Abusing the Alpha (Seraphine Thomas Book 4)

by Erin R Flynn

  “I can’t just kill someone,” I said gently, seeing he was getting unhinged and trying to figure out the best way to talk him down. “I have to at least call this into your council, my boss. I get this is extenuating circumstances, but I don’t even know your name. I get this is the freedom you’ve been seeking, but it could take away mine and me from all who need me to do what you ask.”

  “That is fair,” he conceded after a moment. “I apologize, Chief Thomas. The hope of being freed from this curse has left me desperate for the end. How can I assist you so that you may carry out my sentence?”

  Well, wasn’t that just the question of the fucking day?

  “How does this work?” I asked, glancing around. I wanted to curse up a storm when I saw way down the casino was even affected. “How far does your power reach?”

  “Blocks,” he sighed, knowing probably where I was going with this. “I affect technology as well, so no cameras really work on me. Cell phones cannot pick up my voice. I’ve tried.”

  Made sense why we got a half assed, blurry picture of him even from satellite images that we couldn’t find anything else of then. “There has to be a way to handle this.”

  Rage filled his eyes again, and I wondered how much his gift had warped into his mind. “I could force your hand.” He glanced around and gestured to some people off to my left. “How about I drink those young ones right there? Will you believe me then? Shoot to kill the murderer, right?”

  “Wait,” I called out, holding out my hand when he took a step towards them. “I will help you, okay? Don’t hurt anyone. Let me simply review what you’ve said and call this in. I believe you, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t at least check a few things. I’m not saying you are, but what if you were confused or drugged? What sort of person would I be to just believe this story and go off?”

  “Then what do you suggest?” he demanded, his hands fisting at his sides.

  I was so damn tired and beat up, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Meet me outside of town.”

  “How will that help?”

  “You won’t be affecting these people,” I answered, worrying how his power might seriously be doing something to their bodies. “Get out of range so I can get clearance, check what you gave me, and not so we carry out the sentence in the middle of a casino and traumatize all these people. Okay? Give me time to get things in—”

  “You have one hour,” he snarled, scratching at his face and shaking his head. “One hour! I cannot suffer like this. You are the first person I have been able to speak with for centuries. I cannot take it anymore. All I hear is the voices in my head of the ones I kill.”

  “Okay, okay, it’s almost over,” I said in my gentlest tone, placating him but not acting like that was what I was doing. “Please just hang on for me, okay?”

  He gave a swift nod. “Head south down the Strip, and after all the casinos and even subdivisions there are a few empty camper parking areas a few miles past the welcome sign. I will wait for you there and enjoy the peace of the desert.” I nodded, and he started to turn away, but stopped. “If you lie to me like my master did, I will slaughter children until you shoot me dead.”

  “How did your master lie?” I asked before I could stop myself, confused all around from the conversation and the turn my night had taken.

  “He said he was giving me the greatest gift ever by turning me into a vampire,” he rasped and then raced away faster than I could keep up with.

  The further he moved away, the less his power affected people, and I stood there, watching them come out of it… Whatever it really was. I couldn’t think of how else to explain it, but yeah, coming out of his power as if speeding back up to normal pace.

  “Sera? Sera, what’s wrong?” Reagan demanded, and I shook off the shock of it all.

  “I met the vamp killing people, and you wouldn’t believe me what happened if I told you,” I admitted, yanking off my heels. “We’ve got to go. I’ve got less than an hour.”

  I took off for the front door so I could catch a cab back to our hotel, but then I remembered we were right next to the Bellagio, and even if it was a big block, it would be faster to run than deal with a taxi. I spun around, and Reagan just about crashed into me. I didn’t even explain, simply grabbing my phone out of his front pocket where he said he’d keep it.

  I pushed open the door as I scrolled through my contacts, stopping when I found the one I wanted. Thinking of time zones when I called, I felt relief as I realized they should be awake.

