by Sean Hayden
"That's it for that, then," Reese said and shut off the recorder.
"We should head back out to California. Rayna should be ready to feed any time now," I said and stood.
"Leave it for now. Sander's orders," he said and made himself a little more comfortable in his chair. "You both are to relax for a while longer. I need to fly to Washington for a few days, and when I get back we will discuss it further."
I opened my mouth to argue, but Thompson reached over and nonchalantly squeezed my knee. I gave it up. A few more days wouldn't kill me. Someone else maybe, but not me.
"Okay. We'll call this meeting over. I'll contact you when I get back. Try and stay out of trouble," he said, pointing at me.
I pointed at my partner.
Reese left, and we stood up. Thompson headed for the elevator. "Why did you stop me?" I couldn't help but ask once we were out of earshot.
"Because you aren't ready yet. I wasn't going to argue with him."
"And how do you know I'm not ready yet?"
"I can see it in your face. Think for a minute. You know damn well if you went after her right now you'd end up a chicken finger in her kid's meal."
"Yeah, but she might choke on me. I could get stuck in her throat."
"Enough jokes. We've both lost too much from this case. I'm not losing you. Got it?"
I nodded, touched.
"Good. Go… I don't know. But go do something."
"Wanna retire after this?" I asked half-jokingly.
"You got enough saved up for the both of us? Cuz my pension won't be available for another ten years," he replied as we got on the elevator. He blew out a breath of air. "Another ten years of doing this shit. Job's getting too dangerous. Good thing I'm a tough son of a bitch."
I looked up at him. He stood over a foot taller than me, so I always looked up to him for more reasons than I could count. Shit. If he wanted out, I'd give him a way.
"Yes. I do."
"Do what?"
"Have enough for you to retire."
He laughed. "Sure kid," he said and actually patted me on the head.
"Jim. I'm serious. Marc left me almost everything."
He spun on me, looking at me like I had grown an extra head with feathers. "You're fucking kidding me."
"Not even a little."
"Jesus Christ, kid. Why are you even here? You should be on a beach somewhere sipping on a bloody mary."
"Honestly, and this is between you and me, I thought about it. Marc told me to. You told me to. But I can't. This is who I am. It might kill me one day, but damnit, I'm going to keep doing it."
"Then I'll make you a deal. When you quit, I quit. If I quit, you quit."
"But you're retiring in ten years anyway."
"Exactly. Do this until then and if we're both still alive, then we call it a day. Deal?"
I thought about it briefly, smiled, and nodded at him.
∞ ∞ ∞
I fumbled with the remote, trying to hit the pause button while I stood up. The actor's face froze mid-scream and I ran to answer the doorbell, grabbing the bucket of candy I left by the door for the trick or treaters.
Mel had tried to get me to go to the Dungeon for their Halloween Extravaganza. They were going to do a kinky version of adult tricks and treats, but the thought of it kind of made me want to hurl. I preferred to spend my Halloween watching scary movies and handing out candy.
I opened the door and smiled at the spooky little six-year old girl dressed like a vampire princess. "That is an amazing costume," I said, squatting down in front of her and holding out the pumpkin bowl full of full-sized candy bars. We didn't get a lot of trick or treaters in the neighborhood, so we splurged for the few that we did get.
"Thank you!" She smiled and picked out a chocolate bar. "Yours is pretty cool, too."
"I may be a vampire, but I'm not a princess. Can I be your knight?" I flashed my fangs.
"Can I have another candy bar?"
"Of course, princess," I said and held out the bowl again.
She daintily grabbed a different one and stuffed it in her bag. "Okay. You're my knight!"
"Thank you, my princess," I said and bowed my head. Standing up giggling, I waved to her mom standing down the driveway before shutting the door. I almost made it back to the couch before the doorbell rang again.
Walking back, I grabbed the candy bowl, opening the door and finding a real vampire standing there. "I'm guessing you don't want candy," I managed to say, setting the bowl down on the table.
The vampire shook her head. "No." She held up her hands, "But I'm not here for tricks either."
I sighed, and briefly thought about shutting the door and going on with my business. I caved. "Come in." I opened the door for her, giving her enough space to enter.
She walked by me and I caught a whiff of allspice and cloves. My mouth started watering, but I ignored it and followed her into the hall.
"Come in and sit. Living room is this way," I said and passed her, heading back for my couch. I motioned to the love seat. "What can I do for you?"
"I heard about Marcel. I'm sorry. He told me if anything ever happened to him, to come find you and ask you to protect me."
Her voice shook as she spoke. I could tell she was scared and alone, but I had no idea who she was or what protection she needed. "Let's start from the beginning. I'm Ash." I reached over and offered her my hand.
She warily accepted it and I could feel her humming with power. "I'm Ginger," she started and then hesitantly added, "The Master of Chicago."
My mouth fell open. She could have told me she was a unicorn and I would have been less shocked. I expected the master of the city to be a calm, cool, suave, dangerous monster of a vampire. Not a blonde, modestly dressed, looking like she drove a mini-van, soccer mom of a vampire, afraid to go outside.
