Blood Song by Cat Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

see if the video prompted any memories. But that’s not what I said. “The police may want proof that I didn’t leave the crime scene under my own steam.”
    “No police.” Jones sounded as though he were scolding a particularly dim-witted child.
    “Look, it’s fairly obvious I was attacked, and I wouldn’t have gone down without at least a few shots having been fired. That gun on top isn’t even mine, so weapons were used. The police have ballistics on most of my weapons from a couple of previous incidents. They’re going to match up the pieces when they start digging through the scene. They know what I do for a living, so it isn’t usually an issue. It isn’t a crime to kill a vampire, but people are generally supposed to report that sort of thing.”
    Jones shrugged. “Ah. A good, law-abiding citizen.” There was a hint of condescending amusement.
    To my surprise, his tone didn’t irritate me. Probably because he was trying too hard. I do have a short fuse, but I don’t like playing into people’s expectations. So I smiled and spoke sweetly. “It makes life easier. I like easy.”
    Emma gave me an odd look. She knows me well enough to have expected me to put up more of a fight. I saw her open her mouth as if to speak, then close it, compressing her lips tightly.
    I looked from one of them to the other. “Here’s what I propose. I call the police, arrange to come in and make my statement.” Not that I could say much, with no memories of whatever had happened. But I might be able to
get
some information. They might even do a memory enhancement for me. Or not. That sort of thing was only used as a last resort—too traumatic to the witness. Besides, the courts were split on whether or not the evidence obtained that way could be used because of proven cases of mental manipulation. Still, worth a shot.
    “After that I go to Vicki, see what she knows, maybe see if she can help me track my sire’s daytime hidey-hole. If that doesn’t work, we go back to wherever you found me and see if we can find any clues.” If my sire was going to be stalking me with death or undeath in mind, I wanted to get the jump on him. Preferably in full daylight with as much specialized weaponry as I could carry. I’ve fought vamps. I’ve killed them. But mostly they’ve been babies, new to the game. Vampires that are old enough to actually bring humans over are good. Scary good. They’ve got strength, magic, mind games, the works. I was going to need every advantage I could get to get close enough to kill the bastard, before he killed me. Vicki has a better than 99 percent accuracy rate. Odds are she either knew what was going on or could find out. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try.
    Emma nodded, which I expected since she knows Vicki nearly as well as I do. But I hadn’t expected Jones to speak.
    “I’d recommend that. But I’d suggest you see Vicki first. The police are open twenty-four/seven. Birchwoods isn’t.”
That
was interesting. How did Jones know about Vicki? While it was possible Emma or Kevin had told him, it didn’t seem likely. No, I was betting that Jones had found out the information on his own. If so, he’d been researching all of us. Maybe he’d done it after Kevin had called him. But I doubted it. He’d have had to work fast and be amazingly good. Because Birchwoods takes confidentiality very,
very
seriously. If a starlet or executive wants sympathy, they check into one of the other rehab facilities. If they want secrecy to the grave and beyond, they choose Birchwoods. It’s pricey as hell, but for folks who value their privacy Birchwoods is worth every penny. And there was no way Vicki’s parents would leak she was there. It would be too damaging to their lily-white reputations. Hell, they’re so worried about their image that they hire a double to impersonate her for the press. So how had Jones known?
    I turned toward him, my expression studiously blank. “Are you in this for the