Matters of the Blood (30 page)

"They don't like me,” I said, remembering Evan and the other man laughing.

"I'm not so sure it's you they don't like,” he said.

"You?"

He nodded. “Quite possible. They were unhappy in Europe. Evan convinced them to come to the Wild Moon. They're fairly new to us and still adjusting to my way. Most of them prefer to take human companions. I've told them not to while they live here. They have to obey me, but they don't necessarily have to like me. I can tolerate a little dissension behind my back as long as my orders are followed."

It was just like my own clan. I had to obey direct orders from Gigi, but I sure as hell didn't have to like it. A major reason I was living apart. If I wasn't in her immediate radar, I was fairly safe.

"I don't know how long it's going to take to find out,” Adam said. “The drive to San Antonio is at least an hour and half, and there's the matter of getting inside and finding out. I imagine he'll call after that. If he has to wait long, it could be early morning."

"Damn. Then he'll have to bunk down somewhere and you'll be asleep."

"Not necessarily,” Adam said. “I prefer to sleep and need to sleep at least a few hours, but I can stay awake during daylight if I try. I just can't go out in direct sunlight."

"You don't poof into dust or anything, then?"

He took my hand in his and grinned again. “No. No dust, no glowing flames. But, if we're weak, it could be fatal. If we've fed and are strong, it's more like an extremely bad burn."

Adam's tone sobered. “I promise you, Keira, I will find the answers. The ‘blond brigade’ do come in useful. If someone here killed your cousin, they'll help me find the truth. In the meantime, you will be safe."

"I'd be safe at home,” I protested. “That's not why I agreed to stay here.” I leaned a little closer to him, concentrating on his face, letting my emotions and desire show in my eyes. “I think here could definitely be a lot more interesting."

"Definitely,” he whispered.

He closed the small space between us, his lips brushing mine, a soft feather touch, a promise of more to come.

"Does that make it more interesting?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, then, I think I can do better."

And I let him.

Eons later, we broke apart, mostly because I needed to breathe. This whole undead immortal thing could come in handy, except when the undead in question forgot that his partner was living and needed oxygen.

He smiled at me, sheepish. “Sorry, got a bit carried away."

I smiled back and traced my finger across his cheekbone. “No worries. I kind of was a little carried away myself."

I rubbed my thumb over his lower lip, feeling the points of the fangs that were now fully extended. “You do distract me, love."

He playfully bit at my thumb, grazing the skin slightly, then ran his lips across the palm of my hand. “I distract you, do I?"

"What do you think?” I closed my eyes, letting myself get lost in the sensation.

"And you called me ‘love'. Was that a distraction, too?"

I blinked and started to pull my hand away, but he grabbed it and pressed it back to his mouth, placing a careful kiss on the palm. Shit. I had said that, hadn't I?

"Does this mean you share my feelings, Keira Kelly?"

His eyes blazed green fire at me. I knew I wasn't going to get away with anything. I'm not so sure I wanted to, but I wasn't quite ready to admit to love. I'd done it so easily in the past, and gotten so very burned.

"I ... I don't know."

"Liar,” he said, smiling. “You know."

"It's just everything that's going on, Adam,” I protested. “Marty's death, Carlton, Boris flipping out..."

Adam dropped my hand and rocked back on his heels, then rose to his feet. “Damn."

"What's wrong?"

"Distraction goes both ways. I asked Andrea to send Evan to me for a reason."

"Why was that?"

"The thing you said, about a Nazi..."

"Yeah?"

"I think I know who that might be."

[Back to Table of Contents]

The phone rang. Adam answered, listened and began to scowl.

"Find him. Bring him back here."

Adam hung the phone up with a curse.

"Bloody hell."

"What's the problem?"

"That was Andrea,” he said. “Evan's vanished."

"Vanished, as in ‘poof'?"

"As in cleared out, taken his car and hit the highway.” The anger in his voice frightened me. Adam ran his fingers through his hair and began to pace. “Andrea says she never found him to send someone to the morgue. One of the other guards says Evan didn't make patrol, so they just went on without him. She's at Evan's house now. Everything's gone."

