by Margaret Carter, Crystal Green, Erica Orloff, Patricia Rosemor
“I…it’s Raven,” I said in Silke’s soft voice, making it quake a little, speaking as if I didn’t know Desiree had already been questioned about the murder. I wanted to read her for myself. “She was raped and killed and someone t-took her blood.” I twisted my hands together and did my best to blink tears into my eyes when I murmured, “S-so shocking.”
Desiree’s eyes widened slightly—as if she were shocked that I knew—but other than that, she didn’t react. “The luck was not with this girl.”
“What about Hung Chung?” I asked, notching up my nervous demeanor a bit. “What if he finished what he started? Wh-what if he comes after me next?”
“Chung was not responsible for this tragedy.”
“You don’t really know that.”
“Oh, but yes,” Desiree said, meeting my gaze. “Last night, Chung was with me.”
My heart began to thud. “With you?”
“Until dawn.”
At which time, Raven had already been dead.
I was still staring. I wanted to make sure I got this right. “Chung didn’t force himself on you?” If so, I would do my best to get her to make an official complaint.
When Desiree said, “No man would dare try,” her smile was confident.
I could hardly believe it. She’d actually chosen to be with a would-be rapist. She’d said she would take care of him, and rather than castigating him, she’d rewarded him with herself? What kind of a woman was she? One who gave me the creeps, that was for certain.
I forced out a Silke smile. “I guess I was mistaken.” I paused only a second before asking, “You wouldn’t have any idea of who…?” I let the question dangle.
“Such a pretty girl? Anyone,” Desiree said, as if being pretty equated with being a killer’s target.
I nodded and rose. “Well, if you think of anyone else…”
Desiree caught me with her gaze, and I froze where I stood. For a moment, I felt as if my mind were wrapped in cotton.
“I do not need trouble here, Silke. You understand this, yes? There is no reason for the authorities to think the killer is someone who frequents my establishment.”
“No,” I found myself agreeing.
“So you will not be making trouble for me by telling others of Raven’s death or your theories.”
“No, of course not.”
I left the office half-convinced to give it up, as if Desiree had somehow taken hold of my mind. But the loud music and smokey smell of the bar shocked me back to myself, and I realized Desiree had seemed more worried about the police than about Raven’s death. Was there something she didn’t want them to discover? Or did she simply fear the bad press as I knew she would?
Even functioning at a low level, I couldn’t stop my mind from going over what I knew. If Hung Chung couldn’t be the murderer…My gaze strayed to Elvin Mowry.
As if the pretty boy knew I was staring at him, he turned and smiled. And waved me over.
I asked, “What can I get you?”
“Away from here.”
“You want me to call you a taxi?”
“I wish you to leave with me tonight. I have been watching you, Silke. You are the most fascinating woman here. I shall have a gathering at my place when the bar closes. I promise you shan’t be bored.”
“Not this time,” I said, forcing a smile. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night. A girl needs her beauty rest.”
“Or enough makeup so it doesn’t matter,” piped up one of Mowry’s followers.
“I shall give you a rain check, then,” the cult leader said. “But do not keep me waiting too long.”
Was that a threat? I gave him a quick smile and moved off to another customer waving me down.
So Elvin Mowry was having a gathering. Something involving bloodletting?
Energy coming back in a rush, I knew I had to find out.
Mowry and his band—two other guys and a young woman—were the last customers to leave Heart of Darkness. I hadn’t seen the girl with them before tonight, and she wasn’t dressed like a Goth. I wondered if she was a new convert. She also looked as if she’d had too much to drink, which would impair her judgment.
Since I’d already done the required setup for the next day, I exited the bar. I looked around for the backup team, but they’d already dispersed, so I was on my own. I’d told my lieutenant that I wouldn’t be back at Area 4 until I had some sleep, so no one was expecting me.
