BloodBound Read Online Free Page A

feminine voice came through the phone.
    “Stephanie Dubois, I’m with the VCI.” He raised his ID toward the camera nestled in the high corner of one wall. “I need a moment of your time.” Dex sensed the surprise in the short silence that followed.
    “Of course…um…apartment three-o-four.”
    The door buzzed and he pushed through. When he located her apartment, he didn’t get the chance to ring the bell. The door opened and Stephanie Dubois raised her chin and looked at him with questioning eyes. It was a look he was accustomed to, but everything physical about her hit him at once. In particular, those wide eyes, that luscious mouth, and the shapely curves outlined in spandex athletic wear. For a slim woman, her breasts were surprisingly full. He felt gut-punched. Or was it cock-punched? Hell.
    Dex gave himself a mental shake and showed his ID with a professional, “Agent Dex Mason.”
    Her gaze was cautious as it lingered on the ID before giving him the once-over. “What’s this about?” she inquired with obvious wariness.
    “I’m investigating a blood party case and I have reason to believe that you have some information for me.”
    The tinge of color on her cheeks faded and her gaze faltered an almost imperceptible degree.
    “Sure…come in.” She stepped to the side.
    He walked into her small living room and looked around, noting the three unframed contemporary paintings along the far wall, the tall, heavy-laden bookcase, the white laminate drawing table, and the average-sized flat screen TV. She was neat, possibly well-read, and had an artistic talent. He’d deduced the latter mostly from her occupation. His perusal of her personal space bought him a few seconds to refocus.
    When he looked at her again, she was standing by the sofa. He kept his gaze above her shoulders and said, “I have a few questions.”
    She gave him a tense nod.
    Dex pulled out a notepad from his jacket and flipped it open to a specific page. “This past Saturday, you were at 2900 South Lafayette Street, the residence where one wanted fugitive was hiding in relation to charges surrounding a blood party.”
    Her eyebrows hitched and her gaze froze for a few seconds. “How do you know I was there? And…I don’t know anything about a blood party.”
    He closed the distance between them and pulled out the photos. “The house was under surveillance. An officer took these photos of you.”
    She took the two photos with unsteady fingers and stared at them for a long moment. When she handed them back, she looked past his shoulder and asked in a toneless voice, “Have the bounty hunters seen these?”
    Stephanie Dubois was getting tangled in the net he’d laid. It didn’t please him, but it was virtually the only sure way of getting her help. If she agreed.
    “I don’t know, but there’s a cross investigation with this case, which is how I got them.” He pressed on, adding an edge to his voice. “Thing is, one minute the vampires are gorging to their hearts’ content, then you show up and all the donors disappear. The evidence is gone .” It was an exaggerated truth.
    She raised slim fingers to her mouth and shook her head. “Oh God…I really had no clue about the party. I wanted to help a friend whom I believed was in trouble.” She splayed her hands. “I don’t know the guy in the photo.”
    Her response seemed genuine and he felt a jab of guilt for putting her through the mill. Hopefully the hard part would be over soon. “That could be true, but your mention of bounty hunters means you know something about the case.”
    She closed her eyes briefly, most likely giving herself a mental kick for the slip. With an audible sigh, she sat on the sofa’s armrest and said, “They’re my brothers.”
    Dex could have interpreted the hint of pain in her voice in various ways, but he filed it in his memory for now.
    “I just wanted to do the right thing. I didn’t purposely ruin their mission,” she added.
    “M-hm. One