Naomi drove without saying a word, her speed not even close to the limit. Go ahead, pull her over, she didn’t care. Her friend was in trouble and, if the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach was any indication, time was critical. She pressed the accelerator harder.
Once they were in the car, she’d tossed her phone to Adriana and had her call Nathan. He might not agree with everything she stood for or what she tried to do, but he was still her twin brother and that had to count for something. Right? She needed his help. Besides, Karen wasn’t just her friend. She was also his sister-in-blue. He would come.
Emergency vehicles were already there by the time she brought the car to a lurching halt in front of Karen’s house so hard it made the seat belt lock tight against her chest. Any harder and the air bag would have deployed. A couple of marked cars with lights flashing were parked at the curb, and two men in handcuffs were being placed in the backseat of one. They were kicking and screaming—not a good sign.
She threw her door open and bolted from the car, engine still running, without pausing to consider whether she’d put the car in park. No time. Two EMTs knelt on the ground, a prone body between them. They worked, oblivious to the chaos that went on all around. She raced to them and dropped to her knees.
Karen lay deathly still, her eyes closed. The skin around one eye was red and puffy, a line of blood trailing down her cheek. One EMT pressed rhythmically on her chest while counting out loud, and the other held an oxygen mask to her mouth, squeezing every time the first one reached thirty. She couldn’t detect any movement in Karen’s chest except for that forced by the EMT on the thirty count.
“Is she…”
Neither one looked up or answered; both continued to work on her friend. Time seemed to slow and Naomi wanted to scream. Her friend was in crisis and she had no idea what to do. She wanted to shake Karen, to tell her to open her eyes, to stay with her.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the two men looked at each other. “Call it,” the younger of the two said.
“Nine twenty p.m.”
“No,” Naomi screamed. They were wrong. They just needed to keep giving her CPR and, in a minute, Karen’s eyes would open. “You can’t stop now,” she pleaded.
“Sorry,” the older of the two said as he looked up at her. “There’s nothing else we can do. She’s gone.” He started to put equipment back into a bag.
“No,” she shouted. “She’s not gone.”
“Meme.” Nathan appeared out of nowhere and took her by the shoulders. Pulling her to her feet, he turned her away from the two men and Karen’s lifeless body. “Let them do their work.”
“They’re not trying.”
“Meme, they did all they could.”
“She can’t be dead,” Naomi said tonelessly. She thought of the many workouts they’d shared and of all the hours they laughed and talked and sweated. She’d looked forward to the time they spent together and didn’t want to believe they’d never do it again.
“Honey, she’s gone. They could keep working on her for hours and it wouldn’t change a thing. I know she was your friend and I’m sorry.”
“She was your friend too,” she bit out angrily. “You let them kill her.”
He touched her hair. “Yes, Karen was one of us and, trust me, I would never have let anyone hurt her. We’ll find who did this, I promise.”
She wrenched away, turning to stare at Karen’s shattered front door. On the sidewalk, a cell phone lay scattered in three pieces. She must have been holding it when they dragged her out of her home.
“Someone told her secret. Not that many humans knew. You did.”
His voice remained calm. “I didn’t tell anyone, Meme. You and I might not agree on a lot of things, but I would never knowingly hurt anyone, human or not. Karen’s secret was always safe with me.”
She slumped her shoulders. “I know. I’m sorry. You never would have set her up to be hurt. I just hate this. I hate what’s happening. Mostly I hate why it’s happening.”
This time, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a strong hug. “I get it, I really do. Now, go home, do what you do best, and let me handle this. I’ll find whoever killed Karen and they’ll pay. I promise you that.”
All the argument went out of her. She returned his hug, then let him go and trudged back to the car. Colin and Adriana both stood silent and watchful as they leaned against the front fender.
“We were too late,” she told them as she walked past them to crawl in behind the wheel of the car.
Adriana reclaimed her seat in the back. She reached across the seat and squeezed her shoulder. “I’m so sorry about your friend.”
Naomi patted her hand. She waited for Colin to get in, then turned the key in the ignition. “Nathan will do what he can to set this right. We need to get back to the house and kick it in gear. I don’t want to see anything else happen.”
When they walked through the front door twenty minutes later, she could tell immediately something was off. Tory was staring at the television while Riah and Ivy stood silently behind her, Ivy with her hands on either side of her face.
“What?” Naomi asked when the silence lengthened. No one turned to look at her.
On the television a news reporter was standing on the sidewalk, a smoking house behind her. Firefighters were busy working on what was obviously a home fire. Somebody’s night was not going well.
“My home,” Tory whispered.
“You want to go home?” In light of everything that was happening, she’d have thought Tory would feel safer staying with the group. There was, after all, safety in numbers.
Tory turned tear-filled eyes up to her face. “I can’t. It’s burning down.”
*
After the shock wore off, everyone was left tired and defeated. It didn’t matter that Naomi’s stolen file had finally yielded some interesting results. Between the death of Naomi’s friend Karen and the news that Tory’s house had been firebombed, all of them collapsed. A person or a vampire could only take so much, and that was pretty much everyone’s mantra by the time the sun started to rise.
All the women headed to the bedrooms, where darkness and exhaustion claimed them. Only Colin remained awake. He tried to rest. For hours, he tried to sleep, knew he needed it as bad as everyone else. Didn’t matter. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Monsignor’s face.
When he met and fell in love with Ivy, he’d felt like the universe was finally sending him something good. Then she’d died in his arms and he’d wanted to die with her. Only by making her the very thing he’d sworn his life to destroy could he save her. It had taken about a nanosecond to make that decision. He hadn’t regretted it since.
