Pallas: Vampire Romance (Vanguard Elite Book 5)

by Annie Nicholas

  The sheriff didn’t know this though. He’d had no tangible proof that Bob had been one of the people who set fire to the manor. Just his and his hunting buddies’ scents. The sheriff wouldn’t investigate on the word of a werewolf.

  Chapter Two

  “You don’t expect me to cry over his murder.” The cool statement from a being used to death. “They were unpunished for their crimes. A little community service.”

  “The only crime I’m aware of is that they trespassed on your land.” She swallowed with a throat gone dry. “Unless there’s more you didn’t tell me.” She’d never seen him this cold, like ice flowed in his veins. It only strengthened her gut feeling that those idiot hunters had done the pack some real harm. Maybe leaving her backup outside hadn’t been such a great idea. She had wanted him to feel safe as she questioned him. Hopefully get him to really talk, let her in, let her help. But there was no need to rile a vampire. She couldn’t afford for him to run before Homeland arrived. If he did, she imagined he would be impossible to catch. Then he’d spend the rest of his life on the run until they staked him.

  She couldn’t understand why some of the town had issues with having a werewolf pack and a vampire in the area. The wolves didn’t cause trouble. She spent more time protecting them instead of her town.

  “Bob wasn’t a nice person.” Pallas paced the small, neat office space, leaving his answer unclear and her in suspense, but she didn’t press him. Not yet. “You can’t believe I would kill someone then dump their corpse on my own fucking land. That’s like pissing in your own soup.”

  She almost snorted and covered it with a cough.

  “Seriously, what ignorant person would do such a thing?” He came to a halt. “You wouldn’t be here unless you thought I was that stupid.”

  No, he wasn’t. She wouldn’t make that mistake. Ever.

  “I don’t think you’re stupid,” she snapped back. “If I did, I would have arrived here with a swat team and arrested your ass, but the case looks bad, Pallas. Real bad.” Leona rose to her feet. “You need to tell me everything. An investigation has started and I know there’s more between you and Bob than meets the eye. Don’t make me drag the pack in for questioning.” She held her breath, watching the deadly looking vampire glare through her.

  “What good will it do me?”

  She sighed. “Omission is as bad as a lie. A lie only makes you appear guiltier.”

  “Fuck.” He resumed pacing but with such aggression, she’d say he was stalking the room. “You’re sharp for your kind. My gut says to stay quiet. That nothing I say or do will convince humans that I’m innocent.”

  “What happened, Pallas?”

  He paused and stared at his desk top. “Bob and a group of hunters shot one of my wolves when they trespassed on my land.”

  She fought the urge to slap her forehead. She asked for the truth though. “Why didn’t you report it?”

  “It was their word against ours.”

  “The gunshot wound would have backed up your story!”

  “The wolf’s wound healed without a scar by morning.”He started his private march to nowhere again and daggered her with a glare. “When they set fire to the manor, one of the pack died from asphyxiation.”

  Her jaw dropped open, but he held up his hand to stop her hundred questions. Frustration was about to blow the top off her head.

  “Your town had made it very clear we were not welcome. The fire department even refused to help with the blaze.” He faced her, arms crossed over his massive chest. “Let me ask you, Sheriff. Why should I have reported it?”

  “The law…” She pressed her lips together. Why? “I—I.” Why? “It was the right thing to do.”

  “Possibly.” He tossed himself into his chair, hands clasped on the top of his desk, knuckles white. “Wouldn’t have brought my small wolf back to life.”

  “What about justice?”

  “What about it? You think a judge would convict your people for murder? They barely accept shifters as citizens. You expect justice for me? I don’t even look human. So what do you think of your truth now?”

  “No alibi, a serious motive, and means to kill Bob—I have no choice but to bring you in for questioning.”

  His eyes became glaciers. “Do I have a choice? If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m not from this age. I’m still learning all your asinine rules and laws.”

