Last Vampire Standing (19 page)

“What do you make of that?” Kevin asked. “Are they ghosts you recognize?”

I fought a shiver because I didn’t want Kevin to think me a wimp. “They’re energies or entities, but they aren’t true ghosts or any spirit I recognize. I never felt them last night.”

“I think,” Caro volunteered, “they’re, like, ghostly versions of those cartoon angels and devils. One on each shoulder.”

“The dark one seems to be what we call a shadow man,” Kevin said. “They’re not generally harmful, but no one knows why they show up as dark instead of light.”

“What about the white form? Is that an angel?” Leah asked.

Kevin shrugged. “Who knows? I took more video of Ms. Marinelli tonight, so I’ll see if they show up again.” He closed the lid and snapped it shut. “When is your next tour?”

“Sunday,” I answered before I thought to lie.

“Good. I’ll be here.”

“And we’ll come back to help you,” Caro said, tucking a hand into Kevin’s arm.

Leah nodded and claimed Kevin’s other side. “Right. That is, if it’s okay with you, Kevvy.”

Kevvy?

Okay, I was outta there. Even a down and dirty talk with Saber about Triton and the land trust beat listening to that syrup.

The main drag of San Marco Avenue was light on traffic. I was halfway home but dawdled at a lit shop window to look at a display of blown glass bowls. I don’t know what made me turn, but Pandora, in her huge house cat form, came out of nowhere at a dead run and threw herself on my chest.

I staggered back, heard a
thwit
, and then the sound of shattering glass. A beat later, an alarm went off.
Behind the building,
Pandora said in my head.

When I didn’t move immediately, she nipped me.

Run.

I stumbled once, then used vamp speed. When I reached the back of the building, I stopped, pressed my back into the nubby surface of a brick wall, and wondered what the hell was happening. Another sniper? The sound I’d heard was different from the gunshots of the other night, but I was no expert. I was the only person I knew who didn’t own a gun. The first police sirens wailed as Pandora trotted around the corner of the building.
Follow me,
she commanded and headed behind another building to come out on a street behind San Marco. She didn’t morph into panther size, I guess so as not to scare the bejeebers out of anyone who happened to see us. Of course, her house cat size was as big as a bobcat. That was intimidating enough.

“What happened back there?” I asked in a whisper as we hurried along the shadowed streets.
The man with the scarred face shot an arrow at you.

“Gorman?”

Pandora glanced over her shoulder as if to say
Duh.

“He’s never pulled so much as a pop gun on me. Why try to kill me now?”

Pandora shook her head.
This I do not know, but you must tell your man.

Oh goody. Another thing for Saber to feel good about.

Pandora stopped so fast, I nearly plowed into her haunches.

You will tell your man,
she said, her amber eyes narrowing on me.
There are dangers enough, and you must eliminate those
threats you can.

She was saying more than the words I heard in my head. I knew it, but I was tired of the coded messages.

“Are you talking about whatever Triton is hiding from?”

You will learn what you need to know in due time.

She cocked her head toward the bay and twitched her ears, then paced off again.

We reached Maggie’s front yard just as Saber stormed through the gate. He checked his steps, looked hard at Pandora, then settled his gaze on me.

“I heard the sirens. What happened?”

“Gorman shot an arrow at me but broke a shop window.”

Saber clenched his fists. “Pandora saved you?”

“She knocked me out of the way.”

Saber nodded at her. “Good work. Get her in the house and stand guard until I get back.”

Pandora trotted toward the cottage. I stepped closer to Saber.

“Get back from where? You’re not going after Gorman.”

“No. I’m calling the cops from a pay phone to give them an anonymous tip that Gorman broke the window. Any more questions?”

I bit my lip. “Can I have a hug before you go?”

“God, yes.”

He grabbed me fast and hard in a hug that threatened to pop the stuffing out of me, but I clung to him just as tightly. I was about to tell him to forget the call and take me inside—take me, period—when Pandora gave a throaty chuff. Saber eased me away and touched his forehead to mine.

“I’ll be gone ten minutes, and I want to slip into something more comfortable when I get back.”

“S-slip into what?”

“You.”

017

Saber cupped the back of my head, pressed a scorching kiss to my mouth, then let me go and sprinted to his car.

“Ten minutes,” he called softly.

I took off for my cottage, my keys in one hand, working the buttons of my costume with the other. My blouse was open before I hit the door.

Lock it,
Pandora said from her perch on the tiki bar.

I nodded. “Thanks, Pandora. Later.”

Eight minutes.

I tossed my clothes off on the way through the living room to the bathroom. I didn’t care where they landed. I needed a shower. I was sick of being shot at and ticked at being in the middle of Triton’s skullduggery. I wanted my calm, normal afterlife back, damn it. And I wanted Saber.

I flipped the shower on hot, squashed my hair into a shower cap, and stepped under the pulsating spray. Five minutes.

Creamy body wash. Coconut scent. I inhaled the aroma as I spread the slick liquid on my shoulders, down my arms, over my aching breasts and the quivering muscles of my belly. The last vestiges of fear swirled down the drain. Two minutes.

I shut off the water, ripped the cap off my hair—and the shower door burst open. A scream died in my throat.

Deke stood there, naked and aroused, his cobalt eyes dark with fevered desire.

He stepped into the shower stall, and I backed into the glass tile. Very slowly, his gaze dropped to my breasts, and every trickle of water on my body sizzled. With a fingertip, he reached to catch a ripe droplet on my nipple, then raised the drop to his mouth. One. Long. Minute.

“Hi, honey. I’m early.”

“I’m ready,” I whispered.

