“Perhaps even better,” she said a bit coyly.
“That sounds quite promising.”
“I thought so. I am trying out being an optimist.”
“I imagine doing what you do, seeing the worst side of humanity all day long, you do tend to become a pessimist.”
“I have to work hard at not letting it get me down. I remind myself every day that what I see is only a cross-section of the world I live in. I balance it out by playing with puppies and searching for rainbows.”
He laughed. “Is that even remotely true?”
“Well, the puppies part is. There’s a pet shop down the street. I get my fill whenever I want.”
“But we don’t get many rainbows here in the city. Do you travel much?”
“Not as much as I would like and not as far. I’ve been focused more on my career.”
“I imagine you are quite dedicated. Tell me about a case you are working on.”
She withdrew, taking her hand out of his. “I can’t discuss ongoing investigations.”
“Then tell me about something from the past,” he said smoothly. He should have known she wouldn’t talk about the case voluntarily. Now he was being deprived of contact with her. And that was exactly how he felt. Deprived. The perception surprised him. What was it about her that affected him so strongly? She should be nothing more to him than a source of food and information, yet he found himself feeling more. Wanting more. And what was more, he wanted her to feel the same way.
“I suppose I could do that. I once had a serial killer case,” she said. She didn’t sound excited about it, just matter-of-fact. And it was obvious she was gauging his reaction.
“That could not have been easy,” he said. He left his hand palm up in the center of the table, even after the waiter delivered a basket of warm bread to them, leaving the invitation open should she decide to hold his hand again.
“No. In fact, it was quite awful. He showed a level of desecration that none of us had ever seen in our lives. Like something out of a movie. He killed three women before we were able to stop him. Lucky for us he wasn’t trying to hide. He didn’t care about getting caught. He only focused on making his sick fantasies come to life.”
“And that was what drove him? His fantasies?”
“Yes. But he did have an agenda, which we only learned about after we caught him. Those women were practice. He was working up the nerve, honing his skills, so he could go after his childhood crush. We got to him just in time to keep him from her. Thank God. She was a mom with two kids and a husband. She had no idea the psycho even existed; no idea she was in mortal danger. Apparently he had been stalking her for years.”
“How dreadful it must be to be surrounded by so much sickness and death. I wonder that it doesn’t color your world irreparably.”
“It does color my world but I like to think I have balance.”
“I think that you must, or you would not be such a bright, energetic soul.”
She laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve ever been complimented on my soul.”
“Well it’s true. Your soul positively effervesces out of you. You have such amazing energy.”
“I certainly don’t feel that way today!” She laughed. “And I wouldn’t say I effervesce. I know some very bright and bubbly people who would put me to shame.”
“Can you not take the compliment?” he asked.
She tilted her head and looked at him, as if viewing it from his perspective. “You’re right. That was bad of me. I thank you for the compliment. I will do better next time.”
He chuckled. “Good. Because I anticipate giving you a lot of compliments in the future.”
Renee smiled at that and turned her attention to the dessert menu, trying to cover the giddy warmth that seemed to be pervading her. She liked him a lot. Liked the attention he showed her. It had been quite some time since she had felt like this. She was such a brassy woman, she did not often get the proper kind of attention a woman needed to feel pretty and appreciated in a feminine way. Oh, she was good at her job and got many compliments and even commendations, she was appreciated by her friends and loved by them quite generously, but as a woman…she wasn’t often the focus of male attention and attraction. And it wasn’t because she was unattractive or because she felt unattractive. She knew she wasn’t, but it was rare for someone to find themselves equal enough to tell her so. Someone she felt was equal enough. A construction guy whistling at her as she walked by wasn’t exactly the kind of attention she craved.
But she was coming to crave Rafe’s attention. He was her equal; he had class and style and money and came from a world quite a bit above her own. She might have felt as if she were at a disadvantage, if not for the deference with which he was treating her. He knew exactly what she was, a brass tacks cop. He accepted it. At least for as far as he understood it as an outsider. Outsiders had preconceived notions of what it meant to be a cop. Only those on the inside really knew what the policing world was like. Soldiers came close. They knew what it was like to police a country full of hostiles who hated you. That was what policing in the city was like. Only they had to do it within the letter and restrictions of the law. They had to account for every time they discharged their weapons, and it hung over them all every time one of them made a mistake or abused their position.
But she wasn’t expecting him to fully comprehend her work. That would be expecting far too much far too soon. They were still getting to know each other. Getting comfortable. Although, she had to admit he made it easy. She felt relaxed around him. As though she could be herself because that was all he wanted from her.
“What are you thinking about that has you concentrating so hard?” he asked, curling his fingers beckoningly on the tabletop. She gave in to the silent request and slid her hand back into his, laying the dessert menu aside.
“I was just concentrating on the dessert selections.”
“I see,” he said softly. “Tell me: What are the rules here?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The rules. Is it that you are allowed to lie to me, but I must not lie to you, or are we both allowed to lie to each other…and ourselves?”
