Crimson Vengeance (4 page)

In all honesty, she’d been unsettled lately, as if something in her life was amiss. Perhaps it was anxiety over not making ground on her search for a cure. Again—maybe. Maybe not.

It still didn’t explain why she was sitting in Adriana’s driveway like some kind of stalker. Or perhaps it did. It’d be stupid to pretend she didn’t know Adriana was attracted to her. Christ almighty, she was over five hundred years old. She knew what attraction was when she saw it. She was also exceptionally good at deflecting it.

Practice did make perfect after all.

Right now, she tried to tell herself she came to check on Adriana’s progress with the samples collected earlier. If it meant she’d have to spend a little quality time in close proximity to Adriana, well, then…

okay, but it was all business. It was about the cure.

What a crock
. Even to her it sounded stupid. She wasn’t fooling herself and it was a stretch to believe she could fool Adriana either.

For the first time in a very long time, Riah had the hots for a woman. And she had it bad. If she believed in love, she could almost convince herself she was falling in love with Adriana. Except her chance at love had died many, many centuries ago. This was simply lust. She took a deep breath and swung the car door open. Riah would just go on in, ask Adriana what she’d found, and then go home. Yes,

that’s what she’d do. This
thing
she was feeling would pass once she took a few minutes to chat with Adriana about business.

At the front door, Riah pushed the doorbell. It would take Adriana a minute to get to the door if she was downstairs in the lab, and that was fine since it would give her another minute to compose herself. When the door swung open immediately, Riah wasn’t sure what surprised her most: that Adriana was already at the door—or that she was naked.

By the time Ivy got the body tucked back into the cooler, the door locked, and the report notes uploaded, it was past midnight.

Everything was in place for a properly signed death certificate listing the official cause of death as homicide by knife attack. Sure, the entire team at the lake this morning noticed the puncture wounds on the man’s neck. They’d even taken a dozen or so pictures to document the marks. That didn’t mean she had to write it up as a vampire attack. Like folks would accept it as the truth anyway.

People didn’t believe preternatural creatures roamed somewhere between shadow and light. Even if they did, deep in their hearts they didn’t want to. Ignorance was bliss.

The majority of cultures throughout the world had some version of a vampire. They were, for the most part, relegated to fiction and folklore. Ivy would be more than happy to leave them all there, except she couldn’t. She wasn’t particularly fond of the lessons she’d had to learn the last decade or so. It wasn’t fair. She was going through her life ignorant and happy until the night Riah came to her with an incredible story. Sometimes having friends really sucked. Especially if one of those friends turned out to be a bona-fide bloody-fanged vampire, albeit a very pretty one with an IQ guaranteed to ensure an invitation to Mensa.

Ivy sank into the chair at her desk and ran a hand through her hair. Talk about tired. If it was up to her, she’d lay her head on the stack of file folders and sleep for a day or two. Alas, too much work to do and too many details to cover. Sleep would have to wait.

When her phone rang, she jumped. Her hand to her heart, she picked up the handset.

“Ivy Hernandez.”

“Ivy, this is Phil from over at K-5 News.”

“Hey, Phil.” She kept her voice friendly even though, at this time of the night, chances were this wasn’t a social call.

“So what’s up with your floater? I’ve been trying to catch you all afternoon.”

“Sorry, I’ve been out most of the day. I called in a little help from Spokane.”

“Yeah, so I heard. Why?”

“Why what?” She was good at playing dumb when the situation called for it.

“Why did you call in help?”

“Look, Phil, there’ll be an official release in the morning and you can read it all for yourself.”

“Ah, come on, Ivy. It’s your pal here. We started first grade together, remember? I carried your lunch. I was the big strong friend who pushed Joey Stevens when he tried to kiss you. So, here’s the deal. I got the five a.m. news coming up with nothing to lead, and you could help me out.”

The minute she heard his voice, she knew he’d try to play the old-pal card. Phil was actually pretty good at his job, and Ivy had wondered more than once what kept him here in Moses Lake. Even when they were back in high school, she always thought he’d move on to bigger, better things. So far, he was the home boy who stayed home and used every connection he could to get his story.

