Bittersweet Darkness (6 page)

Ash didn’t want her to go yet.

“Of course, and I’ll walk you out,” Ryan said. At that moment, his phone rang and he picked it up and listened.

“That was Roz,” he said. “Jess is staying over, and she wants to talk to me.”

Faith pursed her lips. “Well, see if you can get her to remember anything else.”

“You go,” Ash murmured. “I’ll see to Faith.”

She gave him a sharp glance. “Faith is actually quite capable of seeing to herself.”

Ryan looked from one to the other, speculation clear in his eyes. Something must have decided him because he nodded to Ash. “You can see Faith out. I mentioned there might be a job for her here. You could explain a little more of what it would be about. And maybe put her mind at rest about Christian.”

How the hell was he supposed to do that?
Yeah, Christian Roth is a vampire, but as bloodsuckers go, he’s one of the good guys
. Everything was relative he supposed. “I can do that.”

Faith opened her mouth, no doubt to argue, and shut it again. He suspected the opportunity to get some more information swayed her. He should perhaps warn her that curiosity could be a dangerous thing. Then again, maybe he shouldn’t. Not if he wanted a chance to spend some more time with her.

Which he did.

Maybe to discover if he could make her purr instead of prickle.

He liked a challenge.

“Let’s go,” she said and turned to Ryan. “Keep safe.”

“I will, and think about that offer.”

“Maybe.”

Ash strapped on his gun and pulled his coat over the top, then glanced up to find her watching him. He smiled.

He didn’t actually need a gun. Most things he could take on unarmed but he liked guns. And the Order’s policy was not to use magical methods when newfangled modern ones would be less noticeable.

There was still a lot of minor demon activity about. Part of Andarta’s plan for world domination had been to open the portals between worlds, allowing demons to travel freely from the Abyss to Earth. Though the portals were now closed, many still remained and they had a tendency to gather around this building, drawn to the magic of the wards. That was intentional, the Order was gathering them up and sending them back. Destroying the less willing.

He kept his distance in the elevator not wanting to spook her. Though he guessed she wasn’t easily spooked, not by people anyway. She had to be tough to have reached detective on the Metropolitan force and she must have seen some bad things.

The elevator opened onto the lower-level parking garage. She peered out but didn’t move. “Why are we here?”

“I’ll drive you home?”

“You don’t need to; I can get a cab.”

“I’d like to. And I can answer your questions on the way.”

She took a couple of steps out, but came to a halt, and glanced around. “You know we were talking about those government-issue cars. Well they’re exactly like these. You don’t work for the government, do you?”

“No.” He headed for the nearest vehicle, opening the door for her. The keys were in the ignition and he got in next to her and turned on the engine then sat back while she punched her address into the sat nav.

As he pulled out of the parking garage, he caught the gleam of red eyes in the shadows of the alley opposite. Ash ignored them and they drove on in almost comfortable silence. He cast a sideways glance. She was staring out of the window but turned to him as if she could sense his gaze.

“I love the city at night,” she said.

“Do you come from London?”

“No. I was born up north, but I’ve lived here since I was twelve.”

“What happened when you were twelve?”

For a few seconds he thought she wasn’t going to answer. Then she seemed to give a mental shrug. “My mother died, and I was put into foster care. I wasn’t doing so well and they thought a change of scenery might help me forget.”

He could sense something dark behind her words. Was this the thing that had changed her, made her what she was? “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was a long time ago.”

“Some wounds never heal.”

He could sense her stare in the dim light. “Do you really believe that?”

Did he? If she’d asked him a year ago—before he’d found Tara—he would have said no. He hadn’t been able to even think about Lily without being engulfed in a black rage—not good for a demon. He still felt the stab of pain in his heart at the thought of her. He’d never loved before Lily. And he never would again.

But recently, he’d started thinking about her—remembering the good times—without the taint of darkness. Maybe he was healing. Even being here with this woman now, proved that.

Because he wanted her. His cock jerked at the thought and he pushed the urge down. He wanted her, but he had no illusions she would be a pushover.