She must have guessed what I was thinking from my facial expression. "Not what you were expecting, huh?"
"Gonna be honest with you. Nope," I said and sat back, trying to figure out what was going on.
She laughed a little and seemed to relax. "Are you really an FBI agent?"
I nodded.
"That makes me feel a little better. Marcel talked about you quite often. He made you sound so perfect, I almost didn't believe you really existed. A few weeks ago, he gave me your address and phone number. I debated calling you or just showing up at your door. I guess I wanted to see you for myself before I trusted you. When I watched you give candy to that little girl, I knew I would be fine."
"I'm sorry, I just have to ask–"
"Why he picked me?"
I nodded.
"Since the great fire, Chicago has had a reputation for having less-than-admirable vampires ruling it. When the opportunity arose, Marcel picked me. Not because I would do great things for the community, but because I wouldn't do bad things. I could hold the power and keep it safe. You see, I'm very good at hiding. Even in plain sight. I don't stand out and one of my gifts is… I don't even know what you would call it. Marcel was astounded by it, too. But if I concentrate hard enough, you can't see me."
"Um. What?"
She sighed as if she had been through this before a multitude of times. She closed her eyes and appeared to be concentrating when she faded from view. Not completely though. I could still see a shadowy outline of her.
"That's pretty cool," I said, watching her as she stood up and moved around.
When she noticed my eyes following her, she popped back into view. "You could still see me?"
"Vaguely. Like an outline and shadow."
"Huh. You're the first person who could. Even Marcel couldn't."
Yep. I'm a freak.
"Well. It's probably my eyes. They're slit like a cat's. I can probably see light a little more sensitively."
She didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway.
"So why do you need my protection?"
"Because I'm weak. People want the power that Marcel hid inside me, and sometimes
they can feel it, even if they can't see me. I don't need a body guard, I just need someone who can rescue me when I need it. It's what Marcel did."
"Ahh. I see," I said, though really I didn't. But I would help if I could. "You know where I live. Come here if you ever need to hide. The code for my door is six-nine-six-nine, so you can get in even if I'm not home. You also have my cell. Call me if you ever need me."
"Thank you, Ash. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. That's a load off my mind."
"No problem. You can stay here tonight if you want. I'm just watching movies and giving out candy."
"No. I have things I need to do. I just came to introduce myself and see if you would help me," she said, blushing. I could tell it had taken a lot for her to come here in the first place.
"Any friend of Marcel's and all that," I said and pondered exactly why he had chosen her. Surely there was someone else more suited for the task.
"Oh, don't be silly. I'm just holding this stupid power until you can take it. Let me know whenever you are ready."
"Um. Could you say that again, slowly, for us slow people?"
"Holding it? For you?"
"What in the goddess' good green earth are you talking about?"
"Marcel asked me to hold the power for you until you felt you were ready? Is that not true?"
"No. I had it and didn't want it. I pushed it away. Why would he tell you that?"
She shifted uncomfortably, and I could see the panic start to well up within her. "You're telling me I'm going to be stuck like this forever?"
"Calm down, Ginger. I didn't say that. I just said I didn't want it. We'll find someone."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I have no desire to be Master of Chicago. But, I swear I will find someone worthy to do it."
"Thank you," she said and blushed again.
If he weren't already dead, I probably would have killed Marcel myself. What the hell had he been thinking?
"Well, it is getting late, I should be going."
"I'll walk you out," I said and stood, finding it a little weird that a vampire considered nine in the evening as late. Everything about Ginger seemed a little off, but if Marcel trusted her, I would make an effort.
I walked her to the front door and opened it, letting the cool night air in. The temperature was dropping quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if we started seeing snow soon.
"Thanks again," she said and hugged me at the door.
I stopped breathing the closer she got. She smelled good. It's a shame she was such a fruit-bat. She could be attractive as all hells if she wanted to.
"Call me if you need me," I said and let her go. I watched her until she got into an honest-to-goodness, actual mini-van and drove away.
I shook my head, not quite understanding what had just happened in my life. It almost seemed surreal.
"Ginger the vampire soccer-mom," I said to no one and shut the door, determined to get back to my movie.
I sat back down and waited for a second before pressing play. Just to make sure nobody else would be bothering me. I grabbed the pillow next to me and held it to my chest. And then my phone rang.
"I swear to gods, I'm going to kill someone tonight," I said and leaned over to grab it off my coffee table. If it were anybody but Mel, I probably would have just silenced it.
"Hola," I answered.
"Ash?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"Can you come down here? Somebody is dead…"
I really didn't understand the point of having a limo and a driver when I ended up taking a taxi everywhere. It was a lot quicker. By the time Jimmy got the car, drove to my house, picked me up and took me where I needed to go, I could have been there for an hour already.
Maybe you should buy a car. Maybe you should buy a motorcycle!
Sometimes my brain wasn't so dumb.
I filed the thought away for future reference and pondering and walked right up to the front door. The bouncer held up his hand, not letting me through. I debated showing him my FBI badge, but I wasn't there as an agent tonight. I was there as a friend and somewhat legal-counsel.
"You might want to let me in," I said to the guy. "Mel is the one who called me."
