[Draven's Crossing 1] Hidden Diversions

by Selena Illyria

  “Thanks. Alyssa, get a warrant. Judge Alberts should still be up, since he’s a night owl. Then go bring in Abbott.” Torger tried not to grin but couldn’t help it. They were getting close, damn it. He had something good to tell Draven. He went to his office and put in the call to Draven and gave him the rundown of what was happening.

  Draven had sent Jagger over to Evanson’s place to pull him into the Police Department for a statement, but he’d first have to check into a few things to confirm what Urban had told them. Everything had to be in place. The Council had been notified and they weren’t putting up a protest but they wanted to do their own trial and no publicity.

  Torger sighed. Another cover-up, but if that’s how they stopped the bodies from piling up, he’d take it. The Council wouldn’t skimp on the justice.

  Chapter Thirteen

  THE POLICE HAVE LEADS.

  Does this mean the killings will end? -Isadora Jones, DC News Blast

  Ariel came into the room, head bowed, eyes lowered. “Master?”

  “Yes?” Abbott looked up from his letter. The police still hadn’t come, but that only gave him more time to get his thoughts together. “I’ve been working on instructions for you and the children. You won’t be left unattended. There’s money in the bank for all of you, so you have nothing to worry about. The business will be left to you. I’m just finishing up the last of my thoughts.”

  He turned back to his writing, adding a few more sentences and signed his name. Ariel remained silent.

  “Is there something you wanted, Ariel?” He rearranged his desk, irritated at her silence.

  “We won’t allow you to be taken and your work to be perverted, master,” Ariel replied softly.

  The thud of footsteps filling the room caught his attention. He looked up to find his children, all the people he’d taken in and given the gift of longer life and healing, a home, before him. Their heads were bowed, but their energy crackled with expectation. Like a leashed predator waiting for their shot. He looked over each person. A sense of nervousness slithered along his spine.

  “You can’t prevent such a thing. My time is done. Besides we sent enough data to Evanson to help his research and perhaps he can find a cure for me later. Besides, I’m sure he’ll help me with the charges.” Abbott doubted it but the crowd didn’t know that.

  “It won’t matter. The press, Isadora Jones, they will slander you. We won’t allow that,” Ariel replied.

  Anger flared in the pit of his stomach. “What do you know of Isadora? She will understand. She will get the message and appreciate my work, whereas, clearly you don’t,” he spat out.

  Ariel shook her head. She lifted her chin and her eyes flashed to a dull red hue. “No she won’t, but I won’t try to make you see that. You’re so wrapped up in trying to impress her that you’ve forgotten your children. We won’t allow that any longer. Nor will we allow your hard work to be defiled.”

  As if a signal had been shot into the air, the crowd moved as one to swarm him. He glared at them. “Stop this, this instant!”

  “No,” Ariel said.

  With that single word, they attacked. As one, they ripped and tore Abbott apart. He tried to scream and fight but there were far too many of them. Pain throbbed through his body as the agony turned to blinding, searing fire that engulfed him.

  “Isadora,” he gasped out as the blackness took him over.

  * * * *

  Torger went over the evidence and reports to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. It was beginning to look like a long night ahead. They had to make sure that the bases were covered. The Council wouldn’t be sending a Fixer, but Draven was sure that they would want everything they had to make sure that DCPD hadn’t tried to fabricate evidence to point to Ivan Evanson. They were still looking for excuses to shut Draven’s Crossing down and quarantine the town until they could take over the political duties and shove Draven out of office. As he shuffled through the paperwork, the evidence trail, and made sure that all the evidence was accounted for, his phone rang.

  “Torger,” he said while trying to read over the latest report from the HellHound Squad.

  “Boss, Abbott is dead. Looks like a massacre. Seems his boarders killed him and then themselves. We do have a written out confession that says he’s responsible for the vampire bite victims and that he was put up to it by Evanson. Says it was for experimental research for fixing people with blood disorders, aimed at vampires. I’ll bring it all in.” She rang off before he could respond.

