Initiative

by A. L. Kessler

  "Seems you have yourself a copycat." Levi walked around the desk and took a seat. "We need to put an end to this, so if you know something, you need to tell either Grayson or me so we can get this settled."

  Mario let out a frustrated sigh. "If I knew, I would tell you. But this, this is exactly like the old country. It could be any vampire who's out of control. I'm not the only starved vampire who has torn throats out." Mario tossed Levi the file.

  Levi opened the manila folder and looked inside. The pictures of the victims were pinned to one edge. They were both young, blonde, human. He looked over the other details. Death was from the throat being torn out, not from the vampire feeding. The bite marks were at the juncture of the thighs, one of Mario's favorite places to feed.

  "You were young then, untrained, and under Hannah's influences. There is no reason that you would be going out to do this. But your enemies. They know of Hannah's uses of you and how it came out." Levi put the files down. "There is something else at work here."

  Mario picked it back up and flipped through the files. He paused, and his face fell a little, from the rage he'd been feeling to sorrow. Levi waited patiently for Mario to share what he'd learned. When the other vampire said nothing, Levi prompted, "Mario?"

  He shook his head. "Stuck in the past, sorry. You're my alibi for both of these."

  Levi's phone rang, and he sighed at the set ringtone for Oliver. Even Mario glared at the phone. Levi picked it up. "What, Oliver?"

  "Levi, always so grumpy when you answer the phone." He chuckled. "I'm calling to tell you that Abigail canceled an appointment with me tonight."

  Levi took a deep breath and looked up at Mario. "Take the file and look it over. I need to talk to Oliver in private."

  Mario took a moment to put the paper back into the file and then walk out of the room. Levi gave him a moment to walk down the hall and out of earshot of the conversation.

  "Haven't told him yet about Abigail's ability?"

  "It's none of Mario's business." Levi had figured out that Abby was accepting help from Oliver a few months ago. He hadn't been happy about the situation, but he agreed with her that she needed someone to teach her. "She has a date tonight because I interrupted her last one."

  Oliver sighed. "Control over dating, Levi. I would think you would agree with that."

  "I don't agree with the situation of who is teaching her control. Also, in case you are unaware, Abigail's car blew up. I'll be taking her the Hummer later tonight."

  "I do hope you kept in mind our deal?" Oliver's voice still held the snotty tone Levi always wanted to punch out of him.

  Levi smiled. "Oh yes, and the Hummer is a much better color now."

  "I'll look for it then. You need to talk to Abigail about missing her sessions with me."

  "I don't control her, have you not learned that yet? If I did, she'd still be living at the mansion, safe, and protected, and not hunting down paranormal criminals." Levi growled. "Now, if you excuse me, I have duties I need to get back to." He disconnected the call before the warlock could respond. There was no way he was going to be able to talk Abigail into not missing meetings. It was her choice to start training with Oliver, and it would remain her choice if she wanted to go or not.

  She was an adult. As much as he hated to admit it.

  He rubbed his eyes and pulled out his computer. There was some research on the victims he wanted to do. See if he could trace the crimes back to any of his vampires and give Grayson any information he sought, just to keep Mario from having to be the center of the investigation. An alibi didn't always clear someone, and he knew that.

  A couple hours later he'd received a text message from Abby stating she needed him to bring her the Hummer now and that she was at the morgue. He hadn't questioned it until he walked in and saw her in scrubs and heels. The receptionist moved as if grabbing something from under the counter and Levi had a strange urge to lift his hands in the air to show her that he wasn't armed.

  "It's fine. He just came to give me a ride." Abby grabbed her dress off the chair and slipped her feet into the heels.

  Levi raised a brow. "Heels and scrubs, not your normal look." How on earth did she end up at a morgue when she was on a date. The worst-case scenarios flooded through his head, but he kept himself from asking. It was obvious that she was unharmed, so it couldn't have been anything too serious.

