Even though I wouldn’t get any visions from him, I really did not want Malone touching me right now. His heat added to my own and sent waves of need rolling through me. Without actually feeling his desires or sensing his thoughts I could feel his maleness. I took another deep breath to steady myself. Didn’t work, I just inhaled the manly and not at all unpleasant aroma of Malone. I pulled away and turned to face him.
“Seduction, sex, then he killed her. Just like the others.” My voice came out shaky and unsure. I tried not to look Malone in the eyes because I wasn’t very good at doing that stony-cop-face thing and shutting down. It wasn’t that hard to avoid his eyes. He stood so much taller than me, looking him in the eyes meant I had to look up, which would make me dizzy. Already off balance, I couldn’t risk it getting any worse. So I glanced sideways at him, avoiding all direct eye contact.
“So she came then she went.” His sarcastic smile made his eyes twinkle but underneath his expression grew cold. I knew he hated this bastard but the sexual nature of it got a rise out of him, and he aimed it directly at me. A way he blew off steam. Some of the guys goofed around and joked over dead bodies so they didn’t fall part. Malone liked to mess with me.
I focused on his smirky smile, all big white teeth and full sensuous lips. Wow, grandma what big teeth you have. The better to eat you with my dear. Oh yeah, eat me, eat me, eat me.
Stop it Anwyn, the magick and murder is messing with your emotions and obviously your mind. “What an elegant way to put it, Malone, but yes, intense orgasm then she died.”
“So, ah, you experienced all of it?” he asked with just the slightest hint of a sneer playing at the corner of his mouth.
Holy witch on wheels did I feel it. I wasn’t about to tell him that though. “Some, that’s how it works, you know.” His eyes said clearly he did not believe me completely and wanted to know more.
He bent forward and whispered so only I could hear what he said, “You’re looking a bit flushed and your nipples are hard as hell. I’m thinking this one affected you more than any other time. If you want… as soon as we’re done here, you and I can go somewhere and I can help you relieve some of that…pent up desire.” He almost sounded sincere. And I almost wanted to take him up on that offer.
Almost. My stomach flip-flopped at the same time my nether regions urged me to go for it. “No thanks, Malone. I don’t need any help, especially not from you.”
He actually had the nerve to look insulted and hurt. “Enjoy your battery operated friend then.”
I felt heat creep up into my already blazing cheeks as he turned and stomped away.
“We’re done here guys.” He turned to the guys from the coroner’s office. “Bag her, tag her, and get her outta here before we’re overrun with drunken gawkers. The crowd is already starting to form and I see media towers up on Saginaw Street.”
Malone looked at me again. “I’ll need you at the Station tomorrow to give me an official statement of anything useful from your vision. We’ll need to record everything.”
“Look Malone, there’s nothing new. It’s the same as before. The guy is blocked. I can feel him, but I never really see him. The magick hides anything useful. The bastard only lets me see what he wants me to see.”
“And feel, obviously. He likes it that you really felt him tonight. He’s probably getting off on it right now. This is a sadistic vamp, Anwyn. I need you to process the info and try to find something, anything new, anything different. Maybe tonight you’ll find something useful as you go over those images in your head. And I know you are going to. I was paying attention, Annie girl. You mumbled, moaned, and moved erotically during your vision. Don’t worry I don’t think anyone else was paying attention, but I was, I always do.” His lip stretched into a lecherous grin. “I can tell when a woman is aroused, I can tell when you are aroused, and this is going to be with you for a while, until you get rid of it. I tried to be nice and offer my help. Instead you have a long lonely night ahead of you.” With that he turned and disappeared into the dark.
Long night ahead of me all right, I would be focused on the murder all night, trying to find any clue in the vision I had experienced from the victim. Maybe I could push away thoughts of the murderer and concentrate on my current crush, Galen. The guy who barely knew I existed. He made me feel like a giddy school girl every time I got near him. Thinking of him would be much more pleasant than thinking about a murderous vampire that loves to kill women.
Except Galen was a vampire. Okay maybe I shouldn’t think about him because anything related to fangs would send me right back to thinking about the murders.
To my dismay I settled on the images of Malone flowing through my mind. Just out of sheer curiosity I thought about him, wondering what kind of lover he would be. Underneath his cocky swagger he was still a good looking guy. Cops liked to toss around all that bravado, but I knew it as just another form of cop-face, something to hide the real person underneath the badge.
Definitely going to be a long night. I sighed and headed toward my car. As I started the engine I thought, maybe I should stop to get batteries on my way home.
Chapter 2
Trying to think about anything other than death soon became exhausting. I had witnessed the excruciating last moments of someone’s life, and it shook me to the core. Lately each reading from the murder victims came at me more powerful, more vivid and much more intense than the last. The feelings and images kept getting stronger. Now I struggled separating myself from the vision, like it all happened to me.
