To Serve and Protect (5 page)

Jacob’s eyes closed and he mumbled, “Mmm.”

“I take it that means it tastes good?” Vincent lifted his brow in curiosity.

Jacob opened his eyes and nodded. “Very good. The best you ever made.”

Vincent’s hand froze in midair with his second mouthful just inches away from his lips. “I used to cook for you?”

“Yes, all the time. You love to cook and are one hell of a cook.” Jacob nodded.

Vincent sighed. “Son of a gun. Look at that. I didn’t forget that trait, did I?” He placed his fork on the plate and added, “Then it wasn’t just hot sex between us? We did share other things, no?”

“Share? As in candlelit dinners like this, you mean?” He squinted at him as he inquired.

“Well, yes and more than that. Sitting down and having a meal like this means we talked a lot. It wasn’t just sex with us.”

Jacob huffed. “Yes, and no. Yes, we talked. You are a very worldly man. We would discuss so many things, historically, culturally…Yes, we did have long conversations like that. But nothing about your personal life. You would talk about history and stuff like that, and I would listen.”

Vincent took the napkin he just wiped his lips on and threw it on his plate suddenly, no longer feeling hungry. “Great, then I was self-centered, too, doing all the talking and never letting you get a word in edgewise. What type of loser was I?”

Jacob frowned. “Don’t go jumping to conclusions, Vincent. I never said that. No, it wasn’t like that at all. I asked you questions. I wanted to hear what you had to say about the world, history, everything. You taught me so much. I loved to spend hours just talking to you about these things and hearing and seeing the world, the new and the old, through your eyes.”

“You did?” Vincent’s heart skipped a beat.

“Yes, very much so.” Jacob laughed as his eyes seemed to be staring at something far away. “I used to always joke that you were a time traveler.”

“A time traveler? Why?”

“Because when you talked to me, told me about all that stuff that happened elsewhere in the past, it felt like you actually had experienced it yourself.”

Vincent was at a loss for words other than to say, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Jacob replied, looking like he was a million miles away, as if he were remembering a specific incident that happened between them like this one.

Coaxing him, Vincent said, “Then there was more to us than what I thought?”

His words seemed to jolt Jacob out of his fond memories. He took a deep breath and looked at his plate, twirling his fork in the fettuccine strands. “That’s what I thought, but I was wrong.”

Vincent’s heart felt so heavy looking at the hurt in Jacob’s eyes. All he wanted to do was hold him, kiss him, and try to erase all the wrongs he did. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold him, or kiss him, no matter how much he longed to touch Jacob’s full, soft lips with his own. But he could try to erase or, rather, fix all the wrongs he did to this wonderful man.

Placing his hand over Jacob’s that rested on the table, he waited until Jacob’s gaze met his to say, “I’m really sorry that I hurt you like this. I could see it in your eyes. I was a monster. You didn’t deserve what I did to you. And I want to make it up to you now.”

Jacob took a deep breath and stared into his eyes, not speaking. His gaze captivated Vincent, and he could feel the connection they had, what he felt for this man. It was a mystery to him. Perhaps the moment his hand touched Jacob’s had awakened something in him. But the emotions now brewing in Vincent compelled him and dominated his mind and body.

Then words started deep in Vincent’s heart and flowed upward to his vocal cords. When he opened his mouth, his heart spoke for him, “Jacob, I’m starting to feel something for you. I honestly don’t know what it is. Is it part of something I don’t remember, or is it something new that started since we met again? I can’t tell. All I know is that from the moment I saw you in the hospital, I felt it. It draws me to you like a moth to a light. And I want to get to know you again, get closer to you. See what these new feelings mean.”

* * * *

Jacob couldn’t believe it. He was shocked, and baffled. This couldn’t be Vincent. The Vincent who broke his heart, who was as cold as ice.

