Sweet Last Drop Page 5

  I winced. “No, ‘hello’? No, ‘How are you’? You might want to work on your phone etiquette.”

  “Is it not etiquette to call promptly when one schedules a phone meeting?”

  Even over the phone, my hair stood on end at his tone. The agreement had been two calls a night, one directly after sunset and the second before sunrise. According to Dominic, this schedule would assure him of my safety in his absence, but as most things according to Dominic, it was never quite that simple. I suspected his calls were also a tactic to keep me focused on the true purpose of my visit. Dominic couldn’t bully me in person without risking war with Bex’s coven, so bullying me over the phone was his next best option. The fact that he was able to obtain a phone and a service provider when he technically didn’t exist to the human population was beyond me, but so were so many things Dominic was capable of that I didn’t further question the anomaly.

  This was going to be a long conversation if he was already referring to me in the third person. “It’s been a long, stressful, busy day, and I got caught up. I’m sorry that I called later than you demand—er, requested, but I’m here, calling you now.” And regretting it, I thought. I shifted my weight on the toilet seat, and the blazing grind of my hip encompassed my body like a vice.

  “Are you well?”

  I clenched my teeth against the pain and spoke when I thought I could enunciate clearly and without cursing. “I’m fine.”

  Dominic was so silent on his end that I couldn’t even hear him breathing. Assuming he was choosing to breathe.

  “Hello? Can you hear me?”

  “Did Bex herself harm you or one of her coven?” Dominic asked casually, but I could hear the dangerous undercurrent in his voice.

  “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning,” I teased. Vampires slept in beds, not coffins, but apparently, he didn’t find my jab at vampire lore as funny as I did.

  “You have yet to answer my question, Cassidy,” Dominic pressed. “Are you well?”

  I doubted that he could exert his mind tricks over the phone and without eye contact, but I swore that even without the in-person influence, his voice had a weighty pull as he spoke my name. “I’m as well as I ever am.”

  “Elaborate.”

  “Bex didn’t hurt me and neither did any of her coven.” Slicing a lock of my hair hadn’t hurt, so that was true enough. “Like I said, it was just a long day.”

  Dominic was silent. Normally, I could hold my silence just fine, but with the threat of him blaming Bex or Walker looming between us, I gave in.

  “A long day on my feet. My hip quit on me hours ago.”

  Dominic was silent a moment longer, but his voice lost its edge when he spoke. “Your pain must be quite severe for you to admit its presence.”

  I pursed my lips. “I don’t know if I’d categorize it as ‘severe,’ but yes, it’s worse than usual.” I sighed heavily. “Worse than ever, actually. It’s beginning to affect my daily activities, more than I can ignore for much longer.” I laughed to lighten the mood. “Too bad you can’t just lick my hip and heal me, huh?”

  “You think I wouldn’t if I could?” Dominic said, his voice low and thick.

  I didn’t know what to say, stunned by the emotion in his words. “I, well—”

  “They have surgery now for your condition,” he interrupted. “It can reduce the bone spurs and scar tissue associated with advanced early arthritis after an injury. I’m told that it can delay further symptoms and temporarily relieve pain, especially in young, otherwise healthy patients.”

  I gaped for a moment before I could gather my wits enough to respond. I’d never thought of Dominic considering human medicine or of me in that way. “What do you know about my condition?”

  “Although painful, your condition is no longer an injury. But there are other options to consider. You don’t have to live with the pain.”

  “Bex approached me today,” I said, switching gears. Scary, when vampires become the choice topic of conversation.

  Dominic let it go. “As I suspected she would. She enjoys exerting her control. How was her approach?”

  I frowned. “How do you mean?”

  “Did she threaten you? Did she issue any demands for me through you? I wasn’t sure how receptive she would be to your presence.”

  “Bex was friendly compared to the reception I received from your coven,” I said. “No broken bones or bloodshed.”

  Dominic snorted.

  “She invited me to dinner tomorrow night.”

  Silence.

  “Hello? Domin—”

  “She what?” he asked sharply.

