One more question plagued her. Where was Luka?

Dressed, she bounced down the stairs from her apartment as she usually did, but her legs felt sluggish. Her mind was muddy and all she really wanted to do was go back to bed. It was a struggle to stay alert. As if she had been...

That was it, of course! She'd been drugged! s.h.i.t! The captain would insist on sending her to the hospital again.

As she left the building, she carefully made it down the last six steps and remembered that her car was missing.

She looked at the motorcycle parked badly, half in the street and half on the strip of gra.s.s in front of the building. Oh, yeah, she'd ridden it home. Her neighbor, Tommy, had exited just behind her and stopped to look at the bike with her.

"s.h.i.tty parking, Mal, gotta tell ya."

"I agree. In my defense, I was abducted and drugged, then I drove the thing home with no memory of having done so."

"Oh."

"Tommy, can you give me a ride downtown? I don't think it's safe for me to take this back out."

"Sure. Ready to go?"

Mal nodded.

When she walked into the division, every head turned to look at her.

"Mal!" several people yelled, almost at once.

She looked toward the Captain's office and saw him come to the door. He smiled with clear relief.

"Detective Kalani, get in here, now." He sounded detached but she knew he was anything but.

Mal closed the door and turned to him.

"h.e.l.lo, sir."

"Are you all right? Where have you been?"

"I don't know. I was abducted again, and, considering my fuzzy brain function today, I think I was drugged. Still feel a little baked. I don't remember anything at all after I was taken. h.e.l.l, Captain, I don't remember much from before I was taken. And Captain, I'm fine, please don't send me to the hospital. I need to stay and work this."

"If you were drugged, you need to be checked out."

"Trust me, I'm fine. What I need to know is where the h.e.l.l is Luka?"

"He checked in with me last night. After you disappeared, and there was no lead at all, he told me he was packing up and heading back here to begin the search. I've heard nothing from him since then." Kordalis let his eyes roam over Mal. "You're sure you're okay?"

Nodding, Mal bit her lip. "f.u.c.k, Captain, this is almost routine by now. Really, I'm okay. Now, we gotta find Luka. Although, I don't know, I sort of think he's okay."

"What makes you say that?"

Mal shook her head. "Um, I really don't know. Instinct, I guess. Maybe. Just, h.e.l.l, I really have no idea."

The Captain just stared at her for a few moments. He didn't think she was acting quite like herself, but she had admitted she thought she was still affected by drugs they might have used. He made an executive judgment call.

"Tell Geraldo to take you to the ER."

"Captain..." Mal groaned.

"Go," he said quietly, making it clear it was an order.

They were in the air now, Luka secured, loud at times, but unable to move. He was starting the hardest part of the change, at the beginning, when the genetic material began to break down and the vampire virus that forced the mutation a.s.serted its dominance. As a first blood, he'd never experienced it, but he knew it was devastating to the human body. He knew the pain was almost unbearable.

Ahmose's first blood ability to impress calmness would not work on a converting human. There was nothing he could do for Luka but let him endure the change.

The screaming and profanity made it hard for Ahmose to concentrate. Even high-end noise-cancelling earphones didn't help much, but they took the edge off enough for him to try to rest.

But that wasn't happening either, because his mind kept returning to the s.e.xy, sharp-tongued vixen he now realized had really gotten to him. He closed his eyes and conjured her face, eyebrows raised, full lips pursed. She had been p.i.s.sed at him most of the time she'd stayed with him. And he hadn't had enough.

Starla would laugh at him when he told her of his brief affair with his blood donor, and that he'd gotten attached to her. Then again, Starla was a romantic and she'd probably make it into something it was not, so he decided he wouldn't tell her about Mal. That appealed to him anyway, kept his moments with her private, only for him, with no input from anyone else. It kept the memory sacred.

Would he ever go back to see her again? He wanted to right now. His fingers twitched at the thought of touching her skin and making her moan.

That was his problem. He was in love with the idea of love, which made it impossible for him to trust his own feelings.

"Mother, help your child of the moon find his way down this rocky path," he whispered. Here, so high above her, he felt abandoned. Soon, he would be back in his village, where he belonged, and all would be well. He ached to see his son, and the mother of his children. And Jacob.

Jacob kept him honest and stable. Although Ahmose had wronged the man horribly, they were closer than if they had been born brothers. The vampire meant as much to him as Starla did. Ahmose was still adjusting to that.

His head was just too active tonight. The things that he loved and the thought of that which he might love, his past and his future, all begging for his attention, the new vampire he was making because he couldn't say no to a woman with the soul of an angel...it was overwhelming him. He closed his eyes. His vacation was over.

Chapter 8.

Jinx lurked. He was doing a lot of that these days. Why, he didn't know, but he still did it. Another thing that confused him was the fact that he was gathering information on Canzone. Bad information, the kind that could get Canzone prosecuted and Jinx dead. While he knew that, for some reason, some seriously f.u.c.king unknown to him reason, he couldn't stop.

Worse, he knew that when he had enough, he was going to hand it over to that c.u.n.t cop that Canzone seemed to want to stick his d.i.c.k into. Or something. Whatever it was, it wasn't healthy.

So he had two folders filled with doc.u.ments and intel about set-ups, drops, shipments, and individual pictures of the girls he'd sent overseas for quick sale. There were videos, and while he didn't know what was on them, he figured they'd be valuable. Ships filled with contraband, everything illegal and valuable. If he gave this to the cop, Canzone was finished. Yeah, Jinx knew, and so was he.

