"Hey, James," Tanner called. "Still babysitting?"
"Until we bring the perps in," Ware said.
"Crime scene has brought the first of their reports up. It's on your desk."
"Thanks." Ware waved in her direction and opened the door to his office. The office was barely roomier than a large closet. It held a desk, two filing cabinets, a chair behind the desk, one in front of it, and little more than standing room next to that.
"Have a seat," he said, once we were inside.
I sat in a steel-framed office chair. It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement, but it would do. Ware opened the folder on his desk and began reading. As he finished each page, he passed it to me.
With each page, detailing the condition of the bodies and their arrangement, photos or blood spatters, and long lists of personal effects, my rage against the vampires grew. I wanted them dead.
In all the years I had hunted vampires I had never, never encountered anything like this.
One of the pictures caught my eye. "Look here."
I pushed the photo back across the desk. It was a severed—torn off really—arm. Ware picked up the picture and studied it.
"Look at the inside of the upper arm." I tapped the edge of the picture. "It's hard to see with all the blood, but those are fang marks."
"In the arm?" Ware said.
I laid a finger across the inside of my right arm. "Like the one that got me when I arrived in your fair city."
I leaned back in my chair. "They like to get the big arteries. The carotid is a favorite, biting the neck like you see in the movies. But they'll also go for the brachial artery in the arm. The femoral and the arteries in the trunk are buried too deep. They'd have to rip out too much muscle to get to it."
Before Ware could respond, someone knocked at the door.
"Yes?"
The door opened just enough for Tanner to stick her head in. "Sorry to bother you, Sergeant, but there's a Fed here to see you."
"A Fed?"
"FBI," Tanner said.
"All right, send him..."
Before Ware finished someone's arm reached past Tanner and pushed the door wide. A man in a suit stood behind Tanner.
"Special Agent Edward Reid," the man in the suit said. "I'd like to have a word with you about what you're calling the Vampire Cult Case, Detective Ware."
Ware looked at me. I shrugged.
"By all means, Agent Reid." He nodded at me. "Miss Herzeg, if you could..."
"No, let her stay," Reid said. "Your consultant is part of this too."
Ware's face looked as confused as I felt.
"Janice if you could..."
"Right," she said. "I'll get you another chair."
Two chairs in front of the desk in this small office would make things tight.
Tanner wheeled in a chair. Ware waved at the chair and Reid took a seat.
"How may I help you, Agent Reid?" Ware resumed his own seat.
"What I would like to know first is why you have been left in charge of this case, when it's clearly something that should be passed to Homeland."
"Meaning the FBI?" Ware said.
I stood up. "I should..."
"Thank you, Ms. Herzeg." Ware stood and held out a hand to shake mine. "I'll call you when..."
"No, no, no, let your pet consultant stay." Reid sneered. "What is she? Psychic?"
Ware frowned. "That was uncalled for, Special Agent Reid. She's an expert on the vampire cult we suspect is behind these murders."
"Vampire cult." Reid looked at me, or rather, looked down on me. I knew the difference. "Go ahead and have a seat. I suppose you're as much a part of this as the detective here."
I sat and looked up at the FBI agent, waiting.
Reid shrugged. "Let me show you something."
He pulled a phone from his belt and tapped on the screen. He set the phone on the desk.
Ware and I both leaned forward to see the phone. A video played, showing a man pacing in a cell. Something about his walk looked familiar but the small screen did not provide enough detail for me to make out features.
That problem was resolved a moment later when whoever held the camera recording the video zoomed in on the face. I drew in a sharp breath. Gerald.
Reid noticed my reaction. "You know the...individual, Ms. Herzeg."
I thought for a moment. They would, no doubt have already identified him and would know...
"We both work for McIntire Investigations," I said. "I don't know him much beyond work. We've not worked together much."
There. That was absolute truth. Just not all the truth. I was getting good at that.
Reid nodded.
On the screen, the camera zoomed back out. Gerald stopped at the door to the cell. He gripped the frame of the door in one hand and the bar into which it locked with the other. Gerald strained. For a moment, the bars seemed to flex, just a tiny fraction, then Gerald released his grip and stepped back. I knew that Gerald worked out religiously—intense strength training combined with martial arts training to at least give him a chance if he got jumped by a vampire—but he was not that strong, not as a human.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Gerald, no, I thought.
"I presume," I said keeping my voice as flat as possible, "that Gerald is accused of some crime and that is why you're holding him?"
"He killed two police officers and put three others in the hospital before we piled enough bodies on him to subdue him." Reid stopped the video, then switched to a picture gallery. He flipped through pictures showing various bite wounds—vampire bite wounds.
"When he was apprehended, Gerald Sierzant broke the handcuffs and had to be restrained yet again, putting two more officers in the hospital. It took three pairs of handcuffs to secure him at last." He tapped the last of the pictures. "He has one-inch fangs. And every three days a previously completely reliable corrections officer attempts to let him out. Always during the night. It's like somebody is controlling their minds. Vampire cult? Do you want to stick with that story?"
I looked at Ware who met my gaze and shrugged.
