Goddess With a Blade (19 page)

Jack spun, features hard. “No.”

She sighed. “Jack, each of the victims had drug problems. They went to rehab and in Lisa’s case jail or rehab were only a matter of time. That’s just basic police work. If we can keep our focus there, find some known associates and narrow, that would be something the cops could do and stay safe.”

“They were all three women. All three human. Why assume? Maybe he’s, well fuck, how do I know what the hell an abomination is or why it does what it does?”

“Jack, get hold of yourself, for fuck’s sake!” Rowan stood and went to him. “You’re too close to this if you can’t see the connections. You saw them yesterday. We talked about the drug stuff.”

“Lisa wouldn’t use drugs with a…a monster! If that happened, he forced it on her. She wouldn’t do that.”

“Really? What high ideals for a junkie.” She knew it hurt him to hear it, but it had to be said. He had to hear it and understand it. Rowan was not doing him any favors to pretend Lisa was perfect.

“How dare you!” He got in her face and the room arced with electricity as Clive moved so fast Rowan didn’t register it until Jack was pressed against the far wall, Clive’s hand at his throat.

“How dare
you?
You have no concept of what this woman has risked for you. And from what I can tell you’re not worth it.”

He flustered her just then. He wasn’t supposed to be defending her honor. He was supposed to be insulting her and being a prick. When he was, well, nice to her, she didn’t know how to keep him away. Not that she did much of a good job on that front, but still.

“Let him go, Clive. He’s upset.”

“I should arrest you.” Jack glared at Clive like the idiot he was.

Rowan threw her hands up before stomping over, grabbing Jack by the shirt and tossing him into a chair. If she hadn’t separated them, it would have only escalated matters and she didn’t have the time or energy for it.

“Sit down and shut the fuck up. We’re done playing nice with you. If you can’t get yourself together then get out of the way. The fact is, whether you want to admit it or not, your girlfriend was using. In a bad way. It led her to make desperate choices. She stole from her employer. On more than one occasion. She was on the verge of losing her job. Her apartment is a clear indicator of how far she’d fallen. This pattern isn’t unique. How many files a year cross your desk with a story about a girl who never would have done this or that doing just this or that because she was jonesing for meth or something else?”

“You did this to her.” Jack shook as he said it, but she could tell he believed it. Or at the very least wanted to believe it enough to make it so.

“Whatever you think, I’m the best hope you have. If you can’t get yourself under control and give me your word to keep this secret, you won’t leave here with the memories intact. I’m sorry. But that’s reality and you had best deal with it.”

“Why should I trust you? You’re a…well you’re not human and you never told me and you fucked me for God’s sake!”

Now that was something she would not let him bully her over. She leaned down and got in his face, speaking very quietly. “I’m not a thing, asshole. I am a motherfucking killing machine who also shares her body with an actual, real-life Goddess. So you should be on your knees giving thanks that I fucked you. Now, grow a pair and deal with reality. Your mewling won’t solve this case and I’ve had enough. You took your shots. Back up before I’m forced to defend myself and fuck your shit up.”

She straightened and turned her back to him, giving space between them and deliberately not looking at Clive.

“You’re a what?”

“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m more than equipped to deal with this killer and I will. I need you to keep the cops off my case while I do it. If for no other reason than to keep them alive, I expect you to deliver. Can you do that, Jack? Can you get your head out of your ass long enough to help me find this killer and put him down? You can be disgusted by me and my otherness all you want, just keep it to yourself along with everything I’ve just told you.”

“Do I have any other choice?”

She turned, heavy with sadness at what she knew would happen, but hated anyway. “Sure. You can leave here and go fight crime against an enemy you can’t find or beat.” She shrugged. “Or you can be a man, suck it up and hold your nose while you choose the lesser of two evils like everyone else on the planet. Up to you. Believe it or not, Jack, I care about you and I want to help. I’m
trying
to help right now.”

He stood, wiping his palms down the front of his jeans. “I don’t see that I have any other choice. Keep me updated but otherwise I think it’s best if you stay away from me. I’m protecting your secret, but not for your sake.”

