“The offer stands. I can go to the barracks.” He lightened his tone. “Hell, I can stay there all week if it’s easier.”
Two vampires dead. One a bounty of ours, the other…I would have to butter up Gustav for those details.
The killings, so close to home, bothered me. Having Boaz this close, in my space, bothered me too, but he was a handy conduit to information. He was also the man I’d agreed to spend the rest of my life with, so I had to play nice. I had to smooth this over. I had to make this work.
Goddess, I was tired all of a sudden. Even the comforting weight of cash doused with Cass’s perfume did nothing to alleviate the dread coiling around my throat, tight as a noose.
“Come home,” I said, hating the waver in my voice. “I’ll be waiting.”
“All right.” He hesitated. “You’re good people, Addie.”
Good people didn’t invite their future husbands into their homes to spy on them.
Good people didn’t consider how far they were willing to go to keep their secrets.
Good people didn’t wish, even a little, that the label would stick, that the epithet was true.
I couldn’t afford to be good, and what’s worse, I couldn’t afford to let him catch me being bad.
Six
“Well?” Cass prowled over wearing a toothy grin. “Are we going hunting?”
“For Angelo?”
“The payout isn’t as large since he’s not a criminal, but we can both guess where he’ll go.”
To the scene of the crime. To make whatever peace was left to him.
A quick check of the time left me conflicted. “We only have two hours until dawn.”
“I enjoy living dangerously.”
“Clearly.”
“Your love muffin won’t be home for hours yet. He won’t catch us, if that’s what worries you.”
“He’s not my love muffin.”
“Did you notice his hands?” Cass flexed her delicate fingers. “That man knows how to knead dough.”
“My bakery is not open for business.” I made a slashing gesture when her gaze dipped to my chest. “Do not make mention of my breasts as pillowy mounds of—anything really. Leave my boobs out of this.”
“You’re the least fun person I’ve ever met.”
“And yet you’re still here.”
“Your staidness was a cry for help. Who am I not to answer?”
“Staidness is an old vampire word. I thought you were hip and with it.”
“I’m hip and with it enough to know humans don’t say hip or with it and haven’t since the eighties.”
Anyone who hadn’t been living under a rock was aware, I was sure. But it was fun to tease her.
“Two hours,” I warned. “We’ll have to make it fast.”
Cass smiled, teeth glittering. “My specialty.”
“You’re terrible.” I wrinkled my nose at the innuendo. “Horrible.”
“No good,” she agreed. “Very bad too.”
Laughing under my breath, which only encouraged her, I jogged upstairs to pull on jeans, sneakers, and a tee. I didn’t expect Angelo to put up much of a fight. I doubted I would need the protection leather could offer me. Plus, dressing casually meant fewer questions if Boaz caught me out again.
With dawn an oncoming threat, we had to factor in vampire ennui as well.
Angelo might decide he would rather greet the sun than live without his lover.
Out of the six or seven attempted suicides I had fielded, solo, since Cass couldn’t very well brave the sun without dusting either, only one had resulted in the vampire going through with it. I hesitated to count it since he hadn’t meant to do it.
I’d tracked him to his bedroom, he’d spotted me, startled, then tripped over the fabric artfully arranged on the floor at his feet. He caught himself on what turned out to be a blackout curtain, it tore, and he exploded into dust I was blowing out of my nose for days.
We had only driven about five miles before a red-and-blue strobe caught my eye.
“Accident?” I heard the doubt in my voice. “Can you tell if it’s police or emergency services?”
Soon it became apparent we would have to drive past them to reach our paycheck.
“Police.” She slowed as we approached. “This doesn’t look good.”
“Forensics.” I recognized the sleek van from previous encounters. “These aren’t local cops.”
The vehicles bore the right logos, but they were too new, too shiny. Nicer than the budget would have stretched across a fleet this size.
“They’re Society,” she agreed. “Sentinels, cleaners, maybe even Elite.”
The rise of her voice at the end of the sentence spoke volumes. “You think Boaz is out there.”
“How many crimes against the Society could be committed in a town this size in one night?”
“Depends on how dedicated the individuals are to their cause.”
We rolled to a stop when a uniformed officer stepped from the shoulder onto the road. He knocked on the glass, and Cass lowered the window. He blinded us with his flashlight, making it impossible to make out his features.
“There’s been an accident.” He focused the beam on Cass. “I’m going to have to ask you ladies to turn around.”
“We’re headed into town for a late dinner.” She kept her fangs tucked in, though he was a necromancer, and he would know instinctively she was a vampire. “Can’t we squeak past?”
This was the main road into town, and there was nothing but driveways for miles. A detour wouldn’t do a lick of good out here. There was nowhere to go.
“No, ma’am.” He indicated the row of orange cones dotting the oncoming and outgoing lanes. “You’ll have to cancel. I’m sure your dates will understand.”
“Dates?” She fluttered her lashes. “Oh, no. Nothing like that. Just a girls’ night out, that’s all.”
“That’s nice.” The man lowered his flashlight by degrees. “Maybe you can reschedule for tomorrow.”
“Maybe we can.” She leaned out the window an inch or two. “What are your plans, Officer…?”
The light clicked off, and I blinked away spots, curious how Cass could see a damn thing with her more sensitive eyes.
“Abernathy,” he supplied, eager to please. “I don’t have any, but I’m off after five tomorrow.”
A purr turned her voice to silk. “You don’t say?”
As she swooped in for the metaphorical kill, three men tramped out of the woods at the edge of the road, and my vision cleared enough to recognize the tallest and the blondest of them.
“Cass.” I quelled the urgency in my voice. “We really should let the nice officer get back to work.”
She followed my line of sight straight to the last person who needed to see me, or her, or us. Together. We couldn’t afford him making any connections. I might not have a record, but Cass’s was a mile long. He would have questions, and any answers I gave him would damn me.
“Here’s my card.” She handed the officer a black rectangle with her information in red. “Call me.”