Hex and the Single Witch (Vehicle City Vampires) (9 page)

Malone waited
outside for me.

I arrived in
record time, or so I thought, but Malone bitched about how long it took me to
get there. Of course, I had taken some extra time casting the spell.

“It took you
long enough to get here. And you couldn’t bother with getting properly dressed
for an interrogation?”

“What are you
talking about?” I looked down at my clothing. Oh my Goddess! I had managed to
put on a pair of jeans and some flip flops but I was still wearing my lacy pajama
tank top…that was see-through. I hurriedly crossed my arms to cover my boobs
which were nipping out in the crisp autumn air.

“You got great
tits, Annie, but I don’t think everyone in the club needs to be seeing them. I
think I got a hoodie in my car, wait here.”

I stood there
shivering in the cool night…morning…whatever air while I waited for Malone to
get back. I must have been fifty shades of red at that point, but I was too
damn proud to cower in my car while I waited for him. Good thing no one else came
over to me. And geez, did Malone have to see my boobs? Probably made his night,
he stared at them enough through my clothes, seeing them almost bare was
probably an answer to his prayers.

“Here ya go, you
need to put those nipples away before you poke an eye out with those things.”

I turned another
shade of red and took his sweatshirt and hurriedly slipped it on. It smelled
like him. Clean, manly…sexy. Always with his scent. He was such an ass, but he
smelled so damn good. The hoodie fell right above my knees and made me feel
like a little girl playing dress up, it hung so huge on me. But it was warm and
covered my almost naked breasts.

“So you coming
or what?” He stood there waiting for me.

“Oh, yeah.
Sorry, no caffeine in my system so I am not functioning fully,” I mumbled.

“Uh, huh, we’ll
have to get you some cause we need you on your game, Annie girl. There are
dangerous vampires in there who caused quite a scene tonight. We need to know
if their fight has anything to do with the murders.”

“I doubt it,
probably just a territorial thing. You said the one guy was from out of town,
right?”

“Yeah, he’s one
of those pompous English vampires. They act so damn superior to everyone else.”

“Yeah, probably
pissed the local off.”

“Speaking of the
local, why’d he ask for you specifically?”

“Uhh, well, all
the local Others know I am the Preternatural Liaison, so they know when
something goes down I am the one to call to keep things on equal ground between
humans and Others.” I fidgeted, why didn’t I want Malone to know about me and
Galen? It was no big deal, right?

“Yeah, that’s
not the vibe I was getting from him. Sure there’s not more to it? You banging
this bloodsucker or something?”

I gasped
completely shocked, this was going a little far, even for Malone. “I am not
banging anyone. Not that it’s any of your business.” Holy crap on a broomstick,
he hit the nail on the head. I was not sleeping with Galen, but Goddess knows I
wanted to.

I swear Malone
looked relieved. “It’s my business if it interferes with your job or this
investigation and I…” he stopped himself, there was something else, another
reason he didn’t want me banging Galen. He left it unsaid, which was probably a
good thing because I had a feeling I didn’t want to hear it.

We had to cross
Saginaw Street to get to the club from where I was parked. A huge area of the
brick road was covered with blood.

“I thought you
said it was just a fight, it looks like someone was slaughtered out here. The
bricks are covered with blood!”

“I don’t know.
Bystanders say it was just a fight. From what I seen of the two vamps neither
one was hurt bad. Of course they heal so fast it’s hard to tell.”

I walked
carefully around the blood not wanting to step in any of it as we continued to
the club.

I walked into
VAMP and the energy in the room sizzled. So thick it stuck to me like something
viscous. The back of my neck tingled with unease. My skin felt like it was
coated with something slightly sticky. Vampire pheromones ran rampant and the
human cops all looked queasy.

“Malone, get all
the human cops out of here. I told you to keep humans out of VAMP.”

“I didn’t know
you meant keep the cops out. I thought you just meant civilian humans. We had
to have some of our guys in here.” He paused and looked at me. “And what do you
mean human cops? All of them are human, aren’t they?”

I looked at him.
Seriously! He didn’t know which guys on the force were not human.

“Uhm, no they
are not all human. The ones that don’t look nervous or queasy can stay; get the
rest out of here. The vampires are filling the club with so much power I have
no idea what could happen. You might want to chill outside for a bit too, just
in case.”

“There is no way
in hell I am leaving you in here without proper back up. I am the Detective in
charge; it’s my job to be here.”

“Okay, but if
you start feeling weird you need to step out and get some air.”

He looked at me
for a minute then went to usher all the human cops out of the club.

Galen stood up
and made a move toward me, I shook my head at him and he sat back down.

I walked over to
the table where Devlin and Galen sat across from each other. Both of them were
covered in drying blood. Satinka sat between them. Guardians were on either
side of the table and lined up behind Satinka.

“So, uhh, what
happened here?” I asked no one in particular but looked at Galen. His dark hair
was tousled, his square jaw set, and his usually full lips were tightly set in
a thin line. Dried blood crusted near his right eye and at the corner of his
mouth. Whatever damage had been done was already healed. Only dried blood
remained.

I turned toward
Devlin; suddenly very pissed he had hurt Galen. Then realized he must have been
hurt worse because his wounds weren’t all healed. His hair was still filled
with gooey blood, his ear looked a bit odd, his shirt torn to shreds and his
face sported pink zig zag lines not yet fully healed.

Galen had did
that to him? Wow. One part of me was all “Go Galen” the other part was “Crap
Galen does have a violent side.”

Devlin made a
move to speak but nothing came out. Ha! My spell actually worked. First time
for everything I guess.

