Nocturne 040 – Scions 02 - Patrice Michelle - Insurrection (12 page)

Kaitlyn smiled at her mom. “Thanks for telling me. Every time we talk about Dad, it helps me understand him a little bit more. I was just too young and wrapped up in myself to get to know him as a person and not just my dad before he died.” Kaitlyn had never been told the details behind her father’s death. Just that he’d been mugged. Now, the cop in her desperately wanted to know what had happened, but she didn’t want to discuss it with her mother. Her mother clung to happy memories. She’d find out the details on her own.

Her mother squeezed her hand for the first time during her visit. “Don’t think that way, Kaitlyn. You were only six when he died. You were our miracle child after a few years of trying. Your father loved you very much, and he knew you felt the same. He was very protective of you and only wanted the best. Even in his death, he came through for you. Thank goodness for that college scholarship for deceased police officers’

children. It enabled you to go to the college your father hoped you could attend. He was determined to take out loans if he had to. Only the best for his Kaitie-girl,” her mother finished in a perfect mimicry of her father’s lilting Irish accent.

“Oh, Mom.” Tears filled Kaitlyn’s eyes and she bent to kiss her mother’s soft cheek.

Three days later, Kaitlyn finally had some downtime from the case she was working with Kent. She tried to visit her mother that evening, but apparently Friday had been another bad day for her mom. She wasn’t on Handleburg Hall’s schedule until next week, so instead of going home in a depressed mood, Kaitlyn decided to head over to the library in town. Parking in a side alley, she followed the sidewalk to the front of the library and pulled open the glass door.

When the heavy door started to jerk closed, a jagged edge along the door’s handle sliced her finger. Wincing from the pain, she immediately stuck her wounded finger into her mouth.

Several people were leaving as she walked in, including a thin, dark-haired man. He did a double take as she passed him, turned and came back inside, patting his hands on his pockets as if he’d lost something. Even as the library’s warmth chased away the evening chill, she shivered and kept the man in the corner of her eye until he walked off toward the autobiography section.

Sheesh, now that I think there might be a traitor at work, I’m getting ultraparanoid. Still she’d feel better if…she brushed her hand across the empty gun holster under her jacket and sighed. Knowing how sensitive the library sensors were, she’d tucked her gun safely away in her car’s glove compartment to avoid becoming the center of attention as soon as she walked in the door.

Forcing herself to relax, she took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders and approached the front desk. A young, dark-haired woman with an eyebrow piercing asked, “How may I help you?”

“Can you tell me where the microfiche for old newspapers dating back over twenty years would be located?” Kaitlyn asked.

The girl pointed. “Microfiche department is that way. Room 100.”

Kaitlyn flipped on the light switch along the wall to her left as she stepped into the stuffy room. Fluorescent lightbulbs popped on with a zinging sound above her head, revealing rows of tall shelving. Each shelf held microfilm labeled bins.

After finding the film she wanted, she loaded it on a tabletop projector and sifted through all the articles until she found the one she was looking for: Off-Duty Police Officer Killed in Morningside Park. Kaitlyn’s eyes widened and her heart jerked at the name of the park. She had had no idea that was where her father had died.

Then she read the lead paragraph.

James McKinney was found dead in Morningside Park early this morning. Witnesses on the scene noted a clawlike wound on his chest, suggesting he was apparently a victim of some kind of animal mauling. The marks were too wide to be a dog’s, but no other suggestions have been offered at this time.

Closing her eyes, she squeezed back the tears, and her chest ached. When she’d been old enough to understand, her mother had explained what had happened to her father. But she’d been told that her father had died from a head injury in an apparent struggle with the thief. She continued to scroll through more papers until she ran into a later article.

In a follow-up investigation on Officer McKinney’s death, it was determined that he died from a blow to the head. Bloodstains on the playground equipment indicate he must have been shoved or thrown against it, causing instantaneous death. There wasn’t sufficient evidence to determine what kind of animal attacked the police officer.

Kaitlyn’s mind raced with strong possibilities of who had been her father’s attacker.

