Psychic Undercover [With The Undead]

by Amie Gibbons

  “It smells.”

  “Not if you keep it in the cloves and put those in a baggie. It would be a good idea. I really am going to have to insist.”

  “I can’t believe a vamp is telling me to carry around something that’s deadly to them.”

  “What? Garlic isn’t deadly to us.”

  Whoa, really?

  “Okay, explain.” I walked past him and upstairs. “I need to change.”

  “I am perfectly fine with that.”

  He followed on my heels like a puppy dog.

  “You stay here.” I pointed to the floor outside my bedroom.

  He pouted playfully again.

  I grabbed clean underwear, black pants and a red top, and ducked into my bathroom.

  “So explain,” I shouted.

  “Garlic doesn’t hurt us. The smell curbs the bloodlust. If you have a hungry, out of control vamp, all you need to do is crush some garlic near us. The smell snaps us out of it.”

  “Why didn’t you say that earlier when you were the hungry, bloodlusty vamp?” I asked, peeling off my clothes and wrinklin’ my nose. Yikes, I smelled!

  “Because I was in bloodlust. It was all I could do to stay on the couch. Can you tell your rug to settle somewhere? He keeps fluttering around me and dodging away every time I look at him.”

  “Then stop looking at him.” I pulled the top over my head.

  “Do you know how rare enchanted objects like this are? They have to be made on the Other Side”—the way he said it made it clear it was capitalized—“and then brought over here.”

  Pants on. “Other Side?”

  “Where demons come from.”

  “Okaaaaaay. Why would a demon have something against you guys?”

  I wasn’t gonna even try to fix my hair. I pulled it back in a bun and clipped it.

  “They could be mad because someone in the nest broke a deal. If someone summoned them and welshed, the demons could go after them and anyone around them, but this is more deliberate. Most likely it was someone else who summoned the demons and set them on us.”

  “Man, y’all’s world is complicated.”

  “Yes,” he said, voice wavering. “Seriously, call him off.”

  I peeked out of the bathroom.

  Quil was bouncing on the balls of his feet fighter style in my room with Pyro flapping in front of him like a possessed matador’s cape.

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

  “Pyro, honey, it’s time for bed.”

  He settled on his bottom tassels, staring at me.

  “You’ll collapse as soon as the sun gets up anyway. You may as well be comfortable.”

  Pyro swept out of my room, leaving a pile of strings on the floor.

  “You wouldn’t think a carpet could have a snit,” I said, kneelin’ on the floor to brush up the threads.

  I stayed there, holdin’ the magic hairball in my hand.

  “You okay?” Quil asked?

  I shook my head. “I am so not okay.”

  “Why?”

  "When something happens like that, a crisis out of the blue, I don't have fight or flight. I freeze. I was useless in there. Worse, I was a liability. You had to shove me under the bar. That man's dead because I didn't react quickly enough."

  "No, he would have been dead either way. Grant reacted quickly and the demon still got Carter before it got scared off."

  So that was his name.

  "I was closer."

  "Fine, it's all your fault. There, feel better? Didn't think so. You feel guilty? Good. Guilt is there to make sure you don't make the same mistake in the future. And crying about it now isn't going to do anything. Finding his killer will."

  “You suck at this, you know that?”

  “No, I suck at the sitting around feeling sorry for yourself and crying about it thing. I’m good at getting others to get up and get their asses in gear.”

  I pushed to my feet. “You sound like Grant.”

  He shrugged, lookin’ around my room, far too interested.

  There’s nothing really special about it. There’s a bed, closet, dresser, bookshelves stuffed with books and knickknacks just like the living room, and lots of pictures covering the generic off-white walls.

  One of these days, I’d get around to painting the place.

  “If I leave you alone all day, will I come back to find my stuff riffled through?” I asked.

  I put the hairball in the upstairs box, went into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush and paste, shovin’ the brush in and scrubbing a little too vigorously.

