Hunter's Blood Special Edition (Cursed by Blood Saga) Read online

  “So you think I’m a rookie? And here I thought experience was the key.”

  He laughed, folding his hands in front of his chest. “It is. That and how many times you’ve vomited behind the yellow tape.”

  “Ha! Leave it to men to quantify skill through bodily emissions,” she mumbled, resting the baggie on the floor by the door and wiping her hands once more on his handkerchief. “…and on that note, we’ve still got work to do.”

  Lily walked to the center of the room and stopped. She took a single cleansing breath and turned her body slowly, sending her senses out like a web. Images darted through Lily’s mind at high speed, but this time she was ready for them.

  Laughter. Drinking. Loud music. The room was in shambles, and its story played out in time with the kaleidoscope of color and noise that flashed its way through her mind.

  Along the wall, a wide rolling bar had been turned on its side, its chrome edges bent, and its frosted glass countertop and LED panels smashed. She reached out and slid her finger over what was left of the counter, bringing it to her tongue. A rush of euphoria flew through her veins, and she was numb. In a flash, there were crack pipes and methamphetamines, or Ice, as it was known on the street, piled high across the bar. The scenes were sordid, filled with images of drug-induced sex.

  Lily turned toward the far wall and the broken couch pushed against the chipped paint. Her skin grew cold to the point of shivering, and panic bit into her gut. The images in her head turned even uglier, and she cried out, covering her face as she felt each blow, the tearing between her legs and warm blood flowing along the inside of her thighs.

  It was the young girl with the orange lipstick—paid for, beaten, raped.

  Her head whipped around as rage, white hot and deranged poured through her from behind. As if compelled, Lily turned toward the tiny window to the side of the small bar. Shattered glass covered the floor beneath the twisted metal window casing.

  “This is where the perpetrator entered the room.” With each step, Lily’s body shook against the storm of rage that flooded her body. Her words pushed passed clenched teeth as she moved toward the window. “I’m positive. This is it.”

  Ryan stood to one side, his arms still folded across his chest. However, instead of the casual stance he affected before, now he just looked defensive. “Lily, what the hell is going on here? A blind man could see you’re getting a reading, but you haven’t said a thing, despite all your gyrations. You gotta cut me some slack. I’m out of my element here, and I don’t like it one bit.”

  Was he for real? Lily just looked at him.

  He exhaled. “CSI didn’t find anything to support a point of forced entry besides the shattered glass. No fingerprints, no blood—other than from the victims—no fibers, no epithelial tissue, no hair. So what do you see that they didn’t, or couldn’t?”

  Lily didn’t answer. The closer she moved to the window, the more the anger raced through her mind—red, black, and craving vengeance. She fell to her knees in front of the hollowed out square, glass biting into her skin through her jeans. Hands at her temples, her pulse throbbed beneath her palms as her fingernails raked her scalp.

  She was in the perpetrator’s mind. The taste of blood, metallic and slick coated her tongue, and the taste wasn’t as she expected. It was heady and thick, like honey. She ran the tip of her tongue over her own teeth, but the sensation was that of razor sharp fangs.

  Her vision narrowed, and a veil of red descended across her line of sight. She scrambled to her feet and into a crouch, her head jerking from side to side and her nostrils flaring.

  “Lily! What the fuck?” Ryan said, taking a step toward her, but jumped back when she snarled low in her throat like something feral. She was out of time and place, looking through the vampire’s eyes as events unfolded.

  Her head whipped around again, the scent of fear making her mouth water. Through the vampire’s eyes, she saw the boy, Patrick, standing over the girl, his friends laughing as another rode her hard, biting her breast so hard he drew blood. The girl cried out in terror and agony, and the vampire smiled as it coiled to attack.

  The image shifted, and Lily watched as if in a trance. The window shattered, and the vampire landed on its feet in a spray of glass and concrete. Covered in blood, the vampire ripped the boys to shreds, choking on bits of broken bone and cartilage as it drank, the bitter tang of their absolute terror scoring its throat.

  Lily tried to free her mind, but the vampire’s gnarled thoughts wrapped themselves around her perception like mutant vines—its thought processes saturated with one word. Kill.

  Savoring the last of them, the vampire lifted its gaze toward the mirrored wall, its bloodied visage reflected back like a nightmare. A face so white and so thin, the cheekbones looked as if they would rip through the pallid skin, yet stark against the dark red smears streaked across its mouth. Fangs, long and dripping with yellow saliva, were stained with blood and pieces of gore.

  As if shocked, the creature’s hand rose to touch its hair, the long, dirty strands hanging from a white scalp, like a corpse. A vicious screech echoed through Lily’s mind along with the image of a beautiful woman, tall and elegant, with long, lustrous blond hair and pearl white skin…the only thing shared with the creature in the mirror was that she too had fangs.

  The vampire’s mind was a swirl of incoherent thought, but one word escaped through the haze of rage and murder. Why? And for one lucid moment, the vampire’s mind held the creature and the woman superimposed, and Lily knew. The two were one and the same, and the question now begged, not only why, but how?

  ***

  “If you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on, I’m calling it…game over, got it? I’m not here to scrape you off the ceiling, or the floor for that matter,” Ryan shouted, his arms hooked under her armpits as he dragged her to standing. “What gives? And I want it straight. No more dancing around and telling me you’re not sure.”

  He dragged his hand across his forehead, his face furious. This was not what he’d expected when he said he’d take this on.

