Ripper (10 page)

“The king lives here.”

“There’s an actual vampire king and he lives in Dallas?”

“Yeah,” Liv replied. “He’s the real deal. He took out the old Council ten years ago when they started to threaten the wolves and shifters. Only one member of the old Council survived the war. Now the Council formally governs the supernatural world and the seats are held by the various species. The king is the head of the Council. There’s a seat for vampires, werewolves, shifters, witches, humans, and the Fae. The king only votes in the event of a tie.”

“Wow.” I finally understood what it meant to be flabbergasted. “That’s amazing. And everyone’s getting along?”

“Not as well as the king apparently expected,” Liv admitted. “He’s already had to put down two attempts to overthrow him. I think after all those centuries of iron-fisted control, some groups are going a little too far with their newfound freedom. My coven leader says the king’s looking for a solution. He wants to create a kind of law enforcement for the supes.”

I laughed because whoever took that job was a fucking idiot. “Nice, he wants a sheriff. Well, good luck to him.”

I got back to watching the house. They were careful. I couldn’t see a damn thing through those windows, and I started to wonder how good an idea it would be to try to sneak in. Or maybe I could get a date. They seemed to be letting dates in. From what I understood, only vampires, companions, and slaves ever got into one of those clubs…Then my mind made another mental leap.

“He got rid of the slaves,” I whispered.

Liv shook her head enthusiastically. “It was one of the first things he did. He freed all the slaves, though a lot of them stayed with their vampire masters, but the vamps have to prove they’re paying their staffs.”

“Then who’s feeding all these visiting vamps? If the king is here then I assume he has a court. If the slaves are gone, who’s going to feed the vampires?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

Liv’s mouth formed a perfect little
O
. “Hookers. Holy crap, Kels, you’re right. Someone’s bringing in hookers to fill up the clubs.”

“But other supes would be better than grabbing a bunch of human girls off the street,” I commented. “Some asshole is recruiting supernatural college girls to prostitute themselves to vampires.”

Liv thought about that for a second. “I get your point, but what else are they supposed to do? The vampires have to eat. The king won’t let them enslave humans anymore.”

“Look, Liv, I don’t have some moral problem with it. If some chick wants to work her way through college on her back then good for her. But Joanne is missing and I don’t think she’s in Mexico with a john. I think she’s dead and I think it had to with her job.”

“Really?” Liv teared up.

“Sorry,” I said, taking a deep breath. “If I had to bet on it, I would say I’m hunting for a corpse.”

“Helen’s going to be devastated,” Liv whispered.

I hated that I couldn’t be more positive, but I knew that girl was gone. I also knew the possibility of finding a corpse was small. Supernatural creatures deteriorate quickly after death. It was one of the ways they hid from humans. Vampires turned to ash and wolves and shifters decomposed at an accelerated rate. After a few days, there wouldn’t be much left.

“I need to talk to someone about getting into that club.”

Liv went a pasty white. “Oh, no, Kelsey. They don’t let humans in that club. You have to have a vampire escort to get past the front door and I wouldn’t try sneaking into the back if I were you. The club would be trapped. It should have weird charms and wards all over it.”

“Then get me a meeting with the king,” I said simply. “He can get me in.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Liv said. “Kelsey, I think going into that club is a bad idea.”

“Oh, nice car,” I commented as a black Bentley purred up the street and stopped in front of the club. I got behind the lens and took a good look at the vampire who gracefully got out of the beautiful beast he’d been driving. He was immaculately dressed in a three-piece suit that had to have been made for him. The pinstriped suit hugged his body perfectly and he moved with a predatory grace. I pegged his height at right around five ten. Not the tallest man, but he had presence. He was old.