  “Of course not. I’m too good to leave traces that I’ve searched anywhere.”

  I popped my head into my room again to roll my eyes at him and he smiled.

  “Hey, how does your blood do this? I mean, I feel like I’ve had an entire night’s sleep,” I asked, putting the toothbrush again.

  He was at the doorway in a blink and I gagged on my toothpaste.

  I spat into the sink and glared at him. “Don’t do that.”

  “It bugs you, does it?” he asked, eyes heavy and far too focused.

  “I will kick your butt outta here if you keep lookin’ at me like that.”

  I rinsed out my mouth, keeping an eye on him in the mirror.

  And yet another myth dispelled.

  He sighed. “So we can’t finish what we started?”

  I glared at him in the mirror. “We didn’t start anything.”

  He put his hands up. “That was a joke. I already told you, I have a rule.”

  I shook my head. “We’ll cover the scene today. That’s probably going to take all day. I’ll see what Grant says about the joint investigation, and I’ll tell you what I can, and you need to come up with some answers tonight.”

  He just smiled and backed away from the door. He kicked off his shoes and pushed down on my bed.

  “Memory foam mattress, thick down comforter, but made out of synthetic materials.” He pulled it back. “But Egyptian cotton sheets. Interesting. Based on this condo and your age, you come from money, but don’t have all the fine things you could.” He looked around. “So why?”

  “What are you-?”

  “Answer, you’re allergic.” He grabbed my allergy meds from my dresser. “And judging by the size of this container, you’re very allergic.”

  “Are you done?” I wrinkled my nose at him.

  “Not even close. But I can finish while you’re gone.”

  He smiled and climbed into my bed, pullin’ the covers up to his chin.

  Was he actually going to sleep in my bed?

  He blinked at me once he was all tucked in. How could someone so deadly look so darn cute?

  I had the strongest urge to kiss his forehead and smooth the loose curls away from his face.

  “Sure, make yourself at home. It’s not like I have a guest room or anything,” I said.

  “The guest room wouldn’t smell this much like you.” He closed his eyes.

  I tossed my hands up and walked out.

  Pyro waited at the computer, a half page tirade facing me.

  “I’m not readin’ all that right now,” I said. “But I caught the words pissed, stupid, and sex. It’ll be okay, baby.”

  I reached out and he flew to the couch.

  “Or not. Come on, Pyro. I gotta go to work. I know you want to protect me, but the big bad vamp isn’t gonna touch me.” I turned back to the stairs and yelled, “Are you?”

  “Am I what, sweets?” Quil yelled back.

  “Sweets?” I muttered as Pyro flew over and nuzzled me. “Geez, you save a guy’s life and suddenly he pulls out the pet names.”

  Technically, I could kill Quil while he slept today, but he was sleepin’ here.

  He trusted me?

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  Chapter seven

  The sun was just kissing the sky when I reached work with our normal coffee orders and ran into Kat.

  She looked me up and down like she c
ould smell the blood. “Soooooo, what happened last night?”

  “Yeah, okay.” We hit the bathroom.

  I summed it up for her… leavin’ out a detail or two.

  “And you took some vamp named Quil to a safe location.” She smiled. “Where is that safe location, by the way?”

  I took a deep breath. “He said he couldn’t go home cuz the demon could get in. Vampire thresholds don’t have the power to keep things out like human ones. And I couldn’t just leave him there; he saved my life. So... I took him home.”

  “He didn’t try to bite you?”

  “He couldn’t; he was too weak. And I brought him some blood. And…”

  “What?” she asked.

  “If I tell you something, do you promise on your mother’s life you will not tell anyone, especially Grant?” I took a long gulp of my latte and she nodded. “Okay.” I took another long drag. “I did something kind of stupid.”

  “Oh my God, you had sex with him!” She hit my arm, eyes stretchin’ as wide as they could go.

  Now why did she automatically jump to that?

