that clashed with vampires? We could be natural enemies or something.

If realizing all that weren’t enough, I realized that I had forgotten to ask her if she was still wearing the charm. Crap.

I sat down in the desk chair and tried to get my head together about this whole crazy mess. Okay. Olivia was back and going in and out of some kind of trance that Reedrek put her under. William was still AWOL, last seen hunting with Reedrek in a bad part of town. I was supposed to host William’s big party, to make toasts as well as to glad-hand high-society people and aristocratic vamps who would barely speak to me if they saw me on the street. I’d accidentally killed a girl a few hours ago, I’d given another the vapors, and Connie hated my guts. A long drive to California was looking better and better, even if I was on fire the whole time.

I squeezed my eyes closed and rested my head on the back of the chair. “Could things
get
any weirder?” I muttered out loud to myself.

“I don’t know, Jack. Could they?”

Double crap.

With my eyes still closed, I asked, “Is that you, Huey?” Of course it was. I recognized his voice, which was the same as always, even in death.

“Yep. It’s me, Jack.”

I opened my eyes. There he was, sitting in the metal chair against the far wall, a beer in his hand. I cleared my throat and blinked a few times. “How you doing, dude?”

“Can’t complain.” He took a sip of the beer and smiled contentedly.

“Is it . . . nice where you are?”

“Yeah. Right nice. There’s no hard work to do, and . . .” He looked over both shoulders and then leaned forward. In a conspiratorial whisper, he said, “
She’s
not here.”

“Uh-huh.” That would be his wife, the one who put a curse on him to keep him from drinking. “I see you’ve got some refreshment.”

He held the bottle aloft. “Yep. Good brand, too. And all I can drink.”

“Hmm. An import. Not bad.” Good beer and no nagging. Huey had made it to heaven, or at least his version of it. Is everybody’s heaven tailor-made for them? Guess I’d never know. The best I could hope for was some kind of benign dead end. Whatever it was would never be an improvement over what I had now. All the more reason to try to stay alive, even if that meant casting my lot in with an evil SOB. I found myself wishing that Shari had made it to a place as good as poor old Huey had.

“Don’t feel bad for me, Jack. I’m doing real good. Now. The end there on earth was pretty bad, though. That mean, smelly guy cut my throat. He was awful strong. I couldn’t get away from him to save my life.” Huey belched to punctuate his narrative.