Sorley cleared his throat. “I’ll be a police officer, with orders to scour the area with my sniffer dog.” I glowered at him, and I heard his breath hitch, not that the undead bastard needed to breathe — or so it was rumoured. “My award-winning sniffer dog,” he corrected, and I inclined my head. I knew my part in this, but it didn’t mean I had to roll over like a little bitch the second he arrived. I was doing this for Charley, and maybe a little bit for Dalziel. I didn’t have to pretend I felt it was beneath me to act this way for a vampire; being subservient to any bloodsucker raised my wolf’s hackles.
I shoved my hands in my pockets in an attempt to look as if his haughty manner and the throbbing in my knee weren’t affecting me. “And how exactly do we persuade his parents to let us trample through their flower beds?”
“Thrall, of course,” Baxter answered for him. “That’s where I come in. With two of us, they won’t stand a hope.”
“What’s the chance of actually being able to track him far?” My faith in my ability to pick Charley’s scent out of a crowd hadn’t wavered, but following him anywhere busy concerned me. Tratton St Mary wasn’t a huge place, but just between diesel fumes and fast food aromas, I’d spent the whole day with my sinuses burning, and that was in human form.
Baxter shrugged. “We don’t know. But whatever you get will be more than the peelers. Right?”
I grinned at her. “You’ll give yourself away, using old-fashioned slang like that.”
Sorley rolled his eyes. “You’d be amazed. The bright young things lap it up. They think it’s part of her charm.” His Geordie accent was a marked contrast to Baxter’s rough London vowels.
I said, as politely as I could, “D’you not think the way you speak will make you stand out? Tratton St Mary’s not exactly a melting pot of diversity.” I deliberately didn’t look at Baxter — her stunning looks meant she’d stand out even if she affected the thickest Suffolk accent.
In a decent mimicry of my own voice, Sorley shot back at me, “We’re the experts at this, pup. How old are you exactly?” He held my gaze until I muttered, “Twenty-four,” and said, with a condescension that set my teeth on edge, “There you are then.”
As much as it pained me, I slid my eyes to the side, and exhaled slowly.Don’t let him get to you. Focus on Charley.
Baxter pointed a long finger at my clothing. “You’re a bit overdressed, chuck. But, um...” She glanced swiftly at Sorley before giving me an apologetic look. “D’you mind having a quick shower while you’re nekkid? I know we’re vampires with acute senses, but even so you are a bit ripe.”
My face flamed. “I’ve been a bit fucking busy, looking for my boyfriend, because Ican,you know, in daylight.” I wasn’t going to admit to either of them how banged-up I’d got myself, but of course, they’d have scented my blood as soon as they walked through the door. Ah, perhaps Sorley wasn’t quite the prick I’d pegged him as. Although, scratch that; his expression darkened as I mentioned daylight, so fuck him. Their being unable to go out and look for Charley with me had very much hampered the search, so no, I wasn’t taking it back.
I ignored him and narrowed my eyes at Baxter. “I’m giving you the responsibility of locking this place up. And taking stuff for me to change back into as soon as we’re done. Do not think I won’t make your life a living hell if you try and trick me.”
She nodded curtly. “Charley’s in danger. I ain’t playing about.” She took the house keys and the gym bag I handed her, then looked quizzically at me when I hesitated.
“You two can wait in the hallway. I won’t be long.” I strode to my bedroom and slammed the door without waiting for an acknowledgment, then stripped at speed, and took the world’s fastest shower, ignoring how pink the water turned. As soon as I was dry enough for my fur not to clump, I shifted. I waited a few moments longer than I would usually after a shift, gritting my teeth as I felt my torn flesh heal. At least shifting meant any residual damage would be hidden by my thick fur.
I could manage to open the internal doors, because I’d made sure I could before I bought the place. Sorley’s eyes grew large as I padded towards them both. “Christ, you’re big. I hope the lead I brought fits.” I sat down hard, and fixed my gaze on him. He shrugged. “I can hardly turn up without you looking the part. It’s a plain black harness. I won’t pull on it, unless you misbehave.”
Don’t you dare,I growled, making myself understood. He glanced at Baxter. She cast her eyes heavenwards and sighed. “God save me from men, for fuck’s sake.” She seemed to give herself a mental shake, and her demeanour changed as if she’d put on a costume.
“C’mon then, Lukey,” she trilled, and stepped towards the front door.