  Actually, she hadn’t guessed that. Vampires didn’t age so—duh—how the fuck was she supposed to know? He could drive a car and handle a credit card so unless he’d dressed in a suit of armor and spoke like Shakespeare, she wouldn’t have had a clue.

  “You always have choices, just don’t make a bad one.” Leona didn’t want to fight him. It was how they had met—them fighting in her office. She now knew he had held back on his speed and skill. He could have killed her. She’d never asked him why he’d allowed her to strike him so much that night. “Give me time to look at all the evidence and question more people.”

  He hung his head. “Can I trust you to guide my steps through this?” He glanced up at her, his dark stare a dagger to her soul. “Would you run if you were me?”

  Her teeth clicked together as she snapped her mouth shut. “No.” Not yet. “You’re under arrest. Running only makes you look guiltier. When we get you to the station, then call a lawyer.” She couldn’t believe the nightmare her life had turned into. “You’re my number one suspect and when the news spreads of what happened, I can protect you better at the station than here.”

  God, the town was going to lose their shit when they heard about Bob. She hadn’t even notified his wife yet.

  Pallas stared at the ceiling as if in deep thought then held out his hands. “Take me in. I won’t resist.”

  She fingered her cuffs as she stood, tempted not to use them. They were just regular metal. Not the kind that Homeland carried made of a silver alloy. She believed he would come peacefully, but her staff would feel safer if he had the cuffs on, even if they were useless. They didn’t need to know. She clicked the cuffs around his wrists, behind his back. It was safer for everyone involved.

  Outside the manor, the werewolves had gathered around the porch. Muscles tense, gazes hard. Her deputies stood guard at the door, hands on guns. At least they hadn’t killed each other in her absence. Praise God for little miracles.

  “Pallas! What’s going on?” The biggest of the shifters pushed to the front of the pack. Ian, if she recalled his name correctly. The pack’s alpha.

  “Stay back,” Joe shouted. The knuckles gripping the butt of his gun turned white.

  She set her hand on his shoulder. “Everyone take it easy.” Leona raised her hands in a sign of peace as she descended the porch stairs. “Pallas is coming of his own free will.”

  Pallas leaned close to Ian. “Take the pack out to where you had your last exercise until you hear from me.”

  Ian backed away, eyes darting from her to her deputies. The whole pack slipped into the night faster than she could say stop.

  Now Joe and Wesley drew their weapons. “What the hell?”

  “Where did they go?” They spoke simultaneously.

  Pallas marched to her police cruiser. “Put your guns away before you shoot yourselves,” he shouted over his shoulder. “If they wanted to harm you, you’d already be dead.”

  She had to run to keep up with him. “Where did they go?”

  “Like you said, it won’t be safe here once news spreads. They need to hide.” He paused as she opened the back door for him to enter the car. “You better be right about this, Sheriff. I’m not only placing my life in your hands, but the pack’s as well. They depend on me.”

  No pressure. Great. Leona’s gaze traveled to her shaken men, weapons still in hand. “I am right.” Or there would be more bloodshed. She didn’t have any delusion that blood would mostly be human. She closed the door once Pallas was seated.

  Joe hovered behind her, gun back in his holster, face pale. “Did yo
u want me to speak with Bob’s wife? She ought to know.”

  Leona hadn’t hesitated coming straight here once she had seen those bite marks on the victim’s throat. Reporting Bob’s death to his family came second to catching his murderer. She had Pallas in custody, but would he behave without her present? Would her deputies behave in kind? She should be the one to bear the bad news to Bob’s family. She didn’t like passing this burden to Joe, but she couldn’t take the chance of someone making a mistake on this case.

  Once news hit the internet, all eyes would turn toward her small town.

  “You go, Joe. Give her my deepest regrets and reassure her I won’t sleep until this case is solved.”

  Joe’s eyes went wide. “I thought the case was solved?”

  “These things are never that simple. Trust me, I’ve been through this before.” And never wanted to be part of another supernatural investigation again. She’d left city life and crime for a reason.

  She slipped behind the wheel and started the car.

