CHAPTER 19

 

At some point, Lara realized that she’d been sitting on the edge of the stage and staring off into space for lord only knew how long. She looked around, half expecting to see police officers and Vincent in cuffs while paparazzi snapped pictures of Tanith’s dead body, but no. Of course not. The stage was empty except for Vincent, who was bustling about, presumably taking care of everything. She knew she should help him. She would. But she’d allow herself to sit there just a minute longer first.

If she was being honest, she felt surprisingly good. Not about the part where she’d almost been a meal for a hungry succubus. Just thinking about it made her shudder. A creeping, empty blackness had come over her, like her entire being was dissolving while her body went on without her, shuddering in erotic ecstasy. No thanks. Empty sex was bad enough, but Tanith had taken it to a whole new level.

But Vincent had too, in the opposite direction. She’d never experienced anything like it. He just seemed to see her, in bed and out of it. To understand her. To listen to her noises and feel her movements and respond back instead of carrying on with what he thought she wanted. She’d been with skilled men before, but none of them had gotten to her like Vincent had.

She was beginning to think she was in love with him. Or was well on her way. She couldn’t throw stones about his past given her own career, and besides, he wasn’t that guy any more. That guy had a whole different life and memories. Even his name was different. Vincent might share fingerprints with the killer he was before, but he wasn’t the same man.

Fingerprints…something about the topic nagged at her until she finally realized what bothered her. Vincent already had the attention of the local police. Being discovered with the dead body of a famous pop star wasn’t going to help that situation one bit.

She launched to her feet, startling him.

“We need to get rid of the body,” she declared.

He looked at her, his face creased with worry.

“You okay?” he asked. “I didn’t know how to help other than giving you some space.”

“I won’t lie. It was horrible, but I’ll be fine,” she replied. “And thanks for coming to the rescue. But we need to get you out of here before anyone realizes she’s dead.”

He waved a hand.

“Don’t worry about that. I let Ignazio go. He’s not going to tell anybody anything. He was so happy to be alive that he’d lie for us if it came to that. And then I talked to Annamarie. She’s got a cleanup crew coming.”

Lara blinked. “You…what?”

“I saw she was listed as your emergency contact, so I called her.” Worry began to creep over his face. “I know it’s an invasion of privacy, and normally I wouldn’t have gone into your phone at all. But you were practically catatonic, and I was really worried. So I called. But then you snapped out of it and told me you just needed a moment. Do you remember? You still seemed pretty out of it.”

He paused, and she shook her head. It felt like her brain had just shut down until a few moments earlier, but she didn’t feel too bad now. Hopefully there would be no lasting effects from Tanith’s feeding. She didn’t know how long it had gone on. It had felt like an eternity, but Vincent wouldn’t have wasted any time. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Surely, she’d be okay after that, wouldn’t she?

“No, I don’t really remember much,” she said. “Go on.”

“Well, I felt a lot better when I knew you were okay, and so I called Annamarie back to tell her. Then I hid the body like she instructed, just in case someone came in here before the cleanup crew could make it. I was all for taking you and running, but she said that her job would be easier if we just stayed put, so that’s what we’re doing. They’ll be here any minute, I guess. She said she started putting together the crew after you called her, so she was ready to go.”

Well, that was a relief. At least Lara didn’t have to worry about cleaning it all up. She could have done it if she had to, but it was so nice to lean on someone else for a change. This was why people had partners. She’d never had a full time partnership, but with Vincent, she could totally see it.

“Good. Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t mention it. It’s no big deal.”

“Actually, it is. If you hadn’t thought on your feet, we could be in cuffs right now. We don’t want to be associated with the discovery of Tanith’s body at all. Any body is bad, but when the victim is famous?” she shuddered. “Instant infamy right there.”

Vincent wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think anyone would know it’s her. She…shriveled. Looks more like we stole a mummy from a museum than anything else. But still, I’d rather avoid any questions. Annamarie said she was sending someone named Leticia, who is supposed to help somehow. But I don’t know exactly what she’s supposed to do.”

“Oh, Leticia is a mimic. That’s perfect. She’ll impersonate Tanith long enough to make sure we’re not associated with her disappearance. Everything will be fine.”

But he still looked nervous. Not that she could blame him. The expression persisted until she got up and went over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. His arms went readily around her in response, and they stood there, taking comfort from each other. Finally, they both relaxed.