I pushed the button on the front of the camera to get a close-up of him. His face was slightly hawk-like. His dark eyes were fringed by some really spectacular lashes any girl would have been proud of, but there was no question about his masculinity. He screamed male and I responded to it. His sensual mouth was turned down and he was controlled, emotionless. He smoothed back the black silk of his hair and made sure his jacket was perfect, but I knew it was just a habit. I almost felt as if an odd connection formed between us in that moment. I could practically sense what he was feeling. He wasn’t meeting anyone. This whole thing was routine for him, and he was bored with it all. He needed something. He needed someone to shake him up a bit.

Lonely. He was lonely.

The vampire handed his keys to the valet politely and I saw him sigh as he walked up the steps. It was like he was forcing himself to do something that had become dull for him. His ennui was evident in the slump of his shoulders once the valet was gone and he thought he was alone.

Something in him called to me. I knew him. Not in any real sense, but I understood the man standing there, wondering if it was even worth it. I probably looked that way a hundred times a day. The inanities of life were an anathema to me and yet they were, at times, the only things that kept me going. I wondered what it would be like to touch him. Would he view sex as something boring, as well? Would it be a mere physical function that needed to be attended to, or was what he needed a lover? Did he long for a woman in his bed he could share more than an orgasm with?

I prayed Liv hadn’t caught my bald interest in the vampire. I didn’t want to have to explain why I was imagining all manner of dirty play with the handsome nightwalker.

I didn’t take my eye off him, enjoying the view of his nice backside as he made it to the top of the steps. I was about to get a picture of that hot ass when he turned. It took everything I had to stay as still as possible because he was looking my way, his eyes taking in the building I was in. He smiled suddenly and I caught my breath. That smile was honest and revealed white, even teeth. He stared directly at me and put his right hand over his heart. The vampire bowed, a courtly gesture, as though he was a knight and I a lady he wished to greet. He cocked a single eyebrow.

He was inviting me to join him.

I let the camera drop from my face. I was both scared shitless and completely fascinated at the idea of running down the ramp, taking his hand, and walking into that club with him. I could ask my questions about Joanne. I could find out who she’d been seeing and how long she’d been on the game.

I could find out how good a vampire’s bite felt.

“Kelsey, I think that vampire can see you,” Liv said quietly. “Maybe we should go.”

I stood up, not taking my eyes off him. I let him see me. He wouldn’t hurt me. Somehow I knew it. His lips curled up in the sexiest smile. He would be my escort, my guide. “You go. I’m going in that club. I think I just got a date.”

“Nice,” a low voice growled behind me and I was something I almost never am—startled. “If I’d known I needed fangs to get you to go out with me I would have shown you mine.”

I actually squealed a little bit as Grayson Sloane closed in on me. Where the hell had he come from? He bore down on me and I saw Liv take a step back. Sloane put a big arm around my shoulder and faced the street. He shot the vampire the finger.

“Try again, Vorenus,” he shouted.

Even without the telephoto lens, I could see the vampire’s face fall briefly and then that mask he’d been wearing slipped back into place. Whatever odd connection we’d had shut down entirely, and I felt its loss. He turned without a backward glance and walked into the club.

I slapped at Sloane’s big chest. “That was rude. That might have been my only chance to get in that club.”

Sloane’s blue eyes were hard as flint. “You aren’t going anywhere. Consider yourself in protective custody, sweetheart.”

“What?” I practically screeched the question.

Sloane held up an eight by ten black and white photo. It was a picture of me walking across the SMU campus earlier today. It was lovingly captioned in red ink with the words “Keep that bitch out of our game, Sloane.”

I sighed. It wasn’t ink, I guessed. It was more than likely blood.

“So you mentioned something about dinner?” I asked because if I was about to get my ass hauled into protective custody, I was at least going to get dinner out of it.

Chapter Five

I stared across the elegant table at my captor. I thought of Grayson Sloane that way since I’d been told in no uncertain terms that I was off my case and I wouldn’t be going home. Liv had been told to take a hike. Sloane used kinder words than that, but it was basically the same thing. After he informed me of my sad state, I’d been hauled to an expensive steakhouse on Lemmon Avenue. I felt underdressed, but it was the kind of place where if you walked in they expected you had money. Texans with money didn’t take kindly to being told how to dress. The hostess at the front acted like Sloane had planned the evening out. Despite the full waiting area and bar, she greeted him by name, immediately showing us to a private dining room.

