Yes. One was standing back, his arms crossed. He had a camera in his hand,
but he wasn’t using it. The other had a saw
. She paused, and if she’d had a physical body,
she would have shuddered. As it was, her horror rolled through my mind, stark and brutal.
He was hacking at Mr. Bastiel’s neck. There was blood …
I cut in, not sure I could stand another roll of horror through my mind. “Can you describe either
of the men, Helen?”
She didn’t answer for several seconds, her energy sucking at mine until she added,
One was a vampire. I can sense them, you know? I don’t know about the other
one, because I wasn’t near enough to catch his scent. But he was tall and
fit-looking. Both of them were
.
None of which was particularly helpful when it came to tracking down these killers. “And you
can’t tell me anything else about them?”
The energy in the air climbed another notch, making the small hairs along the nape of my neck and
along my arms stand on end. The trembling in my muscles was getting stronger.
Finally, she said,
The vampire wasn’t the type who took blood. They smell a
little different from what this one did
.
Meaning we were dealing with an emo vamp? In this case as well as the other? What were the
goddamn chances of that happening without there being some sort of connection?
Which meant that my watch on Vinny had just become more important than ever. She might not be
involved in either of these killings, but she surely had to know who was. Vampires—whatever the
make—were very territorial. If there was another emo working on Vinny’s patch, she’d know about
it. And be profiting by it in some way.
“There’s nothing else you can tell me?”
Well, they were both extremely good-looking. And well dressed
. Her
voice seemed softer, but maybe that was a result of my growing fatigue.
But
it all happened so quick, you know? I saw them, and ran. I tried getting to the phone in the
living room to ring the police, but there was a gunshot. Then this …
“Can you give me a description of them?”
There was no response. The energy flowing around me was ebbing along with my strength. Maybe she
no longer
could
answer.
“Thank you for your help, Helen.” I hesitated, then added, “You can move on now, if you want
to.”
Her sigh echoed through my mind, then her fragile form disintegrated and the remaining energy
burning though the air disappeared with it.
I grabbed at the bookcase as my knees threatened to give way and took several deep breaths in an
effort to clear the tension and fatigue still rolling through me. It didn’t help much.
“Here,” Dusty said roughly, and shoved a steaming mug of coffee at me. “We figured you might need
this if you did connect with the soul.”
“I think I love you.” I wrapped my hands around the mug, trying to get some warmth back into my
fingers. “Was Helen Hills a werewolf?”
“We haven’t checked. Why?”
“Because she spoke of smelling people.” I glanced around as Cole walked into the room, his
expression one of concern as his gaze swept me. He seemed to relax a little when he saw that I’d
suffered no outward damage from my communication with the soul, and that warmed me more than the
drink. “Our soul said there were two men involved. One of them was a vampire.”
“And the other?”
“She said she wasn’t close enough to catch his scent, but he was carrying a camera he didn’t use.
The vampire was doing the beheading.”
“Well, that’s going to put a cat among our vampire pigeons, isn’t it?” He frowned. “Why in the
hell would they bring a camera and not use it?”
“I’ll ask the bad guys that when I catch them.” I took a sip of coffee. The heat of it slid right
down to my belly and I had to resist the urge to sigh in pleasure. I took another sip, then
added, “At least this might ease the tension on the streets. It isn’t humans doing this, so the
vamp population can stop getting so uppity.”
“My natural response would be to state that vamps are reborn uppity, but I know a fair few humans
who could be classified that way, too.”
“Yeah, and more than a few of them are journalists.”
He grinned. “Seems I’m not the only one with an unsavory attitude. Jack would not
approve.”
“Jack himself is not fond of the way some reporters tend to oversensationalize these types of
events. And if they hadn’t disobeyed the media blackout, we would not have been confronted by
that lynch mob.”
“True.” Cole grimaced and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “And whoever our two killers are,
they’re damn good, because we’re not finding much in the way of clues.”
Which meant it was more important than ever that I got to talk to someone on the
council.
“Well, we have a vampire involved in the killings, and we have council members as the victims, so
it’s not hard to guess what the connection is. All we have to do is find the why
behind
that connection.”
