Craved (Gwen Sparks #1)

Craved (Gwen Sparks #1) Page 7

“If I knew what you were hiding under your shirt, I would’ve caved a long time ago. My imagination failed you.” I said, eyeing his perfect chest.

“I feel cheated, your shirt is still on. Come on, off with it, it’s only fair,” he teased as he pulled at the bottom of my tank top. We were in a sort of tug-of-war, with my shirt acting as the rope.

“Stop,” I managed to get out between laughs, “We should talk.” Aiden immediately stopped, a somber look taking over his happy one.

“If you tell me that this can’t happen again and that we’re better off friends, then stake me now; end my misery,” he said, with amused sarcasm.

I sat up and straightened my hair that got messed up during our war over my shirt. “I was going to say that we should take this slow, maybe go on a few dates to see if there’s anything between us besides sexual lust. I’m not looking to get my heart stomped on again or interested in just being a booty call,” I admitted honestly. Aiden started laughing silently so I slapped his arm lightly, “I’m serious.”

“And I’m serious when I say, that I have wanted you for two years, body and soul,” He cupped my face in his hands and pressed a kiss on my forehead, “But I have no problem wining and dining you. Prepare to be wooed, my Gwen,” a smile of accomplishment stretched across his lips to reveal perfectly white teeth. I smiled at him through a strand of my dark hair that acted as an ebony curtain. I eyed his chest and reluctantly, conjured a gray t-shirt to cover the masterpiece. Gray fabric crawled along his ribs and up towards his shoulders, stretching and connecting to form a shirt. He looked down in awe at his new garment,

“That’s amazing.”

“So, what’s this information you just had to see me about?” I asked.

“I called a friend of mine that lives in Chicago and I pretended to be interested in finding something I could serve in my club that would attract younger vamps…”

“Aiden! I told you not to mention anything,” I interrupted.

“…I didn’t mention your name or anything to do with this case, I’m not an idiot. Anyway, my friend told me about a new blood that I could sell that would keep a steady flow of young vamps coming. Guess what the blood was, Gwen?” he asked with sarcastic pleasure.

“Brew?” I answered knowingly.

“Bingo! He said that it had come through Chicago a couple months ago and the vampires up there love it.”

“Does he know what kind of blood it is?”

“He didn’t say and I didn’t ask. There have been a handful of bloods that have been altered to expand our palate, so I wanted him to think I assumed it was one of those so I wouldn’t raise suspicion,” he said proudly.

“Good job, Nancy Drew,” I laughed, “I can’t share this information with the FPD though because you’re not supposed to know,” I grinned at him.

“Don’t you think I thought about that? He’s shipping me a sample and then if I like it, he’ll have the dealer contact me,” he said, giving me a smug grin, “Nancy Drew has nothing on my detective skills.”

Could it really be as easy as Aiden getting the culprit’s information just handed to him? I had to stay optimistic about the possibilities.

A knock sounded at my door and both Aiden and I turned our attention toward it.

“Come in,” I called. Fiona pushed the door open with her hand covering her eyes and said,

“Daddy’s gone and I have pizza out here.”

“You can uncover your eyes, Fiona, we’re just talking,” I told her. She dropped her hand and looked at us with humor.

“I thought you said you two weren’t dating?” she teased.

“We’re not, well we weren’t. It just kind of happened tonight.”

“Not for a lack of trying,” Aiden chimed in, “I must thank you and your father for interrupting what could have been the highlight of my year.”

“Sorry, he insisted on driving me home,” Fiona said.

“Um, excuse me, we were just making out. It wouldn’t have gone any further so you didn’t interrupt anything,” I told both of them. Fiona gave me a “yeah, right” look while Aiden smiled knowingly. I shook my head in aggravation; even I couldn’t convince myself.

We all sat around the table, Fiona and I stuffing our faces with pizza topped with chicken while Aiden drank bottled water. I really wanted to play twenty questions with Fiona about her father but I didn’t think she’d want Aiden to know her business, so I resolved to just ask later.

“So I take it you’re going to the Founder’s Gala together now?” Fiona asked between bites of pizza.

“Yep. Everyone will be envious of me with Gwen on my arm, no offense, Fiona,” Aiden bragged. I looked at him, remembering I had told him that I already had a date to the Gala, so I decided to have some fun with it.

“Aiden, I’m so sorry but I already have a date, remember?” I said and pretended to wince at the thought of offending him. The look of shock on his face was priceless.

