Nick let out a deep breath. “If I had been Drake, you would’ve come back to my place, and you’d be dead.” He leaned forward, hands splayed out on the tablecloth, his voice a sharp whisper. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to be quite so forthcoming, but do you see now, Jackie? How easy it is to have your will just swept away? And Drake is far more powerful than I. He’s been feeding and has the power of the dead on his side.”
She heard his words, but Jackie still floundered around in her head over what had come out of her mouth. How could she have said all that? To a complete stranger! She turned and looked out the window, unable to face Nick. “You had no right to do that. It was…”
“A violation? Emotional rape?” Nick answered, and Jackie could only nod in agreement. “I apologize. Truly. I did not really expect anything so personal, but I had little choice left other than showing you what you are up against. I need you to believe just how dangerous this is. He is not your typical gun-wielding psychopath.”
“You’ve made your point,” she said in a shaky voice, wiping away the tears that stained her cheeks. Yet it changed nothing. It couldn’t. “But I’m still on this case, and now I’ve got even more incentive to get him. Nobody should be allowed to do this kind of.. . thing.” His hand lightly touched her arm, and Jackie found herself pulling reflexively away.
“I’m sorry, Jackie. Honestly.”
She waved him off, more angry at herself for being so easily drawn in, so utterly defenseless against whatever it was he had done to her. “No. Yes, that’s fine. No, actually,” she said, slapping her hands down on the table, “it’s not fine. You didn’t have to go crawling around in there to make your point. You could have stopped.”
Nick leaned back against the seat. “That’s the thing though, Jackie. I didn’t do any crawling. I merely prompted. I didn’t make you say any of that. You needed to see what Drake is capable of. If I had stopped, I don’t think you would have really understood how defenseless you are against him.”
Defenseless. The word squirmed in her gut like a ravenous worm. “That’s… that’s not for you…” Jackie stopped and took a drink of water. It took tremendous force of will to keep her hand from shaking. “You had no business digging… around in there.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and then leaned forward again, elbows on the table, hands folded together. “There was no digging, Jackie. This power, it just drops all the barriers. I wouldn’t… I’m not like that.”
“Like what? Not like all the other goddamn vampires out there?”
He winced. “No. I don’t use this curse to take advantage of anyone. It’s not a power meant for the living.”
Laurel’s words echoed in her head. They felt like they were dead. How did you stop someone who could just turn your brain to mush with a single look? Nick could just as easily have asked for her gun, and Jackie knew without a doubt she would have handed it to him without thinking twice. For the first time, some serious doubt began to creep into her head.
“Is there any way to avoid being affected by it?”
“Don’t look him in the eye.”
Jackie rolled hers, shaking her head. “Yeah, no shit, but I mean-”
“Other than Shelby and I, no. Not that I’ve ever seen.”
Figured. “You need to promise me to never, ever do that again.” She had no way of knowing how much he had seen, what sort of crazy bitch he must have thought she was. Part of her wanted to ask, but Jackie didn’t really want to know the answers either.
He nodded. “You have my word. For the record though, I didn’t see-”
“No.” She held up a hand to him. “Don’t. I told you to show me, and I believe you now, but it doesn’t change anything. There’s still a killer out there, and it’s my job to stop him.”
The smile he gave had a measure of sadness. “I expected as much. You know more about us than any cop before. I hope it helps.”
Her cell phone rang, and Jackie flinched at the sudden noise. And you know more about me than anyone has a right to. “Rutledge.”
“We got an interesting call a few minutes ago about your vampire.”
“A break, I hope?” My vampire. This case is going to mark me for the rest of my life.
“Maybe. County General just called. Apparently, they have a victim in their emergency room who claims a woman attacked him and drank his blood.”
“Shit. Thanks. We’ll check it out.” Jackie clicked off and dialed Laurel’s number. A goddamn woman. That could mean only one person. Shelby Fontaine. Laurel’s phone went to voice mail, and Jackie reached for her jacket just as Mia brought out two steaming plates full of seafood pasta. “Come on. You’re coming with me, Nick.”
“Where are we going?”
“Hospital. Apparently, a woman attacked someone and drank his blood, and Laurel is out with Shelby somewhere not answering her phone.” Laurel’s angry voice echoed in her head. Let someone else stop him. He’s going to kill you! The jaws of panic began to gnaw on her gut.
“Ah,” was all he said and grabbed his own jacket.
“If anything has happened to her, your ass is mine, Anderson.”
“Nicholas?” Mia stood with the two plates in her hands, a look of chagrin and confusion on her face.
“Sorry, Mia,” Nick said and stood to kiss her on the cheek. “I’ll explain later.”
Jackie headed for the door without looking back.
Chapter 26
Nick stepped into an empty patient room at the end of the hall, the first available spot away from Jackie, who was asking a lot of implicating questions at the moment with Shelby’s victim. He knew it would turn to trouble. Blood always did. Shelby’s phone rang half a dozen times again before going to voice mail.
“Shel, you better watch your ass if you get this message before you’re being checked into the county jail, and have Ms. Carpenter call Jackie so I can get her foot out of my ass. You’re really pissing me off now with whatever the hell it is you’re trying to pull. I showed her a while ago. She believes, but she isn’t going to stop. I’ve got no choice but to try to use their help, and no thanks to you, I’m guessing. Just watch yourself, please.” The last thing he wanted was for Shelby to get shot up, but she had blood in her for the moment, which would help her out if shit hit the fan.
He dialed the office, and Cyn picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Cyn, has Shel checked in with you?”
“Hi, Nick. Nope, haven’t heard a word. Reggie let me know earlier that the ghosts were out and about over there where you’ve been hunting. Everything okay? You sound stressed.”
“I’m at County General at the moment.”
“What?” Her voice jumped an octave. “You okay? Did you get hurt? You didn’t find-”
“Whoa, slow down. I’m fine for now, but I might be spending a night in jail here if Shelby doesn’t make her whereabouts known pretty quick.”
“Jail?” Cyn sounded more worried about that than any trip to the hospital. “Should I be calling Dewey?”
“Wouldn’t hurt. Just in case I need him.”
“Okay, I’ll do that now. Be careful, Nick. That FBI woman has a lot of dark energy around her.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that one out. Take care, Cyn.”
Drawing Jackie in had shown him that clearly enough. Something awful had happened to her in the past that still tormented her. Scary thing was she had peeled open like a ripe banana, putty in his hands. The tough exterior was all that was keeping that woman together. She was a survivor, and Nick certainly related to that. More so, she was terrified of people seeing what she was like underneath, and Nick knew all too well what that was like. He had been living a veiled existence for over a century now, and he knew the effects it had on one’s soul.
Nick took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting that doorway to the other side open just a crack, and winced at the sharp, icy wind that sucked at him. “Reggie! Get over here. Now, please.” It didn’t matter how loudly or softly he called. Reggie always heard.