Rafael (18 page)

The albino
watched through binoculars as the intended target stood up. Why was the bitch
with Stone? Did she not see the video he sent her? If she did why was he still walking
free and not behind bars? Flanagan would not be happy. Maybe she needed a
little prodding. He pulled out his cell phone and sent her a message. “Did you
see the video?”

Kaya couldn’t
shake the feeling that she was missing something. She had to believe that
someone other than Rafael was using his warehouses as a killing ground. She
wouldn’t even entertain the possibility that he could be involved. Not after
tonight. He threw himself in the path of a bullet and then he called her baby.
Oh God. Another piece of her heart fluttered away. She watched the imaginary
item float over to where he was standing with his cousin and Dante.

Seeing them all
together was a shock. The medical examiner looked more like Rafael than Julian
did. Holy shit. Her cell phone pinged, somewhere. Looking around, she saw it
lit up on the ground where Rafael had tackled her. She retrieved her phone and
saw a text from an unknown number. She didn’t have time for spam.

An hour later
she was ready to go home. Shit, she didn’t have her car. She could either ride
with Rafael or have one of her men drive her. That would be the smart thing to
do, but her heart was telling her to go with Rafael.  He was leaning up against
his car when she walked out of the warehouse. He didn’t move, just watched her
intently.

“Do you mind
giving me a ride home?” She was ready to get out of her dress and heels.

“I don’t mind at
all.” He rounded the car and held open the door for her. She slid into the seat
then toed the shoes off her feet and leaned her head back. The stress of the
last couple of hours was taking its toll, and she needed a drink.

“Are you in any
pain? I would apologize for any damage I may have caused to your beautiful
skin, but it’s better than you being shot.”

She turned her
head to look at her hero. Perseus. “I’ll live, thanks to you. I just want a hot
bath and a cold drink.” She couldn’t stop staring. Something just below the
surface was tugging at her subconscious.

“I know you’ve
had a long day. Do you want to continue our date or do you want me to take you
home?”

“As much as I
would love to go home with you, I have phone calls to make and paperwork to go
over. Duty calls and all that.”

Right at that
moment, Kaya wished she weren’t in charge. For the very first time in her
career, she wanted to be a woman with a regular nine to five job. One where she
didn’t have the weight of the world, or at least New Atlanta, on her shoulders.
She would give anything to be going home with Rafael and letting him show her
if he could do slow and gentle.

Rafael took her
hand and brought it to his lips. Oh yes, she had no doubt he could do slow and
gentle.

After a silent
ride to her home, Rafael pulled into her driveway and parked. Once out of the
car he walked her to the door. She surprised herself when she asked him, “Would
you like to come in?” She needed to get busy, but she wasn’t quite ready to let
him walk away.

“I would love
to.” He followed her in and began looking around. The house was old but in good
repair. The few pictures she displayed were of her and her father when he was
alive. Any picture of her mother was put away long ago. There were pictures of
herself getting awards over the years, but those were also stowed away in a
chest. It was sad, really. Photographs were the reminders of happy times. Did
she have nothing to celebrate since her father died?

“You have a
lovely home. Is this where you grew up?” Rafael was holding a small ceramic
black cat.

“Yes, it is. My
mother moved out when I joined the force. She had stayed for me while I was
growing up but when I became a cop, she couldn’t take it. She left me the house
and moved on. I like the neighborhood, and it’s fairly secluded. My neighbors
keep to themselves.”

Rafael put the
trinket back where he got it and moved closer. “Kaya.” That one word sent a
shiver up her spine. If she gave in now she would not get any work done, and
those phone calls couldn’t wait until morning. She had given herself to him
tonight, and it had been mind-blowing. She had no regrets.

“Rafael, thank
you for a wonderful evening. Well, mostly.” She closed the distance between
them and took his hands in hers. “I would like nothing more than to get
comfortable with you, open a bottle of wine, continue where we left off. I just
can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Do not
apologize for doing your job, Love. It’s who you are. And I love who you are. I
am disappointed that our time was cut short, but there is always tomorrow. I
want to see you again, continue getting to know each other. I want to see where
this goes. Please tell me you want that too.” He was whispering in her ear, the
intoxication as potent as a bottle of wine.