“I thought you said you were going alone?” Fiona said, blowing my joke out of the water.

“I don’t remember saying that,” I said innocently.

“What his name?” Aiden said with suspicion. Crap on a cracker, I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I took entirely too long to answer but finally said,

“Jason.”

“You’re worse at lying than you are at resisting me,” Aiden laughed. I smiled at him, knowing the truth was now out.

“Hey, with all the crap you’ve put me through the last couple years, you deserve a little crap back,” I said.

All three of us were laughing and talking when my phone rang. I flipped it open and noticed it was Micah’s number.

“Hi, Micah, what do you need?” I said into the receiver.

“Another body has been found; meet me at Hollow Creek Park.”

6

I pulled my car into the wood-chipped parking lot and went to the passenger’s side to retrieve Aura, who wasn’t too happy that I had woken her up. There were two black SUVs with red and blue lights flashing against the darkness of the park. Micah and Wyatt stood at the edge of the woods, looking down at a body. Gruesome things were not my strong point. I got faint at the sight of blood from a paper cut, but helping out the FPD was rewarding just to know I might help catch the lunatic behind these girls’ deaths.

I walked over to where they stood, with Aura’s bag on my shoulder. Upon approaching, I noticed that the woman was older than Amy Harper. She looked to be in her later twenties or early thirties. She had short blonde hair and was just as pale as Amy had been. She was wearing jeans and a green sweater that was ripped in various places.

“Hey Gwen, thanks for coming,” Wyatt said. I gave him a sad smile, not really in the mood for pleasantries. It had only been a of couple days since Amy Harper’s body was found and now another woman lay before us, having met the same fate. I had to wonder when and if this was going to stop.

“Who found her?” I mumbled.

“Jasper Binx. He was running through the park and smelled her,” Micah said. Jasper Binx was part of the Flora werewolves and could have easily smelled the woman’s body in wolf form.

I nodded my head. “Do we know who she is?”

“Not yet,” Wyatt answered, “Would you like to try and read her memories?”

I nodded and set Aura’s carrier on the dewy grass. I kissed the top of her head and knelt in front of the mystery woman. Her body looked like it had just been tossed, leaving her legs splayed, and one of her arms lay above her head while the other arm lay limply at her side. Anger bubbled within me like a volcano ready to erupt, but I quashed it. I needed to focus to find out what happened.

I placed my palms against her temples and blanked out my mind. I concentrated on the steady hum of energy that flowed from Aura and channeled it into the woman’s mind, acting as the conduit.

Bright flashes danced within my view forcing me to squint my eyes. The darkness of the park gave way to a scene of a sunset-soaked park. Purple and orange smeared the sky and the woman pulled out a digital SLR camera to snap a picture of the beautiful landscape.

A twig snapped in the near distance and she turned her head to investigate. There was a couple walking on the blacktop trail and a man playing fetch with his dog, but no one was her. She turned her attention back to the beauty before her and snapped a few more pictures before putting the camera back into its bag. I noticed the name, Bridget Downing, was written on the inside flap of her bag.

The park disappeared and a flash of scenes rapidly played in my mind. I couldn’t get a handle on any one thing but her fear overtook my senses and made me fall back on my butt, causing the connection to wane. I was breathing hard, to the point of hyperventilating. Wyatt knelt where I sat on the wet grass and offered me a bottled water. My breathing slowly regained normalcy, but my hands were shaking slightly.

“Are you alright?” Wyatt asked with concern. I took a drink from the bottle and a couple of deep breaths before I could answer. Looking into the woman’s memories had affected me a lot more than Amy Harper’s had.

“Yeah, I’m fine. This woman hasn’t been dead long, her memories were strong,” I said with heavy breathing.

“Did you get a name or location?” Micah asked.

“I saw the name Bridget Downing on her camera bag but I’m not entirely sure if that was her name. She was in a park at first, but then it changed, and all I saw were incoherent memory flashes.”

Wyatt thought for a minute and then said, “You said she hasn’t been dead long?”

I nodded my head with complete certainty.

“I think we should change and try to catch a scent. The murderer’s scent will still be strong enough and if we’re lucky, they could still be around somewhere,” Wyatt said to Micah. Micah nodded and began to take off his clothes, with Wyatt mimicking his actions. The change from human to werewolf always played hell on their clothes so they stripped to avoid having to replace the damaged ones.