Raven Mask

by Winter Pennington

  Synopsis

  “I stared down at the lifeless body of a boy whose face was all too familiar…”

  Following the execution of Lukas Morris, Preternatural Private Investigator Kassandra Lyall told herself that she’d learn more about the local werewolf pack’s Alpha female. Just as she begins her investigation, she’s interrupted by a phone call from friend and ex-colleague, Detective Arthur Kingfisher. The body of a sixteen-year-old boy has been found. It’s not just any sixteen-year-old boy, it’s Timothy Nelson, a boy Kassandra knew was curious about the preternatural.

  Kassandra soon realizes that Timothy’s death serves as a challenge, but it’s not a challenge directed at her. It’s aimed at her lover, the Countess vampire of Oklahoma, Lenorre. While Kassandra tries to figure out if Timothy’s curiosity was his undoing, the biggest question of all remains unanswered.

  Is Timothy Nelson dead or undead?

  The Second Book in the Kassandra Lyall Preternatural Investigator Series.

  Raven Mask

  Brought to you by

  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  By the Author

  Witch Wolf

  Raven Mask

  Raven Mask

  © 2010 By Winter Pennington. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 10: 1-60282-182-8E

  ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-182-8E

  This Electronic Book is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, New York 12185

  First Edition: September 2010

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editors: Victoria Oldham and Shelley Thrasher

  Cover Design By Bold Strokes Books Graphics

  Acknowledgments

  Even though preternatural fiction isn’t really her thing, my mother has steadily followed this series. She encouraged the writer in me at a young age and taught me not to fear the bloody scratches of the red pen. If I needed her to read something or to listen to me moan and groan, she was always there. My father, too, has shown so much support and encouragement. Thank you for so many reasons and for so many things. Thank you for being a part of this. Thank you for being nothing but proud and for offering love, never shame.

  Dedication

  To my mother and father,

  for always being there and always believing.

  Chapter One

  I stared down at the lifeless body of a boy whose face was all too familiar. Timothy’s eyes were open, wide and unseeing.

  “Shit, Arthur.” The words fell softly. I didn’t know what else to say. It didn’t seem real.

  Timothy Nelson hadn’t even begun to live. Hell, he was only sixteen. The last time I saw him, I was working on another case. The Nelsons lived on a few acres close to a crime scene that had reeked of werewolf. Timothy had followed me out to my car asking about the preternatural community, curiosity burning in his eyes. Now, fixed on the blue-black sky above, they were completely void.

  “I told you it wasn’t pretty,” Arthur said.

  Indeed, he had. I put a hand over my mouth, taking in a deep breath and forcing myself to stand strong.

  “He was only sixteen.” I breathed the words. “Still a kid. Who would do this to a kid?”

  I knew better than to ask such a question. It was like a knife to my stomach.

  The paleness of death had lightened Timothy’s summer tan, and his lips were half-parted as if life had slipped out between them. I saw no visible wounds, no sign of blood or struggle. One of the cops had placed a towel over his hips, covering his nudity.

  He had been stripped of his clothes, as if even in death, the killer had wanted to leave him vulnerable and shamed.

  Arthur offered me a pair of latex gloves. “I’m sorry, Kass. I know you spoke with him.”

  I took the gloves and put them on. I wouldn’t find the killer by mourning Timothy’s death. I couldn’t stop what had happened, but I could stop what might happen.

  Most cops look at a body and try to see only it. But you can’t, not always. Sometimes, there isn’t anything you can tell yourself to chase away the knowledge that the corpse at your feet was someone’s loved one.

  I could put a face to the people that would miss him. Worse, I could put a face to Timothy when he was alive. I shut the door on sadness and pity. The body at my feet was an empty shell, a piece of evidence. It may seem cold, but at times that line of thinking is the only thing to hold on to, the only thing that keeps you from sinking into the morass of violence.

  You have to be able to detach yourself in police work. If you don’t, you’ll drown. I owed it to Timothy Nelson not to.

  As I shut my eyes and inhaled sharply, the smell of death hit my nostrils and the beast stirred, quirking an ear in my direction. For a moment, she seemed curious. But with no blood-tinged life to call her, she let her wolfish neutrality slide into place. I wrapped it around me like a shield and knelt in the dead grass, pushing aside any memory of Timothy Nelson alive.

  Using my thumb and index finger I tried to move the jaw, but had to settle for looking around it. Rigor mortis was setting in, so the body had to have been sitting for at least three hours. Maximum stiffness would occur some time after twelve hours.

  I didn’t see any bite marks. Arthur had said on the phone that the victim had been drained dry, as if he suspected it had been done by a vampire. The skin was pasty, like wet chalk. It was easy to see why Arthur jumped to the vampire conclusion..

  But if so, there had to be an exit wound. I checked for puncture marks in the arteries at the wrists. Still nothing. I sniffed, trailing my fingers across the collapsed veins at the elbow.

  “Who found the body?” I asked.