  “Um,” I delayed, trying to fathom how my statement could have angered him. “She invited me to dinner?”

  “Pack and return home now,” he ordered.

  “What? Home to the city?”

  “Yes.”

  I blinked. “What are you talking about? I just got here.”

  “I don’t trust that she has invited you willingly into her coven for a friendly dinner. She shouldn’t trust you. She shouldn’t want you to know where her coven is located or how to infiltrate it. You are to pack your belongings and come home immediately.”

  “We had a deal,” I said, livid. “I’d liaise between you and Bex if you’d search for my brother. If this is your way of snaking out, then—”

  “You have completed your favor to me, and I will continue to search for Nathan for you. I’m simply relieving you of further debt. Come home.”

  I hesitated. “You’ll still search for my brother?”

  “Of course.” Dominic sounded offended. “Like you just stated, we had a deal. You have fulfilled yours, and I intend to fulfill mine.”

  “I haven’t fulfilled anything! Your strength is deteriorating daily. You need Bex’s alliance to survive the Leveling. You said so yourself.”

  Dominic sighed over the phone, and I knew he knew I was right. “We have a couple weeks. We’ll find another way.”

  “A couple weeks is nothing. No, we’ll see this through.” I said firmly. “I’m already here, and I’m not leaving until it’s done.”

  “DiRocco!” Walker’s voice called from the other room. “Come here. You’ll want to hear this.”

  I muffled the phone in my hand. “What is it?” I shouted back to Walker.

  “The police scanner.”

  I could just barely discern Ronnie’s breathy whisper. “You should wait until sunrise.”

  Walker’s voice was smooth and soothing, a tone he’d never wasted on me. “Listen to the police scanner and keep me updated. I’ll call if I need you.”

  “You never call unless it’s from the hospital. Lydia’s attack is different, and you know it. Visit the scene in the morning. Please.”

  “DiRocco!” he called.

  “I’ll be there in a second. Just finishing up here.” To Dominic I said, “I need to go.”

  “That’s our Ian Walker’s voice I hear in the background,” Dominic said calmly.

  It didn’t matter that Dominic was over three hundred miles away, nor that we were only talking over the phone; the dead chill in his tone still spiked fear through my gut. My heart leapt into my throat, and I imagined that even across such a distance, he could still hear its accelerated pace.

  “He doesn’t know you’re speaking to me,” he commented.

  I took a calming breath, but my heart still slammed. “I try not to make waves.”

  “You’re a reporter. It’s your job to make waves, and I dare say, you’re very good at it.” Dominic paused, and I envisioned him staring at me, cocking his head in that unsettling, bird-like movement of his, as if he could ferret the truth from seeing into my brain.

  I shivered.

  “Does he know the true motivation of your visit? Does he know about your brother’s disappearance?” He paused again, and I suspected that like everything Dominic did, he paused deliberately –
to make me sweat. “Does he know of our deal?”

  “It’s not as if I could invite him to dinner with Bex and her coven like a double date.” I lied, fear making me angry. Of course Walker didn’t know. He’d die if he knew I’d made a deal with Dominic. Even I couldn’t deny it was akin to making a deal with the devil.

  “I approve of Ian Walker as your backup, but you still need to take precautions against him. Although he is skilled and will probably protect you, he will have no qualms about risking your safety for the chance to kill a vampire, especially Bex,” Dominic said, his tone stern and less terrifying, but I could understand terror from Dominic. This advising, almost parental tone coming from his gravelly, rumbling voice was confusing.

  “I know what Walker is capable of,” I said flatly, the memory of Jolene McCall’s buckshot-blasted face still raw in my mind. Strange and random things reminded me of her, like jaunty baker’s hats and fondant. It’s the details that refuse to disappear even after the pain is buried far and deep, undetectably, inside. I hadn’t eaten a cupcake in three weeks.

  “You think you know what Walker is capable of, but he has hunted Bex for nearly a decade. His hunger to kill her will surely outweigh any other interest. When it comes to your primary goal as my liaison,” Dominic enunciated, as if I could forget, “you will be on your own.”

