Blood Shadows

  Published by Bookouture

  An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.

  23 Sussex Road, Ickenham, UB10 8PN

  United Kingdom

  www.bookouture.com

  Copyright © Lindsay J. Pryor 2012

  Lindsay J. Pryor has asserted her right to be identified

  as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

  e-ISBN: 978-1-909490-00-0

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For Moth

  With special thanks to:

  Anita

  You’ve done more for me than you’ll ever know

  Those who have been there whenever I’ve needed you:

  Christine, Tracey, Michelle, Charlotte, Katie and Michele.

  The person responsible for making this dream come true:

  Oliver Rhodes

  For your faith in these stories and me as a writer.

  Team Bookouture are amazing.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  LETTER FROM LINDSAY J. PRYOR

  BLOOD ROSES

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER ONE

  Something was wrong.

  Partially shielded behind her umbrella, Caitlin watched Kane Malloy from across the street, her fingers loosely entwined in her colleague Morgan’s as they feigned a lovers’ kiss goodnight.

  ‘We’re going to lose him,’ she whispered into her earpiece. ‘If we don’t move now, he’s going to be gone.’

  ‘Hold your position,’ Max replied. ‘Not all exits are secure. We still have too many unmarked alleys behind those buildings.’

  Max had promised her he wouldn’t interfere, had assured her it was her case, damn it. Since he’d realised it might actually happen, she might actually succeed, it had all changed. If she lost this one opportunity…

  ‘How much longer?’ she asked.

  ‘Eight minutes.’

  Caitlin’s eyes narrowed on her target as he stood outside the club. Both of the honey-trap girls with him were trying to outdo each other with suggestive body language so shameless she was starting to question just how focused on the job they actually were. But if Kane was falling for it, he would have had them by now. Instead he was stalling, using them as a shield to check out the street. And that meant one thing: the vampire was on to them.

  ‘Max, I’m telling you—’

  ‘And I’m telling you to hang back, Parish. You don’t have enough backup.’

  Caitlin exhaled tersely. She glanced at Morgan frowning down at her before turning her attention back across the street. Caitlin Parish knew everything possible for any human being to know about Kane Malloy. In the six years she’d been with the Vampire Control Unit, the latter four had been tracking him. But it wasn’t only the countless unsubstantiated offences that frustrated her, or the inconclusiveness of some of his most heinous crimes – it was the fact that everyone knew his name and feared it, everyone knew his reputation and so reported nothing and, above all, everyone believed him untouchable.

  Everyone except her.

  Ever since her first day, when she’d seen the picture of him in prime position on the ‘Wanted’ board, she knew she had to take the case – even more so when she saw the smirks around the table when she’d requested it. From old and experienced to talented and ruthless, they’d all had a go at bringing down Kane Malloy. And she’d seen it in their eyes – no twenty-three-year-old slip of a girl newly in position was going to outdo them, seventh sense or no seventh sense.

  She’d had everything to prove in the years since then, not least that she wasn’t as vulnerable and fragile as her physical appearance portrayed. Despite her extensive qualifications, she knew she’d never have landed the job if it hadn’t been for her gift. The VCU was the dark, murky corner of law enforcement where life experience was more defensible than any piece of academic paper. Penetrating the deadly streets of vampire-infested Blackthorn required a physical, intellectual and emotional mindset reserved only for the elite. Over half the district’s less fearful population were openly expressive of their views about VCU interference. To them, her unit was just another in a long line responsible for keeping vampires in their place – contained and forgotten in the over-populated, over-polluted, dense urban mass that humankind had abandoned along with its promises of better provision one day. Resentment was rife. So was retaliation.

  History dictated she should never have passed the application stage. But lucky for her, shadow readers were too invaluable for them to turn her down. Her innate ability to delve into the soul-substituted shadow of the vampire, lycan or any of the other third species was too vital to her unit. Her sensitivity to the pulse of the detainees – an open door to every act, thought and emotion – secured a conviction every time, another case closed. The fact it could all be done in the relatively safe confines of the interrogation room was the step in she needed.

  But Caitlin never had any intention of playing safe. Ever since she’d been a young girl, she had wanted only one thing – to be a tracker, out there on the field, in the thick of it, just like her father. And being the one to finally capture Kane Malloy would not only seal her career and silence every critic who had underestimated her, capturing Kane would at long last get her up close and personal with the vampire himself. Then she’d get what she really wanted: truths hidden deep in his master-vampire shadow – not least what had slaughtered her parents.

  Kane was core to her vengeance and, moreover, core to her survival.

  Either that or she was about to make the biggest mistake of what could be the last night of her life.

  ‘Time’s ticking, Max.’

  ‘Six more minutes, Parish.’

