Gabriel's Mate by Folsom, Tina (read this if .txt) 📕

grinned. Gabriel knew exactly what he was referring to: the sexual arousal that came with letting another vampire feed off him.

An involuntary grin stole onto Gabriel’s lips, but it died just as quickly. “The doc thinks something is wrong with her. And it might be genetic.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I need you to get her parents’ medical records. We need to find out if they have any genetic defects. Can you do that?”

Thomas nodded. “Sure. Let me just have a quick word with Maya to get the names and address and we should -“

“Without letting Maya know,” Gabriel interrupted.

“Oh. Okay. I’m sure you have your reasons.”

“I do. Can you do it?”

“No problem. I’ll call Drake when I have the info ready for him.”

“Did you get a chance to talk to Eddie and James about the scent of Maya’s attacker?”

Thomas made a regretful sigh. “I did. But neither of them could pinpoint anything. They said the scent was so faint that it could have been anybody. Besides, she was bleeding so profusely, both of them were just too overwhelmed by the scent of human blood that they paid little attention to the vampire’s. Sorry, Gabriel, that one’s a dead end.”

“Thought as much. Let’s try something else. I figured if she was dating him, he might have called her or she him.” The word dating hurt to even pronounce. Could she really have seen something in that man?

“Can you hack into her phone records, both her landline and her cell, and get me a list of everyone she had contact with? Match the numbers up with names. Maybe we’ll recognize someone.”

“Let me see what I can find.”

Gabriel stretched out his hand. “Thanks.”

Thomas grasped it briefly.

“And one other thing. Could you relieve Yvette at the house before sunrise? She needs some downtime.” After the embarrassing encounter earlier in the day, Gabriel was the one who needed some distance from her. He wasn’t keen on facing her right now.

“Let me guess. The women don’t get on.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Don’t ask me. What the hell do I know about women?”

Thomas laughed and padded him on the shoulder. “A hell of a lot more than I do, that’s for sure.”

Thirteen

True to his word, Thomas showed up at the house two hours before sunrise and switched duties with Yvette, who seemed relieved at being able to get out of the house.

After his excursion to see the witch and then Drake, Gabriel had spoken to the editor of the San Francisco Vampire Chronicle and made sure Zane would receive a list of all male vampires in San Francisco.

Now Gabriel stood in the kitchen, gulping down an extra bottle of blood. He would have to feed Maya soon. She hadn’t said anything about being hungry. In fact, she’d practically avoided him ever since he’d returned.

He wondered whether she’d been mad at him when she’d realized he’d taken advantage of her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t know for sure whether she liked him or not, or whether her arousal had been a mere byproduct of the feeding.

Damn, he could still taste her, even now after close to twenty-four hours.

“Hey, what’s going on?” a familiar male voice came from the kitchen door.

Gabriel spun around. He should have heard Ricky come in, but obviously his thoughts were just too far away. Even though Ricky had probably used his key to open the front door, Gabriel should have at least heard the opening and closing of it, or Ricky’s footsteps. What kind of bodyguard was he turning into?

“Didn’t expect you here,” Gabriel answered. Shouldn’t Ricky be at some den of iniquity drowning his sorrows about the breakup of his last relationship?

Ricky shrugged his shoulders. His red hair and freckles seemed to glow. “I just get too bored when I don’t do anything. Heard you might need some help with protecting a new vampire. Thought I’d pitch in.”

Gabriel nodded. He needed all the help he could get. With Thomas busy helping Drake look into Maya’s medical history (a task he was currently performing in Samson’s study), and Zane still out on the reconnaissance mission Gabriel had sent him on, nobody else was available to investigate other aspects of the attack.

“Actually, since Zane is digging through the underbelly of society to get any info on the rogue, I could do with an extra man.”

Ricky grinned. “Guess Zane volunteered for his favorite job again: beating people up. Doesn’t leave the rest of us any of the fun stuff, hey?”

Gabriel only frowned. “In this case, I don’t mind who he beats up as long as he comes up with results.”

“Knowing Zane, he will. So, do you need any help? Need an extra hand guarding the house?”

“No. I’d rather you investigate for me. She knew her attacker and -“

“Well, then I guess you’ve got it under control.” Ricky interrupted and leaned casually against the kitchen island. “Just a matter of finding where the guy is hiding then.”

Gabriel rubbed his neck. “It’s not quite that easy, I’m afraid. He wiped her memory.”

“Bummer, but that’s to be expected, right?” Ricky replied. “So, what now? How’re you gonna find him? What do you want me to look into?”

Gabriel knew there was one avenue he hadn’t had a chance to explore. While the rogue had wiped Maya’s memory clear of him, he couldn’t have wiped everybody else’s, especially if he didn’t know who else knew about him.

“Let’s talk to Maya. I think she can help us on this.” He opened the door to the hallway.

“But didn’t you just say he wiped her memory?” Ricky asked.

“That’s right. But I’m betting only hers.” He stuck his head out into the hallway. “Maya, can you come down please?” He knew she would hear him. Whether she complied was another matter.

When he heard her footsteps on the landing upstairs, he knew he’d have to face her, but he couldn’t pretend that nothing had happened between them.

When Maya reached the foot of the stairs and turned toward him, Gabriel’s breath caught in his chest. His