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BEING A SPOOK WASN’T AT all what Sahts, sleepless days, yes—she’d faced that, and worse, during her ten years as a state police officer In her tiations Unit had breezed in and out of situations, always on edge, always on theSo the sheer and utter boredom that filled ninety percent of her new job with the SIU had co of a shock
She sighed and shifted slightly, trying to find a comfortable position on the icy metal step Watch the back door, Gabriel had said Make sure the vamps don’t hit the blood bank from the alley This despite the fact that, in the five previous robberies, the vah the front door
So why the hell would they change a successful MO now?
They wouldn’t He knew that She knew that
She rubbed her eyes wearily She could hardly argue, though, as he was her senior and in charge of the investigation And with intel stating that this blood bank would be the next one hit, she couldn’t argue with orders that were littleall the bases
What the intel wasn’t saying hether it was actually va these robberies Hell, with recent esti that at least thirty percent of newly turned vampires were unable to control their bloodlust, human blood had become a hot coht about through infected blood in all theto a proliferation of private blood banks where people could stockpile their own blood—and you had the perfect opportunity for those wanting to make a quick buck
So here she sat, in the cold night, on a cold step, waiting for robbers eren’t likely to appear, while her goddamn partner watched the front door from the warmth of the car
Bitter? Oh yeah
He was certainly ood on his statement that he would never ith a partner Whenever possible, he left her in her box of an office doing paperwork, or sent her on inane errands This was her first “real” duty in the three months since her transfer, and she suspected she was here only because Byrne had given him a direct order to take her
The wind picked up, running chilly fingers through her hair She shivered and flicked up the collar on her coat Overhead, the starlit sky was beginning to cloud over The rain they’d been predicting for days was finally on the way She could sle of electricity running through the night air, charging her body with an odd sense of power
Why she could feel these things was another point of concern, though it was one she kept to herself There were only two people she trusted enough to sit down and talk to, anyway The first was Finley, as the head researcher for the SIU While she didn’t really know him all that well—the only ti either tests or research on her—he probably knew more about her than anyone else alive Or, at least, knew y If anyone had any chance of understanding why these things were happening, it would be hi froo The second person was her goddamn partner, and he was harder to nail down than a snowflake in a storm
And he wasn’t just keeping his distance on a professional level, but on a personal one as well Given hoell they’d gotten on during their investigations of her forht they could at least be friends Obviously, she’d been very much mistaken
God, how bad was it when he wouldn’t even go for a cup of coffee with her?
“Sam, you there?”
His warm voice whispered into her ear, so close she could almost feel the caress of his breath across her cheek Except that he was tucked nice and warm in the car half a block away
She was te years as a cop doing the right thing, following all the rules—including keeping in constant contact when on watch Even when her partner was being a bastard and deserved to suffer, it was a hard habit to break
“What?” But her tone left no doubt of herher butt was almost frozen to the step If he expected civility, he needed a brain transplant
“Just checking if you’re still awake”
Yeah, right Like she was the one sitting in the nice, war a fine job of that, thank you very much”
He paused “Do you want to swap for a while?”
She raised her eyebrows Just for an instant, the compassion in his voice reminded her of the ot coffee onboard?”