The fire crackled.
“Would you care for a drink?” she asked. “We have scotch, bourbon, wine. I could find a beer if you wanted one.”
“Bourbon.” At least he didn’t have to worry about her poisoning him. If she’d wanted him dead, she’d had multiple chances tonight.
“Do you want that mixed with anything?”
“More bourbon.”
She rose and walked barefoot to a bar in the corner where she poured his drink and a red wine for herself. Damn. He caught himself responding physically to the sway of her hips. Even her bare feet turned him on, perfectly arched, the skin smooth and elegant, her toes painted tulip red. He was doomed. For all he knew, she was some sort of secret agent, but his head kept going straight to the gutter.
As soon as the drink was in his hands, he took a fortifying swig. “Now, can you tell me who the hell you are and where you got the tech to pull that off tonight?”
Rowan looked him in the eye, her face deadly serious. “What we stumbled on tonight was not a fetish group. Itwashuman trafficking. You were right about that. Just not for the reasons you think.”
“No?”
“NAVAK stands for New Amsterdam Vampire Kingdom. What you saw tonight were vampires bidding on humans supplied to them by Verinetti for a price. NAVAK struck a deal with the local shifter pack to live in Manhattan. I wouldn’t expect you to understand the implications as a human, but I can tell you that has never happened before. Vampires and shifters are natural enemies. Verinetti sold out.”
He waited for some indication that she was lying, but none came. In fact, all his instincts told him she was telling the truth. Nick laughed. It had to be a joke. “Vampires. Right.”
“Vampires, yes. Verinetti and his pack are providing them humans to use for feeding. The tattoos on the human’s wrists mean they are part of the vampires’ herd. Most of the time, these humans will be kept alive to service the vampires. Vampires in general tend to take care of their humans for the same reasons humans might take good care of their dairy cows. But if one gets out of line, perhaps doesn’t want to be used as a blood bag anymore, they won’t hesitate to kill them. I’m guessing that’s what you were investigating, isn’t it? You found that girl you showed to Connor dead with that logo on her wrist.”
Nick’s knees refused to hold him up any longer, and he sat down on the sofa across from her. His head was spinning. He hadn’t told Rowan anything about the crime scene. Aside from the symbol, he hadn’t shared any details with her. But now everything she was saying lined up with the facts of the case, and it was just too fucking weird for his brain to process. A chill skittered along his spine.
He took another long drink of bourbon and concentrated on her body language. There was still no indication she was untruthful. For the first time, she seemed open, like all her cards were on the table.
“A-are you saying you believe these areactualvampires, like the mythological creatures that drink people’s blood?” He laughed nervously, although there was nothing funny about it.
“I know for sure those were real vampires, and I also know they’ve seen our faces. There were cameras everywhere in that place. And when you released my hand, you lost the protection of my invisibility.”
“How… how’d you do that?”
Rowan disappeared.
Nick let out a stream of curses that would make a hardened criminal blush. He blinked his eyes and she was there again. He tossed back the remainder of his drink.
“I know those were real vampires, Nick, because I am a dragon. I can make myself and anything I touch invisible because dragons can become invisible. I can fly, not because of technology, but because I have wings.”
Now his head was really spinning. He had to be drunk. Did she just say she had wings? He licked his lips. “You seem like a really nice person, Rowan, but you need professional help.”
She stood and crossed to stand directly in front of him, hands on her hips. The look on her face wasn’t exactly angry, but she wasn’t smiling either. If he had to name her expression, he’d say she was both frustrated and resolved. And she wasn’t lying. Nothing scared him more than knowing that as far as all his skills and training were concerned, she was telling the truth. He set his empty glass on the coffee table and stood so that they were face-to-face.
“I like you, Nick. Please don’t disappoint me.”
With a sound like a flag unfurling, two red, scaled wings spread from her back and arched across the room.
For a second Nick’s mind flashed on how really beautiful the wings were, like bat wings but with rose-colored scales that glinted in the firelight. He wanted to touch them, wondered what they’d feel like. But he couldn’t. His skin turned clammy, and a tremble took hold of his body. The room tilted and the floor rose up to meet his head. It was easier to fall asleep since he was already lying down.
Everything slipped into shadow, and he gave himself over to total darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
“Nick? Nick?” Rowan shook his shoulder. When he didn’t wake, she scooped him off the floor and carried him to her bedroom, where she positioned him with a pillow under his head. She was relieved when her phone rang. Harriet had arrived and Brian was letting her up. Rowan had texted her to come while Nick was in the bathroom, in the event that his injuries were worse than she’d thought. Now she was glad for the prognostication.
A few minutes later she heard her friend let herself in with her key. “Back here!” she called.
Harriet appeared in the doorway, dressed to the teeth, as always, this time in a lavender suit with a patterned Hermès scarf tied around her throat. Her hair cascaded in straight silver strands to her shoulders. A large black leather bag hung from one elbow.
