He pranced, tail wagging, tongue lolling, and she laughed. No matter what kind of day she’d had, he always made her feel better. She dropped her purse on the floor and grabbed his leash. “Let’s go for a walk.”
Rufus walked her for twenty minutes. As much as she’d tried to teach him to heel, he wouldn’t have any of it. There was too much to see and sniff in too little time for him to hang back at her side.
Once they got back inside, Nix dropped onto the sofa and yanked off her shoes, then leaned back with a sigh. Rufus shoved his nose under her hand and she absently stroked him while she played back over the events of the evening.
Tobias and she had connected on a professional level that had been almost friendly. While she couldn’t help but regret the loss of love, it said something that she was able finally to move beyond the hurt of the past. She’d grown up, whether she’d wanted to or not.
And he’d said he still cared about her. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Part of her wanted to believe he cared in the romantic sense of the word and part of her, a large part, shied away from that. Because she knew herself. It wouldn’t take much for her to fall right back in love with him. When all was said and done, Tobias was a man of principle, a man who stayed true to what he believed in. There was a lot to admire about that. And whatever the last five years had done to him, she’d still seen enough of the man she’d fallen in love with to know he still existed.
“Keep it professional,” she said. When Rufus gave a little whine, she patted him. “Just talking to myself, sweetie.” She stood and went into her bedroom. Even though she felt calm enough now, she had lost it at the club when she’d seen Finn. No, more accurately, when he’d acted like such an ass was when she’d lost it. But that demon had called to hers so easily, she knew she needed to regain some balance before she was ready to face another day.
She jumped in the shower and washed away the grime of the day, then got into her pj’s and settled into her tai chi routine. This was the only thing standing between her and madness. She had to make it work.
Chapter Nine
The next morning Tobias had just finished his breakfast when his cell phone rang. While he rinsed blood from his glass he looked down at the display, then connected the call, bringing the phone up to his ear. “Yeah, Merle. What’s up?”
The council dispatcher didn’t waste any time. “There’s another dead vamp on Camelback just west of Scottsdale Road.” The werebear’s low sigh was very close to a growl. “Word I got is it looks like another attack against vamps. Get your rosy butt out there.”
Tobias turned off the water and placed the glass in the sink. He walked through the living room and headed down the hallway toward the master bath. “Now, Merle, just what makes you think my ass is rosy?”
Another raspy growl came across the line. “That’s for me to know. Now quit dickin’ around. You’re not the only liaison I gotta dispatch, ya know. I got a little old lady with a pack of coyotes pissin’ in her backyard and some damned fairy’s been spraying graffiti all over Old Town.” He clicked along on his keyboard then said, “You get out there pronto and suss the scene. Or Deoul’s gonna be screamin’, and I ain’t takin’ the heat by myself.”
“He gives you a hard time,” Tobias told the dispatcher, “you tell him to take it up with me.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll just tell the council president that you said if he don’t like it he can kiss my furry little butt. Or, better yet, your rosy-cheeked ass.” With that he disconnected the call.
Tobias tucked the phone into its holder at his waist. He brushed his teeth and used mouthwash to eliminate the smell of blood on his breath. Going back into the living room, he grabbed his coat and shrugged into it as he went out the door. He pressed the lock mechanism on his key remote and the black Jaguar chirped. Getting in, he started up the engine and backed the car out of the driveway. Whoever was doing these killings, they weren’t wasting any time. Three dead vamps in three days.
What the hell was going on?
He arrived at the crime scene in less than ten minutes. He parked the car and approached the vacant lot that had yellow crime scene tape cordoning it off. Already a crowd of onlookers had gathered. He looked them over as he got closer. They were mostly human, one or two vamps and maybe one of the fey. He caught the eye of one of the criminalists and jerked his head toward the crowd. The woman got his hint and turned to snap pictures of the onlookers.
Tobias stopped and stared at the lot. One thing was glaringly obvious—this was the actual kill scene. Blood covered the area in large pools and long arcs of spatter. As evidenced by the numbered markers littering the scene, pieces of the victim were spread out all over the large lot.