She bristled. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, moving to withdraw her hand. But he closed his fingers tight around her and kept her there.
“I mean, when I ask you what you are thinking about, rather than lie to me, you tell me ‘I would rather not discuss it right now’ as opposed to giving me nonsense about the menu. I am an intelligent man, Renee. I know when I am being lied to. I would prefer we kept our relationship as honest as possible. I am asking you if you would prefer that as well.”
Renee flushed and squirmed a little in her seat. He was right. She had lied to him. It was a small lie, true, but small ones could easily lead to bigger ones and she could appreciate him wanting to nip that in the bud.
“I’m sorry,” she said earnestly. “I wasn’t trying to outright deceive you. If you say I’d rather not discuss it to some people, they get offended. A little white lie seems the best way to avoid offending someone. But if you prefer total honesty then I will do my best.”
“And I will do my best to return the favor,” he said with a smile. He stroked his thumb over her knuckles. “I want you to be able to take everything I say with the knowledge that I am being honest. This way when I tell you how beautiful you are to me, you will have no choice but to accept the compliment as pure truth.”
Renee couldn’t help herself. She blushed. She wasn’t the demure type, nor the type to be easily flattered, but he made her feel like a queen. Like she was something so much more than her job. A feeling she didn’t get all that often.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“Compliments come easy around you. I am a very lucky man that you have chosen to spend your precious time off with me.”
“I might say the same to you,” she rejoined.
He chuckled. “So it is. We are both honored to be in
the presence of the other. We are off to a great start.”
She laughed.
“After all of that, have you decided on a dessert?” he asked.
“I think I will have to wait until I know how much room I will have in my stomach,” she said.
“We can easily split something if you like. I am open to anything.”
“I will keep that in mind,” she said, just as their first course arrived. They had both chosen bowls of fresh tomato and basil soup. “This is absolutely delicious,” she said after a few minutes. “I would love the recipe. Soup is one of those things I am able to cook. It’s hard to mess up and I can do other things while it is cooking down. Also, I can make a very large batch and freeze whatever is left.”
“Would you like me to get the recipe for you?”
“Most restaurants won’t give out their recipes.”
“All they need is the right inducements.”
“That’s all right. You can keep your inducements to yourself.”
“For now,” he volleyed back. “There are some inducements I plan to take out later this evening.”
“To use against me?” she asked.
“That would be telling,” he said with a wink.
The rest of the meal went down a similar path. They flirted with each other, discussed current events, let time slip by unnoticed. Eventually they were splitting a dessert and the meal was coming to a close. Renee couldn’t remember when she had last had such a nice time. And the night wasn’t even over yet.
Chapter 8
At the end of the meal he pulled out her chair for her and held up her coat so she could slip into it. She picked up her clutch and let him lead her out into the cold. The snow was still falling hard and rushed in gusts of icy wind around her bare legs. They hurried toward the gallery. But just as they were passing an alleyway around the corner from the gallery, some sort of electrical explosion struck them both, bowling them over.
When she had gone through the academy, they had all been required to learn what it felt like to have a stun gun deployed into them—so they might have empathy, she supposed. This sensation of electricity bolting through her body was exactly like that—only this was stronger. She found herself sprawled on the ground in the snow, trying to shake off the stunning effect of the blast. As a matter of instinct she looked for her gun. She scrambled toward her clutch and withdrew her weapon just as her vision cleared.
She saw Rafe in the alleyway, fighting with three men. Bursts of electricity lit up the dark alley as she drew a bead on the first perpetrator and staggered to her feet.
“Freeze! NYPD!” she croaked out as loud as she could.
They ignored her completely. She watched with no little awe as Rafe moved like lightning, dodging first one blow and then connecting with his own. One of the muggers took a swing at Rafe’s head and Rafe caught his fist in his hand. Sparks flew when they connected and she watched, stunned, as it looked as though a burst of something exploded out of him and into the attacker, sending him sprawling into the snow and muck of the alleyway.
While that one was stunned, he turned his attention to the two others. He fought them hard and then, as she watched, he went for a knife strapped to his ankle and came up just in time to stab the wicked-looking blade deep into one man’s chest. Renee ran into the alley to face down the man Rafe had stunned earlier, pointing her weapon in his face, her hands shaking with a combination of shock and jangled nerves.
“Stay right where you are, dirtbag!” she yelled.
The man grinned up at her.
“Well, aren’t you a delicious little piece,” he said, slowly moving into a crouch. That was when she got a good look at him. He was pale—ghostly pale—and gaunt, as if he were starving in the streets. But he wasn’t dressed like a street person. He was dressed cleanly in slacks and a button-down shirt and a warm gray winter coat that was finely stitched. He rose up from his crouch and lunged for Renee. She didn’t think twice. She fired her weapon into his chest; the impact of the bullets flung him back against the alley wall. She continued to hear Rafe scuffling with the other two behind her and she stepped forward to check on the man she had shot.
“Renee, don’t get too close!” Rafe shouted.
