Page 36 of Brimstone Bound
I stared up at him, suddenly mute. I’d thought that vampires were all about cold emotions and even colder grips, but Lukas was the complete opposite. Even through the bulk of my borrowed clothes, I could feel the heat of his skin. And I was certainly aware of the furious fire in his face. The familiar terror uncoiled in the pit of my stomach and an involuntary tremor ran through my body from head to toe.
‘Fuck!’ He released his hold on me and stepped back. He didn’t take his eyes away from me, but I felt some of the tension leave my body. I could breathe again. That helped.
‘Was that Lily Twist again?’ I asked shakily.
Lukas shook his head. ‘Housekeeping.’
I watched him warily in case he made another move. Even if I could have reacted quickly enough, the crossbow was all but useless without a bolt loaded in it. ‘Bad news travels fast,’ I whispered. ‘It’s been less than an hour since I found his body.’
Lukas began to stalk up and down, five paces one way, five paces the other way. I flicked my gaze to the right. The exit from the car park into the hotel was fifty metres away. I’d never get there fast enough; I’d already seen enough of Lukas’s reaction times to know that.
‘Cause of death?’
‘I’m no pathologist.’
Lukas stopped pacing and glowered at me. ‘Your throat was cut. Did that happen to Brown too?’
‘No.’
‘Were there any similarities between your death and his?’
‘No.’ I paused. Other than the fact that we were both killed within hours of each other, of course.
He curled his fingers into fists. ‘I am not the enemy, D’Artagnan. It might not feel like it, but I am on your side. I can help. What happened to Brown?’
I knew that I shouldn’t believe him. I knew I should turn tail and run away as fast as I could. But I had few friends and even fewer answers. If Lukas was going to keep appearing out of the blue, maybe I should make use of him. I no longer seemed to have much to lose.
I sighed. He’d hear it from the housekeeper anyway. ‘On the face of it, Tony died as a result of auto-erotic asphyxiation that went too far.’
Lukas blinked. ‘Interesting kink,’ he murmured. ‘You don’t believe it?’
‘No.’ I watched him, expecting him to tell me that I was being naïve and people got up to all sorts of things behind closed doors. He didn’t; he simply waited. ‘I went to his flat,’ I said. ‘It’s been trashed. It’s like someone was looking for something but I have no idea what.’
Lukas absorbed that. ‘And your home?’ he inquired. ‘Has it been ransacked too?’
‘No.’ Then I amended my reply. ‘Actually, I don’t know for sure. I’ve not been back since last night. But I don’t live alone – my boyfriend is there.’ I thought of Jeremy and the worry on his face when he’d knocked on the Supe Squad door. Had someone broken into our flat too?
Lukas gazed at me with a strange expression on his face that I tried – and failed – to decipher. ‘Have you told this boyfriend of yours what’s happening?’
‘I’m trying to keep him out of it. He’s not with the police. It’s safer for him if he stays out of it.’
‘Not to mention the fact that you died and came back to life again,’ Lukas murmured. ‘That isn’t the sort of thing that happens to normal people.’
I wanted to argue that I was perfectly normal, but I knew I wouldn’t win that debate. Truth be told, I’d been doing my best to forget my impossible resurrection. One problem at a time. Unless… Hope flared in my chest. ‘Maybe Tony will wake up just like I did.’
‘Maybe,’ Lukas said. He didn’t sound convinced. His eyes grew distant as he mulled over something.
‘He used a tie,’ I blurted out.
‘Pardon?’
‘Tony used a tie. Round his neck. He used it to…’ I swallowed ‘…to hang himself.’
‘Is that important?’
‘I can’t pretend that I knew him well, but one of the first things he told me was that he didn’t own any ties.’
Lukas rubbed his chin. ‘Take me to him. I want to see him for myself.’
