by J. K. Beck
Within the crime scene tape, Tucker approached the woman. As he did, Serge tensed. He knew what was coming, and he hated the thought that the agent was going to play with this woman’s mind, erasing her thoughts and changing her memories. He knew it had to be done, but it seemed criminal to alter the will of a woman who’d proven to be so very strong.
There was, however, nothing Serge could do about it. Not unless he wanted to reveal himself to the group. And that was definitely not on tonight’s agenda.
As Serge watched, Tucker and the woman walked back toward the small group of humans that had gathered behind the crime scene tape, joined as they went by a short man in a rumpled suit jacket. When Serge had first arrived, the crowd of humans had been massive. But Tucker and a couple of the vamps on the PEC staff had moved among the crowd, giving the humans the most massive of mind fucks and making them suddenly realize that there wasn’t anything to see, and that they had at least a dozen other places they’d rather be and a handful of other things they’d rather be doing.
Now Tucker once again pulled his mumbo jumbo, this time including the woman and the rumpled man along with the few reporters and new onlookers who’d come by to see what the lights and action were all about. A few moments later the crowd, including the woman, dispersed. Serge swallowed the raw bitterness that rose in his throat, the knowledge that the woman had lost that rage and purpose sitting in Serge’s gut like a heavy stone.
But he could go now. Somehow the fact that she’d left the scene released him as well.
He started to move away, then saw Doyle take his hands off the body and stand, a bit unsteadily. Serge hesitated, interested to see if the paradaemon had pulled any images from Penny Martinez’s last moments alive.
“Agent?” That was from Luke, who’d moved to Doyle’s side and was watching him closely.
Tucker took Doyle’s arm. “Give the man some breathing room. He has to get his own head back.”
Serge stood perfectly still, focusing on their words, his curiosity keeping him rooted to the spot.
“She was surprised,” Doyle said, his voice strong, but singsong. Like someone under hypnosis. “And then she was afraid. It grew, that fear—it filled her.” He closed his eyes, shook his head. “I pulled out too fast. Her emotions—they’re still clinging to me.” He shuddered. “Her thoughts were a jumble.” His words were coming fast now. “Shouldn’t have come through the park. Was daylight, so it’s gotta be safe. Shouldn’t have come alone. Should have brought a Taser. Pepper spray. Run! Run!”
“What about images?” Luke asked, his voice deliberately soothing. “Did you see the one who did this?”
In the trees, Serge leaned in, as if that would make the answer come faster.
“Had to go deeper.” Doyle’s voice was weak now, as if he’d used up everything inside him. “Into the black. Had to go all the way inside.”
“Dammit, Luke,” Tucker said. “He hasn’t fed in days. Let me take him to Orlando’s and we can do this back at the office.”
Orlando’s was a soul-trading bar, and Doyle was a paradaemon who fed off human souls. His gift, Serge knew, drained him, leaving him a shell if he didn’t feed. Luke knew that, too, but he only shook his head, silently denying Tucker’s request. “Come on, Doyle. What did you see?”
Tucker’s face hardened and he tightened his grip on his partner. But he didn’t protest again.
Doyle drew in a deep breath. “Vampire,” he said, which wasn’t exactly the most astounding of revelations. “He was injured. There was pain all over his face. But even so, this wasn’t just about the feed. He drew it out for hours. Tormented her. Lorded the kill over her, but didn’t end it until the fear had quickened in her veins.”
“His daemon,” Tucker said.
A muscle in Doyle’s cheek twitched. “No. I could see it on his face. It wasn’t the daemon,” Doyle said, his voice filled with loathing. “He just got off on it.”
“But you saw him,” Luke pressed.
“Yeah. Considering how much time they spent together, our Penny got a good look at him. A pointed chin. Heavy brows. Pale green eyes. I got him,” he said, tapping his temple. He shot a hard look at Luke. “Now we just have to find him.”
