Bound to Shadows (12 page)

“She is expecting you,” the vamp said, her voice a low hum of excitement.
Which was worrying. Rising excitement among a nest of emo vampires might not be good for my
health. Just as well I was still carrying a laser. And that I could fly, and they
couldn’t.
“You can use the elevators,” the girl continued. “They’re working now.”
“Thanks, but I prefer to walk.” If only because I didn’t trust Vinny not to trap me inside one of
the damn things. She and I had something of a volatile relationship—although calling it a
relationship was also something of a misnomer. It was little more than a wary connection—one
formed when I’d uncovered her lair while working a case.
She was useful and so far had seemed reasonably happy to help the Directorate when asked, but I
had no doubt she would double-cross us if it suited her purpose. The only thing Vinny worried
about was Vinny.
I grabbed the handrail and began climbing. The unwashed scent of vampire faded the farther I went
up, so that by the time I reached the eighth floor, it had all but disappeared. In its place was
the rich freshness of springtime—a scent provided by the series of red candles that sat in the
stylized, rose-shaped sconces that lined the hall.
Down at the far end, a woman waited. Like most of the vampires on the floors below, she was young
and gangly. But unlike them, her blond hair had been recently washed and shone like pale gold in
the flickering candlelight.
She wasn’t a stranger. She’d been the door guard on several of the occasions I’d had to come here
for the Directorate. She didn’t talk much, but I’d gleaned a name—Rose.
She was one of the ones we couldn’t identify.
“Morning, Rose,” I said, as I strolled toward her.
She nodded, her dark gaze sweeping the length of me. “You armed?”
“Yes, and this time I will remain so.”
She opened her mouth but didn’t get a chance to protest as I added, “Vinny, if I wanted to
fucking shoot you, I could do so quite easily from here.”
Something flickered through the girl’s eyes, and a moment later she opened the door. Unlike the
squalor in which the majority of her nest lived, Vinny enjoyed her comforts. The room beyond
could only be described as lush. The walls were covered by thick velvet drapes that were a dark,
dramatic red, and the carpet was the color of rich sand, thick enough to lose your toes in. Two
big chandeliers hung from the ceiling, sending rainbow-colored sprays of light though the
shadows.
I stepped inside and looked beyond the thickly stuffed black leather chairs and sensuous-looking
chaise sofas to the small circle of people at the far end of the room.
Half a dozen toga-clad boys and girls—I always refused to think of them as anything else, because
not one of them looked to be older than seventeen—stood around a mahogany and leather chaise
longue. In it sat Vinny.
Power and sensuality oozed from her and, as ever, the force of it caused me to hesitate, however
briefly.
Then her lush lips twitched and annoyance swept through me. She’d been warned often enough not to
try her tricks on Directorate personnel, but she liked to push. And given that she was currently
more of a help than a hindrance, there was nothing I could do about it.
I strode forward. Vinny watched me. She was an ordinary-looking brown-haired, brown-eyed woman of
medium height and build, but there was nothing ordinary about what she could do. As an emo
vampire in charge of a huge nest—which was the only one we knew of in Melbourne—she was more
dangerous than she looked. She had an aura similar to a werewolf’s, and was totally capable of
seducing anyone she chose, willing or unwilling. She’d come damn close to seducing me, and had
even won a kiss from me—although
that
was more from a desperate need
to get information than any emo geis.
The scent of blossom and springtime got stronger the closer I got to her chaise, and it mixed
warmly with the heavy scent of desire stirring the air. The toga-clad teenagers watched me with
languorous expressions, their pupils dilated. Meaning they’d recently fed, and were now sending
the vibes out to the rest of the nest. Which explained the hum of excitement I’d felt
downstairs.
I stopped when there was still a good ten feet between us. This close, Vinny’s skin looked almost
luminous, as if the richness of the moon itself glowed from deep within her …
I blinked. Damn it, she was doing it again.
“Vinny,” I warned softly.
She laughed—a rich sound that sent warm shivers up my spine—and unfurled her legs from the hem of
her long dress. Her shoes were red and glittery, reminding me of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz.
