Banshee Charmer (Files from the Otherworlder Enforcement Agency, #1) (12 page)

His touch was firm, but not rough, and I strained against him, trying to make him press harder. I couldn’t help myself from seeking the release I knew he could grant me. But he pulled back as I pushed forward, and then moved closer again when I relaxed, torturing me.

“Kiera,” he whispered, and as he pressed his hand more firmly against me, I gasped.

The rest of our clothing disappeared under his expert hands. He lowered his head to trail kisses down my side, before nipping at my hip bone.

Screw this. No way was he always going to be in control.

I pushed at his shoulders and he looked up at me, brows furrowed in confusion. But when I nudged him down onto his back and bent my head to kiss and nibble my way down his chest, tasting his slightly damp skin, his breath caught and his eyes widened. He dropped his head back when I lowered my face and licked his hip bone, biting and kissing my way to his erection. And when I took him into my mouth, he groaned.

“Yes,” he said, breathless.

I tortured him with my mouth, the way he’d tortured me with his. Speeding up until he was at the brink, and then slowing down. He gripped my hair in one hand, keeping it out of my face rather than using it to direct me. He knew I needed this, needed the control, needed him to want me as badly as I wanted him.

His eyes met mine, and with a final, long lick, I released him. Settling on top, I rubbed myself against his hardness, but didn’t take him inside of me.

“Kiera.” He spoke my name softly, and there was the hint of a question in his voice.

I just looked at him.

“Will you let me drink from you, just a little bit?”

I tried to grasp what Marisol had said about joining with a succubus, because I knew the same rules would apply to an incubus, but my mind shied from it. He wasn’t going to drain me to death, after all. But in the back of my head I wondered if the process would bond us. I buried the thought, smothering that dangerous desire.

And part of me, a small part, wanted to feel what the victims felt before they died. What Amanda felt. I would get part of him too, that’s what Marisol said. If he was hiding something from me, would this reveal that? I wouldn’t be helpless, after all. I wasn’t under thrall. If he started to take too much, I’d show him exactly how loudly I could scream.

Just a taste, he said, and I so badly wanted him to taste me.

“Yes. Do it,” I said.

If I hadn’t been expecting it, I might not have noticed anything. As I edged my hips up from him, something touched me, very softly. As he eased his cock into me, something of him eased into me psychically as well. Heat built in my chest and in my stomach, and for a brief moment, I felt safe and warm and home.

Aidan distracted me from the subtle, but powerful feeling by starting an equally powerful sensation within me. I moved against him, a slow rhythm designed to torture us both, savoring the sensation of him rocking against me. He cupped my breasts as I moved, rubbing and squeezing them gently.

Finally, the slow rhythm grew to be too much. Aidan growled and flipped me over, placing himself firmly on top. I gasped in surprise and could only cling to him as he claimed control. The soft touch I’d felt when he connected to me increased in intensity, and it burned in my chest. Then spread.

Aidan pulled one of my legs up over his shoulder and buried his face in my hair. The faster he moved in me, the more the heat in my chest spread, over my breasts and to my hands and feet, and between my legs. After a few moments the heat turned to ice, but the sensation wasn’t uncomfortable, just intense. I gripped his backside, digging my nails into him, while my knee pushed into my shoulder. I couldn’t catch my breath enough to speak, enough to cry out. There was just him, moving so fast within me I almost couldn’t hold on, and the freezing heat that threatened to burn me up.

With a burst of energy, a cry escaped my lungs. As my world exploded Aidan thrust into me once, again. He cried out, face pulling back from my hair as he tensed.

With one last shudder, he collapsed against me.

…

I woke up in a much better mood than the previous day
, if more than a little exhausted. A side effect of letting Aidan drain me more so than a sleepless night, I suspected. But I shied away from thinking about what that might mean, and I didn’t feel any different from the small bit we’d shared. After several hours of enjoying each other’s company, Aidan took me to pick up my car. He was gone again by the time I got up, but he’d kissed me before he left and whispered a quick good-bye. My happy glow didn’t even disappear when I realized I needed to go to the office to fill out a mountain of paperwork about the goblin kill. The number of forms literally doubled when you had to perform a field execution instead of a capture.