  "I thought the blue of the scrubs would bring out my eyes," she said easily and did a little turn, and Levi laughed. "Seriously, this is why dating doesn't work for me. But wait until you hear what we have in town. Care for a late night...bite?"

  Levi rolled his eyes at the joke. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the party?" He had a feeling Simon wasn't enjoying it without her company. Pack parties tended to be boring unless they were up in the woods where they could shift and hunt as they pleased.

  "No way in hell would you get me back in there willingly. That's what we need to talk about. I could use some coffee."

  He nodded and motioned to the door. "Then shall we go?"

  They walked to the Hummer together, and Abby's eyes lit up a little bit, then she frowned as she took in the new color. Canary yellow. An obnoxious change from the dark green it had been before.

  "Why did you repaint the Hummer?" She ran her hand over the hood.

  He smirked and said the one thing that always got him out of explaining things to her. "It needed to change, vampire business. Don't question it."

  She got into the car, and he went to the driver's side.

  "I can't believe you destroyed another car," Levi said the moment he got in.

  "Do you ever get that feeling that someone is always out to kill you?" There was the sound of exhaustion in her voice.

  He resisted the urge to sigh. "Why do you think I'm so paranoid and taught you to be the same?" He started the Hummer and pulled away from the building.

  She was silent for a moment, and he saw her face turn to him, but he didn't take his eyes off the road as she spoke. "We're talking two attacks within a year of each other. That's more than normal."

  "I'm sure it will have something to do with your cases. It always does." His grip tightened on the steering wheel. That's what he hoped it was. He was hoping Ira was not behind this, that he hadn't sent Devon after Abigail for some reason. The two had no connections, there shouldn't have been a reason to think that, but he had. Paranoia. Now with the car bomb, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of that either.

  "I'm sure it will be. It's really not that big of a deal. Thanks for coming to get me and bringing the Hummer. I didn't want to pull Simon away from his pack stuff."

  "Wise not to." Greg was already unhappy about the amount of time Simon spent with Abby. "Any luck with the missing wolf?"

  "She's protected by something stronger than me. I can't use a regular tracking spell to find her. I'm going to have to go out and look for her and see if my magic will work that way."

  "On pack land." He didn't like that idea. She'd be dealing with something stronger than her, and she'd be wandering around werewolf territory. Not just any territory, but one currently being torn apart by civil war.

  She nodded. "Yes, because that's where she was taken. I don't like it any more than you do. I don't like playing by their politics."

  "I don't like you on land where you can get eaten." He laughed a little. "But you have to do what you have to." He needed to trust her. He pulled the Hummer into the small parking lot of a Waffle House, one that she was familiar with.

  "I won't get eaten. Greg needs me to find this woman. Plus, the Alpha and his queen are in town, remember? It'd be a bad show to eat a PIB agent on his grounds."

  They got out and walked to the restaurant together.

  The place was empty except for two people, one a cook and the other a waitress stocking tables with napkins and condiments. They looked up an
d watched them walk over to a table. Abby looked down at herself and shrugged before they sat down, and she pulled out a menu.

  "So, I met the Alpha and the queen that are in town." She didn't take her eyes off the menu

  "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked and leaned back into the booth.

  The waitress came up to us. Her round brown eyes were wide as she stood there poised with a pen. "What can I get for you?"

  Levi motioned to Abby and the waitress pivoted, so she was facing her and Levi was almost at her back, like she was ignoring him. He was used to that when it came to restaurants.

  "I just want a breakfast burrito and a cup of coffee, please." Abby gave the waitress a bright smile, and the waitress nodded before walking off.

  Abby looked at Levi. "The queen is a witch, a powerful one at that. A mere handshake almost brought me down to my knees."

  That was very interesting. "Curious, I thought his queen was a wolf. You can't be both." He folded his hands on the table. The magic negated the lycan virus so that it was impossible to be a hybrid of the two.