“How did you find me?” I asked the question calmly because I wasn’t one to turn down a meal. If I’d gone home, I likely would have stopped at some fast food place and gotten the el cheapo special of the day. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Liv used a locator spell. Do they train the Rangers in the dark arts?”

The light in the room was low and there was a candle on the table between us. It was a romantic setting complete with elegant glasses and china. This place didn’t scream “working dinner” to me. It kinda whispered “get your lover in bed.” My eyes got big as I checked out the price tags on the menu.

“Nothing so exotic.” The hulking Texas Ranger who had, only an hour ago, verbally shot down a vampire and taken me into custody, radiated uncertainty as he watched me. “I turned on the GPS locator in your phone.”

“You can do that?” Maybe I should check into doing that to Joanne Taylor’s cell phone. It would make missing person cases so much easier to deal with.

He shrugged. “Yes, when the occasion warrants it, law enforcement is allowed to work with the phone company to track down missing people.”

I nodded and decided on the petite filet. It was reasonable. The price wasn’t. The price was ridiculous, but considering the rest of the menu it was reasonable. Besides, petite sounded dainty and feminine. It probably wouldn’t fill me up. I set the menu down. “You could have called. It might have been simpler.”

His eyes gleamed in the low light, and I was struck again by how hot the man was. “You wouldn’t have answered. You would have taken one look at the number and ignored the call. I would have gotten your voice mail all night long. You’re scared of me.”

I snorted. I couldn’t have him thinking he had the upper hand like that. “Yeah, I’m real scared of you.” Except, I kind of was scared of him, though not in a physical sense. Being around him made me antsy in a boy/girl, he’ll never like me the way I’ll like him way, and I really hated that. I really hate feeling vulnerable. “I’m annoyed by you, but you’re not exactly terrifying.”

“Look, Kelsey, we got off on the wrong foot.” His eyes were coaxing and his hand started to reach for mine before he realized what he was doing and pulled back.

“Which foot is that, Sloane?” I will admit that I enjoyed having him on the ropes for a change. He was being so careful with me that it was easy to needle him. “Is that the foot you put in your mouth when you tried to tempt me away from my alcoholic lifestyle, or the one you shoved up my ass when you threatened to toss me in jail if I didn’t come with you?”

He stared blankly at me for a moment and I think I had shocked him. Then he threw back his head and laughter filled the small private dining room. He laughed for a good long time and even the waitress was smiling as she brought the wine Sloane had ordered.

“Lieutenant Sloane, your wine.” She poured a small amount into a glass and he was grinning as he took a deep whiff and then tasted it.

“Excellent,” he pronounced and she proceeded to pour each of us a glass. “Try this, sweetheart. I’m finding this pinot pairs well with the taste of my foot in my mouth.”

He ordered the center cut filet, a loaded potato, and a glazed carrot. I gave the waitress my order. It was the ladies filet with broccoli and I hoped it filled me up. Despite my tacos from earlier, I was already hungry again. I’ve always had a ridiculously high metabolism. Liv keeps telling me it’s going to catch up to me, but twenty-six years in I can still eat whatever I want and maintain my size six. I was kind of worried about looking like a total pig in front of the hot guy across from me. It tends to weird the guy out when I eat twice what they eat, and I won’t even go into how much I can drink. Guys really get intimidated on my fifth beer. Any dates I had usually ended up being spectacular failures. Not that this was a date because it totally wasn’t. It was more like a kidnapping, but I still didn’t want to look bad in front of him. I smoothed down my T-shirt and wished it was at least new. It was an old concert T-shirt from my college days with the name of a punk band splashed across it.