The Lion's Den (24 page)

“
Well, the good news for him is, at least he’s got two teams. They can take shifts. These bastards are making sure to keep all of us on our toes, literally,” Gabriel said, adjusting the collar of his jacket.

The six detectives split off into three teams, heading in the three separate directions. Warren figured the coven knew that there were six detectives on the case, why else would there be three crime scenes instead of one? Or was this just another stitch in a pattern they couldn’t see. He wondered just how much they knew about them. He wished he could get back to his Pack and friends to brainstorm with them. He contacted Natasha’s cell phone, this time she answered. He told her where he was going, and asked if they could meet him at the new crime scene. She agreed, letting him know what Darian said about the Master vampire being able to read their minds, and the key details they discussed. She also told him the Master vampire’s name.

“
His name is Marcus? How do you guys know that?” Warren asked, shocked.

“
Adan told us. Warren, we’re getting ready to leave, so we’ll meet you at your crime scene in a little while.”

“
Who’s Adan?”

“
He’s a friend of Darian’s that we’re helping out. It’s a long story, I’ll have to tell you later.”

“
All right, see you soon.”

“
Okay.” Natasha ended the call, and gave Darian the address.

“
Three new crime scenes,” Darian said, not really needing her to confirm, he already knew.

“
So it seems,” Natasha said, pulling on her coat, buttoning it over her expanding belly.

Darian frowned, eyebrows creased. “I don’t want you going there,”

“
Darian you need me to gather inform

”

“
That’s not my point,” Darian interjected. “If we are to hold on to this plan that we have, we need to not raise suspicions, and that’s assuming he doesn’t already know. If he doesn’t, you going to this most recent crime scene, and touching items there, will no doubt raise their suspicious … and their overall interest in you. We’ll stick to the original plan. I’m willing to bet they aren’t monitoring their past scenes.”

Now understanding what Darian meant, she had to agree. “What if they are following us?”

“
It’s the chance we’re taking. However, my guess is they want to watch the police try to figure them out. While they are preoccupied with that, we can do what we need to do.” Darian closed the car door behind her then climbed in behind the wheel.

“
I’ve got a question, if they’re split up, viewing three crime scenes, wouldn’t now be a good time to attack them?” Natasha asked, believing she was seeing a weakness.

“

“
At this point, I could care less about the media attention. Can’t you read Warren’s mind now, you’re strong enough to keep tabs, right?”

“
I can, but how many will die before I reach them? Are you willing to take that chance?” Darian asked her.

“
I don’t like our options, but I think it’s worth a shot,” Natasha said.

“
There’s something else, they’re able to hide their auras very well. It’s a good chance they could be among them and our companions wouldn’t even know it.”

“
So have members of Adan’s Pride join each team, that way, they should know what they look like, right?” she asked, hoping she was actually offering good ideas and not just being contradictory.

Darian cracked a smile. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?”

“
Just kind of came to me. I don’t know if it would work, but who’s to say it won’t?”

“
You’re right. If Elise, Richard, Xander and Adan are willing to take that chance, so will I,” Darian said, finally agreeing. “Why don’t you call the mansion and give them your idea.”

“
Me?”

“
Yes, you. Your idea, you tell them.”

“
I’m just so used to you or Xavier doing all the … Okay, I’ll do it.” She decided not to finish her first thought about how he and Xavier always take control of every situation. She pulled out her cell phone and called the mansion. When Miko answered, she told her the plan.

Miko was impressed, but also a bit leery. “Does Darian agree with this?” she asked.

“
Yes. He says it’s tricky, but he thinks it’s worth a shot.”

“
All right, I’ll tell the others. I’ll call you back and let you know if we decide to do it.”

“
Okay.” She ended the call, turning toward Darian. “They’ll let us know what they’re going to do.”

Darian nodded as he steered the car effortlessly to the crime scene where the third victim was found in a parking lot.

C
hapter
T
hirteen

Miko went to the other leaders and told them what Natasha told her. They seem to think about the idea, weighing their options and other possible scenarios. Once they decided they were going to do it, Elise called Richard, explaining to him the situation. He too, thought it was wise and gave them permission to take his members with them.

“
So are we ready to go?” Elise asked.

“
Yes,” Xander said. “Why don’t you decide who among your groups will take each crime scene.”

The other leaders agreed, joining their groups telling them the plan. Without wasting anymore time, they drove out to the three separate crime scenes, searching for their target. To the other observers, they just looked like curious bystanders trying to get a closer look at the scene.

Matthew had been looking over the body when he felt a familiar presence. He looked up to see Ignacio coming near him. He turned, seeing other members of Xander’s Pack scattered around the area, but still staying relatively close together. After about an hour had passed, he walked over to Ignacio. “Did Richard send you here?” he asked.

Ignacio nodded. “Yeah.” He told Matthew about their plan.

“
I haven’t sensed anything. With younger vampires, I can get a vibe from them that tells me what they are and how close they are to me. But I don’t feel anything now, do you?”

Ignacio shook his head. “No. I’m wondering if Elise or Adan are having better luck.”

“
I wonder if this coven is even here?” Matthew pondered.

