Read Night Call (Book 2): Demon Dei for Free Online Page A

said, a little heartlessly. I had been subjected to that whole ‘hey, help me with my weirdo thing but don’t expect me to believe you when you tell me the puddle of gloop on the floor is the remains of a vampire’ so many times I was, hopefully understandably, justified.
    Ivan studied the coffee mug in his hands for a good while, balancing up the ‘he’s loony’ and ‘how desperate am I?’ scales.
    “But,” he began hesitantly, “what if I said that forensics have found absolutely no trace of the murderer? If there wasn’t the security footage, and the account of the guy on the gate who let this pseudo-Chris in at Gerry’s instruction, they would have to say there was no one there apart from Gerry. But the biggest problem is that the person who killed Gerry never left the lab. He wasn’t in there when her body was found, but he was never seen leaving.”
    Not an impossible feat. Doctoring the video surveillance; a hidden exit; an invisibility cloak; a mutant with the power of camouflage. All right. I was intrigued. Why go to the trouble of looking like the victim’s husband if you planned on disappearing anyway?
    “So?” Ivan asked, not even trying to hide his eagerness.
    Before I could answer, the door opened and Erin walked in.
    Fantastic.

Chapter 5
    Erin blinked several times. She was deadly tired. She was seeing things. That wasn’t Matt Hawkins sitting on her couch with Ivan. It couldn’t be. She’d said she never wanted to see him again and he’d seemed to respect that. No matter what else she thought of him, she’d believed him to be honourable.
    Seemed she was wrong, because it was him. It was his lean face with casual stubble over his jaw, dark golden-blond hair tossed back over his forehead, wide hazel eyes. His left leg, with the bad knee, was stretched out straighter than the right.
    And he knew he wasn’t supposed to be there. There was a slightly startled look on his face. The silence of the room was very heavy.
    Beside him, Ivan stared resolutely at the carpet.
    “Ivan,” she said. “My office.”
    She stalked past them and into her office. Throwing her bag onto the desk, she went straight to the sideboard and grabbed down a decanter of scotch. Pouring a glass, she waited for Ivan to close the door, then offered him the glass. He took it a little hesitantly.
    “Drink. You’ll need it.” Then Erin chugged straight from the decanter. The heat spread through her, not exactly soothing her tense body, but at least giving her something else to concentrate on.
    Ivan sipped from his glass, more to appease her than out of desire. “I thought you weren’t coming in today.”
    “I have to finish that report for the Bracus Group.”
    “It’s not due until next week.”
    “But it still needs to be done.”
    She stoppered the decanter before she could get drunk. Even though she wanted to. God, she needed something. Hoping that immersing herself in work would distract her, she’d left the hospital and come to the office. She should have known better. When the world decided to dump on a person, it didn’t do it by halves.
    Putting his glass down, Ivan came to her side. Not wanting to upset him, she tolerated his closeness.
    “Erin, you don’t look so good. How’s William?”
    “Stable. He’s going to recover.”
    Ivan sighed. “Thank God. Wow, never would have thought a simple cold could be so bad.”
    “He’s got no immune system,” she said wearily. “It’s a miracle it didn’t kill him. He’s got to stay in until they’re sure it’s completely gone. A week they say.”
    And in that time, he could die from the cancer in his bones. He might never come home again. Erin was too tired to cry. If she did she might break then and there and never be able to get up again. Instead, she glanced through the window to where Hawkins still sat. He studied the ficus with fake intensity, but at least he was giving them privacy.
    He could have left. That would have been better.
    “Why’s