Bad Mouth

chapter Twelve


Kade glared down at Val. He didn’t even look like himself with his face growing lean, lengthening, and his fangs extending. She’d heard the reports about vampires who took their more natural form but, like most humans, had never seen it. Pictures weren’t even allowed.

“Please don’t do this,” she pleaded. “Talk to me. Tell me who he is.”

He looked back to the Legion and then to her again. He shook his head.

“Change back so you can talk to me.” She pulled hard on his armed hand with a strength born of desperation. He shook her off and continued forward. His glowing eyes began to elongate and slant, and he grew taller and thinner. She tried one more time, throwing all her weight on his arm, but it was like trying to stop a tank. “Don’t do this in front of me!”

He froze. Oh, thank the Lord that worked. He turned away from her and his features began to shrink. When he lowered the knife, she released the breath caught in her chest.

“Kade?”

“Get what you need from him,” he answered, his deep voice distorted. He wouldn’t look at her. He didn’t look at the Legion either, but he spoke to him. “Answer her. If you lie, I’ll rip your f*cking intestines out and feed them to you.”

“Yes, my lord.” The Legion peeked up at her, terror masking his face.

“You stated you were boating on Lake Washington when the blooding there occurred. You also stated you saw nothing on the pier where you moored. Now that we have your attention, I need to know what you really saw.” Her words tumbled out. She wanted to leave. Wanted to forget what had just transpired.

Wallace skated a look at Kade before peering at her with his watery, red eyes. “I saw a vampire and two humans. I didn’t recognize any of them.”

She spared a glance at Kade, too, before responding. He seemed to be struggling for control, and she worried he’d lose it before they could leave the house. “Is that two humans including the victim or in addition to the victim? And are you sure you didn’t know the vampire?”

“The victim was already lying on the pier, so it was two in addition to that one. I’m sure I don’t know the vampire.”

Kade growled, sending the Legion into a fleshy lip-wobble.

“I-I’m telling the truth. I don’t know, and I didn’t see his face.”

She handed him the same packet of photos she’d shown Selene. Wallace checked each one carefully.

“None of these. He was very big and wide, a warrior. These are all humans. Are they deranged?” he asked. She nodded. “He couldn’t have been. He was older.”

“How could you tell?”

“He flashed.”

Flashed? Only the oldest vampires could flash. Kade couldn’t even flash. The kind of speed that appeared to the eye as disappearing in thin air was a skill that took many centuries to build. Her eyes closed. There was no way the Ancients could deny it now. The Legion, maybe even the Dominorum, was involved in the derangements as well as the bloodings.

The air stirred next to her. She opened her eyes to Kade standing inches from her side. Her muscles tensed, ready to launch between the vampires if necessary. Instead, the sizzling arc of telepathy buzzed along her skin. Then Kade turned to her.

“Finished?” He radiated barely contained fury with his mouth curved into a frown, his brows drawn close together, and his eyes like flaming coals.

“Kade—”

“Are you done here?” he asked curtly.

“Yes.”

He walked out, not waiting to see if she followed. She jogged to catch up to him. He opened the car door for her and then slid in after her without a word.

“Who was he, Kade? What did you say to him?”

“None of your business.”

For a second, she wanted to use that knife on him, at least to club him on the head with the pommel. Her face grew hotter the longer he sat in silence. He glanced at her, his jaw clenching.

“It was nothing to do with your case, so drop it.”

“Are you trying to make me angry?”

“I have more important things to worry about than how to piss you off, don’t you think?”

Her cheeks flaming, she sat back against her seat, making sure no part of her made contact with him. He really did have important things to worry about. For her, this evidence would prove what she’d alleged all along, that it wasn’t merely rogues performing illegal transformations. This implication of the Immortalis in the crimes could bring a world of turbulence to them, especially to Kade. But his brush-off stung right to the deepest part of her.

“What did he do to you?” she murmured, her eyes downcast. She didn’t expect him to answer, more wondering aloud than anything.

“Val.” His tone was soft, as if to make up for his harsh words. He waited for her to look at him. “He was one of the house staff, one of the Ancients’ subjugates when I was a boy. Domina Evangeline told me they’d all been executed for their crimes.” He looked away. “Instead, I find they’ve been rewarded with transformation and near-immortal life.”

