Save the Last Vamp for Me (25 page)

“Don’t be. You needed it.” His dark green, gold-flecked gaze slid to the doorway. “You have more of my blood than your own right now.”

“Geeze, then how are you even wal...,” I closed my mouth, realizing what a stupid question it was.

His grin returned. “By eating roughly my own body weight. Body weight as a tiger.”

Asking for seconds didn’t seem like a big deal after that.

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W
hen Logan left to bring Mom to see me, I spent the time thinking. Regardless of what everyone said, what had happened was my fault.

I’d always worried my job would end up endangering my family, and now it had. Twice in only a couple of months.

Mom came in, her arm tucked in Logan’s as he escorted her to the chair. “Yell when you’re ready to go back.”

“All right, thank you.” She looked tired, her eyes bloodshot and the skin under them dark, but she was smiling. He shut the door as he left. Mom leaned forward, placing her hand on my arm. “They said you were all right. You don’t look all right.”

“I’m okay.” I suddenly wanted to cry, seeing her. Being told she was safe wasn’t the same thing as seeing it with my own eyes. “I’m going to talk to Mr. Whitehaven as soon as I can. Work something out so I can quit.”

She blinked. “Why would you do that?”

“Mom, seriously?”

She shook her head, her brow furrowing. “I don’t want to be the reason you quit the job you love.”

“You aren’t. I mean, not exactly.”

“If you quit because of what happened, and what nearly happened to your brother Sean, evil wins.” She patted my arm. “It’s your decision, but the world has, and always will need people to fight against evil.”

I thought she’d be relieved by my decision. “You don’t want me to quit.”

“I’m proud of what you’ve decided to do with your life and your gifts. You’re young, and will be able to help a lot more people.”

“I wasn’t there to help you or Red. You wouldn’t have needed help if it weren’t for me.”

“Oh, Cordi,” she sighed. “If I died in a car accident on my way to work one day, would you blame yourself for not being there too?”

Probably, which would be dumb. “That’s not the same thing.”

“Bad analogy.” She smiled. “You’re not the only person who faces this. Don’t you think police, judges, and others like them worry about their jobs affecting their families? Yet they still do their jobs. They keep fighting evil.”

Much as I didn’t want to admit it, she’d made a good point. “Let me think about it.”

“You do that.” Mom rose from the chair and leaned over my bedside to kiss my forehead. “I love you. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Love you too.” I heard Logan say something as she stepped out into the hallway, leaving me to decide what to do about my life.

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M
om wasn’t my only visitor that evening. An hour after sunset, Logan tapped on my door and asked, “Are you awake?”

“Yeah.” Still needed a bath too. “Come on in.”

He opened the door. “Lord Derrick’s here to see you.”

Wasn’t that interesting? A vamp come a visitin’ to a fairy mound. Sidhe. Whatever. “Okay.”

My “bodyguard” stepped aside to allow Derrick to enter the room. The slim, boyish-faced vampire lord held a giant bouquet of mixed flowers in an indigo-colored, glass vase.

“You brought me flowers?”

Derrick froze, his smile slipping. “Isn’t that the proper protocol when visiting someone in a hospital? Your mother didn’t seem to find it odd.”

Whew, if he’d brought Mom flowers too, it wasn’t a romantic gesture. “Sorry, I was surprised. They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

His smile returned as he crossed the room to place the flowers on the bedside table. “You’re welcome. May I?” Derrick gestured at the chair.

“Sure.” As he sat down, I said, “Logan told me you have Merriven in custody.”

“Chained in silver. It weakens us.”

“I know.” Thank you, Soames. “What are you going to do with him?”

The vampire chuckled. “Use him for the gift he is.”

“Come again?”

“He will be our public peace offering. Picture this, Miss Jones.” Derrick lifted his hands and spread them wide. “The council has been diligently working to weed out those of our people who fail to abide by our new laws. One member, Lady Esme, grew suspicious of some fellow council members after a member of her family saved a human from being killed.”

I held up my good hand to stop him. “Got the picture. Jump the part where you start lying.”

He laughed. “The only change is to the intent behind the reasons you were hired. Instead of simply to solve the murders of a few council members, it was to investigate whether there was a conspiracy in place, vampires aiding each other in covering up their murders.”

Which meant the story would work, since ninety-nine percent of it was truth. “Okay.”

“We’ll be able to reveal the discovery of the bodies, and see that they’re identified and returned to their families for proper burial. We’ll try, sentence, and execute Merriven for the crimes, as the last remaining member of the conspiracy. His death will be a warning to others who may not be following the law, and a sign to the humans that we’re sincere about co-existing peacefully.”

“Bad guys dead, families no longer wondering what happened to their loved ones, and the council gets credit for being serious about not killing humans for food.” I nodded and narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s the catch?”

“While we’ll make every effort to suppress the information, it’s likely the press will discover which agency we hired, and thus, your name.”