Piping-hot coffee waited in the kitchen, so I poured some into a to-go mug and headed for the office. I was still irritated Aidan hadn’t seen fit to confide in me about his heritage, but the fact he made me coffee before he left got him a lot closer to being forgiven. Another night spent together didn’t hurt his case either. And not being extinct wasn’t a crime. I cursed at myself for thinking about him more than I should, but I couldn’t help the warmth in my heart.

I walked into the precinct and the receptionist at the front desk gave me a puzzled look as I waved hello to her. She waved back tentatively. Wondering what her problem was, I made my way to my desk.

“You get laid or something?” a gruff voice said from behind me.

Feeling heat flood my cheeks, I didn’t turn around. “What the hell are you talking about, Aggie?”

“Well, that’s the only explanation I can think of for the shit-eating grin the receptionist said you were wearing today.” I could hear the smile in his voice. Nothing made Agrusa as happy as giving a fellow officer a hard time.

“Didn’t you hear? Bagged myself a goblin last night. Adds a little extra skip to a girl’s step.” Not to mention hours of amazing sex with an incubus. I sat down, keeping my back to Agrusa. My face was probably red and it would only feed his suspicion.

“Hrmph,” he said. I almost sighed in relief when I heard his footsteps retreating.

I didn’t have to wipe the giant grin off my face—Agrusa’s observation had done that for me. No wonder the uniform at the reception desk looked at me like she’d never seen me before. Grinning idiot. Might as well walk in humming. Nothing would drown my happy mood like paperwork. With that cheerful thought in mind, I grabbed a pen from my desk drawer and started a written description of the goblin incident. My notes got to the point where I entered the dwelling when the sound of stomping feet behind me pulled me from my work.

“You need something, Lieutenant?” I asked without turning around.

“My office, Mac.”

I followed him into his office, and shut the door behind me. “Working on the goblin report. Would have done it last night but you’d have had to scrub the station for weeks to get rid of the smell.”

Lieutenant Vasquez grimaced. “That’s not why I need to talk to you.” He gestured toward the chair in front of his desk. Taking the hint, I sat.

“Okay, then what is this about?” I kept my voice flat, even, and hoped he didn’t know the full extent of my side investigation. Looking into Amanda’s murder even though I wasn’t supposed to would be understood, even respected. Keeping important things like the suspect’s description and last known location to myself was impeding an investigation. At the very least he’d be able to take my badge. I’d be lucky if he didn’t push for jail time considering how much he liked me.

“Your OWEA friend, Aidan Byrne.”

“What about him?”

“There’s no one with the OWEA named Aidan Byrne.”

My mouth dropped and I leaned forward, gripping Vasquez’s desk, ready to argue with him. I took a deep breath and hoped like hell I looked pissed, not hurt.

“Furthermore,” he continued, “the OWEA has not been looking into these murders, and wasn’t even aware of a connection between our victims and any others. Were you ever able to get files from this contact?”

“No,” I said, my voice rough. And I hadn’t asked again because I’d been more distracted by him than what he was supposed to be getting me. Dammit.

“Did you get any names?” He leaned back in his chair and studied my face.

Get a grip, Mac. “No. I didn’t follow up with him, since I’m no longer on the investigation. I figured the guy would contact you.” I met his eyes, keeping a firm frown plastered on, and concentrated on thinking angry thoughts.
Pissed. I’m just pissed.
Nothing to see here, Vasquez. I’m not lying to you to cover my ass, not obstructing an ongoing investigation.

Lieutenant Vasquez frowned at me. “Well, if you hear anything else from him I need to know. And get me a description ASAP. Write it up. If he’s not with law enforcement, he’s a suspect. Could be he’s some private investigator one of the vic’s families hired, but if that’s the case he should be sharing information with us.” Vasquez motioned toward the door and picked up his phone, dismissing me.

