Born Suspect

by brett hicks

  “You shall walk away whilst you have that privilege. You have no lawful rights on this land. You must wait for Melony to step outside packland to arrest her. Not that I am suggesting guilt on her part. Leave, before these good folks are incited into a PR nightmare.”

  Clarke snarled in anger and his nostrils flared.

  “I am not leaving without her!”

  Rachelle shrugged her shoulders in a devil-may-care fashion.

  “Then, you are not leaving here. Lyra, they have physically assaulted one of your pack. Under the packlands amendment to the Constitution of the United States, they are now subject to pack law. It is with in your right to have your enforcers detain them, until contact with their commanding officer can be established and terms for their release, or punishment agreed upon.”

  Lyra suddenly cooled about two-hundred degrees. (Not literally!) She smiled like she had just won the lottery. She looked to the other shifters around the room and nodded, a simple gesture.

  “It pays to have a vampire in the pack. To think the other apexes called me crazy.”

  Jaden muttered sassily, “But she is a bit crazy.”

  Mark snorted but remained composed. Three shifters grabbed the cops from behind, carefully disarming them.

  “Only the Detective, send the other two back to their squad car. They didn’t harm anyone.”

  Lyra nodded to the two behind Detective Clarke. The shifters nodded, and they practically drug the two struggling men back to the police squad cars. The cops were protesting on the street corner, but the shifters barred their re-entry to the yard. After about a minute of deliberation, they finally withdrew and pealed out in the car.

  “Get your hands off me you animals!”

  Clarke roared in rage, a rage I could feel in my gut. That succubus power I had over emotions told me of a bottomless pit of rage, despair, and grief. I felt it all churn in me, as if it was my emotion, as if I had lived and lost everything.

  “Why do you hate us so much?”

  I barely breathed out the question, but it seemed to trigger something in Clarke. He stilled and stopped fighting the two shifters escorting him across the road, to the shifter jail. (Yes, we had a jail in the neighborhood. It looked just like another house, but the sub-levels were for detention and interrogation.)

  I sighed out a long breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Yet again, I felt like I had become a damsel that had just been saved. And, yet again, I was somehow on the wrong side of the law. How had the police leapt to the conclusion that I was to blame for the girl’s attack? Being a Born of any kind in this day-and-age, is akin to being dark-skinned in the south, two generations ago!

  We had to tread carefully now, because this wouldn’t end well for the pack, if anything happened to Clarke. Loathe him as I might, his safety was paramount to me now!

  “Jaden, please stay with them. I know you will see to it that our detective here comes to no harm. It would behoove us to keep him in one piece.”

  Jaden’s eyes widened a fraction. Her keen dark gaze seemed to go distant for a split second, likely gauging the potential danger his harm to bring upon us. She nodded her agreement. Jaden was technically above me in the pack’s pecking order, but no one really knew where a succubus fit into things. So, I was careful in how I worded the request.

  “I’ll keep tall, dark, and angry in one piece. Though, I might subject him to a screening of The Princess Bride, just because I can.”

  I shook my head slightly and snorted.

  “That hardly sounds like torture to me.”

  Jaden rolled her eyes at me.

  “When’s the last time you saw a man like him watch The Princess Bride?”

  I shrugged, point made.

  “How about you put on Super Troopers? That seems more his speed.”

  Mark shot over my shoulder. Jaden smiled widely at something I couldn’t see—like her mate.

  “The point is to annoy him. Not to entertain him. Besides, what point is there in owning a dungeon, if we never get to use it?”

  She sounded a bit petulant as she faux-sulked about her dungeon. I had seen the jail briefly once, when I had been asked to feed a few of the prisoners. It was much like a human lock-up. Except it housed shifters who had broken pack laws. It was nothing like the dank hole that I had been thrown in when I had been taken captive.

