by Lauren Dawes
“Upgrade?”
“Easier on the eyes,” I said without thinking. Then blushed. “Fuck. Sorry. That was…wrong. Your dad is very handsome, some might even say hot—”
“Stop talking, McKenzie,” Sawyer told me bluntly.
“Shutting up,” I replied softly, letting out a shaky breath. I looked down, waiting for the ground to open up beneath me.
“Did you see where the vampire went?”
“She took one look at me and vanished.”
“Like, she just ran away, right?” I asked. “She didn’t poof into thin air.”
“Only the really old ones can do that,” Sawyer said absently. “Most vampires just move very quickly.”
I swallowed. I felt like I wanted to just disappear into a safety bubble and never step out. I was getting a crash course on the supernatural world, and I was totally going to fail the quiz at the end.
“Could you scent where she went?”
Jasmine flicked her fingertips over a pleat in her skirt. “I tracked her to a window that had been left ajar. I think she got out that way.”
“I thought vampires couldn’t come inside a building without an invitation.”
“That only applies to homes,” Sawyer replied, cutting off the recording. “Thank you, Jasmine. You’ve been a great help.”
She bobbed her head, her blonde hair shining in the overhead light. “Anytime. If I think of anything else, or if you have any more questions, you know where to find me.”
She returned to her classroom, and we waited for Watts to come back out to meet us.
“Are you ready to meet the other two children?” At our nod, he led us down a series of halls, finally stopping in front of a classroom. “If you could wait here, I’ll go and collect the students and take you back to the office for the interview. I will have to be present for that also.”
“Of course,” Sawyer said.
When we were alone again, I asked, “Why is he ignoring me?”
He smirked. “Given your height, I thought you’d be used to it by now.”
“Wow. You are such a shit.”
He sighed. “It’s the sword you’re carrying. It’s magic, and humans have no magic in them. Therefore, they can’t see you or the sword, since you’re touching it.”
“But Jasmine could see me just fine.”
He conceded that point with a nod. “True, but Jasmine is a werewolf. She’s tied to magic in a different way. She could see you, but Watts and the receptionist couldn’t because they’re human.”
“What if I’d taken the sword off?”
“Then you would’ve been visible to them.”
“I don’t know whether this is welcome information or not.”
“It’s neither good nor bad. It just is.”
Who the fuck was he? Yoda? Good or bad, neither is. Is, it just. I folded my arms over my chest.
A few minutes later, Watts appeared again with two small kids trailing behind him. The girl and boy looked petrified as they took in Sawyer in all his growly beauty.
“This way,” Watts announced in a tone that even had me jumping to attention. We followed him back into the office, then each of us found seats, Sawyer and I in the two chairs in front of the desk and the kids taking a seat on the low sofa up against the wall. Like criminals facing a firing squad.
Watts sat behind his desk.
“Trish and Jack, this is Detective Sawyer Taylor. He’s here to ask you some questions about last night.”
Trish huddled in on herself and shuffled closer to Jack. They looked similar, both with dark hair and eyes. Since I was essentially invisible right now, I sat back and let Sawyer take the lead.
“Alright, Trish and Jack, I’m going to ask you some questions, and I’d like it if you could answer them as truthfully as you can. Is that okay?” He waited for both kids to nod before he pulled out his phone and hit the record button.
“Okay, Trish, let’s start with you. Can you tell me what happened?”
The girl nodded and wiped a finger under her nose. “I don’t remember a lot, actually.” She glanced at Jack. “I remember being in my seat, and then I heard her calling me. I couldn’t see her, so I stood up and walked to where I could hear her more clearly. I found her waiting backstage. She said she had some candy for me and my brother, but we could only have it if we went with her. I didn’t want to go. I remember feeling that, but the next second, I was walking towards where she was hiding. Jack followed me because we always go everywhere together.”
