The Unmasking (Dhampyre the Hunter Book 1)

by David Burkhead

  "You said there were two ways?" Ware gestured for me to continue.

  I nodded. "The other way is terror. They keep people so terrified, so off balance, that they can't coordinate, use their greater numbers and ability to operate in daylight to hunt and destroy the vampires."

  "And that appears to be what's happening here," Ware said. "The government has become aware of the existence of vampires." Ware's eyes flicked to Reid.

  Reid slapped a hand on the table. "Are you saying this is our fault?"

  Ware looked at Reid for several seconds. "No, Special Agent. By the very rules the vampires operated from, it was the vampire who put himself in a position to not only be identified but captured. It's not about blame. It's about what to do now."

  "So what do we do now?" Tanner's voice was surprisingly calm, given the series of revelations at this table.

  "You work your sources," Ware said. "You know what we're looking for now, so keep an eye out. And don't try to take them on alone. Ms. Herzeg thinks we have at least thirteen working together in the city. We need to fight them on ground of our choosing, when we have the advantage. Don't let what they are, and what they're doing, drive you into anything rash. We find out where they are, and then we take them down when we have the advantage."

  Tanner drummed her fingers on the table for a moment, then looked up at Ware. "By 'take them down' you don't mean arrest them, I take it?"

  "You saw Riley and IUPUI." Ware shook his head and sighed in obvious frustration. "Can you imagine one of those things in holding or in general pop at State? Scum and villainy they may be, but they don't deserve to be massacred by vampires."

  "So, we find them," I said. "We find them and we kill them." I looked Tanner in the eye. "Can you do that?"

  "I helped sort bodies at Riley," Tanner said. "Oh, yeah. I can do that."

  Blake nodded. "I'm in."

  "Reid?" Ware turned a hand up to the agent.

  Reid sighed. "Dammit, this is supposed to be my case."

  "The powers that be made it mine," Ware said. "But the truth is, I'm a rookie. You're a rookie. Everyone here is a rookie. Everyone except Ms. Herzeg. She's the one with experience hunting and killing vampires. If she says 'jump' you don't even ask 'how high', you just bounce off the ceiling."

  "Detective..."

  "That's the best deal you're going to get, Special Agent, so take it now or you can walk out of here."

  "I can go to your Lieutenant," Reid said.

  Ware grinned. "You sure you want to do that? I mean, all things considered?"

  "Damn you."

  "Your call, Reid. Your call."

  "All right, I'm in."

  "That went well," Ware said as we got into his car.

  "You mean 'well' in the 'we haven't been wrapped in straight jackets and hauled off to a mental ward' sense?"

  Ware chuckled. "Even better, I've still got my badge."

  "So, where to now?"

  "The range, so you can familiarize yourself with Kindness."

  "Wait. Kindness?"

  "The CZ75. I named it Kindness. As in..."

  I grinned. "As in kill him with kindness. You are a bad, bad man."

  Ware laughed.

  We rode in companionable silence as Ware took the Interstate to the northwest side of town then, a few minutes after exiting the interstate, pulled into a drive adjacent to what looked like a large forest park. He checked in at the gate, then we pulled up to an outdoor pistol range.

  We started with standard ball ammunition. The CZ75 was a very nice gun to shoot. The bullets went where I aimed them in tight groups. The pistol was a little large for my hands, but not more than I could handle. It would be harder to conceal than my old Kahr. Still, having seventeen rounds available compared to the eight in the gun the state prosecutor's office still held had its advantages.

  I shot a few rounds through the revolver. As expected, accuracy was poor. Oh, I could consistently hit a man-sized target at fifty feet, but it just didn't have the accuracy for any kind of precision shooting. Slowing up a vampire for a second or two was the most I could expect from it.

  At the end of the session, we each shot a magazine of the modified ammunition with silver solder melted into the cavity at the front of hollow point bullets. As expected, groups were larger but still tight enough that I felt comfortable using the gun.

  After we finished at the range, we went to lunch. Another buffet. I pretended to ignore Ware's smirk as I loaded up my plate.