  A shiver ran down my back at the memory. Jack Maddox had beaten me raw that night. The memories were fresh, but I wasn’t likely to ever forget being tortured. Now, I would forever link that night to the discovery of my birth mom. Kimiko of Kyoto. A being so ancient, she pre-dates the concept of surnames. I guess I should be grateful that I have a last name. I could have been Melony of Richmond. (Somehow, that just doesn’t have the same ring to it!)

  ***

  I sat across the bars from Detective Clarke. After a few hours, I had wiggled my way to the jail. Lyra was busy having a telephone pissing match with local human law-enforcement officers. Apparently, they didn’t appreciate their detective being arrested, when he was here to do the arresting—mainly of me.

  His eyes seemed to be seething with hatred. I sat in a chair near his cell. True to her word, Jaden had The Princess Bride playing. I wasn’t sure who’s benefit this was for, considering I walked in on her with a huge bowl of popcorn. She had made herself at home in the pack enforcer’s chair. “Not like he needs it while he is on patrol,” she had said.

  “Come to gloat on this reversal of position?”

  His disdain was palpable. I could breathe in his loathing and hatred. There was a story to him, like anyone with such powerful emotions. As a former victim of abuse, I could taste the similarities in us. It was like called to like, or maybe I was just crazy?

  “Why did you come here Detective?”

  He sneered at me through the bars. His condescension and intolerance roiled free of him.

  “I would have expected that even a leech like you knows what my purpose here is.”

  I shook my head.

  “No, that wasn’t the real reason. This leech as you call me, has good intuition. I know you’ve been harmed badly by at least one supernatural, not that it justifies your hatred of us all, of course.”

  He growled much akin to a wolf shifter.

  “You stay out of my head you leech!”

  Jaden sighed, and she clicked pause on her DVD. She stood and gracefully sashayed over to me. She leaned her arm on my shoulder like her own personal armrest. I was becoming accustomed to her space crowding ways. It wasn’t sexual like with Rachelle. She just liked to be clingy with her friends.

  “Let me handle this. It will go much faster with a professional asking the questions. Though your instincts seem to be impressively attuned for your newness to the craft.”

  She flicked her gaze back to Detective Clarke. She didn’t return his loathing. She just sighed again and shook her head.

  “Whoever I remind you of, for whatever reason, I am not them. You had best give me some answers and stop lumping me in with immoral shifters. It’s time for you to sing for the wolf Detective. Tell me why you really targeted my friend Melony. What is really going on with the human authorities?”

  She waited patiently, ignoring his contemptuous looks. Neither girl seemed poised to leave without answers.

  Four:

  Nothing seemed to be going his way today. First his divorce was finalized, and now he was being held captive by a pack of savage animals! Two sets of curious eyes watched him all day. Two sets of eyes attached to two in-human beasts. An oddity, a vampire and a wolf shifter together. That was a new one for his books. He had born witness the countless atrocities the two sects visited upon one another, time-and-again.

  After all, the police seemed destined to clean up the collective messes left in the wake of the immortals that plagued the earth. Sam Clarke glared defiantly at the two beings before him. He had come here for a reason. Arresting Melony Toyo was just a means-to-an-ends. He truly had an issue, an issue that requi
red supernatural insider information.

  Bodies were piling up in the city. Mostly transient now, but the colleges had lost several students now too. Soon, none would be safe, hell none were ever safe! He scrubbed his hands through his red-tinted brown hair. He had just turned thirty, just become a divorcee, and now he could add supernatural abduction to his list of problems.

  ***

  He noted the two gawking women were absent for about forty minutes in the middle of the day. They returned with a large plate of food. His stomach growled at the sight of the large T-bone steak. There was a large butter laden potato and what looked like French style green beans. The other girl carried utensils and a large pitcher of tea.

  He eyed them with the same weariness as he had previously. He still wasn’t sure what games they were playing. The half-Asian girl, Melony gave him a weak smile, like it almost tormented her to smile at him. Like she was fighting off some invisible demon in doing so. If he hadn’t seen her handiwork, he would feel compelled to rescue her. She had a fragile disposition about her, despite the clear strength beneath the surface. She was a woman with a very dark past, though, she seemed to carry herself with a little more confidence than the first time he met her.