"But why—"

Adam dropped into the chair next to me. “I think Evan was the man Boris was talking about."

"The ... oh, shit, the Nazi?"

"Yes. I told you he came to us from Germany."

"You said he escaped,” I accused.

"He did, Keira. But he was a member of the party, just like everyone else who wanted to survive. Eventually, it was too much for him. That's why he escaped. He and several of the others who came with him hid out in the north of England for many years, afraid to go back to Germany."

"Even if that's true, then why disappear?” I asked. “What kind of threat could a poor old guy like Boris be to someone like Evan?"

I didn't understand. It was possible that Boris had recognized Evan, but who knew? Just because Evan had been a Nazi, didn't mean he hadn't reformed. Some of my own relatives had to hide in plain sight as members of the party, as horrible as that was to contemplate now. They'd had no choice, maybe Evan hadn't either.

Adam shrugged and leaned back in the chair, his tiredness evident. “I don't know. But Evan may well have been the one talking to your cousin. He's the only here that fits the description. That's why we need to find him and bring him back.” He sprang from the chair and headed toward the door. “Wait here, I'll only be a few minutes."

I started to get up to go after him, but thought better of it. He needed to calm down and my following him wouldn't make it any better. If I guessed right, Adam was feeling guilty. He'd brought Evan here and Evan may have just been the one to kill Marty.

After no more than a few minutes, the door opened. A thin middle-aged man stood there, holding a white paper bag. He was dressed in brown corduroys and a white button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He didn't look like a waiter. But the bag he was holding was obviously food. I could smell it.

"Were you bringing me food?” I was a little confused, since I'd eaten not that long ago, but my stomach growled in reaction to the delicious smells. Maybe Adam had gone to order us something to eat.

The man gave me a sheepish grin and shook his head.

"Sorry, actually this is for me and my wife. I was just looking for Mr. Walker. I'm John, the day manager.” His clothes might be working class, but his educated accent could have come from Oxford or somewhere just as plummy.

"Oh, hello. Adam just stepped out, he'll be back in a few."

I expected John to either leave or sit down, but he just stood there, his thin arms holding the bag of food. A lock of his graying brown hair fell into his eyes, as he shuffled his weight from one foot to the other. It was obvious he wanted to speak.

"I'm sorry to hear about your cousin,” he finally said. “Niko told me what happened."

"Thank you,” I said, wondering what he was getting at.

"I saw him one day, you know. Late evening, really. Just before dusk. Your cousin, I mean. He came looking for the owner."

So that was it.

"Andrea said something about that,” I said.

"Your cousin wished to leave information about pre-need funeral services. He was rather persistent.” John's homely face lit up with a grin. “I couldn't exactly explain why no one here needed them."

I joined in his laughter. My poor cousin.

John sobered. “I'm sorry. I had to have Lise escort him out."

"Lise?"

"One of the security staff,” John replied. “She followed him out to the mortuary to make sure he left. As far as I know, he never came back."

No doubt. Marty didn't like conflict. He'd never have come back to a place that had him escorted out by security.

"Were there many people on premises when Marty was here?"

John thought a moment, then shook his head. “That was before the main hotel staff even arrived,” he said. “I believe it was only myself and my family, plus a few of the senior staff—and security, of course. I believe all the laborers had gone by that time."

"Senior staff?"

"Niko, Andrea, Evan,” he replied.

Evan. That figured. Maybe when this Lise had taken Marty away, Evan had seen them and stopped them and that's how he'd hooked up with my cousin. I wondered where Lise was. I asked John.

"She's gone back to Europe,” he said. “Just left last night. Didn't like it around here."

"Does Adam know about this?"

"About her leaving? Yes."

"Did Adam know about Marty coming around?"

"No. I didn't know it was important until now. We had various other trespassers try to get on property until the gate was installed. Lise or someone else would usually take care of it."

Made sense to me. Lise was probably nothing to worry about.

"You've been with Adam a long time,” I said. “How do you like it?"