Now the irrefutable knowledge that the man he loved as if he were his own father had lied to him, betrayed him…used him…ate at his soul. It wasn’t fair. Of course, fair had never entered into his life. Maybe it never would—not if he let the universe have its way. Maybe it was time for a little of the Colin-style justice, the very kind Monsignor had groomed him for.
With that thought in mind, he headed to the bedroom where Ivy lay stretched out naked beneath the covers. He took off his own clothes and slid in beside her. One hand holding hers, he finally slept.
He came to consciousness slowly, foggily. He was warm, alive with sensation. Very nice sensation. Warm lips started at his and trailed down his body. He knew those lips. Smiling, he wrapped Ivy in his arms and pulled her mouth to his. He kissed her deeply, running his tongue over the tips of the fangs she never let drop when he was with her.
“I love you,” he said against her mouth. “I love you, Ivy Hernandez.”
“Back atcha, studly,” she said in a husky voice.
His smile grew. “Stud, eh?”
She leaned away and studied him, her eyes moving over his naked and very ready body. “Oh, baby, studly is just the beginning.”
Her hands took hold of him and moved in agonizing slowness, up and down. He thought he was going to come right then. “Ivy…”
“Shh, I’m just getting started.”
Her hands moved from his cock to slide up his body. Her body followed, pressing hot against his. It was all he could do not to explode. He wanted to be inside her when he came, to feel her exquisite softness tight around him. Sex had always been easy for him, women willing and wonderful. He’d taken what he’d needed and never looked back. He’d never had an interest in promises of forever.
Until Ivy. Yes, it was sex in all its primal, satisfying way, but with her it was so much more. Nothing ever felt like this before. Nothing ever felt this good. When he thought about how close he’d come to losing her, he almost got physically ill. He wanted to hold on to her and never let go. He hated being separated from her.
Ivy’s teasing now was driving him crazy. With one practiced move, he flipped her over and covered her body with his. She grinned up at him as he moved and thrust inside. She was hot, wet, and ready. She was wonderful.
He couldn’t hold it in any longer. Moving quickly he rocked with her until he heard her breath catch, and then he hit the peak that sent them both skyward. It was all he could do not to roar, but that little bit of sense stayed with him so that the rest of the house didn’t have to know exactly what they were doing. He doubted anyone would care, but still…
Ivy ran her hand over his hair as he lay with his cheek resting against her breast. She said something very softly in Spanish that, even with his very limited grasp of the language, he understood.
My heart. He would never, ever get tired of hearing those two words no matter what language she said them in.
*
Big surprise. Nathan was at her door by six. He looked like hell and she told him as much.
“I’m going on twenty-six hours on my feet, so all things considered, I’m doing pretty well. On the other hand, I hate to break it to you, sister, but you don’t look so fresh and rosy either. What’s your excuse?”
Naomi sank to one of the kitchen stools and rested her head in one hand. “Don’t feel like a million bucks either. Unlike you, I actually tried to get some sleep.”
“Doesn’t look like that worked out so well for you.”
“Understatement.”
His expression shifted from worried brother to one that screamed cop. “Are you planning to go to the cathedral tonight?”
She nodded. The last thing she wanted to hear at the moment was his undoubtedly many reasons why she should stay home. “I have to.” He should know that without her having to tell him.
He shook his head. “You need to be safe and that’s the first place you should stay away from tonight. You know what almost happened the last time you and your friends were there.”
Closing her eyes, she ran both hands through her hair. Of course she did, and things were far different from the other night. She didn’t want to ask and yet was compelled to. “How many?”
Nathan took a big swig of the coffee he’d brought with him. “Seven just in the last twenty-four hours.”
“Sweet Jesus,” she said under her breath. When she’d crashed she’d known it was bad out there. She’d seen Karen’s lifeless body every time she closed her eyes.
“There are going to be more, and if you hold your service tonight, it could be a catastrophe. People know what you do there. You think you’re flying under the radar, but that’s an illusion. You think because you’re human they’ll spare you?”
She understood his concern, she really did. But she was one of the few humans her congregation could count on. If she turned her back on them now, what did that say about her? Besides, she had too much to make up for to turn away when things got dicey. She couldn’t hide just to protect her own skin, and she told him as much.
His expression darkened. “I’ve never known you to be stupid, but that’s sure as hell what you sound like now.”
Resentment rose in her chest, burning and intense. They were twins. He of all people should understand her, yet he never quite seemed to. Made her want to scream and kick him like she’d done when they were six years old. Tamping down the intense surge of emotion, she took his hand.
“I love you, Nathan. I really, really do. You’re the best the DC police has, and under any other circumstances I would do what you ask.”
His lips thinned. “You’re not going to tonight, are you?”
She shook her head. “It would go against everything I stand for. I can’t hide to protect myself when they need me. You have to understand that.”
“I don’t have to understand, and I don’t. You don’t owe these freaks anything. You never did a single thing wrong.”
That’s where he was mistaken. What happened that night years ago wasn’t just wrong; it was unforgiveable. She’d become a hunter to destroy monsters. It had never occurred to her until the last swing of her sword that she’d become one. What was it that Nietzsche had said? “Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.” Nietzsche knew what he was talking about and it hit awful close to home in her case.
“I…” The ring of Nathan’s cell phone interrupted her.
“Detective Rand.” He held the phone to his ear. His expression darkened even more, and Naomi dreaded what she might hear. When his gaze met hers, chills ran up her spine.
“I’m on my way.” He put the phone in his pocket and took a last swig of his coffee before tossing the cup into the trash.
“Another one?” Naomi asked, even though she knew.
“No, not another one. Another two.”