  “Chief Thomas, what can I do for you?” Councilman Papadopoulos greeted.

  “I need an order of execution on a vampire who’s been killing in Vegas and probably more, but it’s complicated. His gift is—he slows down time, Councilman.”

  “Excuse me?” he drawled. “Chief Thomas, you have shown to be a capable wolf and ally to us, but that is—”

  “I’m not kidding or drunk, Councilman, no matter how it sounds, and I do realize it sounds like that,” I interrupted as I darted between people to get down Caesar’s long drive. “Ask Levi Sosa. He’s powerful and hasn’t even gotten a lock on the guy killing on his turf. Several describe this guy as unstable, and I understand. You can feel it in the very air.

  “It doesn’t work on me because of what I am. Two paranormals in one or whatever? I don’t know, but he came thinking the fairy queen could help him, but she can’t. He handed me a packet with a confession, but I’ve not even looked at it yet. He is unstable. He gave me an hour to get the order or he’s going to start slaughtering children in Vegas. Do you want that to happen?”

  “No, of course not,” he murmured. “I might even have—there has been an unstable presence we’ve felt before over the years. I never could put my finger on what I felt, but yes, that is how I would characterize it.”

  “He said he’s visited you guys to get help.” I filled him in on the whole encounter as I raced along the street and then back up Bellagio’s drive.

  “Do you believe him?” he asked as I reached the elevators. “Do you believe he’s not simply some crazy person?”

  “Even if he is and can’t really drain someone with a sip, he’s threatening to start sucking kids dry, Councilman. I can tell you he’s unhinged. The ups and downs, crying to rage—it was disturbing. I think his gift has leaked into him, and centuries of not being able to interact with people left him to develop voices in his head.

  “But I believe the gift. I saw it. It was as if everything around us became super slow motion. Hell, it freaked me out just seeing it. I’d be bat shit crazy if I had that for centuries.”

  He gave a low growl. “You have my verbal authority to execute him given his threat. The rest is—forgive me, Chief Thomas, but it’s all a bit hard to believe.”

  I snorted as I got off on our floor. “Believe me, I get that, and I went through it. I think I have a whole new level of Hitchcock-type nightmares. I’ll get someone to immediately send over this packet he gave me. I’m going to review it quick and at least make sure things match up with the deaths in Vegas, but I have to hurry.”

  “Good, yes, keep me updated. Stay safe, Chief Thomas.”

  “Thank you, Councilman, and thank you for taking my call.”

  “They are never boring,” he muttered and hung up. I couldn’t blame him for the opinion, but it also wasn’t actually my fault.

  I ripped open the envelope and quickly scanned the first page. “Hagan, call Havers and—”

  “Why would you call him in on this?” he asked, frowning as he hurried to take off the fancy fairy garb.

  “He always brings home his secure laptop with access,” I answered as I kept reading, flipping through pages. “They’re all here. Intimate details of the Vegas murders and many, many more. Ask him to pull the name Cletus Sol and see if we have any anything on him.” Reagan was already out of his garb, so I handed him the pages. “Start faxing that to the vampire council on the portable fax Harris brought.”

&nb
sp; “Got it.” He took the pages and went to the adjoining door in his boxer briefs only. I was so freaked out over what had happened, I couldn’t even enjoy the view.

  “You’re shaking, Lady Seraphine,” Dain murmured as he undid my zipper, guessing what came next. I looked at him over my shoulder, not having registered he had come with us, and saw the worry in his eyes.

  “I used to think I was overreacting to situations, but now I know I’m having a normal reaction to an abnormal amount of bullshit and crazy. The vampire froze time, and it affected everyone but me. How’s your night?”

  “Fair enough,” he answered, his lips twitching. He turned away when the dress came off and I stood there naked as if it didn’t matter to him.

  Guess that show for Laila had really been a show. The thought made my chest ache for some reason. Weird since I didn’t know him or anything and I wanted him more for work, but well, men kept complicating my life, so why wouldn’t a brush off from a man I’d just had sex with factor in there?

