Knight Edition (6 page)

“M
aster Navarro! You
must awaken!”

Navarro opened his eyes, instantly alert at the distress in his retainer’s voice.

Inigo stood beside the bed, wringing his hands.

Navarro huffed out a breath and stretched his arms above his head. “What has our guest demolished now?”

“She’s gone, sir! I went to wake her so she could bathe before dinner. But she’s gone.”

“You locked the door?”

Inigo straightened, clearly affronted. “Of course. She used a nail behind a picture frame to pick the lock.”

Navarro sat up and looked at the graying light, peeking around the edges of his curtains. Nightfall would be complete in minutes. “The dogs didn’t deter her?”

“How was I to know those hounds from hell would appreciate a fine Burgundy?”

“She fed the dogs her potion!” Navarro laughed and climbed out of bed. “What about clothing?”

Inigo swept an arm in a wide arc. “She pilfered your closet while you slept!”

Sure enough, his closet door gaped wide and several items lay puddled on the floor. “She’s not quite the dim-watted bulb I took her for.” The knowledge pleased him.

“Where do you suppose she’s gone? Home, perhaps?”

“Not that one.” Navarro dressed quickly and shrugged into a leather jacket as he crossed the room. “She’ll head to the last place I would want her.”

“Naturally.” Inigo nodded and followed him out of the bedroom and into the hallway. “And where would that be?”

“If she’s intelligent enough to escape these grounds, she’s clever enough to conclude our trio of scientists may awaken from the dead.”

“Oh dear. She shouldn’t be anywhere in their vicinity if they rise.”

“My sentiments exactly. I’m heading there now,” Navarro said, taking the steps two at a time. “Call Lieutenant Brown and let him know where she may be going.”

“Sir, will you need backup?” Inigo called after him.

Navarro paused at the door leading to the garage. “You sound like a tired crime drama.”

“I must fill my time during daylight somehow,” he said, his expression growing prim. “
CSI: Miami
reruns do quite nicely.”

Navarro shook his head and closed the door behind him. “I would have been better off not knowing that.”

*

Sidney stared from
behind bushes, watching the entrance to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. As luck would have it, an ambulance had pulled into the circular drive moments before her arrival, and a body was being unloaded. She waited impatiently for the attendants to move away from the doors so that she could slip inside undetected.

“Sid, Sid, Sid.”

A husky voice sounded next to her, nearly startling her into a scream.

“I do find you in the most interesting places.”

Once her heart crept back from her throat, Sidney turned to give Moses a smug smile. “I must be on the right track, finding you here. You think those dead scientists are going to take a walk.”

He nodded, not bothering to try to deny her assumption. “Tell me, Sid. How’d you plan on gettin’ inside that building?”

“That door’s open. I’m just going to walk right in.”

“And what about the security cameras inside? You think they’ll let anyone walk in off the street?”

Sidney huffed at the way he pooh-poohed her plan. “I have my press credentials with me.”

“Those’ll get you blown out the door faster than a sneeze.”

“You’re so negative, Moses. Don’t you think I have any people skills?” she said, her cheeks heating with irritation. “I’ll finesse my way into those second floor coolers.”

“You’re as blunt as a mallet, lady. No one’s lettin’ you inside the morgue.”

“But you’re here now.” She slid him a sideways glance from beneath her lashes. That look had never failed to gain his cooperation. “You have some pull.”

“You think I’m gonna take you up?” he said, shaking his head. “You’re dreamin’. I’m going to keep you occupied long enough for backup to arrive.”

“Backup? More police?”

Moses shook his head slowly.

“You’re not talking about your
buddy
, Navarro, are you?” Even saying his name incited a physical reaction inside her body—pure rage, of course, at his high-handed tactics—
not
anger that he’d left her unfulfilled. She should thank the vamp—she still felt edgy, ready for action. “Hell, he couldn’t keep me prisoner in his own house. How do you think he’ll stop me now?”

