Darkness Hunts(60)
I frowned. “What about feeding? How does she cope with that if she doesn’t socialize much?”
He shrugged. “She probably uses synth blood. They’ve gotten better at manufacturing it in recent years.”
A fact he knew because his vampire half sometimes demanded blood, even if he didn’t have the teeth to go with the hunger. “So Vonda has nothing in common with the other victims?”
“Other than that she seems the least likely target for a serial killer, no.” He spun around and studied the houses on the opposite side of the road. “She lives with her sister, who also works at Ford. We had an infrared-equipped helicopter sweep the area a few moments ago. There’s three people in the first house, but no one is at home in our target house.”
He was half vampire and had infrared vision himself, so he didn’t really need the helicopter to tell him that. Maybe he just didn’t want to get too close to the house and spook our quarry—not that he was inside from the sound of it.
“It’s not much of a trap if there’s no one inside.”
Rhoan glanced at me. “Just because we can’t detect any form of body heat doesn’t mean there’s nothing waiting.”
Like a spell of some kind. I shivered and rubbed my arms. “What did he say when he rang?”
“He gave us the name, and said for you to be in the house—alone—by two p.m. if we wish to save his next victim.”
I glanced at my watch again. “Then I’d better get moving. We’ve only got a few minutes left.”
“I know.” He studied me, expression worried. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”
I touched his arm. “I’m fine. Azriel will be with me, and he can’t afford to let anything happen to me.”
Rhoan’s gaze went past me briefly. “Okay. But you’re wearing these, so I know what is going on.”
He pulled two blue stones out of his pocket, and I studied them with interest. “I’m gathering they’re not just earrings.”
“One is a camera, the other is a mic. Until this case is over, I want you to wear them.”
My gaze jumped to his. “Um, you know I love you and all, but there’s certain parts of my life I have no desire for you to see or hear.”
“And I’m sure I wouldn’t want to know about them, either.” Amusement briefly crinkled the corners of his gray eyes. “You can turn them off easily enough—you just press the left stone once. Two presses activates them again.”
“What about when I shower? Do I have to take them off?”
“No.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He pressed the two stones onto my earlobes. They had to be some form of nanotechnology, because the stones warmed the instant they touched my skin, and they clung to my earlobes without anything to actually secure them. He lightly squeezed the right stone, then stepped back. “Karl, you getting the picture?”
“Yeah,” the man inside the car said. “Sound, too.”
“Good.” His gaze came back to me. “At the first sign of trouble, I’ll be in there.”
“I’ll be fine. Really.”
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. He wasn’t worried about my ability to protect myself; he just didn’t want to see me hurt.
I headed across the road. My gaze swept the first building, but came to a halt at the security camera.
“Azriel, you might want to become invisible.”
He did so immediately, then said, You suspect he might have hacked into the security system?
Well, not him specifically if he’s blind, but someone working for him certainly could. It’s safer for me if they don’t know about you.
You’re considering your own safety? His mental tones held an edge. This has to be a first.
Sarcasm doesn’t become you, reaper. Even if it was true.
I walked down the side of the first house. Though I couldn’t see anyone, the curtains twitched, a clear indication that someone was watching.
It is the woman, Azriel commented. He hesitated, then added, Her thoughts are odd.
Odd how? I scanned the second house as it came into sight. There was another security camera perched on the side of this house and metal protection bars on the windows. Obviously Vonda and her sister didn’t trust either their neighbors or the neighborhood.
They are vacant. It is like she has nothing else to do but look out the window.
Maybe she hasn’t. Or maybe she’s been made to take something. I doubted her behavior was a coincidence, given the reason we were here.
I rounded the corner of the first house and headed for the front door of the second. The security door was thick and heavy, just like the bars on the windows. I twisted the handle and it opened, as did the wooden front door. My stomach began to churn. This was way too easy.