henri dunn 01 - immortality cure (17 page)

My blood went icy at the thought. I turned, disengaging with Sean, who actually huffed as I shifted my attention away from him.

“Who turned Kate?” I asked.

Neha looked at me like I was crazy, but I thought that was more because I’d turned my back on the Big Bad Vampire who wanted to eat her face than because of the question itself. Her eyes flicked to him over my shoulder, still wide and full of terror. “Some guy. After that mugger stabbed her, he came along and he saved her. But Kate wanted nothing to do with him.” Neha’s voice broke on Kate’s name. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d heard her say it aloud. “She wished he’d let her die.”

“What’s going on?” Sean demanded. I ignored him.

“Neha,” I said. “Was his name Thomas?”

Neha screwed up her face again and pushed the ice pack against her skull with more vigor. “I think that might have been it.”

“Fuck.”

“Kate has a brother, doesn’t she?”

“Jake,” Neha said.

“Double fuck.” All of the missing puzzle pieces clicked in place. Jake must have met Ray through Neha, which explained the werewolf serum. I couldn’t begin to guess how Ray had found these other three test subjects, but Jake was a prime candidate. He must have wanted to be supernatural to get revenge for his sister. And he must have run into Thomas at the concert, seen his opportunity, and stuck him with the needle. He couldn’t have known what the serum would do, but he had to have known it wouldn’t be pleasant for a vampire to suddenly have werewolf-like issues. Or maybe he’d thought he was doing him a favor and sticking him with the Cure. Either way, it made sense. Then he’d come to Ray’s apartment looking for more serum. Maybe he’d sent these guys to toss the lab. Or maybe he’d gone his own way, hoping to find the drugs without attacking Neha. After all, Kate had loved her.

“What’s happening?” Neha asked, frowning like she wasn’t sure why she wasn’t already dead.

“What’s happening is that I think I know who murdered Thomas,” I said. “I think it was Jake. He’s been taking Ray’s werewolf serum. It’s possible he murdered Ray to get more of it. Or because the serum made him go apeshit. Who knows?” I stepped forward and grabbed Sean’s arm, ignoring the fact that he’d been ready to push me aside and tear Neha to bits two minutes ago. I could argue for her safety later. First, I had to get Jake, drag him to Cazimir, and force him to confess to killing Thomas. And for that, I needed vampire strength. “Come on. We need to go. Neha, you have to take care of this.” I gestured at the lab and the bodies.

“I know. I have contingency plans.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Werewolf serum?” Sean’s voice went up an octave. He must have been surprised, because he let me drag him out the door.

“I’ll explain on the way.” The nightclub Movement was not far from the Factory. I pulled out my phone and texted Jake that I’d found some serum and said he should meet me there. Then I shoved Sean in my car and drove like a bat out of hell. Or an ex-vampire out of Bellevue. Same thing.

CHAPTER 18

T
he parking gods smiled upon me in Pioneer Square, and I was able to find a spot equidistant from the Factory and Movement. I parked and then got out, climbing immediately into the backseat, where I dug through a duffle bag. I found a dress and a sweater. I took off my shirt and pulled the dress on, then took off my work pants. Then I found a pair of one-inch heels and traded my work shoes for them. With some lipstick and a brush through my hair, I looked good enough to blend into the club scene and not be mistaken for someone’s Uber driver. Anyhow, I felt better out of my work clothes.

Sean was silent through the whole process, probably ruminating on the idea that a mortal had tried to make werewolves into a reality. After I’d explained about Ray’s project, Sean had sworn in Irish. I knew getting Neha out of this alive was going to take one hell of a magic trick, but I’d worry about that after I saved my own skin. I would do what I could for her, because I felt that if anyone was going to tear her throat out, it should be me. But in the end, Neha had been the one to jam the needle into my shoulder. If that got her killed, well, there’s a saying about lying in the bed you make.

We hovered on the sidewalk, hoping to catch Jake before going into the club. He had texted back “OMW” fifteen minutes ago, and it had taken me a few to figure out that meant he was on his way. But since I didn’t know where he was coming from, it didn’t help me with an ETA.

“Who exactly am I looking for?” Sean asked.

I described Jake. Big, burly, blond. Not unattractive, if you liked the whole
Gladiator
look. Now that I knew of the familial connection, I could see the resemblance to Kate, who’d been muscular, with a similar nose and wheat-colored hair.

