Guild Hunter: Archangel's Shadows Part 17

People were who they were, some strong, some not.

So he ran his fingers over the boy's shoulder, careful to avoid the skin displayed by his muscle s.h.i.+rt. He could've rejected the boy-and his friends-harshly, but Janvier didn't see the point in that; he didn't kick kittens or puppies, so why would he do the same to these harmless creatures? Though it did concern him how many of the mortals he'd seen in the clubs fell into this personality type.

That might be a fact he'd have to discuss with Dmitri-if the vampires who hooked up with such submissive men and women were caring for them, that was one thing, but if they were abusing them . . . Then again, the Tower didn't interfere in the affairs of adults unless the rules were broken. And, harmless or not, this group and others like them chose the thrill of the clubs.

As the cattle chose to give freely of their blood.

No one, however, chose to be murdered and thrown away like a piece of trash.

"Felicity?" he said as the male curled his hand around Janvier's calf, eyes closing. "A pretty name for a pretty girl."

"I guess." One of the blondes twisted her lips. "But she didn't really know how to party."

"Her last name was Johnson!" the other blonde added with a proud smile. "I just remembered."

"Felicity Johnson. Merci."

"Oh, but she doesn't donate anymore," Green Jumpsuit said at once, jealousy a stabbing dagger in her eyes.

This one and the first blonde, he thought, might eventually develop claws. If they survived.

"Yeah," the male added, "ever since she hooked up with her rich boyfriend."

"We haven't seen her in months." The thigh under Janvier's hand flexed, the girl turning toward him. "I kind of didn't believe her about the rich boyfriend, but then why would she stop clubbing, if it wasn't the truth?"

"Hmm." Janvier didn't betray his reaction to what might be their first solid lead. "Who was this man?" he drawled. "I may know him."

The four looked blank. It turned out none of them had ever met the boyfriend and Felicity had been secretive about him to the point that they didn't have any details on him beyond the fact he was a rich vampire. That was disappointing, but Felicity's name was more than they'd had when he and Ash had walked into this bar.

Appearing to relax into the armchair, he let the conversation drift, wondering if Ash was planning to let him extricate himself. He could, but it'd feel exactly like abusing small, vulnerable creatures who'd handed him their trust. Deciding to take the time to give these four a lesson in safety, he said, "You're all beautiful." His words made them beam, try to get even closer. "It'd be a shame if you were damaged. Not every vampire appreciates that some treasures must be handled with care."

"We never leave with anyone without checking with each other," one of the blondes said, coming to kneel in front of him, her chin braced on his knee, her hands on his thigh.

"And," the other blonde added, "Louis gives us a signal if the vamp is one of the bad ones."

More intelligent than he'd guessed. "Good." He set aside his tumbler on a side table. "But you need to remember one other thing."

"What?" all four said at once.

He had his hands around the throats of the blondes so fast the other two froze. "That my kind," he whispered, releasing their throats with a gentle brush of his thumb over each slender column, "are not human."

Chest heaving, one of the blondes stared at him, terror in her eyes. "You moved so fast. I didn't even see it."

"I could paralyze you in two heartbeats, have all four of you laid out helpless before me." He was happy to see the blondes swallow and return to their sofa. "I could violate you if I wished, share you with my friends, then throw you naked and helpless into the street, at the mercy of anyone who wanted to use you. Trust me, there are a number of vampires in the room at this instant capable of doing exactly that."

Trembling, the girl wearing the jumpsuit stared at him, her pulse stuttering in her neck. "No, I don't believe you."

"Have you ever fed Khalil?" At their nods, he said, "He once tore open a woman's rib cage to feed directly from her heart." The true horror of it was that the woman had been one of his cattle who'd volunteered to pleasure her master in whatever way he pleased. "She was conscious at the time. I hear she screamed and screamed and screamed."

"Oh, G.o.d." Tears wet the eyes of the blondes, and the girl in the green jumpsuit leaned subtly away.

"So," he said, "you must be very, very careful. Oui?"

They nodded immediately.

"There is bloodl.u.s.t in the air," he continued, able to see Khalil feeding from a willing woman ten feet away, the vampire having shoved his hand down her blouse to viciously squeeze her breast. "Warn your friends that even previously trustworthy vampires may become a risk."

Dmitri had to be briefed on this; the longer Janvier sat here, the more his instincts told him the blood was boiling beneath the surface. It wasn't yet at critical, but it would be within days if not handled with brutal decisiveness.