  Probably cuz my face was cherry red.

  “No! Well, not exactly. Apparently silver hurts them even if it isn’t in the heart. He said it’s like poison. So when it grazed him, it got into his system. It moves slow cuz their blood moves, but like really slow. He said if it hit his heart, he’d die. So I did what you do when someone has a snake bite.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You sucked his blood?”

  “I sucked out the poison.”

  Yeah, like there was a difference. She made a face and I knew she was thinkin’ the same thing.

  “I saved his life, which is only fair cuz that arrow would’ve went straight through my skull if he didn’t push me out of the way in time. So I got it out, but apparently the whole blood sucking thing is very sexual for a vamp.”

  “No kidding.”

  “So he’s at my house and actin’ like… like we did something.”

  “You did do something.”

  “I know, but it was to save him. I didn’t know it was so sexual for them until later.”

  “Was it sexual for you?”

  “I was too scared to really be feelin’ anything, but now? Kind of.” I pointed at her. “This does not leave this room.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So how much do I tell the guys?”

  “Oh crap!”

  “Yeah! Do I tell him… them, the whole thing, or just leave out Quil gettin’ shot?”

  “Oh, you’re putting this on me?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “Okay, the guys will need to know about the silver being a poison, so tell it like it is, just leave out how hot it was. You sucked out the poison, that’s it.”

  “Okay,” I said and we left the bathroom. “This is going to be a bad day.”

  “Vision?”

  “You know I can’t see the future.”

  “But we can both see this will be a bad day. Good luck.” She hit my cup with hers before heading to the elevator.

  I walked into the bullpen and handed out the coffees, and the guys started chuggin’ like there was no tomorrow.

  “How are you so awake?” Jet asked me, eyes bloodshot and bleary as I grabbed my kit out of my desk.

  I grinned.

  I’m not answerin’ that.

  “Everybody move, we’ve got a crime scene that’s already been waiting too long,” Grant said.

  “How do you know the demon’s gone, sir?” Dan asked.

  “Demons don’t do daylight,” Jet said, taking another long gulp. “They get yanked back at sunrise.”

  “Where?”

  “Wherever the bastards come from. Hell, I don’t know.”

  “The Other Side,” I said. “That’s what the vamps call it.”

  We loaded into our van and headed out.

  “Who goes first?” Dan asked, looking at me.

  Grant nodded from behind the wheel. “Ryder, you’re up.”

  Gee, thanks, Dan.

  “Oh dear,” I said, then summed up the night.

  “The next thing I knew, there was an arrow stickin’ out of the wall and Quil seemed pretty hurt even though it was just a scratch. So I dragged him back and locked the door. He told me the silver was like poison. It travels through their blood to their heart, oh yeah, their blood does move, it’s just slow, and then they die. I really don’t get how that works. I mean...”

  “Ryder.” Grant gave me a look and I bit my lip.

  “Right. Sorry, sir. So I did what anyone would do if someone was bit by a snake or something. I sucked it out.”

  My eyes were glued to my lap.

  “You what!” Grant asked.

  Jet crossed himself out of the corner of my eye.

  Wonder what he’d think of the vamp he was crossing about crossing too.

  “Ariana, did it occur to you their blood could do something to you?” Grant asked.

  “Yes, General.” Still couldn’t look up. “He told me it does. It gives the drinker extra strength. I didn’t know that until I was done, but it seemed like the best option.”

  I finished tellin’ them about the demon and how I tried to run him down and he ran.

  “Problem,” Jet said. “If the demon doesn’t have a face, then how did he get around the club, and talk to Jo, and take her without someone saying, ‘Hey, man, where’s your face?’”

  “Maybe they can shift to make a face?” I said.

  “Or copy someone else’s,” Grant said.

  “Damnnnn.” Dan whistled. “So that’s how he did it. He made himself look like someone she knew and lured her out.”

  “But no one noticed her leaving,” Jet said.

