Blood Secrets - By Jeannie Holmes Page 0,27

is talking,” he said quietly, closing the distance between them. “Someone who shouldn’t be talking.” He gripped her jaw, digging his fingers into her flesh, and forced her to look at him. “I wonder who.”

Realization dawned in her tear-filled eyes. “It wasn’t me,” she whispered. She clutched at his shirt. “I swear! I’ve been careful.”

“If the Enforcers find out what we’re doing, they’ll send me away—”

“No! They can’t!”

“—and then they’ll turn you over to the human authorities. You’ll sit in prison for the rest of your life, lumped in with the whores.”

She sobbed and buried her face against his chest.

He rolled his eyes. Piper’s capacity for easy manipulation never ceased to amaze him.

“I’ll find out who’s spreading the rumors.” Her voice was muffled until she raised her head to stare at him. “I swear. Just promise me you won’t let me go to jail if something should happen. I can’t live without you.”

Kirk gave her a wan smile and brushed away her tears. He gently kissed her lips and enfolded her in his arms. “I promise you’ll never see the inside of a jail cell.”

She clung to him in the semidarkness while he held her and thought of all the places he could stash her body once she was of no further use.

seven

EMILY ENTERED THE FOYER OF THE HOME STEPHEN shared with Janet, closed the door, and leaned against it. Anger she thought she’d rid herself of decades prior had returned, and the desire to scream was almost more than she could bear.

Before moving farther into the house, she took a moment to compose herself and listen for signs of life. No voices greeted her. No breath sounded in other rooms. No hearts beat save her own.

Satisfied she was alone, Emily moved to the combination living and dining room adjacent to the kitchen and sank onto the beige sofa. Her conversation with Varik ran through her mind in a continuous loop, refining it until only one point remained fixed in her memory.

Alex saw Bernard with Siobhan.

Siobhan Kelly. Vampire. Mistress. Hunter-Talent. Fugitive. And a name Emily hadn’t spoken or even thought of in over forty years. Now she couldn’t banish Siobhan from her mind.

Maternal instinct arose. Danger stalked her family. Alex’s vision was only the beginning. She had to find a way to protect them.

But how? How could she protect them from a past she was sworn to keep secret?

Emily buried her face in her hands. Her mind became a rapid-fire series of questions and scenarios. Each potential solution was rejected as quickly as it formed, until her subconscious dredged forth yet another name she’d forgotten long ago.

Raising her head, she glanced at her cell phone lying on the table before her. If she called, would he answer?

“I have to try.” Her whisper echoed like a shout in the stillness of the empty house.

She dialed the number from memory, hoping it still worked. The receiving phone rang once. Twice. It was picked up on the fourth ring and a male voice filtered over the line.

“Hello?”

Her breath caught in her throat.

He repeated the greeting.

Emily couldn’t force the words from her lips.

His tone became more forceful. “Who is this?”

“Hello, Gregor,” she said in a much calmer voice than she felt. “It’s Emily.”

Silence descended and stretched for so long she began to fear the call had been lost.

“It’s been a long time,” Gregor finally said.

“Yes, it has.”

“How are you?”

“I’m well.” She closed her eyes, gathering her courage. “I know it’s a shock that I’m calling out of the blue like this, and you would have every right to refuse, but … I have a favor to ask of you.”

Another lengthy pause was followed by a few simple words. “What can I do?”

Emily took a deep breath and said in a rush, “I need you to save my daughter.”

As Varik eased his Corvette over the cruddy road leading to Coone’s Pull-n-Go Salvage Yard, Alex hunkered down in the passenger seat and wondered why she’d ever become an Enforcer.

It wasn’t the first time she’d thought of her motivations for joining the Bureau. Naturally the strongest impetus stemmed from her father’s murder and a desire for the justice denied her family as her father’s murder remained unsolved. She could’ve become a lawyer and accomplished much the same goal, however. Why had she pursued the role of Enforcer with such single-mindedness that she’d blocked all other options from her consideration?

The afternoon sunlight hit her face as Varik turned off the bumpy county road and onto the equally pockmarked