  I rushed to get dressed in normal gear, slipping on my harness and checking my guns.

  “Havers said the search came back with nothing. Do you need anything else?” Hagan called over.

  “No, thank him and sorry to interrupt his weekend.”

  “He said it’s fine and he’s glad you’re okay.”

  “Fax is going,” Reagan told me as he came back into the room and hurried to get dressed as well. “What’s the plan?”

  “Drive me as far as you can until it hits you and the van,” I said as I finished up, knowing we still had the keys to the Vegas FBI van. “After that, I go alone on foot, and when you can move again, it’s over and come pick my ass up and the body. We’re going to have Levi Sosa handle shipping it to the vampire council.”

  Hagan frowned as he quickly got dressed too. “Why not the Vegas PD?” Understanding filled his eyes. “Right, they have a normal team, and we don’t have people here to retrieve gold bullets. Good call.”

  “Or you could use a different weapon,” Dain suggested, and when I turned to look, he had a big ass sword in his hand. Where had that come from?

  “There isn’t regulation as to how I carry out the execution,” I muttered, nodding. “Yeah, that could work and keep things easier on me and my office.”

  I stayed and made sure the fax went through while Dain gave me some basics on how to handle a damn sword as Hagan and Reagan raced off to get the van and meet us out front. I wasn’t a fan of being executioner, but I’d do a lot to save kids.

  Especially when there were pages and pages of names of who he’d killed.

  We were still doing pretty well on time when we got in the van, but then a few miles from the hotel we hit the start of his power. It was just as freaky and left me cold inside as I watched the three of them and even the cars around us slow down and then stop. I hopped out with the borrowed sword and made sure to close the door behind me. Then it was another fast run that I was way too tired for.

  “You came,” he rasped, his shoulders shaking as he fell to his knees.

  “Cletus Sol, by order of Councilman Papadopoulos of the International Vampire Council, your ruling body, and by the authority granted me by the federal government of the United States, and the state of Illinois, I hereby execute the warrant on you.” I moved closer, letting him see the sword, leery at the idea of people not only accepting the death sentence but wanting it as he did.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much, Chief Thomas,” he choked out, lowering his head. “This is almost perfect. More than I could have hoped for.”

  “What would make it perfect?” I heard myself asking, wondering if he meant like a last meal, but that could kill someone if he wanted to feed, so that was out. Who knew with vampires?

  He lifted his head and wiped his eyes, giving me a sad smile. “If I have not been able to speak with someone for centuries, surely you understand I have not felt a woman in my arms, either. I have had not one moment of intimate pleasure since I was turned. Is that not torture enough to make a man go mad?”

  “Oh, yeah, didn’t think of that,” I admitted, fidgeting. But then it hit me. “I can’t give you that, but I can give you something similar.” He simply blinked up at me as I came closer. I leaned down and kissed him, feeding heavily from him for my siren and his pleasure. “Be at peace, Cletus, and may heaven or whatever comes next give you what you searched for these past centuries.”

  “Thank you,” he breathed, shivering. “I am ready.”

  He lowered his head again, and I stepped back, bringing up the sword and hitting his neck with all I had. My stomach turned as it took off his head cleanly, but at least I didn’t drag it out like they did in the movies.

  What was there to drag out? More heartache for me to handle after? He was dead, so he wouldn’t be upset.

  I called in local dispatch, my phone working once he was dead. I gave them all the details and clearance for the order of execution.

  Just as I hung up, the van came whipping into the parking lot, and I covered my eyes so the headlights didn’t blind me.

  “This is too fucking weird,” Hagan said after they got out and joined me. “You were there. I blinked, and you were gone. I had no idea what was going on at all.”

  “Be the only person it didn’t affect, and I promise, the unsettling factor goes up astronomically. Watching you all slow down and stop moving will seriously be a new nightmare for me. I know it.”

