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“I’l have her back up here for you guys in a few minutes,” I said as she slid into her robe.
Smoky coughed. “We’l be . . . up. Camil e, you might want to down a shot of espresso before you return to bed.”
Tril ian laughed. “Two, even.”
She stuck her tongue out at them. “You think you’re getting nookie this early, then you’re going to owe me a long, luxurious back rub in return.”
“Deal.” Both men spoke at once.
She pushed me toward the door. “Now see what you’ve done? Created a couple horny monsters in my bed.”
Laughing, I held up my hands. “Hey, I wasn’t the one who let them through the door. I have to get Delilah. Why don’t you go down and see about waking up Iris, too.”
While Camil e headed down the stairs, I took off for the third floor to wake Delilah. As I eased into her room, I had to laugh. There, sprawled buck naked and gorgeous on her bed, was Shade, her lover. Our other reptilian resident, he was half dragon, half Stradolan—a shadow walker.
If he hadn’t been Delilah’s, I might have found him appealing. He had the same shadowy, Netherworld energy to him that al undead were cloaked in, but he was vibrant and alive and fil ed with fire. I smiled softly as I saw the golden tabby curled near him on the bed.
My sister. She often slept in her cat form, finding it more comfortable, and we loved her al the more for it. I slid in through the door, not wanting to startle Shade, but the minute I set foot inside more for it. I slid in through the door, not wanting to startle Shade, but the minute I set foot inside the room, he was sitting up, alert, a dagger suddenly in his hand. Where it came from, I had no idea, but there was nothing wrong with his reflexes, that was for sure.
As he saw it was me, he relaxed. “Menol y, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to draw steel on you. Sheer reflex.” He lowered the dagger and glanced down, smoothly pul ing the sheet over his lap. “Is there something wrong?”
“I can’t wait to see you in battle,” I blurted out. “You’re one hel of a fighter, aren’t you?”
Shade laughed, his voice rich and thick. His skin was the color of warm toffee, and his hair flowed over his broad shoulders, honey and amber highlighting the wheat strands. A scar marred his face, but it synchronized with his personality.
“Yes, my vampire friend, I am no stranger to battle.”
Remembering why I was there, I leaned down and petted Delilah awake. “Yo, Kitten. Wake up. I need to talk to you downstairs.”
The cat languorously stretched, looking total y in bliss. Then she shimmered and began to transform. I stepped back as Shade slipped from under the covers and pul ed on his robe. Within a couple of minutes, Delilah appeared on the bed, Hel o Kitty PJs and al . So that was why her col ar had been pink instead of blue.>Chase frowned, pursing his lip. “Vampires wouldn’t do that, would they?”
“Not most of the ones I know. But I can smel the scent of the undead on her. I know a vampire did this.” The scent was al over her, dank and fresh as the grave.
“Do you think he may be working with humans? Someone who might have decided to draw the cross afterward?” He tapped his notebook with his pen and glanced at me, waiting.
My turn to frown. Would a vampire work with humans? “I suppose it’s possible, though not likely.
But he might have his stable with him, if he has one, or people under his glamour. Regardless of how deadly, or even how grotesque, al vampires have an innate charm. Whatever footprints were here are covered up by now. The snow . . . it’s fal ing hard.”
“The weather’s been getting pretty freaky the past few years. Must be global warming.” Chase pushed back his sleeve to look at his watch. “It’s near to four in the morning. What were you doing out here?”
I shrugged. “Got a lead on our serial kil er.” I laid out what Roman had told me about the area. “I wanted to look around before putting anybody else in danger. It’s not safe in this area of the city for people. Or vampires. Except our murderer, apparently.”
Chase glanced around at the tree-shrouded park. “We do get a lot of reports of injuries from this district, and there have been several unexplained deaths over the years around here. I can believe it’s haunted. There were a lot of fights here in the old days. A lot of skirmishes between different factions—some racial, others political.”
“Any of those unexplained deaths happen to be murders like our girls?”
He shook his head. “No. Unexplained as in the victims shouldn’t be dead and the causes were never explained. I can believe this part of the city teems with ghosts. I never come out here unless I can’t help it.”
A distant expression washed over him, one I’d seen on Camil e’s face when she was listening into the energy, and after a moment, he startled out of it. “There are entities here—ugly, old things.
I don’t know if they’re spirits or what . . . but they aren’t friendly.”
“Chase, how long have you been able to suss energy like that?”
With a shrug, he flipped his notebook shut and stuck it in his pocket. “You know how long—ever since I woke up in the hospital. It’s been two months and I feel like I’m walking in Never-Neverland.
Everything seems so different. I don’t know how you girls do it—walking in two worlds at once. It’s driving me nuts.”
