A Midsummer Night's Demon(13)

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

“Just saying.”

Uh-huh. He could tell she was keeping something from him. You didn’t work side by side for decades and not get to know a person—unlike the rookies he’d been working with since she left for the special assignment.

With her gone he’d been assigned one rookie after another, and he hated training the greenhorns. They were sloppy, their instincts weren’t yet honed. They could get him killed.

“So you coming back soon?” Ky fought to keep the hopefulness from his voice.

“Not yet. Listen, I gotta jet.”

Ky knew a blow off when he heard one. And he knew his partner well enough to know that he should not press the issue she obviously wanted to avoid discussing.

He took a long pull from his beer. “Safe travels, Tarina.”

“And you to, Ky. Good luck with the debauchee.”

“No luck needed.” He punched the “end” key to disconnect and swallowed the last of his beer.

Realizing he still was no closer to catching Lyn’s attacker, he pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration. He’d done everything he could think of to find the debauchee, but he still didn’t have a name or an address. It left him with only one option, and he didn’t like it.

Ky stood, palming the empty bottle as he made his way into the kitchen. After putting the bottle in the recycle bin, he tugged a cooler from under the sink and popped off the top. Ky pulled a bag of blood from the ice within, hoping that it would nourish his brain so he could think of another option.

His fangs punctured the bag as he made his way back onto the porch to sit and think. Ky’s mind sorted through what he had already tried.

He used the surveillance camera from an ATM near the bar to capture a picture of the vampire’s face and run it through a face recognition program. No matches came up.

He traced the emails and live chats from Lyn’s computer. The IP address led him to a wireless internet connection at a local coffee shop.

He’d gone back to the bar, hoping the rogue might show up. He hadn’t.

He traced the phone number that the vampire had called Lyn from. It came from a disposable cell phone.

Ky growled around the plastic bag in his mouth. He was at a dead end. Frustrated, he squeezed hard on the bag forcing the remaining blood into his mouth. It slid down his throat in an icy slide tasting nothing like the woman he craved. The woman inside his home, lying upon the bed. Her blood called to him. God, he wanted her.

He crumpled the empty bag in his hand.

Their relationship grew a little each day. He’d been cultivating it bit by bit. A surreptitious glance here. A stolen kiss there. A lingering touch when he passed her a glass, all carefully planned movements in the dance of their liaison. Each designed to wrap her up in his desire, make her hunger for him grow.

“Hi,” a sultry voice said, pulling him from his reverie.

He hastily pushed the crumpled bag under his thigh, and turned to look at the vision that stood in the doorway. With her dressed in a blue tee and matching plaid pajama shorts, Lyn’s sleep-tussled hair and hooded eyes gave her the look of a vixen. She perched on the arm of his chair, and he could not help but appreciate the way her full lashes framed the beautiful eyes that gazed upon him.

“Hi, yourself.” Ky curled his arm around her bottom. “Did I wake you?”

“No. I had a dream and when I got up to get a glass of milk I noticed you out here.”

“Did you have another nightmare?”

“Yes, but this time you weren’t there to save me. He started doing terrible things to me.”

Hearing the hitch in her voice, his hand automatically reached for the nape of her neck to massage the tension there. “I promise I’ll find him, Lyn. I’ll make sure he will never be able to hurt you again.”

She nodded, looking at him with trust in her eyes. “I know you will. Did you find anything out at work tonight?”

“No. The facial recognition program didn’t produce any results from the ATM picture. It was a long shot to begin with, but it was worth a try.”

“I had better luck.”

Dread snaked up his spine, winding around his neck to strangle the words in his throat. What did she mean by she had better luck? She’d better not be trying to find the vampire on her own! He couldn’t speak; only stared in trepidation, as his fingers dug a little deeper into her neck.