by E G Bateman
Scott lifted his cell to his ear as though he were listening to someone. He looked at Lexi and held the cell to his chest. “How would you say it’s coming along?”
Her gaze darted around the room. She screwed her face up like she was looking at the world’s most fucked-up job. Her glance at the guy was intended to convey, “I have your balls in the palm of my hand right now, my friend. Do not fuck with me.”
He quite understandably froze.
She shrugged. “It’s coming along great.”
The sorcerer returned to his cell. “Great.”
The guy looked like he might faint with relief. Without a word, he dropped to his knees and continued to scrub.
They wandered away from ground zero.
Scott looked over his shoulder. “How is all this going on? The owner?”
Lexi considered the question for a moment. “Broullard probably contacted a clean-up crew that works for Kindred.”
He dropped the cell into his pocket. “I can’t see Lorenzo getting in here with all these people around.”
She stopped and looked at him. “We did.”
“Oh, right. Good point.”
They continued to check the house room by room.
Finally, they stood at the stairs to the attic and peered into the dark. She found a light switch and the steps gleamed with red lights. “You have to be kidding me.”
Scott sneered. “It’s a little macabre.”
They ascended cautiously and looked around. The room wasn’t big, and it was clear that no one was there. They turned to the exit and stopped in surprise. Detective Broullard stood in front of them. He was a ghoulish sight, covered in blood almost from head to toe. Worse, he didn’t speak and simply stood and stared at them.
Scott leaned closer and poked him hard in the chest.
“What the hell was that for?” the detective snapped.
The sorcerer exhaled sharply. “I thought you were an apparition. I see them sometimes just after they’ve passed, and if they’ve been hit by a truck or something, they kinda look like this.” He waved his hand in the detective’s general direction.
“Charles? Ahh…there you are. You found them. Excellent work.”
“‘Charles’?” Lexi looked suspiciously at them. “You two haven’t been—”
“No! I’m a married man,” Broullard protested.
Scott stared at the blood. “So, what happened to you? Let me guess, someone threw a magic stone.” His gaze slid to his partner.
The cop looked perplexed. “What? Oh, you mean one of Joseph’s stones. Only an idiot would use one of those.”
Her friend smirked as his gaze slid sideways to her.
Dick patted Broullard on the shoulder. “The detective had the damnedest luck. Lorenzo knocked me for six, then went to feed on our friend here. But it appears he may have drained the people he killed earlier tonight. He’d gorged himself on blood and had a slight reaction.”
“Slight. Yes, well.” The detective grimaced.
Scott put his hand on his neck and healed the puncture wound.
Lexi asked, “Any idea where he or she might have gone next?”
The vampire raised an eyebrow. “That’s another thing. It’s not only her in there. Lorenzo is conscious and he spoke to me. Also, he is very, very strong.” He rubbed the back of his head.
Scott nodded. “It makes sense when you consider what Amy was able to do to Jamal.”
She sighed. “That’s disappointing news. I hoped she’d wander into the sun and burst them both into flames. If Lorenzo’s awake in there, he won’t let her do that.”
“That ring is like the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?” Dick turned to the stairs.
Broullard looked at his watch in horror. “Dick, look at the time. You have less than fifteen minutes to get out of the sun.”
Lexi rolled her eyes. Dick keeps forgetting the time. He’ll blow his cover.
The vampire headed down the stairs. “Yes, gosh. I absolutely must run. The furniture in this place is giving me a migraine anyway.” In an instant, he was gone.
The detective looked at her. “Do vamps get migraines?”
She shrugged “Hell if I know. Shall we make a move?”
Broullard bit his lip. “Hey, I have an idea. It’s fifteen minutes until sunrise—”
“Twelve,” Scott interjected.
“Why don’t we simply wait twelve minutes.” The man sounded exhausted.
Lexi knew exactly how he felt. “Okay. Let’s do a last check around the house on the way down.”
As they descended the stairs, they bumped into the man who had been working on the floor. He stepped away at the sight of Broullard, who flashed his badge. The man hurried around them.
The detective scowled at his clothing. “I’m running out of shirts.”
They returned to the apartment building and he climbed into his car.
Scott and Lexi climbed the stairs, stumbled into the apartment, and fell onto their beds. Both were asleep in seconds.
Chapter Forty-Three
A thump at the door woke Lexi from an all too short sleep. By the time the caller knocked a second time, she was opening it.
Broullard didn’t look like he’d had much sleep, but he spun fast enough and gaped at the sight of her in a vest and panties with a katana in her hand. “Sorry. Downstairs in ten. Five if you can.”
She shuffled into the bedroom and poked Scott. “We’re up.”
He groaned. “What time is it?”
“It’s best you don’t know.” She dragged her leathers on. “It’ll only upset you.”
The sorcerer looked at himself. “Eurgh! I’m still in my clothes.” He stared at her as she pulled her boots on. “When did you get undressed?”
Startled, she stopped and wrinkled her brow in thought before she shook her head slowly. “I don’t remember.”
The two of them were at the front of the building in six minutes.
