The Darkening (18 page)

"And that's her."

Amadja gave Paddy a startled look. "Who?"

"Her." Paddy pointed to the dark-haired woman on the dance floor with Darius. "That's the bounty hunter he was with."

Tain took a step closer. "Are you positive?"

"Yes." Paddy squinted and leaned closer to the screen for another look. "Yes, that's her."

So, the Immortal had found a confederate, Amadja thought. He wondered just how close the two of them had become. He turned to O'Rourke. "Study that tape. I want to know if they came together, and who they talked to while they were here."

O'Rourke nodded and hit the play button on the video.

"Do you know who he is?" Paddy asked.

No one answered.

"You may go now Paddy," Amadja said. "But do us both a favor and when you're not at work-stay close."

Paddy nodded, then escaped as quickly as he could. Just as the door closed behind him, O'Rourke called out. "Hey, boss. I think you might want to see this."

Amadja walked over to the monitor and watched the screen as O'Rourke moved the image in reverse. He watched as the dark-haired bounty hunter walked in the door with a much shorter but equally attractive woman by her side.

"Do you know who that is?" O'Rourke asked, though it was clear that
he
knew the answer, so Amadja simply waited. "Mai Groves, the reporter. She's been here a lot lately"

"Are you sure?" Amadja asked.

"Yeah. I make it a point to know who comes into my club-especially reporters."

Amadja shot him a withering look for his insolence, but stepped forward to take a better look at the screen. "If she and this bounty hunter are friends, then she might be worth getting to know a little better."

"I'll do it," Tain offered, a little too eagerly it seemed.

Amadja felt a twinge of jealousy, but he quickly suppressed it. Tain was right. Having someone on the inside would be best, but he didn't think Tain would be the best choice. "I believe
I'll
deal with this one," he said firmly

Tain looked disappointed, but Amadja didn't care and started walking toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Tain asked.

"No time like the present," he replied and then walked out the door.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The evening had been a resounding success, Mai thought as she sat in the back of a cab the next morning, studying her reflection in a mirror. She noticed the bags under her eyes were getting darker. If she didn't start getting some sleep soon, she was going to look a lot older than she actually was. However, sometimes one had to make short-term sacrifices for long-term gains. At least, she hoped it was a short-term sacrifice. Going to the bars night after night and having sex with strangers was ... okay, it was exciting and exhilarating, but it wasn't very satisfying.

There were times when what she really wanted was someone to settle down with. Finding Mr. Right, however, was a bit problematic. Although, there'd been that one man she'd met late last night. He certainly had potential.

At that moment, her cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she recognized Lexi's number.

"Morning," she answered cheerfully.

"Where the hell have you been?" Lexi reprimanded

her. "I've been worried sick about you

Used to her friend's monthly mood swings, Mai didn't

take offense. "I've been working on this new story"

"Are you all right?" Lexi asked, sounding concerned. "Of course."

"Mai, are you telling me the truth?"

Mai sighed. "All right. If you must know, I'm a little tired, and I feel like I might be coming down with something."

"You need to take better care of yourself."

"It so happens that I'm on my way to see a doctor now. A Dr. Patrick."

"Listen. I found out something important about those back rooms at the Crypt."

Mai's interest was immediately aroused. "Do tell," she encouraged.

"There's a succubus working them. A real energysucking succubus," Lexi continued.

"No kidding?" Mai asked, hardly able to believe it.

She heard Lexi's growl on the other end. "Mai, this
thing is
dangerous. It kills people. I think you should stay away from the Crypt."

"Not to worry," Mai said brightly. "A succubus is female, right? You know I don't do women."

"Mai," Lexi warned, "I want your promise."

Past experience told Mai that there was no point in arguing with Lexi when she was like this. In a couple of days, after the moon had passed, she'd be back to her normal, reasonable self. "All right, hon. I won't mess with the succubus. Will that make you happy?"

"Yes." She heard Lexi's sigh of relief and felt guilty for lying to her. She hoped Lexi would understand.

"Look, I'm at the doctor's office, so I need to let you go. I'll talk to you tonight, all right?" She disconnected the call before Lexi could object, paid the cab fare and got out.

The building wasn't exactly what she'd expected a physician's office to look like, but then she didn't really know what to expect. He'd been recommended by someone she'd met at the Crypt when she mentioned feeling run-down.

The wood nymph in her hoped he was young, gorgeous and single. With that thought in mind, she went into the building and located his office.

He didn't seem busy, but she still spent a good thirty minutes sitting in the waiting room filling out paperwork. There were a lot of questions on family medical history that Mai thought were a supreme waste of time. Instead of answering, she simply marked down she'd been orphaned at an early age. After finishing, she was shown into the exam room where she peeled off her clothes and put on the ugly paper gown that never closed properly. Then she sat down to await the arrival of the doctor.

When the doctor walked in a few minutes later, she couldn't help feeling disappointed. It wasn't that he was ugly. She simply hadn't expected him to be so.... short.

Despite several cups of coffee and sleeping in, Lexi was tired and in a foul mood when she walked into the offices of Blackwell Bail Bonds. Not even her conversation with Mai had left her feeling cheerful, though at least she knew that Mai was alive, which helped.

"Morning, Marge," she greeted the older woman as she went to her in-box and the files sitting there. "Looks like another busy day."