The night held a chill that got to me. The temperature had dropped and the winds had picked up, all in preparation for a cold front and summer thunderstorm predicted for the early-morning hours. I wrapped Silke’s cape tighter around my shoulders and tucked my chin into my chest as I hurried after Mowry. The vampire cult members were traveling on foot. At Lake Street, they crossed under the el tracks and continued north. Either they’d parked way off the beat or were within walking distance from their “nest.”
I wondered where the nest idea had come from. I guess it had something to do with vampires that supposedly turned into bats, but I wasn’t really certain. Did bats have nests? I thought they hung around and watched the world from their topsy-turvy perch. Nests reminded me of birds, which reminded me of Raven, which reminded me that I might be dealing with one or more murderers.
I had no intention of putting myself in danger. I was merely on a fact-finding mission. I wanted an address on Mowry, and I hadn’t been able to do it the conventional way. I figured he must be using an alias. He and all the others I’d tried to check out. Including Jake. I wondered what kind of vitals we would get on him using the CPD system. By morning, I would know everything there was to know about Jake DeAtley.
The night was dark, especially away from the main drag. Ahead, there were only a few streetlights and some of those were out. Through the clouds, the moon shed an eerie blue glow along the open space. An old manufacturing building was boarded up, its square-block-sized parking lot deserted.
That’s where Mowry and company were headed.
Another chill shot through me as I quickly decided to fetch my car, which was parked a short distance away on Lake Street, as usual. Though I blamed the wind, the chill went deeper than bone and I reluctantly recognized it as fear.
Fear was healthy, I reminded myself, a cop’s best friend. Fear kept you alert. Hopefully alive.
I wanted to know where Mowry lived or at least where he and his minions congregated for the gathering he was hosting tonight—I slid into the driver’s seat of my car and quickly hit the lock. I started the engine and backed the car into the intersection. I didn’t switch on my lights, which would warn the pseudo-vampires that they were being followed. I turned north to do just that.
For the next few minutes, I concentrated on not losing Mowry and not being spotted and not driving the car straight into one of the bigger holes on the pockmarked street. After crossing the open expanse, the cult leader made his way under a railroad viaduct and rounded the corner going west.
A few moments later, I did the same.
This was a neighborhood of sorts, old houses and two-flats mixed in with some businesses across from the railroad. The slope down from the tracks was a concrete wall that had been muralized by young urban artists.
The street itself was deserted. No Mowry. No cult members.
I thought about calling in, but to say what? That I’d followed Mowry and lost him?
I parked the car, got out and looked around, checking between each building as I moved down the street. Footsteps again. I whirled around to find Jake right behind me.
“What the hell! Why are you after Mowry?”
“I’m not. I’m after watching your back,” he added.
I didn’t disbelieve him, but I was disconcerted. For a few seconds the moonlight tricked me into believing his eyes glowed, and his teeth, revealed by an amused-with-me smile, seemed extra white and long. Then I blinked and vanquished the illusion.
What if Jake were the danger? How did I know he wasn’t the one drai
ning young women of their blood? I didn’t know that. However, I also wasn’t afraid of him. Not in the physical ow-you-hurt-me sense. He’d had a couple of opportunities to take advantage of me when we’d been alone and he’d passed on them.
Jake was standing very still, swiveling only his head as if it were a finely tuned antenna. At the same time, he held up his finger to his lips, indicating I shouldn’t say anything. What was he listening to? I didn’t hear a sound except the light traffic on the nearby expressway.
But suddenly he said, “This way,” and crossed the street.
Following, I asked, “Where?”
What had he heard? Did he mean to climb the concrete incline to the railroad tracks? But as we drew closer, I saw it—the outline of a door set into the mural itself.
How in the world had he seen that from a distance and in the dark?
I didn’t have time to ask questions, because Jake was already opening the door. No doubt any sound would carry through the tunnel beneath the railroad tracks.
He entered first.
The cavernous area was dark and musty smelling. I listened hard but the only sound I heard was a nearby scrabbling, like claws on metal.