Serge felt his jaw tighten and he sniffed the air, searching for a particular scent. Doyle might have identified the killer, but Serge intended to find him first.
“Well, that was a waste of time,” Edgar said as they slid back into his car, his words making Alexis sigh and shake her head even as she sent a text message to Leena: Got the dirt. On my way home.
“Not a waste,” she said. “Penny Martinez was killed by a vampire.”
He turned the key, firing the ignition as he managed a derisive snorting noise. “You know I love you, Alexis, but this was a nothing crime scene. Not related to the task force. Not related to vampires. I think you’ve hit that point where you see what you want to see.”
“We really need to work on your conditioning,” Alexis said.
“Hey, I passed the physical.” He patted his belly, which was starting to get a little round. “Kicked my ass, but I passed.”
“Not that kind of conditioning. This kind.” She tapped her forehead. “It took me three solid months of training with Leena to be able to withstand their mind tricks—and she told me it took her almost two years.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“They pulled a whammy on you. The vamps. Those agents. All those dudes who were supposedly working for Homeland Security.” Possibly they really were working for Homeland. Hadn’t Edgar once told her that his wife had believed that vampires had infiltrated all levels of the government? God, what an idea.
“A whammy?”
“Listen,” she said, and pulled out her iPhone. She’d turned on the recorder as soon as they’d arrived at the scene, and now she scrolled backward until she reached the banter between her and Edgar as they’d walked toward the site. “Hang on.” She fast-forwarded a bit, found the conversation she was looking for, and unplugged her headphone so that Edgar could hear, too.
“Agent? Detective Garvey?” It was Tucker’s voice. Alexis kept her eyes on Edgar and saw the flicker of confusion cross his face.
“When did you record this?”
“Just keep listening.”
“I have something I need to say to the onlookers. I think you might be interested. Care to join me?”
“Sure.” That was Alexis.
A few seconds of silence, then, “Folks, we’re going to have to ask you to leave now. Obviously there’s nothing going on here, as you can all plainly see. Nothing to remember, nothing to think about. You came because you heard about a crime scene, but it turned out to be nothing even remotely interesting. So dull, in fact, that you’re going to delete any photographs or videos you might have taken, or expose the film if you’re using a traditional camera. Head on out now. Thanks so much.”
The speaker emitted a staticky shuffling noise as the crowd moved away. Beside her, Edgar said, “What—”
“Just wait. There’s a little bit more.”
“That was meant for the two of you as well, of course,” Tucker said.
“For us?” Edgar asked.
“There’s nothing of interest to either the FBI or the LAPD. This case isn’t within your jurisdiction. The position of the body hides the other injuries, but there’s more than just a neck wound. This is related to a terrorist threat we’ve been following, and of course we appreciate your discretion.”
“Discretion,” Edgar said. “Of course.”
“You understand, too, Agent—?”
“I do. Yes. Discretion is clearly key.”
“I’m glad we understand each other. Obviously I can’t go into the details, but you need to walk away. Just forget. But be confident that you’re not walking away from one of your victims. She’s not yours, and we’ll do everything we can to catch her killer.”
They’d reached her house, and Edgar pulled haphazardly
into her driveway, almost slamming into Leena’s car, which was parked in front of the closed garage door. “I don’t remember,” he said, turning off the engine and killing the headlights. “Obviously we had the conversation, but I don’t remember a word of it.” He looked at Alexis, and there was both fear and confusion in his eyes.
“It’ll be fine,” she promised. “But let’s get inside where we can talk. Besides, I want to get Leena started on this,” she added, with a pat to her pocket. A nonsensical gesture from Edgar’s perspective, since Alexis could tell by looking at him that he didn’t remember her taking the dirt.
He followed her toward the house, and the door flew open as they approached. “Was it the one that got away?” Leena asked. “Do you know?”
“No way to tell.” Alexis grimaced, then looked hopefully at her friend. “Did you try again? Too see if Tori’s killer is still out there?”