  She closed her eyes for a moment before staring back across the rain-soaked street, compelling herself to obey her boss’s order. But when Kane exhaled one final steady stream of smoke into the night air, when he smiled assuredly to himself as he threw his cigarette to the ground, Caitlin knew he may as well have flipped up his middle finger and slid her perfectly manicured plan down onto it.

  ‘No,’ she hissed.

  Before Max had time to question her exclamation, before Morgan had time to restrain her, she’d stepped off the kerb. She pounded through the puddles, Kane already disappearing back into the club.

  ‘Parish, get back into position!’ Max
warned. ‘Do not go in there. I repeat, do not go in there.’

  ‘We lose him now, we lose him for good,’ Caitlin declared. ‘And I am not going to let that happen.’

  ‘You have insufficient backup. I repeat: insufficient backup.’

  But Caitlin ignored his warnings as she followed every gut instinct she had, every moment of tracking experience she had gained hunting vampires over the years.

  ‘Damn it, Caitlin, that’s an order!’ Max barked. ‘There are too many people in there, too much interference. I’ll lose you.’

  ‘But I’m not going to lose him,’ she said, flashing her badge to ward off the bouncer who stepped in front of her.

  She couldn’t lose him, not now.

  ‘He will have worked out the side exits are manned,’ she added. ‘He’s going to head up to the roof. Focus the team up there. I’ll drive him up or take him out before then.’ She reached inside her jacket to flick the latch off the tranquiliser gun.

  ‘Parish, you are in contempt of my orders. Get out of there now or face suspension!’

  But the adrenaline took over, her heart pounding, her throat dry.

  Two years of proving herself more than capable as a tracker, two further years compiling the Malloy case before finally taking over as lead, twenty months of intense planning and it was finally coming to this – a last-minute, poorly executed scuffle to detain him. But there was no way she was going to let him slip through her fingers, because if she did, it would be over. Now he knew they were on to him he’d be gone into the ether – gone from her jurisdiction, gone from her life.

  And she wasn’t going to let that happen.

  Couldn’t let that happen.

  Tonight she would finally look Kane Malloy in those painfully cruel yet enticingly seductive navy-blue eyes and tonight he would look right back into hers. The thought terrified and exhilarated her, both emotions exacerbated by the buzz of the club. The pounding of the trance music evoked her blood to pump, the mass of milling, gyrating bodies making the room surge, the air thick with the scent of dry ice, smoke, alcohol, sweat.

  Too many times she’d gazed into those penetrating eyes on paper, eyes framed with thick lashes as dark as his cropped hair. Too many times she’d dwelled on that sensual, masculine mouth as she pored over files at her desk until the early hours, paperwork spread across the lounge of her tiny apartment – yet another night alone in front of the TV.

  And on too many occasions, when the darkness was all-encompassing, when the rain tapped lightly against the windowpanes, she’d find her mind wandering to what their first encounter would be like. Sometimes he would visit her in her dreams when her subconscious took over, when the deep dark fantasies she suppressed were allowed free reign. She would wake at times beaded in perspiration, other times soaked in sensual heat.

  Caitlin refocused and pressed on through the crowds, knowing there were three exits he could choose from but only one that led up to the roof.

  Senses overwhelmed, ears ringing, she burst through the doors and into the corridor. The volume of the music evaporated slowly with the increased distance as she marched ahead through the stragglers, turning left down a dimmer, more isolated corridor.

  ‘Caitlin, listen to me, damn it!’ Max commanded, a faint crackle telling her the depth of the building was already causing connection problems. ‘You cannot face him alone. Do not face him alone.’

  ‘This is my case, Max,’ she said, every sense on full alert as she glanced warily over her shoulder before assessing the corridor ahead again. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out her gun, holding it poised and ready, loaded with enough sedatives to knock out four Great Whites if she let off enough rounds. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

  ‘You sure as hell better, Caitlin,’ Max warned, his stepfather tone finally overriding his role as her boss. ‘Brovin and Morgan are coming in behind you. Be careful. You know how…’ The crackle developed to a buzz so piercing she was forced to pull the earpiece out, lower her guard and strike position for a split second.

  That was all it took.

  He appeared from behind her.

  His movements were swift and accurate: snatching the gun from her hand, in the same instant he forced her face-first up against the wall, her earpiece hitting the ground.

  She caught her breath, pressed her palms and knee to the wall in preparation to push back but his hard body was already against hers, his power reminding her that the strength she had in spirit was absolutely no match for the supposedly three hundred-year-old six-foot vampire who had her pinned to the wall as easily as he would a sheet of paper. And as she felt the tip of her own gun press below her ribs, she knew all four shots of the potent sedative, too powerful for the human body, would end it all for her.

  Just like that.