“What can I do for you, Riley?”
“We’ve two dead women on our hands,” I said without preamble. “Both died of unknown causes, and
in both cases, desire and lust lingered in the room.”
“Meaning they had sex before they died.” She paused, mirth sparkling in her chocolate eyes.
“Lucky them. But why do I need to know about these deaths?”
“Because we suspect an emo vampire might be at-large.”
“And I have the only known nest in Melbourne.”
“Exactly.”
She rose unhurriedly, her movements grace itself. Her long skirt billowed briefly around her—a
cloud of pale organza that seemed to catch the flickering sprays of rainbow light from the
chandeliers and gleam like the inside of an oyster shell. Those same sprays of light danced
across her skin, leaving a luminosity …
I dug my fingers into my palms, using the pain to battle the caress of her aura, however light it
might be at the moment.
“It is a waste to kill a lover,” she said softly, moving around me, her body so close I could
feel the heat of her. “A dead lover is of no use to the nest.”
“They are if they bequeath you their estate.”
She laughed, and her breath stirred the hairs at the back of my neck. I forced myself to remain
still, and she reappeared on my left side. Her skirt swirled around my leg. It felt as sweet as a
caress.
I flexed my fingers and ignored the urge to get out of there.
“I can get that without killing them,” she said. “All I have to do is ask.”
“It’s against the law to use your abilities for monetary gain, Vinny.”
She laughed again and stopped in front of me. “Everyone who has bequeathed me their possessions
or money has done so willingly. Just ask them.”
“We have.”
Something flickered in her eyes. Annoyance, perhaps. “Then you know I have done no wrong. So why
are you here?”
“Are there any other emo vampires or nests in Melbourne? Nests that we don’t know
about?”
“No.”
It was flatly said, and I could sense no lie in her words. Of course, Vinny was such an
accomplished liar that I probably wouldn’t. And while in any other situation I would have tried
to read her mind, telepathy was useless in this place. This room acted like a big hole when it
came to psychic energy. There were no deadeners involved, nor did it appear to be any kind of
natural psychic shield. It was just a hole. Or maybe it was more like a black hole, because it
seemed to suck away any sort of mental resonance.
Jack had theorized that it had something to do with an emo’s control over energy, but Vinny
certainly wasn’t about to confirm or deny that.
“Would you know if there was another emo or nest in the city?”
“Yes.”
“Would you tell us if there was?”
She smiled. “Perhaps.”
Meaning only if there was something in it for her. I stepped back into cooler air. “If you do
hear anything, let us know.”
“If I hear anything and let you know, I expect something for my troubles.” She cocked her head
slightly. “Why do you taste so tense?”
“It’s the company, I’m afraid.”
She waved the comment away.
“That
tension is all part of the fun of
having you here. This is different.” She considered me for a moment. “Your soul is weary. It
fights, and yet it tires of the fight. There is a tension in you I have not felt
before.”
And wouldn’t feel again, as long as I could figure a way to get Kye safely out of my life. “I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She smiled again. “You lie, guardian, but I appreciate the effort. Its taste is sweet.”
Great. Now she was feeding off my emotional vibes, no matter how little I was trying to put out
there. “Time for me to go,” I said briskly, backing away farther. “Remember; contact us if you
hear anything.”
She merely smiled so I turned and got the hell out of there.
I’d barely made it down to the ground floor when my phone rang. I knew without looking that it
would be Jack. It was that sort of day.
I plucked it free from my pocket and said, “What’s up, boss?”
“I want you to get over to Dante’s straightaway.”
My stomach sank. “Not another beheaded vampire?”
“Nope. This time it’s a human. A drained human and a very ugly crowd of onlookers.” His voice was
grim. “The shit has hit the fan big-time.”

T
he shit, as Jack had so aptly put it, really did look
nasty.
I parked half a street away from Dante’s, but even so, as I climbed out of the car, the noise hit
me. It was voices and anger and nastiness all rolled into one, and I hoped like hell they had
more than one cop down there. Cole and his team might be able to protect themselves, but they
shouldn’t have to. They were only doing their job.
As was I.
