Kellen grinned innocently, Chase mirrored it. “There will be no ganging up on me, got it?”
Kellen took my pointed finger in his hand and kissed the tip. “You cannot make all the rules you know.”
“Yes, I can,” I said adamantly before I glanced back at Chase with a stern look. “You needed to sleep. I was being considerate. Really, nothing happened here except dark sky passing overhead.”
Chase didn’t look settled. His jaw clenched a final time before he looked out the window and let out an annoyed breath from his mouth. “I take it we are here then.”
I was about to respond, but Kellen interjected. “Your way of doing this, Hadley, is absurd. You are a vampire. Walk in, capture their gaze, ask what you need and get out.
You could go through this whole process in two minutes, but you resign yourself to phone calls and preposterous conversations.”
Here we go again. I was getting tired of explaining myself and the way I worked, but he needed to hear this. “Just as vampires have laws, so do mortals. This is how they do things. I follow their ways because it’s the right thing to do, Kellen.” Yes, my voice might have held a bit of a sneer. He deserved it.
Kellen manoeuvred the car toward the curb and cut the engine. “It’s a ridiculous amount of wasted time.”
“You’re an immortal.” I waved my hand through the air. “All you have is time.”
“I’m with Kellen,” Chase groaned. “The catnap didn’t do it for me. If you have ways of cutting this time in half, I wouldn’t be opposed. Finding this girl then getting home and to bed sounds all too good.”
I jumped out of the car and slammed the door behind me. “You’re still tired?” I asked, but really didn’t need to. I could see the exhaustion set hard on his features and the dark circles surrounded his eyes. His body looked heavy and without strength.
Chase nodded slowly. “Fucking exhausted.”
The weight of everything still hadn’t lifted from him. What he needed was a good twelve hours of sleep in order to pull himself back together. But we didn’t have time for that. I glanced around quickly and found a big maple tree off to the side of the building.
“Come with me.” I took Chase’s hand and yanked him with me.
At the tree, I stepped behind it and pulled Chase close to hide away from the streetlights diming down on us. My fangs pressed against my gums before they released.
Immediately, I bit down on my wrist before I held it up as the blood dripped down my forearm.
“Go on.” I nodded encouragingly to Chase.
He cocked his head, his expression blank. “Go on with what?”
I gestured toward my arm, which only caused the blood to drip faster as I raised it to his face.
“Have a drink. It will give you a boost.”
Chase’s eyes were trained on my bloody wrist, his nose wrinkled in apparent disgust.
“I cannot deny that this isn’t exactly as appealing when you aren’t standing in front of me nude.”
Tough guy was unsure of himself and I had to admit I enjoyed making him squirm.
But really, I just wanted him to feel better. Seeing him so tired tugged at my heart.
Considering it was me who caused it. “Just go on, trust me.”
“I already had lots of it,” Chase retorted, trying to sideswipe my offer. “Why do I need more?”
“You’re a mortal, bloke.” Kellen smacked Chase on the back with a loud thud. “You used your energy elsewhere and burned the effects off.”
It only took moments for the wariness on Chase’s face to fade. He sucked in a deep breath and with purpose, stepped forward, grabbed my arm and raised it to his mouth.
The second his lips touched my skin, his eyes closed and he groaned deeply.
My only response was to shudder out a sigh. Feeling his lips tight around my arm, the deep tugs he took on my wrist as he filled himself with my blood, was exhilarating.
Kellen suddenly gave Chase another hard knock on the back to break him free from my wrist.
“Better stop now or you’re going to give yourself a hard-on that will last for hours.”
Chase released his tight grip and licked the remaining blood from my wrist. His eyes burned with desire. “I think that has already been accomplished.”
He dropped my arm and stepped back. I raised my wrist to my mouth and kept my gaze focused on Chase as I slowly licked the wound to seal it. A little payback was due for the whole ass-smacking bit.
Kellen groaned deeply. “Now, I’m going to be hard for hours.” He gave me a chastised look.
