Blood Game (13 page)

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t intend to let you help me.” He gave a mocking glance at Joe. “You have certain advantages that I don’t. The police usually do have a slight edge.”

“We’re more interested in you helping us,” Joe said coldly.

“Oh, I will. Never doubt it. I’ll keep Jelak away from you.” He smiled. “I know this demon, and he knows me.”

“ ‘Demon’?” Jane asked. “Monster, maybe. Not demon.”

“We are what we think we are,” Seth said as he followed Eve down the path. “Haven’t you discovered that yet?”

“MAY I HAVE A CUP OF COFFEE?” Seth Caleb asked as he entered the cottage. “I’ve been up all night, and I could use the caffeine.”

“Why were you up all night?” Eve went to the coffeemaker and turned it on. “Megan says you called her late last night, but that was obviously after you’d lost Jelak.”

“I had some other calls to make checking what we knew about Jelak’s background before he came back to the States. I don’t know everything yet, but I’m close.” He glanced around the cottage. “Cozy.” His gaze fell on the pedestal that held the skull on which Eve was working. “For the most part.”

“Before Jelak came back to the States?” Joe asked. “What are you talking about?”

“I first ran across Jelak in Fiero, a small town outside Venice, Italy. That was over ten years ago.” He looked at Jane, who had dropped down on the couch. “He’d just killed a girl about your age and was on the run. Her name was Maria Givano. She was young, beautiful, and full of life. He was still experimenting at that time and wasn’t sure how much blood he’d require to help him become what he thought was his destiny.” His tone was without expression. “So he kept her in a cellar for three days, keeping her alive, but slowly draining her of blood. When she died, he left her there and moved on to another town.” He added. “Another woman. A little older, more experienced. Youth could feed him, but that wasn’t what he was looking for in the long run. He was discovering that there was an element in a more mature, intelligent woman’s blood that could enrich him. As I said, he was experimenting.”

“What the hell do you mean?” Joe asked. “Feed him? You make him sound like a vampire.”

“Do I?” He smiled crookedly. “As I said, you are what you think you are.”

Eve turned to look at him. “You’re saying that Jelak thinks he’s a vampire?”

“Oh, yes. Well, he’s not quite reached that exalted state, but he’s working on it,” Caleb said. “You must have suspected as much.”

“Not really. It’s too weird.” Eve remembered the joking reference she and Jane had made to vampires and Béla Lugosi when they had first found the goblet. “Joe said that Nancy Jo Norris’s murder was a ritual killing, but that doesn’t mean—Why would he think he was a vampire?”

He shrugged. “Maybe he liked the idea. From what I could find out about his early years, he would have embraced the concept. Power. Death. Darkness. Everything incorporated in one entity.” He added, “I think he went to Italy to find his roots and he would have twisted those roots to be anything he wanted them to be.”

“ ‘Roots’?” Jane grimaced. “Why go to Italy? Why not Transylvania? Isn’t that supposed to be vampire home ground?”

“So all the melodramas tell us. As a matter of fact, he did go there first. Then to Spain, and finally Italy.” Caleb crossed the room and held out his hand for the cup of coffee Eve had poured. “It seemed that he preferred the Latin version of bloodsucker.”

“This is too wild,” Jane said. “You can’t expect us to believe you.”

“I can’t blame you if you don’t.” He looked down into his cup. “But you have to accept what I’m telling you if you want to bring him to his knees.”

“I don’t want to bring him to his knees,” Joe said. “I want to put him behind bars and throw away the key.”

“Then I hope I get him before you do.” Caleb’s smiled without mirth. “Because I do want him on his knees. It’s the best possible position for me to cut the son of a bitch’s head off. Let’s see how fast he bleeds to death.”

Eve felt a ripple of shock go through her as she stared at him. Cold ferocity. He meant every word. “That sounds very personal.”

“Does it?” He lifted his cup to his lips. “I guess that’s because that’s what it is to me. I followed Jelak halfway across Europe before I lost him. He left a trail of blood behind him everywhere he went. He preferred women’s blood, but he’d take children if circumstances prevented him from getting the nectar of choice.”

“Why were you following him?” Jane asked. “Are you some kind of policeman?”

“Hell, no.” Seth glanced challengingly at Joe. “Ask him. I think he has my measure. Don’t you, Quinn?”

Joe nodded slowly. “You don’t give a damn about legalities. You’re an outlaw. All you want to do is kill.”

