Heart of the Witch (25 page)

He sucked in a breath. Annie?

His guilt expanded. It tore at him until he thought he couldn't stand it another second. And then, just as suddenly, it left—cleanly, as if a surgeon had lifted it out with a scalpel. His heart was finally, beautifully, at peace. His soul felt light and airy, as if it might have floated out of him and up to the heavens.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there, but he was suddenly once more aware of Ravyn's touch on his chest. It had been there the entire time.

He opened his eyes and stared down at her, wanting to speak, but wonder kept him from doing so. Instead, he took her face in his hands and ran his thumbs over the velvet softness of her cheeks. A sigh whispered from her lips, soft and warm on the flesh of his fingers.

All thoughts of Annie fled as he drank in the beauty of the woman before him. Her eyes had turned a dark emerald in the moonlight. A breeze tickled over his skin and lifted her hair, sweeping it over his hands. Her gaze searched his, and he rubbed a thumb over her bottom lip. He wanted to kiss her and knew she wanted it, too.

He dipped his head, but just before his lips touched hers, he saw a brief flash in her eyes, just the tiniest flicker of wariness. Soon it was gone, vanished as quickly as it had come. But it was enough. He couldn't do this, not during such a perfect moment, not when he finally felt close to Ravyn. He wouldn't spoil things. Wouldn't shatter her trust.

He groaned and leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes tightly closed. Softly he said, "Thank you," then released her and stepped back, quickly, before he changed his mind.

Promising to stay on the sofa, Nick convinced Ravyn to let him spend the night. It was late, and he didn't want her driving home alone after dropping him off.

She tried to ignore the currents running between them as she spread a sheet and blanket over the couch. Out by the lake, she'd thought he was going to kiss her, but at the last moment he'd pulled away. She was relieved—and a small part of her was disappointed. She'd only wanted to help him with his grief, with his guilt. She'd never intended to get so involved. Not with a mortal. She'd certainly never intended to feel what she'd felt as his hands cupped her face.

Call it a moment of insanity, but she'd wanted him to kiss her, wanted to know what it would be like to taste his lips on hers and feel him against her body. And that kind of thinking was not only crazy, it was dangerous. Getting close to a mortal would spell certain disaster. Especially getting close to a mortal who was an ex-cop. Yes, that would definitely be crazy.

She straightened and smiled. "Hope it's comfortable enough for you."

"I'm sure it will be," he replied.

She started past him, and he reached out and took her arm. "Ravyn."

She stopped, looking down at his hand, then back up at his face. "Yes?" she said, pulling free from his grasp and taking a step backward.

"I just wanted to say…" He sighed and shook his head. "That was amazing. I really appreciate what you did."

She nodded. "You've already thanked me, Nick. It's late. Good night." And without looking back, she hurried to the steps and climbed up to her loft.

She slipped into bed, wishing for the first time that her bedroom was closed off from the rest of the house. Out in the open like this, with mere stairs separating her from Nick, she felt too close to him. As if they were sharing a room. So much so, she could hear him tossing on the sofa. Tortured by his nearness, she lay in the dark listening to his movements, until finally all she heard was his steady breathing and knew he'd fallen asleep.

She shifted in bed, watching the play of moonlight on the ceiling and thinking about Sorina. And about Nick. Even though she'd lost her sister and felt more alone than ever, somehow, when Nick was around, the loneliness was a little less severe. Her eyes drifted shut, and she frowned in the semidarkness. Nick was definitely going to be trouble.

Ravyn
… came a voice.

What? Who are you
? her mind asked. But she knew. Somewhere, deep inside, she knew.

I'm
coming for you. You know that, don't you
?

Please leave me alone. Please?

A brush across her nipple made her gasp.
You don't really want that, do you
?

She felt a tightening in her lower belly, and she sighed as a light stroke parted her thighs. She tensed, wanting him to touch her there. She wanted to feel his hands all over her, wanted the kiss she'd been deprived of earlier. Wanted the kiss that Nick had failed to—No! Nick was a mortal.

Do
you want me to stop
? the voice asked softly.

Ravyn shook her head on her pillow, giving in to the sensation.
Mmmmm. No, I don't want you to stop. Please don't stop, Nick
.

The air seemed to charge with electricity. A white light streaked across her closed eyelids, and a booming clap of thunder shook the room. Her eyes flew open, and Ravyn crashed out of bed, the covers clasped tightly to her chest. She stared wildly around, waiting for the pounding of her heart to subside.

On shaking legs, she made her way to the railing and looked out over the downstairs. Nick somehow still slept peacefully on the sofa. He hadn't seen the light. Hadn't heard the thunder. It was only for her. And she knew why.

Kayne.