  She spoke softly, kindly to him.

  “Please move back while we serve you dinner.”

  Sam raised a single questioning brow. He noted the steak knife among the items the girl was walking into his cell with. A third figure stalked over, the shifter enforcer from earlier. He unlocked the door for the two girls and leveled Sam with a menacing look. It was as if he was daring the young detective to try something.

  Sam stepped back, and let the girls set up the little fold out table. Melony deposited his food, a cup, and some various sauces on the table. She bit her lip and gave him another shy smile and shrugged.

  “I wasn’t sure how you liked your steak. I told them medium-well, since it could be tolerable to most types of people.”

  She could almost disarm a man with the easy charm that floated in her wake. Sam could feel his cock stiffen as she neared him. It was peculiar. He had met many vampires, but none could unravel a man like this one. He hated the girl, just on principle. The fact that she could affect his body against his will. Still, he wasn’t even sure if she knew what she was doing!

  “I told them to give you a proper bowl of prison gruel, but now, goodie-goodie here had to get you a damn steak.”

  The Chinese girl of an even more slight build spoke to Melony’s right. Melony threw her a chastising look and scoffed at her.

  “Behave you! He is just trying to do his job, even if it did put him at odds with us this time!”

  The other girl—Jaden—growled and muttered something indecipherable to Melony. Melony just rolled her eyes and sighed like a mother at her wit’s end. Everything between the two was so human, so normal. Sam almost forgot who, and what they were. They stepped out of the cell and he noted that even Melony never turned her back to him. She held herself like someone who had been undergoing intense training. Sam was a Marine. He could see it in her steps. Her movements, and her graceful posture. It was martial arts, not just feminine grace.

  “You sure you should be giving me a knife?”

  He couldn’t help, but to taunt them. His frustration with the situation was mounting. Jaden growled deeply in her throat and her eyes flashed to crimson. An alpha, he had not realized just how highly placed she was! Melony touched her arm gently and the wolf-girl backed away at the unspoken command.

  How does she do that?! She should be getting torn to shreds right now!

  Melony Toyo was an enigma, wrapped in a mystery. Nothing made sense about the vampire that pursued her. He had never heard of a vamp getting so obsessed over a newly turned or Born vampire before now. He didn’t have to be in the know, to figure that Melony was something rarer than anyone was letting on.

  Besides, the way the alpha shifters power seemed to slide off her, made it obvious she was a young master class vampire. Sam knew a lot about vampires. He made it his life’s mission to know everything he could. The young woman standing before him now was clearly a master class, yet she was also in a shifter pack.

  Nothing was making sense. Least of all, what she served him for dinner! Not that Sam could complain. He had missed lunch, so he didn’t have enough pride to turn his nose up to the shifter-prepared meal.

  He sat back down on the cot and he pulled the table closer. Melony walked back over with the pitcher of tea.

  “I hope tea is ok. I had to guess, so I figured being the south, it should be fine.”

  Is this some sort of trick? Is this her way of getting me to lower my guard so she can pick through my brain?

  “She can’t read your thoughts. Melony is far too new at all of this, to do that.”

  Rachelle Jameson strut into the room, leveling him with a mild look. Her light-brown eyes skewered him, assessing him. He felt a chill sweep over his spine as she approached. Melony turned and shot her a look of some sort.

  “Rach, please, be nice to him. He is already completely out of his comfort-zone here!”

  Rachelle Jameson looked like she could throw Sam down a bottomless pit for all she cared. Her look softened noticeably, when her eyes touched Melony. Before today, Sam had assumed the rumors were exaggerated. Now, he could tell that the two really were lovers. The unmistakable looks of affection and adoration that passed between them, were dead giveaways.

  Not for the first time, Sam was left to wonder who Melony Toyo really was! She had Rachelle Jameson enthralled! More importantly, he looked back to Rachelle, studying her.