"I need to talk to my boss," I said to Ware.
Reid slapped the desktop. "You need to talk to me."
Ware rose to his feet. "Okay, that's enough, Agent Reid. You may think you're hot stuff as a federal agent, but until I hear otherwise from my superiors and yours this is my case. Now, if you have evidence that can help bring our perpetrators to justice, I'll be happy to hear it. I will not have you badgering the consultant who has been doing everything in her power to help me keep my city safe. Are we clear?"
"He killed my partner." Reid's voice was soft with suppressed rage. "Is my partner going to come back as one of those—things?"
Once again I met Ware's gaze and shook my head. The piece fell into place. A vampire in police custody. While most people still had no knowledge of vampires, the FBI knew. The people guarding the vampire that used to be Gerald knew. And their superiors knew. And word, apparently, had been spreading among the vampires, meaning they were setting off the very bloodbath we were trying to avoid through secrecy.
"I need to talk to Matei," I told Ware. "I really need to talk to Matei. This is...this changes things."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"From now on, I am in charge of this case," Reid said. "If you want to stay on it, you report to me."
Reid and I sat looking at each other for some time. I needed to talk to Matei. First rule had always been to keep the secret. But, like with Ware, Reid already knew. Ware had put together the evidence, but Reid had a vampire captive. Poor Gerald. The vampires he was after must have picked up and turned him as soon as he arrived in Seattle.
Wait a minute, I thought. Seattle? Something that Reid had said poked at me.
I leaned forward. "Mr. Reid?"
"That's 'Special Agent Reid'."
I nodded. "Special Agent Reid. Which office are you with?"
"I don't see why that..."
"Are you here in an of
ficial capacity?"
Ware turned a puzzled gaze in my direction. "Ms. Herzeg?"
I smiled at him then returned to Reid. "Special Agent, your office?"
"I'm with the Seattle office, if it matters," he said.
"And your office sent you more than halfway across the country to take charge of this investigation, rather than contacting someone local here?"
He turned sullen eyes to me. I smiled.
Ware stood. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, Special Agent Reid, Ms. Herzeg."
He squeezed past me on the way to the door, his arm brushing my shoulder in passing.
"What the hell are you getting at, lady?"
I said nothing, just smiled.
Reid frowned. "For that matter, how did you get to be such a so-called expert on these...these...things?"
"Experience, Mr. Reid."
"That's Spe—-"
"Mr. Reid." I leaned back and grinned at Reid, pretty sure I had his number and that Ware had caught on too.
A few minutes later, Ware returned. "Funny way to spend your vacation, Special Agent Reid. When I mentioned to your supervisor that you were here trying to take over my case, he said you were on mandatory psychiatric leave following the death of your partner."
Ware pushed past me again, his hand stopping for just a moment on the back of my neck. I did not think he was even aware of the contact, but I was. I gritted my teeth. I had to keep a hold on my feelings. Whatever I was feeling for Ware, the middle of the case was not the place for it. And once the case was over I would be going back to Nashville and... no, it was a bad idea all around.
"So, Special Agent Reid—" Ware's words jerked me back to the present. "—who has no official standing on this investigation at all, what am I to do with you?"
Reid dropped into his chair and seemed to sag. I almost felt sorry for him. Then I remembered Gerald. While Gerald had never been a friend, exactly, he deserved much better than a brutal death and whatever caused a corpse to rise to feast on human blood using his body. Gerald deserved all my sympathy and, given the opportunity I would do the only thing I could do for him. Kill the thing that was using his body.
"Maybe," I said then stopped.
"Ms. Herzeg?" Ware looked at me.
"Well, Detective, we all want the same thing, right? We want the attacks to stop and we want this...cult...ended."
"Cult." Reid sneered.
"Cult." I stared Reid in the eyes. He could either play along or not.
After several long seconds, Reid nodded.
"So, Detective," I turned back to Ware. "Perhaps, even without official standing, we could share some information back and forth and maybe find something that will help break the case."
Ware thought for a moment. "Since these cases appear to be connected, we should be talking to each other. But, for some reason, I haven't even heard from Seattle that there is a connected event." He leaned forward, elbows on the desk, resting his chin on folded hands. "Why is that, Special Agent?"
"You think we want to tell people that we have a vampire in holding?" Reid shook his head. "I'm not crazy, you know that."
"Well, jury's still out on that."
Reid flashed Ware an irritated look. "I made the mistake of telling the shrink what I saw. She, of course, doesn't know about..." He waved at his phone. "So I'm on psych leave because I admitted to something my bosses don't want to admit exists. Fifteen years in the Bureau and this is what I get?"
"So they're keeping secret information that might help me stop the bastards killing people, killing kids for God's sake, in my city?" Ware slapped his hands on the desk and stood.
Reid jumped to his feet as well. "One of those things killed my partner and..."
"I have at least twenty-three dead bodies, college kids, and that's just last night. Your partner was a volunteer, putting his neck on the line for the job. These kids? They shouldn't have had to worry about anything more than finals or drinking too much at their next kegger."
"Gentlemen?" I said softly.