“Have to admit, the man’s slippin’. But I don’t think he’ll make the same mistake twice.” Moses sounded like he admired the man.

Men—even dead ones—tended to bond over the subjugation of a woman.

“That reminds me,” she said, dropping her voice with deadly intent. “I have a bone to pick with you, mister. You set me up! You knew damn well he’d try to stop my investigation.”

“That I did.” His smile was unrepentant. “But sugar, it was for your own good.”

“Don’t ‘
sugar
’ me! I don’t need a babysitter. I decide what’s good for me. And that old-as-Methuselah bloodsucker ain’t it.”

Moses’s grin grew into a lopsided smirk.

Her stomach plummeted. “He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

“Uh huh.”

Sidney refused to turn and face the vampire, afraid he’d know just how frightened and excited she was from just a glance at her face. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked toward the sliding doors of the KCMEO.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, halting her progress. Sidney stiffened and fought her body’s instant response. How she craved his touch. Then another thought arose to further push her sensual buttons—he’d left the compound for her!

He stood very close to her back, his clothing whispering against hers, then he leaned down. “I’m satisfied now that I’m not taking anything belonging to our lieutenant friend,” he said, his breath ruffling the hair tucked behind her ear.

She bit back a moan. How did he do that? How had he taken her fear and irritation and turned it into molten desire in a single moment? He’d slipped right under her flimsy defenses, blindsiding her with that intimate—and insulting—comment. “I have a job to do here,” she said, fighting to keep her voice even.

“And so do I, my dear. But seeing as our jobs bring us to the same place, would you like to accompany me?”

Not the invitation she would have preferred right this moment. His drawled request made her knees grow weak. Sidney almost couldn’t stop herself from leaning back into his sexy chest. “You’ll take me up to the morgue?”

“We should hurry,” he said, straightening, his voice brisk. “If the men were turned, they will be wakening now.” He stepped around her and strode toward the entrance.

Like a puppet pulled on a string, Sidney followed his long-limbed frame, clothed in black tonight. He looked like one tall, dark shadow.

Steps crunched beside her. A finger lifted her lowered jaw. “When you can pick up your chin off the ground, follow close behind us,” Moses said, stepping around her as well.

Sidney trailed after the men when they entered the receiving area, which looked unimpressive with its unpainted concrete floor and walls. They met no resistance. In fact, no one was in sight.

As they headed straight for the elevator, Sidney suddenly realized they were expected—that Medical Examiner personnel likely awaited them above, or were keeping out of their way. How large was this conspiracy of silence? Had she been the last person in Seattle to realize vampires walked among them?

Inside the elevator, Sidney found herself sandwiched, shoulder to shoulder, between the two men who acted as though she didn’t exist. Two tall, well-built, and dangerous men…

Cursing her overactive libido, Sidney fought to keep her focus on the possible dangers they would face.

When the door slid open, Navarro shoved her behind him, and Moses closed the gap between them.

She shook her head over their macho show of protection and brought up the rear of their odd little formation, annoyed her view was entirely blocked by their broad shoulders.

She dropped back to clear her senses of the sensual fog their proximity had created and to get a better view of her surroundings. They passed through what could only be an autopsy room with its stainless steel sinks, surgical instruments, and equipment whose purpose she’d just as soon never comprehend.

Finally, they reached the cooler with its huge steel door and keypad lock. Navarro stepped aside while Moses punched in the code and opened the door.

Navarro cast a glance over his shoulder. “You stay behind us at all times.”

She nodded, her mouth clamped tight, almost overcome by the ripe, egg-like smell emanating from inside the cooler. While she might have felt on the verge of puking on her shoes, she didn’t miss the sight of the stake clutched in Moses’s meaty fist or the telltale broadening of the Master’s shoulders. His back was turned to her, but she knew he had his game face on.

