Ravenous (5 page)

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Authors: V.K. Forrest

BOOK: Ravenous
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“Care to join me?” Corrato asked.
Liam intended to say no thanks. Instead, he found himself seated beside the old guy on the concrete steps of Cousin Suzy’s front porch. It was kind of serene, a situation Liam didn’t find himself in very often. He spent most of his time hunting the streets of big, dirty, ugly cities at night, following, plotting . . . killing. He rarely had the opportunity to do something so human as have a cup of soda on a fall afternoon in a quiet neighborhood and watch the sun slip under the horizon.
The two of them sat there in comfortable silence for a good twenty minutes. The dog climbed up in Corrato’s lap, and apparently seeing Liam as no immediate threat, went to sleep. The dog lifted its head when the door opened behind them. “There you are!
Babbo!
You scared me to death. I looked everywhere for you.”
“No fuss,” he grumbled over his shoulder. Then he looked to Liam. “She fusses.”
Liam glanced in her direction, lifting an eyebrow.
She almost smiled. “Come inside,
Babbo
. Have some cake.”
“We don’t like cake,” he said, handing his empty cup to Liam and lowering the dog from his lap. “Prince doesn’t like it.” He slowly got to his feet with the aid of the handrail.
“
Babbo
, you like cake and Prince would eat anything that didn’t eat him first,” she said patiently.
“Not Suzy’s cake,” Corrato muttered to Liam as he retreated. “Dry as sawdust. Ask Prince.”
Mai brushed her hand across Liam’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
He heard the door open behind him, then close. A couple of minutes went by and Mai came out with two more plastic cups of Coke. She sat on the step, handed him the cups, and then took a pint of rum from under her arm and twisted off the cap.
“Your dad was looking for that.”
“I bet he was.” She poured a healthy portion into both and screwed the cap back on. “I hope Dad wasn’t too big a pest.”
“Not at all.” When she set the bottle beside her, he handed her one of the cups.
“Cin-cin.” She touched her cup to his and took a sip.
“Okay, so out with it,” he said, drinking from his cup. The taste of the rum was sharp in the sweet cola. He wished she’d skipped the cola.
“Here?” She looked around. “I’ve got, like, a hundred cousins inside. They’ve already grilled me as to who you are. Someone might hear us.”
“They’re eating Suzy’s dry cake,” he said flatly. “Now tell me why someone killed seventy-something-year-old Donato Ricci and are now after your father.”
“I don’t know.”
He cut his eyes at her.
“I swear I don’t.”
He took another sip of the foul concoction and set the cup between his feet on the ground. “Okay,” he said with a sigh. “Let’s start with the simple questions.”
Chapter 5
“T
ell me about you and your dad.”
She took a minute. He could tell she was choosing her words carefully, which was smart on her part if she was hiding something, which she obviously was. Her approach might not help him get to the bottom of this any faster, but he liked her all the more for her caution.
“My dad raised me. He met my mom when he was in Vietnam. She was some sort of beauty queen. He was there at the fall of Saigon, and when the soldiers evacuated, he had to leave her. But eventually, he brought her to the States and married her. They had me and he tried to make her happy, but she missed her home and her family. She left when I was three. I don’t even remember her.”
“Your father remarried?”
She shook her head.
“But he still wears a wedding ring.”
“I think he really loved her. He never quite got over the fact that she couldn’t love him back.” She smoothed the hem of her dress over her bare knees, took a drink, and went on in a soft voice. “When I was eight, my dad said the neighborhood in New Jersey where we lived was going downhill, that we needed a fresh start. So we moved here.”
“Why Delaware?” Liam was always curious as to why humans went where they did. Vampires moved from place to place out of self-preservation, either to better feeding grounds or to escape danger. The Kahills had been running for their lives when they found Delaware the night their ship wrecked in a storm in the seventeenth century.
“He had a friend from the war here who offered him a job. Dad was an electrician. It was a way out of Jersey, and a way to get away from his family, gracefully.”
“I hear a little tone there,” Liam observed.
She half-smiled. “The Riccis are a very close-knit Italian family.”
“Meaning,
controlling.
”
Again, the little smile. “His parents and brother threw a fit. Threatened to disown him, never speak to him again. He packed up his little girl and came here anyway. After a while, I think his family forgave him. Sort of. Anyway, enough so that we still spent most holidays with them.”
“You said these people here are your cousins.”
“His mom’s side. She had nieces and nephews who lived in the area. My dad still thought family was important, so even though he kept me at a distance from his dad’s side of the family, he made sure I had cousins to play with growing up.”