He lifted me, pressed me against the shower wall, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. When he slipped into my wet warmth, my muscles closed tight around him as if to hold him near forever. Each stroke of his shaft built pain-pleasure friction, caressed needs in my heart that had no name. The wave of climax climbed until I hovered on the crest. I pressed Deke deeper, screamed his name. His shout of release echoed mine, and my body sang with power, my heart with fierce love.

A coma. A multiple orgasm, sex-sated, blissful coma. I didn’t want to move again for at least a thousand years. Saber, though, decided he was hungry and pulled on navy blue boxers to go fix a sandwich. Hey, I support whatever keeps my man at peak strength and stamina.

When I dragged myself out of bed, donned a sleep shirt, and joined him in the kitchen, I found my bra with the foam cups lying on the turquoise tabletop.

“I knew I was flinging my clothes left and right, but I didn’t think I threw anything this far.”

He put a glass of sweet tea on the table and sat down in front of his half-eaten sandwich.

“You didn’t throw your bra this far. I stepped on it and got stabbed by this.”

He lifted one bra cup to reveal Triton’s mermaid charm underneath. He dropped it in my hand and raised a brow. Uh-oh. Was Saber upset? He said he wasn’t jealous, exactly, but he could’ve fooled me. The charm gave my palm a mild jolt, and I let it clatter to the table.

“Why was that in a scrap of fabric?” he asked with a hint of his cop voice.

I sighed. “Remember when we were talking about Laurel’s tracker flatlining? I told you Pandora said she was diverted by another signal.”

“Go on.”

“She also said the charm acts like a homing device for her and told me to wear it. I put the charm in the fabric pouch for padding, then put the pouch in my bra.”

“Why not just wear it as a necklace?”

I raked my hair back. “Because I didn’t want you to think I was wearing it for Triton’s sake.”

He didn’t smile, but I felt his energy shift. “Noted and appreciated, but your safety is what matters. Come here.”

He picked up the chain and began easing it over my head when I flinched. “Wait.”

“Did I catch your hair?”

“No, but this thing buzzes with static energy when I hold it. In the cloth, it didn’t do that.”

“You’re afraid it will keep buzzing when it’s touching your skin, huh? Let’s see.”

He finished arranging the chain, then picked up the charm and dropped it down the inside of my sleep shirt. I held my breath, waiting for the charm to go spazzy with energy, but it didn’t. No static buzz, no static shock. Not even the sound of ocean waves.

“Well? How is it?”

I twitched my shoulders to see if anything happened. Nope. Nothing but a little bump between my breasts.

“Fine, but are you sure it won’t bother you if I wear it?”

He wagged his eyebrows. “As long as I’m the only one diving for mermaid treasure, I don’t care. Now, do you want to know what I found out about your land while you were out getting shot at and giving me gray hair?”

I crossed my eyes at him, but the effect was lost since he was already hoofing it into the living room. I leaned around the doorframe to ogle his boxer-clad butt as he scooped a stack of papers from my desk.

He handed me a tome. “Take a look.”

“Don’t I get a hint what to look for?”

“You’ll see it.”

He took a swig from his plastic bottle of root beer and waited expectantly. I growled under my breath and began scanning the pages. Legalese wasn’t my strong point, but only the first two pages were full of legal jargon. The third page contained a list of names and dates, and I spotted the pattern immediately.

“Is this it? That Triton moved locations and changed the name of his company every twenty years?”

“Twenty-two years in one case,” Saber corrected. “And he didn’t just change the name, he absorbed each old company into each new one. A new twist on corporate takeovers.”

“He didn’t disguise the names much. The list starts with Delphinus and Company and ends with Trey Delphis Antiquities out of California. He might as well have put a neon sign on his trail.”

“Since you were right about the land squabbles, I think he did it so ownership would be easy to trace. Look.” He scooted his chair closer to mine and thumbed through the stack to pull out another sheet. “I summarized this, but the transactions show you started with the equivalent of one hundred acres. As the island developed progressively southward, Triton sold off pieces.”

I followed Saber’s finger down the column of dates. “I see it. Most of these sales were in the late 1970s and ’80s.”

“Then another chunk in the early 1990s. I figure as the property values rose, Triton sold land and put the proceeds in trust to help pay the taxes.”

“That’s good. At least it won’t take a Fort Knox fortune to pay him back.” I looked over at him. “Is there any land left other than the three lots?”

“No, but I have to hand it to him. He must’ve studied the plots, because he not only saved beachfront land for you, he kept the part where an access street dead-ends. You have a wide buffer between your property and the next one.”

“Score points for Triton.” I sipped on my tea and leafed through more papers but didn’t see what I was hunting for.

“Did you find out who built the house?”

“You mean that shack? No. Those records aren’t online.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter who built it, but what am I going to do about it?”

Saber snorted. “Wait for the next storm to blow it down.”

“Come on, be serious. Now that I know about”—I waved a hand at the papers—“all this, I can’t ignore it. If nothing else, I owe it to the neighbors to spiff up the house.”

He pushed his plate away and crossed his arms on the table. “I have a feeling you want to make that place a project.”

“Well, the thought had occurred. It would look fantastic on my design résumé. Plus, you’re looking for a house, and that one is just sitting there.”

“No, Cesca. No way.”

“You wouldn’t have to buy it. You could rent it. Cheap. And then it would be occupied.”

“It’s barely tourable, never mind livable.”

“But it could be if I fixed it up and expanded. I could build an office for you, and another bathroom. Or I could put on a second story, make the whole upstairs a master bedroom suite.”

“Even if the county will approve any plan other than razing the place, as soon as you improve that property, your taxes and wind and flood insurance will be astronomical.”

“Maybe not. Besides, even if you don’t want to live there, I’ll be able to move away from Maggie in four years.”

He shrugged. “Being that you haven’t bitten a human in centuries, the VPA would probably approve you to move whenever you wanted.”

I raised a brow. “Really?”