Part 13 (1/2)
”My parents were killed three years ago. It was one of the reasons I moved here. Partly, I guess, to get away from the city and the memories, and partly because my uncle was here. After my folks died, Uncle Barry became the most important person in my life.”
”You told me your uncle died last year.”
She nodded. ”So now ... well, the only relatives left are scattered around the country.”
They were both quiet after that. He stared at the wavering pinp.r.i.c.ks of light in the fireplace and considered her words. Her parents had been killed. Not simply died, but had been killed. Just like his own family. He felt an uncharacteristic connection to this woman that made him glad for his earlier restraint, hard as it had been.
Shelby cleared her throat and twisted on his lap so that she could see him. ”Umm, I'm not looking for you or anybody else to feel sorry for me. Maybe it came out like that, but that's not what I want.”Even in the low light he could see that her eyes gleamed with emotion. He stroked her hair with his fingertips, afraid that if he touched her skin, his hard won control would crumble. ”Don't worry. Dispensing pity has never been part of my bedside manner.”
Her brows scrunched together in a questioning look, then she smiled. ”You're purring again, but this time it's coming from your crotch. You do have a unique bedside manner, Doctor. I agree-much nicer than pity.”
”Excuse me.” He moved his legs, dislodging her from his lap, and reached deep inside his jeans pocket for the pager that was indeed vibrating its waiting message. He had no trouble reading the number even in the near dark. It was Tux's phone number. In his hurry to reach Shelby's house, Ric had left his cell phone at home. He let out a long sigh and looked up at her. His responsibilities as Overlord were never far away. ”I need to use your phone.”
She c.o.c.ked her head toward the kitchen. ”On the counter. It's cordless. Take it into the bedroom if you like.”
He did, and in a few moments returned to the living room. Shelby was in the kitchen, a tall gla.s.s of water in her hand.
”You have to go, don't you? No call at night can be good news.”
He replaced the phone on the counter. ”It's not an emergency. I can stay a little while longer.”
”I'm dying of thirst. You want something?”
”Give me the rest of that water. You go blow out those candles. We could both use some more sleep.”
She smiled, handed him the gla.s.s, and ran back to the living room on silent bare feet while he emptied the gla.s.s into the sink and rinsed it out. Tux hadn't been happy. He was worried about Eva, but more than that, he sounded more than a little put out with Ric.Well, Judson Tuxbridge and the problems of the Cristallia County Council could wait a few more hours. Ric had more important matters to attend to, and they involved a very warm, willing female and a queen-size bed.
Chapter Nine.
Ric left Shelby's house three hours later. In spite of his good intentions, more of that time had been spent making love than sleeping. His movements had all been slow and easy, designed to help him keep a firm grip on the leash that held the vampiric beast inside him. It had worked, but it hadn't been easy. The more leisurely his kisses, the more his mouth and hands had lingered, the more frenzied she had become, and in the end it was her pa.s.sion, as much as his own, that nearly undid him.
He had promised to call later that evening to try to arrange another Moonlight Madness date, and she had seemed disappointed at the prospect of having to wait a whole sixteen hours to see him again. It was a notion that both amused and awed him-that a mortal female could react so strongly to him without either the dark lure of the truth of what he really was, or the dressed up fantasy of the vampire mirror, which would show her the ideal of all she wanted. But frustrated as she may have been, she knew as well as he did that they both needed to catch up on much needed sleep. Besides, he had business to attend to-the pressing business of the Undead which never went away.
As soon as he got home he called Tux and told him to come to the Chicken Palace. Tuxbridge arrived fifteen minutes later, and it was obvious from the moment he swept in the door that he had risen on the wrong side of the coffin. His hair was as rumpled as his s.h.i.+rt, and there was both lightning in his flas.h.i.+ng eyes and thunder in the low rumble of his voice.
He didn't bother with so much as a token pleasantry. ”Where were you all night? I tried your home phone and your cell phone a dozen times each.”
Gloves-off was fine by Ric. He had felt this confrontation building for several days now, and the bloodl.u.s.t that had risen with Shelby screamed for satisfaction. ”By what right, my friend, do you question my whereabouts?”
”When I feel your actions endanger all of us, I have more than enough right.” ”Explain yourself.”
Tux circled Ric slowly. ”You've been with the sheriff tonight. I saw your face when we were in the van and you watched her walk across the parking lot.”
