Nix could hear him sniffing as he moved. “What is it? What do you smell?” She started his way only to stop when he raised one hand.
He pointed to blood splatter on one of the bookshelves. “This is not Will’s blood.” Leaning closer, he inhaled. He stiffened and rage emanated from him in waves. “It’s him.”
“Him? Him who?” Nix caught her breath. “You mean…Natchook?” Her heart did a quick rat-a-tat behind her ribs. They’d suspected he was involved, but to actually end up with proof made it all seem surreal for a moment.
“I’d recognize that stench anywhere.” When Tobias glanced at Nix, she saw his pupils were completely dilated, giving his eyes that eerie, otherworldly look. “He’s been injured.” His jaw tightened, the muscles twitching. “I can’t tell how badly.”
She glanced at the desk. The drawers were open, the contents clearly rifled through. “He didn’t come here just to kill Braithwaite. He was looking for something.”
Tobias started toward the door. “I have to go after him. Now.” He pointed at the splatter he’d identified as Natchook’s blood. “That’s still fresh.”
“No. Tobias, stop!” When he paused at the door, looking over his shoulder at her, his entire stance one of supreme impatience, she hurried up to him. “We don’t know how many people Natchook had with him. You go off half-cocked, by yourself…” She looked away. “We have to see if there’s anything they missed here.”
Dante walked up to them, holstering his gun. “Upstairs is clear. So is the rest of the downstairs.” He looked back and forth between them. “If anybody cares.”
“You two can look through the house for evidence,” Tobias said, his voice a hard rasp. “I’m not going to let the bastard get away, not when I’m this close.”
“Looks like they went out the back door,” Dante said as he eased past Tobias. “There’s a blood smear on the kitchen island and a few drops leading out the back.”
“One of us should go with you,” Nix said.
“No.” Tobias held up one hand when she started to argue. “This is my fight. Not yours.” He walked up to her and put his fingers under her chin. He tipped her face up and planted a gentle kiss on her mouth. A good-bye kiss? Without giving her a chance to respond he left the room at a run.
She heard the back door slam and scowled. Was that it? The way he acted, their relationship might be over as soon as it had begun. And to chase after him now would mean potentially losing valuable evidence. She had a job to do and had to trust, for the moment, that he could take care of himself. If they lived through this, she was going to kick his butt later for ditching her. “What did the rest of the house look like?” she asked Dante, trying to ignore the way her lips still tingled from that brief kiss.
“Pristine.” He walked into the room and surveyed the damage. “Maybe they already found what they were looking for.”
“Maybe.” She studied the desk. From the power cord lying on the desk, it appeared a computer had been hooked up on there. “Looks like they took his laptop. It seems to me if he had something he really wanted to hide, he wouldn’t have kept it on his computer or in a drawer.” The council certainly hadn’t kept any important, incriminating evidence in that file room. She grew warm just thinking about their tryst at headquarters.
“What’re you thinking?”
She hoped he wasn’t asking what had made her face flush. Pointing to the desk, she said, “I’m thinking that Braithwaite was a vampire with vampire strength. He could lift a three-hundred-pound desk with no effort at all. If he wanted to keep something secret, what better place to hide it? Help me with this.” She went to one edge of the desk. When Dante positioned himself at the other edge, she said, “Flip it on its front.”
Dante managed his side but Nix struggled with hers. “Set it down,” she told him.
“I guess Tobias should’ve stuck around.”
“We can do this. Just give me a minute.” Nix closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She hadn’t called up the full power of her demon on purpose in almost five years, not since Tobias had left her. It easily bubbled to the surface whenever her emotions were high and she spent countless hours fighting it back down. But now, now she needed the additional strength that going demon would bring.
She reached deep inside and searched out the burning that was a constant part of her. She relaxed her control and gave a moan as the fire overtook her. Her skin felt aflame, her gut churned and roiled. Her horn buds erupted from her forehead. With a flex of her fingers she opened her eyes. “Let’s try again,” she said.