I met his gaze and gave him a weak smile. “I’ll…umm…
compel
them to look elsewhere. No harm, no foul.”
He chuckled. “Fine. You can
compel
away. Just don’t get into trouble.”
“I won’t. Honest.”
* * * *
There was a uniform in front of my building. In his mid to late thirties and impeccably groomed, he was leaning against the glass door, obviously bored. I could relate. I’d been twiddling my thumbs most of the day too, waiting for it to be dark enough outside.
He snapped his head my way when I started up the steps, proving he wasn’t as out of it as I’d initially thought.
I caught his gaze. “I’m not here,” I said before he could ask the obvious question. “You never saw me.”
“I never saw you.” His eyes had gone blank.
I nudged him aside and crossed the threshold.
The two cops outside Dotty’s apartment were equally easy to get off my case, and so was Mark’s dad, a short, tubby man with beady eyes and thin lips. I don’t know what Dotty ever saw in him. Finally certain my presence wouldn’t be remembered, I walked to the boy’s bedroom.
Mark rushed me the moment I opened the door, and wrapped his arms around my waist. Gone was the snotty brat whose ass I wanted to kick every time I babysat him. He was just a lost little kid now, and I was the only adult he felt close to. He buried his face in my belly and let out a choked sob that broke my heart.
“It’s okay, big guy. We’ll get your mom back.” I caressed his hair. “We will. And she’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
“Will the scary man let her go?”
I wouldn’t have made out his question without my enhanced hearing. What did he know? “What man, Mark?” I wanted to see his face but thought he might find it easier to talk without facing me. I was right.
“He came to my window earlier…said—” Another sob and then he wouldn’t talk despite my urging him.
Only a vampire could have appeared at his second-story window, and I bet my bottom dollar I knew who it had been. “Did the man have big, pointy teeth?”
Mark just sniffled.
I decided to resort to extreme measures. “Look into my eyes, sweetie.”
He did, his face open and full of trust. The hope I saw mirrored there made me feel guilty, but not enough to stop me from using my abilities on him. “Tell me exactly what the man said.”
His eyes glazed over. “You’re a good boy, Mark, and that’s why I won’t kill your mom. But you have to do something for me too. Tell Cherry to get her boyfriend off my case. If you tell anyone else you saw me, I’ll come back for you.” The voice that came out of his mouth was his but deeper, like he was imitating an adult. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt whose disdainful tone I’d just heard.
Willoughby.
Mark trembled like a leaf, and I clutched him to me harder. I would find the stupid vampire who thought he could mess with me and mine, and I’d turn him to dust, just as I had done with his buddy. “You
are
a good boy, and I’ll get your mom back to you.” I slid down to kneel before him, never tearing my gaze from his. “You must believe me and not be sad.”
He smiled, not the cocky grin that resembled his dad’s, but a sweet tilt of the lips that was a hundred percent Dotty. “I believe you.”
I kissed his cheek and told him not to tell anyone he’d seen me. I trusted him not to, even though I’d stopped the gaze lock by that point.
He grabbed my shirt before I could go. “My dad wants me to stay with my grandma for a while. What if Mom comes home and doesn’t find me?”
Dotty had mentioned her mother-in-law lived in Bakersfield, far enough away for Mark to be relatively safe. “I’ll tell your mom where to find you. Don’t worry.”
He wiped his nose on the back of his hand and nodded, his eyes holding more seriousness and sadness than any boy his age should ever know.
* * * *
I’d just rung Alex’s doorbell when my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I pressed the little green button and brought it to my ear.
“Constantine.” I said his name flatly, instead of a greeting.
Hey
or
whazzup
wouldn’t really cut it.
“Cherry.” It sounded more like
Chérie
. It pissed me off without real reason.
“Did they say yes?” There was no need for niceties; we both knew why he was calling. Alex opened the door, and I motioned for him to be quiet as I walked inside and let him close it behind me.
“Indeed,” Constantine said with a sigh. “Where are you?”
I ignored his question. “When?”
“Now.” I could detect impatience in his voice. “Where are you?”