But that didn’t stop some fool from lobbing an empty beer can straight at my head as the cops
hastily cleared a way through the thirty-strong crowd for me. I caught it with one hand and met
the gaze of the drunken fool who’d thrown it. His blue eyes were full of anger, his expression
daring me to throw the can back. I raised it but crushed it one-handed instead—lengthwise, not
through the middle. His eyes widened a little. Obviously he hadn’t thought a woman could be that
strong. The cops opened the barriers to let me through and I walked across to the three figures
huddled around a small, forlorn-looking body.
Cole looked up as I joined them. There were shadows under his eyes, and I very much doubted they
were from spending time with his new lady love. “It’s not a vampire kill.”
“What? But Jack said—”
“Yeah, I know. It was reported as that, but it’s not.” He reached out and shifted the dead man’s
neck, revealing two neat holes.
“It sure as hell looks like a bite to me.” I hesitated, and leaned closer. “Except that there’s
no redness, and no skin reaction.”
“Exactly,” Cole said heavily. “This is an imitation. A damn fine one, but an imitation all the
same.”
I squatted down beside him. “Meaning we’ll find another wound somewhere on the body.”
“Probably. We can’t be sure until we get him back for an autopsy.”
I studied the frail old man for a moment, wondering if he’d been selected simply because the
sight of him would garner more anger and sympathy than someone in his prime. My gaze came to rest
on his left leg. A faint hint of blood rode the air, and there seemed to be something bulky
wrapped around the upper part of his thigh under his pants. I was betting on a bandage. “Strip
him here.”
Cole looked at me like I was mad. “The crowd is going to love that.”
“The crowd is the reason I’m suggesting it. Do it.”
Cole shared a look with both Dusty and Dobbs, then nodded abruptly. As they started stripping
him, I rose and stalked over to the mob. They weren’t pressing against the barricades just yet,
but they were hurling abuse and litter at the cops who stood behind them. It wouldn’t take much
for this whole situation to explode.
“You, you, and you,” I said, pointing to three of the men who appeared to be the ringleaders of
this nasty little crowd. “Get over here.”
They pushed forward belligerently—big, handsome men with ugly attitudes.
“What?” the middle one said. He was the tallest of them by about three inches, and towered over
me by a good five.
“You think vampires did this?”
“We know it. Like we told those men over there, we saw the car. It was a vamp car.”
Meaning the windows had been fully shielded against sunlight. “And you know for certain that it
was a vamp either driving or being driven in it?”
He frowned. “Who else would fucking drive one of those things?”
“I see.” I stepped forward, grabbed him by the shirt, thrust my other hand on his crotch, and
none too elegantly hauled him up and over the barrier. He wasn’t a small man and it was a huge
effort, but it had the desired effect. The crowd fell silent.
“You two,” I said, dumping the stranger back on his feet and pointing to his two friends, “join
us.”
They did. Fast.
With my grip still on the big man’s shirt, I dragged him over toward the body. The other two
followed without being asked.
Cole and his team had stripped the body and were in the process of unraveling the bandage as we
arrived.
“What the fuck?” the big man said, his face an angry red. I couldn’t actually tell if it was
anger over my treatment of him or at being dragged so close to a corpse. Some people were funny
about things like that. “We don’t need to see this.”
“Ah, but you do, because we don’t need your sort spreading rumors.”
I hauled him to a stop as Cole pulled the final bit of bandage free. The wound on the old man’s
leg was obvious—a clean, crisp stroke that sliced from the top of his thigh to down near his
knee. The skin split as Cole moved the old man’s leg, revealing the layers of fat and muscle and
then bone. There were small clots inside the wound, and the skin had a slightly darkened
appearance, as if someone had hastily washed the area.
“What do you think that is?” I said to the man.
“A knife wound,” he muttered.
“A knife wound that sliced through major arteries and would have caused him to bleed to death,” I
retorted. “Now, I can’t imagine a vampire wasting blood like that. Can you?”
“Maybe whoever did it wanted us to think it wasn’t a vampire,” one of the men behind him said,
his voice aggressive.
