~ ~ ~
Connor’s com vibrated against his shoulder. For the moment, he ignored it because Iris had finally returned to the garden. His whole vampire being was focused on her. He wanted her sex and he wanted her blood. And in a strange way, he longed to talk with her.
He stared down at her as she lifted her gaze once more in his direction, hunting through the night sky. But he knew she wouldn’t be able to see him. All vampires had the means to remain partially cloaked from witches, one of the few defenses they had against Iris’s kind. The distance completed his invisibility.
Using his scope, he centered it on her face once more. Damn, she was beautiful and that was part of the problem. He’d always preferred dark-haired women and her large, brown eyes had a soulful expression he knew reflected her nature, despite that she was a witch.
He knew a lot about her because he’d hunted her down on the Internet and made an illegal search of her home computer. He knew which websites she visited, that she followed a blog called, ‘Witches and Self-Awareness’, and her Tumblr page had lots of pictures of animals, the forest, and travel photos of Europe.
He even knew the porn site she preferred, which had been fodder for his fantasies over the past two months. Iris, of course, played the lead.
He really was just this side of stalking.
Hell, who was he kidding? He was stalking Iris, though to be fair he had no intention of ever intruding into her life.
An owl swooped down on her suddenly, then took up his usual perch in the huge tree at the back of her yard.
Her melodious voice hit the air once more. “Hello, Sebastien.” He could hear Iris laughing and talking with the owl, her pet, or muse or whatever it was witches used to conjure shit.
When his com buzzed for the second time, he swiftly rose another thirty feet in the air then pressed the button. “Connor.”
“Talking pretty quiet. You on a stake-out?”
He recognized Lily’s voice and some of the tension eased out of him. Lily worked dispatch, manning the phones and passing out assignments. “Trying not to attract notice.”
“So, who is she?”
The question startled him. He didn’t think anybody knew what he did between calls. Shit.
Then he realized Lily was fishing. “A beautiful Honda Scrambler, 1973.” Half true. He’d started to collect Café Racers, the older, the better.
He heard Lily snort. “You men and your machines. Okay, listen up. This comes from the chief. We’ve got a runner out at Amado Bridge and he wants you on it.”
Connor frowned. He didn’t usually work the dead-talker end of vampire territory. “Isn’t that Jason’s section?”
“Jason’s MIA, has been for two nights now, and the chief is about ready to explode.”
Unusual for Jason to be missing, but he was a Border Patrol officer and sometimes the men needed to go on a bender just to survive. “He’ll turn up, but his head won’t feel too good.”
Lily laughed. “I totally agree and to answer your next question, yes, Easton was adamant you take this call.”
No point a
rguing about any decision the chief made. “I’m on it.”
He took off, heading north in the direction of Crescent Territory, wondering what the hell he would find this time. He touched the hilt of his half-sword and thumbed the holster of his Glock. He wore black leather wrist guards lined with steel, a black tank, leathers, and heavy boots. He was ready.
Amado Bridge. He scowled. One of the worst terrains for a runner to attempt to take drugs into the human world.
His instincts lit up. Jason was missing, a runner was out at Amado and Easton wanted him on the assignment.
A sick feeling started crawling around his gut. This call already stunk and it was only midnight. Great.
~ ~ ~
At the same moment Iris felt Connor take off, her cell rang. She fished it from her jeans pocket and saw that the Tribunal was calling. She frowned because she wasn’t working tonight, and she had a dozen orders to fill. Her job as a TPS officer barely paid the bills so she supplemented her income by creating special potions. Using a human dealer, she had her products selling at high prices in the various malls and specialty stores around Phoenix. She was doing well.
She touched the phone face. “Meldeere.”