“I could, but I’m not. You know the drill, old pal. Come by after nine and you can pick up a copy of the official release.”

“You’re sure? Not even for an old and dear friend?”

“Not even for an old and dear friend. I like my job, Phil, and I’d like to keep it, if you catch my drift.”

“Well, can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“Good night, Phil.”

“Night, beautiful.”

She hung up the phone, snapped off the light, and headed out the door. It was time to get out of the office before another reporter called. Didn’t anybody sleep anymore?

Traffic was light and the night clear. Beautiful stars hung golden against the inky black sky. People could pick on Moses Lake all they wanted, but it could be a really lovely place. Especially on nights like tonight. The air was clear, the sky was magical, and, for the moment, things were peaceful.

As she was crossing the bridge, lights flickered off the lake waters. So postcard-picturesque. The pleasant feeling lasted too, at least until she pulled into her driveway. First another vampire, then Phil, now this. God definitely wasn’t smiling on her today.

Ivy slammed the door of her car and then stomped toward the shiny black pickup parked at her curb. “I swear to God, Jorge, if I carried a gun I’d shoot your ass right here, right now.”

Jorge Santos stepped out of the truck and smiled. His wavy black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, the way he was well aware that Ivy liked it best. In black jeans and a white shirt, opened at the neck, he was hot and knew it. On any other woman, his Hollywood good looks would work. Jorge’s problem was, Ivy wasn’t any woman. He was just about the last person on earth she wanted to see.

“Bonita,”
he drawled. “You would never hurt me.”

“Try me. I wasn’t kidding the first time I told you to stay away.

Or the third. Or the fifth.” She put a hand on his chest and pushed him toward the curb.

Jorge put his hand over hers, his fingers softly stroking her skin. “Feel my heart beat for you, bonita?”

Ivy snatched her hand away and took a step back. At the same time, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and held it up for him to see. “I’m giving you exactly thirty seconds to put your ass back in that truck and get out of here. If you don’t, I’ll call the sheriff. Did I ever mention I have him on speed dial?”

Jorge’s face darkened and his eyes narrowed. “Are you seeing him? Are you sleeping around on me?”

Ivy struggled to hold back her fury. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, Jorge. I’m not
yours,
and Sheriff Nevell is on my speed dial because he promised to throw your skinny brown butt in jail the next time you harassed me.”

“Harass you?” Jorge threw his hands wide. “How can your husband harass you?”

“Ex-husband,” she said, slow and loud.

Jorge crossed his arms over his chest and stared directly into her eyes. “I do not agree.”

Ivy pointed a finger in his direction. “You have no choice. The decree has been signed, sealed, and delivered. Now give it up and go back to one of your
putas
.”

She was surprised how little it hurt these days. Now instead of the stabbing pain in her heart at the mention of the women Jorge slept with, she felt weariness. Jorge was beautiful, and in bed, holy Moses, the man was incredible. Of course, if she’d given it some thought before she married him, she might have realized he was good because he’d had practice. Lots and lots of practice. Both before they were married and after. The after part, not necessarily all with Ivy either.

Ironically, he could never see the problem. To give Jorge credit, he truly believed in the concepts of love, honor, and cherish.

Jorge also believed screwing every female on two legs in no way conflicted with his vow to love, honor, and cherish Ivy. The fact that Ivy did still seemed to astound him.

Truthfully, she’d moved on a while ago, and really, really wanted him to do the same. At least twice a week, or so it seemed, she’d find him on her doorstep. At first, seeing him was heart-wrenching. Then it became tiresome. Now, it was plain infuriating.

Particularly considering that a vampire running around her county dropping bodies was taking up just about all her energy. She didn’t need Jorge or his steadfast denial.

He stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged. “Pity, bonita, we are so good together.”

“Were, Jorge. It’s past tense, and the sooner you get that through your thick head, the happier we’ll all be.”

In the pickup, he leaned out the window and shook his head.