When I got back to my desk, it took every bit of willpower I could muster to sit down as if nothing had happened. Vasquez couldn’t know I had any interest in Aidan outside of the professional. My job would be at stake. Moreover, it would be embarrassing as hell. I forced myself to finish writing my report, and then started in on the additional paperwork related to the goblin execution, fighting tears and rage every step of the way. I called Aggie in between endless forms hoping he’d have more info on Amanda’s case, but he didn’t pick up, so I left him a curt voice mail.

I tried to concentrate on my reports, but my flittering thoughts made focusing difficult. Why did he lie to me? If the OWEA didn’t send him, then who? Could he be involved with the killer? Could he
be
the killer? Kimmy’s reaction flashed in my mind. She was startled when she saw Aidan. Because she’d seen him before?

By the time I finished my paperwork and was ready to head out, it was late afternoon. I still hadn’t heard from Aidan, and I hadn’t bothered to call him either. I needed to sort through this before I saw him again.

If
I saw him again.

My heart twinged, making me even more irate. Damned liar made me care about him. I had to work this out on my own, and find the killer. Then I’d deal with Aidan.

Provided, of course, he wasn’t the killer.

“Detective McLoughlin?” an unfamiliar voice asked from behind me.

I started, almost dripping water from the paper cup I’d just filled from the cooler. But my back was to the man, whoever he was, so he probably hadn’t noticed. Squaring my shoulders, I turned to face him.

He was tall, over six feet, which made him a lot taller than me. He wore a fed suit and had a fed hairstyle—neatly trimmed and combed backward with some sort of product gunked on to keep it in place. His hair was brown, as were his eyes, and he was handsome in an obvious sort of way.

I kept my cop face firmly pasted on and put my free hand on my hip. Very deliberately, I took a sip of my water.

“Kiera McLoughlin?” His eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw, clearly annoyed.

“I’m Mac. Who are you?” It was rude, but I’d had my fill of the OWEA today, and this guy reeked of belonging to them. The fact that Aidan wasn’t really with the agency notwithstanding.

He frowned at me. “I’m Bradley Greaves.” He pulled his badge out of his inside jacket pocket and held the leather case open so I could see his identification. It looked just like the one Aidan flashed me the night I met him. “I’m an agent with the OWEA. I need to talk to you about the man you say has been impersonating an agent.”

“I’ve already told my lieutenant what I know.” I turned to walk back to my desk and hoped that Agent Greaves was as human as he appeared. Some otherworlders—vampires and lycanthropes especially—had very good hearing. And anyone with hearing like that would know my heart was beating so fast it was amazing the organ hadn’t thumped its way out of my chest.

“Detective,” Greaves said, raising his voice slightly in warning. “We’re going to have this discussion, and we’re doing it now.”

I spun back around to face him. “Last I checked you don’t have any authority over me, Agent Greaves.”

“He doesn’t, but I do.” I mentally cringed at the voice behind me, but kept my face carefully neutral. That voice I knew. Unfortunately.

“Really? Internal Affairs feels the need to poke their nose in this?” I asked without turning around.

“We’ve been asked to,” he said icily.

“Thank you for coming, Mason,” Greaves said, voice dripping with satisfaction. “I’ve taken the liberty of securing us an interview room so we can speak freely.”

Chapter Ten

Mason Sanderson sat at the end of the rectan
gular table wh
ile Agent Greaves took his place opposite me. Mason didn’t look happy, though I couldn’t think of a time when I’d seen him with a cheerful expression. A freak squad veteran, he’d moved to the Internal Affairs division when Lieutenant Vasquez took over the squad. His chiseled face and dark eyes would have been handsome on another man, quite handsome. But I could never get around the hard edges of his expression and the seriousness of his demeanor. I needed humor in a man. Like Aidan with his sardonic smile and light, teasing attitude.

Fuck.

