Blood Secrets-Valorian 1 (9 page)

Some Others preyed on the weaker races. And humans were at the bottom of the food chain. If it weren’t for the fact that humans outnumbered the Otherworld community one thousand to one, some of the Others would take advantage of the human vulnerability.

At one time, long ago, he held that sentiment in a tight bloody fist. Vampire politics were difficult to unlearn.

Grabbing the phone off his desk, Caine dialed Mahina’s number. She would need to meet them at the Red Express to hunt down their suspects and get to the truth.

A truth, Caine was starting to suspect, that no one, Otherworlder or human, was going to expect or like.

E ve gulped down half her coffee as Caine maneuvered the SUV around the downtown Necropolis streets. The sultry night had settled in, and the gaudy neon signs of all-night diners and various nightclubs flashed at her as they sped by. There seemed to be no end to the oppressive heat.

Struggling with fatigue, she rubbed at her stinging eyes. She had managed to get in a few hours of sleep despite her earlier claims of not being able to. After two hours of poring through the three thick volumes that Caine had given her, exhaustion had overcome her and she had gladly succumbed to it.

She had processed a lot of information, and even now was still contemplating what she had read. She had learned more than anyone hoped to imagine about the Otherworld community and the races that made it up. We had it all wrong.

Eve chastised the humans that gathered the information on the various races. They had obviously taken their cue from bad horror films and cleverly written genre fiction.

Nowhere had anyone mentioned the hierarchy and streamlined political system of the vampire. Nothing she had read in the primer dossiers had truly prepared her for the reality of it or of Necropolis.

“We’re just about there.”

Caine’s voice broke into Eve’s thoughts and she glanced out the window as they turned the corner onto Fallen Road. The Red Express was in a particularly seedy part of downtown. She thought Fallen Road was aptly named, given all the dilapidated buildings lined up on either side. Some of them looked like they would collapse if a sudden gust of wind blew by.

Caine pulled up in front of an unassuming brick building with a black door. There was a small sign right above the door, painted in dark red, The Red Express. After turning off the engine, he swiveled in his seat toward her, a stern expression on his face.

“You need to be really careful in here. I won’t let what happened in the hotel occur here, but you need to be on your guard. Even in a place like this, vampire politics are at play.”

“I know. Don’t make eye contact with anyone, stay by your side, and let Captain Garner or you ask the questions. I got it.” Sighing, she opened the passenger door and jumped out. What did he think she was, stupid? She remembered all too well when the vampire clerk jumped on her, his grotesque fangs drooling over her neck. The thought still gave her shivers.

She rounded the vehicle, grabbed her kit from the back and followed Caine closely as he went into the building.

The first thing that hit her when she stepped into the dimly lit bar was the metallic smell.

Blood. It was overpowering—like bleach in the wash. The odor almost made her eyes water.

She sidled up next to Caine. “How can you stand it?”

He looked around, put his nose in the air and breathed. “To me it smells no different than if we were to walk into a human bar and the strong odor of beer wafted up my nose.”

With that, he continued into the room. Mahina was at the bar waiting for them.

As they walked, the sparse clientele watched every step. Well, Eve thought they were tracking her every move. She could almost feel their gazes moving over her, like fingers playing up and down a piano keyboard. Some were strictly sexual feelings, but others she could feel were far hungrier.

Subconsciously, she pressed closer to Caine, so close she could feel the solid warmth of his body.

He stopped walking, looked down at her and whispered, “I said stay close, but don’t glue yourself to me.”

She took a distancing step away. “I’m sorry. It’s just everyone’s looking at me like they want to eat me.”

Caine glanced around at the patrons, then back at her and nodded. “They do want to eat you. Your blood probably smells like an aphrodisiac to most of them.”

Her body quaked as she pictured his words in her mind. She glanced up at him. His eyes glowed just a little like white coal in a barbecue. “Do I smell like that to you?”

She didn’t know why she asked, particularly at that moment, but she wanted to know.

Especially with the way he was looking at her. Like she was dessert. She didn’t find the thought unappealing. In fact, she liked that he looked at her like that, and that frightened her a little.

