"She was a nurse in the critical care unit," he said, smiling faintly at the memory. "Annie was… She was special. She liked to help people and—" Nicholas paused abruptly as he realized it was probably bad form to go on about the wonders of a past life mate to a present life mate… even if he couldn't claim her.
"Anyway," he muttered, "as I was saying, I probably wouldn't have taken the gift to Carol, but I wanted to ask her if she knew what Annie…" Nicholas paused as he realized he'd left something out. "I should tell you that the night before Annie died, she called me in Detroit and said—"
"What were you doing in Detroit?" Jo interrupted.
"I was hunting a rogue," he explained. "It was going to be my last case. Annie was nearly due and I didn't like being away from her when she was so close to delivery."
"You were hunting a rogue ?" Jo asked slowly, and then, "You were a rogue hunter too?"
"We're actually called enforcers. I mean they are," Nicholas corrected himself with a frown.
"But you were one?" she insisted.
"Yes," he admitted.
"Better and better," Jo muttered. "Go on. Annie called you in Detroit and said… ?"
"She said she had something to tell me when I got back. She was excited and I was curious, but she wouldn't tell me what it was over the phone. She said she wanted to see my face when she told me."
"But she died," Jo prompted.
"Yes. She died and I forgot all about it for a while."
"But then you saw the gift and you thought you'd deliver it as an excuse to ask this Carol if she knew what it was Annie was going to tell you when you got home."
Nicholas. nodded, releasing his breath on a slow sigh. Jo was making this as easy as she could for him. She was also very quick at putting things together.
"Did this friend Carol know?" Jo asked curiously.
Nicholas shook his head. "I never found out. I put the gift in the car and drove to the hospital, but as I was crossing the parking lot to go inside a woman came out. She was petite and blond like my Annie. She even looked like her a little… and she was very pregnant."
"Like your Annie," Jo suggested.
"Yes," he said wearily, closing his eyes. "I remember being really angry, furious even that this mortal woman lived while my Annie, an immortal who should have lived for centuries, was…"
"That's normal too, Nicholas," Jo said softly, slipping her hand into his and squeezing gently. When he glanced at her with obvious disbelief, she nodded solemnly. "Shortly after my parents died, I met my friends at this restaurant for lunch where there was this older couple seated at a table across from us. They were ancient. White hair, wrinkled, they had to be in their eighties or nineties…" She paused and shook her head. "I don't know what it was about them. Perhaps it was how they smiled at each other, or the way she shared her food with him, but for some reason it made me think of my parents, and for one moment I was absolutely furious that these two old codgers were alive and happy while my parents, so much younger, were dead." Jo sighed unhappily at the memory and then shrugged. "I think it's probably a natural part of grieving."
"Did you take the old couple home and slaughter them?" Nicholas asked grimly.
Jo's eyes shifted to meet his, sharp and hard. "Is that what you did?"
Nicholas looked away and shrugged. "Apparently."
"There's that word again," she said dryly. "I don't want to hear apparently . Tell me what happened. You saw her and were angry and…"
Nicholas frowned as he sifted through his memories trying to find the ones that covered what happened next. Finally, he just said, "I ripped her throat out and fed on her."
"Right there in the parking lot?" Jo asked with shock.
"I—No…" He reached up to rub his forehead unhappily. "At my home. In my basement."
Jo was silent for a long time again, and when he finally glanced to her, she was peering at him as if sorting out a puzzle. Finally she shook her head and said, "How did you get her there? Did she say something to really piss you off? What happened?"
"I don't know," he snapped with frustration. "I just remember looking at her, and being really angry. The next thing I knew Decker was shouting my name and I opened my eyes to see that I was sitting on the floor of my basement with the pregnant woman, dead in my arms. There was blood everywhere, including in my mouth. I killed her, Jo."
Much to his amazement, Jo suddenly smiled and leaned back against the headboard. Her voice was satisfied as she said, "You didn't kill her."