Rats? I shivered. I hated rats.
Choking back my distaste, I whispered, “Which way?”
Jake murmured ahead, “Follow the voices.”
“What voices?”
Was Jake kidding or had he really heard something? I stumbled through the dark after him, hoping I wasn’t making a big mistake.
Gradually, the darkness lifted like a veil being raised a bit at a time, and a soft pool of light ahead acted as a beacon. My eyes adjusted and I could see furniture: upholstered chairs and couches, carpets and small tables, all heavily worn but still functional. The area was set up like a big rumpus room minus the electronic equipment. The light itself came from kerosene lamps, the kind people used when they went camping.
“Wh-what’s happening?” a soft female voice asked.
“I just gave you a little something to make you feel better.”
“Mowry,” I whispered.
“But I wasn’t feeling bad!” the young woman protested.
“But I was. You have something I need, my pretty. And you did say you wanted to be one of us.”
She whimpered and cried out.
I could see her now, the new one, the non-Goth. She was sprawled in a chair, two of Mowry’s minions pinning her shoulders so she couldn’t get up. Mowry straightened; he was holding a thin-bladed knife. Dark red fluid coated the tip, and I could see that he’d cut the inside of her arm. Blood spilled over her pale flesh.
Blood rushed and echoed through my head at the discovery. Was this it, then? Was he the one draining young women of their blood? I couldn’t let him do it, not even if I had to blow my cover.
I unsnapped my holster and rushed forward. “Leave her alone!” My hand hovered in back of me near my gun. I didn’t want to pull it unless they gave me no other choice.
Mowry said, “Well, well, look who we have here.”
His followers forgot about the girl and closed rank around him. In addition to the two guys who’d come from the bar with him, there were two more. And two young women in a state of half dress. It was obvious to me that these girls hadn’t been coerced into anything. They watched the scenario with eager gazes and moist lips.
I recognized blood lust when I saw it.
“Let the girl be,” I said quietly, sensing Jake right behind me. “Let her go.”
I knew I was good, but as the cult members got closer, I wondered if I could possibly fight them all off and free the girl.
“You’re not the one to give orders here,” Mowry said.
One of the half-dressed young women moved forward and curled herself around the leader’s back. “You tell her, Elvie.”
Before I had to see exactly how good I was, Jake slid beside me and wrapped an arm around my middle, as if to remind me that I wasn’t alone. I couldn’t explain why I trusted him at this moment, but my instincts told me he was on my side and to play along.
“Silke told me you were having people tonight,” he said in a party voice. “We thought we’d join you.”
I hadn’t told him any such thing. His hands were all over me. Then he bent over and nuzzled my neck. I flushed at the touch of his lips against my flesh, and for a moment, lost my concentration. Then I snapped to and fought the sensations going through my head. Having all my faculties was critical.
And yet, when I glanced at Mowry and company, they had all relaxed their stances. Mowry himself seemed to be enjoying my position, and something told me he wanted some of that for himself.
Instinct drove me to wrap my arms around Jake’s middle. I felt his hand on my back. He slid it down to my waist, paused there when he encountered the holster, and then moved the hand around to my side. He couldn’t have missed my piece, but he didn’t react.
“This doesn’t seem like my kind of party, after all,” I said, making myself sound bored. “Not hers, either.” I looked directly at the new girl in the chair. She couldn’t hide her fright. “You want to leave, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Come on, then,” Jake said, holding out his hand.
I could tell that though he was looking straight at her, he somehow had his eyes on every person in the room. Tension was palpable and I prepared myself for trouble.
The girl stumbled out of the chair over to us. Amazingly, Mowry and his boys didn’t try to stop her. Maybe we would get out of this without casualty, after all, I thought gratefully, as Jake put his free arm around the girl to steady her.
“See you tomorrow night,” he told Mowry as he started backing us all away.
