His sudden smile was decidedly roguish, and had my pulse doing one of those excited little quicksteps.
“You’d be surprised what I got away with when my mom was in the next room.”
“Actually, no, I wouldn’t.”
He picked up a photograph and stared at the image. “Going off with a girlfriend doesn’t explain why you smell vampire.”
“It would if the girlfriend was some sort of succubus.” Succubae—or energy vamps, as they were sometimes called—sucked life force rather than life blood and, unlike true vamps, they had fewer restrictions. Like being able to cross thresholds.
“They’re rare—especially in a small, out-of-the-way place like this.”
“Rare doesn’t mean can’t exist.”
“True.” He put the photo frame back down. “You up to visiting the other kid’s room?”
Part of me wanted to say no. Tasting shadows and darkness was never a pleasant thing, and usually I avoided doing it more than once a day. “It’s doubtful any useful scents will remain after a week.”
“But are you up to trying?”
I rubbed my arms. “Yeah. I guess.”
But only because time was of the essence if we were dealing with a succubus. Unlike regular suckers, they didn’t drain their victims in one hit, but rather over a couple of days. We still had a chance of finding Jon alive if we hurried.
Hope had all but faded when it came to the first boy, though. Succubae rarely went after another victim until they’d finished with the first.
“Did it say anywhere in the file whether the two boys hung out together?”
He shook his head. “But in a town this size, they probably would.” He paused. “Why?”
“Because it just seems odd an energy vamp would go after two teenage boys. I always thought they went after older, stronger life forces.”
“Normally, yeah.” He looked down at the bed for a moment, then walked around it and lightly touched my elbow. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”
Warmth flared where he touched, spreading like a wildfire up my arm and across my body, washing the chill and the thick feeling of darkness from my skin.
Normally I would have pulled away but right then, I needed that warmth. Needed the reminder of life and healthy, normal emotions to erase the last remainders of evil from my soul.
We walked down the stairs and back into the kitchen. Mari turned around as we entered, her hands gripped around a steaming mug of coffee and hope in her eyes. “Anything?”
“Perhaps,” I said cautiously, not wanting to feed the hope, but unwilling to crush it, either. “Tell me, did Jon have a girlfriend?”
She smiled. “No. He preferred hanging out with his mates.”
“Could you write out their names and addresses, and give it to us when we come back this afternoon? We’ll need to talk to them, just in case they know or saw something.”
She nodded. “I think the police already talked to them.”
“We’d still like to double-check,” Ethan said, and lightly squeezed the elbow he still held.
We continued on outside, and I took a deep breath of the warm, summery air. Felt it brush the last vestiges of darkness from my lungs.
“Now you look a little healthier,” Ethan said, his gaze sweeping my face.
I pulled free of his grip and got some space between us again. “It always feels like the darkness is invading my soul, eating away at my very self.” A shudder ran through me. “And I always fear that one day, there won’t be any me left, just a memory and the sweeping strands of darkness.”
Which is something I’d told so very few people. Maybe my brush with evil had left me feeling more vulnerable than normal.
Though you’d think I’d be used to such brushes by now.
He frowned. “Then why do it? Why take that risk?”
“Because I have a gift, and it can sometimes save lives.” I shrugged. “My parents were the type who ingrained the ideology that if we have a skill, we should use it.”
“Even at the risk of your very self?”
“Even at.” I rubbed my arms again as we made our way towards Ethan’s car. “Can we talk about something else?”
“How about sex?”
“Other than that,” I said dryly.
He opened the car door and ushered me inside. “I don’t believe my topics of conversations contain anything else.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Because I’m a werewolf, and werewolves only talk about two things, don’t they? Sex, and how to get sex.”
He slammed the door shut and walked around to the driver’s side of the car, leaving me wondering about the slight edge in his voice. It wasn’t like I’d actually brought the damn subject up. Far from it.
He climbed into the driver’s seat, started the car, then accelerated down the driveway and onto the Great Ocean Road. Three streets and a quick left, and we were outside the second boy’s house. Like Ethan had said, this town wasn’t very big.
A woman waited out in front, her arms crossed over massive bosoms and an anxious expression on her fleshy face. “Mari rang and explained why you were coming,” she said, voice filled with strain and tiredness. “Do you really think you can help?”
“We can only try,” I said, then held out my hand and introduced myself. Ethan did the same. “What can you tell us about your son’s activities in the days before his disappearance?”
She shrugged. “He was out with his mates, most days.”
“Was one of those mates Jon?”
She nodded, then gave us an anxious sort of look. “Are the two connected? The police won’t say whether they are or aren’t.”
Maybe the police weren’t, but the local papers sure as hell were. Which undoubtedly was making life even harder for the parents of the other teenagers in Brad and Jon’s “gang.” “We don’t know as yet.” I paused, looking past her. “Can we go inside and look at his room?”
She nodded and led us inside. Brad’s room was at the rear of the house, and had easy access to the back door and the garden beyond. It would have been a simple task for a determined teenager armed with a key to get out of the house without his parents knowing.
I stepped into the room, gaze sweeping walls hung with pictures of semi-naked women. Jon had football stars. Maybe Brad was more sexually advanced than his mate—and perhaps that was a factor of him going first. If, indeed, we were dealing with an energy vamp.
“Anything?” Ethan asked.
I shook my head and stepped further into the room. Scents and emotions swirled around me, fading wisps of teenage hopes and dreams. But no darkness, no shadows.
I turned and looked at Ethan. His gaze roamed the pictures.
“The energy vamp didn’t enter this room,” I said, a touch sharper than I should have. Not that I actually cared if he ogled pictures of other women, I just wanted a little attention on the job. Damn it, if I could find the strength to resist base emotions and concentrate, then so could he.
Amusement briefly flared in his bright eyes. “She might have called him out. It looks like Brad was more sexually motivated than Jon.”
I picked my way through the clothing-strewn mess on the floor to the window. “I still don’t understand why this vamp would be going after teenagers. If it’s sexual energy she wants, older men would be more viable and strong, wouldn’t they?”
Ethan followed my steps, a heat I could feel more than see. He stopped just behind me, his breath brushing warmth across my neck, sending little flash fires of desire skittering across my too aware, too hot skin.
“It would depend on whether she prefers innocence or experience.”
“I didn’t think vamps of any kind were picky when it came to sustenance.”
“All creatures do what they must to survive. Doesn’t mean they aren’t picky when they have a choice.”
I looked over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Even werewolves?”
His bright gaze was still aware, still watchful. For what, I wasn’t entirely sure. “A werewolf has to have sex during the week leading up to the full moon, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t more choosy beyond those times.”