"Wow"

The busier she was today, the better. She still couldn't believe what Darius had done to her the night before. Every time she thought about it, she wanted to curl up and hide. Let the Big Bad demon take control of the world. Why should she care? As long as the demon was in charge, business was booming. At the rate they were going, she'd be able to set enough money aside to retire early.

Lexi worked diligently all day and successfully brought in four of her six cases. None was a hardened criminal trying to evade the law. They were simply misguided lawbreakers who saw the error of their decision to not show up at court as soon as Lexi pointed it out to them.

By the end of the day, she had worked off enough of her built-up moon-induced energy so that she was feeling less edgy than she had been that morning.

As far as distracting her from thoughts of Darius, well, she'd only thought of him one or
two-thousand
times.

Looking at her watch, Lexi saw that it was late afternoon. On any other day, she would have packed it in and gone home, but not today. She was afraid of what-or who-might be waiting at her apartment for her, so instead, she pulled out her notes and studied the specifics of her next case file.

His name was Martin Ironwood, and he was another first-time offender charged with disturbing the peace. Absolutely nothing in his profile suggested he was the type to run. When Lexi arrived at his brownstone home, a pleasant-looking woman in her late twenties answered the door.

"Can ... can I help you?" She looked nervous, and it was obvious from her red eyes that she'd been cryinga lot.

Lexi pulled out her bail enforcement license and flashed it. "I'm Lexi Corvin, with Blackwell Bail Bonds. I'm looking for Martin Ironwood-is he here?"

The woman's lower lip trembled. "No. I don't know where he is. Two nights ago, he called a car service to come pick him up, and I haven't seen or heard from him since."

Lexi studied her face. She didn't think the woman was trying to cover for her husband; she honestly didn't know where he was. "Has he done this before? Disappeared for a couple of days without telling you where he went?"

"No, never. We've only been married two years, and up until last week, he was so good about calling me all the time-you know? To say hello and see how my day was going. And the few times he was running late, he called to let me know that, too."

"Did you have a fight?" Sometimes couples ran into problems once the honeymoon was over and real life began. "Or maybe something happened at work?"

"I don't know. He works for a marketing firm, and last week they got a new client from out of town who'd heard about our vampire bars. Martin had to show him around, even though he didn't want to go. He wanted me to go with him, but since I'm pregnant, we decided that wasn't a good idea." She sighed. "I don't know what happened at that place-he wouldn't tell mebut after that night, he was different. He stopped calling me all the time. He started working late-really

late." She took a shuddering breath. "And he was so tired. I thought he might be getting sick and begged him to stay home. He just laughed and said he felt great." She paused. "He finally agreed to see a doctor, but I think he just told me that to shut me up."

"What makes you say that?"

Her features grew hard. "How many doctors do you know who schedule routine exams at night?"

Lexi had to admit that, on the surface, it seemed suspicious. "So you think ... ?"

"He was seeing another woman. It's the only explanation I can come up with that makes sense."

"Did you call the police and report him missing?" Lexi asked. "Or check the local hospitals?"

"Yes, of course," the woman said. "But they haven't been much help. They say there's no proof he didn't leave of his own free will."

"What about his job?"

She shook her head. "They haven't heard from him either. If he doesn't show up soon, they'll be forced to fire him."

Lexi took a deep breath. She felt sorry for the woman. "You said, on that last day, that he called a car service to come pick him up. Do you happen to remember the name of the company?"

"We always use Blue's Limos."

"Thank you." Lexi promised to let the wife know if she found her husband, then left. She wasn't looking forward to her next step. She pulled out her cell phone, called information for the Blue's Limos number and called it to request a car. When it arrived, she had the driver take her to their main office. As she feared, Blue's Limos was a small-time operation, but at least they kept a log of their calls.

The driver who had picked up Martin was currently out on a call, so Lexi found a comfortable spot to wait for his return.

This was the glamorous life of the bail enforcement agent, she thought, hoping the driver planned to return sometime before tomorrow.

Darius stood against the wall between two panels of red drapes so his black outfit blended with the black section of wall. He was wearing clothes that Ricco had loaned him, since his duster and tattoos tended to stick out in a crowd.

As a precaution, however, he'd taken his dagger and cut slits running the length of the sleeves. If he got in a fight, he wanted easy access to his weapons.

He was lurking against the side of the room, watching the vampires and demons come and go, hoping to find the doorway that led to the underground passages he felt sure had to exist.

One section in particular interested him. He'd seen several exceptionally beautiful women approach the wall, only to suddenly disappear into the nearby crowd. Yet he couldn't recall the exact details. It was like one minute they were there, the next they weren't.

It had to be some form of illusionary magic that made onlookers believe one thing happened while something else entirely took place.

He waited for another group of demons to appear and watched closely.

There! This time, he saw clearly. They hadn't turned into the crowd, but rather, had disappeared through the wall.

He started across the room, walking casually in the direction of the magic doorway. He was almost there when suddenly a powerful-looking vampire came through, accompanied by a beautiful woman with long dark hair.

Darius did a double take to make sure it wasn't Lexi. Something about them held his attention. When they walked over to the corner bar to get a drink, Darius slinked along behind them, blending into the crowd as best he could until he was close enough to overhear their conversation.