Read Tempted in the Night for Free Online Page B

He held his hand out to John and they shook hands. "Welcome to the inner circle." Then he turned to Jess and his expression softened a bit as a twinkle came to his eye. "It's nice to finally meet you. We'll have to exchange hunting tips." Then he reached out a hand to Bethany and helped her to her feet. "Come say good-bye to me."
    Together, they disappeared through the door.
    "I've got to go, too," Mac added as he and Lanie also rose from the table. "I know you have more questions, John. We'll try to answer them later." He turned to Charles. "To be safe, we'll take a spin through
Thompson
Park
tonight."
    Charles looked at his watch and gave a small exclamation. "Julia, if we don't hurry, we'll be late for the reception downtown." He turned to Jessica with an apologetic frown. "I'm sorry, my dear. This function has been scheduled for months and I can't get out of it. Julia and I will be gone for a couple of hours, but Lanie and Beth will be here. They can get you anything you need, and I promise that we'll catch up tomorrow."
    "I guess I'd better be going as well," the detective said, rising to his feet.
    The more Jess watched him, the more convinced she was that he was hiding something, so when he walked outside to his car, she followed him.
    "What do you want?" he asked when he opened the driver's-side door and saw her coming up behind him. "The thought of being separated from me got your panties in a knot?"
    "Don't flatter yourself. I wanted to talk to you, alone."
    "What about?"
    She hesitated as two dark- colored SUVs emerged from behind the house and drove past them. Mac and Dirk were going out on patrol. She watched them disappear down the drive and then turned to see the detective watching her, clearly not trusting her intentions.
    "You lied in there."
    If possible, his expression became even more guarded. "Is that right?"
    "Yes, it is. I was there that night, remember? Before you knocked me to the ground, I got a good look at that vampire. I saw the blood staining his lips and teeth. There was a body, wasn't there?" She held her breath, waiting for his response. She hadn't been close enough to really notice if there'd been blood or not, but hopefully he wouldn't know that.
    He stared at her as if he was deciding whether or not to tell her the truth. "Yes," he finally said.
    "Where was it?"
    "Behind the bush."
    She eyed him suspiciously, afraid she already knew the answer to her next question. "Did you stake it?"
    "Stake it? No, I never even saw it."
    She stared at him in shock. "This is important. Do you know if it was staked? Because if it wasn't staked through the heart or decapitated, it's going to rise up." She quickly did the math in her head. "Tonight. It's going to rise tonight, unless we stop it. Do you know where the body is? Can you take me to it?"
    He was staring at her like she'd lost her mind. "Are you suggesting I take you to the funeral home and let you defile the deceased?"
    "Fine. Then you do it, but you need to hurry. You'll need a sword—damn. Mac and Dirk probably took both swords with them, but that's all right." A plan was coming together. "Do you still have my dagger and stakes?"
    "You really are nuts, aren't you?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "I'll call Mac and Dirk."
    "No, wait." She snatched the phone from his hand and closed it. "We can do this ourselves. It's our fault this situation exists, but we can make it right."
    He studied her and she held her breath, waiting for his decision. Then he grabbed his phone out of her hand. "Go back inside, Jessica. I'm not taking you anywhere."
    She shot him a scathing look. "Fine, but when this body rises up and starts killing innocent people, it'll be your fault, because I tried to prevent it." She turned on her heel and headed for the door, almost reaching it before John called her name.
    She stopped and turned to glare at him. "What?"
    "You stake ' em through the heart, right?"
    She hurried back to the car. "Yes, but