Twice Cursed (15 page)

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Now’s not the time to play
dumb, Lily. Was it just one bloodsucker, or was it a pack? Vamps
don’t usually hunt together like Weres. They prefer a more solitary
existence, especially since they don’t exactly play well with
others, if you know I mean.”

“
Just one. But there was
something bizarre about it,” she said, shoving her plate
away.

“
How so?” he asked. As if
having one of the undead as the perpetrator wasn’t bizarre
enough.

Lily chewed on her lower lip, her face
pensive as if struggling to find a way to phrase it. “It was as if
the images were trying to tell me something, I mean other than who
was responsible. There was something underlying it all, Jack, and I
can’t help the nagging feeling that I’m missing the
mark.”

“
Can you tell me what you
sensed, what the vamp showed you?”

Lily nodded. “Yeah, but finish eating
first or trust me, your appetite will take a hike along with
whatever’s in your stomach.”

“
You do realize you’re
going to have to tell Sean, because if you don’t, then I will.”
After Sean’s telepathic tirade earlier, he wasn’t taking a chance
on a lie of omission. He liked his pelt where it was, and he
planned to keep that way.

Lily exhaled. “I know. And don’t
worry, I won’t put you in the middle, or make this difficult. I
just want to give it another day or so. I need to see if I can
narrow things down. I know what happened, but I don’t know
why.”

“
Why? Who cares, why? The
vampires have their own protocol for dealing with things of this
nature, and as supernaturals, we’re obligated to inform their
council—especially since the police have been sniffing around. With
you involved, it makes the situation even more
imperative.”

“
Me? Why?”

“
Because, technically
you’re a Were.”

“
So?”

“
So? Lily, there are rules
to handling cross-supernatural incidents. In their eyes, you’re a
Were, but one of little significance. You being involved and
working the case in conjunction with the human authorities will
only give them grounds to accuse us of infringement and collusion.
As our alpha, Sean is the only one who can approach without
provocation.”

Lily pressed her lips
together. “No. We are not calling Sean, at least not until I get a
better handle on things. If the vampires have a council, then they
probably know what’s going on. If I’m technically a Were in their
eyes, then don’t you think it makes more sense for me to gather as
much information as I can,
before
we let the vamp out of the bag? One day, that’s
all I’m asking, Jack. Just give me one more day. I promise I’ll
call Sean.”

He took a big gulp of his wine and
then pointed the edge of his glass her way. “Okay. But it’s your
ass, not mine if he starts growling.”

She smirked. “Don’t worry.
I know exactly how to handle Sean when it comes to my ass,” she
said pushing herself up from the table, giving Jack a little
‘
Baby Got Back
’
wiggle, as she sashayed with her wine glass toward the
sink.

Red wine spewed across the table, and
Jack coughed, wiping his hand across his mouth. “Trouble, that’s
what you are, and that’s what I’m going to be in, I know it,” he
said, trying to mop up the mess with his napkin.

Lily bit the inside of her cheek to
keep from laughing. “Aw, come on, Jack, don’t be that way. I’m
sorry.” She grabbed a handful of paper towels, handed half to him,
and then with the rest, caught a thin ruby line before it trickled
off the table.

“
Tell you what; dinner is
on me tomorrow night. Anywhere you want to go in the
city.”

He looked up, still scrubbing his
shirt. “You’re on. But I should warn you, I’m not a cheap
date.”

She laughed out loud. “The good ones
never are.”

***

Martinez downed the last of his beer,
the butt of his glass thumping against the scuffed oak
bar.

“
Wanna another draft?” the
bartender asked, wiping up a spill from his last order.

“
Nah.
I think I’m gonna head home, Arnie. Thanks
anyway.”

The bartender nodded. “Too bad,” he
teased, his lopsided grin making his broad face seem even broader.
“The brunette sitting at the table in the corner has been
eye-fucking you for the last hour, but then again, you’ve been too
busy stacking matchbooks to notice.”

With a raised eyebrow, Arnie cocked
his head to toward the full-figured beauty pushing her way past the
crowd in their direction. Chuckling, he gave Ryan thumbs up and
quickly made himself scarce.

“
Leaving so soon?” the
woman drawled, her eyes sweeping Ryan’s face and chest.

“
I was.”

She pouted. “Too bad. And here I was,
ready to ask if you’d like to join me for a drink.”

Ryan’s eyes took in her full length,
from the top of her frosted head to her wide blue eyes and full
mouth, and every curve the rest of the way down. Her makeup was a
bit over the top for his liking, but she seemed eager, and after
the day he had, he was more than ready to lose himself between a
pair of long legs.

“
What’s your name,
sweetheart?”

“
Charlie. My mother named
me after her favorite perfume…you know, the one that was so popular
back in the late seventies?”

“
Nice,” he said, but
actually had no clue what she was talking about. “What’ll you
have?”

The brunette climbed up on the
barstool next to his and leaned forward, her tight blouse one deep
breath away from a wardrobe malfunction. “Whatever you’re
having.”

Ryan signaled to Arnie for two more
drafts, then swiveled his stool to face hers. “I haven’t seen you
in here before. Are you new to the neighborhood?”

She giggled, running her fingers
through the length of her hair. “Yeah, I guess you could say
that.”

Arnie brought the drinks over, giving
Ryan an encouraging nod. Not that he needed encouragement. Women
came easy for him. Problem was, none of them ever seemed the right
fit.

Until this
afternoon.

Squashing the errant thought, he
raised his glass to hers. “Sláinte,” he said, clinking the side of
her glass with his. No poetry necessary for this one.

“
Swedish, right? I just
love when guys talk another language. It’s so sexy,” she giggled
again, swirling the foam at the top of her glass with her
finger.

