Rossi’s hand moved so fast, I didn’t even see the motion. One moment he was bent over Ryder’s hand like a supplicant bowing to a king. Then his fingers were caught around Ryder’s wrist, holding his hand tight. Hard.
Ryder’s breathing went a little crooked before he evened it out.
Yeah, it was one thing to know Rossi was a vampire. It was quite another to see him display a tiny percentage of what being a vampire really entailed.
Rossi pressed the pinky of his free hand over Ryder’s finger, just enough to hook the barest drop of blood off Ryder’s finger. Then, staring straight into Ryder’s eyes, he licked that drop into his mouth.
I had no idea what Rossi could actually discern from Ryder’s blood. I wanted to look over at Myra and see if she knew. But I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the old west stare down going on in my living room.
“You disappoint me, Mr. Bailey.” Rossi’s words were cool, smooth and sent chills down my spine again.
I was starting to regret not having my gun on me. Not that a simple bullet wound would slow Rossi down.
“I had hoped you were a liar.”
Then, just like that, Rossi let go of Ryder’s wrist.
I could breathe again, and took in a huge lungful of air.
“He didn’t kill Sven?” I asked.
Ryder threw me an exasperated look. “I’ve told you that,” he muttered.
“He did not.”
“It was his blood on Sven, though,” I said.
“Yes.” Rossi strolled back over to the chair and sat with his tea. He looked tired. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him look tired. “Also, he doesn’t know who killed him.”
“Which is what I’ve also been saying.” Ryder pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket—seriously, who carries a handkerchief these days—and pressed his finger into it to stop the bleeding.
“It would have been easier if you were guilty,” Rossi said. “Or if I could kill you. Both. Both would have been easier. We should do something about making this easier for me, Delaney.”
That was the Rossi I knew. Annoying. Pain in the butt. Not above a little whining.
“I don’t care about easy, I care about justice. You should want to catch the person who killed Sven, not go around randomly killing people hoping you hit pay dirt.”
Rossi shrugged. “Potato, Potah-to.”
Myra sighed. “Okay, so what we know is that Ryder is innocent in Sven’s death. He is also a freelance agent for the Department of Paranormal Protection and wants to contact the vampires in town.”
“You just bled for him,” Jean said. “I think you can check ‘Send fruit basket to the bloodsuckers’ off your to-do list, Ryder.”
“Good to know.” He sat back down and took a drink of his coffee. His hand was steady, and he had that easy sort of body language about him that might be a lie, but was also good enough I bet it would calm nervous dogs.
And apparently blood-hungry vampires.
“Did you join the police force to try to uncover the secrets of Ordinary?” Rossi asked.
“I joined the force because I was asked.” He grinned. “But since I was there, I thought a little digging was in order.”
“What did you find?” he asked.
“Nothing. Not really. The records are clean. The evidence room is so normal as to be boring. I was thinking I’d made a mistake. But then...”
“Sven died,” I said.
“Are all the Rossis vampires?” Ryder asked.