“Not your business. Where?” The council’s private meeting chambers have always been hush-hush. They hold hearings in safe houses, but never without an appointment and never at the same place twice. Last I’d seen them, they’d been in an old warehouse. Only a handful of people know how to contact them, something I’ve always found completely at odds with the fact that they’re supposed to know all about their subjects. Also I hate being considered anyone’s subject. That said, I assumed their agreeing to meet me meant I was in the inner circle. Sort of.
“Come by the mansion. I’ll take you to them.” So no inner circle for me.
Alex was frowning at me, and I turned my back to him to whisper into the phone. “I don’t want you there, Constantine. Thank you for arranging it”—I didn’t sound very thankful—“but I don’t need you to cover my ass.”
He tutted. “First off I prefer your ass naked. Secondly
they
requested I be there.”
He was lying. It wasn’t a
they
that wanted him at the meeting; it was a
she
.
A
bitch
, actually, who just happened to be one of the council members.
Ádísa.
“I’ll be right there.”
Chapter Seven
As it turned out, I wasn’t the only one to grumble.
Alex insisted on coming with me, but I couldn’t very well present him to the council and say,
Hey, peeps, this human knows all about us, but it’s cool
. Not if I liked my head where it was—and it just so happened my shoulders were kind of partial to it.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” He stood at the open door, blocking my way out of his mom’s ground-floor bathroom. His arms were stretched over his head, hands holding the door frame, as he rolled his shoulders and neck. His heartbeat betrayed that he wasn’t half as relaxed as he appeared.
“Yes”—an endearment was about to roll off my tongue, but we weren’t to
that
place yet—“Alex. It’s safe. They’re the council. The good guys.”
He snorted, a sound carrying much more snark than any nonverbal response should. I didn’t dignify it with a comment. “What about the warning?” he asked.
I
had
to comment there; it was a thought that had been bugging me since I’d left Mark behind. “The warning was about
you
backing off, which you said you would. Plus I don’t see how he’d find out I’m meeting the council.”
“You do realize I’m not going to officially withdraw from the case, right? Just lie low?” He sounded concerned. “That doesn’t mean the department is going to drop it, though. There are people looking into this even as we speak.”
“I know,” I said. “And it’s not like you and I are gonna sit on our hands in the meantime; we’re just going to be more subtle.”
“Still, maybe your going with him—”
“Isn’t a good idea,” I finished his sentence. I had no time for jealousy and territory marking now, although I might enjoy Alex and Constantine comparing their machismo at a less panicky time. “The council asked for him, and they will know what to do.” I wholeheartedly hoped they would. If they couldn’t help, I doubted Dotty would be Willoughby’s last victim.
“Fine! If you want to go, go.” There went the cool act, right out the window! His voice wasn’t raised, but there was an edge to it. “But if you’re not back by dawn, I’m coming after you.”
“I
am
going, and I will be back
way
before dawn.” Not that he’d know where to begin looking. I rummaged through my bag, searching for a bobby pin. My nowhere-near-natural, bright red hair color was damaging enough for my credibility in front of the vampire ruling body. I had to at least pull the bangs back.
Ah
, there it was.
“Fine,” he barked once more when I had the pin in my mouth and was trying to hold the front of my hair up to secure it.
“Fine,” I spat back around the hairpin. Finally getting my bangs where I wanted them, I tried pinning them in place. No luck. Straight hair isn’t all that great at staying in place unless copious amounts of hairspray are involved. At least my hair isn’t.
He plucked the thing out of my grasp and shoved it into my hair so hard that at a slightly steeper angle, it would have gone through my scalp.
“Ow.” I ducked away and turned to glare at him.
“Sorry.” No, he wasn’t. The corners of his mouth were lifting. Alex’s smiling was always a good thing, however, so I wasn’t about to hold that against him.
I pinched his ass and begrudgingly returned the hug and peck he gave me. They felt too much like good-bye and made me want to burrow into his embrace and forget about the meeting. I couldn’t. “I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ll be here. Told Roebuck I’m following a lead, so I won’t have to go by the department until we know something about the case. And I’ve got some research to do.” He pointed to the folders that were now strewn all over the coffee table. “So I’m clear, though, I don’t like this.”
