I stepped inside and looked beyond the thickly-stuffed black leather chairs and sensuous-looking chaise sofas to the small circle of people at the far end of the room.
Half a dozen toga-clad boys and girls—I always refused to think of them as anything else, because not one of them looked to be older than seventeen—stood around a mahogany and leather chaise lounge. In it sat Vinny.
Power and sensuality oozed from her and, as ever, the force of it caused me to hesitate, however briefly.
Then her lush lips twitched and annoyance swept through me. She'd been warned often enough not to try her tricks on Directorate personnel but she liked to push. And given she was currently more of a help than a hindrance, there was nothing I could do about it.
I strode forward. Vinny watched me. She was an ordinary looking brown haired, brown eyed woman of medium height and build, but there was nothing ordinary about what she could do. As an emo vampire in charge of a huge nest—which was the only one we knew of in Melbourne—she was more dangerous than she looked. She had an aura similar to a werewolf's, and was totally capable of seducing anyone she chose, willing or unwilling. She'd come damn close to seducing me, and had even won a kiss from me—although that was more from a desperate need to get information than any emo geis.
The scent of blossom and springtime got stronger the closer I got to her chaise, and it mixed warmly with the heavy scent of desire stirring the air. The toga-clad teenagers watched me with languorous expressions, their pupils dilated. Meaning they'd recently fed, and were now sending the vibes out to the rest of the nest. Which explained the hum of excitement I'd felt downstairs.
I stopped when there was still a good ten feet between us. This close, Vinny's skin looked almost luminous, as if the richness of moon itself glowed from deep within her…
I blinked. Damn it, she was doing it again.
"Vinny," I warned softly.
She laughed—a rich sound that sent warm shivers up my spine—and unfurled her legs from the hem of her long dress. Her shoes were red and glittery, reminding me Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. "What can I do for you, Riley?"
"We've two dead women on our hands," I said without preamble. "Both died of unknown causes, and in both cases, there was an extreme aura of desire and lust lingering in the room."
"Meaning they had sex before they died." She paused, mirth sparkling in her chocolate eyes. "Lucky them. But why do I need to know about these deaths?"
"Because we suspect an emo vampire might be at large."
"And I have the only known nest in Melbourne."
"Exactly."
She rose unhurriedly, her movements grace itself. Her long skirt billowed briefly around her—a cloud of pale organza that seemed to catch the flickering sprays of rainbow light from the chandeliers and gleam like the inside of an oyster shell. Those same sprays of light danced across her skin, leaving a luminosity…
I dug my fingers into my palm, using the pain to battle the caress of her aura, however light it might be at the moment.
"It is a waste to kill a lover," she said softly, moving around me, her body so close I could feel the heat of her. "A dead lover is of no use to the nest."
"They are if they bequeath you their estate."
She laughed, and her breath stirred the hairs at the back of my neck. I forced myself to remain still, and she reappeared on my left side. Her skirt swirled around my leg. It felt as sweet as a caress.
I flexed my fingers and ignored the urge to get out of here.
"I can get that without killing them," she said. "All I have to do is ask."
"It's against the law to use your abilities for monetary gain, Vinny."
She laughed again and stopped in front of me. "Everyone who has bequeathed me their possessions or money has done so willingly. Just ask them."
"We have."
Something flickered in her eyes. Annoyance, perhaps. "Then you know I have done no wrong. So why are you here?"
"Are there any other emo vampires or nests in Melbourne? Nests that we don't know about?"
"No."
It was flatly said, and I could sense no lie in her words. Of course, Vinny was such an accomplished liar that I probably wouldn't. And while in any other situation I would have tried to read her mind, telepathy was useless in this place. This room acted like a big black hole when it came to psychic energy. There were no deadeners involved, nor did it appear to be any kind of natural psychic shield. It was just a hole. Or maybe it was more like a black hole, because it seemed to suck away any sort of mental resonance.
Jack had theorized that it had something to do with an emo's control over energy, but Vinny certainly wasn't about to confirm or deny that.
"Would you know if there was another emo or nest in the city?"
"Yes."
"Would you tell us if there was?"
She smiled. "Perhaps."
Meaning only if there was something in it for her. I stepped back into cooler air. "If you do hear anything, let us know."
"If I hear anything and let you know, I expect something for my troubles." She cocked her head slightly. "Why do you taste so tense?"
"It's the company, I'm afraid."
She waved the comment away. "That tension is all part of the fun of having you here. This is different." She considered me for a moment. "Your soul is weary. It fights, and yet it tires of the fight. There is a tension in you I have not felt before."
And wouldn't feel again, as long as I could figure out a way to get Kye safely out of my life. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She smiled again. "You lie, guardian, but I appreciate the effort. Its taste is sweet."
Great. Now she was feeding off my emotional output, no matter how little I was trying to put out there. "Time for me to go," I said briskly, backing away further. "Remember; contact us if you hear anything."
She merely smiled so I turned and got the hell out of there.
I'd barely made it down to the ground floor when my phone rang. I knew without looking that it would be Jack.
It was that sort of day.
I plucked it free from my pocket and said, "What's up boss?"
"I want you to get over to Dante's straight away." My stomach sank. "Not another beheaded vampire?"
"Nope. This time it's a human. A drained human and a very ugly crowd of onlookers." His voice was grim. "The shit has hit the fan big time."
Chapter Seven
The shit, as Jack had so aptly put it, really did look nasty.
I parked half a street away from Dante's, but even so, as I climbed out of the car, the noise hit me. It was voices and anger and nastiness all rolled into one, and I hoped like hell they had more than one cop down there. Cole and his team might be able to protect themselves, but they shouldn't have to. They were only doing their job.
As was I.
But that didn't stop some fool lobbing a full can of beer straight at my head as the cops hastily cleared a way through the thirty-strong crowd for me. I caught it with one hand and met the gaze of the drunken fool who'd thrown it. His blue eyes were full of anger, his expression daring me to throw the can back. I raised it, but crushed it one handed instead—length wise, not through the middle. His eyes widened a little. Obviously he hadn't thought a woman could be that strong. The cops opened the barriers to let me through and I walked across to the three figures huddled around a small, somewhat forlorn looking body.