  Did she read my mind?

  Her thick lips turned up into a cocky smirk.

  Yep, she heard that alright!

  “I’ve been listening to you for a while now. I admit, you are harder to read than most humans. Anyone short of a master wouldn’t be able to pick through your surface thoughts. You have a nice and proper web of thoughts working as a buffer, layered over what you’re really thinking about. A nice technique for a vampire hunter, no doubt.”

  The chills seemed to stiffen his joints. His bones seemed to vibrate under the unseen icy power approaching him. He started cutting up the steak, focusing on anything, but the deadly master vampire, seemed like an innovative idea. Besides, it had the added benefit of pissing her off!

  “Tell me in your own words, why you are really here, Detective.”

  Rachelle’s honey smooth voice vibrated through him. He could feel the shadowy tendrils of her powers reaching into him, beckoning him to speak the truth.

  Glamor!

  Vampiric magic that enables them to enthrall, seduce, or compel their victims. A power often abused on humans. It also had the side benefit of being the most useful tool for interrogation.

  Sam was surprised at what happened next. Melony playfully popped the seven-hundred-year-old vampire on the back of the head. She took on a scolding tone, very similar to his x-wife’s.

  “Rach, please, let the man eat! We will figure this all out soon enough.”

  There was a dark look in Rachelle Jameson’s eyes, it spoke of his untimely death, but it passed quickly. Something heavy passed between the two women. They were at odds about something—something that affected him. His nerves were on the very edges of their proverbial seats now. His body was chilly with the magic of the master vampire. He felt his muscles shiver in response.

  “Mel, you’re much too kind to him. You do realize the reversal of positions you are setting yourself up for? This is dangerous! You cannot go through with this!”

  Melony cut the vampire a steely look. Her resolve shone through like a nova star, melting his cold. Her power cascaded through the room. His mind swam in it. After a long moment of gaping with a piece of steak half-raised to his mouth, Sam finally remembered to take the bite. The taste exploded on his tongue. He nearly groaned in the pleasure of the rapture of the meat’s preparation. He had heard that shifters were among the best cooks on the planet,
that was clearly true.

  “He likes it!”

  Melony proclaimed from across the bars. If he wasn’t imagining it, it was almost as if she could read his mood. Sam worked around a very wide variety of supernaturals daily. Particularly, with witches, and Kopis warriors. Beings that felt honor bound to help keep the peace among the many sects, and the humans. Sam’s intuition told him not to underestimate Melony. She was dead center of some major power players. No one stood toe-to-toe with a master and an alpha female, unless they were of equally potent stock.

  ***

  Two hours after dinner had been served, he heard boots clacking on the cement sub-level floor. His head perked up in time to see the grizzled form of his boss’s, boss walk in. The Chief of Richmond Precinct two himself. Arron Smith walked in. He was in his late fifties. He was in his dress blues. He nodded to the young alpha shifter. His eyes cut to Sam, he looked him over, seeing that he was unharmed. There was a bit of tension released from his posture, seeing Sam in one piece.

  “I appreciate you keeping this civil.”

  Jaden shrugged and sassily quipped to the Chief.

  “We might be shifters, but we’re not savages.”

  The older man chortled at her joke and nodded his agreement. He walked through the room with a deep sense of belonging. He was almost comfortable amongst the wolves and the large cats. He didn’t seem any more bothered by Rachelle, or Melony.

  “If you would be so kind?”

  Chief Smith gestured to the bars and Jaden nodded. She unlocked the door and stepped back, out of the way.

  “I will have my enforcer deliver his firearm and ammo to your car. You will see it sitting on the roof.”

  He nodded in comprehension.

  “That would be lovely my dear, thank you.”

  Jaden dipped her head and she turned, walking out the door. Sam took a tentative step out of the cell. He still felt like he could be mauled at any moment. Part of him wished he had held onto the steak knife. He stepped out of the cell, and Melony Toyo crossed his path in the narrow hallway.