“I wish you luck with that,” Dusty muttered.
“I’m going to need it.” I drained the coffee in several gulps, just about scalding my mouth. I
didn’t care, because its heat burned all the way down, chasing the last of the chill from my
flesh.
If only I could get rid of the weakness as easily.
I pushed away from the bookcase. The room spun a little, but my knees held up just fine, even if
my muscles were still trembling.
“Go get a burger before you do anything else,” Cole commented. “You’re still looking rather
pale.”
“It’ll be my first port of call, Dr. Reece.”
“Idiot,” he said, and walked out of the room.
I gave a grinning Dusty a nod good-bye and headed out to my car. Which took more out of me than I
cared to admit. With my hands still shaking, I dug my phone out of my bag, hit the vid button,
and dialed Quinn.
He answered on the second ring, but the call remained voice only. Which meant he was somewhere
other than his office. “Hey, lovely lady, this is a nice surprise.”
“I couldn’t go another second without hearing your dulcet Irish tones,” I replied, a smile
twitching my lips.
“As much as I wish that were true, I know it’s not. What can I do for you?”
“Besides take me out for dinner, you mean?”
“I shall have the helicopter prepared and take you somewhere exotic.”
My smile grew. There were benefits to having an extremely rich boyfriend. “I thought you had a
date with your friend Julien tonight?”
“But not until eleven. He doesn’t believe in hitting the clubs any earlier, because he doesn’t
believe they really start getting interesting before then.”
“Then he really does need to visit a wolf club.” They were interesting
any
time, day or night. “And I’m actually calling because I need your help with a
case.”
He didn’t answer immediately. In the background, doors swished open, then came the echo of his
quick steps. I knew that sound—he was just entering his office building. “What sort of
help?”
“The three vampires beheaded are all on the Melbourne council. I need to talk to one of the
councilors to see what decision they might have made recently that could have pissed someone off
this much.”
He hesitated. “That won’t be easy.”
“As I gathered when Jack didn’t actually suggest it.”
More doors swished closed, and an electronic voice started giving floor numbers. He was more than
likely in the express to the fiftieth floor—an elevator I hated. The damn thing moved too fast
for my liking.
“For the very good reason that he’s probably doing it himself.”
“Maybe he is, but I’d still prefer to talk to someone myself. He has to be respectful. I
don’t.”
“You will if you want to get anywhere near the councilors. They tend to be even more
old-fashioned than I am.”
“Yeah,” I said dryly. “They’re so old-fashioned they attend clubs to service blood
whores.”
“Bastiel didn’t.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve already heard about that?”
“Bad news always travels fast.” His voice was as dry as mine. “I’m gathering you know about Dante
already?”
“Yeah, and I want to avoid him as much as possible. That man is a sexual predator.”
“A werewolf backing away from another predator?” Surprise and amusement ran through his voice. “I
never thought I’d live to see the day.”
“Meaning you want me to go see the man?”
He laughed. “No. I’ll talk to one of the other councilors and see if he’ll agree to a meeting.
More than that I can’t promise.”
“Thanks for trying.”
“As I said, no promises. I’ll be finished with work at six. Where do you want me to meet
you?”
“I’m meeting Dia at our usual place in Brunswick at five-thirty.”
“For work or pleasure?”
“Mainly pleasure, but I’m on Jack’s time so I’ll ask her an official question or two.”
“Then I’ll meet you at Essendon at seven-thirty,” he said. “That should give you enough time
after the meeting to get home, get changed, and meet me.”
With a silly grin of anticipation on my face, I hung up then started the car and headed over to
Vinny’s. I grabbed a couple of burgers at the local McDonald’s, then drove around until I found a
spot that was reasonably inconspicuous but allowed me to watch the front door, and settled in for
the wait.
It ended up being a very long wait.
Nothing happened. No one went in, and no one went out. Some kid with scruffy blond hair and a
bored expression tried to key my car until my growl notified him of the fact I was actually
inside. His expression and subsequent flight eased the boredom a little.
As five o’clock neared, I began to get a little restless, wondering if Jack had forgotten to get
someone in to replace me. The thought had barely crossed my mind when my phone rang.