 

As soon as she could hand the scene over to Annamarie’s capable cleanup crew—disguised this time as upholstery cleaners sent to do the theater seats—Lara went back to her apartment, changed into her bathing suit, and got into the pool. Some people might have thought of this as a callous move, since someone had died and she’d been at least partly responsible, but she felt pretty good about that. Tanith had fed on people who had no idea what they were getting into. Some of them were left as deadened husks, unable to feel anything ever again. Others died. So her murder felt more like a public service than anything else.

Besides, it wasn’t like she was swimming around and throwing a party. She had a sports drink, which she forced herself to sip on despite the fact that she wasn’t remotely hungry. And she didn’t have the energy to actually swim. Instead, she just sat on the steps and enjoyed the empty pool. The water was like bathwater, and didn’t really do much to cool her off, but it felt good anyway.

The creak of the gate behind her drew her attention. She turned around, resigned to company, to see Vincent there. He looked uncertain despite the fact that she’d invited him over. But he relaxed when she smiled at him, setting his towel on one of the sun-faded chaise lounges and slipping into the water beside her.

He chuckled a bit. “This isn’t any cooler than it is outside, you know.”

“I don’t care. I said I was going to swim, and I meant it.”

“Fair enough.”

They floated in comfortable silence for a while. Rather, he floated while she stayed on her step, entirely content with doing nothing.

“So you’re probably leaving town on another assignment pretty soon, huh?” he asked hesitantly.

“Not just yet. I want a week off. I deserve a week off.”

“Oh. Are you going somewhere, or did you plan to stay here?”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” she asked playfully.

He grinned. “No way. But I’m trying not to get my hopes up too early.”

“If we spent the whole week in this pool and in my apartment, eating delivery food, I would be happy,” she said.

“I can’t spend the whole week. Jin needs me. But I can give you a lot of it.”

She jerked upright. “Of course. How is she? Did you get in touch with her?”

“Yeah, she’s supposed to be released tomorrow. I told her what Lo’s been doing for a living, and she tore into him while I was on the phone. The jackoff was still trying to cover his ass. But now, if he doesn’t help cover the restaurant, she’s threatened to turn him in. I think she’ll do it too.”

Lara couldn’t decide how to feel about all of this. Amused? Worried? Scornful? She felt all of them at once, and it felt lovely to feel things after the dead time in Tanith’s arms.

“Does…that mean you’re out of a job?” she asked cautiously.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Annamarie called. She seems to think that you and I would make a good partnership, and she offered me a job. I wasn’t sure what you’d think of that.”

It was exactly what she’d wanted all along, and Lara opened her mouth to exclaim that it was a lovely idea and of course he should take it. But he didn’t seem so sure. And why should he? He’d have to stay in touch with the part of him that he so badly wanted to deny. The part of him that killed. And now, he’d have to take ownership of that. Maybe after using his powers on purpose for the first time, he wouldn’t want to do it ever again. She couldn’t blame him for feeling like that. So even though she badly wanted him to take the job, she couldn’t sway him. She had to leave the decision for him to make.

“I think you should do whatever you feel is best for you,” she said.

He blinked. “That’s…not what I was asking.”

“Look, whatever happens, we’ll have this week.”

Now he looked wounded, swimming away from her. “Okay.”

“Okay? So what are you going to do?” she demanded.

“I’m not sure. I was going to take it, but it sounds like you don’t want me to. Maybe this is all moving too fast? I could understand that. It feels fast to me too, but it just…I don’t know. It felt right. I probably sound like an idiot now, don’t I? I’ll shut up now.”

She couldn’t help it. She launched herself through the water at him, wrapping him up before he could get away. He went under, sputtering, before planting his feet and standing up with her clinging to him like a barnacle.

“I’m sorry,” she said, laughing. “I really didn’t mean to dunk you. Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’m fine. But confused. Very confused.”

“I just don’t want to guilt you into taking it. Because it’s tough work, and it’s dangerous, and…I just don’t want my feelings for you to draw you into a job that you don’t want.”

“It’s the kind of job I’ve been made to do,” he said with a confidence that Lara found very sexy. “I really want it, and not just because you’d be my partner. Although that’s an added bonus.”

“Be nice, or I’ll dunk you again!”

His eyes flashed. “I’d like to see you try.”

She did, and failed. The two of them wrestled in the water for a long time. They even knocked over the sports drink without even realizing it. Later, they went back to her apartment and ordered takeout from Jin’s restaurant. It was a perfect evening.

The first of many.