26. Twenty-Six
Twenty-Six
L eslie’s body felt like a deep freeze as she waited, as she hated the waiting. She could hardly believe she was going along with Ryker’s plan, but there hadn’t been time to argue, so instead she’d chosen to trust he knew what he was doing and wouldn’t get himself killed.
He was letting the hitmen break into his house.
She crouched out of sight around the corner from the bedroom where Ryker pretended to be asleep. She was backup, but if Angstrom’s henchmen didn’t have to see her, Ryker didn’t want them to know she existed. They were human. Ryker would take them down in seconds.
She still hated the waiting. She listened as hard as she could, took in every scent, and her senses painted the picture she couldn’t see from here.
The window screen across from his bed fell to the ground outside, and then the window slid open. It had been locked until less than a minute ago, a wide low window easily stepped through. Ryker had flipped the lock open and dove into bed as she darted to her corner out of sight.
Two henchmen climbed into the house. Then three. A buzzing noise smacked her senses. She flinched. What—?
A Taser. She and Ryker hadn’t sensed it because it had been powered off. The three humans outside the window were powering up Tasers too.
Ryker sprang out of bed. A dart struck him. She heard it pierce and latch on. He hissed in pain.
Then Leslie was in the room. She struck out, knocked one of the henchmen to the floor, glared with all her might at the one who stood frozen halfway inside the walk-in window. In seconds he toppled over, dizzy from the assault of her gaze. She stared him down as he lay there, and in another two seconds, he passed out.
In those two seconds, the other four assailants were down as well, unconscious on the floor. Ryker had restrained his punches so as not to kill them, but he still needed only one per man. Of course he could beat them all, even with a Taser dart in him. He yanked the dart from his side and tossed it onto the floor. His blood seeped from the torn wound in his side, thicker and darker than human blood, nearly black. The scent was different too, more fragrant.
“Oh,” she blurted.
“It’s nothing. They only got one jolt in. Lucky hit.”
He was right. Barely bleeding, flesh wound. He pressed his palm to it and winced, but the attack was over, and he was okay. She shuddered and pressed against him.
“I didn’t want them to see you,” he said.
“I had to help when I heard the Taser.”
“Hey, you’re shaking.”
“They—they hurt you.”
He cupped the back of her head and stroked her hair. “Shh. I promise it’s nothing.”
But she couldn’t stop trembling. Hearing his hiss of pain, knowing six men were here to end his life if they could… It didn’t matter that he was a vampire, that he’d never been in danger. She wanted to rip the throat out of every last would-be murderer sprawled on the floor.
One of them twitched as he began to wake up. This was the guy she’d stared into unconsciousness. A vampire’s gaze was supposed to be able to knock a human out for up to an hour, so hers must not be very potent. Maybe practice could strengthen it. She needed to be the strongest vampire possible, because she was in love with a man who fought battles on behalf of those who couldn’t fight, who might get Tased again by would-be assassins and need her help.
At the very thought, a strange purring hiss came from the back of her throat. She pressed her lips tight to silence the noise of rage.
“Leslie?” Ryker said.
“No one touches you. Not ever again.”
“Hey.” Ryker held her for a long minute until she no longer felt the desire to hurt the humans on the floor. “There you are,” he said, somehow knowing when she was okay again.
Slowly the henchman woke up. He blinked up at her and Ryker in the soft lamplight, another prop Ryker had employed to draw them to this room.
“Hi,” Ryker said.
The man flinched.
“Care to explain yourself?” He sounded almost friendly.
“What…happened?”
Ryker darted to the man with unchecked speed. The man shrieked as Ryker grabbed his shirt by the collar and lifted him off the floor with one hand, forcing him to make eye contact while Ryker’s eyes sparked, so much silver moving through them they appeared like two disco balls. The man whimpered.
“What’s your name?” Ryker said.
“John Doe.”
Ryker shook him by the collar, and a few threads snapped in his shirt. “Try again.”
“Okay, okay! It’s Billy, Billy Ellis.”
