Dark Heart of the Sun by S.K. Ryder

Author:S.K. Ryder [S.K. Ryder]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hidden Worlds Press
Published: 2023-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

26

Vertigo

Jackson walked out of the men’s room and came to a hard stop. The figure standing at the end of the narrow hall had its back turned to him, but he would have known that unkempt mop of black hair and the arrogant bearing anywhere. And if there was any doubt, the leather jacket, pants, and boots in the eighty-degree night sealed the deal.

Fuck. How does this shit keep happening to me?

Go to Key West, his uncle had told him. Investigate homicides that barely register on the Grid. While he was relegated to this playpen—and presumably out of immediate trouble—Garrett was off to South America, going after the sure thing. But once Jackson learned his sister and Cassidy would be there too, he agreed. If Cassidy was enslaved to the vampire “roommate,” she would go nowhere without his permission—or without him. Away from a familiar environment, even a supernatural being might trip up and become an easy mark for someone who knew what to watch for.

Clearly, Jackson had been right on both counts. Though he would have rather not found out by practically falling over his target outside the bathrooms in the rowdiest tourist trap south of Miami.

He gave himself a mental shake and assessed the situation. The vampire appeared agitated, loitering there, watching the crowds. One pale, long-fingered hand pressed flat against the wall, the other fretted and fisting by his side. Jackson felt his own hands balling. So the bastard was hungry and looking for dinner. Nice.

Taking a moment to collect himself, he touched the St. Christopher medals hanging around his neck. One had been Justin’s. Feeling it together with his own never failed to infuse him with his brother’s calm certainty. It also never failed to remind him of what could go wrong if he lost his focus.

This was it; the hunt was on.

There was a strip of sticky trackers in his pocket. Fingering them, he calculated his chances of not only escaping the hallway unnoticed but also planting a device in passing. Tag him or not, if the target noticed him, Jackson would lose the element of surprise. But the thought of biding his time in the men’s room galled him.

An intoxicated man bursting out of the door and slamming into his back decided the matter for him. As they staggered together, the stranger spewed a stream of vomit-flavored obscenities that drew glances from everyone in earshot.

The guy could have thrown up all over him. Jackson wouldn’t have cared. The real problem was the vampire swiveling his head around and going extraordinarily still. Much as Jackson would have liked to pretend not to be aware of him, at such close quarters he would have looked ludicrous to try.

He sent the unstable patron on his way with an apology and faced the most dangerous youngling vampire on Foundation record. Dominique Marchant regarded him with a veiled stare that made his flesh crawl. How anyone could look at that face—even half obscured behind a sweep of disheveled hair—and not see a viper lying in wait was beyond him.

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