The warning came too late. The man on the ground kicked out, sweeping Renee’s legs out from under her, sending her down onto her back hard. It knocked the breath out of her and she gasped to get it back. Then the man was on her, scrabbling over her body and grabbing for her weapon as though he hadn’t been shot at all. Panic infused Renee, but she fought it off. This guy must be on some killer drugs, she thought. How else could he shake off being shot like that? She knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. After all, she had given him a double tap in the chest. His heart was bound to give out any second.
But he wasn’t weakening. If anything he was getting stronger. The man snarled above her and she saw the flash of fangs, upper and lower canines extended, matching the extraordinary bite marks she had seen on her victim yesterday. He lunged for her neck, his jaw snapping shut just shy of it when she jerked her head away in the nick of time. Her weapon went off again and his body jerked, but still he struggled with her. He was strong. Damn strong. And he was about to wrench her weapon free. Then he would be crazed and armed and she knew that would mean the end of her life.
“Shoot him through the back of the neck!” Rafe shouted out to her.
“What?”
“The back of the neck! Just do it!”
She didn’t have any better options, so she struggled to aim her gun at his throat and pulled the trigger twice.
Like a marionette whose strings had been cut, he collapsed against her, all of his weight dropping over her and crushing her into the ground. She struggled to get out from under him as a static shock ripped through his body. He jerked and she cried out as the current went through her. She was momentarily stunned, but she struggled to shake it off. To shake him off. She was just thinking she was never going to be free of his weight when suddenly it was gone—gone in a crackle of electricity, as though he had never existed at all.
Renee lay there panting, her heart racing. There was another electrical explosion and she turned her head in time to see Rafe pulling his blade free of one of his attackers. The blade had been in the back of his neck, transecting his spine at the base of his skull. Rafe had no time to regard his kill. Just as the body was disappearing, the final attacker leapt up and with a flashing snarl of fangs he latched onto the back of Rafe’s neck. Electricity crackled, enveloping Rafe’s hands as he reached back and boxed the attacker’s ears, sending the jolt of electricity through him. Stunned, the attacker disengaged from Rafe’s neck and Rafe shrugged him off his back. Rafe threw the man a good distance away, allowing Renee to safely aim her weapon without being afraid of hitting Rafe. She shot at her target, but hitting a moving target in the neck from the ground was nearly impossible. Still, she tried.
She managed to get a shot into the attacker’s throat. It was enough to slow him down as he gagged on his own blood.
The man held a hand to his throat as he dodged Rafe’s feint for the back of his neck with his knife. He then turned and barreled into Rafe, picking him up off his feet and driving him down into the ground. He pinned Rafe’s knife hand and gurgled in a spray of blood, “We won’t stop. We’ll come after her until she’s dead. We’ll kill everything that means something to you.”
Then he placed his free hand on Rafe’s chest and sent a bolt of electrical current through him, locking him up in electrical spasms. While he was recovering, the man scrambled off Rafe and ran to the back of the alley. There was a clang as he made an extraordinary leap from the ground onto a fire escape. It was too dark for her to shoot with any accuracy and by the time Rafe recovered and got to his feet, the man was running away across the roof of the building.
Renee lay there panting for breath, her hands still aiming her gun. Hands that were shaking uncontrollably. Rafe was on his knees by her side in the very
next instant, his blade in his left hand as he gathered her up with his right.
“Are you all right? Renee! Answer me!”
“I-I-I…wh-what the fuck was that?” she demanded. Now that the immediate danger was over, she was beginning to process all that she had seen. Her first instinct was to try and explain it. Drug addicts. Muggers. Something. Anything!
But none of that would explain the electrical current that had been thrown around. None of that would explain why the bodies had simply disappeared.
She struggled to get up.
“Give it a minute,” Rafe said gently as he hugged her close. “Just…give it a minute.”
Renee didn’t want to give it a minute. She wanted to be on her feet. Ready to face any more danger that came her way. But there was something very comforting about Rafe’s embrace, not the least of which was his warmth. She was sitting in the snow, her dress worked up around her hips, bare skin sitting against ice. She began to shiver, but it wasn’t all from the cold.
“I need to get up,” she said through chattering teeth. “I’m cold.”
This time he let her up, helping to pull her to her feet, but immediately drawing her into his embrace as she jerked her skirt down over her thighs.
“I need to call this in,” she said numbly.
“And tell them what? There are no victims here save us, Renee,” he said softly. “And if you report what just happened, who is going to believe you?”
“But I—” She cut herself off as she took in the slush and snow of the alley, the disturbance of which made it clear a wild struggle had taken place there. But Rafe was right. There were no victims. The bodies were gone.
“Renee, here, here’s your purse. Put your weapon away. I’m not sure how I feel knowing you came to our date armed, but in retrospect I am glad that you did.”
The tease fell flat. She scowled at him. “Just what the hell happened here? You knew how to stop those guys, the back of the neck. When that last guy attacked you, he went for the back of your neck. My vic from the other morning, he had bites at the back of his neck. You know what’s going on here. Now tell me what I want to know!”