Free Deadly Liaisons by Terry Spear Page A

warehouse district beforehand?” he snapped, not meaning to. But dammit, didn’t the woman know how dangerous her actions were?
    Her spine tensed. “Stevens said he knew my parents’ kil er’s name.”
    “And he said to come alone?” Daemon asked, his voice hard. “You didn’t see it as a setup? Hel , woman.”
    “Of course I considered it.” She narrowed her eyes. “But I had to know the vampire’s name.”
    Daemon shook his head in disbelief. “He couldn’t tel you over the phone? You had to meet him in the middle of the night in an isolated place…the same place the other officers were murdered?”
    She didn’t say anything in response, just glowered at him.
    “So Stevens gave you Krustalus’s name, then the vampire murdered him. You witnessed it.”
    “ No , I didn’t see him kil Stevens. If I had, I would be an eyewitness and have the proof I needed, now wouldn’t I? He’s too clever for that. Besides, I think there are two of them. Stevens never had a chance. The chief gave me Krustalus’s name over the phone when I reported the murder.”
    Daemon took an exasperated breath. “Why did Stevens say for you to come alone as if he were the only one who knew Krustalus’s name, but the chief gave it to you without even meeting you there?”
    “I don’t know!”
    “Did you see Krustalus kil your parents?”
    “No.” She shook her head and sniffled, her teeth gritted as if she were trying to fight back the tears.
    “Then how do you know it was him?” It wasn’t that Daemon didn’t believe her, only that she had to have proof. If she attempted to kil Krustalus without provocation, she would be no better than what she assumed Krustalus was. “Why wouldn’t he have taken their blood? I don’t know of any vampire who would kil like that and not drink his victims’ blood.”
    “I don’t know.”
    Puzzling over her parents’ deaths, Daemon rubbed his chin. “Vampires often fight each other using swords, usual y over territorial disputes, but serial kil ers use their fangs to murder. Why are you so sure a vampire murdered your parents?”
    She jumped off the bed and paced across the Turkish rug. “Don’t you see? He did it that way to throw the SCU off! He did it that way to get back at me!”
    “Why you?” Daemon didn’t attempt to conceal his skepticism. Why would a vampire kil her parents in an atypical fashion for her sake ? Had the trauma of her parents’ deaths affected her mind too?
    Tezra stopped pacing and glowered at him. “I knew he’d begun kil ing humans, but I didn’t know his name. After reading his mind, I taunted him with the knowledge I gleaned. Young and stupid, I never thought he would discover my identity, because I couldn’t determine his. Hoping I could goad him into making a mistake, I planned to turn him in to the SCU. I thought I’d become famous like Michael Tarantos, who at sixteen discovered a vampire hit squad intending to destroy the SCU. Thinking I was invincible…”
    With an abrupt sweep of her hand, she brushed away tears. “Just as surely as if I’d stabbed them in the heart myself, I caused my parents’ deaths. I brought about my sister’s suffering al these years. My own arrogance destroyed my family.”
    He rubbed his neck, which was rife with tension. He wanted to hold her tight and take away her pain, but because of her agitated posture, he assumed she wouldn’t appreciate anyone’s touch, least of al a vampire’s. “Why didn’t you tel the SCU
    about your abilities? Surely they would have believed you then.”
    “I told a senior staff member about what happened, though I left out the part about being telepathic. Patrico died in the same manner as my parents before he could speak to the others. The vampire would have kil ed anyone else I tried to alert. I stil hadn’t learned his name. Not until the chief revealed it.”
    This stil struck Daemon as odd. How would the chief have discovered the vampire’s name so easily, when a