Lexi looked at the detective. “You look like you didn’t get much sleep.”
Broullard rubbed his face. “I didn’t get any. Neither, it seems, did Lorenzo. While we were in the mansion, he was…busy.”
They scrambled into his car and arrived at a bar two streets away only minutes later.
Several people had gathered outside, some with curious faces and others worried. A woman caught Lexi’s arm.
“Please, is my daughter in there? I mean…she passed, we know that. But is there any way to tell if she was there?”
Someone else came forward and pulled the woman away. The witch was adorned in pentacles and goddess symbols and clearly felt she had to pull the woman away from the Kindred bitch for her safety.
Scott looked at all the worried faces. “Who are all these people?”
Broullard marched forward. “Word gets around. It’s not even an official crime scene yet.”
“I can see that.” There was no crime scene tape and the people guarding the door looked like the clean-up crew from the mansion.
They entered the back room. The desiccated remains of at least thirty vampires lay in fragile piles around the room.
“It looks like there was a hell of a battle,” Scott muttered.
The detective looked at him and shook his head. “This is all one clan.”
“You’re sure?” Lexi made her way around piles of ash. Some were still vaguely in the shape of a person.
Broullard nodded. “It was a massacre.”
“Were there any witnesses?” She approached a table with wallets and purses piled on top and sifted through them.
“A few people from the bar out front said one man went in and came out again about twenty minutes later.”
“Lorenzo? Alone? Are you sure?” Scott appeared to be struggling to believe it.
She dropped a wallet onto the pile. “How do you know which wallet came from which pile?”
Broullard shrugged. “I don’t.”
His answer annoyed her but she decided to leave it for now. She tu
rned to Scott. “Find out what her name was.”
She was talking about the daughter of the woman outside. He nodded once and left the room.
“I guess the war’s over,” the other man muttered.
Lexi turned to him. “What?”
“They’ve been at it for years, haven’t they? I guess that’s been resolved. No one will stand against his clan now.”
She walked to a couple of sheets that covered human bodies. He glanced at them. “Donors.”
At a loss for words, she stood, turned slowly, and took it all in. Her gaze stopped at red, floor-length drapes. “What’s behind the drapes?”
Broullard glanced at them. “That’s the stage area when they have live bands.” He pointed in the opposite direction with his thumb. “The guys are waiting to get started.”
“The guys?” She turned to see the people in white overalls. They had a large industrial vacuum and uncoiled the cables and plugged them in. She knew what this meant.
Scott was on his way in. He had also stopped to stare at them, his face horrified. He continued to walk toward Broullard and Lexi but she marched toward the men and strode straight past her friend.
She stopped in front of the white-clad men. “Unplug that and get it out of here. I want you here with a dustpan and brush. Take pictures, then bag and tag each pile separately. Where possible, I want to see each bag with some form of ID.” She turned away.
One of the men called after her. “Wait. You want us to bag them separately? Why?”
Lexi halted and allowed her expression to settle into cold and inscrutable. Her companions’ body language indicated that they saw the difference. She had called on her inner Kindred bitch. As she spun to the man, she heard Broullard speak to Scott. “She won’t kill him here in front of everyone, will she?”
Ignoring him, she faced the man and opened her mouth to speak.
He almost stumbled over his words. “I’ll do that now. Right now.”
The men scrambled to remove their equipment.
Broullard exhaled a tension-filled breath. “I’m sorry. If there are new procedures we weren’t aware of—”
“There are people outside—family members. We won’t give them the contents of a vacuum cleaner and ask them to take a scoopful. Where possible, we will give them the remains of their loved ones. Scott.”
He jumped. “Sorry, yes?”
“I want each of those wallets and purses with the correct remains. And let that woman know if her daughter is here.”
Lexi turned to the detective. “Was the clan leader here?”
Broullard shook his head. “Thomas? He wasn’t identified as being among the remains.”
“Are you sure? There are remains unaccounted for with no ID.”
“The clothes aren’t a fit.” The man seemed confident.
Lexi pinched her bottom lip as she thought. “Maybe Lorenzo intentionally chose a time when Thomas wasn’t here to teach him a lesson?”
He scowled but thought about it. “I doubt it. You know what he’s like—he’d rather simply kill people. Although he was never really a fan of getting his own hands dirty.”
“You’ve seen that he’s being influenced by Delphine now. I think he’ll be fairly hands-on from here on.”
Scott moved between the various piles of dust with the personal effects and muttered his locator spells. An hour later, they had almost all the names but a few vamps hadn’t carried ID.
He approached Lexi with a large clear bag filled with ashes and another clear evidence bag with clothes and a small sequined coin purse.
“Thanks. Can you take it—” She paused, looked at him, and felt him through their link. He was emotionally ragged. “I’ll do it.” She took the bags, went outside, and squinted in the daylight to look across the sea of faces. Her gaze finally settled on the woman, whose face crumpled when she realized instantly what this meant.
She walked to her and gave her the bags. The mother held them in her arms and leaned against a man as she sobbed. Lexi glanced up and saw the witch staring at her as she returned to the bar.
