Saving Grace (Grace Chandler Mystery Book 1)

by T. R. Lester

  As he watches the female, he can see she’s on the phone with someone. And since he’s vampire, he decides to listen in. She’s talking to someone about the investigation she’s working on. A male. A wolf.

  A low growl rumbles up through his throat.

  “Where the hell did that come from?”

  Settling himself on the roof, he listens to her conversation and learns that it’s a possibility a vampire was involved.

  The only vampires he knows of are the covens in Tennessee. Maybe they are hunting out of their territories to throw off humans. Since vampires can sense each other, he knows there haven’t been any in this area since he came almost twenty years ago.

  He watches as Grace finishes her call, then leaves the lot. Hearing a door open, he looks down and sees the male that is Grace’s partner stroll out of the building.

  Draven’s sneer reveals his lengthening canines. He doesn’t like the man. He’s looked into the male’s mind and don’t like what he sees. He always has lurid thoughts of Grace, images of what he wants to do to her on a sexual level.

  He watches as the male gets into his car and drives off. Going the opposite way that Grace did.

  Draven sits on the roof for a few more minutes, then releases his wings from his back and takes flight. Since Draven is from the seraphic blood, he was born with wings and the ability to fly, like the fallen ones. He also has the ability to control the wind and air flow, astral projection, he can see human auras, telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, the ability to control one’s mind and body, and of course, inhuman strength. Since he has a soul, he can withstand sunlight.

  Draven has tried over the years to be a male who blends in with humans. Most humans don’t have enough arcane energy to sense the supernatural. But there are those few exceptions that exist. He has run into only one person in the last one hundred years who was able to sense what he was. That person ended up being a willing blood donor to him and a close friend who he protected until the man’s death from old age.

  Draven has watched over each city he has resided in while staying inconspicuous. He doesn’t go out much, only at night most of the time. Not because he can’t but because he wants to stay out of public view for as long as possible. He has grown to love this small town and isn’t in any hurry to have to move on.

  Continuing his flight, he scans the minds of those he sees below. Humans walking the streets, shopping, getting into vehicles. He looks for anything out of the ordinary, such as crimes in progress, those needing assistance. He doesn’t get involved, rather, he can hold a perpetrator until an officer arrives. He can prompt the person with a thought to remain in place and not move. The person can try to resist, but in the end, they are unable to break the command he places on them.

  When he looks up again, he can’t believe where he has been circling.

  “Ah hell. Why do I keep ending up at Grace Chandler’s house? Why am I so damn infatuated with this female?”

  Draven finds himself at an old Victorian home situated on the edge of a large lake. It has been passed down through generations in Grace’s family. There are trees surrounding the lake and the house, numerous windows in the two-story home, and a gated drive.

  Starting his descent, Draven finds a tree that can support his weight and alights.

  He can see Grace through the white sheer curtains that blow gently from the wind wafting through the open windows. She is preparing for bed. She is sitting at her vanity brushing her hair, and deep in thought Draven realizes.

  “I feel like a peeping Tom.” Draven snorts under his breath.

  But still, he can’t seem to leave. He doesn’t intrude on her moments of personal grooming, well, except for when she brushes her hair. He doesn’t watch her bathe or change clothes. He isn’t that type of pervert. The urge to watch is more of an overwhelming need to make sure she’s safe, to make sure there’s not any danger around her.

  Sighing, Draven nestles closer into the limb and leans back placing his hands behind his head, watching as she brushes her hair.

  “I can’t believe I’ve sunk to the level of watching women from a tree.”

  Then he sees her start to look around.

  Can she sense him? Can she feel that she’s being watched?

  He sees a cat jump up and sit on the window sill. It is staring at him through slitted eyes. The cat hisses softly and jumps down.

  “You little beast. You can see me and you know what I am.”

  Sinking back closer into the cover of the leaves, he watches, seeing if she is going to come and investigate the feeling she’s getting.

  She doesn’t. She continues to look around for a few moments then starts braiding her hair.

  “I really need to stop doing this. No, I really need to find out why I can’t seem to stop watching this female.”

  After she finishes her braid, she walks over to the bed and crawls in between the covers.

  Tired of sitting in the tree, Draven releases his wings and takes flight.

  With nothing going on in the area, Draven turns and heads to his home. He lives on the outskirts of town in a three-bedroom cabin. As he nears his house, he makes a couple of wide circles to make sure his nosey neighbor is not outside at this time of night. Knowing her, it wouldn’t surprise him. She watches his every move.

  Not seeing her anywhere, he drops down in his backyard and pulls his wings in. entering the house, he heads into the kitchen to get a bite to eat and figure out a way he can help Agent Grace Chandler on this case.

  Chapter 5

  Lucas shuts off his car engine and gets out to look around the park. The lights in the park barely light the parking lot so he grabs his flash light from the trunk.

  Looking around, he can see the crime scene tape waving in the wind where it starts at the foot trail. They taped it off from the start of the trail to where the victim was found.

  “Damn, it’s creepy out here tonight.”

