The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

Liander sniffed. "Well, of course there is. I'm just saying the name seems familiar."

"Well," I said, grabbing my cup and bowl as I rose. "Let me know if you remember. Meanwhile, I'm heading into the Directorate. You want me to let Jack know you're going to be late?"

"No need." Rhoan's voice was decidedly smug. "I've got the day off. Some of us do occasionally think ahead and prepare."

"And this would have to be a first for you."

He threw a cushion after me. It thudded into a wall, missing by miles. For some reason, it sent the two of them off into fits of laughter. I shook my head and left them to it.

Thankfully, the car had survived the night without additional decoration from the local goons. I threw my gear in, clipped my cell phone onto its hands-free holder, then pulled into the traffic and headed to work.

The phone rang well before I got there and my heart sunk. The number said it was either Jack or Sal, and a call at this hour from either one could never be a good thing.

I pressed the receive button and said, "You know I can't stomach bad news before I've had my second cup of coffee."

"Well, ain't that just too bad," Jack said, sounding tired and just a little frustrated, "because I've got another one for you."

I slowed the car as the lights ahead turned to red. "I take it you mean another dead naked politician flashing his butt to the world?"

"Not quite. This one is a naked shoe-store owner flashing his butt to all and sundry."

That raised my eyebrows. "Human or nonhuman?"

"Non. Werefox, to be exact."

The killer wasn't restricting himself to any one race, then. "Where was he found?"

"In his store, by his employee. Apparently the dead man and a friend were getting hot and happy in the store window, and that's where he died."

So we had a killer who liked to do the deed in exposed spots, and who obviously had no qualms about being seen. Either that, or it added to the thrill. "Let me guess - his friend is nowhere to be found again?"

"Spot on."

"So why are you so sure it's connected? Beside the fact that our killer is something of an exhibitionist?"

"A feeling, nothing more."

And I'd put money on Jack's feelings over most people's certainties any day.

"Kade's heading there now," he continued. "I want you there ASAP to see if you can sense anything."

"I didn't sense anything useful at James's office." And if my job at the Directorate started to be nothing more than visiting murder scenes to try and sense departing souls, then I'd rather quit.

Which was quite a statement, considering I never actually wanted to be a guardian in the first place.

"Still worth trying. I'll send you the address." He paused, and in the background I heard paper rustling. "We checked out that nest you found last night, too."

I raised my eyebrows. "That was fast."

"Emo vamps can be quite dangerous. We had to assess the situation."

"So they really do feed on emotions rather than blood?"

"Yes. And they have the ability - and the tendency - to amp up emotions. In certain situations, that can get extremely dangerous."

"This one seems to feed off sexual energy."

"Sexual emotions tend to be the rawest, and therefore more satisfying to emo vamps, but they'll make do with lesser emotions like fear, anger, and pain when they have to."