The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

"In the first bedroom."

I walked around the L-shaped sofa and headed toward the first door. The smell of death was sharper the closer I got to the bedroom, and my skin crawled. Not because of the death scent, but because there was something else here, something that felt wrong.

I stopped just inside the doorway, briefly noting the blood splatters on the walls and the wide dark stain on the carpet before my gaze was drawn to the heavy-looking hook hanging from the ceiling above the stain.

"That where it happened?" Stupid question, but sometimes they just had to be asked.

"Yes."

Ben had stopped right behind me, and the thick, warm heat of him flowed over me, drowning my senses and sending desire prickling across my skin. Not what I needed right now.

Or later, for that matter.

I turned around and lightly pressed my fingers into his stomach. Felt the steel of muscle underneath the cotton T-shirt. "You need to step back. You're overwhelming my senses."

"I think that's the nicest thing a woman has said to me in a while."

He didn't move, but then again, I wasn't pushing very hard. Not yet.

I snorted softly. "Somehow, I'm doubting that."

"You'd be surprised." He took several steps back. The richness of his aroma abated enough to allow more of the room's flavors in. "We strippers are taken for granted more often than not."

"I thought you didn't do much stripping now." I turned around and took a step forward, distancing myself a little more and trying to catch the source of that tenuous, unsettling scent.

"I don't. But I wasn't always a manager."

"So how long have you been in the profession?" I took another step forward. That strange scent got a bit stronger, reminding me more and more of a vampire's scent - only if the killer was a vampire, then he was one who smelled like no other vampire I'd come across.

"I've been in the business since I was seventeen. There wasn't a whole lot else a kid with little schooling could do. Even apprenticeships need minimum grade levels."

The closer I got to the bed, the stronger that odd smell got, and the more certain I became it was vampire. A vampire that smelled like no other, but a vampire all the same. And he'd been here recently. I stripped off the bedcovers and bent to sniff the sheets.

The scents of wolf and sex emanated off them, but though the vampire stench was extremely strong near the bed, he - or she - hadn't been in it. Not that it meant anything. Someone who liked hanging themselves for kicks wasn't likely to be restricted to a bed for lovemaking.

I looked at Ben. "Were any of Denny's lovers vampires?"

He frowned. "Not that I know of. He had a couple of wolves he'd mentioned recently, but never a vampire."

"Well, one's been in this room. You can smell him near the bed."

He came into the room, filling the whiteness with his dark vitality. He drew in a breath, then his blue gaze met mine. "Something smells old. Off, almost."

I nodded. "Vampire."

He frowned. "Vampires don't smell like that."

"Maybe not the ones you associate with, but the ones I deal with, yeah, they do." I contemplated the heavy metal hook for a moment. There were no vibes of power in this room, no chill that indicated the other side was coming out to play. Maybe his soul had moved on, or maybe he simply didn't want to talk. "I guess the first thing we need to do is try and uncover the name of the vampire who was here. What clubs did Denny frequent?"

Ben smiled. "All of them. He liked to cruise."

"No favorite, then? No club he went to more than others?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I could ring up and ask Jilli. She might know."

"Jilli being one of the wolves he mentioned recently?"

"Yeah. She owns and runs a coffee shop near the Blue Moon."