  Torger hung up the phone and resisted the urge to whoop in victory. He put in a call to Draven immediately and then checked the time. There hadn’t been an update on Jagger, which was unusual. Unless his task had taken too long he should’ve brought in Evanson for questioning. Draven’s private line rang and rang before he answered it. “Torger?”

  Torger panicked.

  A kernel of worry formed in the pit of Torger’s stomach. “What’s up, Drav? What’s going on?”

  “I sent Jagger to Evanson’s over an hour ago and haven’t heard back. I’m getting antsy over here. Did he arrive at the police station yet?” Draven asked.

  “No, I was calling you to let you know we found conclusive evidence against Evanson, which should satisfy the Council. I’m gonna go check on Jagger myself.” Torger unlocked his security drawer and took out his gun and badge.

  “Take your brother, just in case. I have a bad feeling.” Draven hung up before Torger could ask what that was.

  The next call he made was to Urban who would meet him at the mansion. Isadora was asleep. She was emotionally exhausted. Torger couldn’t blame her. An ache in his heart formed for her. Michaela hadn’t just been her assistant, she’d been her friend and under Isy’s protection. As soon as this is all over I’m going to take some time off to be with her, he decided before he closed the call and headed out of the office. Rather than tell the officers where he was going, he told them that he’d be back in an hour and to tell Alyssa Santa Rosa to wait for him in his office once she’d logged everything in. With Abbott dead, he wanted to get her firsthand account of how everything looked. He had to interrogate her himself because that‘s exactly what the Council would do to make sure no funny business had come into play during this latest step in the investigation.

  The ride over to Evanson’s was uneventful. Despite the continued night life, there weren’t as many people on the streets due to the killings. He was sure that everyone would breathe a sigh of relief at it being over. There would be shock and outrage over Evanson’s involvement, but the citizens would get over it and they’d get to vote in a new representative. He thought of the likely candidates and couldn’t pick one that he wanted to work with; after all, they’d all be Council lackeys in the end, no matter how nice they started out.

  Draven wouldn’t be happy to have to work with someone new, that was for sure. There would be long nights away from Rose for him, and Torger wouldn’t be immune. There would be the werewolf summit that he’d need to deal with, which would mean time away from Isy and pack business. Thankfully, Urban was here to help keep him calm, for now. He’d have to talk him into staying in town until that was over.

  He pulled into the driveway of the Evanson mansion and saw Urban had arrived. Must’ve run some red lights. Torger smirked. He turned off the car and got out. Jagger’s black Mercedes SLS AMG was parked in front of the double doors.

  Urban walked over to him as Torger got out of his car. “Car is cold, no life signs in the house but I can smell blood even from here.”

  Torger’s stomach dropped as the worry turned to all out panic. Fear for his friend drove his actions. He drew his gun and took the safety off. With it at the ready, he kicked open the double doors and allowed his senses to guide him. The lights were on but there was no movement. Not even a servant had come to check on the noise. He nodded to Urban, who flanked his side. Together they moved through the house, making sure they were alone.

  Torger led the way as they follow
ed groans coming from down a darkened hallway. A sliver of light peeked out from a darkened doorway. Urban crept forward and nudged it open with his toe, gun at the ready. Torger rushed into the room. The scene was one of pure carnage. Jagger was on the floor while Evanson lay in a pool of blood. Groans of pain gurgled out of his mouth. Urban checked on Jagger while Torger knelt down, put away his gun and looked over Evanson. “Kris, gone…Jagger…Jagger…” His voice was thready and weak.

  Torger swore and got out his cell phone while he checked Evanson over for injuries and the source of the blood. The sound of sirens filtered through a cracked window. A light breeze tickled the thick curtains. Torger looked over at Urban. “Who the fuck called the cops?”

  Urban just shrugged and Jagger sat up and groaned. He rubbed the back of his head. “What Mack truck hit me?”

  “Don’t say anything. Someone called the cops,” Urban said.