I released the tall man and grabbed his buddy. He squawked as I yanked him forward, moving around
the body until we stood near his head. Cole obligingly moved the dead man’s neck so that the bite
was more evident. I could feel the waves of amusement coming from him, yet you’d never know it
from his expression. Dusty and Dobbs were studiously avoiding looking at anyone.
“Do they look like real vampire bites to you?”
“I don’t know,” he muttered, his gray eyes darting between the body and the crowd, as if he
couldn’t bear looking at the old man for more than a second. “I’m no expert on vampire
bites.”
“Well, these men are. Do you care to hear what they have to say, or are you merely interested in
stirring up unfounded trouble?”
“I don’t want no trouble. None of us do.”
“Sure as hell could have fooled me.” The crowd behind us was still very silent. “Cole?”
Cole cleared his throat, a brief twitch of his lips the only indication of the amusement I could
still feel. “When a vampire bites into flesh, analgesic elements in the saliva react with the
skin, causing a swelling around the wound. On the dead, this swelling does not abate. These
wounds were very likely punched into the skin by a thick needle or the end of a knife. An autopsy
will provide the answer either way.”
“Meaning,” I said, giving the man a bit of a shake, “that someone wanted idiots like you to think
this man was killed by a vampire.”
“Well, we weren’t to know he wasn’t,” the bigger man whined belligerently.
His voice was loud, carrying easily, and a murmur went through the crowd. The tension and anger,
which had already begun to dissipate, subsided still further.
“Which is why it’s always dangerous to jump to conclusions,” I said. “Now, why don’t you all
leave, before I decide to arrest your asses?”
“What?” someone said. “You can’t do that!”
Which was true enough. I couldn’t, because they were all human, and the rules that applied to
nonhumans certainly didn’t apply to them. But they obviously weren’t the sharpest tools in the
shed, so a little twisting of the truth wasn’t going to hurt. Not if it got them to restrain
themselves the next time they saw a body being dumped in the street.
“The Directorate has a whole lot more power than the police, and you three were inciting violence
against both the police and Directorate personnel. Consider yourselves damn lucky I’m feeling
generous today.”
They slunk off. By the time they’d gotten over the barriers, the crowd had begun to disperse. I
blew out a relieved breath.
“That was very well done,” Cole said softly, giving me a grin that reached his cool blue eyes.
“Even if a lot of it could be considered stretching the truth.”
“Hey, better that than getting your head kicked in by an aggrieved crowd.”
“Too right,” Dusty muttered, then gave me a smile and a wink. He had a nice smile on the rare
occasions that he flashed it. “Although the heads getting kicked in would be theirs, not ours,
and the boss hates that.”
I grinned and glanced at my watch. It was nearly eleven-thirty, which meant if I didn’t get my
butt into gear, I’d be late for my meeting with Kye.
I refused to call it a date. Not when he was basically blackmailing me to be there.
I glanced at Cole. “Could you send me the details of the car once it’s traced? I’m betting it’s
stolen, but Jack will still want me to follow it up.”
He nodded. “I sent the details in to headquarters, so it shouldn’t take long.”
“Thanks.”
He nodded and got back to work. I rose and walked back to my car. Time to head home and get
changed, because jeans and a top would never be classified as “something nice.” Although I
refused to wear something sexy, because the damn man didn’t deserve that, either.
Of course, finding something that could be classified as nice without being overtly sexy was
another matter entirely. I was a werewolf. Sexy was my thing.
In the end I chose a very basic floral sundress, and teamed it with a warm winter cardigan and a
black leather belt, which nicely matched the black and white print. Classy and neat, even if the
floral print was last year’s style. Not that Kye would care.
So why did I?
I grimaced at my own fussiness and, ignoring a small tremor of excitement, grabbed a change of
clothes, then headed out.
Franklin’s turned out to be at the top end of La Trobe Street, just down from Exhibition. It was
a pretty, blue two-story building with lots of lovely fretwork and arched windows. The glass was
mirrored, suggesting it was one-way, and there was very little sign age out front—which left me
wondering what sort of restaurant this place was, beyond the fact that it was obviously one that
didn’t want to be easily found.