Greaves pulled me from my thoughts with a question, but I’d missed it so I just stared at him. He stared back, pen in hand, hovering over a legal pad.

“Just walk us through how you met the man impersonating an agent and all of your contact with him,” Mason said.

“Sure. I met him when I left Rebecca Anderson’s house.”

“The second possible victim you know of in your jurisdiction?” Greaves asked.

“Yes. He was at my house, in my dining room, when I got home.”

“This was Sunday night?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t keep the touch of impatience out of my tone.

“And you didn’t find it odd that a law enforcement officer would break into your home?” Greaves raised an eyebrow at me.

“Of course it was odd, but he had proper identification and he seemed to have knowledge of the case.” What else had he lied to me about? What else was he hiding? I needed time to think, to get my mind around what was going on.

Greaves snorted. “So you assumed that a man, who had already broken into your home, who had full knowledge about at least two murders, was on the up and up just because he had a convincing badge? What kind of cop are you?”

“Hey—” I leaned forward until I hit the table with my chest. Shit, could Aidan be the killer? No—why wouldn’t he have killed me by now? Plus, he hadn’t thralled me. Had he?

No.

I would have picked up on that. I would know if I were being manipulated.

“Watch your tone, Greaves,” Mason cut in, raising a hand in warning.

“Come on, Mason. This guy’s probably a serial killer and she’s been playing nice with him, feeding him information about a police investigation.” Greaves grabbed the table as if he wanted to pull it from the ground and throw it at the wall in frustration. Then he took a deep breath and released his grip, once again the composed OWEA agent.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I kept my voice even, just barely. “I’m not part of the investigation anymore. What could I possibly have to share?” I considered, for a brief moment, coming clean about the full extent of my relationship with Aidan. It was probably my best bet for having a career once all of this came to light, and almost certainly the right thing for me to do. As a cop. But I wasn’t just a cop, and dammit, if Aidan was a bad guy in all this, I was going to be the one to bring him down.

“What did he look like?” Greaves leaned back in his chair, bringing his notepad and pen with him.

I shrugged. “Dark hair, dark blue eyes.”

“Handsome?”

“I guess…what the hell does that have to do with anything?” My heart sped up and I could feel sweat building on the back of my neck and between my breasts. They didn’t know about Aidan and me. They couldn’t. If they had I’d already be in a lot more trouble than an interview, and there was no way Vasquez would have let me out of his office without more than a small talking-to if he knew. I kept my face blank, but my heart didn’t listen.

“You screwing this guy, Detective? Is that why you didn’t check up on him? Didn’t care to know what your honey was really up to?” The sneer on Greaves face made me want to scream until his eardrums exploded, but I didn’t react. Any reaction and he’d have me.

“That’s enough, Greaves,” Mason warned. “You’ll keep your questions to the topics we discussed or you’ll leave without questioning Detective McLoughlin further.”

Greaves leaned across the table and pointed his finger at my chest. “You should have known he wasn’t OWEA; running his name by our office would have taken a few minutes. Don’t pretend you haven’t been doing your own side investigation. You’ve been spotted at one of the victim’s houses—”

“Amanda Franklin! That was her name. She wasn’t some nameless victim.” I’d lost the battle to keep my emotion from my voice, but at that point I didn’t care. “She was a damn good detective. And you’re right. I should have realized Aidan Byrne—or whatever the hell his name really is—wasn’t OWEA the second I noticed he didn’t have a giant stick shoved up his ass!”

“Why you bi—” Greaves jumped from his chair and Mason stood as well.

“Sit down, Greaves,” Mason ordered, and his tone, though full of warning, was low.

I had half stood when Greaves did, and I sat back down when he did, too. Mason remained standing, arms crossed.

“You were given permission to interview Detective McLoughlin, Agent Greaves. You were not granted leave to interrogate her like some sort of criminal or attack her personally. This interview is over. If you want to talk to the detective again, you can do so through me or Lieutenant Vasquez.”