  Closing his trunk lid, he walks over to the black truck, turns his flash light on and looks in the back of it. Clean as a pin. It looks as if nothing has ever been placed or hauled in the back. Walking around the rear, continuing to shine the light, he looks for anything out of the ordinary.

  “Why in the hell did the techs not look at this vehicle?” He wonders.

  As he rounds the tailgate and heads up to the passenger door, he stops to look at the door handle and window.

  There is a small dot of blood on the bottom of the wind and on the door handle. Taking out his phone, he snaps a picture.

  He makes a note to call in the tech crew to pick the truck up.

  Moving around the vehicle, he doesn’t find anything else. Maybe the lab techs will find something. It is dark out tonight and hard to see.

  He walks over to the start of the foot trail and starts walking.

  Listening as he walks, there are no sounds of crickets, insects, or any other forest creatures.

  “That’s odd.”

  When he gets almost to the place where the girl was found, he hears the snap of a dry limb. Stopping, he focuses on his surroundings and listens. Leaves rustling, as if someone moved their foot.

  He stands there for a minute before moving on. Getting antsy and nervous now, he increases his pace in order to get to the scene faster.

  “What was I thinking to come out here alone?” He asks himself.

  As he nears the area, he hears another rustle of leaves. Then, without warning, something slams into him knocking him to the ground, stunning and knocking the breath out of him for a moment.

  As he lies there trying to catch a breath, a figure looms over him, looking down, smiling.

  “Well, you’re not the one I was looking for, but you will do for now.” The grating voice says.

  Lucas’ vision is blurred from the impact, but as he looks up, he can see a sneering smile with long canine teeth protruding from between the male’s parted lips.

  “Who the hell are you?” Lucas asks.

  “I am
the last thing you will see as a human being.”

  “What?”

  “You see, I was waiting on the female to come. I know she is working on this case. I also know she will let her curiosity get the best of her sooner or later. When that happens, I will rip her throat out so she doesn’t interfere in my plans.”

  “And what plans would that be?” Lucas asks.

  The male lets out a chuckle.

  “That does not concern you. But I think I may be able to use you in the future.”

  The male reaches down and wraps his hand around Lucas’ throat. Lucas struggles, kicking his legs and grabbing at the hands on his neck, but it’s useless. The male is too strong.

  He spins Lucas around and locks an arm of steel across Lucas’ chest. Using his right hand, he shoves Lucas’ neck to the left, making his ear touch his shoulder. The impact results in a broken collar bone. The male leans down and lets his canines lengthen more, then buries them into Lucas’ carotid artery so deep that Lucas can hear the teeth scrape bone.

  Soon, Lucas feels the headache from blood loss set in. then, the dizziness, nausea and confusion. As the male drinks, he can feel his skin getting cold and clammy. His pulse slows and his breaths get shallow. The last thing Lucas sees is the blurry trees surrounding him and he hears the growl of the thing killing him.

  The male drinks, and drinks. Soon the cop is drained and limp. The male slices his own wrist, shoves it to the cop’s mouth and lets his blood flow into his mouth and down his throat. He continues this until he sees the cop’s eyes fly open. He pulls his wrist away and the cop’s mouth opens to form a scream. The male quickly takes control of Lucas’ vocal cords, constricting them to prevent any sound.

  Lucas lies writhing on the ground, mouth agape in a silent scream. His veins feel as if they have lava flowing through them. The lava flows to each of his organs, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Finally, it reaches his heart, and the pain is massive. It feels like each chamber of his heart is being ripped apart and melted back together. He writhes around, waiting for the pain to leave.

  Finally, the pain stops and Lucas opens his eyes to look around. Seeing the male still standing over him, Lucas rises to a sitting position.

  “How do you feel now cop?”

  “I feel… hungry. Why am I so hungry?”

  “Ah. Because you need to feed. Let’s go and I will teach you.”

  Lucas stands and looks at the male.

  “Teach me?”

  Feeling a little confused, Lucas isn’t sure what the man means by teach him. Doesn’t he remember how to eat?

  The male makes a small cut on his wrist and waves it under Lucas’ nose. Lucas’ eyes turn red, his canines lengthen and he starts salivating, so much so that it drains from the corners of his mouth.

  “I am going to teach you how to feed on blood cop.”

  The male walks back up the trail.

  “We need to move that truck before we go.”

  Lucas nods and falls in behind him, trying to control his overwhelming need for blood.

  Chapter 6

  Grace’s alarm goes off at 6am, and she groans. Another sleepless night.

  “Time to get up Grace.” She says to herself.

  Throwing the blanket back, she rolls out of bed and heads for the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee before her shower.

  As she enters her kitchen, she notices her orchid sitting on the window sill. A beautiful orange blossom hangs from its spike.

  “Oh, you finally bloomed for me.”

  Besides being an animal lover, Grace loves growing plants and her love of orchids came from her grandmother who taught Grace how to care for them.

  Taking the coffee can from the cabinet, she puts three scoops of coffee into the filter basket, fills the coffee maker with water and flips it on.

  As she starts to exit the kitchen, the phone rings.

