Kiss of the Vampire(83)

“Is everything all right?” Nix asked.

The detective gave a shrug. “Yeah. It’s just my sister. She’s having some trouble at home.” He glanced at the building. “You two watch yourselves in there.” His hand came up in a gesture of good-bye and he turned and walked to his truck.

Nix leaned down and fished around in her purse, pulling out a small flashlight. Brandishing it with a triumphant air, she closed her door. “All right, let’s do this thing.”

Tobias drove the SUV around the block, parking a few side streets away from the building. As Nix opened her door, Tobias wrapped his fingers around her upper arm. “A few ground rules first.” He waited until she looked at him, then he said, “If we run into anyone, let me do the talking.”

“No problem. I’m off the case, remember?”

“That’s what I mean.” He couldn’t keep his hand from drifting up to cup the back of her neck. He pulled her in for a lingering kiss. “If anyone asks,” he murmured, his lips a breath away from hers, “I’ll tell them I needed to pick something up.”

“Pick what up?” She pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. Once, twice, the light caresses encouraging him to slant his mouth over hers for a longer, hungrier taste of her mouth.

He swallowed her moan and lifted his mouth reluctantly. “I’ll think of something.” He rasped his thumb across her lips. “Ready?”

“For anything,” Nix said with a slow upward tilt of her mouth.

It was a sultry smile, one full of promise, and Tobias wanted to do nothing more than take her right then and there in the darkened confines of the SUV. But they had a job to do. After, he assured himself. Once they were safely out of here and back home, he’d get her in bed and take his time with her. “Let’s go,” he said, stepping out of the vehicle.

A couple of minutes later he unlocked the back door of the council headquarters and peered in. “It’s clear,” he whispered, and went inside.

“I’ve worked here for three years. Nobody ever gave me a key to the damn building.” Nix’s quiet voice held a distinct note of malcontent. “Aren’t you special?”

That last bit was much more sarcastic than disgruntled. He glanced over his shoulder to see her eyes twinkling with good humor. “You’re just now figuring that out?” he asked softly.

She patted his rear. “Nope. I’ve known that for a long time. Sometimes the definition changed now and then, that’s all. For the past five years, you’ve been really special,” she said, making quote marks in the air.

Tobias shook his head at her, then stopped and held up a hand. One of the ever-present guards was coming their way. He tried the nearest door and found it unlocked. Pushing it open, he shoved Nix inside, then crowded into the tiny utility closet behind her. Her lips parted and she took a breath. He clamped his hand over her mouth. “Quiet,” he mouthed.

The tip of her tongue tickled his palm. He narrowed his eyes. She licked his hand again, her eyes glittering with dancing sparks of yellow demon fire.

With his free hand Tobias grabbed a bottle of glass cleaner and sprayed it in the air. The strong ammonia smell should cover their scent long enough for them to be undetected by the guard making his rounds. He heard the shape-shifter as he went past the closet, whistling an off-key tune.

Tobias silently counted to ten, making sure he couldn’t hear any movement before he eased open the door and peered around the edge. “Clear,” he whispered, and started down the hallway, Nix right behind him. They ducked into the file room. Tobias closed the door with a soft click and then turned on the light in the windowless room. He stared at the two-dozen file cabinets lining the walls like victims awaiting a firing squad.

“Oh, my God. Just shoot me now,” Nix muttered. She tucked the small flashlight into the front pocket of her jeans.

“This is part of the job,” he rejoined, his eyes still affixed to the cabinets. Some of these files probably contained information that went back hundreds of years. He wondered if they had a file on him and Nix, then figured they most likely did. Maybe someday he’d see what was in his…

“Yeah, a part I don’t really care for.” She sighed. “Okay. I’ll take this side of the room, you take that side.”

They split up and quietly got to work. About thirty minutes into it, Nix said, “Tobias, come look at this.”

He walked over to her. She had opened a drawer marked “Vampires A-C.” He looked down at the file she held. His name was written on the tab, the manila file worn with age. “Looks like this has been looked at more than once.”