Greaves opened his mouth to argue and Mason slammed his hand on the desk, palm down. Greaves jumped a bit in his chair and closed his mouth.

“Get out of here, Mac,” Mason said, eyes never leaving Greaves.

I was pissed, and an argument with Greaves still felt like a good idea. But Mason outranked me, and he’d spent more than a decade in the paranormal unit. A human wouldn’t have put in that kind of time. I didn’t know what he was, but I was willing to bet Greaves did. And if the sweat on the agent’s brow and the tightness of his jaw was any indication, whatever Mason Sanderson was, he was a scary mother.

…

My phone started ringing the second I left the station. I glance
d down at the number, and frowned. Aidan. I ignored the call, but after the third time, I started to wonder. No calls from him the entire day while I was at the office, and now three in a row. How close of tabs was he keeping on me? After a quick stop through a fast food drive-thru, I headed back to the office, ignoring yet another of Aidan’s phone calls as I pulled into the police parking lot.

“Jerk,” I muttered. He’d lied to me. Lied to me and slept with me and made me look incompetent in front of my coworkers. I blinked back tears and tried to focus on anything but Aidan. But focus failed me, and I found myself opening my phone to call him back.

“Hello, beautiful.” Aidan’s voice was smooth. Whatever tabs he kept on me apparently didn’t extend into the interview rooms at the police station.

“Screw you, Aidan. You lying asshole.” The words spilled out before I could stop them, before I could even think about pretending I didn’t know he’d lied. Before I could come up with any kind of plan other than yelling at him.

Silence greeted me on the other end of the line.

“Call me again, and I’ll sic the OWEA on your ass. The
real
OWEA, not liars like you with plastic badges. Don’t call me again. Don’t try to find me. Don’t even fucking think about me.” My voice cracked, and I shut the phone with a snap. Blinking back tears, I concentrated on breathing. No crying. Not over that lying ass.

After a few minutes I had myself under control again. I wasn’t going to think about Aidan, but if he had anything to do with Amanda’s death, I’d nail him to the wall. Aggie hadn’t returned the call I’d sneaked while going through paperwork, so poking around the office after hours seemed like my only hope of getting any information on Amanda’s case tonight. Either that, or head back to Sylvester’s and let Kimmy give me the evil eye all night. Or I could call Aidan back and talk to him like an adult.

Screw that.

As I dug into my fries and stared at the nearly empty parking lot around me, I considered calling Marisol. As a member of the paranormal division, she would be able to access the records. Maybe. I suppressed a sigh. No, I couldn’t bring her into this. My career was most likely already in the crapper, but hers didn’t have to be. It wasn’t fair to drag her down with me.

But Claude held sway, and I suspected he was far more powerful than he acted. Not only was he a vampire—and despite the fact he’d never admit it, Vasquez was scared shitless of vampires—but Claude didn’t really need his job. Oh, he seemed to enjoy the work, but the man drove a new quarter of a million dollar car every few months and lived in a high-rise condo in the most expensive part of town. He didn’t
need
it, not like I needed to find Amanda’s killer. Besides, if he wasn’t willing to help me, he simply wouldn’t.

I opened my phone and pulled his number from my list of division members’ contact information. The phone rang several times, and then went to voice mail.

“Claude, it’s Mac, call me when you get this. It’s important.” I flipped the phone shut and tossed it onto the passenger seat. I munched on my remaining fries and tried to think my way through the maze that this case had become.

If the witch, Natalie, was right, Amanda may very well have led her killer to her doorstep by trying to track him. That meant he wasn’t just an otherworlder—he was knowledgeable about magic. I frowned and took a sip of my Coke. If what Marisol said was true, succubi—and by extension incubi—kept a piece with them of the people they drained. I wasn’t entirely clear how that worked, but if draining one person to the point of death, a person who deserved it no less, had almost killed her sister—hell, had driven poor Elaine to become a shut-in for years after the incident—then what must draining so many women have done to this incubus? He had to be insane, truly mad, if he carried bits of the personalities of the dozen women he’d killed.