“Must you do that?”
I grinned, lowered my hand and with as much sass as I had, I responded, “I must.”
My laughter echoed through the air as I left the two men behind to walk awkwardly as their erections pushed against their pants. Payback is such a bitch.
At the hospital, I started up the stairs surrounded by large white pillars. I raised my hand to knock, but before I could, it opened to a kind-looking gentleman. Beige golf shirt, pressed pleated pants and brown loafers to boot, messy hair and tired shadowy eyes, it was obvious the nurse was right. The doctor had been asleep and by the looks of him he needed it.
“Special Agent Sloan?” he asked in a gravelly tone.
I reached into my back pocket as I offered my other hand to him. “Dr. Peterson, I presume.”
After I grabbed onto the piece of paper I put there, I handed him the warrant.
Dr. Peterson examined it a moment then shook my hand. “Call me Bob.”
I glanced back to Kellen and Chase, almost busted out with laughter at their strained faces.
Ooo…I’m damn good. They both looked uncomfortable, which I’d imagine would be the case with a hard c*ck and being unable to do anything about it. But I was also glad to note that Chase did look rejuvenated. The color in his cheeks had returned and the dark circles under his eyes were now gone. I smiled feeling good about that as I introduced them, “Special Agent Chase Finely and Kellen Boyd.”
“Pleasure to meet you both,” Bob responded.
Chase and Kellen nodded in return.
“Thank you for seeing us, Bob.” I drew his attention away from Kellen and Chase. “I know it’s late and we appreciate your time.”
Bob opened the door and waved his hand to usher us through. “It’s not a problem. I can only hope I can be of assistance here.” As he continued down the hall, he made his way to an office just off the main hallway, which looked nothing like a treatment center and more like a home. He stepped through the door and gestured to the chairs in front of a large wooden desk. “Please take a seat. Can I get you a coffee, tea?”
I shook my head and sat down in a teal chair in front of the desk. “No time for that.”
Bob took a seat behind the desk, settled his hands on the top and sighed. “Now then, tell me what it is you need to know about Chad McKinney.”
Chase stood in behind me as Kellen took the seat next to me. There were a thousand questions running through my mind that I’d like to ask, but starting at the beginning was ideal. “What was he here for?”
“The state committed him after he killed his mother,” Bob responded in a steady voice.
“He killed his own mother?” Kellen repeated in an utter gasp.
Bob nodded in agreement as he stood. He went over to the filing cabinet that sat in the corner of the room and pulled out a large file. “Yes. He was only ten when he committed the crime.”
Kellen’s expression was fast past appalled. It dabbled into disgusted. “What the f**k is wrong with him?”
Bob scowled as he returned to his seat. “Nothing is wrong with him.”
“I would argue that, Doctor,” Kellen said back with vengeance. “A kid that kills his own mother should have been shot on sight.”
We didn’t have time to care what or how Kellen felt on the matter, we needed to press on. I ignored the entire conversation and before Bob could come up some snappy retort, I intervened. “You need to tell us his background. The police have Chad in custody and I need to know all I can about him before I interrogate him.”
Bob’s brows furrowed as a questioning expression filled his face. “What has he done exactly?”
“Watched the news lately?” Chase remarked, dryly.
Bob studied Chase a moment. Clearly, he was trying to figure out what this could be about. It was only a second later that clarity hit and his face paled. “Chad killed those women?”
“He’s a suspect at this point, nothing more, nothing less.” My standard FBI answer.
It’d already been proven that he was the killer, and furthermore, that he had hidden these two other women well, buried that is, until they died. But we weren’t allowed to say anything. Innocent until proven guilty was a rule we followed.
Bob flipped a couple pages in his file quite content in whatever it was he was looking for. “Mr.
McKinney has classic schizophrenia.” He glanced away from the papers to meet my gaze. “A textbook case. His mind is more confused than anything I have ever seen in my years of practice. Nothing in reality pertains to him. He lives in a dream that he creates and is quite content on being that way.”