”So?”
”So you weren't just discussing the case with her. Her scent is all over you, so strong I'm surprised not to see her in this room.”
”What I do or don't do with mortals is none of your business.”
”If I thought you were influencing her to put a halt to the investigation, I wouldn't care. Tell me that's all you were doing, and I'll say no more.”
Ric stared at his adjutant without a blink. ”Of course that's what I was doing. After last night she's mine. She'll do whatever I want.
If I had something to hide from you, don't you think I would have showered and changed before I called you to come over here?”
Tux hesitated. ”Perhaps. I wouldn't think you, of all the Undead, would be so imprudent as to parade an ill-advised mortal liaison in front of your second, but foolish decisions are made all the time, aren't they? I'm just making a point that needed to be made.”
”Then consider it made. Move on to something important.”
”Eva. I'd like to know what happened with her.”
”Sit down, then. We'll talk.”
Only after Tux settled into a large easy chair did Ric do likewise. ”Eva told the police that Kyle Carver had been a regular at the Diamond Stud for the two weeks preceding his death. She told them he was taken with her right from the start, giving her big tips, trying to buy her drinks, things like that. Then she said he started hanging around after the bar closed, wanting a date. Eva apparently doesn't mind such sport under normal circ.u.mstances, but she said she had no desire at all for Carver. She called him a 'pitiful excuse for a mortal, so full of alcohol and drugs that he had all the appeal of rotten food.' Her words to me, of course, not the police. I don't know why she didn't volunteer this information to me days ago.”
”I would imagine she was scared. She didn't know you-didn't know what you'd do to her. Your reputation is pretty fearsome, you know.”
Ric took note of the mild sarcasm in Tux's voice. ”That's no excuse for disobedience. Everyone in the council would be wise to remember that. Even you, my friend. I would hate to think that you were nothing more than a jackal.”
”I forget nothing. What else did Eva say?”
”She said she went so far as to ask the owner to evict Carver from the premises and have him arrested for trespa.s.sing if he returned. The owner wouldn't do it, though. Apparently Carver was too good a customer. The disturbance that the bartender told the police about happened one night when Carver got more drunk than usual and started taunting Eva during her act, even getting up on stage with her. She claims that was the last night she saw him. Did you know that any of this had happened to Eva?”
Tux straightened. ”Are you accusing me of withholding information?”
”I'm simply asking a question. I want to know why I didn't hear of any of this before last night.”
”Eva often talks about her exploits at the Diamond Stud, both her conquests and her complaints. But she never names those involved. They're not people to her-they're either food or entertainment or, in the case of Carver, a nuisance. When she talks about them she just refers to them as 'the pretty mortal' or 'the stupid human.' So even if Eva had told me about a man hara.s.sing her, I wouldn't have connected him with the human who was killed.”Ric was silent for a moment as he digested what he had heard. Perhaps Eva and Tux were telling the truth, but he wouldn't bet money on it. When backed into a corner, any vampire, himself included, was much more likely to spin a web of illusion than to bare all. It didn't matter anyway. Truth wasn't the most important thing here. Keeping everyone safe was. If the best armor against discovery was a pack of lies, so be it. As long as Eva crafted her story so that no human could contradict her, that was all that counted. As for Tux, now was not yet the time for a full-blown confrontation. His bloodl.u.s.t would have to wait a little longer for satisfaction.
”The investigators will probably spend today trying to verify Eva's statement. Just in case someone challenges her story, we should have a plan of action ready.”
Tux studied him critically, his eyes like precision instruments weighing every word Ric said. ”I totally agree. What do you have in mind?”
”We should move her out of her house and have her stay with one of the others. If the authorities should come looking for her again, it'll give us more time to react if they can't find her.”
Tux raised his brows and nodded. ”A good idea. But she can't stay with me. I'm already being looked upon with suspicion myself.”
”And I don't want her here. She can't stay in a small trailer with Lyle and Zada, even if they got along. What about Ormie? Eva appears to be on friendly terms with him.”
Tux nodded again, even more emphatically. ”Ormie's our only choice. I'm sure he'll agree to it, but we'll have to wait until dark to move her. Let's hope she's safe from the sheriff until then.”
”I'll make sure she is.”
Tux's eyes slitted. ”Yeah, you do that. What about Eva's job?”
”I think it would be best if she called in sick for a few days. Do you agree?”