As the girl talked, I looked at Jack, who was staring at me dead in the eye. I blinked, wondering whether he could see me, and if he could, how was that possible. I raised one eyebrow at him, and he frowned.
“Jack pulled me away from her before she could take my hand. That’s when Ms. Wolfe saw us and scared the girl away.”
“Did you know the girl was a vampire?”
“No. She looked like a kid, just wearing pajamas, which I thought wasn’t right, but then I thought maybe she was part of the show and she was just in costume.”
“Have you seen this girl somewhere else?” Sawyer asked.
Trish shook her head. “No, it was the first time. Jack hasn’t seen her before either.”
Sawyer’s cool gray stare settled on Jack for a moment, then darted away. Jack still had his own eyes on me. Watching. Waiting. Although, for what, I couldn’t tell. Around my neck, the opal began to pulse with power and heat. I touched it briefly, drawing Sawyer’s attention. I gave him a look, and he shook his head…
And that was when Jack attacked me.
Five
I leaped from my seat, just in time to avoid the hit from the fifty-five-pound kid. Well, he was supposed to be fifty-five pounds, but the bastard was strong. Too strong.
He clutched at my shoulders, trying to bring his mouth to my throat. I shoved him off me, sending him sliding across the floor. Watts ran around the desk and pulled Trish with him, taking cover behind the mahogany monolith.
Sawyer growled, “Reaver,” at me. It took me a moment to register the command.
“On a kid?”
“He’s not a kid,” he replied in a bored voice. He fell into a defensive stance, lowering his center of gravity and wielding both of his knives like a badass. “He’s been possessed.”
“Like by a demon?” I side stepped Jack as he launched himself at me once more, the sound of his little body slamming into the filing cabinet behind me making me flinch. Whirling, I reached down to my side and willed the sword into existence.
On the far side of the room, I heard Watts gasp, then sputter, “W-Where the hell did she come from?”
Jack launched another assault, this time wrapping his hand around my ponytail and yanking. He wrenched back my head, and I screamed as he ripped off a hank of my hair. It fluttered to the floor like teal feathers around my boots.
“You little bastard,” I swore, aiming a blow at his head with the sword. No, I wasn’t trying to kill the little shit—just knock him unconscious with the pommel. I didn’t know how I knew to do that, only that my hand, and perhaps the sword itself, was guiding me. I was never accepting a magical blade ever again. This shit was unpredictable.
“I hate this sword!” I yelled at Sawyer. He slashed at Jack with his knives, one blade catching on the kid’s shoulder. The scream that came from his throat was no sound a human could ever make.
“You shouldn’t. It’ll save your goddamn life.”
“Fuck you!” I hurled the words at him without any feeling. I was just scared, and when I got scared, I got bitchy. Jack screeched and charged at me. Again. I wacked him in the arm with the flat of the blade, knocking him off course. He slammed into the chairs Sawyer and I had been sitting in, toppling them. The kid recovered in record time, leaping up to his feet and baring his human teeth at me.
“McKenzie!” Sawyer barked. “Do it. He won’t stop until one of you is dead.”
Well, I had no intention of getting killed by a kid today, but
I also had no intention of killing a kid. Jack’s shrill battle cry echoed around the room, and I blew a lock of hair from my face. Tightening my grip on Reaver, I held it by my side, ready to react, to actually go through with what Sawyer was frothing at the mouth for me to do.
When he was too close to change course, I held the sword out in front of me with both hands and shut my eyes. The sensation of steel meeting flesh was one I hadn’t felt before, and I could safely say I never wanted to feel it again.
The resistance suddenly fell away, and I peeled one eye open to see Jack disintegrating on the floor of the principal’s office.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled. I turned to Sawyer, who was sheathing his knives.
“Touch the sword to his body, McKenzie. Finish it.”
Biting my bottom lip, I lowered the tip of the blade to his arm. The flesh instantly turned black and began to flake. I blinked, unable to wrap my head around what I’d just done…and that’s when I heard screaming. Trish was wailing over and over again, her eyes on what was left of her brother.