Canzone was in his big office, the one that looked like it could be in a murder mystery from the 1930's, because Canzone idolized the idyllic cops and robbers movies and books from the period. He even wore spats when he went to high-society functions. Jinx thought it made him look like an idiot, but Canzone thought he looked dapper.

Whatever the f.u.c.k that meant. Jinx glanced into the office to make sure Canzone wasn't looking, and slipped out of the building with files that compromised everything Canzone had built for thirty-five years. When he got to his car, he locked the doors and slowly left the area, no hurry, don't draw attention, get the f.u.c.k out before they knew what he was doing.

Once he thought he was safe, he got on the highway to head downtown as fast as he could move without risking a pull-over by Mal's buddies. He'd give her the s.h.i.t and disappear. While Jinx would be the first to admit that he wasn't the smartest knife in the drawer, he wasn't stupid either.

"Detective Kalani, would you come in here, please."

Mal looked up at the Captain standing in his doorway. He did not look happy. She glanced over at Luka's empty desk. Yeah, she knew why.

Standing, she made her way over to the office as quickly as a five-year-old going to its parent for a spanking. This was going to be pretty similar.

As she reached the door to his office, Mal hovered.

Jeffrey Kordalis looked up at her from where he was reseated at his desk.

"Close the door."

Once she did, she moved closer, but didn't take a seat.

"Yes, sir? What was it that you wanted?"

"I think you know what. May I ask you who gave you permission to confront Canzone at the governor's ball last night?"

"Well, he wasn't taking my calls."

"Really? Didn't we have a conversation last week?"

"Yeah, but sir, Luka's still missing."

"I know, Mal. But I took you off the case because you're intimately involved. Not only because he's your partner, but because the main suspect has you on his radar. Mal, you're suspended."

"What?"

"You heard me. I want you away from everything to do with this man. I have teams working on Luka's whereabouts, and I don't have time to have them searching for you, too. This man is ruthless and powerful and he has a thing for you. I have video of the confrontation last night. Mal, he's grinning every second."

"I know. I nearly wiped that smile on the Italian tile under our feet."

"I could see that. I'm actually shocked that you didn't hit him." Jeffrey paused. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promised your father I'd look after you, and I'm going to by sending you home."

"He can get to me in my apartment just like here."

"No. Not your apartment. I want you to go to your mother's home."

"No."

"It's already done. Your father is meeting you there. No one knows about Brigitte's cabin. You'll be safe there."

"Captain..."

"If you want to help Luka, you need to go, Mal. You're obstructing the investigation and. G.o.d, I hate to say this, but if he is still alive, he won't be for long."

Mal opened her mouth to protest, but she knew better. Kordalis wouldn't change his mind. She even thought he may be right.

"Yes, sir."

Each footstep felt like lead as Mal went to her desk, picked up her bag, nodded to the other officers she pa.s.sed, and left the building.

IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Luka sat on top of a raging tower of water. It was perhaps the most beautiful place he'd ever seen in his life. Although the air was warm, the constant scatters of water shot up from below cooled his skin and felt like a piece of heaven.

He felt good and looked better. His body, oh f.u.c.k, did it look better. He was huge now, all over. The muscles that he'd worked his a.s.s off to get back home in the local gym had been replaced with video-game sized muscles.

His new body looked amazing and felt awkward. Scanning the birds that flew down into the water, he acknowledged that he was grateful to be alive. But at what cost?

His entire life. His friends and home, his family, what was left of it. A job he loved. And Mal.

They'd told him he could never go back. That he would adapt and be happy.

His advanced hearing let him know someone had arrived behind him and he knew who it was by the soft footfalls. When he looked up, his breath caught a little, as it usually did. If he was extraordinarily handsome now, his looks had nothing on hers. She was otherworldly gorgeous.

"Luka, how are you this fine night?"

"I'm okay, Chione. Still adjusting."

Dropping beside him, almost as if she defied gravity, she was so elegant, Chione tilted her head. "It will be a while. Did you get enough to eat at first meal?"

Luka laughed. "Yeah, I guess. Still can't believe I can eat all that food."

"It's one of the perks. Humans love that when they are changed."

"I bet. I'm okay. You don't have to babysit me. I know the big guy a.s.signed you to me."

"He did not. I have a sympathy for people, a skill for understanding. Your pain reached out to me. It's quite intense."

Luka watched the pounding water and didn't answer. He'd lost everything that meant anything to him. f.u.c.king right his pain was intense.

"I am here if you need someone." Chione slipped her fingers around Luka's forearm, the tips caressing.

It felt good to feel something, anything. The scream inside his mind calmed, he could feel his heart actually slow its rapid beats.

"What are you doing to me?"

Chione smiled, and he was caught. She lit up the world when she smiled.

"It's my gift. Would you join us for the dance tonight? We're celebrating the new harvest. You will love our MoonShine."

"Booze? Never turned down a good brew."

"It's our local wine. Since we are the children of the moon, we call our special wine MoonShine. Luka, you will not have any use for beer once you've tasted this magic elixir."

"I might, then." He drew a long breath and looked down at Chione's fingers, still attached to his arm.

"I like that. You really do have a magic touch."

"I really do. Please, come to my dwelling in another hour and escort me to the gardens."