“
Maybe they are and we just don’t know where to look. I can’t fly, so there’s no way I can scan the area. We aren’t supposed to split up just in case they are here, because we don’t want to weaken our defenses. This is just fucked.” Ignacio ran his fingers through his silky black curls.

Adrian joined the two men. “Hello Matthew.”

“
Hi Adrian, any luck?”

Adrian shook his head. “I’ll tell you what, these bastards are good at what they do. That’s why I wasn’t even trying to sense for an aura, I figured they’d be masking it. And they aren’t in the crowd either, because I’ve been sniffing for anyone with the smell of blood on their body and I got nothing.”

“
Yeah, I did the same thing,” Ignacio said. “Too bad you can’t smell that hint of decay on a vampire when they’re animated. It’s only when they’re resting when you can get that scent.”

“
Damn it, I know. That would totally help us out,” Adrian agreed.

“
I’ve been trying to find people with the scents I’ve smelled on the bodies, no such luck there either,” Matthew said.

“
What I find amazing is that other vampires seem to be avoiding this crime scene,” Adrian said.

“
Perhaps they’re scared of being targeted, or maybe they’re scared we’ll target them,” Ignacio stated.

“
You’ve got a point. I sure would have snatched the first vamp I sensed out of the crowd,” Adrian agreed, chuckling a little.

“
What are you going to do now?” Matthew asked.

Adrian shrugged. “I don’t know … search a little bit longer. If we still don’t have any luck, I’ll go back to the mansion, call Natasha, tell her the plan was a bust.”

“
There’s nothing like delivering good news,” Ignacio said sarcastically.

“
To bad we don’t have any to deliver,” Adrian said, he looked at Matthew. “Keep in touch with us. Call us after you get all of the details about this murder.”

Matthew nodded. “Expect a call soon.”

Both Ignacio and Adrian turned, heading back to Xander and the others and continued to scope the area. They all exchanged words about not being able to find anything. Xander called Elise to check in on her. She was having the same predicament, as was Adan. The three leaders decided to head back to the mansion, unsuccessful.

***

Natasha and Darian arrived at the fourth crime scene having done all they could at the third. Natasha walked around, with Darian by her side. A year ago, she’d drunk Darian’s blood one more time and like the two instances before, she felt her psychic and clairvoyant abilities expand, growing more powerful … more acute. She was still able to get visions in her sleep, and she was able to touch an item and see a past event connected to that item, but now she was able to feel stronger psychic waves in a concentrated area if she focused hard enough. If she was able to do that, she would get a vision, sometimes just foggy images seconds short, telling about the most recent event that had taken place in that area.

She continued walking around, brushing her fingertip along leaves, stones, trees, until she felt a tingling sensation vibrating throughout her body.

“
I think I’ve got something,” she whispered. With both eyes closed, she continued to concentrate until snapshot images began to flash inside her mind’s eye. “Oh my God,” she gasped.

Darian only watched her. He didn’t want to interfere now that she had a connection.

“
It was four vampires … two men, two women … one of the women looks Asian, the other woman and one of the men are black, and the last must be Marcus. They killed her here, in the bushes … Oh my God! She was so scared!” Natasha jerked her head sideways as if to shield her eyes from the visions. Her lids were shut tight as her eyebrows creased from the pressure. “They raped her.” She began to cry. Witnessing this woman’s death, even in mental fragmets, was difficult to endure. “The men took turns. They wanted her to enjoy being raped … they bit her … they drug her body … that’s it.” She opened her eyes. “The vision is over, and thank God.”

Darian approached her, wrapping her in his embrace. He held her close, comforting her. He could imagine what she’d seen and felt and hated putting her and their unborn child through any of it. He looked down. “Are you all right?”

Natasha nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She wiped the tears from her eyes as they ran down her cheeks. “It was just … so graphic, like I was there watching the whole thing. Darian, they’re crazy. I mean, really psycho, sadistic crazy. It wasn’t enough that they were raping her, they wanted her to enjoy it, making her body respond to them. Then when they drained her, they made sure that it was painful so that she couldn’t enjoy the way … you know.”

Darian nodded. “The way it normally feels to be fed upon. I’m going to peek into your mind, I want to see what you saw.”

She nodded, giving him permission. He entered her mind, searching for the image of them killing their victim. He found it. He could see their height and body frame, but their facial features were a bit blurry. He suspected they would be, it was still enough to go on. He broke his connection. “I’m taking you home.”

“
What about the morgue?”

“
What about it? There’s isn’t anything more you can gather there, that you didn’t get here.”

“
But, maybe I can get a better vision of their faces.”

“
They are already dead … the residual kinetic energy isn’t there that would help you see another vision.”

“
But what if they have clothing there I can touch?”

“
All the victims were found naked, Natasha. Even so, your abilities are not that advanced. We wanted you to get a vision and you did. There is nothing more you can do. I’m taking you home.” Without waiting for another response, Darian took her by the hand, leading her toward their car. They drove back home where he hoped he could keep her safe. On the way, Natasha contacted Warren and told him what she saw.

“
I was wondering what was taking you so long to get here. I started to call you.”