"Who the fuck is Mel?"
"Your boss?"
"I'm my own boss, sweetie. Now, fuck off and get to the back of the line."
I hated it when people called me sweetie. I grabbed his hand and twisted it, feeling a great amount of satisfaction hearing the bones crack. Then I noticed his hand was warm and I could feel the rush of blood under his skin.
Shit.
I brought his hand to my face and took a whiff. Thankfully, he smelled like sage and cilantro. He was a shifter and not human. He would heal.
I let go, and walked around him, opening the door to the club, ignoring the laughter of the crowd as they saw the bouncer get hurt by a little girl.
Melanie was waiting by the bar, nervously sucking on an adult beverage. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw me. I made my way over to her as quickly as I could.
"Thank the goddess you are here."
"No problem, what happened?"
"Follow me," she said and grabbed my hand, walking me across the club and down the hall by the stage, toward the private rooms.
I smelled the blood before she opened the door.
I stepped in to the scene of a horror movie of epic proportions.
"What is that?"
"More like what was that. It was a person. A man, I think, if you can find the missing pieces."
"That's pretty disgusting," I said and tried to step over most of the carnage. His hands and feet were intact and strapped to the chair. The rest of him looked like it had been peeled and pulled apart like a pork butt. He just needed some barbeque sauce to complete the look.
"What should I do? Call the cops?"
I started to nod but stopped myself. The amount of damage was too familiar. The torture of the guy in the chair was too thorough. Only one thing could have done this, and she was supposed to be in California. How she knew I had gone back to Chicago scared the shit out of me.
"No. Let me call Thompson. I know what did this. Close the show down. Get everybody out of here and you go with them. Make an announcement that there's a sewer leak or some shit, so you don't cause a panic. Just get everybody out of here and go. Please. Go home."
"What is it?"
I shook my head. "Just go."
It showed how much she had come to trust me in such a short amount of time. She did exactly as I asked without another word. I pulled my cell out of my jacket and dialed Thompson. He picked up on the second ring.
"What did you do?"
"She's here."
He didn't even ask who. "Where are you?"
"The Dungeon. Mel called, there was a murder."
"On my way. Don't move. Don't look for her. Just sit tight."
"I will. I've got Mel announcing a sewer leak. She's closing and getting everybody out of here."
"Good thinking," he said and hung up.
I listened as Mel did exactly what I said and heard the sounds of a couple hundred people shuffling for the door. Only silence remained. And the smell of the dead vampire next to me. He wouldn't be regenerating from this one. I made a mental note to add shredding to the ways I could kill one.
"I see you can appreciate the beauty of my work. Death."
I didn't even need to turn around to know she was standing behind me. How she had gotten there remained a mystery. I didn't spin, I just turned slowly. If she had planned on killing me from the start, I would have had an arm sticking out of the front of my chest, clutching my heart.
"You followed me." I made it a statement. Not a question.
"I was bored and I missed you. Want."
She trailed a talon over my chest and between my breasts, making small tears in the shirt under my jacket.
"A friend of mine was killed. By The Council. I didn't have a choice."
"I kno
w, I saw the whole thing. Watching. It was exciting to see you kill him. Masturbated. Touch. Rubbed myself. Came." She stretched like a cat as she spoke. Her black skin glistened in the dim light of the room. She was covered in blood.
It was a little more information than I needed. "That's nice," I said with little else to say. I needed to stall for time for Thompson to get there.
"Is that elf special to you? Lover?"
I panicked. I didn't know how to answer. If I said yes, would she kill her to hurt me? If I said no, would she kill her because I didn't care? Dealing with crazy was never easy. I went for honesty. "Yes."
"Why? You can't turn her like you did my child. Thief."
"I don't want to turn her. I like her the way she is."
"So, you don't want to make her yours. Slave."
"No. She is my friend."
She shrugged her shoulders as if not understanding. Maybe she didn't understand the entire concept of friendship. I sure as shit didn't want to teach her.
"You're a strange child. Abomination."
"Everyone keeps calling me that. Why?"
"Have you truly forgotten? Lost."
"Lost what?"
"Your origins. Child of demons."
"Mine?"
"All of you. Abominations. Even that elf child. Abomination."
"I'm confused. All of us are sired from demons?"
She shook her head, and then shook it again a few moments later. "Angels. Demons. Demons were angels. Angels never demons. Humans breed."
Holy shit. Elves are half angel?
No wonder she tastes like heaven.
But then again, this is from the mouth of a demon…
I filed that information away and focused on the problem standing in front of me, and gazing at me like I was probably tastier than the guy she had just mutilated.
"Why are you not attacking me?"
"Do you want me to? Pain?"
"No. Not particularly. But, you were sent here to kill me. Just wondering why you aren't. No rush though."
She laughed a little. "You interest me. Curious."
I tried very hard not to shudder as the nail trailing down my shirt stopped and then circled my nipple which had become hard enough to see through my sports bra. I should have worn a padded bra. She grabbed my whole breast and slipped behind me, kneading it as she ran her tongue up my neck and bit my earlobe, her fangs piercing all the way through.