Clive cleared his throat as he smoothed down his tie. “Be sure you keep that oath, Mr. Elroy. You’re bound by your word.”

“What’s it to you?”

Rowan was sure she goggled at him for saying it. Jack was so angry he shook with it. But he wasn’t usually stupid. One look at Clive just then should have told anyone with half a brain to keep quiet and get away.

“The real question, Jack, is what it is to
you.
You gave your word. In my world, your word is your bond. And this is about my world, so don’t make any mistake thinking otherwise. If you break your word, I will come for you. If you’re lucky it’ll be me. There are others who’d be less…quick than I’d be in removing your life from your body. Others Rowan faced to help you. You should try some gratitude.”

“Like I should thank you monsters for bringing this shit into my town? For getting my girlfriend killed? Yeah, fuck off. I’ll keep your secret, but you won’t get any thanks from me.” He stalked from the room, slamming the door in his wake.

And she tried to pretend she didn’t feel so very alone. Tried to pretend it didn’t matter that this person she thought of as her family had just torn her to shreds and she deserved a lot of it.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Don’t,” she said as he moved nearer. He knew she struggled to keep her composure. Knew it and it felled him all the same.

“Are you afraid I might see your soft underbelly, Ms. Summerwaite?” He’d planned to sound more teasing, but to his hearing, it sounded as raw as he felt.

Slowly, as if she were afraid, she turned, tipping her chin to look at him better.

He drew a fingertip along the line of her jaw. Warm. Vibrant. She was fire and a riot of color. Sunset. Dark and seductive even as she was so very bright and bold.

Clive knew pity would be scorned. And what he felt just then wasn’t pity anyway.

This fierce woman was vulnerable. In the slow, sticky moment between them, he saw her to her foundations. Jack’s rejection of her had hurt her far deeper than he’d first imagined. And it only made him angrier at the man for doing it.

“He doesn’t understand what you’ve done for him. But that doesn’t mean what you did is meaningless. Or small.”

She leaned into his palm, just for a brief moment and he used it to get closer. What they had, their electric, snapping, hissing, unavoidably magnetic attraction rolled through him and then over him.

Her eyes widened as she gasped in a breath, her fingers twitching. So very attuned to her, he swayed closer, sliding against her and moaning as the sensual
shuss
of his suit jacket against her sweater filled him to nearly bursting.

“What you do to me, Rowan.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I find myself totally unable to stop thinking about you.” Another kiss just lower, against her ear.

Her spine loosened as arousal flooded her, the scent of it rising between them, catching his senses, snagging him. He wanted her until he ached with it.

Her hands pressed flat against his belly and into his suit jacket. Encircling his waist and drawing closer.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

His amusement was spiced by the way he seemed to go wild for her when she was extra prickly.

“You are a magnificent woman. Strong. Sexy. Powerful. I like you, even when you’re being a wretched bitch.”

She gasped a little laugh when he nipped her lip and kissed the corner of her mouth, drinking in the way it curved up so perfectly.

“I’m not a wretched bitch, Scion. I’m a fierce bitch. There’s a huge difference.”

Surprised, he laughed, swooping down to take her mouth in what he’d meant to be a teasing kiss. But her nails dug in, bringing him close, his cock pressing hard against her.

“My body, embarrassingly led by my penis, seems to come alive any time you’re near.” He licked over the hollow of her throat. “And, despite your habit of killing my people and leaving big messy paperwork piles for me to fill out, I like you.”

Her breath caught as he slid his hands up her sides and over to her breasts. “Yeah?”

“Even your grammar is atrocious. But I can overlook it, I suppose.” He struggled not to smile as she peered up into his face.

It would never be safe with her. Not in the way he was supposed to want. It would often be fractious, because while sexy and intelligent, she was also a pain in the ass. Unmanageable. A political nightmare. He’d certainly not be able to bring her to any professional events.

And yet, none of that seemed to matter to him.

“Ferocious,” he said out loud before taking her mouth again, tasting her capitulation. “It will rarely be easy with us, you know.”