“Mr. Whitehaven won’t like that.” Hell, neither would I, having seen what the media did to some people.

Derrick crossed his ankles, leaning back in the chair. “I’ve discussed the matter with him, and pointed out that it was highly unrealistic to expect to remain ‘under the radar’ forever. Sooner or later, one of you would end up solving a case like this.”

What was it with everyone making points I couldn’t reasonably argue with today?

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M
indful of Sal’s advice, I took two weeks of sick leave once Alleryn released me from his clinic. Whatever was left of my injuries at the end of that time, I’d let my auto-healing ability take care of.

I spent time every day building the mental maze he’d suggested. Not the easiest of tasks, but a conversation with Jo resulted in Tonya bringing home a book on mazes from the Blue Orb. Studying it helped a lot.

Other than that, I spent too much time napping, trying to decide if I would keep my job, and watching daytime television.

That last was what I was doing when someone pulled up, parked, and came to the door about a week after I’d come home.

When the doorbell rang, none of the large dogs so much as twitched an ear, even when the Chihuahuas charged the entryway, their cacophony of shrill barks shattering the quiet.

I moved enough to see through the sheers covering the living room window, and saw Nick’s truck. “Come in!”

He came inside, careful to avoid letting anyone out as the little dogs attacked the cuffs of his jeans. It took him a few minutes to walk to the other side of the coffee table without stepping on any small bodies. Once there, he shoved his hands into his pockets. “Hey.”

“Hi.” We gazed at each other, and his eyes flicked to the bandage on my neck and cast on my arm.

“Mr. Whitehaven told me what happened when I gave my notice. Is your mom okay?”

“She says she is.”

Nick’s gaze moved to the two remaining members of my Pit Crew. “I’m sorry for your loss. It hurts to lose a pack member.”

“Thank you,” I said for them.

He looked at me. “From what he said, you almost died.”

“It was close.” Man, this was uncomfortable. “But everything worked out all right.”

Nick nodded, his lips compressing. “You were lucky. Again.”

I was too tired to feel any anger at his assessment. “I had a plan, and it worked.”

“You almost died, Cordi. That’s not really great planning.” He pulled his hands out and lifted them, palms toward me. “Sorry. I didn’t come here to argue.”

Fine by me. “Why are you here?”

That was apparently a bad question, because his jaws clenched before he ground out, “To make sure you were okay.”

“I’m good.”

“And to see if we can start over.”

Oh, so not what I wanted to deal with right now. “We don’t see the same future ahead for us.”

Nick shook his head while sinking down to a crouch so that we were sort of on eye level with each other. “No, you don’t think the future I see is possible for you.”

“I know it’s possible.”

His eyes widened. “Then why....”

“It’s possible if I give up everything I have and do.”

“Don’t you think that might be a good idea, after this?” Nick waved his hand at me, indicating the bandage and cast. “To quit and get away from the danger?”

Somehow, his question made the decision I’d been fretting over simple. I wasn’t going to quit my job. “The only way I might do that is if I loved you.”

Nick flinched. “And you don’t.”

“No. I care for you a lot, and I think you’re a good person. We’ve had fun together, but we argue all the time because you don’t like the way I do things, or the choices I make.” I had to take another deep breath. “You’re not the right guy for me, Nick, and I’m not the right girl for you.”

“I love you.”

“I’m sorry.”

He rose to look down at me. Bone’s ear twitched, and I laid my hand on his scarred head. Nick’s eyes followed the movement. “So that’s it?”

“Yes.”

“No regrets at all? We’re just done?”

“The only regret I have is that I hurt you. I never meant to do that.”

He nodded, looking down at the Chihuahuas still mauling the cuffs of his jeans. “Okay. Maybe we’ll see each other around.”

“Maybe.” I sort of hoped not. “Good-bye, Nick.”

“Bye.” He didn’t look at me, just waded free of the Chihuahuas and left. The roar of his truck’s engine followed the soft click of the front door shutting, but he didn’t peel out while driving off.

I let out a long, hard sigh and Bone moved his head to rest his chin on my thigh. “
You humans have a saying: You’re better off without him
.”

“Maybe he’s better off without me.”

Bone grunted.

I began scratching behind the stub of his missing ear. “Maybe you guys would be too.”

Both pits raised their heads to look at me, and Diablo growled. “
So now you’re going to throw us out
?”

“Of course not. I think my dad....”

“
No
.” Diablo lurched to his paws, shoving his muzzle into my face. “
You promised we had a home with you. Said we were your pack.”

Bone sat up, shoving Diablo back. “
You did. We don’t want to live with someone else
.”

“Okay, okay! Geeze, guys. Calm down.” Guess their reaction settled the matter. I threw my arms around both their necks and squeezed them together for a hug. “We’re family.”

My phone rang. I released them, Diablo grumbling about my cast touching him. “Hello?”

“Hi. It’s Terra. I have my own phone now.” Her pleasure over her news came through loud and clear in her bubbly-toned voice.