The earth opened under her feet. Or at least she wished it would. Wished it would rise up to swallow her and her wash of remorse. She should have let him kill that Legion, though it was better in the long run that he hadn’t. The last thing the Immortalis needed was murder charges brought against their prince.

“Why?” he asked the night. “Why were they rewarded?”

She took his hand in hers and lifted it to her lips. She had no answer for him, only her sympathy. A weak substitute for a man still tortured by his past. But not defeated by it.

“We’ll find out, Kade. I promise you that.”

“We?” His brows rose. “The Ancients hold the answers, and baby, you don’t want to deal with the Ancients.”

“I deal with them all the time. It’s my job, remember?”

“Not like this you don’t. They won’t like that I know.”

It broke her heart that his parents had treated him so badly. Had lied to him. She couldn’t imagine what he was feeling right now. “Are you afraid of them?”

“No. I’d be afraid for you, if you mess with them.”

“You would?”

His words and the look in his eyes thawed her anger until it melted away. He leaned into her, and then his mouth was on hers. Untangling his hand from hers, he cupped the back of her head. Her arms slid over his shoulders, and she pulled him deeper into the kiss. The slide of his tongue burned into her. Her body was alive in a way she’d never experienced, every cell humming with sensation. The rich, dark scent of him went right to her head and crowded out the rational thoughts clambering for purchase. She tensed to pull away, but then he broke the kiss long enough to speak.

“Mmmm. You taste like berries and mint. Need to go anywhere else tonight?” He ducked his head, letting his lips graze her throat. And then he kissed her again and again and again. As if he couldn’t stop, couldn’t get enough. She couldn’t answer with him claiming her mouth. Laughter bubbled up, and she had to push gently at his shoulders.

“Yes, but I’m not going to.” No way could she concentrate on work anymore with her rational being taking a hike. Oh, she was in trouble. His hands had wandered southward as she spoke, his face nuzzling hers. He took her mouth again, his drug of choice at the moment, and he was hers. Intoxicating. She couldn’t think with him peeling her clothes away like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning.

“I need this right now,” he whispered against her lips. “I need you so f*cking much. Don’t deny me.”

And the depth of the want in his voice obliterated any objection left in her. He took a moment, still lip-locked with her, to raise the glass divider between them and the driver, and then he pushed her skirt up and ripped her panties away. As if the way he touched wouldn’t have melted them off her eventually. She unbuckled his belt, opened the front of his jeans, and rubbed the length of him through the denim.

“That’s so damn good, baby,” he whispered against her lips. He was hot and hard and silky when she reached in. He groaned, rolled back into his seat, and tugged her toward his lap. “Come here. Take it.”

She straddled his lap while he opened her shirt. Her bra posed no challenge for him. He was at the perfect level and seemed infatuated with her C cups. His mouth worked over her nipples, kissing and nipping and sucking until her breath rasped in ragged pants. She’d never known the powerful aphrodisiac such lavish attention could be. She cradled his head with her arms and pressed her cheek against the softness of his hair.

“These are awfully pretty, Val. I’m a little distracted,” he said breathlessly. He kissed her lips again, sweet and shallow. He worked his hand between their bodies and shifted his erection to her entrance. His voice went deep and deliciously rumbly. “I want you. I need inside you now.”

“Yes, Kade. Yes.”

He guided her hips as she lowered onto him and welcomed the slow, erotic burn of the intimate invasion. He grunted through clenched teeth, his head tipping back against the seat. The sight of his exposed throat, with that sexy Adam’s apple, supercharged the fire blazing in her core.

She leaned forward, driving down to take him deeper, and showered his smooth skin with openmouthed kisses. He rewarded her with powerful thrusts, his breathing hard and erratic. Kade was a noisy lover, and every raspy sound struck an unbearably carnal hunger in her. His involvement in loving her was all consuming, his body, mind, and soul engulfed with his passion.

“That’s it, baby,” he murmured. Unbearable tension coiled inside of her at the sound of his hoarse voice at her ear. Then he intensified that sweet tension as he nipped, licked, and sucked a blazing path from her ear down along the column of her throat to her collarbone. He stroked every inch of her exposed flesh within his reach before settling his grip at her hips to drive her forcefully into his hard thrusts. “Yes, yes, yes. Ride me. Ah, pound my cock.”

