Bad Mouth(28)

Val likely hadn’t put any thought to the consequences of that legislation. Humans didn’t need vampires, but vampires certainly needed the cursed humans to survive. A world without transformations would be genocide for his kind. They’d die out, never to exist again.

But perhaps that’s what she’d been after all along.





Chapter Twenty


“Alice, I’m so glad you’re still here.” Val grabbed the woman’s wrist and led the way to her office. She pushed her assistant into the wide leather chair in front of her desk.

Alice pouted, her plump lips forming a frown. “I have a ton of work to do. A ton, Val. What has gotten into you?”

“This is more important than what you’re working on.” Val sat at her desk across from Alice and rubbed her hands over her face. She hadn’t gotten more than two hours of sleep, and it was hitting her hard. “I have some things to tell you, and I want you to swear to secrecy. You have to because I really need your help. First of all, where’s Graham?”

“I thought he’s been with you.”

“Alice, I haven’t seen Graham in two days.” Suddenly, Val’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t checked up with him. Graham would have wanted to hover over her while she dealt with Kade. “Have you heard from him at least?” Maybe he’d taken the hint that he’d been too heavy-handed with her.

“No. You?”

Val shook her head. “Two nights ago I found him here in the office late. He never did explain why. I’ll call him as soon as we’re done.” Though she wanted to race to Graham’s apartment immediately, she had to speak to Alice. Maybe she was overreacting, but her instincts screamed foul play. Turning her mind to the problem at hand, Val explained everything she’d learned about the shady transformations. Alice’s jaw dropped.

“How the hell could any of this happen?”

“I don’t know. But I need you to take someone with you and interrogate Ginger, and if you have time, interrogate Jenna also. I really wanted Graham with you, but I’ll have to track him down. I wonder if he’s working on a private case.”

“He always tells us when he’s representing someone.” Alice twirled her finger around a dark lock, the hair having fallen around her face again. “This is so unlike him.”

“I know, and that worries me. I’ll call him. Maybe go by his place.”

That late night in the office had been the first in a week where she and Graham had been at ease with each other. There’d been none of the tension created by their visit with the Ancients and subsequent meetings with Kade. He hadn’t seemed anxious or stressed, nor had he mentioned any new cases. They’d actually been on good terms when they’d parted, and he hadn’t brought up the topic of taking leave. Or had he? With everything that had happened since then, she honestly couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned a leave of absence or not.

“Check the hospitals?” Alice cringed as she said those words. Not much else would keep Graham away from work.

While Alice rounded up an interrogation partner, Val called Graham, but it went to voice mail. She’d half expected that, but it tied her in knots anyway. He hadn’t left any messages for her in her e-mail or in her voice mail. She caught a cab to his apartment, but no one answered there. If only she knew how to pick locks. Instead, she found the landlord. The frail, old man put up resistance, but eventually capitulated and let her into the apartment. It was empty.

Could Kade have harmed Graham? He’d seemed angry enough with her friend, and soon after his latest bout of anger, Graham had disappeared. The possibility was remote, but she had to be sure.

The cab ride to Kade’s took too long, and she fidgeted the whole way while calling area hospitals. Nothing. Graham had disappeared with no trail to follow.

After paying the cabbie, she looked up at the sky. It was early evening, and the sun still lingered. Kade wasn’t likely to be awake at this hour.

He didn’t answer his door at first. She pounded on it for a good five minutes before it swung open. She pushed past and whirled toward him. He shut the door, but leaned back heavily against it, looking half-dead and drugged with his hair tousled and his eyes at half-mast. He wore only navy sleep pants, barefoot and shirtless.

“Val.” That was all he said before he slid to the floor, his head lolling back on the door. She’d never seen a vampire afflicted by the sun. She saw now how it could kill a brand-new vampire who wasn’t as strong as Kade.

“Kade?”

He didn’t answer. His red eyes were glassy. With a grunt, he tried to stand but ended up rolling onto all fours instead. “Are you all right?” he slurred.

“No. Are you drunk?”

“No, but I’ll pass out if I don’t get out of the sun.” He half dragged himself toward the hallway. She bent to get under his arm.

“Oh, jeez. You’re heavy.” With a heave, she lifted with all her strength. By the time they reached the hallway, which was as far as she could make it, her arms shook with the effort. He sat on the floor while his gaze grew more alert. She leaned against the wall across from him, catching her breath.

“What happened? Did someone harm you?” The red of his eyes lit the dark.

“Did you do something to Graham?”

“Did I—he’s missing?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know. You threatened him.”

“Threatening and doing are two different things, and I can’t exactly blame the guy for falling in love with you. Honestly, Val, I haven’t seen the douchebag since we left Ptolomy’s house.”

“I don’t know if you have an honest bone in your body. Maybe one of your thugs took care of him for you so you could say that without lying.”

“My thugs?” The red glow brightened. “They’re not mafia hit men. They’re doing their jobs, protecting and serving. I do my own f*cking dirty work, and I wouldn’t kill someone, especially that douchebag human, over a fit of jealousy.”

That stopped Val in her tracks. Jealousy? Wouldn’t that involve love or at least caring? Then again, people got jealous over their possessions, too. With a sigh, she slumped against the wall. She had to admit Kade was the kind of man who’d face an adversary personally rather than send a minion, Wallace being the special case, and he appeared genuinely surprised and affronted by her accusations. So maybe she’d jumped the gates on his guilt, but if he had nothing to do with Graham’s disappearance, she had no other leads.

“I can’t find him. He’s been missing for two days.” She hadn’t noticed his absence. He could be dying somewhere or dead already.

Kade must have seen her anguish because he swung his large body across the hallway and settled against the wall next to her. He wrapped his arm behind her shoulders and pulled her against his side. The male scent of him wrapped her up in an envelope of warm spice and memories she did her best to overlook.

“I’ll help you find him. Did you check the hospitals?” he asked. She nodded against his shoulder. He drove the cold from her chest, and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him like she should. “I assume you checked his place already. Was his car there?”

She lifted her head. “I didn’t think to look.”

“That’s all right.” He pressed her head back to his shoulder. “That’s what I’m here for. I have resources and training you don’t. I’ll have Luc check Graham’s e-mails and phone calls. If there’s anything to find, he’ll get it. He’s really good at all that tech bullshit. Guns can check if that ass-ugly car’s at the apartment. If it’s not, he can put out an APB on it. Good to have a police officer on the team. It comes in handy.” He absently stroked her hair as he talked. She closed her eyes and took the comfort. Selfish, but she needed him so badly right now. Deep down, she’d known Kade hadn’t been involved in Graham’s disappearance, but it had given her a reason to come to him. “Once night falls, Ezra and I and the Trackers will take over the hunt. No one gets away from the Trackers. We’ll find him, Val. Don’t you worry about that.”

But in what condition? That tore her up the most. She couldn’t bear it if they found him dead. First Will and now…she couldn’t even continue the thought. “Could it have been those Goth Slavers?” she asked in a strangled voice.

“No. Declan took care of them night before last. They won’t be kidnapping anyone or feeding humans to anyone anymore.”

“But Graham was missing before then.”

“They would’ve had records, and he wasn’t in them. I don’t know how the douche—Graham—would have gotten on their radar in the first place.”

“He was investigating the bloodings. That’s related.”

“Trust me, Val. If he was involved in any way, we would know. We would have found him already.” He cupped her cheek and tipped her face up to his. “I know you don’t want to consider this, but is there any chance, however slight, that he wanted to become?”