Some friends knew, old boyfriends, even the woman who lived across the street from headquarters. They knew.
It just… paranormals weren’t supposed to know. And if they found out? It was Tabby’s job to silence them. Which she most definitely neglected to do when Adam apologized one last time about his loss of control before fleeing from her apartment, his head most decidedly still on his shoulders.
He bit her neck. Tabby just hoped that the Nightwalker didn’t turn around and bite her in the ass.
The way she saw it, unless he went out and blabbed, no one needed to know that she broke the biggest rule in the Slayer’s Code.
Besides, it wasn’t like she was ever going to see him again.
Right?
Tabby was just about to head out on her hunt the next night when the obnoxious banging started at her door.
This time, she didn’t even bother reaching for Venice. She already had a pretty good guess who was out there.
Eddie Daniels was a smart one. Knowing she was a slayer who specialized in hunting Nightwalkers, Tabby ran on the graveyard shift. If he wanted to make sure he got her when she was home, he had to show up early.
Either that, or he was watching her. From what she knew about her uncle’s protégé, she was banking on that last part, especially since she’d begun to suspect that he didn’t head back to HQ the night before like he was supposed to.
Which meant that Boone had probably okayed this more aggressive push for him to be her new partner.
At least her uncle got one thing right. Her last partner had been a hound dog. From the way Eddie looked her over when she gave in and opened the door… oh, yeah. The handsome slayer was every inch a dog.
Too bad she didn’t have half as much affection for him than she did old Rosie.
“Eddie. You’re back.”
“Miss me, Tab?”
“I’ll miss you when you’re gone,” she said sweetly. “So why don’t you get going and I can get started on that?”
Figuring he’d take the hint that she wasn’t in the mood for one of his visits, Tabby started to close the door, resigning herself to a phone call from her uncle in the not-so-distant future. What she didn’t expect? Was Eddie shoving his boot in the door, blocking her from closing it all of the way before he forced his way into the apartment.
“Eddie! What are you doing?”
“What’s on your neck? You’ve got a patch on already? What the hell for? I thought I caught you on the way out.”
She slapped at his hand as he reached for her, her belly dropping to her Keds as she realized what he’d just seen. “It’s nothing. I’m fine. Leave it alone.”
Eddie was a big guy who didn’t hesitate to use his strength against her when he thought he was doing it for the best. Grabbing her by the wrist, he tugged her so that she was in reaching distance before gently easing the magic-aid from her throat.
“Shit. You were bitten?”
Damn it. How could she have forgotten to remove the patch before she went to bed early this morning?
Simple. Because she’d been eager to fall asleep and fantasize about a Nightwalker.
Oh, boy.
She shrugged. “It happens.”
“It looks pretty fresh. You go out on a hunt last night? Find a target?”
Tabby pressed the patch back in place, trying not to dwell on what he said. Fresh? It had been at least fourteen hours since Adam bit her. The magic-aid should’ve cleared it up by now.
It had every other time she’d been tagged by a vamp.
She didn’t even want to begin to guess why it hadn’t with Adam’s bite.