Heart and Soul Jackie May (best feel good books .txt) 📖

Noticing my glance, Reed gives a thin smile. “Into my car, I mean.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, no, that’s okay. This’ll be quick.”

“The seats are warmed.”

“I bet they are. And your heater probably doesn’t smell like butt crack, either. Must be nice.”

His eyes widen ever so slightly. “Hmm, yes.”

Dammit, screw the pleasantries. Jamming fists into my coat pockets, I cut straight to the chase. “I’m looking for a vampire with a black chin.”

“Black?”

“Right, like a tattoo. A thick black stripe that goes from the bottom lip down the chin, and all the way down the throat. You’re a billion years old, right? You know all the vamps around here.”

“I am, and I do.” His brow furrows. “But I’ve never seen such a marking. A black chin.” He shakes his head.

“Not one of Henry’s, then?”

“Definitely not.”

“A rogue, maybe?”

“I couldn’t say.” He shoots me a wary look. “Agent Davies, this wouldn’t happen to concern the case with—”

I cut him off, too freezing to bother with bullshitting. “Yes, it does, Deputy Director, and I’m sorry, I know I’m not supposed to touch that case, but this is something new, and Madison West is stretched thin right now. She can’t make this a priority.”

“Need it be a priority?”

“Yes,” I urge.

“For Detective Brenner, you mean.”

“For…” I let my voice trail off, embarrassed.

“For the two of you,” he says.

“Yes. For us, it’s a priority. Did Oliver tell you these might be the same vamps that killed…” Again, I don’t finish my thought.

Reed’s eyes harden. “Nora’s mother? Yes, I’m aware.”

“Does Nora know?”

“Absolutely not.” His voice takes on a lethal edge. “With all she’s been through, I’d be supremely disappointed should such conjectures be made known to her.”

“No, hey, I ain’t saying shit, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“In any case, those would no longer be the vampires who attacked Nora and her mother. Detective Brenner describes them as having white eyes.”

“That’s right. Revenants. They were dead, until some necromancer reanimated them.”

“In body only, an important distinction. Their minds are gone, leaving empty shells. Necromancy is a hybrid of dark sorcery and demonic ritual. Their bodies are now hosts for demon spirits.”

“I get that, but will Nora see it that way?”

“The vampires who killed Nora’s mother are dead.” He puts a solid period—full stop—at the end of that sentence.

“Yes, sir.”

Having laid down the law, Reed then blinks, and his face softens. “The revenants who killed Detective Brenner’s sister, however, are still out there. And you have reason to believe that one of them is marked with a black chin?”

“Last night,” I explain, “Me and Brenner were…well, that’s…it doesn’t matter what we were doing, but all of a sudden he remembered something about the attack that he’d never remembered before. And the memory came back to him at the same time that—”

“—Henry died,” Parker finishes, intrigued. “A compulsion was released.”

“We thought that Henry had already released Brenner’s compulsion, but apparently he kept this one detail hidden.”

He frowns. “A detail which, as I said, means nothing to me. There is no vampire with a black chin that I’ve ever seen.”

“And you’ve seen a lot.”

“More than you could imagine.”

“Vampires from all over this region. You guys get around. You know each other.”

“Correct.”

I bite my lip, desperate to get a better answer out of him. “A black chin, that’s not something you forget. You would have noticed.”

He gives me a concerned look. “Are you sure you won’t sit with me?”

“No, that’s nice of you. Really. But I should go. And you probably want to get in there, see Nora.”

“I do,” he admits. “Tonight was…a close call.”

I back away. “Yeah, no, I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

He doesn’t move a muscle. Still contemplating me with solemn eyes. “It won’t go away, you know. In fact, it only gets worse. No matter how strong or how fast or how clever, we are none of us impervious. If Henry Stadther can fall, then how much easier a siren, or, easier still, a human? How foolish, then, to attach ourselves to such fleeting beings? Fools, all of us.” His eyes twinkle, and one side of his lips curves up in a sad smile. “But what a beautiful risk.”

His words pierce me with more bite than the cold. I can hardly form words. “Isn’t it?” What a surreal shock, to be standing here in the cold dawn, bonding with my vampire boss over a feeling of romantic existential dread. It occurs to me that the haunted yet hopeful look in Reed’s eyes reminds me so much of Brenner. Of all Nora’s men, I think I’ve found a favorite.

A loud car horn makes me jump. In the intense discussion with Reed, I hadn’t noticed the Cadillac leaving the compound, driving straight through the imaginary gate. Rook Winters—Nora’s wolf—is behind the wheel. I haven’t seen him since he made an appearance with the Huron River pack at my birthday party. Stopping the car, rolling his window down, he speaks to Reed without acknowledging me. “I’m making a food run for everybody. Add something to the order for you?”

“Not necessary. Thank you.”

“I told them you’d say that.” Rook shifts in his seat and clears his throat. After stealing a self-conscious glance at me, he says to Reed, “She’ll be glad you’re home, Parker.”

Reed plays with the slightest hint of a smile. “I won’t delay another second.” He gives me a parting nod. “Agent Davies.”

“Deputy Director.”

As soon as he drives away, I whirl on Rook with a sickly-sweet voice. “Oh, she’ll be soooo glad you’re home. She simply can’t bear another second out of your arms. Bunch of limpdicks, you’re whipped!” As the words fly out of my mouth, I feel a flash of heat in my face. I know Rook, but not well enough to joke around like this. We’ve definitely never been alone together. His dominance is overpowering. But that’s not why I’m nervous.

He doesn’t laugh at my teasing. “I had a good talk with Nolan the other day.”

That’s why I’m nervous. How did I know he’d mention