“Did Frederick Angstrom send you to kill me, Billy Ellis?”
“No, no, we were just going to scare you.”
Ryker brought his face close to Billy’s and gave a long, loud hiss. With a yelp, Billy began kicking and clawing at Ryker’s iron grip on his shirt. After about half a minute, during which Ryker let him struggle like a fish on a line, he went limp. His body was hot and rank with the sweat of terror, which always smelled worst of all human odors. Leslie wrinkled her nose, but she stayed put and kept an eye on Billy’s cohorts. None of them had moved yet.
“Please don’t bite me,” Billy wailed. “Please, vampire, don’t bite me and kill me.”
“Then don’t lie to me,” Ryker said.
“Okay, okay. Yeah, Angstrom wants you dead. We were supposed to tase you, keep you immobile while we tied you up, so you couldn’t dodge the bullet. Then we were supposed to wreck the house. You know, to confuse the motive.”
Of course it never would have worked. A vampire could snap ropes without effort, and a human-strength Taser—or even two or three—wasn’t likely to stop them either, though Leslie didn’t know the precise voltage required for that. But hearing the plan put into words, imagining the man she loved lying dead… The deep-freeze rage seized her body again. She fought it, didn’t allow it room to control her, though everything inside wanted out, wanted to unleash at Billy in hisses and snarls and blows. Terrifying Billy Ellis to death might be satisfying right now, but it would be revenge, not justice.
Ryker glanced toward her, sensing her struggle. He gave a slight head shake, and she nodded. She was okay. She wouldn’t interfere.
Billy noticed their wordless communication and began to flop around in Ryker’s grip.
“Stop it,” Ryker said.
“Please don’t bite me.”
“Nobody’s going to bite you, idiot. How did Angstrom identify me?”
“It was in the news.”
Ryker brought him in close again, face-to-face, inches apart. Billy was on the verge of hyperventilating when he extended his arm again, giving the human a break. “It wasn’t in the news, Billy. It’s probably not going to be; I’m a behind-the-scenes role. So how does he know me?”
Billy stared past Ryker, making eye contact with Leslie for the first time. “I don’t know. I swear I don’t know.”
Why was he talking to her now? She stepped closer. Maybe Ryker had scared him too badly. Maybe speaking to her would calm him, get him to talk. She said, “You’re not a very good liar.”
“You want me to come clean to him?”
What? “Obviously.”
“You won’t bite me? We didn’t know you’re a vampire too.”
This was getting weird. “Just tell us everything you know.”
“Okay.” Billy drew a shuddering breath that whimpered on the way out. Then he focused on Ryker again. “She told us.” He nodded toward Leslie. “She contacted Angstrom about you.”
Time froze into an icy cocoon. Leslie’s limbs were encased in it. She stared at Billy, then at Ryker. If he believed the man’s lies, she couldn’t prove otherwise. She had no idea where to start. He would hate her for something she hadn’t done.
But…no. She knew better. He’d never fall for this.
Ryker shook Billy until the man’s teeth clacked together. His voice was all lethal velvet and dangerous music as he said, “She would never do that. Stop lying before I forget I promised not to bite you.”
“I swear! I can show you! She made a video and sent it to his guys!”
“Liar,” Ryker growled.
He lifted the man over his head and drew his arm back as if to hurl him out the open window. The man screamed. Leslie laid a hand on Ryker’s back. The muscles there were taut and strained, ready to fight.
“Ryker. Hey.”
When he met her eyes, his were a riot of silver lights and blue fire. The lethal beauty of him caught her breath.
She squeezed his shoulder. “Take a breath.”
He did. He lowered Billy to the floor and let him go, and Billy scrambled into a corner and drew up his knees. He was hyperventilating, blubbering, and had begun to reek of sweat. His pulse was pounding so fast, Leslie could vaguely smell his blood pumping—something she smelled in humans only when they were in acute distress.
Ryker darted into the corner, crouched in front of Billy, and got up in his face again. “Show me the video.”
“On m-my phone. R-right here.”
