42
CHARLEY
I knewsomething had changed when I awoke, aware I was no longer in so much pain, or as cold as I had been. The low humming around me puzzled me for a moment, until I worked out it was a car engine, and I was wrapped in a blanket I recognised by its smell.
“Luc.” My throat was a little improved. Being free of that shed had helped, but I was still hella croaky.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here. You’re okay.” Luc was holding me. No wonder I felt so safe and warm. I heaved a pathetic sigh, and opened my eyes.
“Took your time,” I grumbled, trying to inject a note of amusement into my tone so he didn’t think I was really fucked off with him.
“Charley.” I turned my head a fraction. “Aye, over here. You need to feed. Can you sit up a bit?”
I blinked in the direction of the front seats. “Dad?”
There was a silence so profound, I feared I’d gone deaf. Then Dalziel said, sounding choked, “Please sit up. Just a wee bit.” He was rolling up his shirt sleeve, looking so concerned I couldn’t help but frown.
“I’m okay, you know.” I tussled briefly with the blanket, before emerging from its depths. “Fuck, I really thought I was stuck in that shit hole for the duration.”
“Never,” Luc growled. He twisted on the seat to prop me up some more. “But you really do have to feed.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to deny I was hungry, when Dalziel’s pale arm appeared under my nose. “Hey, laddie. Concentrate.” I focused on his wrist, hearing, feeling his slow, steady pulse. My mouth watered. But I couldn’t do that, could I? I raised my eyes to see his hazel gaze was intent on me, steady, and as comforting as a lighthouse on a stormy day. Before I could take another breath, he lifted his arm to his mouth and tore open a vein, pressing it to my lips. “Feed now.”
Resistance, as they say, was futile. I fell on his wrist like the starving man I was. With every pull I felt stronger. The residual pains in my limbs and my head vanished, and heat exploded through me into my extremities. But as suddenly as I started, I stopped, eyes wide as I realised who I’d been feeding from.Oh my god.
Mindful to seal the wound, I sat back and stared at Dalziel. “Is that okay, to feed from a vampire?”
He nodded, already refastening his cuff button. Baxter popped her head over the passenger seat head rest. “He’s not come all this way on a rescue mission to throw away three hundred years, lovie. He’ll be grand. Question is, now you’re back with us, what bastard are we gonna hang, draw and quarter?” Her grin was positively demonic.
My breath whooshed out of me. “Fuck, Stanno. He said he’d be coming back.” I fell back into the security of Luc’s embrace. “Said I’ve got to tell him where Chip hid the money. I don’t know what money he means. No, that’s not right. I do. It’ll be drug money. But I didn’t know Chip was selling drugs. We sure as hell weren’t besties.” I swallowed around the lump that clogged my throat as I recalled how out of control Stanno had seemed. “I think he planned to kill me. I’m pretty sure he killed Chip.”
Dalziel didn’t seem shocked. “Your ex boss appears to think so too.” He swiped a mobile from the dashboard, and when he read whatever was on the screen, his eyebrows shot into his hairline. “Okay, people, slight change of plan.” He waggled the phone. “That was Ledge. Seems Stanno is wanted by the police. He’s a ‘person of interest’ regarding Chip’s demise. The Wyverns have a tail on him. I assume that means we’ll be meeting more than just Stanno a bit later.”
Baxter rubbed her hands together. “Do I get to kick his slimy arse too? Please say yes.”
Eleanor snorted.Hang on, Eleanor was here?What with Dalziel being in contact with Ledge, I guessed nothing should surprise me now.“I wouldn’t get your hopes up for much violence. Seems the reprehensible Ledge takes exception to anyone murdering one of his club members. Even this piece of scum has a conscience, of sorts.”
I coughed. “Unless he’d been the one to off me.” Although, was he more bark than bite? I’d certainly thought he was capable of murder when the word had gone around I was to be brought to him ‘in any condition’.
Dalziel gave me a sharp look I couldn’t interpret. “Jury’s out on that, and thankfully he won’t ever get a chance to hurt you. Baxter, update Sorley. We’ll get into place. Eleanor, will you drive Charley and Lucien back to…Hmm, that’s a point. Charley, your parents need to know you’re safe. Eleanor, will you take Charley back to his family home please, then—”
“I’ll come straight back here,” Luc broke across him. He shot me an anguished glance. “I don’t think I can control my wolf right now. It’s not a good idea to meet your parents when I feel this way.”
“Actually,” Eleanor spoke over everyone, “I think Charley should go with Lucien. I’m not usually one to assign credit where it’s not due, but in this case, it might be simpler to let the world at large think the motorcycle club tracked Charley down. It means fewer folk to thrall. And if the Wyverns think Nita and David are grateful to them, it keeps some local peace, and keeps us from coming to the attention of the local coppers.”
Dalziel considered this, then addressed Luc. “Take the boy home. Get him clean and fed again, and lock your apartment down. Only Baxter or I will make contact. We will use the code words ‘the spaghetti is cooked’. Nothing else.”
“Paranoid much?” But Luc seemed less tense now he’d been told to stick with me. He belted me in where I sat, then got behind the wheel. “Eleanor, you going to be okay here?”
“Of course. I’ll stay in the van while Dalziel gets everything under control.” She paused. “In the back, I think, to avoid the motorcycle club. I’m not overly fond of bikers.”
* * *
Luc carriedme into his bedroom, where he insisted I took a seat on the bed. I protested I was fine now I’d fed, and too grubby and damp from my captivity, but he splayed a large hand over my chest and kept it there, until I relented and sagged back onto the softest duvet I’d ever encountered. It was kind of nice to be fussed over. He pulled an assortment of clean clothes from various drawers and cupboards, and piled them up on the side, then disappeared briefly. I heard a tap go on, then something being plugged in. When he returned, he gave me a hopeful look.
“Are you feeling up to a shower? It might make you feel a bit more human.” A giggle escaped me and he raised his eyebrows. “What’s so funny?”
“Dude, I’m barely human if Dalziel’s right about my mother. It tickled me.”