No doubt, he could possess her mind long enough to make her believe she wanted him in return. But he’d rather she came to him of her own free will. Much more satisfying. And it wasn’t as though he didn’t have the time.

“Maybe not,” he said.

“Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be telling me about Christian Roth?”

He shrugged. “There’s not a lot to tell.” Actually, there was, but not a lot they were allowed to tell. It occurred to him to wonder why this organization was investigating Christian and not Piers who’d been head of the Order for the last twenty-odd years. Maybe it was because Christian had chosen to live among men. He’d probably been too successful. “Christian is a businessman. A good one.”

“You make him sound almost boring. Does he carry a gun?”

His lips twitched as he thought about the double shoulder holster, the sawed-off shotgun, and the knives. Christian had been a little jumpy about the whole angel thing. Not surprising; Tara was vulnerable, or had been before he had given her the talisman. She was half demon but had grown up believing herself human and had no clue how to use her demonic powers or any other weapons to protect herself.

“Sometimes,” he replied. “He does business in some dangerous places.”

“What sort of business?”

“All sorts. Investment, property, security—that’s the section Ryan and I work for.”

“Ryan said they were recruiting?”

“Some. We have a major initiative going down. For the right sort of person it could be a great opportunity.”

“And do you think I’m the right sort of person.”

He pulled up at the side of the road. They’d arrived. He shifted in his seat to face her. In the light from the streetlamps, her skin glowed. She’d been chewing on her lower lip and it was red, her eyes silver. He wanted to close the distance between them and taste her, but he reckoned she’d run.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “But I’d like to find out.”

She licked her lips and a stab of lust shot through him.

“You would?”

…

Why the hell had she said that? She was fucking flirting. Flirting with Mr. I-Carry-a-Huge-Gun-Gang-Leader type. She never flirted. And if she had, it wouldn’t have been with someone like him.

She’d spotted the edges of a tattoo when he’d taken his coat off and had been trying to see if it was gang related while appearing not to stare.

Ryan trusted Ash. If it weren’t for that, she wouldn’t have ridden in a vehicle with him. Now she regretted it. She’d made a point to keep her distance from guys she worked with, and while she didn’t work with Ash, he definitely came under the work-related heading.

In the close confines of the car, he was so big. Huge. Not merely tall but broad, though there wasn’t an ounce of fat on that long lean frame. She’d seen that when he’d stripped off his coat and offered to let her pat him down. The leather pants and T-shirt had been skintight, so tight she’d seen the ripple of his abs under the thin cotton. And very nearly spontaneously combusted.

Maybe this aneurysm thing was messing with her brain. Sending messages to the rest of her body that her rational mind wasn’t involved with. The doctor had said that one of the later symptoms might be hallucinations. But surely not yet.

Ash hadn’t answered her and she risked a peek at his face. She’d been trying to avoid that because the mixture of amusement and masculine curiosity in his dark eyes was doing strange things to her insides.

And his mouth, with that amused quirk and those full lips. His hair, which she’d though short at first was actually shoulder length and pulled into a tight ponytail. And dark as midnight. It looked silky soft and she clenched her fists tight to stop their instinctive move to touch him, see if he was as soft and hard as he appeared.

Time to get the hell out of there.

She shifted back in her seat, reached out, and pressed open the door, almost falling from the vehicle in her haste to get out. She grabbed her bag and hunted for her keys. Ash had followed her and she hated the little skip her heart gave, the way the muscles clenched tight in her belly.

“You don’t have to see me to the door,” she snapped suddenly angry with herself. “This isn’t a date.”

“No. But I’ll see you to your door all the same.”

From his tone, she had an inkling he was far from impressed with her neighborhood and that ratcheted her anger another notch. “Hey, we can’t all afford swanky pads in the middle of town, you know.”

“You could if you came to work with us,” he replied.

“And what would I have to do for it? No, thank you.”

He fell into step beside her. And she didn’t say anything else. Her apartment was on the ground floor and opened into the street. She halted by the front door.