  But instead of firing, his soft lips brushed her ear, the arrogant upward curl of those enticing bow lips as clear in her mind as if he were facing her. He tutted playfully, his low rasp raking beneath her skin. ‘A little girl doing a man’s job – bound to end in tears.’

  Caitlin clenched her fists. Brovin and Morgan had to be less than a minute away. She had to stall him. Her instinct was to try to reach back and catch his wrist. All she needed was her fingers on his pulse point and she’d finally know those dark recesses that no expert could reach – information she so desperately needed. But she knew she wouldn’t have enough time to wait for that painfully slow vampire heartbeat, even if she was in a position to get to him. There was only one way she was going to get the time with him that she wanted and needed.

  ‘Kane Malloy, I’m detaining you under section 3.4 of the Vampire Disciplinary Clause…’

  He laughed, deep, guttural, terse. ‘You’re detaining me?’

  ‘On twenty-one alleged accounts of crimes against members of the third species including your own, thirty-two against humans…’

  ‘Delusional as well as reckless. Are you seriously the best they’ve got?’

  ‘It’s over, Kane.’

  ‘You breathe too fast to be convincing,’ he goaded.

  ‘You don’t breathe enough to judge me.’

  He exhaled curtly. Panic jolted through her as he deftly unclasped the belt threaded through her jeans. To her disgust, for the first time on any tracking operation, she froze.

  Kill her? Yes, of course the thought had crossed her mind. No matter how unbelievable or surreal it seemed, she had known it was a possibility. But rape? With her colleagues closing in there was no way even Kane would have the arrogance to attempt it in the minutes, maybe even seconds he had left.

  But this was Kane. And if he wanted to leave a message for the VCU, a dead and violated tracker would ring loud and clear.

  The fact she’d even got this close would be insult too much for his ego.

  She snapped back a breath as he yanked her belt through the loops. And as his heel cracked the buckle, destroying the only way the VCU could locate her, she knew it was about to get worse.

  Her phone followed next, removed from her back pocket by his stealthy fingers.

  ‘You’re lucky you serve a purpose,’ he said, combing her hair back over her shoulder.

  Her heart pounded painfully. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘You’re the one who’s obsessed with me – what do you think?’

  As he traced the back of his cool fingers tenderly down her exposed neck, a caress more sensual than she would have thought possible for someone with such renowned brutality, Caitlin held her breath. She was stunned by her own involuntary arousal, suppressing it with every iota of conviction she had.

  ‘I think you’d better walk away,’ she said, battling to get her focus back on the job. ‘Or give yourself up.’

  ‘Not going to happen, Caitlin.’ Pressing the tranquiliser gun tighter into her side, Kane made her wince, his reputation restored. ‘Question is, are you going to walk out of here co-operatively or am I going to have to carry you?’

  The girl may ha
ve flinched when he’d pushed the gun deeper into her flesh, but she hadn’t made a sound. He’d already seen her in action enough, heard enough to know she was used to keeping a brave face. She wasn’t about to let that slip now. Instead, Caitlin’s fingers coiled against the wall, her knuckles pale, her body tensed in anticipation of the shot.

  ‘I’m flattered you’re giving me an option,’ she said, turning her head towards him, ‘considering your usual tack.’

  Kane couldn’t help but smile. Controlling her body had been easy, but controlling her mind was going to be a whole other challenge.

  This was worth the lingering moment.

  He leaned closer, one arm above her head as he slid the gun slowly and coaxingly over the inward curve of her waist and down her hip. ‘Is that what keeps you warm at night in that empty bed of yours, Caitlin – thinking you know me?’

  She frowned, clearly using all her willpower not to flinch. ‘I know this is where it ends for you.’

  Easing her jacket aside to assess the outward curve of the small of her back, the pertness of her behind, he whispered against her ear, ‘Tell me, what’s it like being the token psychic on the big boys’ team? Someone have an equal opportunities box to tick, did they? Or was someone promised the prising open of those slender thighs?’

  She scowled. ‘You can go to hell, Kane. And I’m going to put you there.’

  Cornered and still fighting. He could almost like her if she wasn’t a tracker, if she wasn’t who she was. But the VCU and their sanctimonious ways irritated the hell out him, interfering in things that were none of their concern whilst they hid behind their masks of respectability. And with her mind admirably but insultingly still focused on the job, coupled with her naivety, Caitlin Parish was already presenting a lethal concoction that was threatening his self-control. Self-control that was brittle enough from finally being able to touch her, let alone sensing her potency. Her years of abstinence had clearly made her precious shadow-reader soul as untouchable as if she’d been celibate all her life. Still, challenge was good.

  ‘Now that sounded like you meant it,’ he said.

  ‘There’s no way out, Kane. Just pull the trigger or give yourself up.’