  “The father.”

  Mr. Nelson was tall and tan, like an older version of Timothy. Mrs. Nelson, I remembered more. She’d gone ape-shit, calling me the devil’s whore and threatening to Bible-thump me out of her house. Fortunately, Arthur had taken over from there. She’d probably gone ballistic and they’d locked her in a loony bin. Hey, one could hope.

  “You’re right. The body has been exsanguinated,” I said.

  Even with a vampire attack, there should have been some blood, some hint of it. I sniffed again, thankful the corpse hadn’t been sitting long enough to become pungent.

  There was an exit wound somewhere. If I couldn’t see it, well, I had other senses to rely on.

  It was faint, like a miniscule piece of raw hamburger surrounded by the smell of dirt, death, and grass. I focused on it, knowing if I followed it I could find the source. Pushing the towel aside carefully, I made sure certain parts of the body remained covered and gazed near the groin area.

  I ran the tips of my fingers over the wound. “The femoral vein was cut.”

  “Why not the artery?” Arthur asked. “If it was cut he’d have been dead in what? Fifteen to thirty minutes? If they were trying to kill him that would’ve been the way to do it.”

  “If they were trying to kill him quickly. Arteries bleed a hell of a lot more and a hell of a lot faster. We’d see more blood too. The medical examiner will be able to tell for certain if it was the vein, but I’d bet my ass it was.”

  Arthur knelt beside me, already wearing a pair of gloves, and cra
ned his neck to see.

  I put two fingertips to the slit. The cut was clean, indicating a steady hand and either a very sharp razor or a really sharp knife. The cut itself was only about two and a half inches long but went deep, deep enough to penetrate. I could’ve felt around the wound easier without the gloves, but I was screwed on that one. You don’t fuck up evidence by leaving fingerprints all over it before a medical examiner takes a look. I kept probing the wound and found a small interruption in the slit.

  “I don’t think it was just cut.”

  I tried to stitch the wound together in my mind, like making two pieces of a puzzle whole. I felt the edge of puncture marks.

  “You need to make sure someone measures the cut and examines the edges of the wound carefully. From what I could feel through the gloves,” I stood and crossed my arms over my chest, “the cut was created to distract from the original wound.”

  Arthur took his gloves off. “What do you think?”

  “Definitely a vampire. It would explain the exsanguination.”

  “Damn it.”

  He had obviously been hoping it wasn’t a vampire killing. Since he’d called me out, he already was sure that something preternatural was involved. Sometimes, it’s human nature to hope the truth is a lie.

  Pulling out a small notepad from his front pocket, he began to scribble notes. “I’ll ask the medical examiner to take a closer look and see if she can find any fang marks hidden in our cut.” Judging from the look that crossed his face, he intended to say something I didn’t like.

  “How’s your girlfriend doing?”

  “She’s fine…”

  “Would Vampira do—”

  “No.”

  “How do you know for sure?”

  “I cannot believe you’re asking if the woman I’m dating did this.”

  “The woman you’re dating happens to be one of them.”

  “So, you’re pointing your finger at anything with a pair of fangs?” I was exasperated. I wouldn’t sit back and let him make Lenorre a suspect just because she was convenient. Sure, we’d been dating for almost a month, but I cared about her, and accusing her of murder crossed a major line with me.

  Besides, Lenorre would have more sense than to leave a body where the cops would find it. As owner of The Two Points, Oklahoma City’s only vampire club, she wouldn’t risk the bad publicity.

  “No. You’re right.” He nervously straightened his blue tie. The suit was gray and neatly ironed. I seriously doubted he’d done it. He’d probably just taken it to the cleaners. Arthur’s not a spic-and-span type of guy.

  “You don’t have to ask me something like that. I can tell you she didn’t do it. If you even think of questioning her,” I lowered my voice, “I’ll be pissed.”

  “You’re right,” he said again. “I’m probably just pointing fingers because I have no idea where to begin finding the sucker that did this.”

  The corner of my mouth twitched. “Very poor choice of words. That’s why you call me. I’m the one that shovels the preternatural shit, remember?”

  Arthur gave me an idiotic grin. A younger-looking cop carrying a small grocery-store sack stepped up to us and held the bag open.

  I dropped the gloves in it. “Thanks.”

  Arthur tossed his in. “Fine. Will you let me know if you find anything? Last time you didn’t even tell us you figured out who the killer was.”

  “I didn’t exactly figure it out under ideal circumstances. I didn’t tell you I suspected Carver because, if he had been a werewolf, he could’ve kicked your ass.”

  Arthur didn’t know the whole truth and I sure as hell didn’t plan to tell him. Carver is a werewolf, but he hadn’t kidnapped me. That had been Lukas Morris, brother of the alpha female of the local werewolf pack and one sick puppy. He had murdered an innocent woman on Carver’s land and left her for the police to find. His plan had nearly worked. It might’ve, if he hadn’t botched it by kidnapping me.

