The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

I shrugged. "Beating her up would have been an exercise in stupidity. She had forty of her get living with her and those sort of odds are a little overwhelming."

"Forty?" He frowned. "How does any one vampire control that many fledglings? And how would they even manage to all live together?"

I finished off my cereal, then dumped the bowl back on the table and said, "She wasn't a blood vamp, but rather some sort of emotional vampire. Apparently living together is a requirement for suckers who feed off emotion."

"There're vamps who feed off emotion?" Liander said. "That's a somewhat horrific thought."

I raised an eyebrow. "No worse than blood vamps, really."

He snorted. "It's hard to miss a blood vamp feeding off you. Bet the same couldn't be said of an emotional vampire."

He had a point. Especially if all emotional vamps had an aura as strong as Vinny's.

"You reported their presence to Jack?" Rhoan asked.

"Yep."

"Good." He paused to sip his coffee. "So why were you even there rescuing this accountant? Did it have something to do with that phone call you got last night?"

I nodded and explained why Ben had rung, then added, "Which is why I kissed the vamp. To get the name before he attacks someone else."

"So it's not someone connected to this Ben fellow?" Liander asked.

"Ben doesn't seem to think he's the connection, but I haven't talked to him since getting the name. Could turn out that he does know this Aron Young."

Which wouldn't be a good thing, because Young's actions had earned him an execution order. Vamps involved in the torture of others didn't live all that much longer than those actually killing - simply because one crime usually developed into the other anyway. And if Ben was a good friend, he'd come under Directorate scrutiny as well.

Liander frowned. "That name rings a bell."

I raised an eyebrow. "You know someone called Aron Young?"

"I didn't say that. I just said it rings a bell."

"I'm sure there's more than one Aron Young out there," Rhoan said dryly.

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?"