Watts had an arm protectively around her shoulders, and his free hand balled up against his mouth.
“Put the blade away.” Sawyer crouched down beside what was left of Jack, running his fingers through the ashes. “Fascinating.”
“It’s not fascinating,” I barked. “It’s…it’s…” I had no words. What could I say anyway? I hadn’t meant to kill a kid today, but he had attacked me first.
“What happened, Detective Taylor, and who is this woman who attacked my student?” Watts demanded angrily.
“He attacked me first,” I shot back sullenly, glaring at the principal, who was only just seeing me now.
“He wasn’t your student,” Sawyer’s words were calm and oozed authority. “He’d been possessed.”
Watt’s blanched. “Possessed? Possessed by what?”
“A vampire. He’d been made into a Renfield, a vampire’s human slave.”
“A slave?”
He nodded. “A vampire can feed off someone once and not create a slave, but multiple feedings achieve that.” Sawyer turned to Trish. “Has your brother come home with any strange marks in the last few weeks?”
Trish swallowed. “He had two mosquito bites on his wrist last week,” she said softly.
“They weren’t mosquito bites.”
When we arrived back at the station, I took off Reaver and handed it back to Sawyer.
“I don’t want it,” I said when he looked at me strangely.
“Don’t be a fucking baby.”
“It made me invisible!” And there was the real reason. I was short. Life was shit already. Add invisible to the mix, and I was downright savage.
“Yes, and if you hadn’t had it, Jack would’ve killed you.”
I snorted. “I think you’re reaching a little there. I would’ve been fine. I take kickboxing classes.”
“I know. I’ve seen you there, and I’ve got to say, not that impressive.” He stalked back into the office, dropping Reaver onto my desk. I wasn’t going to say I was sullen, but I was definitely not happy with it. Fine, he didn’t want the sword back? I wasn’t going to pick it up again either.
Using the end of a pencil, I nudged Reaver off my keyboard and sat down. “What are we doing now?”
Sawyer was furiously tapping away at his own keyboard, a sneer twisting his mouth. Wow. How was that even sexy?
“I’m writing a report to my boss about what happened.”
I craned my neck. “Are you including how I picked the receptionist was wearing a matching skirt?” He turned to glare at me. “Hey, don’t be mad you didn’t call it first.” I made my hand into a gun and blew at the imaginary smoke. “You have to be quick with me.”
He returned to his work, and I got busy staring at the sword again. Leaning in, I brushed my finger over the glyph, trying to see if I was seeing this right. It had changed into what looked like an etching of my face, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“What is it?” Sawyer asked, suddenly there.
“The glyph.” My hand shook as I pointed at it. “It’s changed.”
He pursed his lips, but other than that, he didn’t actually look that bothered. Me? I was having a stage two freak out. He shrugged. “Magic.”
Like that was a viable explanation for everything? Seriously!
“When can we put it back?”
“Why would you want to? It likes you. It protected you.”
“It made me invisible.”
“For a reason,” he countered. “It was meant to be yours.”
“And if I put it back?”
Again, that infuriating shrug that could’ve meant you’re fucked or let’s see what happens and pray it’s not bad. “I suspect it will come back again.”
I stared at Reaver forlornly. “Why couldn’t I have picked a puppy instead?”
Sawyer rolled back over to his desk and began punching out the email. “Because puppies piss and shit everywhere. Swords don’t.”
“Yeah, they just make me invisible.”
I didn’t appreciate the smirk on his face.
With nothing left to do, I began turning around in my office chair, watching the world go by. With every revolution, I saw the faces of my new colleagues begin to blur and bleed into one another. I didn’t even know what kind of supes I was working with. I slowed to a stop, then stood up.
“Where are you going?” my partner asked.
“I’m going to chat with my co-workers.”