He dropped his gaze, putting it on the floor. “No.” He cleared his throat. “Mahina is waiting for us, let’s get this done.” He continued walking. Eve followed.

Caine was lying. He couldn’t look her in the eye when he answered. He was hiding his emotions from her. She wondered what his feelings encompassed. Did he just see her as food, a fresh blood supply? Or something a hell of a lot more? Either way, Eve wasn’t sure if she was strong or daring enough to find out.

Mahina smiled when they approached. She shook Caine’s hand, and then nodded politely to Eve.

“I showed Clive—” she pointed at the bartender “—a picture of the deceased and he doesn’t recognize her. And I know he’s telling me the truth because I already threatened to revoke his blood-serving license.”

Clive nodded his head. “I’d remember a girl like that.”

Eve noticed his fangs were extra long and that they hung over his bottom lip.

Caine slid another enlarged picture across the bar counter toward Clive. It was the one of the vampire boy band he had discovered under the victim’s mattress. “Do you know any of these guys?”

Clive glanced briefly down at the photo. “Shit, yeah. That’s Crimson Strain. They’re in here all the time.” He smiled at Caine. “They even played here once.”

“Do these boys have names, by chance?”

“Sure, that’s Gnash—” he pointed to each member “—J.C., Phoenix, and that’s Xavier.”

Eve perked up with the last name. Xavier. With a big old X. Caine glanced back at her and raised a brow. He was thinking the same thing she was. They had an Internet moniker of vamploverX. X as in Xavier? Maybe.

“Any of these guys in here right now?” Caine asked as he slid the paper back into his pocket. “If they are, please don’t point, just nod in their general direction.”

Clive surveyed the growing crowd. Finally, his gaze rested in the corner. The darkest corner, Eve noticed. It figures.

“In the corner. Gnash and Xavier.”

“Thank you.” Caine glanced at Mahina. “Let’s go in nice and slow. Don’t want to spook them.” He glanced over his shoulder at Eve. “Stay behind me.”

He didn’t need to tell her. She had already slid in behind him, with her hand on her ALS

flashlight. It wasn’t a gun, but somehow it made her feel better to know it was there. It hadn’t stopped the skinny vampire from the hotel, but she didn’t plan on letting anyone else get the jump on her like that again.

As she looked past Caine to the corner where the two men sat in the shadows, Eve wondered if they were going to run.

Seconds later, she had her answer.

Faster than she could discern, the two men were up and dashing for the back exit, clearly marked by the flashing red sign. They knocked over tables and chairs on their way across the room.

Mahina and Caine were right behind them. On instinct, Eve followed them. It was either that, or stay in the blood bar with several hungry vampires.

She pushed through the metal door and saw Mahina running down the alley one way, and Caine running the other. He glanced over his shoulder at her just as she came rushing out.

“Stay there, Eve! Don’t move from that spot!” He turned and ran, disappearing around the corner onto the main street.

The moment he was gone, Eve became very aware of the shadows creeping across the alley’s cracked cement walls and road. Turning around, she reached for the door handle, but found nothing but smooth painted metal. She was locked out. There was no going back in unless she walked around front and went in through the main door again.

Caine had told her to stay put, but she had foolishly left her kit on the floor near the bar.

What if someone took it? There would be hell to pay if she lost all her equipment. They would need the evidence-gathering tools if they caught the suspects.

Glancing back and forth down the alley again, she made up her mind. She would quickly race around front, go in to retrieve her kit and wait for Caine by the SUV. No harm, no foul.

Sucking in a deep breath, Eve edged along the wall toward the mouth of the alley, keeping her back pressed against the gray cement. Her blouse clung to her like wet sand.

The heat from the night and from a hearty dose of dread had rivulets of sweat running down her back and chest.

A clanging echoed down the road. Stopping, she glanced over her shoulder, her breath heaving in her chest. An empty pop bottle rolled across the cement.

Just a cat, Eve thought.

