Moon River (12 page)

Yes, I had missed a golden opportunity to dig deeper into the murdered jogger case tonight, but I had needed my time with Russell. It had to be done, and now was the time.

And now, of course, he was gone.

Would I ever see him again?

A part of me thought no. A part of me thought my handsome, young, sexy boxer with the bad-boy tattoos was forever gone.

I loved him, yes. But our love had never had time to mature. Too soon, it was stunted and distorted by the curse. I had not gotten to know the
real
Russell, and now, I never would.

Yeah, I moped around most of the night, depressed, pissed, agitated, slightly sick to my stomach. The blood packet I had downed had too many impurities in it. Enough to make me slightly sick.

But now, the need for sleep was coming hard. I was presently in stage two of three, of what I thought of as my before-sleep countdown. Stage two meant that I damn well better be near a bed, and in a dark room. I suppose a casket would work, too, but how weird was that?

“
Too weird for me,” I whispered into my pillow.

The entity within me was silent, as she usually was. What provoked her into contacting me recently, I didn’t know. And whether or not she was truly getting stronger, I didn’t know that either.

But I suspected she was, and I thought I knew why.

Her strength had been building over the years, but not because of time itself. I added to her strength each time I lost a little more of myself. Sephora had hinted at it.

No matter what, at all costs, I had to retain who I was and not let the vampire in me consume me completely. If so, she would win. If so, I might not ever return.

I did not want to spend an eternity on the sidelines, watching the thing within me ruin and destroy lives.

With that thought, as the rising sun approached on the distant horizon, not quite dawn but only minutes away, as I slipped from phase two into phase three, I thought of Detective Hanner, my one-time vampire friend.

How far gone was she? I knew Hanner had killed without remorse or discrimination. She had personally run a blood ring, overseen by psychotic killers. And I had watch her kill the lady jogger.

As Fang stood by and watched...

And then joined her.

Yes, Hanner was very far gone, although, I suspected, not entirely consumed by the darkness within her. And, with sudden clarity, I suspected I knew why.

“
She made an agreement with it,” I said sleepily to myself.

I nodded into my pillow.

Yes, that was it, of course. She had made an agreement with the entity early on. By allowing it to surface, to briefly possess her body, to live in this world sooner rather than later. By doing so, it, in return, gave Hanner access to her own body.

Kind of it,
I thought.

Well, I wasn’t making a deal with the bitch within me. She wasn’t going to surface. Not now, or ever.

“You can go to hell,” I mumbled aloud, barely coherent.

And, just before sleep hit me, I knew what I had to do.

I had to find Hanner...and Fang.

Chapter Twenty-six

I was in my minivan.

Driving along the winding Bastanchury Road through the back hills of Yorba Linda, on my way to see an honest-to-God werewolf and a butler who may or may not have been Frankenstein—yeah, no shit—when my cell phone rang.

Restricted. I.D.

It was either Detective Sherbet or Detective Sanchez, so I played it safe. “Hi, Detective,” I said.

“
How did you know it was me?” asked Sanchez.

“
Lucky guess,” I said.

Our connection wasn’t so strong that he could read my thoughts long distance, which was a good thing, because he might have known I wasn’t quite so awesome.
Can’t have that.

“
We have another body, Sam.”

My smug grin faltered. “Where?”

“Same place, same trail. Griffith Park.”

“
Who?”

“
A park ranger this time, which means this is about to get ugly fast.”

“
Griffith Park has park rangers?”

“
Apparently so. Look, rangers are cops in their own right, and there’s going to be a lot of questions about this one. A lot of people are going to want answers.”

He was right, of course. Park rangers were cops, too, and when one of their own went down, well, whole departments—hell, whole agencies—kicked into gear.

“Officially, it’s going down as a cougar attack.”

“
Good,” I said. “Leave it at that. Fight for that. Don’t let anyone suggest otherwise.”

“
Sam, the wound is identical to the jogger. We can’t hide this for long.”

“
You won’t need to,” I said.

There was a pause. I swear to God, I thought I might have even heard his heart beating through the phone. Maybe our connection was stronger than I’d thought. “What do you know, Sam?” he asked.

I shielded my thoughts of Fang. “I can’t tell you. Not yet.”

“
Do you know who did this?” asked Sanchez.

“
I do.”

“
Tell me, goddammit. I will personally hunt these fuckers down—”

“
And that’s the problem, Detective. I don’t know where they are or what’s going on, or why they’re killing the way they’re killing.”

“
They?”

“
There’s two of them.”

“
Are they like you?” asked Sanchez.

“
They are just like me,” I said.

“
What’s your plan?”

“
I’m going to find them,” I said. “And stop them.”

“
How?” he asked.

I aimed my car into Kingsley’s long-ass driveway. “Any way I can.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

Franklin the butler answered the door.

As usual, he gazed down at me from high above his long nose. That his ears were two different sizes—and two different color tones—was something I was almost getting used to. Almost. That the ears were not quite level was another matter.

“Master Kingsley is...indisposed,” said Franklin.

“
Indisposed, as in, with a woman?”