A rustle at his feet. "I've never met a vampire like you," the boy said, his heart in his eyes as he looked up from his position curled up against Janvier's leg. "If you're looking for a long-term donor . . ."

Janvier caught a glimpse of Ash stalking back into the bar. "You deserve a lover who will cherish you," he told the boy, being as gentle as he was capable of being. "I'm afraid I'm rather attached to the hunter about to descend on us."

The four looked like deer caught in the headlights as Ash zeroed in on them.

"You can't even last five minutes!" she yelled when she got to him. Her eyes s.h.i.+fted to the girl wearing the jumpsuit, her smile razor sharp. "Would you like me to separate your head from your body, sweetie?"

"N-no?"

"Then I suggest you get yourself away from my man."

Jumpsuit jumped up and so did the others, while Janvier reveled in the claim. It was drama, but it was nice to hear the words anyway. "Bebe," he said, deliberately using the term again because it totally did not fit his hunter, would amuse her. "We have just been having a drink together."

"Yeah," the male said, looking at Ash in naked awe. "You can sit with us."

Ash pointed a finger at the boy, then the blondes, then Jumpsuit. "Away. Now."

The group hauled a.s.s.

"You're magnificent," Janvier whispered. "I think my new friends would go home as happily with you as with me."

"What now?" she murmured when he stood to place his hands on her hips, her arms still belligerently crossed.

"I seduce you into forgiving me."

23.

Janvier was starving for the taste, the feel of Ash, but as he'd told her, for him intimacy wasn't a spectator sport. So he nuzzled at her, but didn't speak the hot, erotic words he wanted to whisper. Instead, he began to name all the liqueurs at the bar, using his s.e.xiest voice.

"Stop that," she said, lips firmly set as she fought valiantly not to laugh.

He wanted her to laugh with him during s.e.x, wanted her to play with him. "Do you think you've been seduced enough?"

"Did you discover her name?"

"Felicity Johnson."

"Then, I've been seduced enough."

The snow had begun to fall in earnest when they hit the street again, but there was no wind, the world a serene sheet of white. Before doing anything else, he made a call-while Ash pretended to check out the well-lit window display of the s.e.x shop next door. His purpose was to touch base with a combat-trained Tower vampire he knew patronized a nearby dance club. Emaya didn't miss a beat when he asked her to keep an eye on Khalil.

Janvier would've preferred to do it himself, but Khalil had already spotted him in the club, would be immediately suspicious if he glimpsed Janvier or Ash again. Khalil also knew Janvier as an individual, whereas he was unlikely to have run into Emaya-or to notice her if he did. The statuesque Emaya was more akin to Ash than she was to the prettily plump and submissive creatures Khalil preferred.

"Are you alone?" he asked her.

"No. Mateo is with me."

"Good." If Khalil was behind the murder, he'd obviously become even more s.a.d.i.s.tic as the years pa.s.sed, but Emaya and Mateo had the strength to take him down should he become violent. "Stay together, keep him in your sights without alerting him, and contact me with a full report once he returns to his home."

If Khalil was the killer, he was too smart to choose a victim who could be easily linked to him, so any woman he took home tonight was safe-from death, at least. Torture remained on the cards, but Khalil had a way of finding willing victims for that, though those volunteers didn't always know the extent of what awaited. That grim truth at the forefront of his mind, Janvier said, "I want to know who he speaks to, what he does, anything that strikes you as unusual about his behavior."

"Got it."

"Even a hint of trouble, call me or the Tower."

"Will do, but my entire combat team is out blowing off steam tonight, so we have plenty of backup nearby if we need it."

Relaxing, Janvier waited until the other couple arrived in case Khalil slipped out in the interim. He covered the delay by teasing Ash about her apparent interest in the erotic toys on display. She laughed and, with her phone, snapped photos of the various items, before sending a couple of messages.

Not acknowledging Mateo or Emaya when they arrived, he sent a message through to the Tower alerting Dmitri to the ongoing situation. He also made a note that bloodl.u.s.t appeared to be rising, but that it didn't appear critical at this point. It may be a residue of the battle trauma. I think the vampire leaders should be contacted tomorrow so they can tamp things down. The bloodl.u.s.t wasn't hazardous yet, but give it a few more days and it could turn into carnage.

Janvier had once come into a town that was meant to be a rest stop for couriers only to find every part of the small settlement sticky with rust red, and the two resident vampires feeding like gluttons on the warm, nude corpse of the woman who'd been the lover to one. He'd executed both on the spot. It was the only way to contain the slaughter.