She tipped her head back and laughed as he steered her toward the couch. “Because we’re the odd couple of the paranormal universe perhaps?”

“Word will get out eventually.”

“I notice this isn’t stopping you from taking my shirt off.” The last part was muffled a bit when he pulled the sweater off and over her head. “Is this your way of declaring your intentions, sir?”

“I don’t know quite what it is we have, Rowan. But most assuredly we have something. Something I’d like to explore.”

Her fingers, nimble and clever, had already opened his pants and tiptoed their way up his cock.

“You know you don’t have to butter me up to get into my pants.” She said this as she shoved his suit coat off and began to work on the buttons of his shirt.

“I’ve not used butter in many decades. They’ve got so many better ways to make a woman slick. Frankly, I’d prefer to work for it.”

She stilled, cocked her head as she took him in and then laughed. “Even though you’re an uptight prick, I keep forgetting you’re nearly five hundred years old. Also, it amuses me when you get vulgar. I feel far more productive in my role as bad influence that way.”

He had a clever retort, but swallowed it when she shoved his pants down and wrapped her legs around his waist, grinding against him.

“I need you in me.”

He paused a moment to look at her breasts as her hair spilled across her nipples.

“Always a pleasure to obey such an order.”

Rowan plunged into the sensations Clive always seemed to provide. His hands on her skin, lips skating over sensitive flesh. She’d lost her initial suspicion that he’d lose control and bite her. After all, the man had control like she’d rarely seen. He wanted to, she knew that, but he wouldn’t.

There was something freeing in that. Knowing she didn’t have to hold back. Knowing he would push her limits and she’d love it. It made the sex even better.

And there, on her couch, his now nude body against hers as he divested her of her pants and underwear, she could admit in her head that it only made her crave him more.

Stupid and dangerous as it was, he was right that they had something. The real question was if it was enough or if she should fuck him and run away.

Just at that moment, as he slid his fingertips against her clit and her body lit up like a pinball machine, she had no plans to run anywhere.

When his mouth replaced his fingers she gave over to him, forgetting, at least momentarily, the darkness outside the room.

His hair sifted through her fingers as she urged him closer, harder, more.
Just more…
Until her climax broke over her system, drowning everything else but that moment.

And then he was sliding inside her, pressing deep. She managed to drag her lids up to look at him, into that brutally handsome face, now softened by sex and pleasure.

She wanted to close them again, wanted to deny what she saw in his features, what she felt in how he touched her. This time was different. Hot on a different level. It left her feeling exposed and unsure.

But soon all there was was sensation. His body covered hers, skin to skin. She fell into the flex and bunch of his muscles. He smelled good. Even if he weren’t a Vampire, Rowan doubted he’d have sweated. And still he exuded that masculine something. Pheromones maybe.

Whatever it was, she wanted to lean in and take a bite. But since that might be reciprocated, she managed, barely, to refrain and give him a lick instead.

She shifted, bringing her knees higher, both of them groaning when he slid even deeper. He didn’t treat her as if she were fragile. Not rough, but he didn’t hold back either, the raw power of him thrilled her as he thrust.

Every once in a while he’d utter a language she’d only rarely heard amongst the oldest Vampires. Their mother tongue, she’d been told once. Back from when they’d lived in keeps like the one Theo had.

The words were smooth, like river stones, exotic. She knew a bit, enough to pick up bits and pieces as he spoke. Words of admiration.

She dug deep for filthy words but came up empty. Same with sarcasm. Which agitated her enough to squirm a little and then delight when the strain marked his features.

His gaze locked on hers, his mouth twisting into a smile.

“You do come in handy, I must say,” she sighed as he pressed deep and came. Her body, warm, loose, relaxed and filled with sex chemicals, remained wrapped around his.

“Glad to be of service,” he murmured into her hair as he got his breath, and his composure back.

He could tell she was thinking on how to put distance between them again. She wouldn’t succeed of course. She might be the Vessel for a Goddess, but he’d been around for nearly five centuries. He knew a thing or two about women, and this one in particular needed a man like him. Sure she’d have the willpower to resist him if he was a normal man. But he wasn’t.

