Paris After Dark Read Free Page A

couldn’t gauge his age. Rachel craned her neck. He was taller than her assailant, well over six feet. And she couldn’t help but notice how nicely his broad shoulders filled out his jacket.
    She tore her gaze away, when he caught her looking. “It’s this way.” Rachel led him to the side street where she’d last seen the body, but the woman had vanished.
    She searched the bushes. The woman had been lying in the middle of the sidewalk where the man dropped her. Maybe she’d been further along the street than Rachel had realized.
    “Where is she?” Gabriel asked.
    “She should be right here. I don’t understand.” Rachel scanned the shadows.
    He looked up and down the street. “Sure she was dead?”
    Rachel glowered at him. “Positive. I checked her pulse.”
    “Maybe someone reported the incident and they’ve already picked her up,” he suggested.
    “I’m not sure how the Parisian police work, but back in New York we don’t clean up a crime scene this fast,” she said. “Where’s the tape? Where are the homicide detectives? Someone should still be here canvassing the neighbourhood for witnesses.”
    Gabriel stiffened. “Are you police?”
    “Homicide detective,” she said absently, ignoring his broken English.
    He inhaled again. “Have you been drinking, detective?”
    Rachel tensed. “I had a few flutes of champagne with dinner, but I know what I saw.”
    “Is this perhaps an elaborate ruse to get out of a trespassing charge?” Gabriel asked.
    Her almond-shaped eyes narrowed to glittering slits. “Listen, if you don’t believe me that’s fine. Just point me in the direction of the nearest police station so I can report the incident.”
    “OK.” Gabriel reached for her arm to turn her towards the station. She winced. He instantly released her. “Are you injured?”
    “I’ll live,” she said. “The guy bit me after he bit the woman. He’d reshaped his teeth. Fancied himself a friggin’ vampire.” Rachel snorted. “More like a drugged-out psycho.” She shook out her arm and winced.
    Gabriel maintained a placid expression, when inside his thoughts were in turmoil. If what she was saying was true, then it was possible Rachel had been bitten by a vampyre. “May I see?” he asked.
    She shrugged and unbuttoned her coat. The second she slipped it off, the scent of blood filled the air. Gabriel swallowed hard, his nostrils flaring to draw the delicious fragrance in. “That looks bad. You’re going to need stitches,” he said, fighting the urge to lick her arm from wrist to elbow.
    Rachel glanced down. “It’ll wait.”
    “You really should get that seen to.” He looked away as his mouth began to water. It certainly looked like a vamp bite, although it was in an odd location. Most vamps preferred to feed from softer tissue.
    “Police station first. Hospital second.”
    “As you wish, detective.” Gabriel was nearly mad with the desire to feed by the time they reached the station. Without a body to back her claims, Rachel was just another tipsy tourist who’d been mugged. The police would take a report, check out the scene, then it would be filed away.
    Rachel came out of the station two hours later, cursing under her breath and scowling. When Gabriel stepped out of the shadows, she startled, clutching her chest.
    “Stop sneaking up on me.” She glared at him.
    “I wasn’t sneaking,” he said. “How did it go?”
    “Just peachy. Can’t you tell? They’re going to contact my captain in New York. That should be an interesting conversation.” She muttered something unintelligible about stupid men under her breath, then looked around in confusion. “What are you still doing here?”
    He held up his hands in defence. “Nothing nefarious I assure you. I believe I said you needed to go to the hospital to get that wound cleaned and stitched. I’m here to take you.” He gave her a gallant bow. The move seemed natural, like he’d performed it hundreds of times.
    Despite his