Luther's Return (Scanguards Vampires Book 10)

He hesitated for a split-second, but it was enough for Katie to add, “I knew it!”


Luther pivoted and glared at her. “Listen to me. I think it’s better you go home and stay out of my business. And for what it’s worth, I apologize that I kissed you. Chalk it up to the fact that I was in prison for twenty years.” He paused for a moment, before adding a lie to his statement. “Frankly, I would have kissed anything with tits at this point. Nothing personal. Wrong place, wrong time.”

Katie pressed her lips together in obvious displeasure. Good, she’d finally gotten the message. Already relaxing, he made a motion to turn.

“Not so fast, buddy!” she said rather calmly. Much too calmly for a woman who’d just been told that the passionate kiss they’d shared meant nothing. “Samson is going to find out about this. I’ll show him the letters, and then he’s going to hunt you down like a dog.”

Luther tilted his head to the side, looking at her for a long moment, before opening his mouth. “May I point out one thing?”

Katie raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

He lifted his hand. “I’m the one who’s got the letters. So it appears you have nothing to back up your allegations.”

For an instant he thought he saw something flash in her eyes, but then it was gone again, and she even smiled. “Oh, I have copies at home. So do with those whatever you want.”

He growled in displeasure.

“Help us find Isabelle. You have the key. You know things we don’t,” she continued.

“Even if I had any information that could help you find her, Samson has made it clear that the next time he sees me, he’ll kill me. This time he won’t stop to ask questions. He’ll strike first. And despite everything, I rather value my life. So the answer is no.”

“If you don’t want to help us, I’m going to tell Samson that you lied to him. That you’re hiding the fact that you know who’s behind this.”

“I passed their fucking lie detector test!”

“I know for a fact that the machine isn’t all that accurate,” she claimed.

Luther narrowed his eyes, but couldn’t tell if she was bluffing or not. “Gabriel looked into my memories. He cleared me. So you’ve got nothing.”

Katie brought one hand up and pretended to inspect her fingernails. “You forget that I’m a witch.”

“What’s that got to do with my innocence?”

“What if I put a spell on you that makes you confess to the crime?”

He sucked air through his nostrils. Had he heard correctly? She was threatening him with witchcraft? No vampire had any defenses against it, and he feared it as much as the next guy. “You devious, little—”

“—bitch?” she offered politely. “Oh please, I’ve been called worse.”

“I was gonna say tramp,” Luther corrected her.

Katie pushed herself away from the car and came toward him. “Now here’s how this works: you’ll lead me to the man who wrote the letters, I’ll play bait, and you’ll catch the guy. If you don’t do it, I’ll set all of Scanguards on your tail.”

Luther shook his head in disbelief. “Oh my God, you’re actually crazy. I mean, bat-shit crazy! Do you have any idea what you’re doing? This kind of stuff can get you killed. Hell, it’ll get us both killed.”

“It won’t. Because you will keep us safe. You survived twenty years in a vampire prison. Can’t have been a cake walk.”

No, it hadn’t been easy. But right now he almost wished he were back inside and wouldn’t have to deal with crap like this.

“I’m sure you know how to protect yourself. Do it, or Samson will be hunting you.”

He scoffed. “Do you know what I was in prison for?”

“Attempted murder.”

“So you know. And still you won’t back down. What makes you think I’m not going to kill you before you can set Scanguards on my ass?”

“If you’d wanted to kill me, you would have done so already.” Then her eyes drifted lower and settled on his crotch. “And because you still have a hard on. My guess is you’d rather get into my pants than kill me. So I figure I’m safe as long as I don’t let you fuck me.”

Luther balled his hands into fists, fuming at her successful attempt at manipulating him. He let out a growl.

“Get in the fucking car! I’ll drive.”

“Of course you will,” Katie answered sweetly. “I guess you won’t be needing directions?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “And not another word out of your mouth until we’re out of the city, or I’ll be tempted to toss you over the Bay Bridge.”





12


Almost three hours later, Katie watched as Luther closed the entry door to a single family home and turned back to her.

“You can’t be serious. This is breaking and entering,” she whispered.

“The place is empty.” He jerked his thumb over his left shoulder, indicating the foyer. “Mail’s piling up. These people are probably on a cruise or beach vacation over the holidays.”