“I tried. Got nothing. Either I’m too tired, you actually killed the bastard, or he’s not on the hunt right now.”
“Wait,” Edgar said as he followed Alexis past Leena and into the house. “Back up a second. You’re not bullshitting me with that recording?”
“You’re surprised? Come on, Edgar, isn’t that part of all the movies? How vampires can control a human’s thoughts?”
Leena shot a glance between the two of them. “What happened?”
“Some vamp agent put the whammy on Edgar. Me, too. Or at least he thinks he did.”
Leena focused her attention on the detective. “Guess I’m going to have to teach you how to block, too.”
“So you’re saying that Penny Martinez really was killed by a vampire?”
“Oh, yeah,” Alexis said. “We just don’t know which one.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of dirt, then deposited it in a small glass bowl that sat on her coffee table. “But at least we can track it.”
Beside her, Edgar pressed his fingertips to his temple. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
Alexis caught Leena’s eye, but she only shrugged. No help there. She took Edgar’s arm and eased him toward the couch. “This doesn’t change anything. You knew they were vile. You knew they were clever.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before that they could do that?”
“I didn’t think about it. I guess I figured you already knew. I’m the one who was late to the party, remember? You and Leena have known about vamps for ages.”
Edgar made a hmmph sound. “Didn’t know about this. Shit.”
“Don’t feel bad,” she said. “That’s the way it works, you know? But we’re fighting back. You’re still with me, right?”
He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders, then cracked his neck. “Yeah, kid. I’ve got your back.”
Alexis shifted her attention to Leena. “Are you up for a tracking spell, or did trying to find Tori’s killer wipe you out?”
“I can do it.”
“You sure?” Now that they’d moved to the better light of the living room, Alexis could see how pale Leena looked and how bloodshot her eyes were. “Another headache?”
“Threatening,” Leena said. “But it hasn’t burst out yet.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t track him,” Alexis said, hating the fact that even as she spoke she was hoping Leena would disagree. She didn’t want her friend to suffer another migraine, but at the same time she was itching to go back on the hunt. She no longer cared if the vamp that killed Penny Martinez was the same one she let get away. He was on her radar now. He was hers, and she was going to take him down.
“She can track him even if he’s not hunting?” Edgar asked.
“Right. So long as we have the dirt. It’s like a mystical thread. A bit of his aura is with us, and then we follow the thread to where the vampire himself is.”
“Not a bad explanation,” Leena agreed. “And because there’s a physical—or metaphysical—connection, it doesn’t sap my strength.”
“Let’s get to it,” Alexis said. “Penny may have just been an appetizer.”
Nodding, Leena took the bowl with the dirt to the kitchen, where she’d stored jars and bottles of the various herbs and other ingredients she used for her spells. As Alexis and Edgar sat on stools at the granite-topped kitchen island, Leena went to work mixing the dirt with various ingredients and muttering a series of words that, as she’d explained, were chosen to pull out and harness the powers of the earth.
Finally, she closed her eyes and with arms extended held the dirt out in her hands. She’d formed it into a small ball, and now it glowed with a slightly silver tint. After a moment, the glow faded. Leena opened her eyes and handed the ball to Alexis. “Can you tell where he is?”
Alexis shifted the ball in her hand so that she could better examine its smooth surface in the light. The crust on the dirt felt like aluminum foil, with dark spidery lines crisscrossed like veins. The only imperfection was a red pinpoint dot. “At the beach,” Alexis said, looking up at Leena. The dark lines formed a map, and the red dot showed the vampire’s location. Unfortunately, the map on the ball didn’t have street names, just thick and thin lines representing streets, highways, the coast, and other landmarks. “Pass me the map book and let’s see if we can’t narrow it down.”
Leena opened the junk drawer on her side of the island, pulled out the thick Thomas Guide of the area, then flipped pages until she found a map with the same curvature of coastline that showed on the ball. Alexis peered over her shoulder. “Venice Beach,” she said, then slid off the bar stool.