The next morning, after Ravyn dropped him off at home, Nick watched her drive away, wondering how he'd spent the night with a woman like that and hadn't laid a finger on her. His body still ached from unfulfilled desire, but his heart felt lighter than it had since Annie's death. Nick didn't know how she'd done it, but somehow Ravyn had fixed something deep inside that he hadn't even known was damaged.

He showered and dressed, driving to the address of the boyfriend with the protection order. This wasn't a vital lead, but it was something. It was also something Nick could do without Ravyn's all-too-disturbing presence to screw with his libido.

The house was in south Oklahoma City, a neighborhood that had been decent once upon a time but over the years had fallen into disrepair and crime. Donald Moses's home was a white frame with a lawn that needed a good mow. Assorted junk was piled haphazardly on the small porch.

Nick knocked, and after several seconds, the door opened. The man who answered was bleary eyed and shirtless, with a tattoo of a lizard on his narrow chest and another Nick couldn't identify circling his upper right arm.

"Yeah?" he asked, squinting at Nick through the screen door. He scratched at his forearm, and his right shoulder jerked up and down, both the itching and involuntary movements indicators of methamphetamine use.

"Donald Moses?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Nick Lassiter, a private detective. I wondered if I could ask you a few questions about Juanita Collins."

Moses dropped his gaze, and when he raised his bloodshot eyes again, a sheen of tears glistened there. His voice had an added hoarseness. "What questions? I don't know anything about what happened to her."

"She had a VPO out on you. Must have been a reason for that."

Moses nodded, and Nick saw shame in his eyes. "We fought a lot. I hit her a few times." The eyes turned hard. "But I didn't fucking kill her. You need to get the hell off my property."

The sudden switch to anger threw Nick off for a moment, and he could see how the VPO had come about. "Just a few more questions. Where were you on the night of April tenth?"

"None of your goddamned business."

Moses started to close the door, but Nick held up a hand and the man paused. "If you'll just answer my question it would clear some things up. Otherwise, I'll have to go to the cops."

"They've already been here, and I'll tell you the same thing I told them. I was in jail, man, and I was there a week before and three days after. So go fuck yourself."

Moses slammed the door. Nick didn't knock again. If the guy had been in jail, that would be pretty easy to confirm. And it would prove this was just what Nick had thought it was: a dead lead.

He left, stopping by the OCPD to check out Moses's story. Betty ran the check. Just as the man had claimed, he'd been incarcerated before, during and after Juanita's murder. If he hadn't killed her, the one victim Nick knew he was acquainted with, he hadn't done the others.

Ravyn went to Nick's office to talk to him about their next move, and to find out if he'd located the missing photo. It was probably nothing at all, but that detail had begun to bother her. In this crazy, unexplainable mess, anything could be significant.

The guy she'd met on her previous visit was there, though Nick was not.

"Hey," the guy said. He smiled, his crooked teeth showing briefly between chapped lips. "You and Nick are working together on the case, right?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"Yeah, I'm working with him, too. I was just going to check something out. That VPO I mentioned before? Gonna go talk to the boyfriend. Something fishy, if you ask me." .

Ravyn wasn't sure if this plan was approved by Nick, but she thought it was a good idea, especially if something new had come to light. Nick wasn't around at the moment, and she wanted to do something. "I'll go with you," she suggested.

"Hmmm, not sure if a lovely lady like you should tag along on a dangerous mission like this." The guy crossed bony arms over his T-shirt, momentarily covering its "I'm not as think as you drunk I am" slogan.

Ravyn gave him a smile that was more sarcasm than sweetness. "I can take care of myself. Don't you worry your pretty little head about me."

The man's eyes rounded and he grinned. "I guess you can. Let's go. We'll take my car."

As Nick pulled into the parking lot, his mind ran over what he'd learned about the other vies. Nothing, really. There was no link that he could see. Juanita's VPO was the closest fact he had to anything suspicious, and that had turned out to be a nothing. No surprise there: VPO offenders usually didn't turn to serial killing.

Nick was almost to the front door when it struck him that Ravyn's car was in the parking lot and Marvin's was not. What was she doing here, and where the hell was he? He had a bad feeling, and so he hurried his step.

The front door was locked, which probably meant neither of the two was around. Which probably meant they were together. The bad feeling grew, settled in the pit of his stomach and shot fingers of dread up his spine.

Inside the building, Nick found his brilliant deduction confirmed. No one was there. But what the hell were they doing together?

He went into his office, and his gaze fell on the computer. Suddenly knowing where Marvin and Ravyn had gone, he found his knees weak with fear. The Tin Man's list of victims, along with Moses's address, was currently displayed on screen. Nick hadn't clicked out of the file before he left.