"My partner never expected—"
"Gentlemen!" I did not have the energy to push but I did put some force into my voice. They both turned and stared at me. "Perhaps this is not the time to have this argument. I have no authority over either of you, but if an outside voice might be able to interject a little reason, I'd suggest that you both cool off and you—" I pointed at Reid. "—leave Detective Ware your card. Give us a chance to go over these reports. And perhaps we can talk about this tomorrow morning with—" I sighed theatrically. "—cooler heads."
While talking, I caught Ware's eye and surreptitiously tapped the pocket that held my phone. I hoped he would catch the hint.
I needed to talk to Matei but I couldn't, not yet, not until sundown.
Ware stood straight, opening the space between him and Reid. Reid took a half step back, bumping into his chair.
Ware grinned lopsidedly. "She's right. If you give me a day to go over these reports, I'll be in a better position to talk to you."
Reid's lips pressed into a thin line but, after a moment, he nodded. He pulled a card from his pocket and held it out. "That's my cell. I'm not sure where I'll be staying yet, but...call me."
"If you're looking for a place to stay, the Westin's nice," I said.
Ware frowned and Reid gave me a puzzled expression. I just grinned.
Reid shrugged and put his hand on the doorknob. "Tomorrow, then."
Ware nodded.
When Reid had left, I met Ware's eyes.
Ware sighed. "What do you make of that?"
"I think that might answer a number of questions," I said. "For one thing, if they have a captive vampire and other vampires know about it, they could consider the secret out and..." I waved a hand, indicating the pile of reports on Ware's desk.
Before Ware could answer, someone knocked at his door.
"Yes?" Ware called.
The door opened a crack and Tanner stuck her head in. "Hate to break up your party, James, but the Captain has asked for you." She looked at me, then back to Ware. "Just you, not your tagalong."
Ware smiled apologetically at me. "You mind waiting here?"
I waved at the papers. "I've still got plenty to do."
He nodded. "Then let me go get the butt-chewing over with."
I frowned, annoyed on Ware's behalf. I could see where the heat would come from. A children's hospital. Now a college. Kids and young people, brutally murdered by the score. The politicians would be screaming for blood.
But another part of me wanted to scream back at them. Ware was doing everything humanly possible to find these monsters. And I was doing everything I could to help him.
With that thought, I turned back to the reports. There had to be something in them, somewhere, that would give me a clue where to find these bastards.
I lost track of time as I continued plowing through the reports. Nobody said anything when I got up to pour myself a cup of coffee from the big communal coffee pot. Vile stuff, but after a night without sleep, any caffeine in a storm. Another time I asked a young detective for directions to the rest room. He just pointed down the hall.
As I went through the pictures, I tried to get a count of fang marks. Vampire stomachs can only hold so much blood. A vampire could fill their stomach from one bite and while they might not take a full feeding from a single bite, I'd never known them to do more than two or three in a single night. The number of bites would give us at least a rough idea of how many vampires we had to deal with.
As I examined the pictures, it seemed that every body had at least one bite mark. Some had two. A few even had three. Call it forty to forty-five bites. That meant a minimum of thirteen to fifteen vampires working together.
I shivered.
That many vampires working together would have enough Push between them to be able to orchestrate a massacre like this every day.
As I was nearing the end of the crime scene reports, a young woman brought in another stack of repo
rts.
"You're new here?" The young woman set the reports on Ware's desk.
"You might say that," I said. "Consultant. Temporary."
"Uhh..."
"It's okay," I said. "I'm working with Detective Ware. Not sure when he'll be back, though."
"Oh, you haven't heard?"
"Heard?"
"The Mayor is holding a news conference. He's got the captain and Detective Ware with him." With that, she backed out and closed the door.
I slapped the folder I had been reviewing onto the desk and scrambled for my phone. I flipped to the browser and found a page of local news that was covering the press conference live.
The conference was outside. The reddish gleam to the light and the long shadows told me that I had worked the day through, hardly noticing the passing of time.
"That's all I have for you right now," the man who I presumed was the mayor said. "While I'm sure you have questions, I'll let Detective Ware answer them for you."
Ware stepped up to the podium. The smile on his face could have been a mask stapled in place for all the honest feeling it carried.
"Detective," someone said, and then others trying to get Ware's attention drowned out the speaker.
"One at a time, please. One at a time." Ware pointed. "What's your question?"
"Detective Ware, how many people have been killed by these terrorists?"
"First, off, let me say that we do not know if the people behind the killings are terrorists. They have, as yet, made no demands."
"How can you say it's not terrorism with so many dead?"
"Terrorism is defined as the use of violence-inspired terror to achieve political goals, usually to force a nation to make political concessions. Without the political component, it's not terrorism, no matter how horrific a crime it might be."
"So how horrific is it? How many have been killed?"
"I am not at liberty to give exact figures. Upwards of thirty."
"You mean upwards of thirty so far?"
Ware's lips pinched into a tight line and he nodded. "So far."
"Why isn't the FBI running the investigation?" A different reporter this time.
The Unmasking (Dhampyre the Hunter Book 1) Page 13