  I smacked my forehead. “Dave! He was talking to her before she left. He went to the bathroom and then she was gone. If the demon was there, say dressed up as a vamp, then changed to look like Dave when he went to the bathroom, then he could’ve lured Jo out. They were hooking up, no one would notice them leavin’ cuz it’d be normal. People don’t usually take notice of things that are totally normal.”

  “Assumptions, but possible,” Grant said, meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Where did you take him?”

  I wasn’t stupid enough to play stupid and ask who.

  “Okay,” I said, “he said he couldn’t go back to the nest, or another human’s house cuz he’d put them in danger.”

  “Ryder!”

  I flinched. “My place, sir.”

  He drew in a sharp breath.

  “What!” Jet yelled. “You let a vamp into your home? Girl, do you know what he could do to you? General rule, if it has to ask to get inside, say no!”

  “You should be glad that’s not the rule, or your gender would never get any.”

  He glared at me.

  “Jet, he saved my life. And he held himself back from attacking me when he was hungry.”

  I explained their bloodlust issues and the role garlic really played in the vampire life.

  “So when you think about it,” I said, “it was a good thing cuz now we know a lot more about them than we did before.”

  “Is there anything else you need to tell us, Ryder?” Grant asked.

  I gulped. “No, General.”

  He eyed me in the mirror. “Kowalski, go.”

  Jet reported. After the shooting started, he found a ladder in a supply closet and hightailed it to the roof, and him shooting was what got the shooter to stop and run.

  Grant nodded when Jet was done. “Bridges.”

  Dan went after the arrow guy, and lost him when the vamps ran after him.

  “So they can outrun vamps?” I asked. “I don’t think so, otherwise the guy would’ve gotten to us before we got to the car.”

  “Teleportation, maybe,” Jet said. “Takes a minute to get the spell going, so couldn’t just pop across the parking lot.”

  “Or they can turn into things other than humans and hide as trees,” Grant said.

&nbs
p; “Oh God, I didn’t even think of that,” I said.

  That’d be truly terrifyin’. They could be anywhere.

  ###

  “We’re doing this by locations,” Grant said when we got to the club. “Ryder, you’re outside.”

  Of course I couldn’t do inside the club, my being there could keep me from being objective with the evidence.

  “Photograph and bag, get the roof and the dirt around the building, get impressions of footprints, and track them into the woods far as you can. Kowalski, main club. You know the drill. Bridges, offices and the bathrooms.”

  The guys hopped to.

  “General?” I asked.

  It’s not a safe thing to second guess Grant, but I had to know.

  “If you’re taking the other rooms... I mean... those stairs down...” I cleared my throat. “We don’t know what could be down there, sir.”

  “I know, Ryder. We’ll see if we can get in there once we have backup.”

  I sighed.

  “I’m not stupid, Ariana; we don’t go into places like that without backup.”

  “Yes, sir.” I nodded and rushed outside.

  I snapped everything around the club three times over then climbed to the roof using the ladder Jet put up last night.

  We still weren’t sure how the demon got up there. He could’ve flown for all we knew. But then again, if they could fly, wouldn’t they have flown away instead of runnin’?

  Too many unanswered questions. And it wasn’t like we could look for logical solutions.

  Demons don’t fit into the logical world and don’t follow the rules of science as we know them.

  When I finished and went into the club, the guys were just finishing up.

  Jet had collected about a hundred bullets and a smattering of fingerprints, but we were already sure those wouldn’t do much good.

  It’s not like AFIS has a demon database section.

  Maybe we’d get something from tracing back the bullets?

  After all the evidence was loaded up, the director was called and briefed, and Crowley’s team joined us, we went down the back hallway.

  Grant took out his gun and opened the door, gun up and ready.

  The stairs were just as deep and dark as they looked the night before.

  “Ryder, flashlight,” Grant said.

  I pulled my big utility flashlight out of my kit and shined it down.