Eighteen years ago, the vampires had been extinct for a few years. Was it possible they weren’t extinct? There was that one unsolved incident with author Ariel Swanson’s kidnapping a few months ago, but nothing else had happened as far as she knew. Then there was that strange creature’s aura she’d seen in the park? If it was real, and it lived in the woods near the park, could something like that have attacked her father? Did it have deadly claws? Her chest burned with rage at the thought. Suddenly, she didn’t mind so much that someone had burned that thing to a crisp, leaving nothing but ashes.

She wanted answers now…and the only person who might have some was Landon. He was the one who’d suggested that whatever had attacked and burned that thing in the park could probably tear her apart. Setting her jaw, she flipped open her cell phone and dialed the precinct’s number. Someone there would know how to get in touch with him.

“Hey, Sandra. Do you have Landon Rourke’s cell?”

“We do, but he prefers his privacy. I’ll call him and tell him you’re looking for him and I’ll give him your cell. Will that work?”

Kaitlyn sighed in frustration. “That’s fine. I’m getting ready to leave the research library on Forty-Second in a few minutes. I might lose coverage going through the library. Tell him to wait fifteen minutes and then call me back. Thanks.”

Once she hung up, Kaitlyn switched the phone to vibrate mode just in case Landon called while she was still in the library. Her stomach was all tied in knots. She needed to talk to somebody. Shoving her emotions to the back of her mind, she spent the next ten minutes in autopilot mode, putting all the microfiche in their bins and shutting down the machine. Kaitlyn waved to the librarian, buttoned her jacket around her waist and pulled her car keys out of her pocket before she walked out of the library and into the frigid night air.

No one was about on the main sidewalk, but a couple cars passed, lighting her path as she turned to head toward the corner of the building and the side street where she’d parked.

As soon as she rounded the corner, Kaitlyn sensed a presence beside her.

Though she couldn’t figure out how the person had come on her so fast, her gut told her it was the thin, dark-haired man. She could probably take him, but he might have a weapon. He was so close, her skin prickled, yet she didn’t cast her gaze his way. Instead, she stomped on his toe with her boot heel and jammed her elbow into his ribs. She heard his grunt before she took off running toward her car, her heart pounding like a jackhammer.

The further she got away from the street corner and streetlight, the darker it got, but Kaitlyn could still see her car’s outline another fifteen feet away. Her chest heaved and her legs burned as she put all her efforts into speed.

Hopefully, her elbow in his gut had slowed him down enough to allow her to get to the ca—

The thin man zipped past her in a blur. He turned to lean casually against her car as if he’d been waiting for her all night. Stunned and suddenly terrified at how fast he’d moved, she came to a stop ten feet away. His speed was inhuman.

“Wanna play, bitch? I’m up for it.” He cupped his fingers toward his palm, beckoning her. And then he smiled, his fangs gleaming bright white in the dim light.

Even with the night air cooling her face, Kaitlyn broke out into a swift sweat. She turned to run back to the safety of the library, but a hard force slammed into her chest, sending her sailing backward through the air.

Before she hit the ground, the tall thin man caught her and a low, evil laugh rumbled through the bony chest she’d fallen against. He might be thin, but his hold was like steel bars, locking her in place. Kaitlyn gasped, trying to regain her breath. Pain throbbed in her sternum, making it difficult to take deep breaths.

What the hell had she run into? she wondered, when another man, this one taller and broader with long black hair stepped into her blurred view. “Giving us a good run, little red?” he sneered. His fangs exploded from his gums at the same time he reached out and his long claws sliced through her thick jacket as if it were tissue paper.

She screamed in pain at the burning, tearing sensation that splintered down the center of her chest when he’d curled his claws inward to grip her jacket’s button in a tight fist.

Pain and self-preservation kicked Kaitlyn’s adrenaline to full throttle. She slammed her fist into his meaty face and lifted her foot with a jerking force, catching him in the crotch. “This meal is still kicking, vampire bastard,” she gritted out through the fire spreading in a hot burn from her wounds.