It was chilly and I pulled my sweater tighter, bouncing on the slight heels to keep warm. Sean gave me a funny look. “What?” I demanded, patience shot.

“I’m not used to seeing you cold, that’s all,” he said, and there was a pang of sadness in the words.

Vampires can feel cold, but since cold poses no threat to vampire physiology, it doesn’t bother them. Heat is another matter. Fire and sunlight are both sources of heat that can easily dispatch a vampire, and therefore extreme heat bothers vampires a lot. There’s a reason you don’t hear about vampires living it up in tropical places very often. Some do, but it’s way less pleasant for immortals than a place with freezing or moderate weather.

“Go wait back there,” I said, nodding to the alley. He raised a single eyebrow. Sean did not usually take orders. “I’m the bait and you’re the spring in this trap. Go.”

Sean did as I instructed, but I knew he’d hold it against me later somehow. Maybe by suggesting that if I insisted on bossing around my betters, he could not give me immortality. Oh well, fuck it. It wasn’t like he was offering up his wrist anyhow.

A few moments later, Jake walked around the corner. He wore a sport coat over a t-shirt that was easily a size too small, given how tightly it clung to his abs, and dark denim jeans, much like Sean’s outfit.

I shifted backward into the alley off to the side and Jake followed suit, assuming I was about to hand him vials of drugs.

“Hey,” he said, voice soft for such a minivan of a guy. He pulled his hands from his pockets and they shook. A sheen of sweat slicked his upper lip, and his cheeks were flushed. “You found the booster?”

Guilt made a few passes through my midsection. I cut it off. There was no reason to feel guilty. I hadn’t turned Kate. I hadn’t killed her. I’d done everything in my power to help her, including letting a scientist treat me like a lab rat. Jake had decided to let himself be a lab rat in another experiment, and he’d murdered Ray and Thomas. If anyone was getting strung up for the vampire’s death, it might as well be the right person.

“Yeah,” I lied. “Ray was keeping a few in the crisper drawer of the break room fridge.”

Jake assessed the situation, shoving his hands back into his pockets to keep them from shaking wildly. Finally, he asked, “What do you want for it?”

I hesitated. I hadn’t bothered to come up with a lie for that. Shit.

He took my hesitation in stride. “I’ll pay whatever, okay? I need it.”

“How many people were there in Ray’s drug trial?” I asked.

It was Jake’s turn to hesitate, licking his lips as he looked me over again. “I don’t know.”

“Wrong answer.” I moved. Just a step back, but enough to imply I was willing to walk away.

“Maybe three others,” he said. “I saw them come and go from the lab sometimes, like he called us all to come get boosters twenty minutes apart. I never got names.”

“No, but I bet you wanted the serum all for yourself. Is that why you killed Ray?”

Jake’s expression hardened and he clenched his shaking fists. Bingo. I nodded at Sean, who peeled out of the shadows. He was behind Jake in a flash of motion so fast it looked like he’d teleported there. Lips at Jake’s ear, Sean hissed, “You need to come with us.”

“What? Why?” Jake tried to pull out of Sean’s grasp and, when he couldn’t, started to panic. Sean wasn’t a large man. He was an inch or two shorter than Jake and much less muscular. He looked like he’d have trouble lifting a heavy grocery bag, but he kept Jake’s muscular arms pinned. Immortal strength is nothing to sneeze at. Jake started to scream and Sean hissed at him, baring fangs.

Jake went silent, eyes widening and turning into wolfish slits again. “You’re one of them,” he almost whispered. “Fuck me.”

“Make any more noise and I’ll drain enough blood from your body that you’ll be lucky to survive the hour. Nod if you understand.”

Jake nodded rapidly several times, his panic so palpable I could almost taste it in the air. Sean loosened his grip, holding the man’s wrists together with a single hand. A mortal of any size would never have had the strength to keep Jake subdued like that, but Sean hadn’t been mortal in over nine hundred years.

It took only a few moments to walk to the Factory. I knocked. A security guard opened the door and assessed the situation. She waved us inside without asking any questions and directed us toward the parlor where I’d been left that first night I’d brought them Ray’s body. It hadn’t been more than a week, but it felt like whole eras had passed.

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Jake said, keeping his voice low. Sean shook him and flashed his fangs again in warning. Jake clamped his mouth shut.

“Justice,” I said, but unlike on those courtroom drama shows, it didn’t feel good. It felt hollow and empty.