The man dug his phone from an inner pocket of his jacket. His shaking hands dropped it into his lap, and then he managed to pick it up and find the video.
“G-got this from Angstrom’s right-hand g-guy. He’s the g-guy who paid me.”
Ryker snatched the phone from his hand, stood up, and motioned Leslie over to share the view. He tapped an attachment, and the video began playing. It was…Leslie. Her face was blurred with a filter, but that was her hair.
Wait. No. It was not her hair. A few inches too long. A shade too close to white.
The blurred woman flipped her hair over her shoulder and began speaking.
“Mr. Angstrom, my name is Leslie Snow, and I’ve been dating the forensic accountant who’s working your case for ADA Spencer. You can look me up online if you want proof of my identity. I’m very active there. I make toys and sell them.”
“Jacqueline, you…” Ryker’s low purr was laced with fury.
Onscreen Jacqueline kept talking. “Anyway, this accountant’s name is Laurence Ryker Maddox, son of the senator. He lives at 3579 Woodland Pass Drive.”
The screen split, Jacqueline’s feed on the right and a clear, recent picture of Ryker on the left. It stayed up for about ten seconds while she continued talking.
“Yesterday this man, my boyfriend, told me he was ready to go to court against you, that you were going down in a big way, that he couldn’t wait to see it. He hates you, Mr. Angstrom. While we were on our date, all he could talk about was taking you down and getting you as much jail time as he could. He’s a real danger to you, and he loves his job, let me tell you. Last but not least, he’s a vampire.”
Leslie hadn’t thought she could feel the same cold rage again tonight, but it gripped her stronger than ever. It crushed her chest and shredded her thoughts. She wanted Jacqueline’s heart in her hand so she could squeeze for a long, long time.
And Jacqueline was still talking.
“I hope you find this information helpful. I don’t need a reward, honestly. My reward is knowing I was able to help someone like you, a true businessman who’s doing his best to make it in the world and is being persecuted by our ridiculous justice system. I hope you’re able to scare some sense into my boyfriend. I think it’ll make the world a better place and him a better person. And who knows, maybe it’ll make him a better boyfriend.” She laughed. “Bonus points if you pull that one off!”
The video ended.
“I’m going to kill her,” Leslie said.
“Shh,” Ryker said.
“No, I mean it, Ryker. Tonight. I’m going to kill her tonight.”
Ryker’s hands settled on her shoulders, and he brought his face in close to hers. The wild blaze in his eyes had banked and left them their usual, beautiful blue. The silver sparks weren’t a wildfire anymore. “Okay, my turn. Take a breath, Leslie.”
She couldn’t if she wanted to. Her chest was a lead block. “I don’t want to take a breath! I want to kill that vampire!”
His arms wrapped around her. She pushed against his chest, but he held her close. He was breathing like a human, slow regular breaths. Leslie pressed her mouth to his shirt and screamed. He held onto her until slowly, slowly, her body began to relax. The deep-freeze fury began to thaw. She began to think again. She clung to him. He wasn’t shot or dead. Jacqueline’s scheme had failed. Leslie matched her breaths to Ryker’s, and slowly, slowly her chest opened.
“You okay?” he said after another half-minute, during which time Billy remained curled up and whimpering in the corner and none of the other assailants stirred from the floor.
“Yeah,” she said. “Time to call the police?”
“Definitely.”
The next hour was a blur of giving her statement, watching and listening from a distance while Ryker gave his. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so relieved as when the perpetrators had all been placed under arrest, carted off in various squad cars, and the whirling blue and red lights drove away. Those lights had been too much for the last hour, not to mention the frequent squawking from police radios.
When the final officer finished verifying their contact information, looking over their statements, and bidding them good night, the time was close to five in the morning, and the birds had begun waking up. Gray light had appeared on the eastern horizon. Leslie and Ryker sat on his front porch stoop and watched the sunrise.
“I’ll call Kim in the morning,” Ryker said. “I mean, later in the morning.”
