Crimson Vengeance by Sheri Lewis Wohl Page A

being the operative word. Still, it was weird. She was as jumpy as if she was out on a first date.
    Oh, yeah, a date with a tall, sexy vampire hunter. Just her luck.
    Did anything normal ever happen around her anymore?
    Sure, he was all business and had been since the first moment she laid eyes on him. Yet, something simmered beneath his very calm surface. Something definitely simmered beneath her surface.
    Unfortunately, she just wasn’t sure what it was and was afraid to delve too deeply to figure it out.
    Instead of spending precious time worrying about it, she got out of the van and began to tend to business. At the rear of the van, she opened the doors, pulled the gurney to the edge, and waited for the legs beneath to pop down and connect with the concrete. She tried not to think about the fact it was Jorge in the body bag or that tall, dark, and handsome was right behind her.
    “Let me,” Colin said as he brushed against her to take hold of the gurney. “You get the door.”
    The brief contact sent a shiver through her. God, she hoped he didn’t notice. “Sure.”
    Quickly Ivy went to the door, waved her badge across the sensor pad, and waited for the click. When she heard it, she pulled the double doors open and held them while Colin pushed the gurney inside. His arm brushed hers again. She shivered. Again. Damn.
    She wasn’t any less jumpy when Jorge was safely inside the cooler, the van was returned to its normal parking space, and the office was nice and quiet again. In fact, she was even twitchier now that it was just the two of them. If he brushed up against her again, she’d probably do something really classy like hyperventilate. Some big bad coroner she was.
    “How about a drink?” She didn’t know if he was a drinker, but she sure could use a nice strong toddy. A little liquid courage or nice sedative? Either way, it worked for her tonight. Besides, it got them out of the morgue. Everything else aside, she was acutely aware that Jorge was on the other side of the cooler door. He might be dead—
    really dead this time—but she was still uncomfortable.
    Colin tilted his head, eyed her for a moment, then nodded. “A drink would be nice.”
    Oh, yeah, thank the stars. “Come on.” She waved in the direction of the door. “I’ll drive.”
    Ten minutes later they sat across from each other in the dim light of Earl’s, a local watering-hole landmark, and drank beer from icy mugs. Music played low, some contemporary country singer with a sweet voice who sang about a cheating boyfriend. She thought about Jorge, then took a big swig of the beer and pushed him from her mind.
    With smoking banned in Washington, the air in Earl’s held only the scent of booze and spicy chicken wings. It smelled nothing like the morgue and there wasn’t a dead—or undead—body to be seen.
    So far, so good.
    Ivy took another drink and let the cool, malty beer slide down her throat. It tasted nice but wasn’t providing the hoped-for sedative effect.
    She’d thought once they were away from the morgue, she’d calm right down. Didn’t happen. If anything, she was more nervous even when she wasn’t thinking about Jorge. It didn’t do any good to try to fool herself. She was too aware of Colin to be anywhere close to calm.
    She looked around the room, full even though it was a Wednesday night. Earl’s was a popular hangout any day of the week,

    and on Saturdays, it was wall-to-wall. At least there was safety in numbers.
    “So,” she said after she’d sipped the beer a couple more times and hoped Colin didn’t notice how her hand trembled. “Tell me what’s happening in my town and why Dracula is dropping bodies in my lake.”
    He set his half-empty mug on the table. Apparently she wasn’t the only one nervous tonight. That made her feel a little better.
    Little? Hell—it made her feel a whole bunch better.
    “I’m confident the vampire is the one who calls herself Destiny.”
    “Okay, but that doesn’t