While she heard nothing, she sensed she wasn’t alone. She reached into her vest and pulled out her flashlight. Flicking it on, she steadied her gun and proceeded into the darkness. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she noticed movement across the room. It didn’t look like a person, more like a shadow. Slowly, she crept across the floor her eyes darting from side to side. When she approached the area where she’d seen the shadow, she shone the light on the floor: blood. Her skin pricked up the back of her neck. She knew she wasn’t alone but the person would not show themselves. Swiveling with the flashlight, she attempted to see who was in the room. In an instant, she jolted in pain as the thud of something hard hit her on her upper back. Sydney fell to the floor struggling to breathe as her face hit the bloodstained floor.
“What are you doing here? You are desecrating the ritual area, bitch! He will like you though. Yes, he will enjoy hearing you scream as he whips your flesh.”
Sydney pushed onto her side and looked up to see a dirty, apparently human, man. He was holding a fourteen inch, wooden baton, which she recognized as a martial arts tonfa. Overweight and bald, he could not be more than five-eight. His eyes were empty and cold as he held the baton above her. Sydney took a breath, gritted her teeth, turned all the way over so she was sitting on her bottom. Facing the guy straight on, she scooted backward into the corner using her hands and feet. She wanted to stand up and run, but was still reeling from the pain. She scanned the room looking for her gun that was somewhere on the floor out in the darkness. He did not know she had another gun, a surprise. Just keep him talking. “Jennings, is it?” He loomed above her refusing to reply. “Yeah, okay, don’t bother answering. Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to sit up.”
He laughed eerily, “You are going to suffer more than you ever thought possible. I don’t even care why you are here. Let’s just call it a fortunate circumstance. I will give you to my master. He will be happy with my gift. He will take everything from you while you bleed.”
Sydney knew this guy was a few cards short of a deck. She reached for her secondary gun. Slowly. He won’t know if you make him think you’re hurt. “Jennings, I hurt my ankle. I just need to check it.” She continued reaching. Almost there. “I think I might have broken it in the fall. It hurts so badly.”
He pulled out a roll of duct tape. “Listen, this will go easier if you just put out your hands. If you can’t do it, I have no problem bashing your head in until you give up the fight. What’s it gonna be?”
Sydney saw the baton, the tape. Shit, where the fuck was Kade? As she reached her hand around the gun grip, a blur jetted across her vision, Jennings flew across the room. At the same time, she drew the Sig Sauer and fired. She coughed as dust scattered throughout the air. As the cloud settled, Sydney could make out a dead body slumped against the wall, Jennings was dead.
Sydney screamed out loud realizing the blur could have been Kade. Did she hit him? She knew that even a wooden bullet probably wouldn’t kill him but what if she had injured him?
Kade rushed to her side, lowering her gun. “Sydney, love, look at me. Are you okay? You are hurt. Let me see.” He could smell her sweet blood in the air.
While he was out back staking a rogue vamp, he heard a loud noise, immediately regretting his decision to allow her to go in alone. He should have been with her. Whoever was behind this was going to easily kill humans, and he knew it.
Flying into the room, Kade grabbed Jennings by the shoulders and thrust him hard against the brick wall. In an instant, Sydney had fired off a round landing the shot in Jennings’s chest. Kade heard his last heartbeat. And even though he was disappointed he didn’t get a chance to interrogate him, Sydney was okay. Bleeding yes, but she was alive.
Kade lifted Sydney’s hair noticing swelling on her upper back from the baton. Surprised at his touch, Sydney spun around out of Kade’s reach. She was scared and shaking. “Don’t touch me. I’m fine. It’s just a little blood. I’ll be fine.” Looking down at her hands, she saw the scrapes on her palms, the red blood streaking down her fingertips. Rubbing the blood off onto her pants, she stopped the flow. Damn blood. She knew he could smell it. “Please let’s just call this into the station so they can scrub the site for trace.” She didn’t want to appear vulnerable, weak. She wanted a shower, and a glass of wine. It wasn’t her first tussle with a fucked-up human, wouldn’t be her last.
“Sydney, you are hurt. Please let me help you.” He reached toward her again. This time, instead of recoiling, she let him embrace her in his strong arms. “Just because I can smell your blood that does not mean I am going to bite you. You are safe with me. Let’s get you home.” He could smell the lily fragrance in her hair. She was his responsibility. He wanted to take her to her home and tie her to the bed so she would stay the hell away from the vampire who was killing these girls. He didn’t care that she was a cop. Sure, she was strong and capable, but human nonetheless.
She shook her head no. “I’m fine Kade. It's just a bruise.” Although the pain was starting to subside, she wasn’t ready to get up.
“Sydney, maybe we should take you to the doctors…” Kade could tell from her steady heartbeat that she was not seriously injured but she was hurt nonetheless.
“Kade, I just need to rest a minute. I’m fine. I’ll probably have a huge bruise on my back though.” She winced as she tried to move in his arms. Forcing herself to relax, Sydney let her head fall safely onto Kade’s shoulder. For a moment, she let herself enjoy the hardness of his chest and the spicy scent of his skin. She knew she should push him off and walk away, but she was shaken and what could it hurt to pretend someone cared?
Holding her closely, Kade managed to pull out his cell phone with one hand and place a call. “Luca, call the station and give them the address. Yeah, Jennings is dead. They need to scrub it. I want you here with them. You get anything, call me, got it? Okay. Bye.”
Sydney pulled away from Kade breaking their brief embrace. Something seemed to snap reminding her that she was on this case. “Let’s case the site and make sure no one else is here. I didn’t even get upstairs before this guy got me with the baton. What did you find out back? I take it you weren’t just picking daisies while I was in here with Jennings.” Her cool demeanor returned sending her emotional wall back up in place.
Kade noticed the change and played along. “I had myself a dance with a rogue vamp out back. They must have seen us coming. Let’s do this together this time. First, we’ll take the basement, then the second floor.” He wanted to respect her independence on the job. He may not like that she put herself in danger, but that was her job. And, he needed to try to worry a little less about his detective. Soon, he would stake the offending vampire and catch his jet back to NOLA. As much as he wanted Sydney, he knew the reality of the situation. He would have to let her go.
Sydney noticed that all of Kade’s nurturing over her injuries had disappeared. She guessed he responded to her pulling away. Her walls worked, kept people out. If you can’t get in, you can’t hurt me. Still, she was surprised by his sudden decision to let her go with him without a thought. Whatever, I can handle it. Guns back in holsters, she followed him down the stairs to the basement.