“That smile makes me nervous.” She watched him warily as he got up and headed into the bathroom adjoining the room they’d just used.

He let her stew awhile as he cleaned up. Liked to listen to the way she moved and got back into her clothes.

She was busily dealing with her mass of beautiful hair when he returned. The intimacy of that warmed him. She’d try to hold him back. It was part of her nature to be contrary. He understood her better than she knew. But she’d fail because he rarely did.

“It should make you nervous. Now, what’s our next step? If we can assume your cop will work on the things you sent him off to do, I was thinking we should connect with my people.”

Her brow furrowed and he resisted the urge to smooth a thumb across it. “Things would be a lot easier if Theo just unleashed his lieutenants on this bastard.”

“Except this would be a violation of the treaty you’re always quoting.” Technically The First shouldn’t even be in Vegas, though Clive was sure that mattered not one whit to him. His lieutenants were considered by Hunter Corp as some sort of weapon of mass destruction. And, he supposed, that was a pretty accurate way to view it.

“Yes, yes, well. My standards appear to be slipping.”

“Perhaps it’s me who is the bad influence on you.” Amused and in a good mood even she couldn’t shake, he breezed past her out into the main rooms of the place.

“I’ve never doubted that. Why don’t you go meet with your people and I’ll go meet with mine. If I find him and kill him, I’ll let you know.”

He took her hand as she passed. “I know what my people have to say. Come on, Ms. Summerwaite, you’ve got the services of an old and powerful Vampire. You should use them.”

“I have a meeting with a source. And that source will not approve if I bring you along.”

Must be a Vampire. “Who is it? Oh don’t get that look, I’m not going to send anyone over to rough them up. But clearly it’s a Vampire and I should know what my people are up to.”

“Ha. How about you deal with the one who’s up to ripping humans apart and leaving them like garbage in the desert? And then I can deal with my sources who don’t need Vampire central peering in their windows.”

It was a good thing he was a patient man.

“When you finish, if you’d come by to update me, I would appreciate that.”

She made a sound that he couldn’t ascertain agreement from, so he continued to look at her until she responded.

She sighed, clearly agitated. “I’ll get you an update when I finish. I’ll text it to you.”

He realized then it was probably not the best thing for her to go to Die Mitte after that meeting with The First earlier in the evening.

“This isn’t over between us, you know that. Any attempt to avoid me is silly. You want me in your bed, I want you in mine. I might even like you a little, though I’d deny that if questioned.”

“I need to catch a serial-killing Vampire. That’s my focus right now. We are totally wrong for each other anyway.”

He took her elbow, firmly but gently, steering her toward the door, handing her the coat she’d hung in the entry.

“This is where you’re incorrect. You see, as Alice pointed out to me just this morning, there’s no one more perfect for me than you. Which, I must tell you I found myself a tad bit alarmed by, because as you might imagine, I had thought of a nice, calm woman on my arm. You are many things—” he paused while she stabbed the down button to call the elevator, “—but none of them is calm. But you’re bloodthirsty. Strong. You don’t stand for any nonsense and you’re quite uninhibited about killing people. Thankfully that lack of inhibition extends to your sexuality. This is a combination that overcomes your personality flaws.”

“Careful there, with all those flowery love words I might think you want to pledge your troth and make me your little woman.”

Though he wouldn’t admit it to her, Clive was relieved to see the resurgence of her bitchy self. The sadness in her eyes was getting to him, damn it.

“I’ll be expecting your update. If I don’t see you before the sun rises, I’ll definitely see you tomorrow after sundown.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” She paused and then huffed a sigh. “Thank you. For backing me up with him earlier. And for…well for everything with Jack.”

He slid his fingertip over her surprised little gasp, not giving a single whit if anyone else saw. “Now then, that wasn’t so hard, was it? You’re welcome.”

“You’re going to get me in trouble. I can just tell.” She stomped away to where her car waited. Her waved middle finger in his direction only made him laugh before he headed in the opposite direction and toward home.