“Riley,” Benson said, “Jack says if you don’t start leaving the com-link on when you’re working,
he’ll replace it with one you can’t turn off.”
I hurriedly pressed said com-link but didn’t bother apologizing. “What’s the problem?”
“Nothing. Talvin’s in place at Vinny’s if you want to leave for your meeting with Dia.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
“You don’t have to thank me for doing my job.”
But his tone suggested he appreciated it. I hung up, then tossed the phone into my bag and headed
for Brunswick. I found parking several streets away from the restaurant and walked back. The
sidewalk tables were all full and Dia wasn’t at any of them. Meaning she more than likely had
Risa with her, as the restaurant boasted a secure children’s play area at the back of the main
room. I’d barely walked through the door when the little girl in question came bounding out of
the shadows, her white pigtails flying as she flung herself into my arms.
“Hey, monkey,” I said, grinning as her chubby little arms wound themselves around my neck and she
planted a slobbery kiss on my cheek. She smelled of soap and powder and everything that was good
in this world. “How was swimming today?”
Her amazingly bright violet eyes twinkled with mischief. “Swimming sucked!”
I just about choked on my own laughter. Dia was going to kill me for teaching her
that
particular expression.
“I thought you loved the water?”
“Water sucks.”
I bit down my grin as I walked through the restaurant. Dia was in the far corner, sitting in a
booth near the large play area. She was, as usual, both immaculate and stunning. Her hair, like
her daughter’s, was a pure whitish silver that shone with an almost unnatural brilliance, and
when combined with the luminous blue of her eyes and the matching brightness of her dress, she
was hard to miss.
Of course, neither the blue of Dia’s eyes nor her silver hair was natural. Dia wasn’t only a
psychic but a clone with Helki shape-shifting genes, and she could subtly alter her appearance as
easily as I could become a wolf. The silver and blue suited her psychic business better—and
enabled her to use her true form when she didn’t want to be noticed.
Little Risa’s coloring was natural, and had obviously come from her father, although Dia never
talked about him. Nor was there mention of him on Risa’s birth certificate.
Dia’s gaze met mine as I neared the table. Few would have guessed she was blind, because there
was an amazing directness in her gaze. Of course, despite her blindness, she
could
see, thanks to the presence of a creature known as a Fravardin—an unseen
guardian spirit that was by her side whenever she went outside the confines of her house. By
linking lightly to the creature’s mind, Dia was able to move with a serenity and grace that
belied her handicap. I had no idea where the creature was right now, but given she was looking
directly at me, it had to be somewhere close.
“You,” she said heavily, “have created a monster.”
“Who knew she’d take the word up with such gusto?” I slid into the U-shaped booth and untwined
Risa’s arms from around my neck, putting her on the seat beside me.
“Coke?” she said hopefully.
“I don’t think your mom would approve,” I said. Especially not right now.
I half expected the little girl to come out with the immortal “Mommy sucks,” but she leaned
forward on the table and gave Dia the sweetest of smiles. “Please, Mommy?” she said, the bottom
lip quivering ever so slightly.
The child really knew how to work it. I grinned and leaned back in the seat, watching Dia
struggle to control her smile.
“A small one,” she said, “and only if you go play for a while.”
Risa flung herself at Dia, gave her a big slobbery kiss, then scrambled over her and ran for the
play equipment.
“That child is going to be
so
dangerous to the male population when
she gets older,” I said, shoving my handbag onto the seat beside me.
“Especially given she seems to think you’re a brilliant role model,” Dia said dryly.
“Well, let’s face it, she could do far worse as role models go. At least I work on the side of
the angels.”
“Yes.” Dia’s expression darkened. “I’m not sure she will, though.”
I frowned. “You’ve had a vision about her future?”
She nodded. “It was a little confused. There were angels and demons and goodness knows what
else.”
“Angels?” I had no trouble believing that demons existed—after all, I’d crossed paths with
hellhounds on several occasions, and they were apparently classified as low-level demons—but for
some reason, I couldn’t quite believe that angels really existed. But maybe it was simply a lack
of solid proof. I hadn’t really believed in demons, either—until one of them had tried to rip me
to shreds.