  Aiming her rearview mirror at Pallas, she met his intense glare. “Now that was stupid. You should have warned me you wanted to send the pack away. Now the whole town will be freaking about rogue wolves in the forest. It’ll be a miracle if someone doesn’t get shot in the next twenty-four hours.” Leona jammed the car into drive and left the manor, wheels spinning in the snow.

  “Easy, Sheriff. We don’t need another accident. I can survive one but you might not.” The vampire leaned to the side to catch his balance as she took the corner sharp. “Is it better for my wolves to stay here for some other assholes to burn my home down while they sleep?” he shouted. “They’ll run free in the woods as it is meant to be. Where they’ll have a fair chance to survive.”

  She gained control of her vehicle and her temper. “Fine. It’s done anyway.”

  “Don’t call me stupid again,” he snapped.

  She pressed her lips together and drove back to the station in silence. She’d arrested vampires in her old job—public nudity and disorderly conduct. Pallas didn’t look human like the others did. His ears were pointed, head smooth, and fangs never retracted. He couldn’t hide his nature. What made him different?

  Power buzzed around him like static electricity. When she stood too close, the hair on her arms rose and every time they touched tingles ran through her skin. He was just playing the role of prisoner for her sake…and the town’s.

  This wasn’t the behavior of a killer.

  “I’m sorry for calling you that,” she whispered. The apology made her throat ache. She’d better have antacids in her desk, because she needed some desperately.

  “Forgiven,” Pallas mumbled back, the unfamiliar word made him feel raw inside. Name-calling had never bothered him before, so why had it stung coming from her?

  She parked at the front door and helped him out of the vehicle, her slender fingers resting on his upper arm.

  All of his instincts shouted for him to snap the flimsy bracelets around his wrists and flee into the night. They’d never find him. He could return to Europe, to his crypt, and go back to sleep until mankind returned to sanity. That would mean abandoning his pack. This time he had no master controlling him and his wolves. Daedalus, his brother, had given Pallas free reign over the shifters’ training. Pallas could no more walk away from the pack than stake his own heart.

  His bond to the pack was too strong to deny anymore. They were his. He was theirs. To the end. If he ran, they came with him. But they wouldn’t get far traveling in such a huge group. His best bet was to play by human rules until he could discover the truth behind this murder.

  The office had changed since the last time he had been here. Sheriff Lee led him to the back of the central space through a row of desks, to a locked room with a table and chairs.

  He took one and she the other.

  “What now?” He’d seen many detective shows while using the television to learn about modern culture. It seemed like this was where they would interrogate him with one deputy playing good cop and the other bad.

  “I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Want one?” Only then did he notice the dark circles under Sheriff Lee’s eyes.

  “No.” He had drunk his meal first thing after waking. He could go without sustenance for months if needed, though it would be very unpleasant for everyone involved.

  She returned quickly and took her seat, setting her steaming paper cup aside. “Explain to me in detail the last seventy-two hours.”

  “Why?” That seemed intrusive.

  “In case we overlooked some sort of alibi. A delivery man, a truck driver, someone who could have spotted you. You’re quite difficult to forget.”

  “Thank you.” He grinned and winked. He loved the way her cheeks flushed every time he flirted with her, but he wasn’t sure if it was from anger or something more interesting.

  She rolled her eyes. “Even now?”

  He shrugged. “Force of habit.” One day she would be his. She just didn’t know it yet.

  Someone knocked on the door and entered without permission. He wore a white apron and glasses. “I have my report.” He handed her a file.

  “This is Murray, the deputy coroner.” She set the file aside. “Cause of death?”

  “Exsanguination. Not a drop of blood left in him.”

  Pallas rolled his head, popping the tense joints in his neck. “It’s another vampire. I don’t need that much blood to sustain me.”

  “And I don’t need half a dozen donuts to sustain me.” He patted his rounded stomach. “Doesn’t stop me from eating them though.”

  He bared his fangs at the tender man.