  “Damn, who could be calling this early?”

  “Hello.” Grace says into the phone.

  “Agent Chandler, Director Tanner here.”

  “Good morning director. How are you?”

  “I’m ok. And you?”

  “Doing good.”

  “Have you seen Agent Cane? Or heard from him?”

  “Last night I did. I called him to get him to check a license plate, and he said he was going to ride out to the park and see if that black truck was still there. We ran the plate and got a name so he was checking it out to see what he may find. He called me when he got there and said he would call me today and let me know. Have you called him?”

  “Yes. Numerous times. His phone goes to voicemail, and he isn’t returning calls. He’s not at his house and he hasn’t been into his office yet.”

  “I told him not to go out there alone, but he said he would be fine and not to worry. He was just going to look around. I’ll keep trying to track him down and I’ll let you know if I find him.”

  “If you find him, tell him to call me and hurry up about it.”

  “Will do director.”

  “Have a good day Grace.”

  “You too.”

  Grace hung the phone up and leaned back against the counter.

  “Where in the hell could he be?” She wonders.

  Getting her cell phone, she dials Lucas’ number, and it went straight to voicemail.”

  “Shit.”

  She decides to head upstairs and get a shower so she can go out and look for the creepy ass Lucas and give him a piece of her mind for not answering anyone’s calls.

  When she walks into the living room from the kitchen, she can see something hanging on her front door. Her door is the type that has the big oval window in the center with stained glass. In the center of the glass there looks to be a note or some sort of paper secured with tape.

  Cautiously walking over to the door, she peeps through the side window on the left of the door to see if there is anyone lurking about. Before opening the door, she decides to go get her gun from the table in the living room where she keeps it.

  Checking outside again and not seeing anyone, she unlocks the door and stands there for a minute, waiting. Still no one. She slowly opens the door and peeps out. Reaching around from the inside, she grasps the edge of the paper and pulls it free from the glass, closes the door and locks it.

  Holding the paper by the corner so as not to contaminate and prints that may be on it, she goes and sits in her chair in the living room and opens it. The paper is white with no lines. It looks like the kind that comes from a package of printer paper. It’s folded in half, then folded in half again.

  Reaching for her back pack, she fishes out a pair of rubber gloves and puts them on. She opens the paper and can see writing on the inside.

  She begins to read.

  Hello Agent Chandler,

  Since you are the lead on the recent murder case, I’ll address this letter to you.

  I expect our paths will cross soon. You see, I’m the one you are searching for in regards to the body that was found.

  I don’t have time for dodging and evading you, so I’ll say this once. Back off this case. You won’t stop me from proceeding with my plans. The only thing you will succeed in is getting killed.

  I’ll be watching you.

  Staring at the letter, Grace feels a shiver go down her spine. Pushing herself from the chair, she reaches for her phone to call the director. The call goes to voicemail, so she leaves a message for him to call her as soon as possible.

  “What the hell is going on?” She wonders.

  Unnerved, but ready to leave the house, she heads upstairs for her shower. Getting in and out as quickly as possible while still bathing properly, she rushes to get her clothes on and goes back downstairs to get her coffee, back pack, put her gun on, grab her keys and leave. As she walks to her car, she feels that tingle again on her skin, like she’s being watched.

  She finally gets into the car and slams the door, making sure to hit the lock button. As she starts the car and puts it in
reverse, her phone rings. Looking at the screen, she sighs. The assistant director, Francine Bates, shows on the caller ID.

  Grace can’t stand the bitch. She’s given Grace more shit in her years as an agent than any of the males have. Never one to compliment, always criticizing. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself. Grace has been thrown under many buses when dealing with this pit viper. At five feet two inches tall, Francine was teased for being short. A very plain looking woman who wore no makeup and kept her silvery grey hair pulled into a severe bun, she was not much for looks either. Grace guessed she was in her early fifties, or else she had lead a hard life. She had never been married, which wasn’t a huge surprise as she was a bitch to everyone, not just Grace. If Grace had to sum her up in one word, it would be frumpy.

  “Hello Francine.”

  “I’ve told you to call me Director Bates, Grace. Can you not do just this one little thing right? Do I always need to correct you?”

  Biting her tongue, Grace remains silent.

  “Anyway, I was calling to see if you’ve heard from Director Tanner. I’ve tried to reach him but he isn’t answering his phone.”

  “He called me this morning, about an hour ago, looking for Cane. That’s the last time I’ve talked to him. Why is everyone disappearing all of a sudden?”

  “Well, if I knew that, I wouldn’t have had to call you.”

  Bitch, Grace thought to herself.

  “Anything else Director Bates?”

  Grace made sure to put emphasis on the word director.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were trying to get rid of me Grace.”

  “I’m driving to work so I don’t like to use the phone and drive,” was the only lame excuse Grace could come up with. When in truth, she just didn’t want to talk to the viper.

  The call dropped. Grace wasn’t sure if the bitch hung up or the call just dropped. And she didn’t give a shit.

  “This is going to be a long pain in the ass day.” Grace said aloud.