  We followed lunch with a drive back downtown and a brief walk to the courthouse to await Mary's hearing. I waited in the back of the courtroom while Ware walked up to the front and leaned over to have a whispered conversation with the prosecutor. I saw the prosecutor nod and Ware crossed to the other lawyer and had another whispered conversation. A moment later he straightened and walked back to me.

  "And now we wait." Ware sat next to me. "The public defender will enter a guilty plea and ask for probation. The prosecutor will concur, and we'll meet Mary when she's released."

  "What do you plan to do with her?"

  Ware's grin threatened to split his face. "I was thinking of maybe having her stay with you."

  I opened my mouth but Ware held up a hand.

  "No, not at the Westin. There's a police safehouse we use for securing important witnesses. It's not as fancy as the Westin, but it's secure. I'll have to tell the Captain something, soon about why I'm holding Mary up there, but it buys us a day or two."

  "A day or two is all we've got if we're going to avoid another massacre."

  We waited about half an hour. A door opened and Mary stepped through, escorted by a uniformed officer. Apparently, Ware's prediction of Mary's disposition was correct.

  Ware stood. I followed an instant behind.

  "Mary." Ware nodded in her direction.

  "Hey, Detective." She looked at me. "New partner? Both of you together? That's a little kinky for you, isn't it?"

  "This is Dani Herzeg," Ware said. "She's a consultant helping us with special knowledge on a case."

  "Does she know about...?"

  "Not here, Mary," Ware said.

  "Judy said..."

  Ware sighed. "Judy's not the one taking the meds, right? You're taking yours though?"

  "Of course I am, Detective. I wouldn't shit you about that." Mary turned her gaze from Ware to me.

  "Pleased to meet you," I said.

  Mary looked me up and down. The raw appraisal in her expression had me blushing despite myself. "Sweetie, I'd be happy to meet you any day."

  I turned my eyes to Ware. He shrugged.

  "Do you take charge of her, sir?"

  Ware nodded. "Thanks Officer." He held out a hand to Mary. "If you'd come with us?"

  "Anywhere you want to go, Sweet Cheeks."

  I told myself I was not going to roll my eyes. I lied.

  "So, what's the plan?" I asked Ware as we walked down the corridor, Mary between us.

  "We'll run back to your hotel. You can get your stuff and check out. Then follow me in your rental to the safe house."

  We took the elevator to the parking garage. I cast a sidelong glance at Mary who had been quiet after the initial introductions. Given what I'd seen from her, I had the feeling that was unusual for her. She was studying her fingernails.

  She noticed my gaze. "Lockup is hard on a girl's looks."

  "I'm sure it is," I said.

  We reached the garage. Ware stepped out first. Mary followed him.

  Mary's right hand shot into the air. "I call shotgun!"

  "Mary—"

  I chuckled. "It's fine. Let her have it. After all, I'm getting out when we reach my hotel."

  I sat in silent amusement as we rode back to my hotel. Sharing a safehouse with Mary would be nothing if not entertaining.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The safehouse was a modest, two-story dwelling in a quiet neighborhood on the north side of town. The attached two-car garage was empty when we arrived, but W
are motioned for me to pull into it alongside him.

  The garage door was closing behind me as I stepped out of the rental car. Ware stood next to his car. Mary leaned against the hood of the car and stretched.

  "My," she said. "Fancy digs. I could get used to this."

  "Tone it down, Mary," Ware said. "We're not customers."

  "Aww, you're no fun, Detective."

  Ware removed a keychain from his pocket, selected a key and opened the door into the house.

  I opened the back door of my car and leaned in to remove the two shopping bags that contained my modest possessions. When I stood back up, something tore through one of the bags and fell to the ground. I looked down. The dagger I had bought at the gun show lay on the ground, turning slowly as though beckoning to me. I set down one of the bags and bent to retrieve the dagger, tucking it into my waistband.

  Ware waited as I rounded his car. He held the door for me to slip past and into the house.

