J Duncan - Deadworld

His hand cupped the back of her head, the fingers laced into the short waves of hair, and Jackie held her breath for a brief moment, terrified of the awareness of thoughts and emotions that alcohol had always drowned in its lovely, numbing sea.

She had been prepared for fierce, hard desperation, or a warm snake of a tongue dancing down her throat. Jackie didn’t expect the first soft brush of lips, barely a kiss at all, a hesitant introduction of his lips to hers. She opened her eyes after a moment to find his face inches away, looking at her with eyes that saw far more of her than she deemed reasonable.

“You’re trembling,” he said. The other hand reached up and cupped her cheek, and Jackie found herself in a very defenseless position. “In a good or bad way?”

Some small part of Jackie’s brain was screaming, “Groin him and run!” But in another, the strong, vibrant voice of Laurel came to her, and Jackie remembered the offhand promise she had made. “Good, I think.”

She closed her eyes, and this time, perhaps for the first time, Jackie let herself be held by those hands, giving in to it instead of bracing herself against it. The lips were still soft, but there was no hesitation as he kissed her this time, and Jackie could feel the hunger. His teeth gave a gentle tug on her lower lip, and that slight relenting of her mouth to his broke down whatever will remained to resist, and Jackie brought her arms up around Nick’s neck and invited his tongue into her mouth for a fervent, burning waltz.

After a few seconds or an hour, Nick pulled away from the embrace. “I believe you answered my question, Agent Rutledge.” He had a pleased smile on his face, but the eyes stared with far more than amusement and didn’t look to be entirely focused on her eyes.

That was completely unfair. Jackie leaned against the wall and slowly let out her breath. This was not what she was here for. Not at all. She could not decide if she was terrified or just wanted to strip him down to the gun belt and play “ride ’em, cowboy.” The fact she even considered the notion was scary enough. And exciting.

“Good. Glad to help. Now answer my question, because it’s why I came over here.”

He picked up his coffee cup and took another swallow. “Hmmm?”

“Why would there be no bodies in that SUV?”

Nick nearly choked on his coffee. “What?”

His reaction looked real enough. “Drake’s Escalade. It burned to a crisp, but when we looked inside, it was empty. So I know how Drake got out, but what about Shelby and the little girl?”

Nick sat back down on the bar stool. “Damn. He must have dropped the girl off somehow and took Shelby with him, unless she figured out how to do it herself. Or maybe she crossed over with the girl?”

“The alley!” Jackie remembered now. “He pulled into an alley for, like, five seconds and then nearly ran us over coming out.”

“Maybe,” Nick said. The phone rang, and he pulled his cell phone out of the duster’s pocket. He frowned at the caller ID before opening up the phone. “Hello?”

Jackie could hear a man’s voice on the other line. It sounded vaguely English.

Nick’s eyes narrowed. His mouth drew into a thin crease. “Hello, Cornelius.”

“Nicholas! My old friend. You gave it a good go of things that time. I must say I was actually impressed with your efforts.” He chuckled softly into Nick’s ear, and Nick found himself clenching his teeth so hard his jaw had begun to hurt.

Jackie’s eyes were wide in surprise. She mouthed the words “Keep him on the phone” to him. Nick nodded. He knew they had bugged his phone, and he had let it remain on just this off-chance occurrence.

“Sometimes we just get lucky,” he replied. “Where’s she at, Drake? You can dispense with the niceties.”

“Would you be referring to Ms. Fontaine or little Agatha?”

Nick closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Every time around, he had needed to put up with the reminders, and Drake had made sure to provide them, occasionally in far more detail than necessary. “Let’s stick with the girl for now.”

“Of course, of course. Far more noble to try to save the child. I could always count on you to be an honorable man, Nicholas. That is what has made this so entertaining, you know. And in the end, that is what the game comes down to, is it not? Where does honor stand in relation to vengeance, my good sheriff?”

Wordy fucking bastard. “The honorable thing is justice, and in your case, Drake, that goes beyond the hangman’s noose. So would you care to tell me where she is so we can have this little showdown you’ve been dreaming of for a hundred years? Or are you going to pop back through the doorway again?”

Drake laughed, high-pitched, and sounding very nonsinister for a five-hundred-year-old vampire. “Caught you off guard with that one, didn’t I? I wish I could have seen the look on your faces. Priceless, to be sure.”

“I don’t really have expectations about you anymore, Cornelius. This scheme is tiring and stale, and I’m ready for its conclusion. I am curious though. How much blood does it take to cross over?”

“You will have to learn that trick on your own, and I believe you have grown far too moral to pursue that course of action.”

“Keeps me human at least,” Nick said, not trying to hide the menace in his voice.

Drake laughed. “Now, now, Sheriff. Taking the high ground again? I knew it would be your undoing, but as I said at the first, I shall say at the last. If you wish to win this game, dear boy, you shall have to be that which you are not. Nonetheless, you’ve had a sporting chance, and one cannot say I did not give you the opportunities, Nicholas.”

“You always were the thoughtful one,” Nick replied.

“I dare say we would have gotten along splendidly under other circumstances, but we got off on a bit of the wrong foot back then.”

“That would be stating it mildly, yes. Anyway, about this sporting chance. What have you got in mind this time?”

Drake huffed, sounding offended. “I’ve already given it to you. You haven’t proven very adept at finding me, which I shall admit is rather difficult these days, but I had the good graces to call and chat so your fine lass there could trace the call. Really, Nicholas. I’m not stupid, and neither are you, so please do not insult me. We are nearly done, and then perhaps you can have a few words with Gwendolyn before I drain your souls completely away.”

Nick gripped his phone so hard his hand began to tremble. “You aren’t invincible, Drake, so get over yourself. I know you can die, and you shall.”

There was a brief pause, and then Drake’s voice returned, sounding muted and distant. “Ask the sister, dear girl. I’m busy with a call just now.” He was back a moment later. “Oh, someday, when I’ve tired of everything, perhaps. But not from you, Nicholas. You haven’t got what it takes. So come alone, unless of course you wish for this to all end badly. I have followed the rules, and I expect you to do the same. Not my fault you lost your taste for blood, now, is it?” He chuckled, and Nick barely restrained himself from smashing the phone down on the counter. “Well, that should be enough time, don’t you think, Ms. Rutledge? Tsk-tsk if you dropped the ball on this one. See you soon, Nicholas. I am looking forward to it.”

The phone went dead, and Nick clapped it shut, shoving it back into his pocket. “Oh, I’m sure you are, you little prick.”

Jackie was already on her own phone, having listened to most of the conversation by leaning up next to Nick’s ear. He could still smell the clean scent of her hair.

“Did they get it?” Her mouth scrunched up in disgust at the reply. “Almost? Fuck! What do you mean almost? Where?” She shook her head. “Fine, whatever. Just keep everyone out of the area until we track down his location. I’ll contact you then.” She slammed the phone down on the counter. “God, I work with idiots, I swear.”