“Yes,” was all
she could manage with him standing so close.

“Yes,” he purred
in her ear then nipped her earlobe. “Then I will take my leave. I would love to
see you tomorrow, but I will leave that up to you. Call me if you are free and
I will come get you, yes?”

“Yes. Okay, that
sounds good and Rafael?” She waited until he was looking in her eyes, “I love
who you are too.”

He pulled her
hands to his lips and brushed kisses across her knuckles. “Goodnight, Miss
Kane.”

“Goodnight, Mr.
Stone.”

As badly as Kaya
wanted a glass of wine, she grabbed a bottle of water instead. She applied
Neosporin to her scrapes before she slipped into her sweats. She heard her
phone ping with an incoming text. It was the same number she didn’t recognize
from before. This time she opened it.

“Did you watch
the video?”

 Another text:
“Check your email.”

She had watched
the video from earlier. Was there another? She had a bad feeling about this.
Her gut instincts or woman’s intuition, whatever you wanted to call it, rarely
led her down the wrong path. Who was texting her, and how did they get her
number? Was it the same person that called her at work and sent her the
previous email?

She called the
lab at the station. Wilkes wouldn’t be there but, hopefully, the third shift
guy could help. “Danny, this is Chief Kane. Is there any way you can find out
where an anonymous text is coming from?” She listened as she turned on her
computer. “Okay, thank you.” He would try. Seriously, with technology as
advanced as it was, they should be able to track down whoever was sending her
messages.

She opened her
email program and saw there was a new video. There was darkness, then movement.
A man walking toward the camera. What was he wearing? As he closed in she could
tell he was in fatigues and combat boots. No shirt. He walked into the
warehouse then a few minutes later he exited the building. The camera zoomed
in. Kaya was looking at Rafael. She rewound the video and looked closer. That
was the warehouse she had just left. She looked at the date stamp on the video.
Last night. Oh my God. Rafael lied to her. Rafael was her killer. She was
falling in love with a killer.

 She ran to the
bathroom and dropped to her knees, throwing up everything that was on her
stomach.

Rafael knew
something was wrong. He could feel the emotions rolling off Kaya. After taking
his car home, he flew back to her house, wanting to be close to her. What the
fuck was going on inside? Her heart rate was accelerated. She was crying and,
fuck, was she throwing up? Fuck! He couldn’t stand being out here when she
needed him. How could he explain knocking on her door so quickly and having
changed clothes at that?

He quietly
dropped to the ground and listened. The water turned on, and she brushed her
teeth. The water turned off. She was walking through the house. Now she was
talking. “Dane, Kaya. Listen, I know you’re sick but I really have to talk to
you. I hate to leave this shit in a message, but I need you. Jorgenson’s dead.
I sent him to that address you gave me and now he’s dead. We have another body
that could be Magnus Flanagan. I also know who the killer is. I hope you’re
feeling better, because I really need you. Please, call me.”

Jealousy charged
through Rafe like a parade of bulls. “She
needs
him?” He made himself
calm down and think rationally. Of course, she needed him as a detective. If he
found out she needed the kid for anything else, he would rip his balls off.
With his claws. Wait, she knew who the killer was? How the hell did she know
that when he just left her. He had to get closer.

Quietly, he made
his way to the window outside her living room. Her curtains were cracked just
enough for him to see her. Kaya was sitting on the sofa with her laptop open on
the coffee table in front of her. She was watching a video of some sort,
rewinding then playing again. When she froze the video at one point, she
started crying. Rafe looked at the laptop. He was staring at himself coming out
of the warehouse.
Oh, fuck me, motherfucking fuck me. She thinks I’m the
killer.

He knelt down,
placing his fists to the ground so he wouldn’t be tempted to punch something.
He had to think.
FUCK!
  How in the name of all that was holy did someone
get a video of him? Was that all that it showed or did it show him phasing as
well? Did he go inside and tell her the truth? Did he take the chance on
exposing himself and his kind? Would she accept it or would she arrest him?

