officially intrigued?"
He groaned. "Please don't go investigating. I don't want to scare her away."
I grinned as I stripped off the shoe protectors and tossed them in the hazard bin.
"Riley, don't." He almost sounded worried.
"Don't what?" I raised my eyebrows, pretending an innocence that probably wasn't believable given the grin I couldn't quite control.
"Don't try and play innocent. You're as far from that as anyone could get."
He had a point there. "I just want to protect your interests. I'd do the same for any friend."
"Then please consider me an enemy."
I patted his shoulder as I passed. "Sorry, I've got suspects to interview. We'll continue this discussion later. Over coffee."
"You are such a bitch," he muttered, but the twinkle in his eyes took the bite out of his words. "And you'd do anything to get a free coffee, wouldn't you?"
"Totally," I said, and left him to it.
There were two uniforms stationed at the entrance to Dante's, along with a dark eyed man who looked in serious need of a good feed. He was standing to one side of the doorway, under a blue light, and it gave his sallow features an even sicker glow. His dark gaze was never still, flickering from the cops to me, then onto the surrounding streets.
I showed the cops my badge and met the other man's gaze. "Who are you?"
"Valentine Smith. I'm the bouncer here."
He didn't look as if he could bounce a kitten out the door let alone anyone larger. But then, if he was a vampire - and given the rather pungent scent he was emitting, he couldn't be anything else - his looks would have been misleading. Even the scrawniest of vampires had more strength than the average non-human. And far more than any human.
"How long have you been on duty here?"
"I just came on shift. The boss asked me to help out these officers, in case some of the customers got antsy about being detained."
I glanced at the cops. The older of the two nodded in confirmation. I returned my gaze to Valentine. He wasn't looking at me. He was studying the street, as if he expected something to happen. Though I guess having a dead vamp on your back doorstep and cops on your front would be enough to make anyone jumpy. "How many people are inside at the moment?"
He shrugged. "Maybe twenty customers, and half that again of vampires."
Interesting that the vampires weren't considered customers. "And who's in charge tonight?"
"Dante Starke."
"The boss himself?"
The guard's gaze flicked briefly to mine then moved on again. "He lives here."
That surprised me. The old warehouse was as grimy and as run-down as the rest of the buildings in this area. Surely a wealthy businessman would prefer a more... well, if not opulent, then less dangerous area to reside in? But maybe the key word was wealthy. He might be a vampire, he might own a nightclub, but that didn't necessarily mean he was rich.
"Could you please tell Mr. Starke that I'll need to speak to him?"
He looked at me again, then nodded. His gaze became slightly unfocused, and a buzz of energy caressed the air. He had to be a newer vampire. Any vampire with more than a few years behind him had learned not to let anyone know when they were using telepathy.
I stepped past the cops and pushed the nightclub's door open. The smell hit me immediately. It was a miasma of hunger and lust, of humanity and vampire, all entwined with the aroma of sweat, booze and blood. I wrinkled my nose in distaste. Normally I loved the scent of lust when it rode on the air, but this was different. This had an almost desperate edge to it.
Which made sense, since the club was catering to those addicted to vampire bites.
I stepped into the darkness. The door shut behind me, closing out the light and making the shadowed confines of the room appear even more unfriendly.
That feeling was coming from the vampires in the room, not the humans. The majority of the humans were either busy boozing, or getting their fix.
I scanned the room, taking note of the black walls and carpets - and wondering if they chose that color because it made the blood less noticeable. Booths lined three of the walls, some with curtains, some without. A good fifteen of these were currently occupied, and it was from them that the lusty scent was the strongest. A small dance floor filled the front half of the room, but hardly