As I walked out the door, I couldn’t help but wonder how much harder letting him go for good would be if leaving him for a short time felt so bad.
* * * *
Constantine was dressed this time and waiting for me at the door. Can’t say I wasn’t a bit disappointed over the lack of bare flesh, but most of me was relieved to see him in his black dress pants, designer black shirt, and purple tie. A vampire dressed in black and purple:
Stereotypes-R-Us
.
He still looked scrumptious dressed up, don’t get me wrong, but at least with clothes covering his body, I had less trouble focusing on his face. I settled for tugging at the end of his ponytail.
“My, my, aren’t we all spiffy for the meeting.” I wasn’t jealous at the thought he’d spent time to become even more gorgeous than usual because he’d see Ádísa. Wasn’t jealous at all.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me top to bottom and up again. He didn’t seem very pleased, and I instinctively ran my hands down my blouse. It was definitely a nicer top than the one he’d last seen me in, but the jeans and sneakers were the same. When he clucked his tongue, I wished I’d bothered to wear something fancier.
“Does your human keep you too busy to clean up properly?”
I’d have been offended if his tone didn’t hold a hint of covetousness.
Touché
! Er…I mean, I won! He was jealous, and I wasn’t. I feigned ignorance. “What human?”
His nostrils flared, and
damn
, that was too sexy to be legal. “The one I can smell all over you.”
Mega-oops: I hadn’t showered after that morning’s sexcapades with Alex. The council would smell him too. Not that they’d care, but I hated the idea of them knowing what I’d been doing earlier that day. I batted my eyelashes at Constantine and asked, “Are we driving? If we’re flying, you’ll have to tell me where we’re going.” I’m so smooth when I want to be.
Not.
He didn’t fall for my attempt at changing the subject. “Last time—” He pursed his lips, then let his eyelids flutter shut. “I didn’t realize he was more than food.” When he opened them again, he looked at me so intensely I felt he could see right through me.
I couldn’t speak. His irises had turned nearly black, a color I hadn’t seen them before. They were mesmerizing. His face changed. There was no distinct movement, just the barest tensing of muscle. I can’t explain it, but it was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him. A knot formed in my stomach; I’d done whatever that was to him.
“Constantine…” What was there to say?
He pinched the bridge of his nose, and when his hand withdrew, there was only a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes. “We’re flying.” There was no time for me to react when he pulled me to him and cupped the back of my head. For a moment, I was sure he was about to kiss me—and wasn’t sure at all that I’d stop him. Instead he pressed my face to his chest. “You’re not allowed to see where we’re going.”
There was no reason for all the secrecy. It wasn’t like the council would be visiting the place again. Snuggled in his arms and feeling the night air swish around us as our feet left the ground, I didn’t voice my thoughts. I let my body lean against his and trusted him to lead me where we were supposed to go.
In retrospect that might not have been my best idea ever; I hadn’t felt dizzy after a flight since my second week as a vampire, but was decidedly light-headed by the time we landed. I could blame it on the flight, or I could blame it on the way Constantine’s thumb had been drawing circles on the small of my back and his lips had been moving against my hair, like he’d been whispering a secret.
The flight it was, if I wanted to get any sleep that day.
My knees buckled when Constantine let go of me—the way knees do because of uncontrolled landings, and nothing else—and he grabbed my shoulders hard enough to leave bruises. Good thing bruises fade fast on us. I found my footing and pulled away, but his grip lingered. “I’m not letting go,” he whispered.
I knew he wasn’t talking about my shoulders. “It’ll be hard for us to walk this way.” Keeping my voice steady and my tone light took a lot of concentration.
“But it will be fun.” His one hand ghosted up my neck, and his thumb traced my jawline until it stopped a hairbreadth from my lower lip.
I turned my cheek to him, doing my best to gather my wits and figure out where we were. We stood on what seemed to be the runway of a deserted airport. “We’ll be late,” I said to the tarmac. There was no way I could face him.
* * * *
The good news was, I was too rattled by the moment I’d shared with my former lover to let the idea of facing the five vampires whose word was law frighten me. Plus they were supposed to be on my side.