Her front door
opened, and Kaya headed to her car. She undoubtedly was going to the station.
In her hand she held the laptop and the damning evidence. If he stopped her it
would be bad, but if he let her go it would be worse. Fuck it. “Kaya!” he
yelled out to her before she could open her car door. He jogged toward her, but
the look on her face stopped him in his tracks. She was staring at him as if he
were a complete stranger. A stranger dressed exactly as he was in the video.

“Please, Kaya,
let me explain. It’s not what you think; I promise. Just give me five minutes,
and if you aren’t convinced, I’ll put the handcuffs on myself.”

“You lied to me.
You lied and made me look like a fool. I let you touch me.”

“I didn’t lie, I
just withheld information. Please, Sweetheart, let me explain.”

“Don’t you
sweetheart
me,
Mr. Stone. Withholding information is lying by omission.”

“I did it to
protect you. Please, five minutes. That’s all I ask.”

“Fine, start talking.”

“Not out here.
What I have to tell you, show you, should be done in private.”

“Do you take me
for an idiot? If I let you get me alone, I’ll be vulnerable. At least out here
the neighbors have a chance of seeing you kill me.”

 She thought he
was capable of such atrocities? At that moment, Rafe felt pain, real pain, and
it was straight through his heart.

“I would never
hurt you, never. I am not a killer. No, that’s not true, I have killed before.”
She blanched and reached for her gun. She dropped everything in her arms and
pointed her pistol at him.

“You just
admitted you’re guilty. Rafael Stone, you’re under arrest…”

“Stop, Kaya,
STOP!  I did not kill those men. When I said I have killed, it was in
self-defense. I have never murdered a human in cold blood and never would. I am
a protector. What I have to tell you is going to be hard for you to believe.
You’re going to think I am making it up, but I assure you it is the truth.
After I tell you, I promise to leave you alone.

“Kaya, I am
Rafael Di Pietro, King of the Gargouille. I come from a long line of
shapeshifters. I protect humans from the Unholy.” He paused to gauge her
reaction so far.

She was
laughing. “You expect me to believe you are some sort of supernatural being?
This is rich.”

“I can prove it.
I do not want to do this in the open. If humans knew my kind existed, it would
cause chaos and panic.”

“You’re crazy,
Mr. Stone. Now, I would appreciate you doing what you said and handcuff
yourself…” He didn’t give her time to finish. He dropped his fangs and extended
his claws. He held his hands up for her to see then he retracted his claws but
left his fangs.

“I am telling
the truth. I also have special skin and wings, but I really do not want to risk
showing my wings out in the open.” She was still pointing her gun at him, but
her mouth was open.

“How, how did
you do that? Is this some type of sick joke?” Her hands and the gun were
shaking.

“I assure you,
this is no joke. This is who I am. What I am. I am a Gargoyle and like you, I
live to protect the innocent.”

“Wait, you said
your name is Di Pietro?
Fucking hell
. I saw the resemblance in you and
Dante tonight. How are you two related?”

Rafael knew he
was throwing the Clan under the proverbial bus, but he trusted his instincts
and his instincts told him to trust Kaya. “He’s my brother. He is the only one
who uses the family name. I have several brothers and many cousins living in
and around New Atlanta. Our Clan rules the Americas with other Clans serving
under us.”

“And you’re the
king? Like King of the Vampires king?” She wasn’t laughing now.

“Vampires are a
myth, but yes I am King. My father before me was King, and if I ever have a
son, he too will be King.” He briefly thought back to the little boy in his
vision.

“Let’s say I do
believe you are what you say you are. What then? Do you kill me to keep me from
talking? And what about the warehouse? You were there. You were there and knew
my man was dead. Why didn’t you tell me? Why lie and pretend you didn’t know?”
She lowered her gun but kept it cocked.

“I would never harm
you much less kill you. If you accept nothing else I tell you tonight, you have
to accept that. You are mine. I would do anything to keep you from harm. I
would die for you. Oh fuck.”

The sound of a
rifle once again breached Rafael’s hearing. Without thinking, he phased and in
the blink of an eye wrapped Kaya in his wings. For the second time that night,
he took a bullet for his Queen.