“Thanks for the lift,” she said.

He stared down at her, and took a step closer so he was almost touching. A shiver ran through her, but pride stopped her from stepping back. She wouldn’t let him see she was intimidated.

Though she was kidding herself. She didn’t feel any fear of him, which was strange in itself, because he was one of the scariest-looking people she had ever come across.

She stood motionless as he leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

“To answer your earlier question,” he murmured against her skin. “Yes, I would like to find out more about you. A lot more.”

Then he was gone.

Chapter Five

Faith woke the following morning to a sense of anticipation.

She lay in bed and stretched. Physically, she felt good. Since the blackout, the first few moments after waking, she always lay still, waiting for the headache. She had to force her lids open, in case the world was blurred. But today she seemed to be functioning perfectly. Perhaps the doctors were wrong and there was no blood vessel slowly swelling in her brain, waiting to burst and this time, finish her off.

As she sat on the train, heading into to work, she tried to tell herself the anticipation was all down to feeling well and nothing to do with the image of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dangerous that kept popping into her mind.

There were so many excellent reasons why she should never see Ash again. For one thing, he wasn’t her type. Not that she had a type. She hadn’t dated since she’d been promoted to detective and that was…Jesus, she hadn’t dated in over two years. No wonder she was feeling horny. But if she did have a type, he wouldn’t be it. She liked nice men who wore smart suits and worked in offices. She was a sucker for a man in a tie and she was betting Ash had never worn one in his life.

No, black leather was more his thing. Tight black leather that molded his thighs and clung to his lean hips.

Crap, he’d been hot. She wouldn’t have been a woman if she hadn’t noticed that. Add with a voice like velvet and barbed wire, he was bound to have an effect on her hormones.

He’d said he wanted to get to know her better.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Because no way was she taking a job with CR International. And Ryan had sort of made it clear that if she didn’t take the job, he would effectively cut her out of his life. He’d actually already done that. If she hadn’t arrived on his doorstep and pretty much demanded to see him, she doubted he would have come in search of her.

He had a
new
partner now.

But while the perks of the job appeared great—she’d kill for an apartment like that—she didn’t want to work for some big corporation. In fact, she’d never wanted to work for anyone but the police force. Since her mother’s murder case had gone unsolved, it was all Faith had ever wanted to do. Maybe deep down she thought that she might succeed where they’d failed twenty years ago, but in fact, she’d never gone over the evidence. She’d thought about it once or twice but something had always held her back.

She was determined that Julie’s murder would not go unsolved.

And while she believed Ryan would never take a job working for the bad guys, maybe he didn’t know. She could do some background research, find out exactly who they were and try and find a stronger link.

Right now, she’d take any lead she could get, because otherwise the investigation had ground to a halt. Apart from the weirdo brigade, she had no one left to talk to. At least now, she had something proactive she could do. Consequently, she was feeling much more optimistic by the time she sat down at her desk, set her usual breakfast of coffee and a doughnut in front of her, and flicked on her computer.

As she typed Christian Roth’s name into the search box with one hand while she ate the doughnut with her other, she sensed someone come up behind her. She peered over her shoulder.

“Hey, boss, you want something?”

“Yes, you in my office now.”

He didn’t sound happy, but also didn’t give her a chance to ask what this was about as he whirled around and stalked away.

Pete, her boss was pretty much her ideal man. Tall, elegant in a dark business suit and a navy-blue tie, he was the opposite of the stereotypical policeman. He never appeared less than immaculate, and he never ate doughnuts. One of the reasons he was so successful in his career was that he gave the department such a confident image for the public. He was a political animal, and it was generally believed he would go far.

She’d always fancied him rotten, but now she recognized that was because he was safe. She was a normal woman, well vaguely normal, and her hormones needed some outlet. So she could fantasize about him and not worry that it would inconveniently disrupt the smooth running of her solitary life because he would never consider an affair with someone on his team. Even if she wanted to make her crush a reality, he’d probably run a mile if she came on to him.