  Jagger squinted from one brother to the other. “But you are the cops.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t know why they’re coming here. Get him to Draven’s office; make sure you’re not seen.” Torger watched as Urban dragged Jagger out of the room.

  Torger refocused his attentions on Evanson. The blood seemed to be coming from a wound on his side. Torger opened Evanson’s shirt and found a deep gash. “Jesus.”

  He looked up at Evanson’s face, took his pulse again and swore. Ivan Evanson was dead and Jagger had been on the scene. Alyssa Santa Rosa burst through the door, five cops filtering in behind her. They fanned out, guns pointed at Torger. He put down his gun and held up his hands.

  “Chief?” Confusion flowed over Alyssa’s face.

  “Was sent here by Draven, came in and found him like this. He’s dead.” Torger decided to fudge the truth until he knew more. He could trust Alyssa but the rest of the officers, he wasn’t sure of yet.

  The guns were put away and Alyssa broke out her notebook while the officers fanned out. Some were already on the phone calling in the ME and others the CSU. “I’m going to give this scene over to you,” he said once she’d taken his statement. “I need to go see Draven, tell him what’s going on.”

  “And the other car outside?” Alyssa’s eyebrow rose in question.

  “Impound it until we find out whose it is.” Torger knew that as soon as Jagger heard about it, he’d pitch a fit, but there was no way to get that car out of the driveway without things going pear shaped quickly. Before he left, he turned to Alyssa. “Who called it in?”

  Santa Rosa shrugged. “Some old woman who was walking by said she heard screams. Name of Ackroyd. She says she’ll be at the station later to make an official statement. Said she saw a man with long black hair, all in black, running out of the house. She described Jagger pretty well.”

  Alyssa gave Torger a hard, assessing look that made Torger want to shift from one foot to the other. Her nostrils flared, expectation glowed on her face. Torger shook his head. “I’ll talk to Draven, see if he sent Jagger over here but I haven’t spoken to him.”

  It wasn’t a lie. He hadn’t really had a conversation with Jagger, he’d ordered both him and Urban gone. Now they had a witness placing Jagger at the scene, which made things worse.

  “Fine, but if you have contact with him, let me know, okay?” Alyssa said.

  Torger nodded, not trusting himself to speak without lying. “I’m going to go update Draven.”

  Alyssa agreed and let him walk. Torger had to fight not to run to his SUV. Thankfully he wasn’t blocked in. He backed up and pulled out and headed straight for Draven, not passing go and checking his rear view every few seconds to make sure he wasn’t tailed. He arrived at the mayor’s office in record time and got through metal detectors and passed security with very little problem. He burst into Draven’s office, which caused both Jagger and Draven to turn to him, fangs and elongated nails out while Urban fought not to shift.

  “Stand down. I don’t have much time, but Jagger you’ve been identified as a possible suspect. Some old woman put a call into the DCPD with a description of you, saying that she saw you flee the scene. You need to go to ground,” Torger let the words rush out. He didn’t want Alyssa marching in at any second, warrant in hand.

  “Fuck no,” Jagger growled as he returned to vampire normal. His eyes burned red with rage. “I’m not guilty.”

  “And Evanson is dead. We don’t know where his brother is,” Torger stated. “We closed the serial killer book, but now a new shit storm has opened. Someone is targeting you. It’s the only way I can explain the phone call fingering you or the fact that they didn’t even mention mine and Urban’s arrival. The night was dark and you’d have to have super eyesight to get your features as correct as she did. Besides that, you fleeing Evanson’s mansion makes you look guilty as shit, regardless of what we think.” Torger’s stomach twisted as his mind skimmed over the details they knew so far. “All this makes me think the Council is behind this. It’s just too damn neat. Makes me think they were watching Evanson’s place and you got there before they could get to Evanson and clean up his mess. That is if they even knew. You need to go underground, gather info and find out who’s behind this new clusterfuck.”

