Vampire - When Darkness Falls Part 26

"Intuition," he said.

Lucian stood. Danny wasn't small, but Lucian seemed to tower over him. Of course, Danny was falling down around him, almost as if he were boneless, or melting.

She'd known Danny a while. Several years. Through his trials, his romances, his heartbreaks-bad days at the job. They'd all been out together, drinking, celebrating.

She'd never seen him drunk like this.

She started to put money on the bar; Lucian had already done so. She stared at him.

He shrugged, a half smile in place. "The least I can do is buy you a drink."

Danny wagged a finger at her. "And he's going to protect you."

"From what?"

"The creatures of the night."

She stared at Lucian. "And how do I know that he's not one of the creatures of the night?"

Lucian stared back. "You don't. Shall we go?"

She didn't need to help with Danny. Lucian had an arm around his back, and Danny was clinging to Lucian's shoulder. His feet were barely touching the ground.

Outside, the jazz played on. Neon lights burned. Laughter filled the streets.

The bathe a beauty for a buck sign began to flicker.

The usual Friday-night cacophony reigned.

Sean Canady burst into the old family manor on the outskirts of New Orleans where he lived with his wife and child.

She was standing in the entry, waiting, as if she had been aware that he was arriving at just that moment.

Sometimes she still had that ability.

Her hands were folded before her; she was trying to appear serene. Her agitation was in her eyes.

He held dead still in the doorway.

"You know?" he said.

"I tried to reach you at the station."

"I was at the morgue."

"And the battery is dead in your cell phone."

"You could have tried Jack's number."

"I needed to talk to you first."

He strode across the room to her, lifting her chin. He loved his wife.

G.o.d, he loved his wife. He kissed her lips long, hard, before saying more.

Then he drew away.

"They're back," he said simply.

She nodded.

"How do you know?"

"Lucian was here."

"Lucian?"

"Want a drink?"

"A big one."

She started walking toward the right-side parlor. He followed.

It was a h.e.l.l of a fine mansion for a police officer to live in. It was Maggie's family estate, thought he would one day inherit his own. It was down the road a bit, inhabited by his father, who he prayed would live long, hale, and hearty.

She poured him a large Scotch.

He accepted it and walked toward the fireplace. "I was at the morgue all day because the automobile accident that's been written up in the papers wasn't an accident at all."

She poured herself a drink and sipped it. "Not an accident? The car went halfway through a tree; the kid had been drinking-"

"Oh, yeah. All kind of alcohol and drug levels in the blood. But he was dead before he went into the tree."

"But-"

"The head was nearly off because it had been serrated after death.

Serrated with the broken gla.s.s from the winds.h.i.+eld."

She didn't speak. Her mouth formed an O. "Where's Lucian?"

She shook her head. "He wanted to talk to you, but you didn't get back, and he was restless and insisted that he had to go. But he promised he'd be back."

"Is he worried about the MacGregor girl?"

Maggie frowned. "The MacGregor girl? The woman from New Orleans who survived the night in Edinburgh?" She shook her head.

"He didn't say. He was there, as we suspected. He knows who ...

destroyed all those people in New York. He talked a bit at first, but he was in bad shape, and I made him rest. I thought you'd be home ... and he was too restless to wait. I couldn't make him stay."

Sean set down his gla.s.s on the coffee table, ran his fingers through his hair. "Then he's gone to find her." He looked up suddenly.

"The baby?" He referred to their ten-month-old infant, Brent.

"He's fine, sleeping, secure in his room."

Sean exhaled slowly.

"Sean, Lucian seems to think that he's wounded this fellow badly.

That he's hurt, in pain, and will have to move on somewhere else until he heals."

"Maggie, you're sure you don't know where he went?"

"No, he didn't tell me, but .. . Lucian could be anywhere, Sean. You know that. But he'll come back. He wants to see you. And he .. ."

"He what?"

"I think he, I think he needs ..."

"You?" Sean queried tightly.

She shook her head. "I think he needs us."

Sean was quiet for a minute, hands on his hips. He flexed the muscles in his shoulders, trying to ease the strain.

"He's got to know," Sean said softly.

"Know what?"

He looked at his wife. "Just who the kid was who was killed in that crash."

Danny's little place was a studio above a s.e.x shop- dining room, kitchen, and living room all combined. The bath was fairly large and nicely modern, and off to one side.

Danny dozed off a few times on the walk home. Lucian all but carried him. Jade pointed out the way.

The store windows in front of Danny's were full of impossibly shaped mannequins dressed in leather thongs and corsets. They carried whips and wore masks. Edible panties in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry were advertised.

Jade walked by a dozen s.e.x shops a day, every day of her life. She seldom gave them a second glance.

She found that she was doing her best not to stare at the windows, to pretend they didn't exist.

"Those stairs there," she directed. Her face felt as if it were redder than the heart-shaped, strawberry-flavored edible thongs on the mannequin closest to the stair side of the shop. If Lucian noticed her severe discomfort, he was tactful enough not to comment on it.

They brought Danny up. He began singing as they climbed the steps, carefully, one by one. At the top he laughed. "Come in, come into my parlor! And my kitchen, bedroom, and elegant dining room, too, of course."

Lucian carried him in. "Give me a sec-I'll get the pullout open."

Jade opened the couch. Danny crashed down on it.

Jade looked at him, shaking her head. "I've never seen him like this."

"All men have a limit; sometimes they have to lose control."

"Hm." She stared at him. "Tell me, do you ever lose control?"

"Not often. Shall we go?"

"Have you ever lost control?"

"Yes, shall we go?"

"Let me get his shoes off. And maybe you could pull him up. He's going to have an awful twist in his neck in the morning if we don't"

Lucian leaned over and picked Danny up, straightening his cramped length. Jade took off his shoes, then set them by the side of the bed.

"The lower lock will click automatically when we leave," she murmured. "I wish there were a way to turn the top bolt."

"He'll be all right"

"How can you be so certain?" "Why wouldn't he be?"

"Because he's afraid of something."

"He's in his home, sound asleep. He'll be fine."

She wasn't sure why, but she believed him. She started down the steps again, aware of him behind her, aware that they had to pa.s.s by the s.e.x shop, aware that she had the ridiculous feeling that she'd already been with him. Well, she had been, in a way, at least. He had admitted to saving her life in Edinburgh, and she had been found in a shroud, so he was certainly familiar with her.

All of her.

She felt her cheeks growing red again as they walked. He took her hand, leading her through the throng of people. There were more costumed party goers on the streets now. A weaving werewolf nearly crashed into Lucian, looked at him, and found much better balance. Jade felt as if she were with Moses-and the Red Sea were parting for them.

She stopped suddenly, the tug of her hand pulling him back.

People milled all around them.

"Why am I dreaming about you?" she asked him softly.