  “It’s over,” he whispered, kissing my hair. “You closed all of Vegas’ paranormal cases in a few days, Sera. Be proud of that.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, scrubbing my free hand over my hair.

  “My queen will keep her promise,” Dain told me firmly.

  “Dain, I’m exhausted and recovering. Please tell me which promise you mean. Be nice and be blunt.”

  “She has not only sent out a massive shipment of fairy material she promised, she also sent scores of clothes and has been compiling all of the information we have collected from our bugs and intelligence gathering she knows you would want for the human cases as well. I have been authorized to bring the first drive of files to you.”

  “I’m never going home, am I? Fucking Vegas.” I kicked at a stone on the parking lot. “This was supposed to be sin city, not me cleaning up all their sins.”

  “She hates the execution orders,” Reagan explained to Dain as I walked off for a moment to breathe. He was right. I really, really hated them no matter how needed they were. They went against all the morals I stood by as FBI for due process and letting the system work. This one it helped there was a confession, but the lion shifter I’d had to put down because she’d gone feral after her son died still haunted me.

  I had a feeling lots would haunt me in my new life.

  After the locals came to clean up and handle processing and all the legwork, I actually didn’t go to bed like I wanted, but my team met me at the FBI office with all the information on Liam. I listened to the interrogation Harris recorded, looked over the report he filled out, and closed the case after I saw the elders recommended the queen put Liam to death. Done and done.

  They’d also brought the drive Dain had talked about, and twenty minutes into my team starting on that, Hull showed up with a bunch of his people. I didn’t even have to guess that the night security had probably warned the head of the office that we had come in. I was right as I signed the rest of the reports I needed to that Harris had handled from the cheetahs robbing banks.

  “They’re writing up the shifter murders, which weren’t done by shifters but a fairy, and the vampire is taken care of,” I told him, not even hiding my exhaustion.

  “You handled all of those files in under three days?” he asked, not suppressing his shock or suspicion.

  “We might have more. Got some recordings from a source, and we’re seeing if anything good is on them.”

  “What source?” he demanded.

  I slowly raised my head and gave him a look that showed exactly how
I was feeling at the moment. “I don’t believe I need to explain to you what a source is nor that only idiots give up their sources if they want more intel. I’m also the same rank as you, Hull, so try and remember that as you speak to me ruder than I do my own subordinates.”

  “Right, fine, sorry, tired.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I drawled, handing Harris the file. “I want copies for our office as well since we brought them home in case later something tries to bite my ass. I like knowing who I’ve potentially pissed off always. That fairy one might come back later, as he had a lot of supporters.”

  “Got it, Chief. I’ll get them all in our system.”

  “No, just copies for us to take home. Let Jennings and the techies handle that when they’ve got a lull. I can’t even imagine how many recordings we got.”

  I almost cried when I found out the drive was a fucking terabyte of audio files.

  We worked until three in the morning, which was when I called it. My team looked like they were going to keel over. I stood up, and not only did my injuries hurt again, but everything just ached.

  “Everyone get to bed. My people, meet at Bellagio’s pool for brunch.” I glanced around and found Shaw. “Can you get us enough tablets and divide the rest of the recordings for each of us? Fuck it. If we’re here in Vegas working overtime we won’t get paid for, I’m doing this at the pool with something fruity.” Several people groaned like they wanted that too, and I smiled.

  “I’ll make it happen, Chief, especially since I’ve learned there are three more drives like the one we got coming.”

  Needless to say, there was lots of cussing.

  I glanced over to Hull. “Can you get someone from Vegas PD brass to meet with me so we can hand over what we think is for them?”

  “We can handle that,” he argued, and I rolled my eyes. Right, because he wouldn’t take credit for that or whatever. “Yeah, fine, I know a few that would jump on this. I’ll tell them you’ll be at the pool.”

  I snarled at him, and he shut it. For fuck’s sake. There was only so much abuse I was willing to take from him and his people. Enough already.