“You can’t say I tried to hide it.” Caleb smiled recklessly. “And I think you’d just as soon kill Jelak as jail him. You’re something of an outlaw yourself, Quinn.”

“ ‘Outlaw’ is a little too vague for me,” Eve said. “Just what do you do, Caleb?”

“I have private means, but I occasionally help the Devanez family out with problems. I have certain skills that they find useful.”

“What kind of skills?”

“I’m a hunter.” He paused. “Like you, Quinn. Only I’m not bound by pesky rules and laws.”

“Why?” Eve asked Caleb. “Why is it personal?”

He didn’t speak for a moment. “I was very fond of Maria Givano. She was barely alive when I found her in that cellar. She told me what he’d done, what he’d said, how he’d left her when he’d had enough.” His lips tightened. “And then she died. Yes, it’s damn personal with me.”

“I can see how it would be,” Jane said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Not as sorry as I am. Nor as sorry as he’ll be.” Caleb finished his coffee in two swallows. “Now can we get down to the business of finding him?”

“I’m already working on it,” Joe said. “I don’t need you.”

“Yes, you do.” He glanced at Eve, then at Jane. “You need to keep them safe. He wants Eve Duncan, but he’ll take the girl to show he can do it. And to draw Eve to him.”

“And how do you intend to prevent that from happening?”

“He’ll be more cautious if I’m around. He has a certain respect for me.” He glanced at Joe. “But, of course, you could say screw caution and just use them as bait.”

“No, I don’t think that we’ll do that,” Joe said.

“I didn’t think that was an option.”

“You’re damn right it’s not.”

“Respect?” Eve had fastened on that word. “Those tire marks indicated panic rather than respect. Why was he trying so desperately to get away from you?”

He shrugged. “As I said, we know each other very well.” He turned back to Joe. “He’ll be making a move very soon. He’ll be angry with himself for running and want to prove his strength.”

“What kind of move?”

“Blood. That’s always primary for Jelak.” He paused. “If he feels a lack, then he goes back to the well.”

“Any well in particular?”

“The victim of choice isn’t always possible. Then he goes after whatever he can get.”

“Like Nancy Jo Norris?” Jane asked.

He nodded. “From what I’ve heard, she was probably a random. He saw her and thought she might do as a fill-in.”

“So he slit her throat,” Joe said harshly. “She was only nineteen, dammit.”

“And Maria Givano was twenty.” Caleb studied him. “You’re angry. I wouldn’t think a detective would be quite so involved. Why?”

“You mean your friend Renata Wilger didn’t tell you why I’m involved?” Joe asked sarcastically.

“No, Renata prefers to keep me at a distance unless it’s family business.”

“I wonder why,” Eve murmured.

“I can be . . . difficult.” Caleb added to Joe, “But then I imagine you can be too.”

“You bet your ass I can,” Joe said. “And I’m not hearing everything that I—” His phone rang and he glanced down. “The precinct.” He picked up. “Quinn.”

Eve stiffened as she watched his expression. Grim. Very grim.

“I’ll be right there.” Joe hung up and turned to Caleb. “I believe we may have your fill-in. A woman was found in Piedmont Park an hour ago. Throat slit. Naked. All the earmarks of a ritual murder.”

“Who?” Eve whispered.

“We don’t know yet. She’s brunette, in her twenties.” He headed for the bedroom. “I’ve got to shower and get over there.”

“I’ll go with you,” Caleb said.

“You will not. This is my case. Stay out of it.”

“I might be able to help.”

Joe looked back over his shoulder. “And you might get in my way. I don’t trust you worth a damn. I’ve got enough problems without having to worry about Megan Blair’s weird pack of relations.”

The door closed behind him.

“I may have a few problems with your Joe Quinn,” Caleb murmured. “He appears a little resistant.”

Jane snorted. “You don’t want to have problems with Joe. He’ll take you down, Caleb.”

“Will he?” He tilted his head. “Interesting. But I don’t have time to explore those possibilities.” He turned to Eve. “If you can persuade him, you might try to do it. I’m your best chance of getting Jelak before he damages anyone close to you.”

“Joe will use you if he thinks you can help,” Eve said. “And nothing I can say will alter that. He does what he thinks is right.” She paused. “He might have been more likely to accept your help if you’d had a chance to fill in Jelak’s background a little more.”