She had called and spoken briefly to Mom and Dad, then texted Hannah, who wouldn’t be awake to see her text for another hour or two. None of them would accidentally find out about last night’s events from some news site. The headlines wrote themselves. Senator’s Son and Girlfriend Victims of Attempted Murder. Frederick Angstrom Targets Vampire Accountant Who Will Testify Against Him . But Leslie couldn’t think about Detective Kim or Frederick Angstrom or Billy Ellis anymore.
Eyes on the sky, she blurted, “She tried to have you killed.”
“I don’t think so.”
Wait, what? “It’s pretty obvious, Ryker.”
“She didn’t expect them to succeed.”
“Are you freaking serious right now?”
“I know her, Leslie. She wanted to complicate our lives, make us miserable, edgy…keep us from enjoying our time together. That’s all this is to her. A game of petty revenge.”
“Do you still need to hear me say she’s abusive?”
He didn’t immediately answer, but when he did, the confidence in his voice was absolute. “No. I know she is.”
“And not a single thing she ever said against you was reliable.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah.” He draped his arm over her shoulders, and she leaned into his side. His wound had stopped bleeding almost immediately, would scar over in a day. Leslie tried not to hate the stain that marred his shirt. “I’m free now, Leslie. Free for good.”
“Maybe this was worth it then.” Maybe. Probably not.
“What about you? Are you okay?” he said.
She snuggled into him, pressed her palm to his chest, and waited to feel a beat from his heart before she answered. “I’ve never been so angry in my life. It was…too much for a minute. If she’d been standing in front of me, I might have tried to kill her, Ryker.”
“Well, in case you didn’t know this…” The smirk in his voice was audible for a moment, but then he sobered. “Vampire rage is deadly. If you can actually get one of us mad enough, we’re…kind of unhinged for a little while.”
“I felt unhinged.” She shuddered.
“I think that’s why it’s so hard to anger us. If we had short fuses like some humans I’ve met, we’d be too deadly to the world around us.”
“Are they going to arrest her for conspiracy?”
He was quiet a moment. “Seems like I should be able to answer that, but I don’t know.”
“She made a video!”
“But she sicced humans on me; my life was never in danger. Plus it’s Jacqueline. She’ll tell them it was a prank, and if they’re human they’ll believe her.”
“Tell them that, Ryker. Tell them to get a vampire officer to do her interview.”
“I don’t know if it matters. She won’t do this to anyone else, you know? She’s not a danger to society at large.”
“This sucks. I want justice for you.”
“I don’t need it, Leslie. I don’t need revenge either, for the record.”
She hissed. “I didn’t say revenge. Although right now…I might not be the best person to decide the difference, where she’s concerned.”
“If you need to talk out the finer points of justice versus revenge, feel free to ask Mama. She’s got a really clear eye for those things. Because of her work, I think, but also that’s just who she is.”
“I like your mom a lot. And your dad.”
“I could take you over there, if you want some space. From all this.” He made a wide gesture encompassing his house…and him.
“Absolutely not. I’m here.”
Instead of the usual crinkle between his eyes, this time sudden emotion crumpled his whole face. Leslie wrapped him tightly in her arms.
“I’ll keep telling you, Ryker. I’m here.”
“I know.”
“And you don’t have to be okay right now.”
“I want to do something.”
“Like what?”
“I feel…itchy, like I need to crawl out of my skin. It’s still sinking in, I guess. That she’d do something this drastic. And how did she know I was working on the Angstrom case anyway?” He shook his head. “I want a puzzle to work on, but maybe not that one. Not today.”
Could she do one more stressful thing today? For him, she could. And with him, it would be okay. “There’s another puzzle, you know. Instead of you looking into my parents after I fly home…let’s do it now instead. Together. Just to see what we can find on our own.”
“Are you sure?”
“If you tell me over a phone or video call, I think it’ll be harder. And if it’ll help you too, then I’m game.”
“We have morning and afternoon before your flight. If you’re really sure.”
“I’m sure.” She drew a long breath, let it fill her chest with calm and strength. “And I’m ready.”