There was… nothing.
She tried to shake off the odd feeling, but a shiver raced down her spine and settled at her tailbone. The sound of somebody breathing made her swivel on her heel.
All her breath rushed out of her lungs when she saw the man who stood less than a foot from her.
No, not a man. A vampire. And an ex-con.
“Luther.” She breathed more than spoke the name.
“I see I don’t have to introduce myself. Saves me time.”
Instinctively, she stepped back. Her back hit the car, effectively trapping her between it and the big vampire.
God, close up he seemed even bigger than before. Broad-shouldered and tall. Her gaze drifted away from his penetrating eyes and full lips to his neck and farther down still. Down to his marred skin. Then she realized it: though he was wearing a shirt and jacket, both were unbuttoned, giving her an unobstructed view of his scarred torso. Oddly enough, the sight didn’t disgust her. Didn’t repel her. Instead, it fascinated her, made her want to touch him.
“Freak show’s over,” he grunted.
Embarrassment coursed through her, and she felt her cheeks heat despite the cool night air. The urge to defend herself was automatic. “I wasn’t…” His narrowing eyes made her change her tactic. “I thought they’d locked you up.”
“Couldn’t pin it on me. ‘Cause I’ve got nothing to do with it.”
The deep timbre of his voice echoed in the alley and sent tiny vibrations through her body. Like little shockwaves pulsing through her.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on people associated with Scanguards, or they might change their mind.”
“So what’s your association with them?”
She lifted her chin. “None of your business.”
“You’re not a hybrid. Frankly, I’m not quite sure what you are, ‘cause as sure as shit you’re not human.” He sniffed, trying to make his point.
“What do you want?”
Luther motioned to her handbag.
“You’re a common thief? Here to rob me? Oh my God! How despicable!”
“I want the letters! Give ‘em to me! I want to see them.”
“The letters?” How did he know about the letters?
“I know you have them.” He made a grab for her handbag.
She tried to hold onto it, but he was too strong. Within seconds, he’d pulled out the letters and was leafing through them.
“What do you want with them?”
He ignored her question and pulled one of the letters from its envelope. His eyes flew over the scribbled handwriting.
“Ah shit!” he cursed under his breath, then looked at the envelope again. He thumbed through the stack. “All postmarked in Grass Valley.”
“So what?”
Luther glared at her. “You can’t show these to Scanguards.”
“You have no say in what I show to Scanguards or not! The kidnapper wanted me, not Isabelle.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“The surveillance recording. I read her lips. She told him she wasn’t Kimberly.”
“Then you’ll understand how important it is that I get these letters to Samson.” She reached for them to take them back, but he held onto them. “These letters will lead us to the kidnapper. It has to be him. The things he says in his letters. He says he’s coming after me. I didn’t take it seriously. I thought he was just some crazy fan.”
“Yeah, hazard of the trade, I guess.” The sneer on his face negated the notion that he had empathy.
“Give them back to me.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because these letters will lead right back to me.”
Katie gasped in shock. “You wrote them?”
“I didn’t say that,” Luther growled, leaning even closer. “But the postmark on these envelopes will suggest that I did. Samson isn’t acting rational right now. Once he sees the letters he’ll accuse me and draw resources off the search for the real kidnapper. Is that what you want?”
“You’re lying.”
His face came closer. “Do you know what’s near Grass Valley?”
Pressing herself firmly against the car, she shook her head.
“The prison I was released from last night.”
Realization hit her. “If it wasn’t you who wrote these letters, then you know who it was.”
“No, I don’t.”
She shook her head, not believing him. The intense exchange of looks they’d had earlier in the night came back to her. “When you saw me at the university, you recognized me. You knew who I was, didn’t you? You knew because the vampire who took Isabelle showed you my picture, didn’t he?”