  I would be more on my own than he realized since Walker had refused Bex’s dinner invitation. I touched the vial of his blood that hung from a chain under my shirt, rubbing the smooth glass with the pad of my thumb. “More than a decade?” I asked, deciding to keep the focus on Walker.

  “He hasn’t spoken of his fair Juliet?” Condescension masked the sharp edge in his voice.

  “DiRocco! Now or never! I’m leaving in five!” Walker shouted.

  I sighed. “I’ve got to go,” I said to Dominic.

  “Ask Ian about Julia-Marie Frost, and maybe then you’ll understand the minefield between him and Bex.”

  “Maybe you should worry less about Walker’s loyalty and more about your own,” I said hotly. His words reminded me of how little I really knew about Walker and his past, and having Dominic throw that ignorance in my face made my temper boil over. “It’s been weeks since Nathan disappeared, and you have nothing to show for your efforts. Assuming you’ve put forth any effort to find him.”

  “If you’re late to call me going forward, I will assume the worst and come for you,” Dominic said, ignoring me. “This is your only warning.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” I whispered. “What about the truce? Bex would consider your presence an act of war, or so you’ve claimed. Isn’t that why I’m here in your stead?”

  “The war that will ensue should you force my presence will be on your shoulders,” Dominic hissed. “I expect you to call five minutes before dawn, so I know that you have survived the night without injury.”

  “What about Nathan? You remember him—five foot eight, nose ring, my hair, my eyes? It’s been weeks, and you aren’t any closer to finding him than when you started.”

  “We made a deal, and if you uphold your end of the bargain, I promise you, I will uphold mine,” Dominic purred. “Have a good night, Cassidy DiRocco. I’ll look forward to your next call.”

  “You have no trouble finding me wherever I am,” I said, exasperated. “I don’t see why it should be so difficult for you—”

  The phone went dead.

  “—to find Nathan.”

  I shoved the phone in my right jacket pocket, but remembering the hole, I switched it over to the left with Walker’s borrowed silver nitrate spray. I bit my lip as Dominic burdened my thoughts. He wouldn’t risk breaking the truce with Bex. He’d sent me here deliberately to avoid initiating a war with her, but his words made me wonder. I knew how fast he could move. I knew how fast he could fly. Was the 300-mile distance a false sense of security? If he decided to come for me, could he really?

  “I meant five seconds, not five years, DiRocco!”

  I opened the bathroom door and caught the barrel-end of his bellow. “Coming, Walker,” I called back. I left the bathroom and walked into the kitchen.

  Ronnie looked up at my approach. Her mascara was smeared across her cheeks to her temples from wiping at tears. I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Walker.

  His expression was set like molded plaster.

  “You still have the silver nitrate spray?” he asked.

  I patted my pocket. “Armed and dangerous.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  “Go where?” I asked.

  Ronnie sniffed. I glanced at her and then back at Walker.

  “What’s going on?”

  Walker glanced at Ronnie, and then he met my eyes, his expression unreadable. “There’s been another animal attack, under the old train overpass on Elm Street.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Under the old train overpass?”

  Walker nodded tightly.

  “Where we just stopped to speak to Bex?”

  “Yes,” he bit out.

  Ronnie’s gaze sharpened on Walker. “When did you speak to Bex? The sun just set after you came home.”

  “We’ve got to go,” Walker said, ignoring Ronnie.

  I nodded slowly, still trying to puzzle together why Ronnie was near hysterical. “Do you know the victim personally?”

  “Victims,” Walker said, emphasizing the plural. “John Dunbar and his wife, Priscilla. Sounds like their car was found abandoned on the side of the road, their bodies yards away. And torn apart.”

  “Torn apart? Is there any connection between the Dunbars and Lydia?”

  Walker shook his head. “I need to research Lydia’s wounds and examine the Dunbars before we assume anything. If the Dunbars have the same injuries, maybe the same animal who attacked Lydia this evening attacked the Dunbars tonight.”