Well, a dozen if Aidan had been telling the truth.

I muttered an expletive and tried to focus on anything other than Aidan Byrne. But thoughts of him flitted through my mind as if summoned by my determination to banish them. I’d never had a man affect me like he did, never felt such overwhelming feelings so quickly. I stilled, a sudden thought hit me, and my stomach tensed. Could Aidan be influencing me with his incubus power, using more than just his aura, but actually consciously trying to thrall me? He shouldn’t be able to do that, not unless…

Not unless he’d been draining people.

No. He couldn’t be, could he? My thoughts scattered and I couldn’t bring them back into focus. Amanda, Aidan, my soon-to-be-shot career, and the OWEA agent and his asshole attitude all scrambled together to muddle my thoughts.

Screw this.

I started the car and threw it into reverse. I had to do something. I’d find Claude; go to his house. It had been a year since I’d been there, when Claude had held a small party to celebrate a commendation his partner received. But I could find the place again.

Swinging out onto the road, I headed east and tried to remember what street Claude lived on. I got a few blocks before I noticed in my rearview mirror the unmarked car several car lengths behind me. A couple of turns later, I was almost certain I had a tail.

Freaking Greaves.

I gunned it and swerved hard to the right, turning down a one-way street, and then made the next left. Sure enough, the car followed me. A few more turns and I made my way into some traffic.

Ten minutes and several miles of weaving through traffic and making dangerous turns later, I’d lost the agent. I grinned and made an illegal U-turn and headed for Claude’s.

The sound of my cell’s ring filled the air. Sighing, I grabbed the phone, expecting to see Aidan’s number. It seemed far too soon for anyone else to be calling me back the way my luck was running. And the man did not give up.

I glanced down at the number. Not Aidan, unless he was using a different phone. I frowned. Dare I answer it?

I dared.

“Hello.”

“Detective McLoughlin?” The high-pitched female voice on the other end of the line was panicked.

“Kimmy?” It sounded like the bar daughter’s owner, but I couldn’t be certain from two words.

“He’s here!” she screeched.

“On my way.” I clicked the phone off, shoved the last couple of fries in my mouth and headed for Sylvester’s.

…

The crowd at Sylvester’s pressed against me as I made my way to the bar w
here Kimmy stood. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, glancing around the room. Her eyes found mine and she motioned me to the side of the bar.

“Where is he?”

“He asked if he could pick me up after work. I told him to come by at eleven.”

“Good job.”
Way to go, Kimmy. Guess you’re more than a pretty face and a pissy attitude.

I picked a shadowed corner to sit and observed the throng of people around me. I found crowd watching infinitely more exciting than television.

According to my watch, I had two hours to kill before the incubus would return to pick up Kimmy. She handed me a glass of beer on her way to deliver drinks. Imbibing alcohol on the job was something I’d normally frown on, but one wouldn’t kill me. Besides, I didn’t want to be noticed, and not drinking anything in a bar might seem odd. Fully rationalized, I took a sip. Not the best I’d ever tasted, but after the crappy day I was okay with mediocre beer.

By the time I finished my drink and had waved Kimmy away when she offered me a second, it was nearing ten o’clock. My people watching degenerated into staring at the bar while wondering if Aidan was the killer, my brain fuzzy from the beer.

The pieces fit. He was an incubus, I couldn’t account for his whereabouts when the murders took place, he’d lied to me—multiple times. My gut told me he wasn’t the slayer, but gut wasn’t everything. And, like most of my body parts, the damn thing was likely influenced by my attraction for him.

I barely registered it when someone touched my shoulder, a mere brush of fingertips. Glancing back, I saw Aidan’s face. It took a second to hit me that he was there, not just in my thoughts but in person.

He smiled at me. Not the light, teasing grin he normally wore in public, but a dark smile, sexy and dangerous. His blue eyes caught mine, and his grin broadened.