Sidney fished in her pocket for her ballpoint pen and raised it in front of her, clicking the end for extra sharpness. Then she followed the men, keeping so close to their familiar warmth and scents her pen poked Moses’s back when he came to a sudden halt.

She peered around them, and her eyes widened. She’d expected nice shiny doors—bodies on sliding gurneys behind doors numbered one, two, and three. Instead, there was a long row of bodies zipped into white nylon body bags, lying on metal trays. Overhead fans hummed and whirred noisily above, and Sidney started to feel like the floor was moving beneath her feet.

“Catch her,” Navarro called out from far away.

Sidney opened her
eyes and stared up at the two men—one’s face was creased by a crooked, superior smile—the other scowled from a frighteningly ghoulish mask.

She jerked up from her makeshift bed. “You did not lay me on an autopsy tray!” she cried in dismay.

“You fell like a sack of hammers,” Moses said, shrugging. At her narrow-eyed glare, his smile broadened. “Thought you were tougher than that.”

She avoided Navarro’s scowling, unholy face altogether and swung her legs over the edge when she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye.

“She’s goin’ south again,” Moses muttered, grabbing for her shoulders.

“No,” she gasped, pointing to the gurney behind the men. “It moved!”

Like a caterpillar trying to wriggle from its cocoon, the body inside the white bag writhed on the metal tray, muffled moans sounding from inside.

Navarro stepped closer and used the point of his stake to split open the bag.

A man emerged, blinking owlishly, visibly shaken—and very naked. Dried blood was caked on one side of his throat. He sat up with only his torso free of the bag.

With his graying hair spiked around his head, he stared up at Navarro’s vampire face, and his expression turned to horror. “You monsters already killed me—did you have to follow me to hell?” he cried out.

Navarro stepped aside, and his face creaked like gristled meat, reforming into his handsome, human face.

Sidney couldn’t decide which mask she’d prefer hovering over her in bed, but she’d forgotten about her upset tummy when the miracle of his transformation began.

“Doctor Deats,” Moses interrupted, drawing the horrified man’s gaze. “We’re here to help you.”

The man blinked again and stared down at the ripped bag. “I’m at the morgue?” he asked, sounding dazed.

“The Medical Examiner’s personnel waited to complete the autopsy to be sure you wouldn’t rise.”

“I’m not dead?”

“Yeah, you are. But I’ll explain later. For now, we need to get you out of here.” Moses began to pull apart the torn edges of the nylon bag.

Dr. Deats resisted his effort, tugging them closed again. He nodded toward Sidney and gripped the edges tighter.

“Like you got something she ain’t seen a million times?” Moses glanced over his shoulder. “Sidney!”

“Yes, Moses,” Sidney said, only mildly insulted by his comment.

“Go find the gentleman a sheet to wear out of here.”

“Sure,” she said, eager to quit the cooler that smelled more like spoiled potato salad the longer she stayed inside. She headed back to the autopsy room and opened a wall locker standing at one end, drawing out several sheets—the man did look overly modest.

As she started to shut the door, she noted the white tips of tennis shoes peeking beneath the door. “I wondered if anyone was working here tonight,” she said, closing the cabinet.

But the face of the person wearing the shoes wasn’t exactly one she expected to see. Instead, she found herself staring at one of the teenagers supposedly dumped into Elliot Bay. And he had friends with him—three equally young and toothy men. She tossed the stack of sheets at the head of the nearest one and spun on her heels. As she rushed for the cooler door, she dug into her pocket for her trusty pen.

“Our company has
arrived,” Navarro murmured, as he helped the third scientist from his body bag.

The three scientists held their shredded bags in front of them, blinking against the light and murmuring among themselves.

“Wondered when they’d get here,” Moses muttered. “Showtime.”

Navarro turned toward the entry of the cooler room and watched four young vampires approach. One pulled along a struggling Sidney. He had a passing thought for the guards that should have radioed their arrival, and then fought not to betray his rage at the rough treatment Sidney was receiving. He’d enjoy killing that particular cub.