She swung back around and continued to creep along the wall. She got maybe another two feet, before the hair on the back of her neck rose to attention, like quills on a porcupine. Something was definitely behind her. Grasping the flashlight in her hand, she flicked it on and swiveled around pointing the light like a ray gun.

Nothing.

The space behind her was empty, except for the swirling discarded newspapers on the ground. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to calm her erratic breathing and her pounding heart. Her hands shook as she flicked the button off on the flashlight.

Shaking her head at her own fear, Eve turned back around to continue her way out of the alley. Maybe she was being stupid by moving. She had been relatively safe standing with her back to the door, hadn’t she? And Caine did tell her to stay put. For once, she decided to do what she was told.

Her back flattened against the wall, she turned back toward the way she came. She ended up face-to-face with glowing white eyes and snarling fangs.

“Hello, gorgeous.”

The flashlight was knocked out of her hand, and Eve was twisted around with a power lock around her neck. She was pulled up tight against a tall, very powerful male body.

Tears of pain sprung to her eyes as he tightened his grip around her throat and shoulders.

“What’s a tasty bit like you doing here?” he growled into her ear, and then laved his tongue over her lobe.

Eve struggled against him, twisting and clawing at his forearm. Even as she raked her nails across his skin, she knew it wasn’t going to do any good. The man was a vampire, with inhuman strength and resistance to pain. She could tell by the way he ground his pelvis into her back that he was likely enjoying what she was doing to him. Pain was this sicko’s aphrodisiac.

“Keep it up, babe. You’re getting me as hard as a rock.” He laughed, the sound mocking as it echoed off the walls.

“I would let her go if I were you.”

Eve nearly sobbed with relief when Caine suddenly appeared in front of them. His eyes were glowing. Eve realized that they did that when he was experiencing intense emotion.

Right now, he looked furious. He looked like he could rip the guy’s head off with one yank.

The vampire must have sensed that Caine was no idle threat, because he did loosen his grip around her neck.

“Why should I listen to you, cop?”

“I’m not a cop, Xavier. I’m a criminalist. I’m trying to solve a horrific crime and I thought you could help me with that.”

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

“I didn’t say you did.” Caine stepped to the right a little. “That woman you’re holding isn’t a cop, either. She’s a criminalist, and my partner.”

Eve stilled a little as Caine talked. He was not only calming Xavier down, but he was calming her as well. His voice was almost hypnotic. He professed not to have power in his voice, but she didn’t agree. Everything about him screamed power, confidence and strength.

Xavier shivered a little. Eve could tell his resolve was softening.

“She smells human.”

Caine nodded. “She is. Just like Lillian was.”

Xavier stiffened. Eve thought for sure he was going to do something. She could feel the fury rising in him like mercury in a thermometer. Squeezing her eyes shut, she rammed her elbow into his stomach and shoved forward. She refused to go down without fighting.

Before she could blink, the assailant was on the ground, blood seeping from his nose, and she was trembling in Caine’s arms on the other side of the alley.

Bewildered, Eve glanced over her shoulder at the fallen vampire. “I didn’t do that, did I?”

Mahina appeared and rolled the vampire onto his stomach, handcuffing his hands behind his back. She had the other suspect also handcuffed and sitting on the ground.

Caine smoothed a hand down her back and shook his head. “No, but you helped. That was a great elbow.”

Turning her head around, her resolve broke and the tears fell freely down her cheek. She took in a ragged breath and tried to muffle a sob.

Caine continued to stroke her back as he clutched her tighter to his body. “You’re all right now, Eve. You’re safe.”

Unable to hold in her emotions any longer, Eve wrapped her arms around Caine, pressed her head against his chest, and cried. The fear and adrenaline flowed out of her body through her gushing tears.

All the while, Caine held her close, stroking her back, his chin nuzzled on top of her head.

She fit perfectly against him, like the last link in a chain, or the interlocking piece to complete a puzzle.

She was very aware of the heat from his body. The smell of his expensive cologne tickled her nose pleasantly. And underneath that, she could detect the clean scent of his skin, soap with a hint of musk. His odor and warmth signified safety to Eve. She knew in his arms that nothing could touch her, nothing could harm her.