Page 15 of Crossing Between
"Ah!" Her sudden shout had me jumping to my feet in reaction, looking around for the threat.
"What?" I glanced down at her to see her whole body had turned that adorable bright red. All that delicious blood was just under the surface. My teeth began to grow in anticipation.
"Um. Captain, you're holding me. I have to be too heavy." She'd clutched her hands together in nerves.
I just stared at her for a brief silent moment. "You are not heavy to me. I am an ancient vampire. I have the strength of a hundred regular vampires. Are you insinuating I couldn't carry you? That I'm weak?" Her stuttered angry reply made me want to laugh but I shut that down. It would only make her angrier and I didn't know if she'd stay mad.
"Captain, please set me down. Your point has been made."
Her voice had gone up an octave and her scent swirled around me like peonies and honeysuckle. My thumb caressed her leg, under her knee, where I held her. My fangs were almost long enough now that if she watched me talk, she'd see them in all their glory instead of the glimpses she may have caught the past few days.
I placed her on her feet gently before turning my back on her to go look out the window with my hands behind my back. My hunger reared up, I could feel my eyes changing to black as my monster came forward but I fought him down as I didn't want to scare the little Medium. It wasn't easy given her scent was on my clothes now.
"Why did Quilith toss you through their portal? They usually don't let anyone near it." Distracting her was the best option I had at the moment.
She cleared her throat. She was obviously upset, but if that was at Quilith or me for holding her for as long as I did, I wasn't sure.
"I was going to take the bus back to the station because Kenji and Elias, uh, had run into some problems that made it uncomfortable to ride in a car with them. That's when Quilith did the portal thing." Her voice cracked, like she was amused when she mentioned her two partners.
Now what trouble did those two get into this time? "I see." I flexed my fingers and turned around to face her after making sure I was in control. "Did you find anything out from our body?"
She shook her head but her scent spiked with nerves. "The soul was gone from this plane. I wasn't able to learn anything from them." Not a lie, but not the truth.
Another reason I couldn't even contemplate wanting to kiss her or do more. She was hiding something. I'd find out what it was eventually. I always did. It was why I was the homicide Captain.
Chapter 12: Zoey
"By the way, Zoey," Varon pointed to a desk in the corner of his office where a large file cabinet had been before. "It's not your office, but that will be your desk for now until maintenance can get your office cleared out."
Oh. No. Close quarters every day with Varon? My panties were never going to survive. Granted, they were probably never going to when I was around Elias and Kenji. I was just screwed.
"That's...." I swallowed. "That's fantastic. Thank you, sir." I moved over to the desk and sat in the chair. It was extremely cushy like someone was wrapping me up in bubble wrap. "Oh, I like the chair."
"Good. I had it specially ordered for you. I've noticed you're a bit of a klutz. I figured you could at least be comfortable if you fall again." Varon's face was shut down but I just knew that his eyes were dancing in humor and laughter at me.
"You're a big softy under the scary glares aren't you?" My book bag made a soft thunk on the top of the desk as I smirked at my boss. "Very kind and sweet."
"Keep thinking that." Varon sat at his desk and began working on his laptop. "See how it goes for you, little one."
My whole body froze at being called little one. No one who had met me could call me little, but that name made my spine tingle and I bit my lower lip briefly as images flashed through my mind. Fuck me. I wanted my boss to take me over his desk, or mine, I wasn't picky, and put me in my place.
Oh. Wow.
I shook my head rapidly. I needed to stop. That was really out of nowhere. I had to remember he could smell when I was turned on. Gods, it was embarrassing to even think about.
"What should I be doing when I'm not with Kenji or Elias?" I had to distract myself.
"You'll need to document what you experienced when summoning a soul. The laptop on your desk is already keyed to your biometrics. Just open it. The program you'll use to notate in the cases you're helping with is called E-Cops. Find Elias or Kenji, their case files for the one you've assisted with and create a separate folder under your name and the case number."
"E-Cops? That seems so....well...lame." What was possessing me to give Varon lip? We weren't that close. It was only my first week on the job!
The vampire surprised me, though. He chuckled as he finally glanced over at me. "I didn't name it. Blame it on the engineers. Apparently they don't have a good imagination. Now, file your paperwork and you can go home afterward since your partners seem to be a bit busy." He looked at the door just as it opened to the two men he'd just been talking about. His nose screwed up as their smell filled the office. "Dear Morgana. You two need to hit the showers and burn those fucking clothes. Get out of my office!"
"But boss," Kenji flashed a mischievous grin. "Don't you want our report?"
"OUT!" Varon roared and I slapped my ears with my hands.
"We'll report later, sir." Elias pushed Kenji out the door as he glanced at me. "We'll see you later, Zoey."