  Draven came forward. “He’s right and to be seen with you, defending you after Evanson’s death would make the Council think we’re at war with them.” Draven put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Concern on his face. “The people won’t understand so soon after Muffy’s death. You have the connections; find out who did this. We’ll cover for you as best we can. I have to call a press conference to announce the end of the terror and notify them about Evanson. Jagger, go. Now!”

  Jagger grumbled something that Torger didn’t catch, but he left the office without a word of protest. Torger turned to Draven. “What do we do now?”

  Draven sighed, looking older than his years. “I call a press conference, you give a statement and then we go to our respective homes and pray that Jagger works quickly.”

  * * * *

  The press conference didn’t last long, but by the end Torger felt a thousand years older and carried a new weight on his shoulders. All he wanted to do now was go home, cuddle up with Isy and not go into work tomorrow. They’d gone from one mess to another. Jagger was in trouble, and Torger couldn’t help him. He was also pretty sure that Alyssa would make it her life’s mission to find Jagger and get the truth out of him.

  If he didn’t give Alyssa lead detective on the case, she’d go ape shit. He couldn’t win either way. One of his best friends was going to be pursued by one of his best officers. Life truly sucked. At least that’s how he felt until he saw Isy standing in the doorway as he and Urban pulled up in the driveway. She wore one of his shirts and nothing else.

  Desire surged in his blood. He knew the perfect way to forget his troubles. “I’ll see you in the morning, bro.”

  “Yup,” Urban said as he walked out into the forest. “I’m going for a long run. You guys have fun.”

  “Oh, I will,” Torger said as he followed Isy into the house and into his room.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

  At least for now. -Isadora Jones, DC News Blast

  Isy could see the weariness in the set of his shoulders and the tiredness in his eyes. They’d only been apart a few hours, yet she knew how worn down he was. The day’s toll hadn’t just wrecked him, it had broken her down. In the quiet and solitude of his room, she’d curled up around his pillow and cried until she’d felt empty. Even when Urban had knocked on the door offering food, she’d sent him away. Michaela was dead. Her friend, assistant, the person she was grooming to replace her, wasn’t around anymore.

  Had she told Michaela that she wanted her to take over for her when she took vacations or emergencies? Did she compliment her enough? Talk to her about life beyond the studio? Take her out to eat, get to know her? Isy felt like a failure. What did she really know about her elvish assistant other than she’d been twenty-five, shy, swe
et, loved tea and cashmere sweaters?

  A stone held the place where her heart should have been. When she thought of Michaela’s smile or laugh, it hurt to breathe. She wanted to run away but didn’t have anywhere that wouldn’t remind her of the friend she’d lost. Only here, in Torger’s cabin, did she feel safe enough to breakdown. Now, looking at Torger, she could see he needed her as much as she needed him.

  Isy held out her hand to him and withheld a sigh of relief when he accepted her proffered palm and threaded warm, big, roughened fingers through hers in a firm grasp that anchored her world.

  “Bad day?” she asked, not wanting the details. Isy wasn’t a reporter now. She was his lover.

  “It had its moments. We can talk about it tomorrow. Dinner?” he asked as he let go of her hand, shrugged out of his jacket and headed for his bedroom to put away his gun, badge and passes. She went to the kitchen, brought out two plates and ladled out large helpings of spaghetti. Before Urban had rushed out, she’d started making the pasta as a way to get them off of fast food. Not that she didn’t love pizza and burgers but she needed more substantial food with fresher ingredients. She enjoyed cooking and had even made some garlic bread and a simple salad. Isy poured some wine, lit some candles and put on some jazz before she placed the dishes on the tabletops and settled down in a seat across from his.

  He entered the room and placed a kiss on her temple, which lit a flame of heat in the pit of her stomach as blood pooled in her pussy. Memories of last night filled her head, causing her vaginal walls to flutter. She shifted in her seat and tried to focus on talking to him rather than on her growing arousal.

  “Ready to eat? I made garlic bread and a salad. Next time I’ll do more from scratch but you guys seriously need more veggies and flour and such. How’s a girl supposed to feed her man if he’s only got meat in his freezer?” she teased.