  "No. She might be using a spell to shift with them, but it's not the same thing. And it's a hard spell to maintain. Especially for a bigger animal." She shook her head. "I don't know what it is, but I don't like someone that powerful in the area."

  "They are only visiting to help with the civil war that broke out." Levi shrugged. "You probably won't run into her again."

  "Unless she's the one hiding the wolf," she said off-handedly.

  He raised a brow. "Do you think that it's her?"

  "No, it's a different magic, but she makes my skin itch." Abby thanked the waitress when she brought the coffee, and she wasted no time cradling the mug in her hands. "I have to do a press conference on the rogue vampires tomorrow night."

  "Are you on that case?" he asked. Why was she going to be participating in the press conference? Why hadn't Grayson said anything about it when he came to visit.

  She shook her head. "Not really, not officially."

  "Abigail." He met her gaze and silently tried to demand the truth out of her.

  She shrugged. "If there are any more incidents then yes, I could be put on the case. It would mean working two cases though, so I'm hoping Boss Man doesn't put us on it. But you know him. Rogue vampires don't look good on PIB. Or you for that matter."

  That was true, but he had his own way of taking care of it if it was his vampires misbehaving. "I don't want you near it, but you know I won't interfere unless it becomes absolutely necessary."

  She sipped the coffee. "You told me to stay away from the corpse we found. You sent the agents to speak to me about it too."

  Grayson had mentioned the agents visiting, but not that they claimed Levi sent them. "I didn't send them." His brows drew together. "They met you at the office?" he asked to confirm what he already knew.

  She moved her arms and her coffee out of the way as the waitress delivered the food. She waited until the waitress was gone to respond. "Yes, I e-mailed him yesterday, and he and his partner showed up at the office. Should they have not? He was with me when the car blew up but ran off before the firemen showed up and Boss Man came down."

  "I didn't think Agent Tomes would come out." Levi crossed his arms. "But you're right, I told you to stay away from it, and it seems that it's gone away. The rogue vampires though, that's my job to take care of. Not yours."

  She seemed to hesitate for a moment before responding. "Hopefully it's taken care of before they send Nick and me out, or worse, send the executioners after any vampires in your territory."

  "The laws protect us from that." But they both knew that the government was willing to bend those laws when it came to rogues.

  They both sat in silence for a moment until Abigail broke it. "Are you going to come to the press conference?"

  "No. I have a meeting tomorrow night." The council and he would watch the press conference from the meeting room to make sure it went smoothly and discuss it later. "Your uncle called me tonight. He still thinks you're a child that I can control. You canceled your meeting with him, so he wanted me to make you go."

  "I didn't have a car, and I wanted to go on my date with Simon. I'll make sure to tell him you don't control me."

  She took a bite of her burrito and a scream echoed outside the parking lot. They both shot out the door to see what was going on.

  Three vampires were out in the parking lot, each with a person pinned against a car. Levi rushed by Abigail, grabbed one of the vampires, and ripped them away from the human. There would be no tormenting of innocent humans on his watch, and the moment he got a chance, he was going to make sure he figured out where these three vampires came from.

  Levi stepped away from the victim to let Abigail take over there, and he turned his attention to the other two vampires. The vampire he'd thrown away from the first victim now lay on the ground unconscious. Levi shot to the next closest one and grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. He dropped his victim to the ground, and Levi snarled in his face, "Not in my territory."

  The blood-starved vampire nodded, telling Levi he still had some of his sanity left. He dragged that one over to the third vampire and grabbed that one by the neck. "Drop the man."

  The vampire unlocked his jaw, and the human fell to the ground. Levi would let Abigail worry about the victims. He'd keep the vampires rounded up. He dragged the other two to where he'd left the first one. Sirens blared through the small parking lot, and lights flashed around almost blinding Levi, but he didn't miss when Nick's car pulled up, and he stepped out to survey the scene.

  Nick raised a brow when he approached her.

  "What do you want me to say?" Abby asked, and she sounded exhausted.

