The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

"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."

Which is why there'd been such a strong sense of hunger in the building when I'd walked in - they'd been feeding off what was happening in Ivan's apartment.

And I wouldn't have been surprised if that had been part of the reasoning behind Vinny allowing the vampire to visit Ivan.

"What's your impression of Vincenta Castillo?" Jack asked.

I hesitated. "She's one to watch. I think she has great plans for herself and her fledglings, but I don't think she's done anything to cross the line just yet."

"Interesting."

His voice was dry, and my eyebrows rose again. "Why?"

"Because our inspector gave a glowing report."

I grinned. "Was he young and blond?"

Jack paused. "Young, yes. Blond, no."

"She razzle-dazzled him, boss. He wouldn't have known what side of his pen was up when he was taking notes."

"Young Clark has strong shields. Even an emo vamp shouldn't have been able to affect him."

"I've got strong shields, and I felt her pull."