Page 9 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

His jaw tightened. ‘You think they’ll go after another one?’

‘Maybe someone wants a huge ruby to sell – but if not, it doesn’t bear thinking about. We can’t lose two gems. The barrier can’t fail.’ No doubt the fear was showing in my eyes.

He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. ‘I’ll see to it.’

‘Good. In the meantime, we’ll look into the protestors,’ Gunnar said. ‘Time for some basic police work, hitting the pavement to try to round up a suspect.’ He climbed into the SUV as I let Fluffy onto the back seat.

I’d already placed my hand on the passenger door when Connor called my name. ‘Bunny, be careful. If someone is going this far to bring down the barrier, who knows where they’ll stop?’

‘I’ll be fine. I’m undead already.’ I sent him a cheeky wink.

He shook his head slowly. ‘You might not be,’ he murmured quietly. ‘You have a pulse.’

‘Yeah. Anything new on that front?’ I tried not to sound hopeful. Connor had found nothing in his personal files so he’d started searching through other resources, but I didn’t know what those were.

‘Nothing yet, sorry.’

‘No problem,’ I lied.

He leaned into me and the electricity between us was like a lightning storm. His eyes were dark, more night sky than their usual ice blue. ‘Be safe, little doe. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.’ His warm lips brushed my cheek and my brain short-circuited.

‘Does are deer,’ I blurted. ‘There’s even a song about it.’

He gave me a lazy smile which warmed my insides. ‘Does are also female rabbits. Bucks are male rabbits.’

‘You’re a fount of useless information.’

His smile widened. ‘After a few centuries, you’d be surprised at the nonsense your brain chooses to remember. And what it chooses to forget.’ His eyes looked deeply into mine. ‘I could live a millennium and I still wouldn’t forget you.’ With that parting shot, he sauntered back to the house leaving me clinging to the car to stand upright. The man made me weak at the knees in the very best way.

I forced my mind to focus. Think about the case. You can think about Connor later. I opened the car door and climbed in. Gunnar was looking amused and my cheeks warmed. ‘Sorry,’ I muttered.

He turned on the engine. ‘No problem.’ His smile faded. ‘Just … be careful with him, won’t you?’

It wasn’t the first time Gunnar had hinted a warning about Connor, but unfortunately all it did was push me further into Connor’s arms. Give me a bad boy any day of the week; make him a forbidden one and I was a goner.

‘I will,’ I lied airily. I looked around for a way to change the subject and my eyes alighted on Fluffy. I was sure he had scented the thief when he’d whined in the closet with his nose to the rock pillar. He hadn’t been able to track them out, but maybe we could use the scent in another way. ‘Gunnar, if we call in each protestor for an interview, maybe Fluffy can sniff them and identify the thief.’

‘It’s worth a shot. We need to interview them all anyway, so we might as well give Fluffy the chance to get up close and personal at the same time.’

‘Nothing says hello like a sniff in the crotch.’

Gunnar laughed. ‘Don’t say that to Liv,’ he muttered.

‘Agreed. She doesn’t need any encouragement to try and get her face in your crotch.’ The words slipped out and he grimaced. I instantly wished I could call them back.

Since we were on the topic of Liv… ‘Do you think we should call her about the fire gem?’ As the head of the magic users’ group, she was the most logical next call.

‘She already knows all about it – that witch probably called her first. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s waiting at the office.’ We were silent for the rest of the drive, both wondering if his prediction would turn out to be true.

I was disappointed that there was no sign of Liv when we parked out back; I always prefer to get an unpleasant task over and done with.

When we got into the office, Shadow let out a plaintive yowl from his carrier. I obligingly opened the door and he pointedly turned around, giving me his back and refusing to come out.

‘A moment ago you were yowling to be let out,’ I sassed, ‘and now you’re staying in to spite me. I thought I was contrary.’ I rolled my eyes at him then turned to Gunnar. ‘I’ve got our list of protesters. I’ll start calling them in for interview.’

‘Great. No doubt Liv will be by soon.’

Almost like magic, the front door opened and we both looked at it expectantly but it wasn’t Liv: it was Stan. He gave me a slightly too-warm smile then he and Gunnar did a manly hug thing. Gunnar drifted back to his office, not so subtly giving us some privacy. It was entirely clear whom he would prefer me to date.

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