All thoughts of how sexy he was rushed out of her mind and were quickly replaced by anger. Did he see her as some kind of damsel in distress? She was a fucking cop; what didn’t he get about that? “Kade dear, you may be a bad-ass vamp and all, but this is my city, this is my job. I am going. There will be no more discussion. If you need to enlighten me about the various ways you folks suck the lifeblood out of others, I’ll be happy to listen on the way up Broad Street. But let’s get this straight, it’s not my first time at the rodeo. I have studied supernaturals and even sparred a few times with a werewolf. I know how to kill a vampire as well as I know how to kill a human, so let’s go. We're taking my car. If Luca wants to follow in the limo, that’s his funeral, but I'm outta here.” She stood with her hands on her hips, tilting her head in defiance.
Kade shot her a look of irritation. “You do not seem to understand what I told you down in the morgue. I lead this case, and you bloody well do not. You will go with me, because I allow it to be so. Do not make the mistake of thinking otherwise, Miss Willows.”
Kade was starting to think it was a mistake to have even allowed this human detective on his case. She obviously did not understand what she was getting into, and he was getting damn tired of arguing with her.
Sydney was having none of his macho bullshit. “Yeah, yeah, vampire. Keep talking but I’m the one who got us this address, and I’m the one driving. So sit your butt down in the car and let’s go.” She jumped in the car and started it, watching as he silently sat down next to her, looking as if he was about to explode. Working this case with him was going to be a lot of fun, just a laugh riot. She rolled her eyes and started off toward north Philly.
Chapter Five
As the wind whipped Sydney’s hair forward, she pushed it behind her ears. She loved this car especially when she rode around on the open highway. The lights of the city were all around, and at two in the morning, the city was finally starting to quiet down. Aside from a few transients sleeping on the sidewalk, and the police, not many people were on the streets.
She looked over to see Kade staring at her, and she couldn’t help wondering what he thought of this place. She knew that vampires could be very old, and suspected Kade was an elder of some kind. Aside from his arrogant presence, he also seemed well spoken, well traveled, and knowledgeable. She could only imagine how many things he knew about women: how to please them, make them scream. She wanted him to make her scream, but she knew getting involved with him would not be a good idea.
No matter how hard she tried, Sydney couldn’t deny her attraction to him. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was driving her lust for the man. He was dangerous, hot, and sexy. And he would probably shatter her heart in a thousand pieces if she let him get close. No, she knew it wasn’t a good idea. He was a supernatural who could have any woman he wanted, and on top of that, he didn’t even live here. She knew practically nothing about him except the fact that she wanted to fuck his brains out, not exactly enough to start a relationship.
And then there was the little fact about his lying. Kade was not a run-of-the mill detective. He was not telling the truth, and she damn well knew it. She had enough of the lies. They were about to go into a fucked up situation that could get her ass killed, and she had a right to know what the hell was going on with him. Enough of the games. She kept driving and yelled over the rush of wind, “So Kade, what’s your deal? I can tell by your pretty shoes and overall style that you are so not a P-CAP detective. We are about to go into some shit, and I want to know what the hell is really going on.”
Kade knew the time was coming when she would confront him. She was not about to let him go on forever with the detective routine. He had to come clean, at least tell her part of the truth. “Ah, you're quick Detective Willows. Sorry to lie to you, love. You are correct that I'm not a detective, but I am in a position of authority in my world. So for the sake of argument, let’s just say that I'm a third party who is very interested in seeing this case come to an end expediently. As you know, Tristan is a close friend, and we have mutual interests. He requested my assistance, and I'm here to put a rest to this situation.”
“Okay, so you're telling me I'm about to go into a potentially deadly situation with an amateur?” Just fucking great.
“My dearest, Sydney. I may be many things, love, but an amateur is not one of them. I have lived many centuries, fought many wars. I will protect you with my life,” Kade replied. “You must know that while I respect your desire to apprehend the perpetrators of this girl’s death, I have every reason to believe a vampire is responsible, and I will bring him to justice. That is all you need to know for now; this is the truth.”
Truth? Yeah right, mister sexy vampire. Whatever. Sydney just kept on driving. Maybe he was telling the truth, maybe not. At this point, she had already made the decision to find Jennings and wasn’t about to turn around.
They pulled around the block noticing that the street was deserted, as if they were in a ghost town. The street was lined with row homes. Many were either boarded up or covered in graffiti. Sydney pulled her car into a parking space, which was not hard to find. She cased the street. At the end of the block, there were teenagers sitting on a porch, no one else. She shrugged, pretty normal given the neighborhood. “Okay, here’s the deal. I go around the front and you hit the back. See the house over there with the boarded up windows and red door? That’s it.”
Kade held up a hand in protest. “Sydney, there is no way you are going into that house alone.”
“Kade, I'm the detective, remember? We need an element of surprise. I’ll go in the front and you can come in from behind, scope out the house while I distract him. As you keep saying, I am a human, so Jennings will only see me and perhaps think I'm alone. He'll be surprised as long as he only sees me, not you.”
Kade raised a questioning eyebrow at Sydney. “What if Jennings doesn’t answer? What if a vampire answers? What then?”
“You vampires have some kind of preternatural senses, right? I promise I'll yell for you if I get even a hint that something is wrong. And then you can take him by surprise.”
Kade looked at the house and then back to Sydney. “Do you have weapons? Human or vampires, you need to be ready to defend yourself.”
Sydney quickly checked her ankle holster where she kept her secondary Sig Sauer. Before she left the station, she loaded it with wooden bullets in case she needed it for vamps. Her primary Sig Sauer in her shoulder holster was loaded with silver. If you shot a human or were with a silver bullet, the perp was going down either way. Sydney also kept a silver knife in a secret compartment in her sleeve and another one in the tip of her right boot. She looked over and said, “I’m good. I’ve got silver in this gun here, so at the very least, I can slow a vamp down.”
Kade reached for the door handle. Looking directly at Sydney, his eyes narrowed and his mouth tightened. “Look at me Sydney. If you sense anything off, call for me immediately. I will go around back and sneak in quietly so he doesn’t hear me, and search the back of the house while you distract him. I still don’t like this, but we’ll do this your way. If there is a vampire, stay out of the way and let me handle it. Do you understand?”
Sydney nodded. “Let’s roll.”
Before she could even get out of the car, Kade was gone. Damn vamp speed. Sydney approached the front door and knocked once. “Police. We’re just here to talk.” Nothing. She knocked again and yelled, “Police! Open up!” Again silence. Fuck me. Here we go. Sydney sucked a breath and kicked the door open, with her gun drawn and pointed. The house looked empty, but she knew that things weren’t always as they seemed. As she entered the building, the smell of urine and vomit hit her. What the fuck? She yelled into the darkness, “Who’s there? This is the police, just here to ask questions. Come out with your hands up and we'll talk. Let’s do this nice.”