“
Indisposed,”
Franklin intoned irritably, his enunciation impeccable, with a slight British accent. And something else, too. French perhaps.

I was surprised to discover that I felt mildly jealous at hearing these words. I brushed past the big butler, touching him for the first time, my hand on his shoulder. As I did so, I couldn’t help but notice the fact that he was hard as a rock...and just as immovable. Good thing there was just enough Samantha Moon space between him and the door frame.

“Well,” I said from the foyer, as Franklin turned slowly and scowled at me. “Then I shall wait in the sitting room until Kingsley is
un
-indisposed.”

* * *

Footsteps.

Two sets of them. One barefoot, one heeled. The barefoot ones sounded like two slabs of beef slapping against the tiled floor. The heeled ones sounded a little too cute and spunky for me. The footsteps wound down the spiral stairs, then through the hallway, then over to the front door. At the door, there were whispered words spoken. I couldn’t quite make them out—didn’t want to make them out. Still, my hearing was kind of awesome, if not superhuman. So I did catch a too-sweet “See you soon” followed by sounds of lip smacking.
Eww.
Finally, mercifully, the door opened and the sounds of clicking heels faded away, cut short by the shutting door.

More sounds of bare feet slapping, and a moment later, Kingsley stood at the entrance to the sitting room.

“This couldn’t wait?” he asked.

“
I waited,” I said sweetly.

“
Franklin came to the bedroom at a, um, crucial time.”

“
Gee, I’m sorry,” I said, equally sweetly. I might have batted my eyelashes once or twice. “Did I throw off your rhythm?”

He growled from deep within his throat and swept into the room, his silk robe fluttering open, briefly flashing me. I nearly wretched...knowing where that
thing
had just been. He smiled slyly at my reaction and sat across from me, exposing himself once again as he crossed his tree-trunk-like legs.

“
Did you at least shower?” I asked.

“
I didn’t have a chance, Sam. You see, Franklin came to my door and said that you were here waiting. That it was important. You think I would waste precious time showering when something is so important?”

“
I’ve been waiting twenty minutes.”

“
I asked if you thought I would waste precious time showering, not finishing.”

“
You’re a pig.”

“
I am, but you knew that when you first met me.”

It was true. Kingsley had been an infamous womanizer back when he’d hired me two years ago. I’d made an honest man out of him; that is, until my fallen angel had decided to show me Kingsley’s true colors...and baited my then-boyfriend. Kingsley had fallen for the bait, and screwed his way out of our relationship. He had been trying to win me back ever since.

He laughed lightly, got up again—this time, mercifully keeping his robe closed—and went over to the bar in the far corner of the room and poured himself a finger or three of Scotch. He next reached into the wine cooler and removed what I could only imagine was a fine bottle of white wine—a chardonnay, no doubt. He poured a healthy amount, re-corked it and returned the bottle to the fridge—knowing I generally only drank one glass.

“
Ferrari-Carano,” said Kingsley, coming over to me and handing me the cool glass. “Your favorite.”

It was, although a fat lot of good it did me, since I hadn’t been buzzed in seven years. At least, not buzzed on alcohol.

“Thank you,” I said, “and thank you for flashing me for a third time.”

“
Third time’s a charm,” he said, making himself comfortable on the couch across from me.

“
More like three strikes and you’re out,” I mumbled.

“
I heard that, Sam. My hearing’s a little better than yours.”

“
That’s right, because you’re part dog.”

“
Sam...”

“
Or, should I say,
all
dog?”

“
Sam, I’ve apologized for what I’ve done.”

“
Then apologize again, dammit.”

He looked at me from over his amber-filled glass. His bare foot waggled nervously, like a dog’s tail. His shaggy hair hung disheveled around his shoulder. He gave me a sincere look. It was the same look, I was willing to bet, that he’d given jurors in courts of law. Still, he was trying, and I appreciated his effort.

“Sam,” he said, “I’m truly sorry that I did what I did. It was stupid mistake.”

“
Damn right it was stupid.”

“
I was stupid.”

“
Damn right, you were stupid.”

“
Now, other than getting on me for the hundredth time about my stupidity, why did you come here tonight?”

I wanted to still be mad at him, but how did I stay mad at a werewolf who wiggled his foot like a puppy dog who needed attention? I couldn’t, and let it go for now, and I told him about my new case. He listened quietly, drinking idly, nodding sometimes and making wolfish grunting noises. Okay, maybe not wolfish. That might have been my imagination.

When I was wrapping up, I added, “You know Hanner, Kingsley. And you knew her well before I did. Hell, she supplied you blood for me...or for your other vampire guests. I need to find her.”

“
I don’t know much about her, Sam. In fact, I would hazard to guess that you know far more about her at this point than I do.”

“
How did you two first meet?” I asked. I was holding my wine, but it was mostly forgotten. Little things like my throat getting dry or my voice getting hoarse from too much talking never, ever happened to me these days. Minor irritants like that healed instantly. And my body, apparently, didn’t need much water. I knew water helped remove dangerous toxins from normal people. Except, of course, I had no more fear of dangerous toxins of any sort. I knew water cushioned joints and helped carry nutrients to cells and helped regulate body temperature.