When she returned, the tagging work was almost complete. She glanced around the room to ensure nothing had been missed and narrowed her eyes at the long stage drapes.
Those drapes moved. I’m sure of it.
Lexi turned to the cleaners. “Wait outside but don’t go anywhere.”
As they filed out, she glanced at Broullard and Scott, who both watched her curiously.
When the door closed, she pointed to the top of the drapes. Something moved very slightly on the far side.
The detective narrowed his eyes. “That area was searched.”
She drew her katana and Broullard his gun. They walked hesitantly forward.
“Wait.” Scott muttered a few words and the drapes separated.
Something moved among the stage lights but was difficult to make out. Lexi focused and tilted her head in concentration.
A tangle of people tied up?
They walked forward and Scott untied a rope to lower it slowly.
Broullard stared. “I think I might throw up.”
What faced them was horrific. A vampire’s arms, legs, back, and head had been broken and twisted to unusual angles. Long, silver-plated pins had been driven through the joints to ensure that when they set at the unusually fast speed a vampire healed at, it would appear unnatural. He looked like a crab. His eyes were full of terror and his mouth had been stitched closed with silver wire.
The sorcerer put his hand on the victim’s head and he lost consciousness.
“Can you do anything about this?” Lexi asked him.
“I’ll sort the silver out, for now, then I might need someone strong to help me fix this mess.” He retrieved a metal ball from his pocket. “I’ll plate the silver in steel and pull it out.”
She took the metal ball from his palm. “Why didn’t you do that in Palm Springs instead of using my gold ring?”
“I didn’t know if it would work. I’ve been reading up since then.”
Lexi dropped the ball into Scott’s hand. He flicked a finger out and the drapes began to close.
They left him on the stage behind the heavy curtains and she went to the door and called the cleaner in from the bar. He approached her nervously.
“There’s a witch outside with purple hair. I’d like to speak to her.” She watched him walk out through the front area.
“I think you’re wrong about this war being over,” she said and turned to Broullard. “I have a horrible feeling it’s only just begun.”
He sat on the edge of a table. “Is there any chance we could get more Kindred into town to head this off?”
She sighed. “About that—”
“Get your hands off me, you motherfuckers.”
She turned as the man in white overalls and two of his cronies dragged the witch in with her arms behind her back.
Her eyes widened. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“You said—”
“I said I wanted to speak to her, not fucking interrogate her. Get out of here.” She half-drew her katana and they ran.
Lexi didn’t like the suspicious way people looked at her because they thought she was Kindred but she missed being able to terrify pricks like that. She turned to Broullard. “I’ll drop those fuckers into the Mississippi.”
That’s a few too many fucks. I need to get a grip. She breathed slowly for a few moments.
A little calmer, she approached the woman. “Do you have anyone here?”
The witch rubbed her arms. “No family. Probably some friends.”
“I can’t stay here,” she continued. “We have this sicko to catch. The remains are bagged and being labeled, along with personal effects. Can you help those people outside find their loved ones?”
A cold stare was the initial response. “I don’t know what you think—”
“I can help.” The girl’s mother entered, still cradling the bags she had given her. She handed
them to her husband and his shoulders slumped as he turned away. The woman moved to the first bag and the purple-haired witch joined her. She read the tags.
Broullard put a hand on Lexi’s shoulder. “I’ll see she has everything she needs.” He went to her.
Scott came through the drapes and vaulted down from the stage. He approached Lexi and ensured they couldn’t be overheard.
She looked at the drapes. “How is he?”
“He’s at Dick’s apartment.”
“Good. Let’s get a move on.”
The detective returned. “I’ll oversee the rest of this process and catch up with you later.”
The woman seemed to have her task in hand and now had a notepad and pen and appeared to be writing a list of names.
With their work there complete, the two friends walked to the apartment.
Chapter Forty-Four
Betsy greeted them with coffee as they entered.
“You won’t believe how much I need this.” Lexi was halfway through the drink before she pulled it away from her mouth to breathe.
Scott finished his coffee. “Are you ready?”
She sighed and nodded.
The older woman sat and picked the puppy up. “I’ll stay right here with Marcel.” No one could blame her.
The sorcerer scratched the dog behind the ears. He looked at Betsy. “The apartment is still shielded. You’re safe, but if you need us, Dick will be listening.”
They entered the vampire’s apartment. He had moved the couch to the side of the room and Thomas remained in the middle of the floor, unconscious with his broken, crab-like limbs.
Lexi shuddered. “The way his head is twisted—it’s grotesque.”
Dick stared at her with an eyebrow raised.
She glanced at him. “What?”
“What do you think I looked like when you broke my neck? I had to have it re-set and I didn’t have a mage to keep me unconscious.”
Her grimace was genuine. “Oh. I feel bad about that, but it wasn’t my fault. I was hyped-up on vamp blood.”
“Yes. As I recall, that was my vamp blood.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Lexi shrugged. “Sorry, Dick.”
Scott put a hand on both of their shoulders. “Well, we can all laugh about it now.”
