A whisper of sound. Fabric. Clothes? From up ahead, near the Dumpster.
Instinct had him reaching for his gun even as he called out, “Cameron Komak, is that you?”
Silence.
The gun was heavy in his hands, a weight he’d grown used to years before. The weapon was up, pointed into the darkness. Just in case the guy hiding wasn’t the incubus he was after, he said, “Listen up! I’m an officer with the Atlanta PD. I want you to come out now, where I can see you.” Shit, but it was dark. He caught the fast scuttle of bugs as he advanced. “I said, come out.” Where were the two officers who’d been trailing Cara? He sure could have used some back up right then.
Every nerve in his body revved up, and with his instincts screaming danger, Todd was definitely on full alert.
So when Cameron stepped from the shadows, a smile on his face and his hands up, the gun never wavered.
“What do you want now, cop? Your partner’s already cleared me.”
Not really. Gyth had told him that he was suspicious as hell of the three incubi he’d interviewed, but since the guys didn’t have any wounds to match the injuries Susan had given her attacker…
“Can’t a guy just take a piss anymore without the cops getting called in?” Cameron drawled and began to lower his hands.
“Don’t move.”
The smile widened. “I saw your lady earlier. Cara sure looks good when she’s barely dressed, doesn’t she?”
A flash of fire heated his veins. Cara had been frightened. He’d seen the fear in her eyes.
Had she been afraid of Cameron?
“What did you do to her?” he demanded.
“Not a thing.” He rocked back on his heels. Shadows fell over his body, concealing too much. “Where is Cara? Shouldn’t she be with you, right by her lover’s side?”
Todd’s hold on the gun tightened.
Cameron laughed. “Ah, I see. She didn’t run to you, did she? After our talk, she went to…him. I always wondered about them, you know. Was Niol really in love with Nina? Or was it Cara all the time?”
The bastard was trying to push his buttons. “I want you to step out of the shadows and come fully into the light.” The guy’s hands were clearly visible, and he wasn’t holding a weapon, but Todd knew a threat when he saw one.
“How does it feel to know that when the chips are down, Cara turns to him instead of you?”
The bastard’s shitty mind games weren’t going to work with him. “Step into the light.”
“If that’s what you want…”
Cameron stepped forward.
The back door of Paradise Found shot open and slammed against the side of the building.
“Todd!”
His head jerked at Cara’s cry.
“Get away from him!” Niol’s order blasted through the night.
Cameron turned to run.
What the hell? Todd’s gaze snapped back to him as he sprang forward. “Freeze! Damn it, don’t you—”
A woman stepped into the mouth of the alley. For a moment, the streetlight fell over the fire of her hair.
Todd’s lips parted to shout a warning.
Cameron barreled into her and knocked her onto the ground. Their bodies tangled, twisted.
Todd rushed toward them, Cara and Niol on his heels and—
The incubus rose with a sneer on his lips and his arms tight around Holly Storm. One hand locked around her neck, the other rose around her waist, so that his fingers pressed right against the middle of her chest. “Don’t take another step,” he snarled.
In that moment, Todd knew that things had just taken a serious shit turn. He froze, but didn’t lower his weapon so much as an inch. “Cameron, I don’t know what’s gotten you so upset, but you just need to calm down. I only want to talk to you. Let go of the woman and let’s go back inside.” He pitched his voice low, tried to sound soothing. A hard task with alarms shrieking in his head.
The incubus shook his head. Holly twisted against him, struggling, cursing, but he easily held her prisoner.
Too easily, and with that damn demon strength of his, Todd knew that Cameron could snap her neck long before he’d be able to reach the reporter.
Hell. Hadn’t he told the woman to go home? Why couldn’t anyone take a simple order anymore?
The soft tap of a footstep had his eyes widening. He saw Cameron’s gaze fly to the left.
To Cara.
Oh, no damn way was he about to risk her. “Go inside, Cara. Go inside, now.”
“Stay, Cara!” Cameron’s scream of fury. “After all, this is all about you.”
Aw, fuck.
Todd looked into Cameron’s black eyes and saw madness. Fury. Hate.
Love.
All directed at Cara.
Shit. He’d seen that same look before—in the eyes of men who’d murdered their girlfriends. Men who’d slaughtered their wives. Their whole damn families.
He was staring at a killer.
A killer too fixated on Cara.
The signs had pointed to the obsession from the beginning. He just hadn’t figured out the case fast enough.
No, the incubus wasn’t clear in the Bondage Killings—he was guilty as hell.
Todd took a step toward Cara.
“Stay away from her!” A shriek of fury.
Todd froze. This bastard’s past control. He knew he had to distract him—no way did he want Komak focusing on Cara right then. “How’d you do it?” he asked, still keeping his voice easy while rage and fear pumped through his blood in a boiling mix. “How’d you fool Gyth? You should have been covered with knife wounds and—”
Cameron laughed. Laughed. Then bent to press his nose into Holly’s hair.
Her struggles stilled, as if the woman finally understood just how much danger she was in. About time.
“It’s them.” He inhaled slowly, as if savoring her scent. “I never knew how much power humans had.”
“Cameron, no…” Cara. Horrified. Disbelieving.
“When you take everything from them, the fucking rush is unbelievable.” He turned his head, smiled. Madness. “I’m stronger now. So much more damn powerful.” Another laugh, one that floated on the wind and twisted the air. “And I can heal ten times faster than before.”
So fast there hadn’t been a trace of the wounds on him. But Niol had said the guy was sick that morning. He hadn’t fully recovered by then, but—
But he had by the time Gyth found him and hauled his ass into the station.
Shit.
“Cara isn’t the one you want.” Niol’s voice and damn if the demon didn’t just saunter forward from the darkness. No weapon, well, hell, Todd guessed that wasn’t totally true. If he really was a level-ten, then Todd figured the guy’s powers were all the weapon he needed. Niol stopped just to Todd’s right, standing nearly shoulder to shoulder with him.
Just what I need, the devil for backup.
The incubus blinked. Shook his head. “Thought it was…her.” His voice was slower now, a bit confused. “For years…thought she’d done it.”
“Done what, Cameron?” Maybe if he lunged forward fast enough, he’d be able to break the demon’s hold and free Holly. Unlikely, considering how strong the guy was, but if he caught him off guard—
“I thought…she killed…my brother.”
Snap. The last puzzle piece fell into place. Much too late.
Niol had told him, but he hadn’t fully understood…“Cameron’s mother left his father for a human.”
“…she had a new family to look out for…”
The words played through his head, too loud.
Todd would bet that new family included a brand spanking new human brother named—
“Lance.” Cara breathed the name. “You—you’re the one who told him how to kill Nina!” The agony in her voice pierced Todd like a knife.