Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson Guardian 7)

"The worst a crow could do is peck someone to death."

"When we're talking about sorcerers, anything is possible."

I guess that was true. "It'll take me fifteen minutes to get ready."

"I want you there by four," he said, and hung up.

I glanced at my watch. He'd given me a whole twenty-five minutes. How generous of him. I downed my coffee then headed for the bathroom.

Although I got ready in record time, it still took me thirty-five minutes to get through the city traffic to Brighton.

Cole glanced around as I walked into the third-floor apartment, then made a show of looking at his watch. "You're late."

"Bite me," I muttered, in no mood for frivolities right now. The metallic tang of blood was thick in the air, but it was the reek of magic that turned my stomach. It was so strong my skin crawled against the sensation. "So who did they kill this time?"

"Our vamp is one Jason Burke. He's got a reputation as a philanderer, and has only just moved down here from Queensland. Apparently things were getting a little heated up there for him." Cole paused and smiled. "From what I heard, there were several husbands armed with sharpened sticks coming after him."

I didn't smile. I didn't have the energy. "Where are the victims?"

"In the bedroom."

Which was where the other victims had been caught, even if they hadn't all been killed there. At least there was one constant. "What time were they killed?"

"Approximately eleven last night."

Jessica had been in the club giving me the evil eye at that time, so she couldn't have been involved, no matter what Jack might think. "Any reason why Jack would say that these murders are worse than before?"

Cole snorted. "Because they are. They look as if they've been torn apart by dogs, although the tear marks don't actually match any dogs that I know of."

"Not even hellhounds?"

"Haven't had a whole lot of experience with them, but it seems to me they don't actually leave pieces. They consume it all."

"They seem to. And the woman who controls the hellhounds was at the club at the time of the murders."

"Doesn't mean she couldn't have sent her beasties here."

"Or that the other sorceress couldn't have raised her own little beasties."

"True." Cole's gaze was still on me, still intent. Although he couldn't see the injuries I'd received last night, I had an odd sense he knew about them anyway. A suspicion he confirmed by asking, "Are you okay?"

"Had a brush with said beasties last night. They're now ash blowing on the wind." I gave him a lopsided smile. "But I actually think it's the late-night working. Its done me in more than the hellhounds' efforts. I'll be glad when this job is over."

"Yeah, irregular working hours can be a bitch." He waved a hand toward the bedroom. "Dobbs and Dusty are in there at the moment. That's not going to interfere with your psychic radar, is it?"

I shook my head and grabbed a pair of plastic shoe covers from the little box on the table. I'd need them if this murder was as bad as everyone was saying. "Do we know who the other victim is yet?"

"Denita Lowe," Cole said, carefully picking up a hair and placing it into a plastic bag. "A forty-six-year-old woman with a hubby and two kids."

So Burke had continued his philandering ways despite his trouble up in Queensland. "The husband been told yet?"

Cole shook his head. "I think Jack is waiting until we find enough of her to get an official ID."

I frowned. "If you haven't got enough, how do you know who she is?"

"Purse over by the door."

"Oh." Of course. I turned and headed for the bedroom. There was no use delaying it any longer. Besides, I had to report to the club in an hour.