Page 60 of Fanged Embrace
Though I considered using the window—my trademark exit plan—I left through the front door, taking the steps two at a time. Then paused.
I walked myself back a few steps, and rifled around the potted plants clustered in the doorway until I found the spare key. As I slipped it into my pocket and sprinted for the sidewalk, I tried not to think too hard on what that meant.
I took the key so I could come back again.
It was stupid, and shameful, and it wasn’t part of the plan—but despite River’s ability to grate on my every nerve, and despite my dedication to keeping myself distant, Iwantedto come back to her.
29
River
“Are you sure this is the place?” I lifted a hand to shade my eyes, squinting in the sun.
“Yep.” Dylan glanced at me, then at the sleek, gray-walled house across the street and back again. “This is it.”
I shot her a side-eye as we crossed over. “How did you even find this guy?”
Dylan only shrugged, eyes straight ahead as we made a beeline for the front of the building. “I have my ways.”
I raised an eyebrow and she sighed. “I heard rumors of people disappearing from the hospital where he works by day. I staked out that building, clocked his scent as distinctlynothuman, then followed him home. Happy?”
“Unconvinced.” I gave the house a wary once-over, taking in the short-clipped grass of the lawn and the gray blinds in the windows—all drawn shut. “He could just be some loner vampire living undercover. What makes you think he’s this ‘Doctor’ everyone’s mentioned?”
“He’s a surgeon by day, a vampire by night, people havegone missing from his ward, and this is a mighty fine home for someone living on a public hospital salary.” Dylan listed the reasons on her fingers, then craned her neck to look around for any passersby. “He’s out right now so we need to get in and look around—see if we can find any evidence to confirm his identity.”
I nodded, but found my jaw clenched tight.
Dylan motioned for us to head around the back, on the hunt for any easy entrance out of street view, and my mind churned as I followed. If this guy really was the Doctor—if I could prove it—my role might shift from pure recon to something a little more… direct. If we managed to unmask a real monster, I wasn’t going to wait around for Leyore coven orders. I was fully prepared to kill him myself.
Keeping low behind the clipped hedges, we crept up to the back door. When we found it locked, Dylan did what Dylan did best: she disappeared.
“Where are you going?” I watched her sink into the shadows under the door, disappearing in a shroud of smoky tendrils. Two seconds later, I heard a latch flip on the inside and the door swung open.
Dylan greeted me from within, smirking with self-satisfaction. “Who needs a lock pick when you can travel through shadows?”
Impressive, I had to admit. She didn’t have to be so smug about it though. I pushed past her, slipping the door quietly shut behind me. “Show-off.”
The interior was flawlessly pristine. Polished floors gleamed in the dim lighting, reflecting the faint slivers of sunshine bleeding through the blinds—not a dust mote in sight. Minimalist art hung on the walls, and all the furniture came in shades of gray, save for the black leather sofas and massive glass coffee table.
Dylan snorted as she inspected a strange, black waterfountain display mounted to the wall of the living room. “Villainous lair much? If this guyisa violent psychopath, he’s not doing much to hide it. This whole place says ‘evil-evil-evil’.” The shadowy tendrils that drifted around her head undulated in time with her chanting.
She poked an inquisitive finger in the water fountain and I hissed over her shoulder, “Focus, please. We needrealevidence. Villain-chic doesn’t count.”
“What’s got you so tense? You’re usually the happy-go-lucky one.” Dylan flicked a few droplets of water my way, assessing gaze giving way to a small smirk. “Does it have something to do with your new housemate, perhaps?”
She may as well have shone a spotlight in my face and shouted in my ear the way the question startled me.
“No! Laurie is simply a valuable eyewitness. This has nothing to do with her.” I stomped past the grinning vamp and made my way down the hall. “Let’s just get some evidence and get the fuck out. You coming?” When I turned around, Dylan had disappeared again. “Dylan?!”
“Over here.” She reappeared at the end of the hall, ahead of me and overly pleased with herself. “Catch up, slowpoke.”
I rolled my eyes and followed, making a mental note to chat to Amara about her wife’s ballooning ego. We swept the ground floor in minutes: kitchen deserted, bedrooms neat, closet packed with pristine suits and silk pajamas. No sign of anything suspicious—only that lingering, uneasy stillness—until we reached the last door.
Dylan pushed it open and we both peered down the concrete staircase disappearing into the dark. She met my eye with a quirked brow. “Creepy basement.Veryvillainous.”
“Just get moving already.” I swatted her shoulder and Dylan descended with a smirk.
I followed her down. The steps led to another door—unlocked—and then there we stood, in a mini laboratoryreminiscent of the larger facility. Stainless steel tables lined the walls, each decked with vials, syringes, centrifuges, even a microscope with a blood-splattered slide slotted in place.