“And your dad had other siblings besides his brother?”
“Just a sister. Donato was the oldest. He ran the family business with their father and took over after his death. That was an issue between him and my dad for a long time, that Dad refused to work in the family business.”
“And what was the
business di famiglia?
”
“Imports,” she said into her cup. “I don’t even know exactly what they imported. Dad never talked much about them and when I asked questions, he avoided answering, so after a while, I stopped asking.”
“That how you got into selling antiques?”
“Not really. My dad liked old things and we used to go around to yard sales and antiques stores on weekends. Pretty soon he’d bought more than the house could hold, so he started selling things off the lawn. He’d buy a couple chairs, refinish them, and then sell them. When he retired, he opened the shop. I got a degree in nursing, was living in Dover, pretty happy with my job, and then about five years ago, Dad had a heart attack. I took time off to take care of him, ran the shop until he was on his feet again, and then just never went back to my old job.”
“You never married?”
She glanced at him. “That’s kind of personal.”
“So is calling a guy you don’t know to come to your uncle’s murder scene, then his funeral.”
She thought for a moment and then went on. “I came close once. He called it off the day before the wedding and married my best friend a couple of months later.” She pointed to the cup at his feet. “You going to drink that?”
He handed it to her.
“So how did Donato, king of the family, end up here, sleeping in your spare room?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. He got old. His health really started declining. His wife was dead, no children. He and my dad didn’t talk much, but about six months ago Uncle Donato started calling, talking to my dad. My dad felt bad for him and invited him to live with us.”
Liam leaned back on the step. “Okay, back to this import business. I hate to rely on stereotypes, but an Italian family, in the import business. Was your uncle connected to the mob?”
“No.” She exhaled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. There was talk over the years among my cousins. But families always talk about the guy who makes something of himself, don’t they? It’s jealousy.”
Liam could tell she wasn’t done, so he kept quiet.
“I’m not naive enough to think Uncle Donato was squeaky clean. He served some jail time when I was young, but that was for tax evasion or something like that.” She shrugged. “He was a nice old man, Liam. A gentleman. He was never anything but kind to me. He used to send me birthday gifts when I was a kid. And once he moved in, he insisted on paying a share of the living expenses. He didn’t want to be a burden to my father or me.”
“So he had money?” Liam pressed.
“Not really.” She thought for a minute. “I guess I don’t really know. He cashed his Social Security check every month and insisted my dad take part of it to pay the household bills. My dad gave it to me. Beyond that, I don’t know what he had. I guess we’ll find out.”
Liam sat in silence for a moment, then got up and walked down the steps.
Mai got to her feet. “Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Why?” She followed him down the sidewalk, the bottle of rum in her hand. “You said you would help me.”
“You said you’d tell me the truth.” He didn’t stop until he reached his motorcycle. “The whole truth.”
“But I
am
telling—” She broke off before finishing her sentence.
Liam mounted his bike, but he didn’t start it. He waited.
She wasn’t silent all that long. “A couple of weeks ago, the phone rang. Uncle Donato answered it. He argued with whoever it was. When he got off, I asked him who had called. First, he tried to tell me it was a wrong number. When I told him I heard him talking, he said it was some guy he used to know. The guy had just gotten out of prison and had tracked Uncle Donato down, looking for a favor. Uncle Donato said he told him no.”
“This guy have a name?”
“He wouldn’t tell me his name.”
“And you didn’t overhear anything that might help you figure out who it was?”
“No. Well . . .” She gave a humorless laugh. “I could have sworn Uncle Donato referred to him as the Weasel, but I was listening in on the conversation from another room. He could have just called him a weasel. Uncle Donato had a colorful vocabulary when he got angry.”
Liam crossed his arms over his chest, thinking. “You ask your dad if he knew anything about who this guy was?”
“I asked. Dad said he didn’t know a thing about it. When I asked him if he would ask Uncle Donato, he said he’d get information easier out of Prince.” She rolled her eyes. Then she unscrewed the cap on the bottle of rum and took a drink.
“Hey, easy there.” Liam grabbed the bottle from her and took a drink himself before putting the lid on and slipping it inside his coat.
“Please help me, Liam,” she said, grasping his arm. “I need help. I need
your
help.”
“Not me,” he said. “I’m not your guy.”
“You’re
the
guy. I don’t know why, but I’m sure of it.” She looked into his eyes, her eyes pleading. She was so close, he couldn’t smell just her shampoo, but the scent of her skin. She wore no perfume. It was her HF scent that made him light-headed.