Lukey? Are you fucking kidding me?I had a mouthful of her fancy leather trousers between my jaws before she could advance to open it. She shot me an irritated look. “Yes, you’re a police dog. Yes, you get a dog name. Fucking deal with it, or I’ll rename you Shep.” The look in her eyes told me she wasn’t kidding. I slunk out the door behind her, my tail drooping, all the while plotting her demise. Suddenly she didn’t seem half as sexy as I’d thought a few days previously.
40
CHARLEY
I cameto with a pounding headache, and a throat that felt like a scouring pad when I swallowed. The scents of diesel, rust and damp earth filled my nostrils. It was dark, and cold, neither of which bothered me as much as the pain in my head, and the fact I’d been tied up like an alien slave boy off to market in one of the fantasy stories I used to concoct when I was bored and horny. Jeez, what kind of idiot had I been to think captivity could ever be sexy? I was dizzy too, but I soon worked out I’d been slung face down over a seat of some kind. Carefully, because my limbs had been bound so tightly I had pins and needles, I wriggled experimentally. Oops, wrong way. That was my hair brushing the floor. I needed to try and reverse instead.
Inch by inch I worked my way backwards until I was kneeling on the ground. With an effort, I lifted my head, which weighed a ton, and looked around at my surroundings. The seat I’d been dumped on had been ripped from a car and was torn and dirty. Didn’t stop me from laying my head down again for a rest while I tried to think through the thrash metal gig going on behind my eyeballs. My right shoulder was screaming from the angle at which it had been pulled back, and from my lying on it, so I heaved myself up enough to flip slowly onto my left side. It was only marginally less painful. My ribs felt tender, as if they’d been on the wrong end of a steel toe cap boot. Knowing I’d been assaulted and choked by Stanno, this now seemed entirely possible.
I sighed in the gloom. How could I have been so wrong about him? I’d genuinely thought he was a good guy, or as good as anyone in the Wyverns. Why the hell he’d figured kidnapping me was the answer, and to what, I had no clue. Fuck, my head hurt.
I sat up again, and tried to make sense of my surroundings. It was a brick…shed, perhaps, of some kind. Maybe a dozen feet by ten, in a poor state of repair, and home to a variety of knackered engine parts and old tools. There was a camping chair, a fold up table, some wonky shelving, and an assortment of bottles and tin boxes against one wall. The sole window was boarded over, and I assumed the door would be locked. However, I wasn’t going to sit there and wait. Even in pain, I could shuffle my way over.
Except, I didn’t move. A wave of self-pity washed over me as I contemplated how unlikely it was I’d make it out of there alive. Nobody would have a clue where I’d gone, or who with, and why would they? Nita probably assumed I was sleeping, work had dumped my arse, and Luc knew my phone contact could be sporadic, so he wouldn’t worry if I didn’t get in touch for a day or two. Hell, even Ledge might have inadvertently raised the alarm by phoning my home if I’d still been working for him and not turned up. I might have pushed the club’s collective buttons with my refusal to act straight, but I was always on time, and had never missed a single shift.
There was no one else who’d notice I was missing. And until I’d crashed into Luc, I’d been happy that way. Or happy-ish. With the benefit of hindsight, I’d been merely drifting through life with the cruise control on.
Thinking of Luc was enough to encourage me to open my eyelids once more. I was a supernatural freak of nature and design. Part vampire, part Fae, and according to the identical looks of shock on the faces of Dalziel and Baxter when I’d let rip in anger, a force to be reckoned with. I was better than a snivelling mess on the dirty floor of some godforsaken shed in the arse end of god knows where, so I would damn well start acting like it.
It was slow going. I changed my mind after a few minutes, and instead of heading for the door, I made for the heap of engine parts. Perhaps there’d be something I could use to create some friction with which to attack my bindings. My ankles were bound with duct tape, as were my knees, but Stanno had wrapped my knees in such a way it prevented me from bending them properly. From the feel of it, my wrists were fastened with cable ties. I cursed my bad luck at having been unconscious, because if they’d been tied in front rather than behind my back, I’d have snapped them within seconds. I allowed a moment of grudging admiration for the secure job he’d done of it.
I eventually manoeuvred my wrists into position over the corner of a car battery, and began the slow process of sawing back and forth. I couldn’t maintain the position for long, as every nerve and muscle in my body screamed at how I had to lever myself up and hold steady. Sweat dripped into my eyes, my throat burned with thirst, and my bladder began to complain.
