"They are," he said, a devilish glint in his eyes. "But there's always room for a little outside fun. Keeps the little man interested."
I snorted. "There's nothing little about your man."
"Totally true." He waggled his eyebrows at me. "Want a hot dog?"
"Nope, but you can buy me some cotton candy. The pink one, not the blue one."
He did, and I groaned in delight as I bit into the overly sweet spun sugar. It was heaven itself. "So," I said, licking the sugary goodness from the side of my mouth. "What are we going to do? Just wander around and wait for him to attack someone? Or are we going to check out the underbelly of this place and see what we can find?"
"I've checked every ride, and I haven't been able to spot anything."
Which didn't mean that I couldn't, if only because I had the advantage of infrared which could pick up body heat. And of course, vamps did have body heat, despite how they were often portrayed in movies and in literature. They only got cold if they weren't feeding enough.
But Kade knew that, so I didn't bother pointing it out. "What makes you think he's made the park his home rather than simply arriving with the weekend crowds?"
"Maintenance people have reported seeing something moving around after hours, but apparently whatever - whoever - it was disappeared before anyone could track it."
"None of the maintenance people have been attacked?" Kade shook his head, and I frowned. "That's rather odd, isn't it?"
He shrugged. "Maybe he's an older vamp who only needs to feed a couple of times a week."
Quinn was about as old as they got, and while he could go a long periods without feeding, he really needed to take blood every day to keep at his optimum levels of fitness and strength. Either this vampire was on a diet - and I couldn't ever imagine a vampire going though that willingly - or he was getting his meals from something other than humans. Like pigeons. There were certainly enough of them around - although there'd have to be a fairly high kill ratio to satisfy a vamp. Still...
"Don't suppose anyone has reported an increase in the number of dead pigeons, have they?"
He blinked. "Pigeons wouldn't have enough blood to satisfy a vampire."
"No, but if we're dealing with a small vampire, then a few drained pigeons might keep him going. It might also explain why he isn't going after adults. He might be stronger than a human, but maybe the size difference intimidates him."
"Good point. I'll ask."
I nodded. "A vampire also needs protection from the sunlight, and I would have thought the only viable places like that here would be places maintenance would need to go on a regular basis." And while vampires could wrap themselves in shadow and effectively vanish from human sight, they didn't actually become shadows. If someone brushed against them, they'd feel it. "Besides, you said you hadn't been able to sense anything that obviously felt like a nest."
"Nope, but that doesn't mean it's not here. Or he might be just moving around, keeping ahead of the maintenance people."
That was possible. And I suppose old amusement parks like this - even if they had been updated with newer rides and facilities - still had enough of the older rides left to provide hidey-holes for those intent on not being found.
"So let's walk around the older rides, and I'll infrared the internals and see if there's any body heat where there shouldn't be."
"Sounds like a plan." He bit into his hot dog, looking very much at ease with the noise and the crowd.
I ate some more cotton candy and wished I could be similarly at ease. I must have been exuding some agitation, though, because the crowd tended to part around me, giving me free space and less of a hemmed-in feeling.
Until someone fell in step beside me.
Someone who made my skin tingle and my wolf want to howl.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Rye?" I said, not even bothering to glance at him.
Which didn't mean I wasn't aware of him. His scent wrapped around me, musky and lush, and the heat of his body prickled mine, making the little hairs on my arms stand on end. It was almost as if they were reaching for him.
"I'm following you," he said, amusement in his voice. He reached across me, not touching me and yet close enough to make no difference, and offered Kade a hand. "I'm Kye Murphy. I'm guessing you'd be the horse shifter, Kade."
"You'd be correct," Kade rumbled, glancing at me with a slightly raised eyebrow and a dangerous glint in his eyes.
I shook my head at the unasked question. Kye's sudden appearance might be a problem in more ways than one, but I didn't want Kade involved. For a start, I very much doubted that Kade, for all his size and impressive physique, would have the strength to actually out hustle Kye, and second, we didn't need a scene that might just alert our quarry.
"We're on Directorate business," I said, dumping the cotton candy in the nearest bin. I'd suddenly lost my taste for sweet things. Or rather, my taste buds suddenly hungered for sweetness of a different kind. The kind that involved heat and flesh and lust...
I wrenched my thoughts from that particular direction, and added, "And you're definitely intruding."
"I usually am," he said, amusement so evident in his voice that it was all too easy to imagine the flit of it across his lips. But I didn't look. I didn't dare. "But I happen to think you and I might be hunting the same killer, and pairing-up achieved the desired results last time."
I glanced at him sharply. Hunger lurked deep in the brightness of his eyes. But he wasn't talking about the two of us bringing down the witches. He was referring to sex.
I shivered. I might hunger for his touch, but I feared it almost as much. Feared what it could mean to me and Quinn and everything else currently so right in my world.
"And why would anyone hire a killer with your reputation to hunt down a vamp who hasn't even killed yet?" I gave him a sour look. "We both know they wouldn't, so don't lie to me, Kye."
He smiled. It was a cool, hard smile that nevertheless had my insides quivering with desire. It was the nature of the wolf to seek out the strongest mate, and Kye was certainly that. "I wasn't referring to the cretin attacking children. That is certainly not worth my while."
"Then why are you here?"I edged a little closer to Kade, hoping his sunshiny scent would swamp the allure of Kye's presence. But it didn't even make a dent in the awareness that was swamping me.
"As I said, I've been following you. Sometimes the best way to hunt down your target is to piggyback other investigations." He glanced at me, eyebrow raised. "Besides, isn't it natural to want to be near your soul mate?"
Kade made an odd sound and started coughing. I hit him a couple of times on the back and he nodded in thanks.
