Page 39 of Embrace Me Darkly

“So who is he?” Blair asked. “The guy I can sense in your head.”

“I wasn’t thinking of a guy.” That was true, but at the same time it wasn’t. She hadn’t been actively thinking of Luke. But he’d been on her mind since—well, honestly, since the first time she’d seen him watching her. He’d been there all that time, hiding just under the surface. But now he was out, filling her thoughts, touching her soul. No wonder Blair could sense him.

Too bad Sara never would again.

“He’s—he doesn’t matter. I won’t be seeing him again.” The thought made her ache inside. But she had to acknowledge one good thing about him leaving. With everyone else, she knew she could keep the secret of Division 6. With Luke, she didn’t think so. She wanted no secrets between them. And this was as big as secrets came.

She glanced down at the report on PEC letterhead and once again noticed the logo. With a start, she remembered where she’d seen that symbol.

“Blair,” she said as she rose. “Take me to Director Leviathan’s office.”

“You’re in?”

Sara didn’t answer, just motioned for Blair to hurry. She followed the paralegal to the huge office at the end of the hall, then burst inside despite the frustrated howl from Martella, his assistant, seated in the alcove outside his door.

Leviathan looked up calmly from the file he was reading.

“My father knew about the PEC, didn’t he? I’ve seen the crest in his journals. Is that why he was killed?”

He gestured for her to sit. She ignored him.

“He knew, yes,” Leviathan said. “But he wasn’t killed because of it. He worked here.”

“Oh.” She dropped into the chair he’d indicated, then heard the click of the door behind her. She turned and saw that Blair had discreetly left the room. “But—but he was human, right?”

Leviathan smiled. “He was. He was exactly the man you knew. He simply worked for us.”

“Doing what?”

“What did you understand his job to be?”

“He taught folklore at UCLA. I remember that. Then I think he left. My mother mentioned something about a research grant. That was after he died, though. I never asked for details.”

“We are the details. A cover story to have handy for those in his world who might ask about the source of his income.”

“So what was he really doing?”

“Exactly that. Research. Archival work. He wrote several historical volumes. He was a good man, Sara, and an asset to the PEC.”

“Can I see his research? His papers? Any journals he left here and not at home?”

“You can, yes. Once you accept our offer. I doubt you will come to any more understanding than we have. The vampire who attacked him may have had no reason other than to feed. Bad things happen, Sara, sometimes for very little reason. As a prosecutor, you know that.”

“Honestly, sir, I’m not sure I know anything anymore.” Her thoughts were spinning in her head, and she felt as if she would drown under the waves of new revelations that kept coming and coming. “Nothing except that I’m staying.”

“You’re taking the job?”

She nodded.

“I’m very pleased.”

She forced herself to lift her chin and meet his eyes. “I need to be honest, though. I may only be doing it so that I’ll have access to the information about my father’s killer. And so that I can work the cold case.”

“And you think that would disturb me? To find and bring a killer to justice? If that truly is your primary motivation for joining us at Division 6, why should that disturb you? Hasn’t your father’s murder defined the course of your career even without us? Wasn’t his murder the impetus for your decision to practice law? Don’t you pull out his cold case file upstairs every chance you get? Now is no different. It’s just a few stories beneath the ground. And perhaps your co-workers are a bit more colorful down here. Otherwise, not much has changed.”

She had to admit he had a point.

“But Sara, our case is cold, too. Your father’s file is not a treasure trove of leads for you to follow. You may learn nothing more here.”

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