  “Pallas!” Sheriff Lee slapped her hand on the table. “Not helping.”

  Murray cleared his throat. “I also wanted to tell you that Homeland Security just arrived. They should be in your office by now.”

  Chapter Three

  “That was fast. Did they teleport here?” Leona asked Murray.

  He shrugged and left her alone with a flushed Pallas.

  “You called Homeland?” Pallas leaned forward across the table and for the first time since she’d met the vampire, he looked worried. “Why would you do that? Do you want me dead?”

  She rose to follow Murray through the open door but hesitated at the exit. She didn’t owe Pallas anything, especially an explanation, but her recent dealing with the vampire showed him to be a jerk, but a cooperative jerk. Hell, the FBI had borrowed one of his werewolves to solve a serial killer case in Chicago. They had even offered the shifter a job. This wasn’t adding up properly. “This case is supernatural and we’re not equipped to deal with you.” Not to mention, she was legally bound to inform Homeland Security of any strange happenings.

  Exiting the room, she took a deep breath. Her aching gut whispered Pallas was innocent. She shoved those instincts aside. This wasn’t her field of expertise. Homeland Security dealt with these kinds of cases all the time and were the vampire/shifter specialists. They would get to the bottom of this fiasco.

  Inside her office sat two men in suits, relaxed and chatting with an exhausted-looking Joe. Her deputy must have just returned from talking to Bob’s wife. They stood when she entered, extending their hands. “Agent Gillipsie,” the first one introduced himself. “This is my partner, Agent Thomas.”

  “Sheriff Lee.” She shook hands—firm, quick, and brief. “Thank you for being so prompt.”

  “We were in the area when the call came through.” Agent Thomas tugged at his tie to loosen it around his neck. He seemed like someone who would be more accustomed to fatigues than suits. She recognized the type. Her first ex-husband was a marine. Fancy clothes couldn’t hide battle hard muscles. “We’d like to question the vampire now.”

  “I thought we would review the case and evidence first.” She held out the file Murray had given her.

  “We already did.” Agent Gillipsie offered her a dimple filled smile. “Seems like a cut and dry case. Vampire got lazy and didn’t clean u
p after himself.”

  The pit in her empty stomach grew deeper. “He claims he’s innocent.” How could they have reviewed the case when she hadn’t even opened the file in her hand yet? She believed in the justice system. Innocent until proven guilty, but she’d heard the rumors about supernaturals getting unfair treatment. She didn’t want to believe it.

  “Don’t they all?” Both agents laughed as they exited her office.

  She exchanged a worried glance with Joe, but the agents waited within earshot, so she couldn’t speak freely with her deputy. He looked pale and worn out. It must have been terrible being the bearer of bad news. She squeezed his shoulder before following the agents. “This way.” She led the Homeland officers to the interrogation room.

  Pallas still sat at the table, hands cuffed behind his back. The black glare he aimed their way froze the marrow in her bones. He had never given her cause to fear him until now.

  Had she made an error in judgment? Maybe he had killed Bob.

  Agent Gillipsie slipped his suit jacket off, exposing his gun harness, most likely filled with expensive silver bullets, and a sharp wooden stake hung from his belt.

  Pallas’ gaze narrowed at the sight.

  Agent Thomas stood guard at the door, stake in hand. “Are those standard cuffs?”

  “Our office doesn’t own any other kind.” She cleared her throat, choking on the testosterone flooding the air. “Pallas, these agents are from Homeland Security. They have a few questions for you.”

  “Gillipsie and Thomas.” The vampire grinned exposing his oversized fangs. “Nice to meet you. I’d shake your hand but—” He showed them his cuffed wrists.

  “We heard you could read thoughts.” Gillipsie sat, crossing his legs, hands resting on his knee.

  “You’ve met?” She spoke on the heel of GIllipsie’s comment. Read minds? She hadn’t known vampires could do that and she’d been burning the midnight oil reading everything she could find on them and shifters since they had moved into her county. So that meant Pallas had just read the agents’ minds?