John's answer was instant and unambiguous. “He's an excellent employer. I've been with him most of my life. Working for him since I was twenty-two."

"What made you decide to work for...” I hesitated, not sure how to phrase my question. “Or maybe you had no choice?"

John smiled. “To work for vampires? It's not a dirty word, you know. I did have a choice."

"I know,” I replied. “I'm just not used to talking to other people about stuff like this."

"Not the kind of conversation one can have over billiards and a pint at the local pub,” he agreed.

"Too true. So you did have a choice?"

"Absolutely. Even though my family has been with Adam's tribe for several generations, we may choose to stay or to leave. I left for university. Studied hotel management, then came back to run his place in London. Now I'm here. He's a good employer. Takes care of his people."

"Tribe? Is that what they call it?” I laughed. “I suppose that's no worse than ‘clan'."

A muffled sound came from my pocket. The phone again. I pulled it out and glanced at the display, but I didn't recognize the number on the screen.

"Hello?"

"It's Carlton,” he said without preliminary.

John smiled, mouthed a goodbye, then disappeared out the door. I turned my attention to the phone.

"What's up, Carlton?"

"Still at the ranch?” he asked.

"Is that why you called?"

"Not really."

I waited, unwilling to get into it again with him. If he had a legitimate reason for calling, he'd better be telling me in the next few seconds, or I was going to hang up.

A sigh came over the other end of the phone. “I just got to the truck."

"Any sign of the Albrights?"

"Not a one, but there were a couple of coolers in the bed."

"Coolers? I don't understand."

"Beer coolers. Smeared with what looks like blood. There's a couple of broken mason jars, too, also stained. I'm going to send them off for testing. Just thought you'd want to know."

"How long do you think you'll be?"

"I don't know, a couple of hours or so,” he said. “But Keira, we won't know the results of the tests right away. I'll have to send them to Bexar County."

"Thanks."

Before he could say another word, I hit the button to disconnect the call. It had taken a second for the clue bat to hit me. Beer coolers. Igloo coolers, no doubt, just like the one that Derek was carrying when I'd seen him in the mortuary. The day Marty was killed.

I dialed a number. There was one person I knew could help me out.

After a couple of endless rings, a voice answered. “Wassup, little sis?"

"A lot. Put your pants back on, bro, I need a favor."

I quickly ran down what Carlton had said.

"They're at the old quarry?"

"Yeah,” I said. “The one out near the county border. Hurry, Tucker. If they send off those coolers, we may never know."

"Don't worry,” he said. “I'll take care of it."

I hung up. Now, there was only one thing left to do.

I was halfway out the door when Adam and Andrea arrived.

"Where are you going?"

"To the mortuary,” I said. “And you two are coming with me."

Adam took my arm and stopped me. “A moment, Keira. What's going on?"

"I need to look at something at the mortuary. I need you to go with me; Andrea, too."

"Andrea is going to San Antonio to check your cousin's body."

"Well, whatever, but I still have to go and I need a vampire to go with me."

"You still haven't told me what's going on, Keira."

I blew out a breath in impatience and quickly told him about Carlton's call.

"Tucker's going to go out to the scene. See if he can ‘accidentally’ check out those coolers. See if they have human blood on them. If they do, then I can safely assume it's Marty's and they—"

Adam grabbed me again, and pulled me around to face him. His eyes glittered and his voice was quiet. “Keira, wait. There's something you need to hear."

I stopped trying to move, frozen by something that ran through me, suspiciously close to fear. I wasn't afraid of Adam, but afraid of what he might be about to tell me. I don't know how I knew. Maybe it was the undercurrent I heard when he spoke, the trembling energy I could feel him holding back.

"Let's go back to the office. I'd rather not talk about this in the hall."

I let him lead me inside, this time we sat on the couch in the reception area. Andrea walked behind us and shut the door after she entered.

"When I went out, I met Andrea at Evan's house."

"And?"

I waited in silence, not saying anything because of his expression. The look on his face was one of defeat, of sorrow and anger and frustration.