Mowry seemed to grow taller and his men closed ranks around him. Whatever Mowry had planned, I knew I wasn’t going to like it. My pulse tick-tick-ticked more and more rapidly, and my senses all heightened.
“Little Annie can go,” Mowry said. “But I need someone to take her place.”
I glanced at the other two girls. I was assuming he wouldn’t kill them, but I couldn’t take that chance with Annie. Not even if it meant destroying my cover.
“You have a couple of willing women to choose from.”
“But it’s fresh blood I’m after.”
No doubt in my mind that he meant me.
“Not tonight, and definitely not Silke here,” Jake said, keeping up the pretense though I was certain by now he knew that I wasn’t Silke.
We were almost to the door. I knew that because it was becoming impossible to see again. The dark folded around us like a shroud. And I heard that scrabbling sound again.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jake murmured as he let go of me.
“You’ll get no argument here,” I said, every one of my senses at the alert.
Still, I hesitated, giving him a minute to get Annie out of there. If necessary, I would be the diversion. And it seemed as if I would get that very opportunity.
Bodies swirled around me even as I heard the outside door click open and Jake say, “Get out of here, Annie…now!”
I turned to follow and ran straight into the cult leader himself.
Wind blew in from the open door, and a combination of moon-and streetlight penetrated, too, enough that I could see Mowry’s face. His pretty features were twisted in anger and something else that looked amazingly like lust.
But what kind of lust? Blood lust or the simple old-fashioned kind?
Whichever, I wasn’t open for business.
But before I could get out of his way, he grabbed on to my arm.
I swung out to deter him, and the flesh of my other arm met a sharp blade for my trouble. I couldn’t help the cry that escaped my throat.
“What happened?” Jake demanded.
“Cut!” I gasped, not wanting to let down my guard for an instant.
The two girls moved closer, bringing with them the kerosene lamps. Apparently, they thought they were missing out o
n the fun. Mowry’s men were between me and Jake, whose eyes glittered with anger. The blood oozing from my flesh had me royally pissed. I feinted and got Mowry off guard, then moved in and smashed one of Silke’s thick-soled Doc Martens into the side of his knee.
Mowry was ready for me and the blow glanced off his leg as he moved fast. At most, he missed a beat.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” he said, laughing, the sound echoing through the tunnel.
“Oh, I think I can manage,” I said as I felt a fresh rush of adrenaline pump through me.
The problem was, not counting the women, there were five of them to one of me. I was good, but I didn’t know if I was good enough to take on so many and be able to make it out of there in one piece. Of course there was Jake on my side, as well, but he was an unknown quantity. If nothing else, he could serve as a distraction.
As a last resort, I reminded myself, there was always my weapon. A gun tended to even things up when the numbers were skewed.
I let Mowry come for me. When he got close enough, I elbowed him in the sternum. He paused with a gasp and I danced around him and got a few feet closer to the outside door.
Then all hell broke loose. I was aware of Mowry’s men attacking Jake. I would have helped him out, but I had the leader himself on my back. Literally. And his steely arm was around my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I began to see stars. Pressure built in my chest and head even as I stepped back and slammed my heel down hard on his foot. He muffled his curse but loosened his grip. I gasped for air, filled my deprived lungs and brain with it.
Silke’s distress distracted me for a second. This time I pushed her away before she got me hurt.
Then I felt Mowry’s free hand slide between my thighs. I saw red. I dug into the flesh of his underarm and twisted—one of my favorite defense moves, crude but effective. This time his curse filled the cavernous space as he let go. I whipped around and grabbed him between the thighs and twisted there, too. He howled and went down to his knees.
“Elvie!” one of the females shrieked.
I registered a serious scuffle a few yards away and realized Jake was still fighting off the other four. I thought to help him, but Mowry was staggering to his feet, and I realized he was about to throw himself at me. I whirled and kicked out, planning to put him out of commission, but he somehow managed to grab my leg. I flipped and went down hard.