He smiled. “Or maybe not. He seems very much opposed to associating with weirdos like me.”

“He has his reasons. And are you a weirdo?” Eve asked.

He was silent a moment. “I have my moments.” His smile faded. “But I’m no danger to you. Unless you get in my way.”

“That’s not very comforting.”

“I’m not here to comfort you. I’m here to kill Jelak. Of course, that may be a comfort to you too.”

“And why did you think you might be able to help Joe at that crime scene?”

“I can feel Jelak when I’m close to him.”

Eve’s brows lifted. “Really?”

“Oh, yes.” He suddenly whirled toward Jane. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“I believe that it might be possible,” Jane said warily. “Actually, that’s only a step beyond primitive instinct. A lot of people have . . . feelings.”

He smiled. “Like you?”

She didn’t answer. “How certain are you that you’d know if Jelak was near?”

“Absolutely. As long as there aren’t too many people around to cause interference. I have problems in the middle of cities and with apartment buildings.” He shook his head. “But I’m not going to argue with your Joe about letting me come. I doubt if Jelak would be lingering about in Piedmont Park. He’s not the usual serial killer, who needs the kick of watching his victim found. He got his kick when he took the blood.”

“Kick?” Eve asked. “What do you mean?”

“He thinks that the blood of a fresh kill makes him stronger, jump-starts his energy quotient.” He shrugged. “This kill probably had little effect on him. It was more for show, and he’ll be hungry for something more substantial.”

Jane grimaced. “You make him sound like a cannibal.”

“There are similarities. Cannibals also devour their victims to absorb their strengths.”

Eve stiffened. “Is that what he’s doing? He thinks that the blood he takes will transfer the strength of those poor victims to him?”

He nodded. “That’s why he tries to be selective. Every kill is a step that moves him a little closer to the end of the game. But if the victim is particularly strong or intelligent, then it’s a giant step.”

“Game?” Eve repeated. “This is a game to him?”

“Of course. The quintessential game. The one that started in Fiero all those years ago and won’t be over until he reaches what he considers his zenith.” His lips tightened. “Or I kill the son of a bitch.”

“You evidently haven’t managed to do that in the last ten years,” Jane said dryly. “I want to know more about—”

“I’m out of here.” Joe was shrugging into his jacket as he came out of the bedroom. “I’ll call you when I know something, Eve.” He glanced at Seth Caleb. “Don’t disappear, Caleb. Before I see you again, I’m going to know everything there is to know about your background. I’m not through with you.”

“No, you’re not,” Caleb said. “You have no idea how far you are from being through with me. I’ll give my cell-phone number to Eve.” He headed for the door. “In the meantime, I’ll make a few calls myself and try to pin down where Jelak might be likely to show up next.” He smiled. “And I’ll be more generous than you about sharing information.”

“I’ll share when you prove that you can give me more than a bunch of vampire crap,” Joe said as he headed for the door. “Jelak is a murderer, nuts maybe, but not anything more.” He opened the door. “If you can give me any details about how we can use that particular craziness to catch him, then we’ll talk again.”

“My, my, you weren’t listening. I never said he was a vampire,” Caleb said. “Just a wannabe.”

“Whatever.” The next moment, Joe was going down the porch steps.

Caleb reached in his jacket and handed Eve a card. “My cell number. Call me if you need me.”

“I won’t need you.”

“You can never tell. Or if you want to talk or ask me more questions. I’m entirely open to you.”

She stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head. There was no telling what was behind that bland expression that seemed to hide a thousand secrets. “There’s nothing open about you, Caleb.”

He smiled. “You’re right, of course. But I’d make the effort for you.” He turned. “Good day, ladies. I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”

EVE TURNED TO JANE AS CALEB left the cottage. “What do you think?”

“About Caleb?” Jane was silent a moment. “He’s a powerhouse. He tries to keep it under wraps, but every now and then we get a glimpse.”

“Joe doesn’t think he’s keeping it under wraps.” Eve paused. “Joe might have been more receptive if Megan hadn’t been involved. He’s been very tolerant about a lot of things, but pulling this vampire hunter into the mix is a little tough on him.”

“Van Helsing Caleb isn’t,” Jane said. “And he keeps insisting that Jelak isn’t a vampire.” She shivered. “But this blood stuff gives me the creeps. That poor woman in Piedmont Park. She probably didn’t know what—” She broke off, her eyes widening. “Piedmont Park. Oh, my God.”