Kye glanced from me to Kade and back again. "That's a little detail you obviously forgot to mention to your fellow guardian."
"She sure did," Kade wheezed.
"It's not like either of us are ecstatic about the fact," I muttered. "So why the hell should I announce it?"
"Because you've been waiting your whole life to find your mate?" Kye said, the sarcasm absent in his expression very evident in his voice.
"At least I desire something more than the next kill," I shot back.
"Oh, I desire a hell of a lot more than that," he murmured, his gaze on mine, hard and cold and yet somehow heated. "And I always get what I want."
My stomach quivered. God, how was it possible to want someone so much, and yet loathe them this badly?
"Then it's about time someone made you realize that you can't always get what you want." I snapped, and yet even I couldn't help noticing the slight tremor in my voice - a tremor that arose from the breathlessness that surged through me.
He merely smiled. He didn't need to say anything. We both knew my words were little more than a flimsy façade. All he had to do was reach out and touch me, and the fight would be over. At least until sexual satisfaction was reached.
No amount of loving from Quinn would ever ease the soul-deep hunger of my wolf for her mate, and sooner or later that need was going to overwhelm all opposition, all common sense.
"As fascinating as I'm finding this conversation," Kade said, voice casual and yet holding a hint of steel, "I do believe we may have found our quarry."
I stopped. "You're picking up something?"
"Stirring hunger." He pointed to the ghost train ride.
"And it's coining from there."
"Someone's about to get a real fright for a change," Kye murmured. He flexed his fingers, his excitement surging, wrapping around me as sweetly as a caress, causing my own heart to leap and race. "Shall we go find the vamp?"
I swung around sharply, meeting his hard gaze with one of my own even as I desperately tried to control the growing desire to press my lips against his.
"There is no 'we'. This is Directorate business." I glanced across my shoulder, and saw that Kade was on the phone, then added in a softer tone, "Stay out of the way, Kye, or I'll arrest you. I mean it."
Something flashed through his eyes. Something dangerous and wicked. Then he grabbed my arm, dragged me towards him, and kissed me.
It wasn't a nice kiss. It was as brutal and as harsh as the man could be, and yet my heart raced and my body ached, and I found myself returning the kiss eagerly, my wolf desperate for anything she could get.
And I hated that. I really hated it.
But he released me as suddenly as he'd grabbed me, the kiss so brief I doubted that anyone had noticed. We stared at each other for a moment, still so close our harsh breaths mingled. I had no doubt that the desire and anger that raged in his eyes had its echo in mine.
He smiled. It was as bitter and as cold as the kiss we'd just shared, yet still my wolf hungered.
I forced my feet backwards. The sudden distance between us didn't help the ache.
"The manager is closing down the ride, but he'll keep the lights off. Hopefully, the vamp won't realize we're onto him," Kade said, shoving his phone back into his pocket. He glanced from Kye to me and raised an eyebrow. Being an empath, he'd no doubt be picking up all sorts of crazy emotions, but all he said was, "I'll make sure the vamp doesn't escape via the rear entrance. You want to go through the front and flush him out?"
I nodded, spun on my heel, and stalked towards the ride. Kye remained where he was, and I wasn't entirely sure whether I was relieved or dismayed. I might have warned him off, but at least if he'd remained with me, I could have kept an eye on him.
Or maybe that kiss had rattled me more than I'd thought, because wanting to keep an eye on Kye was insane. That man was dangerous in more ways than I could count, and keeping him close was only asking for trouble.
The ghost train ride was a stand-alone building capped by a skull wearing a top hat and holding a megaphone to his mouth. It was easy to imagine he was inviting everyone to roll up and try the ride, though no words came out of his skeletal mouth. There was a long line of people waiting out the front, although one look at the many unhappy faces in the line suggested word had gone out about the delay. I leapt over the metal railing that divided the ride from the rest of the crowds and flashed my badge at the ride supervisor. From within the building came a series of clanks, screams, moans and a multitude of other spooky sounds, all accompanied by the rattle of carriages running on a wooden track.
"The last carriage is going through now," the supervisor said, as another carriage rattled into the station and two teenagers climbed out, both looking somewhat bored. "When that one comes out, you can walk through."
"Have all your people been given the word to clear out?" He nodded. "Just let us know when the coast is clear." I waited until the last of the old wooden carriages came out, then pressed the two-way stud that had been inserted into my ear long ago and said, "Heading in now, Kade."
"The employees are out," he said, his rich tones warming my inner ear. "The place is empty of life."
But maybe not empty of death. I gave the ride supervisor a tight smile, then pushed though a replica of the park's entrance - only this time the smiley face definitely had an evil look to it - and entered the shadowed confines of the ride.
The doors crashed closed behind me, but silence didn't settle in. The staff might have abandoned the building, but the effects were still running. I stood there in the darkness, listening to the noise, trying to detect a whisper of movement. Something, anything, that might indicate the vampire was on the move.
There was nothing.
Frowning, I followed the wooden track around to the right, blinking to alternate between infrared and regular sight, but there was no life to be seen in either mode. A caged piano - complete with fake chopped-off hands playing the keys - came into view. Then, as the track swung around to the left again, there came a series of weird, supposedly ghostly, portraits and murals. I smiled and shook my head. It was a wonder that anyone got scared of any of these things, and yet I could remember screaming at them when I was a kid and here with my brother to celebrate our birthday.
Or maybe I'd been screaming at the thought of being trapped in the park with so many humans.
The darkness closed in again as I continued to follow the tracks. A ghostly apparition appeared on the top of a mural staircase, and it took me a heartbeat to realize that apparition wasn't the work of lights, but rather the red heat of life sitting perched atop the faded artwork.