“So is your sister,” Gabriel retorted.

Thomas laughed. “That’s right, buddy. She can keep up with the best of them.”

Eddie made a dismissive gesture. “Whatever. Luckily, Holly let me crash at her place.”

“Holly?” There was a sharp tone in Thomas’ voice. “You’re dating Holly?”

“Ricky’s girlfriend Holly?” Gabriel asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Ex-girlfriend,” Eddie corrected him. “And no, I’m not dating her. The woman is a total gossip.”

Thomas seemed to relax and smiled back at Eddie. “What’s she gossiping about now?”

“She was trying to convince me that Ricky was the one who broke up with her, not the other way ‘round. As if I care even remotely. I tell you, I couldn’t wait for sunset to get out of her place. She kept talking my ears full about how Ricky apparently set his sights on some other woman and dumped her unceremoniously. Next time, I swear I’d rather turn to dust in the sun than take shelter at her house.”

Eddie walked toward the door leading to the sleeping quarters of the house. “I’m gonna get some shuteye for an hour. Is that cool with you?”

Thomas nodded. “Take all the time you need. And take a shower, will you? You smell like a girl.”

Eddie sniffed at his t-shirt and frowned. “Damn Holly, she burns all that incense crap.”

As Eddie sauntered out of the room, Thomas turned back to Gabriel.

“How’s the mentoring going?” Gabriel asked.

“He’s a good kid. And he’s learning fast. In a few months, he’ll be able to be on his own.”

Gabriel recognized sadness in Thomas’ words. “You like him?”

“As I said, he’s a good kid.” He paused. “And straight. End of story.” Thomas inhaled. “So, you were saying you needed my help?”

Gabriel cleared his throat. Thomas’ private life was none of his business. “About Maya. Drake can’t explain why she rejects human blood and drinks mine instead.”

“Lucky bastard,” Thomas interjected and 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.