Blood of Innocence (Sloan Skye) by Dane Tami

Author:Dane, Tami [Dane, Tami]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp
Published: 2012-06-04T22:00:00+00:00

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

—Frank A. Clark

16

I was not in the mood to deal with my parents, but I knew I needed to get over there. Hoping Mom might be preoccupied with a movie or something, I roared over to their place, parked the car, and dragged myself inside.

Sergio met me at the door with a sparkly-toothed grin. I grunted a greeting at him and shuffled past him.

“Your parents are out on the patio,” he informed me.

“Thanks.” I headed out to join them.

When I got outside, my father was staring at the huge outdoor television, while my mother was floating around in the pool.

“Sloan, why don’t you come for a swim before you eat,” Mom said, waving me toward the water.

“No thanks. I can’t stay long. I’m on my lunch break. I need to get back to work.”

She pouted, then went back to fluttering around. I took a seat by my father.

Sergio came out, bearing a plate and a glass of something. “Your lunch.”

Salad.

Water.

I grimaced. “I thought Mom said she’d had him make my favorite.”

My dad shrugged. “Lately she says a lot of things. Most of them make no sense whatsoever.”

“Have you talked to her doctor?”

“I have. We have an appointment next week. I couldn’t get anything sooner, since she’s not a threat to herself or anyone else. What did you want to speak with me about?”

“I need some help identifying our unsub. We’re pretty sure it’s vampiric.”

“Okay.” His gaze didn’t move from the screen, much like Mom’s when she was watching that stupid movie yesterday.

“We believe it shape-shifts to some kind of flying creature, at least at night. And we believe it feeds through some sort of long proboscis.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So what do you think?”

“About what?” he asked.

“The unsub.”

“I think you’re on the right track.”

Gah! “I was hoping you’d be able to identify its species.”

“Sloan, that research is decades old. I haven’t looked at it in a long time. Can you tell me you remember everything you read twenty years ago?”

I started to answer, but he interrupted me.

“Of course, you do. You’re brilliant. I’m just your run-of-the-mill elf. A lot of muscle. Not a lot of brains.”

“Bullshit. If you had no brains, you wouldn’t be the head of the queen’s army. And you wouldn’t have a Ph.D. So what’s the deal? Don’t you want to help me?”

“The deal is ...” He sighed. “I don’t remember. I was sick a while back—right before I came home. I had a pretty bad case of meningitis. It seems to have affected my memory. I don’t remember a lot about that time of my life. It’s all a little hazy.”

He looked genuinely sorry, and a little concerned and frustrated too. “I’d love to help you, but I can’t.”

“Well, damn. I thought you came home to protect us.”

“I have. That’s why I’m marrying your mother again. And why I’d like for you to move in here with us until ...”

“Until what? I’m married?” I asked.

He nodded.

“That could be years.

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