  "If you don't mind, Detective," Mary said, her voice rock steady as Ware closed and locked the door, "After a night in lockup, I'd like to use the restroom. Maybe take a shower."

  Ware nodded. "I'll show you."

  That was the most ordinary speech I'd heard come from Mary's mouth. My surprise must have shown on my face.

  "I'm not as crazy as people think. I still hear the voices but with the medicine they're not as...insistent. But when you're known as Crazy Mary, people leave you—" Mary turned her head to the side. "Shut up, Judy. She's one of the good ones." Mary smiled. "Sorry. Judy's a bitch."

  "This way, Mary." Ware held out a hand.

  Mary followed Ware down the hallway, shedding her clothes as she walked. By the time Ware stopped at a doorway and glanced back, Mary was naked.

  Ware froze for a moment, then opened the door. "There should be clean washcloths and towels already hanging on the rack. "Help yourself."

  "Sure thing, Detective." Mary pushed past him. "Will you wash my back?"

  Ware stepped back from the doorway. "I don't think so. Go do what you have to do."

  "You're no fun." Mary closed the door. I heard her singing through the closed door, something about it being nice to be insane.

  When Ware rejoined me, I let a half smile flicker on my face. "What about when it's my turn to shower? Will you wash my back?"

  Ware looked nonplussed for a moment, then smirked. "Or maybe you'll wash mine?"

  It was my turn to be nonplussed but then I grinned. "Relax, Detective. I'm just teasing." The smile dropped from my face. "We've got the case and the high side of a dozen vampires to worry about. We can't afford any distractions."

  Ware said something softly which I could not make out although I thought I heard something about "very distracting."

  While we waited for Mary to finish her shower, I opened the note taking app on my phone and began making a list. I was going to need more gear, a lot more than usual with the number of vampires we were facing. Dowels to make into stakes. Ash or mountain-ash, also known as rowan, worked best, but oak would do; it just needed to be thicker. I couldn't get silver-plated steel caps for the stakes, not in the time we had, so the sharpened wood would have to do.

  I also needed to get more silver-solder paste and more knives with decorative engraving—something that could hold silver. That cheap bowie had broken on me but even so it was better than nothing. I'd just need to stock up. If nothing else I could maybe drill some holes into blades and fill them with silver solder.

  "Deep thoughts?" Ware asked, setting a cup of coffee and a large jar of peanuts in front of me.

  "Shopping list." I took a swallow of coffee and followed it with a handful of peanuts. "We need everyone on our team ready to face vampires."

  "I've been thinking about that. What about this 'Pushing' you described? Could a vampire make one of us turn on the others?"

  I winced. I was immune to that effect, so I had not thought about it.

  "Normally Matei gives his human help a Push to resist other vampires' Push. I'm nowhere near as strong at Matei but I think I can do the same for a small group like this...for a while anyway." I shook my head. "I won't be able to do it for long, and once I do it, that's it for several days so best to save that for when we expect to go up against them."

  "And for that we need to find out where they are."

  "That's where I'm hoping your friend comes in." I nodded in the direction of the bathroom.

  Ware shrugged. "I ran into her when I worked vice. She was a lot worse then. She was one of Gregor's girls. That's Gregor Nobakov. Nothing more than a small-time pimp, but he was connected. One of his girls got killed. MacKenzie had that case. He pulled me onto his team since I had the connections in the trade. We were pretty sure Nobakov was the killer but none of the girls would roll over on him, none but Mary. Unfortunately, Nobakov's defense attorney..."

  "Schizophrenia, isn't it?" I said. "In Dissociative Identity Disorder, the old multiple personality thing, the main personality generally doesn't interact with the others."

  Ware nodded.

  "I expect that made her testimony..." I spread my hands.

  "Defense objected and judge sustained. Not a reliable witness."

  "He walked?"

  Ware nodded again. "He walked."

  I looked toward the bathroom again. The shower had stopped, but Mary had not yet emerged. "What happened then?"