“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”
“Are you saying I’m not charming?”
After a second, he waved his hands in their direction. “By all means then, go and mingle,” he said dryly.
With a nod, I walked over to the only other female in the office who wasn’t BDSM lady and plonked myself on the edge of her desk. She looked up from what she was doing and smiled.
Fangs.
She had fangs!
“Sorry,” she said, dimming her smile so that the delicate points disappeared. “I forget to act human when I’m in this office.”
“Don’t worry about it. I do that all the time.” I cleared my throat. “I just thought I’d introduce myself since Sawyer whisked me out of here so quickly this morning.”
“I know who you are,” she replied in a smooth, sultry voice. Man, that was sexy, and I wasn’t even into women. “Officer Cat McKenzie. Rookie. Watched your partner die on your first day on the job. The demon who took him is still at large. You’ve been off for a week, stewing I suppose. Now you’re here with us as punishment. Whether that punishment is for us or you, I don’t know.”
“That about sums it up.”
“And you’re short.”
“Ouch. Hit me where it hurts why don’t you?”
She gave me her fangy smile again.
“What are you?”
She frowned. “A Gemini?”
“No, I mean, what kind of supe?”
“Oh! Have a guess.”
I took her all in, from her lustrous black hair, to her naturally ruby red lips and green eyes. She was stunning, plus she had a banging body. What? I could check out and appreciate other women. “Not a vampire, because it’s light out.”
“One point to the human,” she murmured, amused.
“You’re gorgeous…”
“I appreciate that, but not interested.”
I waved my hand though the air, batting the idea away. “Yeah, me either, but I can tell another woman she’s hot and not get weird about it.”
She smiled and nodded for me to continue.
“Not a shifter.”
“What makes you say that?”
I jerked my head in the direction of the guy who had growled at me before. “Not growly,” I said with a shrug.
She threw her head back and laughed. “I’m not possessive of office furniture. Nor do I growl unnecessarily. Do you give up?”
“Sure.”
“My name is
Faline, and I’m a succubus.”
I practically leaped off the desk. “A succubus? Like you eat men?”
She snorted delicately. “I don’t eat men. I drink from them.”
“Ohhhh.” I gestured to her mouth. “That’s why you have fangs.”
In a feat of creepiness, she stuck out her tongue—her nearly triple the length of a human tongue—and touch the narrowed tip to one of her fangs.
“They’re just for fun,” she replied, then cupped her hand up like she was telling me a secret. “They’re like a tuning fork for orgasms.”
“Wow. Overshare much?” I shot back, softening my snark with a smile. “Seriously, I want some. I’m all about the O.”
“Are you now?” Leaning back in her chair, she smiled.
“So what is it that succubus do?”
“I feed on sexual energy. Male sexual energy, although in a pinch, a female’s will do the trick too.”
“Not as tasty?”
She snorted. “Not as potent. I get an almost euphoric high from male energy. I still get a hit from females, but it’s about a tenth of that of men.”
I glanced around her desk, looking for my next topic of conversation. “So, what is it you do here?”
“I’m just a detective, but I tend to take the sex crime cases. I’m pretty good at sniffing out the perpetrator.”
“Figuratively?”
Faline grinned. “Literally. Lust is a scent to me.” She eyed me appreciatively. “In fact, you smelled of it this morning.”
“I did not!”
She turned back to her work. “Yep, you did. My nose doesn’t lie.”
When it was clear the conversation was over, I wandered back to my desk to find Sawyer watching me.
“What were you doing?”
“Just being friendly,” I said with a shrug.
“Well, if you’re done being friendly, we have to go and see a contact of mine.”
“Who is it?”
“He. And his name is Alistair de Champ. He’s a vampire in the local kiss who’s agreed to see us.”
I glanced at my watch. “It’s one in the afternoon.”
“Aware of the time,” he said dryly. “Alistair is very old and doesn’t sleep as long as the younger vampires.”