The thing that made sense was to take off on his bike. The thing that did
not
make sense was to kiss her.
But he was already under her spell. There was no turning back, not if his soul had depended upon it. Which was a possibility. “This is a bad idea,” he whispered.
She leaned closer, until her lips were almost on his. “I know.”
“You’ve had a long day. A long week. A bad week.”
She closed her eyes. “So make it a little better.”
Liam slid his hand around her neck until his thumb was on her pulse. With his other hand, he stroked her cheek as he pressed his lips to hers. The first touch was gentle, cautious. She still had a chance to walk away. He still had the chance.
Then the kiss deepened. Liam’s heart pounded as he tasted the rum on her lips. Her cherry ChapStick. She tasted sweet and forbidden. There was something about her mouth that was filled with promise, a promise of a brief moment of happiness, the kind that had been just out of his grasp for centuries.
Just one kiss,
he told himself. Two. But by the third kiss, he didn’t just want to kiss her. He wanted to make love to her. And not just make love to her, because for a vampire, it never stopped there. Liam wanted to possess her. To drink of her. He wanted to taste her blood.
Liam tightened his arms around Mai. Somehow she had ended up on the bike in front of him. It was definitely make-out by mutual consent. She slipped one hand under his jacket as their tongues met. Intertwined.
“Excuse me.”
Somewhere in the back of his head, Liam heard a voice.
The voice cleared its throat. “Excuse me. Sorry. Mai?”
Mai flew out of Liam’s arms like she was on fire. “
Babbo
.” She was breathing hard. You wouldn’t think an Asian girl could blush, but she was definitely blushing.
“I was wondering.” Corrato held the rat terrier under his arm. If he noticed his daughter was making out with a man she barely knew, he didn’t let on. He was wearing his suit jacket again, and a wool porkpie hat. He was obviously on the move. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, but it’s time for Prince’s dinner. I need to go home.”
Mai glanced at Liam, then back at her father. She wiped her mouth with her hand. As if she could take away the heat. The same heat he still felt on his own lips.
“I bet Suzy’s got dog food,” she suggested, her voice breathy. “Maybe you could borrow some of hers?”
Her father shook his head. “He eats special dog food. Other stuff, it gives him the runs. I need Prince’s special dog food. I need to go home now.” His voice quivered on the last word.
“
Babbo,
I’m not sure we’re going home tonight. Suzy offered to let us stay the night and—”
“We can walk.” With that, Corrato turned in his worn Italian leather loafers and headed down the sidewalk. It was almost dark, and he made a striking sight on the street, a distinguished old man in his suit and hat, carrying his dog.
“
Babbo,
no, wait.” She went after him, looking back at Liam. “When he gets like this, there’s no changing his mind. Maybe you could ride over with us? I don’t know that we should go alone.”
Liam rested his hands on the handlebars of the motorcycle. His heart was still pounding, though not quite as fast. He could still taste her human lips on his. The nectar of life. Turn the key, shift, hit the gas—that was all he had to do to be out of there. In the clear.
“I can ride over with you,” Liam heard himself say. “You can get some things, the dog food, then you can come back here.”
“You hear that,
Babbo?
” She hurried to catch up with him. “Liam will ride over with us.” She looped her arm through his. “Come on,
Babbo
. You’re not walking. It’s ten miles.” She steered him back toward Liam.
“I don’t understand why I can’t sleep in my own bed,” he said, looking at Liam instead of his daughter.
“I told you,” she said quietly. “I’m upset. Suzy offered and I took her up on it.”
“You think they’re coming?”
Mai halted, looking up at him, her arm still looped through his.
Liam watched carefully.
“Who,
Babbo?
”
“The men who offed Donato.” Working his jaw, he held his dog tightly to his chest. “Men like that, they can’t be trusted. They kill men. They kill dogs. It’s probably better we don’t sleep at home tonight. I’m worried about Prince.”
Liam studied the old guy’s face. He sounded not quite right in the head, but there was something in his eyes . . . something that made Liam think he might be just playing with them.
“I’ll just run in and tell Suzy we’re going,” Mai said after a second.
Liam got off the bike. “I’ll drive your car, leave my bike here.” He wasn’t sure how much she’d had to drink.
“I’ll be right out,” Mai called, going up the sidewalk to her cousin’s house. “
Babbo,
get in the van.”
“Shotgun,” the old man hollered.

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