  Nick sneered. "What is Levi doing here?"

  The third vampire stood up with a groan but didn't dare move when he laid eyes on Levi. The three of them stayed huddled together like scared children. Levi kept his attention on the vampires, letting Abigail deal with Nick.

  "Levi and I were meeting for coffee. He brought the Hummer down and picked me up from the M.E.'s office."

  "Where's your gun? And your shoes," Nick asked.

  "My gun is at home as I was on a date, and the gun wouldn't fit in the clutch. My shoes are in the restaurant, have you ever tried to run in heels? I'd rather risk cutting my foot."

  Levi tried not to laugh. One of the vampires tried to shoot past him, but Levi caught him by the shirt and threw him back to the others.

  "You've got this handled?" Abby asked Nick.

  "You're not leaving me, partner."

  She huffed. "Okay fine. Call containment. Let them know we have three blood-starved vampires."

  Levi stood there with the vampires, trying to figure out how he was going to handle this one and how he'd play it off. These vampires had a bit more sanity than any of Ira's other experiments, but he still had no doubt that they were connected.

  A few minutes later a containment van pulled up. Four men got out of the truck, each carrying a pair of handcuffs and foot shackles. Levi stepped aside so the men could go to work, he watched as they cuffed the vampires and led them to the van. The van was reinforced steel with silver lining to weaken and contain most supernatural creatures. The van could cause pain, and it was cruel, but there was no other way to deal with out-of-control creatures. He knew that, and yet he felt a bit of sorrow as they closed the doors on them.

  Nick clapped Abby on the shoulder. "I'm sure Jason will call us tomorrow."

  I nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm going to go home and crash. I have someone coming over that might claim the cat tomorrow." Levi didn't miss the sigh in her voice.

  "Sounds like you had an exciting day, but you need to give a statement first," Nick urged.

  "Okay fine. My official statement? Vampires interrupted my late-night snack and killed someone."


  "Abby..." Nick crossed his arms, and Levi snickered and turned to talk to one of the men from the containment team.

  "Levi, fancy seeing you here." The man held out his hand, and Levi shook it.

  "Jordan, I was just meeting Abigail for a late-night snack is all. Glad I was here to help." He put his hands in his pocket. "This isn't boding well for my territory, two rogue attacks within twenty-four hours of each other?"

  Jordan nodded. "Yeah, but at least we've got these guys. Maybe we can get some information out of them."

  "I'd like to come in and speak with them as soon as you get them processed."

  Jordan hesitated for a moment. "I'll have to pass it by my higher-ups, but I'll see what I can do for you."

  "Please do. I'm sure they'll approve it. They have my number on file, so call me as soon as you get the approval, even if it's during the day." He turned to see Abigail finishing up with Nick. He shook Jordan's hand again. "Keep up the good work. Thank you."

  Jordan nodded and went to the driver's side of the van. Levi walked to the Hummer and waited for Abby.

  She walked up. "Hell of a night. I'm ready to go home and crawl into bed."

  He handed her the keys. She looked back at the restaurant. "I should go pay and grab my purse."

  "Then get home and get some rest." Levi put a hand on her shoulder. "And be very careful with this one, Abigail." That was the most he could tell her without flat out telling her to stay away, because if he did that, she wouldn't listen anyway. He disappeared, taking himself back to the mansion.

  Ira watched as the containment team took the vampires away from the scene. His vampires. He hadn't expected for Levi to be at the restaurant with Abigail. Ira's contact had followed them and said that she had someone with her but wasn't sure who it was. Ira had assumed it was the wolf, not Levi. He'd have to punish his contact for not being able to tell the difference.

  Levi was able to secure all three vampires easily, as he should have been able to. Neither Abigail or Levi were harmed in the process. He clenched his jaw. Initially, he had planned on killing Abigail, but the idea of trying to coax her over to his side became more and more appealing. He wanted to take that from Levi, to show Levi that his precious daughter was capable of being corrupted.