Fine tremors of pleasure rippled through her, building and building with each slick stroke of his thick shaft. He filled her with delicious heat and friction until ecstasy burst along her limbs, devouring her, and he was right behind. His legs began to shake, and then his fangs flashed. He wrapped her tightly in his arms, curving his hands over her shoulders and pressing her down for deep penetration. Then he came with her name on his lips.

Val went limp against him, her pulse thumping nearly out of her chest and her breath harsh. A sheen of sweat covered her skin. She was suddenly glad the car interior was toasty. A car. She’d just had hot, sweaty sex in a backseat. This probably should have been checked off her to-do list in high school.

“Damn, you don’t know what those tits do to me.”

With a groan, she pushed off his chest. “Lovely, Kade. Very refined.”

He wasn’t smiling, though. He had a strange look on his face, a stunned look. With a slight shake of his head, his attention went to her shirt as he slowly buttoned her back up. She’d been stroking her fingers through his slightly dampened hair when she stilled. This night was going to haunt her. It couldn’t have been a more monumental mistake.

“This—what we’re doing—it’s a bad idea, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Well, yeah, of course it is.” He met her gaze and grinned.

He lifted her off him with a soft groan and settled her in her seat. She took a minute to rearrange her clothing and allowed him time to do the same. After searching futilely for a way to address what they’d done, she gave up and asked a question that had been at the back of her mind since the encounter with Wallace. “How old does a vampire get before he can flash?”

He drew her legs over his lap and pulled her into the crook of his arm as if he hadn’t a care about what had happened between them. She liked his face so close to hers. It felt intimate.

“I’d say six hundred years. At least six hundred. More like eight hundred.”

“Immortalis involvement in the murders is going to cause a lot of problems for you.”

“More than you know. Believe it or not, there aren’t many vampires old enough to develop that ability.”

“At least it narrows down the search.” Drastically.

“Comforting.”

“Smart ass.”

He laughed. “I can’t believe you just cussed.”

She had cursed, hadn’t she? “It’s because you’re a terrible influence.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever said the word ass around you.” He ran his hand over her rear. “Maybe next time we—”

She pressed her fingers against his lips. “Don’t go there.”

“You want to stay at my place? I hole up at dawn, but we have a little time…”

She peered out the window. They were parked at the curb of her apartment building. “Oh. How long have we been here?”

“The whole time.”

“You mean your driver—”

“Has been patiently waiting for us to finish f*cking, yes.”

She covered her face with both hands. As usual lately, her skin was hot under her fingers. It was wild enough to do what they’d done without adding the thought of a semiwitness to their impulsive behavior.

“It’s okay, Val. He didn’t hear a thing.” He grinned. “Compulsion.”

She lowered her hands and glanced at his amused expression, but it was the underlying gleam of male satisfaction that made her decide her wanton abandon had been worth this embarrassment.

“No, I can’t stay at your place.” Yeah, that would only lead to more wanton abandon. She grabbed his arm to keep him in the car and climbed over him to get to the curbside door. “I appreciate it, but you don’t need to get the door for me every time, Sir Lancelot. Now,” she sighed, “let me get this walk of shame out of the way. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

She slammed the door on his thunderous laughter. The heavenly night chill eased her feverish skin but quickly got uncomfortable as her perspiration cooled. She hurried into the building and looked back toward the curb. Kade had waited for her to get inside before his car pulled away. Her heart melted to the consistency of putty. She could kick herself.

Four nights. She’d known him four nights, but she was full to the brim with him. Immersed. She’d crossed boundaries, not only the VLO’s boundaries, but her own as well. Never had she lost control of herself the way she did with Kade. Her reason jumped the boat every time, and that was inherently dangerous.

So she knew something of his past and his pain. It didn’t mean she knew him and what he was capable of. He was on the other side of the tracks from her, and what he wanted from her investigation was at complete odds with what she wanted. What he wanted didn’t matter much now that the perpetrators were clearly Immortalis rather than rogues, but he hadn’t had much to say about one of them murdering humans. She wanted to believe his sincerity about finding the killers. After what had happened tonight, though, she needed another opinion.

Val hit the speed dial on her cell. “Hi, Graham. I know it’s late, but can we talk?”