“No, Ivy, you’re wrong. I’ll never be happier without you.
Te amo
.”

Ivy met his eyes and her voice was rock steady as she said,
“Yo
no te quiero.”
She spun around and strode to the house. She didn’t turn to look back when Jorge roared away, the big tires of the truck squealing on the asphalt.

The shower helped, but Colin was still curious about the scene inside the medical examiner’s office. It seemed like the thing to do now was relax and dig a little deeper to see what he could come up with. He started toward the desk and then changed his mind. One thing could help make a few hours of research easier. He zipped open his suitcase and pulled out a bottle of twelve-year-old scotch.

Breaking the seal and unscrewing the top, he put his nose close to inhale the rich scent of the amber liquor. Nice.

With glass in hand, he sat at the small desk and powered up his laptop. Logged into the secure site, he searched. Nothing. He stared at the unhelpful screen. By all accounts, he should be the only hunter here. Then again, if the women knew the man pulled from Moses Lake would turn, it made sense that one of them would have to be a hunter.

Except that scenario was impossible. He was the only one. So a couple of million-dollar questions remained: who were the women in that autopsy suite and what were they doing with the vampire’s victim?

He tried some more search avenues and still came up with squat. Taking a long swallow of the scotch, he dug his cell phone out of the jeans he’d tossed on the bed. No sense screwing around, might as well go right to the top. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been left out of the loop, and if this was one of those times, he wanted to know.

The call was answered on the first ring, it always was. “Colin.”

“Monsignor.”

“Is there a problem?”

“That’s what I’m calling to find out.”

“Perhaps you should explain.”

Colin did, in great detail. He finished by asking, “I was under the impression I was on this mission alone, am I mistaken?” The possibility that Monsignor would lie to him after all these years made him tense his shoulders and grind his teeth.

There was a long silence on the other end. “No, you are not.”

His shoulders relaxed, a little. “Then who do you think these women are?”

“I do not know,” the monsignor said on a sigh.

The phone still held to his ear, Colin walked onto the balcony and looked out over the river at the full moon. How many preternatural beings were out tonight? The moon huge and round was a call to the weres. And to the vampire he hunted.

“We need to know who they are.”

“Agreed. I’ll check with the council and call you with any additional information I discover.”

“I don’t like this, Monsignor. I don’t have a good feeling about any of it.”

“Neither do I.”

“I’ll be in touch tomorrow.” He was just about to click off when the monsignor’s voice stopped him.

“Colin?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Be careful.”

The two words sent a chill down his back. “Always.”

With effort, Riah found her voice. “I…I came by to see what you found with the blood samples.” Adriana motioned for Riah to come into the house and so she did.

“Do you really want to talk about the results of the blood tests?” Adriana rested her back against the door, both hands on her hips. “Because, frankly, I don’t.”

“I don’t understand.” It was almost impossible to concentrate on anything except Adriana. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was stunning.

A slow, sexy smile turned up the corners of Adriana’s mouth.

“It’s simple. I like you. You like me. We can dance around it all we want, Riah, but the truth’s right in front of us and has been for quite a while. I’m tired of the pretense.”

She could argue and even sound convincing, except she wouldn’t. Adriana wasn’t the only one tired of pretending. “It’s complicated.” Riah shifted from one foot to the other and refused to meet her eyes.

“Not really. I’m human. You’re a vampire. But, unless I’m mistaken, all the parts work the same.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Riah rubbed a hand over her eyes.

Adriana stood very close. Her body a whisper away from Riah’s. Her perfume sweet, alluring. “Then tell me what you mean.”

Adriana ran her tongue along her bottom lip.

Riah’s fingers flexed. Adriana smelled like vanilla and woman.

It made her want to run her hands down her dark, silky skin, across her lean hips and firm ass. To take one erect nipple into her mouth.

It had been so very long.

She sighed and said, “I don’t get involved with friends. Ever.”

It was never a good idea no matter how much she wanted to. She’d learned that lesson the hard way a long time ago.

“Why?” Adriana’s voice was very matter-of-fact.