As he stared deep into Vincent’s green eyes, he almost lost himself in their depths. He could see Vincent’s approach, and he knew what his rational self should do. Move away. Don’t let Vincent touch him. But the same feelings Vincent just described he was experiencing had begun to affect Jacob, as well. He wanted to get closer to Vincent. To touch him. Jacob’s lips tingled and throbbed for attention. They longed to feel Vincent’s lips on them.

As if sensing Jacob’s desires, Vincent slowly moved in to kiss him. Jacob opened his mouth to welcome his lips, and him.

Vincent’s lips first just made contact, which caused Jacob to lose his breath. After that his tongue slipped into Jacob’s mouth and probed gently then hungrily for more. And as he did this, Jacob’s sexual hunger intensified. He leaned in farther and wrapped his hand around Vincent’s neck. Slowly so as not to hurt his injured arm, he pulled him in closer and slipped his tongue deeper inside. His hands began to roam up and down Vincent’s back, feeling his muscular, toned body through his dress shirt. Jacob’s body shook with passion, and his cock twitched and stiffened in pleasurable arousal when Vincent’s tongue slipped down and licked his neck.

Things were spiraling to lustful hell, and Jacob was its willing participant. His body needed this, needed Vincent now. But as Vincent’s recent proclamation came back to his thoughts when Vincent began to nibble his ear, another voice slowly became louder in the back of Jacob’s mind, as well.

It was Vincent’s voice on the phone from six months ago. The one that said he didn’t love Jacob and that he wanted nothing from him, only the sex, and that now that was done, too.

That voice soon silenced Vincent’s recent words and the sexual passion boiling between them suddenly became ice cold to Jacob.

He pushed Vincent away as he finally got a grasp on reality once again. He had broken Vincent’s spell. Getting up from the table, he said, “No, this stops now. What was between us is long gone. We can never go back.”

“Why?” Vincent said, panting, obviously trying to calm his raging heart.

“Because you have amnesia, remember?” He purposely used Vincent’s exact words he used earlier.

“What’s that got to do with what was just happening between us?”

“Everything!”

“Everything?”

“Yes! You’re letting what you feel physically muddle your mind.”

Vincent shook his head. “No, no. It isn’t just physical, Jacob! I know it’s something more. I can’t explain it, but I feel it deep in my heart.”

Jacob wanted so badly to believe those words, to believe in Vincent once again. He wanted Vincent to learn to love him as he loved Vincent. The truth shocked Jacob, like a powerful slap on the face. It took his emotions resurfacing now to realize he never stopped loving Vincent.

But that revelation meant nothing. Because nothing had changed, except Vincent had amnesia and now a serial killer was trying to kill him.

Looking away and walking hurriedly to his room, Jacob said loud so Vincent could hear, “I can’t deal with this, or you, right now.”

As he opened his door, he added, “If you need anything, I’ll be in my room working on the case.”

He slipped into his room and didn’t chance looking at Vincent before closing the door. He feared that if he looked once again into Vincent’s green eyes, he’d lose his resolve and crumble to the ground, becoming putty in Vincent’s hands once again.

Chapter 7

The scream came out of nowhere and woke Jacob with a start. He lifted his head just as needle-sharp pain shot through his stiff neck.
What happened?

Wiping the drool off his face, he squinted as the light beaming off his monitor screen hurt his eyes. He had dozed off, obviously, and was dreaming he heard a scream.

As his eyes adjusted to the strong light, he soon was able to focus on the time displayed in the right-hand corner of the screen. It was 2:43 in the morning. He had been sleeping for six hours on his desk. No wonder his neck felt like it would break any second.

He closed the Interpol Intel page that listed murder victims whose autopsy results showed similarities to the ones involved in The Cleansing Killings happening here that included not only other cities in the States but in Canada and Europe, too. Some articles he found dated as far back as a decade ago. The thought that those killings and these were related had crossed his mind last night, as it had since he first started investigating the murders. But in those cases, a suspect had been apprehended, faced a trial, and sentenced either to death or life in prison, depending on the state’s or country’s criminal laws.