  “You have two minutes, so start talking,” he said, folding his arms across his chest again. This time it was neither casual nor defensive, the move was pure self-preservation.

  “Ryan…I…”

  “No. If I wanted tap dancing, I’d get assigned to the Broadway beat. I want answers. Now.”

  Lily took a deep breath, rummaging through her pockets. “Okay, Ryan. But I’m telling you right now, you won’t believe what I have to tell you.”

  After what he just witnessed, he didn’t doubt it. She was still fishing through her pockets, her face beautiful, but drawn. She probably needed a cigarette. After this, even he wanted one, and he didn’t smoke.

  Whatever Lily smelled, he smelled it too, but you didn’t need a degree in psychology to know that she not only smelled it, but saw whatever it was that had caused this. He took a breath and exhaled. “Come on. Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk.”

  She picked up her baggie full of puke, and the two walked out onto the street. She dumped it in a trashcan near the corner where Ryan was double-parked. Wiping her hands on her slightly bloodstained knees, she stood on the sidewalk waiting for him to finish with the uniformed patrol.

  “Where to?” she asked.

  “It’s almost four p.m. and neither of us has eaten. Let’s grab a sandwich. I know a good bagel place not too far from here. We can talk while we eat.”

  Lily shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but after this, food is the last thing on my mind.”

  “Okay, then we can head back toward One Police Plaza. Your car is there, right? We can talk upstairs.”

  Lily frowned. “No offense, but with what I have to say, being anywhere near your office is not exactly a bright idea. Listen, it’s late, and I’m drained. Why don’t you drive me home and we can talk at my place? I’ll have a friend pick up my car.”

  He didn’t answer. His eyes were riveted a
s Lily rolled her shoulders, her full breasts pushing forward through the front opening of her coat. The move was harmless, especially after what she’d just been through, but it left his groin thickening and he forced himself to look away.

  “Shall we?” she asked, her hand on the passenger car door.

  Martinez nodded. “Sounds good.” He cleared his throat and slid into the driver’s seat, covering the telltale bulge in his pants with his jacket. “Where to?” he asked.

  “Jane Street. Westside.”

  He put the car in gear and pulled out onto the street. Neither one said a word. It was like they were both lost in thought, only he would bet her thoughts occupied the mystery surrounding the crime scene. His were occupied with her. Period.

  She smelled unbelievable, even despite her puking her guts up. Every move—from the way she pushed her hair back from her face, the tilt of her head, the sway of her hips as she walked around the crime scene, even when she snarled at him, all he wanted to do was throw her on the ground and fuck her.

  Keep your head in the game, stupid…

  Problem was, she was in the game with him, and that made it even more intoxicating. She was a bitch and a fighter, and yet he had seen her face cloud over with compassion more than once today. As hard as she was, she was still a soft touch. Soft. He groaned inwardly at the thought of how she would feel beneath him, what her mouth would taste like, the softness of her skin and the sharp edges of her nails across his back.

  Ryan reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. At a red light, he scrolled through and pressed Shaw’s number. It went straight to voicemail. “Sergeant, it’s Martinez. I’ve just left the scene with Ms. Saburi. I’m not really sure what Ms. Saburi found, if anything yet, but I’ll be at headquarters later to fill you in, if I can at that point.” He pressed end, and put the phone down in the front cup holder.

  “I wish you had told me you were going to call him,” Lily said with a frown.

  “Why? He’s my superior. I need to check in with him, or did you forget this is a police investigation?” Ryan ran a hand though his hair, feeling himself scowl.

  “I already KNOW this is a police gig, detective. That’s the third time today you’ve felt it necessary to remind me of it, and it’s seriously getting on my nerves, so quit it! You are not the only professional here. I merely wanted the opportunity to tell you what I saw before I have to tell everyone else. I already warned you.”

  “Warned me? About what, huh? What is it exactly that you think I can’t handle?”

  Lily didn’t answer. She stared out the window, her arms folded in front of her chest.

  “Now you clam up? Jesus, woman, a homicide investigation is no place for head games. If you’ve uncovered pertinent information, I need to know.”

  “Pertinent information? Listen good, because if you or anyone down at police plaza think you stand a chance at solving this after what I saw, you’re nuts. This goes way beyond any nightmare you could ever dream up. It’s going to take a collective effort, and I’m going to need to call in reinforcements of my own.”

  He looked at her, his face incredulous. “Reinforcements? You’re joking, right? Do you know what Phillips had to go through to get the commissioner to allow YOU on the case? What? You have some kind of ESP army at your fingertips?”

  Lily just looked at him, her lips pressed together. “You know, at some point during all this, you are going to thank me. And I’m going to take extreme pleasure in saying I told you so.”

  “Yeah, right. Let’s just hear what you have to say, first. Okay?”

  “Whatever you say, Detective.”

  LOOKING FOR MORE EXCITING READS?

  BLOOD LEGACY

  Book One in the Legacy Series — Available Now!

  Keep an eye out for these Upcoming 2013 titles from

  Coventry Press Ltd.

  ***

  Shadowed Soul, by Marianne Morea

  Secrets of the Moon, by Marianne Morea

  Book One in the Guardians Series,

  Where Demons Dare to Tread, by Marianne Morea

  ***

  Looking for a YA Romantic Suspense

  with a dash of History and the Paranormal?

  Hollow’s End, by Marianne Morea