  "I was working undercover, trying to roll up a new drug connection. It all interconnects at that level, so I was trolling the hookers and trying to hook up with a dealer hoping I could work to his supplier and then the next one up and so on. But I happened to be there when Gregor approached Mary."

  "You... intervened."

  "Blew my cover. Captain Martins was pissed. But the charge this time was assaulting a police officer and the judge couldn't throw out my testimony."

  "So, Gregor went away and Mary had to find a new pimp."

  "Not quite. I tried to get her set up with a barista job."

  "The problem, Detective—" Mary stood in the hallway, a towel wrapped around her. She had removed the bandage from her arm. While no longer bleeding, the two punctures were nevertheless red and raw. "—is nobody wants to hire a crazy person. I got in an argument with Judy and that was the end of that job. The johns don't care. I think some get off on it."

  "And isn't that a crappy statement about the world," Ware said.

  "Trust me, Detective," I said. "There's a lot worse out there than a few perverts."

  My clothes were a bit large on Mary, but they would serve until we could pick up a couple more items for her. I had no problem offering to buy for her. While I was no longer angry at Matei for leaving me in this mess without backup, I still had no problem spending his money on expenses related to the case.

  Put a little away for a very long time indeed.

  While Mary was dressing, Ware busied himself in the kitchen making sandwiches. This safe house had only a basic stock of food, enough for an emergency but not much more. Even for a stay of only a day or two, we would need more.

  Ware's phone rang. "Ware." He listened for a moment. "Slow down, Tommy, what?" Another short pause. "I don't know what..."

  Ware set a platter of sandwiches on the table with one hand, while holding his phone to his ear with the other. "Oh, come on, Tommy. Really? Vampires?"

  I looked past Ware down the short hallway to the bedrooms in the house. Mary stood in one of the doorways, her eyes wide.

  "No, I can't come in now and I can't tell you where I am." Ware was continuing. "Okay, you want 'in' on this? Fine. I'll have Tanner pick you up when her shift's over. But when you get here, we're on lockdown. I'll want your phone and your computer. You will only have access when you need it for this case and only with one of us looking over your shoulder every second. You still want in?" He switched the phone to his other ear. "Fine. Let me call Tanner and let her know we're bringing you aboard." Ware hung up the phone.

  "Vampires?" Mary stepped into the
hallway, pulling the bedroom door closed behind her. "So, I'm not crazy?"

  Ware looked over his shoulder at her but said nothing.

  Mary giggled. "Judy says I am crazy, but not about this."

  Ware waved at an empty chair. "Have a seat, Mary. Yes, it's about vampires. They're real. And my consultant here—" He pointed at me. "—is a vampire hunter."

  Mary sagged into the chair. "I thought...I thought I'd gone beyond voices to seeing things. I thought if'n I admitted, if I told anybody, they'd put me away. I been in the hospital before. I couldn't go back there. It's worse'n jail."

  I leaned forward and took hold of Mary's right hand. "They're real. Hallucinations don't make wounds like those on your arm."

  "You sure?" Mary's voice rose, a note of panic in it. "I heard o' people gettin' wounds in they hands and feet, like Jesus on the cross, wounds that just appear."

  "Stigmata," I nodded. "Lots of things cause those. But those wounds on your arm aren't stigmata." I let go of her hand and pulled up the sleeve on my shirt. The scars had mostly faded, would eventually fade entirely, but they were still visible. "I've been bit myself."

  "Oh, Jesus save me," Mary said. "Am I gonna...am I gonna become one of thems walkin' dead?"

  Again, I reached forward and took her hand. I cast a quick look at Ware who gestured for me to continue. "It takes more than just being bit by a vampire to turn into one. You have to be drained to the point of death then you have to feed on their blood. You wouldn't be here now if they'd done that to you. And I won't let it happen to you. I promise, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe."

  She nodded.

  "Now, Mary." Ware's voice was soft. "What can you tell us about what happened to you?"

  "I...I don't know what's real and what's..."

  "You just tell us," Ware said. "Let us worry about figuring out what's real and what's the voices."