I parked in one of the spots down the road then walked back, my heels clicking quickly against
the concrete—a rhythm that matched my pulse.
There was no handle on the double doors out front, just a discreet buzzer. That had wariness
flaring.
It was very tempting just to turn around and walk away, but I didn’t trust Kye not to follow
through with his threat.
Besides, part of me wanted to know what this place was. A dark and utterly
stupid
part.
I pressed the buzzer lightly and a moment later, a sultry female voice said, “Franklin’s. How may
we help you?”
“Riley Jenson. I have an appointment with Kye Murphy.”
“Ah yes, Mr. Murphy has been waiting for you. Please come in.”
The door softly clicked open, and I went through into a small foyer that was all dark marble and
gold fittings. A small desk sat to the right, and a plush gold sofa and several potted plants to
the left. The petite blonde behind the desk gave me a warm smile.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Jenson,” she said, and waved an elegant hand to another door. “If you’ll
just go through there, Christine will show you to your table.”
I did as bidden, but the second I went through that other door, I knew this place wasn’t just a
restaurant.
The soft music that caressed the air was sensual and erotic—a melody designed to relax and seduce
the senses. The air was as heated as the music and rich with the scent of lust and sex and rich,
spicy food. Despite my misgivings, I breathed deep, allowing the ambience to soak through my
pores, right into my very bones. An answering tremor of excitement coursed through me.
Franklin’s was a wolf club—a very
discreet
wolf club. One that
obviously catered only to certain levels of clientele. Certainly I’d never heard of this type of
club before, but I guess that was no surprise because they weren’t targeting the likes of me. It
was
surprising they allowed the likes of Kye, but I guess he could
probably afford whatever this place cost. He
was
one of the top hit
men in the country, after all.
The door swung shut behind me, and another petite blonde appeared. “Riley Jenson?”
I nodded, my gaze roaming past her, studying the dark wine walls. No cameras, no deadeners,
nothing security related that I could see, but I imagined it would all be there. If this place
was catering to upper-class clientele, it couldn’t afford not to be careful.
The blonde gave me a smile that lit up her brown eyes. A woman who enjoyed her job, obviously.
“Mr. Murphy awaits you in the green room. This way, please.”
She escorted me down a long hallway that was all pale gold and green. It wasn’t trying to be
sexy, just warm and welcoming, and in that it succeeded. There were doors to the left and the
right, and the scents coming from them were a mix of food, alcohol, and lust. But not sex. That
scent seemed to be drifting down from above, though I could hear no noise that suggested mating.
They obviously had good soundproofing.
The blonde stopped at the second to last door to the right, just before a sweeping gold and glass
staircase. As she swiped a card through the reader slot, I leaned forward and looked up the
stairs. Two oversize doors waited at the top. A grand entrance to a grand dance floor,
perhaps.
“There you are, Ms. Jenson.”
I gave her a somewhat tense smile and walked in. The room was on the small side, but lushly
furnished. The walls were a rich, dark cream and covered on three sides with oil paintings that
depicted various forest scenes in which naked people ran about. The fourth was covered by green
velvet curtains, and in front of it sat a leather sofa so well padded it looked as if it would
envelop you once you sat down. A black table dominated the rest of the room, the chairs well
padded and the same rich green as the curtains and the sofa. The far end had been set for two,
although the table looked able to seat at least eight.
Kye was leaning against a mantel, although the fire wasn’t lit. Which was just as well, given the
warmth in the room. But the air was nothing compared to the heat that flashed between us when his
gaze met mine. It hit like a punch to the gut and I stopped, momentarily breathless.
He looked good.
So
good. His black pants fit his long, strong legs
superbly and made the most of his well-toned butt. His shirt was roughly rolled up at the
sleeves, revealed his muscular arms. The color was dark green, and contrasted richly against the
gold of his eyes, making them seem even brighter.
Or maybe that was just the heat in them. The desire.
His gaze swept my body—a caress that left me hot and sweating. I clenched my hands, digging my
fingernails into my palms, using the sharp sting as a buffer against need.