He raised an eyebrow, as he
took a sip of his beer. Okay, so she wasn’t exactly the sharpest
knife in the drawer.
Nothing at all like
Lily
. He frowned, pushing the Freudian
thought away, focusing instead on the leggy girl practically
sitting in his lap.

The brunette held her beer, running
her long, red fingernail delicately up and down the frosted glass.
She took a sip, and the condensation dripped from the bottom of the
glass to her chest, its wetness trickling in a tempting line toward
the deep cleft between her breasts.

“
Here,” Ryan said, handing
her a napkin.

She took his hand, guiding it to just
above her cleavage. Her mouth parted, and she licked her lips in
obvious invitation, sliding the napkin out from between his
fingers.

Her skin was warm to the touch, and
his fingers didn’t hesitate, dipping well beneath the low cut scoop
of her blouse. She was braless, and her nipples hardened through
the thin fabric at the simple touch.

Ryan slipped his arm around her narrow
waist, bringing her closer. With a practiced move, she tilted her
head, arching her back so her chest pressed against his. He bent to
nuzzle her neck, expecting the same intoxicating feminine scent he
had smelled on Lily all day. Instead, he got a nose full of
cigarettes and cheap perfume.

The dirty ashtray smell settled on the
back of his tongue, and he cleared his throat. Reading the sound as
a groan of consent, the brunette slid her hand over the bulge in
front of his pants. She lifted her mouth to his, murmuring a soft
sigh into her kiss. She drew her tongue along the edge of his
bottom lip, teasing.

He didn’t care that they were in a
public place. Her body was soft and supple, and she was just what
he needed after being torqued up all day. His hand splayed across
her décolleté, and his fingers dipped again into the deep cleft
between her breasts. He feathered kisses along the tender skin
beneath her jaw, her breath fanning across his ear, her low moans
inviting him to explore more.

Ryan closed his eyes, but the fantasy
playing out behind his lids didn’t include the brunette in his
arms. The starring role belonged to another woman, the honey blonde
whose lush curves and delicious scent had taunted him all
day.

His eyes snapped
open.
Get a grip, Martinez…what the
fuck?

He grabbed the brunette by her hair
and crushed his mouth to hers. As anticipated, he tasted a mix of
cigarettes and beer, but ignored it. Inhaling deeply, he tried to
catch the taste of her wet arousal. If his sixth sense had taught
him anything, it was how to judge when a woman was ripe for the
taking.

But the telltale scent wasn’t there.
Instead, the taste of her mouth coated every nerve ending with the
residual scents from a host of other men.

Pissed off, he put his hands on her
shoulders and shoved her away. He worked the little muscle in the
corner of his jaw, biting back on his own recklessness and lack of
discretion.

“
Take your little bag of
tricks and leave. Now.” he said, leaning forward so she could read
the severity on his face.

“
But…”

“
I know what you are, and I
know what you’re trying to pull. I’m a cop. And unless you want to
spend the rest of the night in jail on a solicitation charge, I
suggest you take my advice and scram. My offer expires in one
minute.”

Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth fell
open for a moment before she pressed her lips together in a thin
line. Ryan could see the skepticism in her face as she toyed with
the idea of starting a scene. She sat there, almost daring him to
make good on his promise, but her smug look disappeared the minute
he opened his wallet to pay for the drinks, his badge as clear as
the fear blooming on her face.

Truth was, he had no proof, only his
trust in his sixth sense. But she didn’t have to know
that.

She unceremoniously slid from the
barstool and grabbed her purse from the bar. With a sniff, she
sidled off toward the door without as much as a backward
glance.

Ryan wiped his mouth on a napkin. He
downed his beer and ran a hand through his hair. Arnie walked over,
wiping his hands on a bar towel, a quizzical look on his face.
“Guess she wasn’t your type, huh?”

“
Not in the least. And I
better not find she’s anyone else’s type either or my friends in
vice will be paying you a little visit.”

Arnie’s mouth fell open. He
threw the towel over his shoulder and leaned forward on the bar. “A
pro?
No shit!
In
here?”

Ryan nodded. “Yup. Hopefully, I scared
her enough she’ll rethink her choice of profession.”

The bartender shrugged, pushing
himself back. “Can’t save the world, Ryan. All we can do is have
faith,” he said, grabbing a couple of shot glasses and filling them
with Jameson Irish. Pushing one toward Ryan, he lifted the other.
“Sláinte.”

Ryan lifted his and shot it
back.
All we can do is have faith…
Jeez, when Arnie gets it right, he seriously gets
it right.

He wiped his hand across his mouth.
For him, faith had always been something in short
supply.

Aging out of the foster care system in
California, he had headed east as soon as he’d turned eighteen,
putting as much distance as he could between himself and his past.
After everything he had gone through growing up, he joined the NYPD
in hopes of finding some answers—but seven years later, he was no
closer to knowing anything more about himself than he had then. All
Martinez knew was that he was different, and until he figured out
why, he was better off alone. Not exactly a trait conducive to a
job where trust is crucial for survival.

Especially of late. He exhaled
sharply, his thoughts drifting back to Lily. How could one woman
fuck with both his head and his cock so much, in such a short
time?

Vampire, my ass.
It was bullshit. That was all he’d chalked it up
to. But the same sense of foreboding that bit into his stomach the
minute Lily uttered the word, twisted in his gut once
again.

Grabbing his coat from the back of the
barstool, he headed for the door. There was only one way to find
out if there was any truth to what she claimed, or if he was just
as crazy.

He pulled his car out onto the street
and headed south. Patrol had manned the crime scene round the clock
for the past seventy-two hours, but now the department had no
choice but to turn the place back over to the landlord. CSI had
done all they could, and Lily…well, that remained to be seen. It
wasn’t that late, but the cold had left most of the streets
deserted, and he easily wound his way toward the east
side.