Edgar frowned. “That’s it? How the hell are you supposed to find him? Venice is small, but it’s not that small.”
“Alexis will hold on to the ball. When she’s getting close, it will begin to warm. And be careful,” Leena added. “This will find him wherever he is. And since we know he’s fed, he may be with others in a nest by now. Promise me you won’t take chances.”
“I’m coming with you,” Edgar said.
Alexis looked at him critically. “Are you sure?” They’d talked about him acting as her backup, but they’d agreed he needed to get into better shape before fighting regularly at her side.
“She mentions nest, I think ambush. Yeah, I’m sure. You need another set of eyes. Besides, I can handle myself with a crossbow.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You can?”
He shrugged. “How hard can it be?”
“Let’s see if we can’t find you something a little more your speed.” She wasn’t about to argue against him coming—he was right; she could use the backup. But no way was she giving him an unfamiliar weapon. Fortunately, she had just the thing for a newbie vampire hunter.
While Leena waited upstairs, she and Edgar headed into her Batcave.
“Now, this is what I’m talking about,” Edgar said, walking to the wall of weapons and taking a crossbow off its hook. He lifted it, aimed at the target on the far side of the room, and released the arrow. He missed by about eighteen inches.
“Try this,” Alexis said. She handed him a Glock that had been converted to fire wooden bullets by a gunsmith she knew in Pomona. He aimed, fired, and nailed the bull’s-eye. “Not as sexy,” Alexis said with a wry smile. “But it has a better chance of keeping you alive.”
She picked up the crossbow. It was her kind of weapon. In addition, she slipped on her leather jacket, the one that had the spring-loaded stakes in the sleeves. She slid a third stake into the cuff of her boot.
“You’re really taking that thing out?” Edgar asked, eyeing the crossbow. “Not exactly inconspicuous.”
She shrugged. He was right, but it was after midnight, and she’d killed her first vampire with that crossbow. Even though it had failed her in the alley, she still considered it her good-luck charm.
Armed, they headed out. They were in the driveway saying good-bye to Leena, when Edgar got paged. He glanced at the screen, frowned, and called in. A second later he clicked his phone shut and shook his head. “A homicide. I have to go in.”
“Not one of mine?” Alexis asked.
“Shooting. Domestic dispute. As human as it comes, but I’ve got to get over there.”
“I’ll call you later and tell you how it went at the beach.”
She saw the alarm fire in his eyes. “You’re still going?”
“Um, yeah. It’s not like I haven’t done this by myself before.”
“Yeah, but it’s like Russian roulette. How many times can you spin that chamber and not end up dead? Hell, you almost lost the bet when you met those two in the alley.”
“I’ll be fine. You have to go because someone died, and you’re going to stand for the victim. I get that. I respect it. But I’m doing the same thing.”
“That’s a fucked-up way of looking at it, Alexis. I’m walking into a crime scene. You could be walking into a slaughter. Wait for me. We’ll go together.”
“Edgar …”
“Just do this for me. I don’t want you to end up dead.”
“Fine. Okay, fine.”
He looked at her as if he could read her mind. She pasted on an innocent smile. After a second, Edgar sighed and nodded. “All right. I’m out of here. I’m calling you later.”
“I know.”
Another nod, firmer this time, as if he was working hard to convince himself. Then he slid behind the wheel of his car, started the engine, and zipped away.
Alexis shot a quick glance at Leena, then marched down the driveway to where she’d left the Ducati.
“I thought you said you weren’t going,” Leena said.
“You believed me?”
Her friend scowled, but didn’t protest. “Just be careful, okay? If this does turn out to be the vamp that got away, he’s going to be pissed as hell when he sees you. A pissed vampire is a very bad thing.”
“I know.” For the briefest moment she considered staying, but there weren’t that many opportunities for her to track a vampire. And how many people would die if she didn’t go? Tonight, tomorrow, the next night? She had a chance to dust one right now, and she was damn well going to take it.