The long-haired vampire released his hold on her jacket and crumpled over, howling in pain as he grabbed his groin. The vampire holding her growled his fury and tossed her through the air.

Kaitlyn landed on the hood of her car, hitting her head with a hard thud. She thought she heard her cell phone skid across the pavement, but dizziness and splitting pain radiated in her head, dimming her hearing. Her vision began to swim and the weight of her lower body hanging over the side of her hood caused her to slowly slide off the car. So much pain racked her body, her legs gave out and she fell to her side onto the road. As warm liquid seeped down her brow, the asphalt felt both cool and rough against her cheek. She vaguely realized it had to be blood and shut her left eyelid to keep the thick fluid from blocking her vision completely.

Hard footfalls drew near. She tensed and her heart seized with panic, while she mentally prepared to be punched or ripped to shreds. Instead, a howling battle cry echoed across the alley. A hard thud sounded, followed by guttural growls and vicious, bloodthirsty snarls. Hope bloomed in her aching chest. Had the vampires started fighting each other?

It was dark in the alley and she tried to look, but her vision kept blurring in and out, leaving nothing but tall, dark shadows moving with deadly lightning speed in her line of sight.

An eerie primal howl filled the air right before something wet and warm splattered across her arm and shoulder. Nausea filled her belly. It was blood. A lot of blood. Which meant one vampire had killed the other. He’d be coming after her next.

Kaitlyn began to crawl away. She bit back the moan of pain that racked her body from her efforts and tried to remain as quiet as possible. Snarls and primal battle sounds started up once more, causing her to pause. Had the one vampire only wounded the other? Instead of looking, she decided her best course of action was to get away while they were distracted. But after she’d made it a few feet, the metallic smell of her own blood and the sound of her pulse rushing in her ears made her head throb with a blinding force that stole her ability to breathe. She paused to take a couple of deep breaths, to keep herself conscious, when she noticed something silver on the ground underneath her. Lowering her head so the item came into focus, Kaitlyn recognized the smashed metal piece on the silver chain.

It was Landon’s necklace.

Dear God, was he back there? Was that his blood she’d felt splatter against her? Bile rose in her throat. She swallowed several times to keep from throwing up at the idea of Landon with those two vicious vampires. She didn’t want anything to happen to the man. Despite Landon’s refusal to tell her all of the facts, instincts told her he was one of the “good guys.”

She quickly glanced back to the dark shadows fighting in the alley, needing to know for sure. One figure stood easily a head taller than the other. He looked different somehow, but her mind couldn’t mesh the shadowy image with coherent thoughts. She blinked, but her blurred vision began to tunnel, turning black along the edges.

“Landon?” she called out softly, gripping the necklace tightly. Shoving the chain in her pants pocket was the last thing she remembered before she passed out.

Landon heard Kaitlyn’s faint call. He glanced her way and his wolf’s vision displayed her in vivid clarity in the darkness. Her heart rate was strong, but she’d passed out, fueling his rage.

His apartment was close enough that he’d walked to meet her at the library when he got the call from Sandra. As he got closer, he sensed the danger. Then he saw Kaitlyn on the ground. He didn’t think twice about using his Musk form the moment he realized Kaitlyn was in trouble. He’d lifted the silver necklace off his neck and shifted in mere seconds, attacking the vampires before they knew what hit them. He’d killed the thin vampire with a fatal death blow across his neck that had sliced open the bastard’s main artery. As the vampire bled out, Landon and the long-haired Sanguinas faced off. They circled each other while they each sized the other up for weaknesses.

“Unbelievable.” The vampire’s gaze traveled Landon’s seven-foot-plus, half-human, half-wolf Musk form up and down. “This will make our fight a lot more interesting.”

Landon could smell the vampire’s sweat. He growled deep in his chest, relishing how much the man reeked with fear. Just like the other vampire, this one would pay with his life for his attack on Kaitlyn. What’s so hard to believe? How easily I’m going to kill you? Or how slowly I’m going to do it? Landon taunted the vampire mentally as he curled his clawed hands in front of him and snapped his sharp teeth together for effect. You never could catch me in the past, but you’re welcome to try again.