  “And maybe they’re both vampire attacks.”

  Walker leveled his gaze on me. “We won’t know ‘till we examine the Dunbars. You ready?”

  I shook my head. “If country vampires are anything like city vampires, my vote’s with Ronnie. We should wait until sunrise. There’s nothing we can do now that we can’t do in daylight.”

  “Berry, Keith, and Riley are expecting me,” Walker said, exasperated. “I’m tracking the animal on this case, remember?”

  “I don’t care about Berry, Keith, and Riley,” Ronnie whispered, still sniffing. “I care about you.”

  “Berry, Keith, and Riley?” I asked.

  “You just met Berry, the coroner. Sheriff Keith Pitston and his deputy, Officer Riley Montgomery, will be at the scene and expecting me,” Walker explained. To Ronnie he said gently, “Bex won’t kill me. You know as well as I do that I’m less at risk than anyone else out after dark.”

  “No, she’ll turn you, and then you’ll be as good as dead anyway. Isn’t that what you always say, Ian? That you’d be dead to us?”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll have DiRocco with me,” Walker assured her. “I’ve seen her entrance a vampire as easily and completely as they entrance us. She’s better equipped to protect us than all of my weaponry combined.”

  I shook my finger at him. “Don’t put this on me. I came here with specific goals in mind, and none of them involved protecting your coven of night bloods. I’m here to find the facts, not to save lives, and the facts can wait until sunrise.”

  “Will they?” Walker stepped closer and tipped his voice in a deep, taunting whisper. “If you don’t come with me tonight to interview witnesses and report tonight’s murders, you know damn well someone else will. You’ll be out-scooped.”

  Rage swept like a backdraft through my veins, and I opened my mouth to blast him with its heat. Before I could articulate my anger, he turned his back on me, opened the front door, and left the house.

  Since discovering the existence of vampires and my own identity as a night blood, I’d struggled to balance my career and survival, but as Walker had just so a
ccurately stated, I couldn’t interview witnesses and out-scoop my competition while hiding in my apartment. This crime fluctuation feature, in addition to being an excuse to visit Walker, allowed me to trick my boss, Carter Bellisimo, into thinking I was still in the game as a competitive crime reporter. In reality, I was swiftly becoming a hermit obsessed with the sunrise/sunset calendar.

  I watched Walker’s back as he strode across the yard, confident and empowered and purposeful, and I ached inside. This was what my experience with vampires had done to me. They’d stripped my ability to live according to my own terms. They’d confined my life according to their schedule, and they’d compromised my abilities as a reporter.

  My rage switched targets, and I stepped out of the house into the night.

  “You’re going with him?” Ronnie asked, shocked.

  I looked back at her. “Did he leave me much choice?”

  Ronnie pursed her lips. “Don’t let his demands become your only choices. His goals and intentions are very important, but that doesn’t make yours any less important. I have to remind myself of that every day.”

  I considered her words carefully before I spoke. “You didn’t know that Bex could survive in daylight, did you?”

  Ronnie shook her head. “I don’t get out much.”

  “She just needs to stay confined to the shadows,” I said, “but otherwise, she doesn’t need to wait for sunset to leave her coven.”

  “So in the hours between sunrise and sunset, we’re still not entirely safe.”

  I opened my mouth, but Ronnie had already turned her back and walked into the house, leaving me on the porch between the two of them, my head safely inside with her and my heart torn somewhere between Walker’s pickup truck and common sense.

  * * * *

  John Dunbar and his wife, Priscilla, had been sixty-three years old, high school sweethearts, and enjoying dinner with their daughter, Alba. She was attending cake decorating classes at the local bakery, Hot Buns, and her parents had been so impressed by her new fondant skills, they’d stayed later than usual to have a slice of her newest creation—strawberry-vanilla marble cake with chocolate icing and a flip flop-shaped fondant topping. The Dunbars left Alba’s apartment shortly after sunset without taking their extra slice, so she packed the slice in a Tupperware container and drove after them.