Satinka smiled. “Strangest
thing happened, after the fight broke up and the boys were dragged inside. All
of the sudden, Devlin’s running of the mouth stopped. Now he cannot make a sound.
Quite a blessing since what he had been saying was entirely false.”

Somehow Satinka
Tala knew what I’d done. I was sure I turned a little red; I just hoped none of
the cops noticed. I couldn’t be caught interfering in an investigation. But I
had to keep them from connecting the murders to Galen.

“So was this
just a territorial thing?” I asked looking intently at Galen, praying he would
understand and say yes.

“Devlin has
never much liked me and we just had a minor disagreement which got out of
control. He will be heading back to London tonight and there will be nothing
more to worry about,” he said in a very tight lipped manner.

“So this was all
just about vampire ego?” Malone asked as he walked up behind me. I could feel
his unease without even looking at him.

Galen could
apparently see Malone’s dislike toward vampires as well, but knew Malone was
not someone to aggravate. “Yes, Detective, in a way. Centuries of dislike can
very easily lead to violence between vampires, but it is nothing human police need
to interfere with. If it happens again we will be sure to stay out of the
public eye. I apologize greatly. I let Devlin goad me enough to resort to
violence in front of human witnesses. It will not happen again. You have my
word.”

Galen sounded so
sincere, but Malone didn’t look impressed. “See that it doesn’t happen again.
Next time the P.I.T crew will handle it our way.” He turned and walked out of
the club.

“What is the
P.I.T crew’s way?” Satinka asked.

I shrugged my
shoulders. “I have no idea.”

I glanced at
Galen who gave me a weak smile even as he looked quizzically at the sweatshirt
I wore. He could probably smell Malone on the shirt. I felt like I needed to
explain. I turned to see where everyone was. The uniformed police were already
following Malone out. I had to leave also, although I really didn’t want to. I
turned to follow the humans out of VAMP.

I almost reached
the door when I felt Galen’s nearness before he grabbed my arm and stopped me
from leaving.

“I am really
sorry about earlier,” he said quietly.

“It’s okay, you
were upset, perhaps even embarrassed about telling me all those things. I
understand. We’ll talk later. I have to get out there before they come looking
for me.” I wanted to throw my arms around him and kiss him again, but there was
no way I could chance it with all the cops milling around.

He put his hand
on my cheek. “Anwyn, there’s so much I want you to know, I feel…”

“I know, Galen,
me too, just not right now.”

I turned to
leave and found Malone standing in the doorway glaring at me.

Chapter 10

All the guys in
uniform had already pulled away from the curb and out of the parking lot across
the street. Malone and I were the only people with badges still at the scene
and the only two cars left alongside the empty brick road. Since there wasn’t
any official report to file when we were done, no need to go to the station.

“I fucking knew
it; you’re banging fang face in there, aren’t you?” Malone was in a rage.

I couldn’t
believe him acting like this.

“Uh, no I am not
banging anyone and even if I was it wouldn’t be any of your business!” I
snapped at him.

“Not my
business? God damn you, Anwyn! I know you are Other, you’re a witch, I can deal
with that. But I don’t like vampires, not even a little. And that was before
this crazy fanged serial killer started draining women in my city. Now I flat
out don’t trust them. I can’t have a member of my team getting cozy with
someone from the Other side. Especially not you.”

“The Other side?
The whole point of my position as liaison, to bridge a gap between humans and
Others. I have to be able to communicate with and incite trust in Others in
order to do my job.”

“Yeah, well you
don’t have to fuck them to do that.”

“What is your
deal, Malone? Why do you care so much about who I fuck?”

He stared at me,
his face still red from anger, but his eyes appeared sad, holding a touch of
pain. I’d seen that look in them every time I insulted him or turned down one
of his advances.

He took a step
closer to me and I automatically stepped back. This pissed him off again.

“Annie, girl. I
am not the one you should be afraid of,” he growled, reached out and yanked me
against his strong body, crushing me in his arms as he pressed his firm lips
against mine so hard I could feel them bruising…while I could feel the rest of
my body responding positively. Malone’s enticing aroma surrounded me, filling
my senses, making me melt into him even when my better judgment told me to pull
away.

I kissed him
back, tasting coffee and cinnamon. He tasted as good as he smelled. And his
kisses were amazing.

His hands crept
up under the hoodie and across, then under my lacy pajama top. His big, strong,
slightly rough hands sent shivers over my skin. I ached for physical…sexual
contact. His touch was like water for someone dying of thirst. But when his
huge hands cupped my naked breasts I snapped out of the pleasure filled
delusion.

Shit! I was
making out with Malone. On the street, in the open. Crap on a broomstick! I was
making out with Malone! Malone! Oh, this was bad. Super bad. I pushed him away.

“Stop, stop!
What the hell are you doing?” I screeched at him while trying to untangle his
hands from under my shirt.

“What I’ve
wanted to do for a long time,” he replied breathlessly licking his lips like he
couldn’t get enough of the taste of me.

Damn, Malone was
so freaking hot…I had to shake myself, I fell under his spell again, ready to
fall right back into his arms and let his lips consume me.

Wait, fall under
his spell…that was it, this must be a spell, maybe an effect of all the vampire
pheromones running amuck, or maybe a different spell, who knew. I just couldn’t
be making out with Malone of my own free will, could I?

“Malone, pull
yourself together. We are co-workers, you are practically my boss. This isn’t
right.” I tried to reason with him, with myself but reason didn’t appeal to
either of us at that point.

“Right is you
being with a man, a human man, not a god damn vampire, Anwyn.” His voice grew
deeper and huskier than usual. The tone held an edge of desperation to it along
with something else…something tugged at my heart.