  “The last I checked you were human too,” Arthur said. “Unless Vampira has taken you to the dark side. You do look kind of pale.”

  “Show me one person at a crime scene that doesn’t look pale.”

  Arthur pointed toward the yellow tape around the scene. “That guy.”

  A cop in a dark blue uniform stood by the tape. His swarthy skin was practically camouflaged by night. The cop looked over at us and I gave him a quick smile before turning back to Arthur. “African-American doesn’t count, smart-ass.”

  He laughed.

  “I’m going home now,” I said. “Call me when you get the ME’s report, and stop making bad jokes at crime scenes.”

  “Will do, but I can’t help telling a bad joke every now and then.”

  “You make a habit of it.” I headed for my car parked near the edge of the woods. “I’m sure they have medication for that.”

  “If they put me on medication you’d miss me.”

  “Oh, really? I think you’re flattering yourself, Kingfisher.”

  “No. You’d miss me about as much as I’d miss you if they put you on Prozac and made you nice.”

  I rolled my eyes, laughing. “Good night, Arthur.”

  Chapter Two

  A human would’ve called the quietness in the car silence. But werewolves can hear every click and tick, which is a bitch when I’m trying to sleep. The only noise was that of the car as it sliced through the Oklahoma wind. At seventy miles per hour, the engine purred. Not that thunderous growl of a serious sports car, but a purr, which worked just fine for me.

  I didn’t feel like listening to music. I normally do when I’m driving. Part of me felt unreal, disconnected from reality. Timothy’s lifeless brown eyes and that angry cut haunted me.

  The killer’s hand had been steady, not careless or driven by passion. I was betting the murder had been premeditated. Whoever had killed Timothy had planned it and taken the boy when no one was looking. If the vampire had gotten into his mind, Timothy might’ve enjoyed every minute as he slowly slipped into the abyss of death.

  I heard a rumble before lights flashed in my rearview mirror. The car behind mine swerved into the middle lane, speeding up until it was next to mine. The little metal cobras against the shimmering purple paint gave away its model, though I couldn’t see the driver through the tinted windows. They hit the gas and the Mustang lurched forward. I shook my head. If they thought I would race, they were wrong.

  When I heard another rumble I glanced at the Mustang. “Good Lady, I could outrun your car on foot, you idiot.”

  They did it again. I was about to give them the one-finger salute when my cell phone rang from the console. I grabbed the headset, placing it in my ear and answering without bothering to look at the caller ID.

  “Yeah?”

  “What’s up?” It was Rupert.

  “Oh, trying to get some idiot to understand I don’t feel like racing.”

  “What kind of car is it?”

  I told him.

  He laughed. “Yeah, you don’t have a chance.”

  “Gee, you think?”

  “Occasionally.”

  The purple car slowed and pulled into the lane behind me.

  “Rupert.”

  “What?”

  “They’re on my ass,” I growled. My agitation caught the wolf’s interest. I took a deep breath, forcing a steady hand over my emotions. Had it been closer to the full moon and had there been any actual triggers, it would’ve been harder for me to squish her. Thankfully, it wasn’t, and when I focused on shielding, she quieted. Shape-shifting while driving...could law enforcement ticket for that?

  After a long pause he asked, “Can you shake them?”

  “Yeah, hold on.” I plucked the earpiece out of my ear and tossed it into the passenger seat.

  Well, if up my ass was where they wanted to be…

  I slammed on the brakes, gripping the steering wheel at ten and two. My tires squealed to a halt, echoed by the sound of the Mustang’s. I waited for the spac
e of a heartbeat for the Mustang to slam into my Tiburon. When the impact finally came it was more of a tap than the big crash boom I expected.

  The man who emerged from the car looked furious. His dark brown hair rose in porcupine spikes, and a black leather jacket covered his light gray sweater.

  “Kass!” he yelled, “what the fuck?”

  I waited until he was close to the driver’s side window to lower it.

  “You asked me if I could shake them.”

  “I didn’t tell you to slam on your fucking brakes!”

  I grinned in defiance. “Maybe you shouldn’t fuck with me. Did that ever occur to you?”

  He tilted his head. “Wait. You knew it was me?”

  “No.”

  “Then why’d you slam on your brakes?”

  “Under the circumstances, it seemed appropriate.”

  “I don’t really see the point in risking your life just to get someone off your ass. One of us could’ve been hurt.”

  “One of us, yes. I think you’re forgetting something.”

  “You may be a werewolf,” his voice was low, “but everyone has their weakness.”

  “Fortunately, fiberglass isn’t one of mine. If you’re thinking about trying me, don’t, because I am seriously not in the fucking mood tonight.”

  Rupert rocked back on his heels and put his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “Fine.”

  “What the hell are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “I had some things to pick up from Texas and was on my way home when I saw you.”

  “How did you know it was me?”

  His smile was feral. “You act like I’ve never seen your license-plate number.”