No, those cases and this one couldn’t possibly be related, except that maybe their killer was a copycat. It was more likely than not that the killer had seen an article or movie based on one of those cited cases and decided to copy his serial killings on them. The reason why he chose The Cleansing Killings as a name for his sick massacres was yet to be revealed. Jacob guessed he was some lunatic who saw the world as a haven for evil, Satan’s reign, and wanted to cleanse the world of this evil. Only the killer was sicker, more twisted, and evil than anyone else in this world.

Just after Jacob closed his laptop, he stood up and walked over to his bed. He undressed, leaving on only his boxer briefs, and quickly slipped under the cool bedsheet. He sighed. This was much better than the hard desk and uncomfortable chair. He placed his hands behind his head and stared at the dark ceiling for a second before closing his eyes, hoping to get back to sleep and some much-needed rest.

It didn’t take him long to feel the sandman’s dust flutter over his eyes and his mind ebb him closer to dreamland. But just before he fully slipped back to sleep, another scream, barely audible, cracked the silent barrier of the night. It was faint but just enough to break the sleep cycle completely.

Fully awake, he bolted to a sitting position and turned to his nightstand’s drawer and the metal box that housed his gun. He always took off his holster when he came home at night, placing his firearm in its locked safety box.

A minute later, with his gun held in both hands in front of him, he made his way to the door. He opened it slowly and stepped to the side as he swung it open. If there was a perpetrator standing there, he wouldn’t be able to shoot him at this angle. When he heard no movement and saw no one in the corridor, he peeked out, looking to the right. The corridor lay vacant. All he saw was the dim light coming into the living room at the end of the hallway. The streetlight outside was right in front of the living room window, and even though he shut the blinds every night, the strong light still permeated through the opaque blinds to lighten the room.

Jacob turned to look to his left. The door at the end of the corridor where Vincent was sleeping was completely open. He could only see Vincent’s foot on the edge of the bed thrashing from side to side. He sprinted as fast as he could, holding his firearm high, ready to shoot whoever was attacking Vincent. But a second later, when a naked Vincent and the bed came fully into his view, he realized Vincent was alone, sleeping. A nightmare apparently caused his scream and erratic movements right now.

Placing the gun on the corner of the nightstand, Jacob slowly touched his hand. “Vincent…” he said softly.

It didn’t work. Raising his voice, he continued, “Vincent, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

Vincent opened his eyes, stared blankly at Jacob. Then a few seconds after that, without warning, Vincent sat up and grabbed Jacob around his arms, crushing him against him as he rolled them both to the floor. He tried to pin Jacob down with unbelievable strength. But Jacob’s police training made him fast and alert. He quickly reacted to the assault. He was able to easily twist out of Vincent’s grasp before Vincent could restrain him. Flipping his leg over Vincent’s body, Jacob straddled him, holding him down with the weight of his body. He pinned Vincent’s arms down on the ground above his head.

So many questions swarmed in on him as he stared at Vincent’s face, which he could now see a little clearer thanks to the light coming from the other end of the hallway.

And the one question that obsessed him the most was when did Vincent get so strong?

* * * *

What the hell?
Vincent cursed as he stared into Jacob’s face.

A minute or so ago he was dreaming he was in an alley with dead bodies lying around him. A caped monster chased him, screaming he couldn’t escape, it would catch Vincent. Then the monster disappeared from behind him and reappeared out of thin air the next instant in front of him. It grabbed him in a tight bear hug, not allowing him to breathe. The monster’s sharp fangs pierced its red gums, pushing through until they protruded a good two inches. With its gums now bleeding and its fangs ready to sink into his flesh, the creature bent its head down to bite Vincent’s neck. Blood dripped onto Vincent’s neck, making him freeze in utter panic. He began to fight back and that was when the pain came.