Dmitri's response lit up his phone. I've had the same report from two other senior people in the area-we have Tower vampires scattered through the clubs keeping an eye on the temperature until I can talk to the leaders.

Satisfied that the issue was being handled, Janvier said, "We can leave now, sugar."

"Thank G.o.d." Ash slid away her phone with a groan. "There are only so many glow-in-the-dark d.i.l.d.os I can look at with wide-eyed interest."

Chuckling, he ran her braid through his fingers. "I don't think we should go to more clubs tonight-we have Felicity's name, and any further questions may arouse suspicion and concern." They had to balance the needs of the investigation with making sure it stayed under the radar.

"Agreed."

"Don't bite my head off, cher, but are you hurting?" He touched his hand to his chest to indicate her scar, unable to forget how much she'd bled in his arms, how close he'd come to losing her. It was a nightmare that had woken him, soaked in sweat and gasping for breath, more than once.

"I'm good. Today was all about asking questions, no real physical strain."

Janvier had watched her carefully tonight, seen no indications of pain from her injury, so he accepted her words, and they moved off into the delicate flakes falling from the sky.

"I love snow," Ash said with a sigh. "Bad for tracking when it falls, but it's so forgiving on the world, so peaceful."

He watched small flecks collect on her eyelashes, knew she'd grow ever more beautiful to him as the years pa.s.sed. Reaching for the gloves he'd slipped into his coat pockets before leaving to pick her up for dinner, he said, "Put these on." They were her size, ones he'd bought because she was so often without gloves.

Tilting her head, she pinned him with the dark eyes that saw too much. "I've realized something about you, Janvier."

He waited to hear what she'd say.

"You like to take care of people."

"Is that a bad thing?" He couldn't change his elemental nature, couldn't unmake that part of him.

"No." A spreading warmth deep within, Ashwini accepted the gloves, tugged them on over chilled fingers. It was odd to be taken care of, to be valued in such a way, but now that she'd conquered her initial confusion and fear at his tenderness, it felt like a gift. "Most hunters can take care of themselves."

"So can most vampires of my strength," he said with the confidence that made him so attractive. "That doesn't mean I would not be delighted if you showed a care for this Cajun's hide."

Ashwini thought of the way he'd looked at her after the kiss in the bar, took in the faint half smile that didn't match the shadows in his eyes, and knew it was all going wrong. In trying to protect him, she'd rejected him. "Janvier?"

"Yes?"

"I'm keeping a secret from you, a huge, terrible, bad thing." There, it was out.

He stopped in the shadow of a private club, his expression grim. "You won't tell me this secret?"

"I can't." It made her too angry, too afraid of how it would change everything between them, the cowardice closing up her throat. "But you have a right to know, and once you find out, you'll hate me for allowing this relations.h.i.+p to go so far."

"Ashwini, I'm yours." Utter disbelief intermingled with temper. "Hating you is an impossibility."

Her already brittle heart threatened to shatter. "You don't know what I'm keeping from you."

"I don't need to know-and neither one of us has ever been in control of the thing between us. It has its own stubborn, relentless will." He thrust one hand into his hair, began walking again, his next words so angry the heat of them seemed to melt the snow. "The only way it would die would be if you repudiated me."

Stopping again, the two of them now on the fringe of the Quarter, he faced her. "Is that what you want to do?" His tone was raw, his hands fisted. "To tell me that you don't want me?"

"You're an idiot." Hauling him to her by gripping the open sides of his jacket, she kissed him in frustrated fury. "I'm trying to protect you." She released him, strode off ahead.

He caught up to her, his eyes bright with temper and pa.s.sion both. "Well, don't. I'm a big vampire. I can handle any secret you have as long as you're mine."

"d.a.m.n you." She slipped her left hand into his right. "You'll regret this."

He wrapped his fingers around hers, the hold blatantly proprietary. "I will never regret you!"

Ashwini would never regret him, either.

And she knew. No more secrets, no more stealing time.

She had to tell him, show him, everything.

Forcing her mind off the heavy weight of what was to come, she said, "I shot Ransom a note with Felicity's name in case his street contacts know anything. I also fed her name to the computer tech on duty so he can troll the databases."

Vivek had been a lone ranger for a long time in the position, available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He'd known everything, or so it seemed, but he was one of a kind. "How's Vivek?" she asked Janvier. "Have you seen him?" The guild hunter had chosen vampirism not for eternal life but because it would-eventually-give him back the use of his paralyzed body.