“You’re sure he’s the killer?” Sean asked. He was having doubts, too, though I don’t think he gave a damn either way: he’d throw some random person to the wolves if it spared me. It wasn’t even an act of love. It was a matter of pride. Having one of his fledglings condemned and killed for crimes against another vampire would tarnish his reputation.

“Yes.” I wasn’t really sure, but I’d bet on the odds. Jake had wanted to avenge his dead sister, so he’d killed the vampire who’d turned her into a monster. It made sense. It was the only thing that did. Anyone could have injected Thomas with the serum, but only a few people had access to Ray and the serum itself. Jake had motive and opportunity, and I knew from watching reruns of
Law and Order
that that was what mattered.

“I’m not a killer,” Jake protested, his voice going up an octave. Sean gave him a warning look. Jake clamped his mouth shut again and turned his big doughy eyes on me. The wolf slits and yellow were gone. They were normal, terrified human eyes.

I was a killer myself. I’d spent nearly a century as a monster and I’d seen enough terrified people to know when fear was genuine. But being scared of retribution didn’t make him innocent.

“Killing vampires still counts, and whatever happened with Ray, he’s still dead,” I said. “I know you loved Kate—”

“Kate? I didn’t kill Kate!” He moved forward, stopped only by Sean’s hand on his shoulder. “She jumped into the sun. I tried to talk her out of it, to tell her that any life was still a life, but she—”

His thrashing stopped as something in the doorway caught his attention. I turned to see Aidan. He wore glasses, and his blue hair looked a little limp. He was in a t-shirt and jeans, but different ones than earlier. He was still very mortal. There were dark splotches under his eyes.

“Cazimir sent me to see what you wanted.” Aidan’s attention lingered longer on Sean than anyone else. He had to recognize him, especially if Sean had been here pleading for my life, but I didn’t think they really knew each other. He finally tilted his head toward Jake. “Who’s that?”

“I think this is the man who killed Thomas.” My words held less conviction than I wanted them to.

Jake shook his head so hard I thought it might snap off his neck. “Who’s Thomas?” he demanded, panic making his voice go high. A cold uncertainty crept over my skin.

Aidan eyed him dubiously, ignoring his question. “Why would he do that?”

“Thomas turned Jake’s sister two years ago,” I said, plowing forward. Who else would have killed Thomas? Lark, maybe. Fiona … Neha. God, no. Not Neha. She couldn’t have. That was madness. If Neha wanted to stick a vampire with something, she would have used her Cure, not Ray’s drug. Unless she’d mixed them up. But that couldn’t be right. She wouldn’t have had to kill Ray to get to the drugs. It had to be Jake. “He wanted revenge.”

Aidan considered, yawning. I was too keyed up for it to be contagious. “The girl who got mugged, right?” he finally said. “Didn’t she off herself or something? I know she didn’t hang around here much.”

“She’s dead,” I confirmed.

Jake made a sound that was pained and frustrated at the same time. “She didn’t deserve to die, but I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Can you arrest him?” Sean asked, sounding bored. “My hand is starting to hurt.”

Aidan took a full moment to consider and then shrugged. “I guess.” He leaned back into the entryway and waved at one of the security guards, who rushed over. “Take this guy to the holding rooms.”

“I didn’t kill anyone!” Jake repeated his protest louder now that he was out of Sean’s grasp. He met my eyes. “You can’t hand me over to monsters! I haven’t done anything wrong and you know what they’ll do! There’s a reason Kate refused to be part of their little coven!”

“Witches have covens,” Sean said flatly, stepping away from him as the security guard arrived to take over. “Vampires merely gather for safety and convenience.”

The security guard pressed the tip of a Taser to Jake’s neck. He fell to the ground, seizing and shaking as the electricity coursed through his body. He was out of it long enough for her to retrieve a pair of manacles and attach them to his wrists. A chain was threaded through them and snapped onto similar cuffs that were put on his ankles. By the time Jake was coherent again, he was chained up like a serial killer ready for transport. The guard called someone on her radio, and two other security guards arrived with guns.

“I’m innocent!” Jake wailed, but the fight had gone out of him. His arms were limp and he made no attempt to fight against the restraints.

He was dragged off to whatever passed for a dungeon around here. I felt bad for him, but I didn’t believe him. I couldn’t. It was too much of a coincidence that Jake had both needed and wanted the drugs from the lab—drugs Ray may have been reluctant to offer—and had a reason to kill Thomas. There was no one else with the motive for both murders.