I decided not to drive the freeway home, needed to relax a little before taking a bunch of negativity home with me.
In an effort to relieve my mind of things I thought about my childhood visits to the city. The downtown area buildings once filled with shopping, eateries and a flourishing nightlife scene now stood empty and dark. The Capital Theatre designed to be the grand entertainment theater had become office space. Many ideas about renovating the place to its former glory had been tossed around but so far no one wanted to invest the money. Metropolis, my favorite college hangout party spot, was now VAMP, the hottest club in Flint. Many of my other childhood favorites were vacated or reincarnated as new businesses like once bustling mall Windmill Place, the spot to shop in my youth. Autoworld—Flint’s sad attempt at a tourist attraction—was another place I had loved as a child, now completely gone. Torn down several years ago and replaced by new buildings for the University of Michigan, who now owned much of downtown Flint. At least they brought some life back into the area.
Business owners hoped Flint would become a bustling college town like Ann Arbor and Lansing, full of restaurants, clubs, shops and college hangouts. Between the colleges and the vampires, downtown Flint was being revitalized. Too bad it didn’t reach the outskirts of the small city.
As soon as I crossed out of U of M’s reach Saginaw Street went downhill fast. University signs gave way to graffiti, boarded up buildings and other symbols of urban decay. Combined with the thickening fog, the sight appeared straight out of a horror movie—at least that was what my overactive imagination said.
Driving through the hood wouldn’t make my mood any lighter. Especially with the fog swirling across the streets in creepy patches. Once I passed under the last set of Vehicle City arches, fog completely coated the outer areas of Flint.
I thought about turning back and taking the freeway but was already halfway home. I could handle a little bit of fog.
Right?
Maybe not.
The dark and foggy outer city gave an impression of sleeping, but it did not rest. I saw human forms wandering the streets passing in and out of the fog even though it was after three o’clock in the morning. They looked human but I knew most of them were non-human predators prowling and stalking prey. Many creatures preferred the cover of darkness and roamed these sad streets without need to stay hidden in the shadows. Discontent hung in the air as thick as the fog. The economic and spiritual unease of the area invited
negativity and plenty of demonic beings who fed off despair and hopelessness. Demons probably out there right now…in the darkness and fog.
I became thoroughly creeped out by taking the ‘scenic’ route home. Not that I feared the area, but the fog hid things I didn’t want to encounter. Normally I seemed to be in a protective bubble when it came to Others. Witch blood was not exactly a delicacy; in fact, it gave many demons a severe case of indigestion. Adding my dad’s reputation to the mix kept me safe as well, even though he’d been gone for years.
He had been a Tremaine, a warrior from a long line of not-to-be-messed-with warriors. As a witch I followed my mother’s matriarchal lineage and took the last name of her people, Rose, but I was still a Tremaine. They all knew it.
I drove as fast as I dared and soon the ghetto gave way to bigger, better kept pieces of property with the occasional cornfield or scattered piece of farmland lingering among the subdivisions and suburban sprawl. The farms were remnants left over from another time. Some fields and barns remained in use while others held old and rusty farm equipment not moved in decades. The fog thinned out in country. Thank goddess. I was tired of straining my eyes to catch sight of anything creepy lurking in the swirling mists.
I pulled into my driveway and walked up to my small house that sat on the last remaining acre owned by my family, the only piece of my grandfather I had. The man had died before I was born. My grandfather once owned over a hundred acres of land in this area but over the years my grandmother had to sell off parcels of it. I held onto the house even though the neighborhood was quickly going downhill.
I unlocked the door, stepped in tossing my keys onto the table, and strode into my bedroom where I flopped across the bed exhausted. Images of the beautiful woman and a faceless vampire flashed through my head as soon as I lay down. I could still feel him inside me…her. Awful the way she died…but what a way to go.
Geesh, I was disgusted by my rebellious libido. Perhaps if I had a playmate my libido wouldn’t be so aroused by things that shouldn’t be arousing. It’d been too long since a boyfriend, and I’d gotten to the point where just about anything made me licentious.
I gave up on fighting the need and slid open my nightstand drawer.
Chapter 3
Sunlight glared through the window, mocking me. I’d gotten so distracted last night I forgot to close the curtains.
Rolling over, I stretched and tried to get out of the light, but it wasn’t working. I glanced at the clock, 9:00 A.M. That was early for me. So not a morning person. Oh well, I needed to get up and turn in my official statement at the station, minus the overwhelming sex scenes. Didn’t think I could handle another round of those images or emotions. But it didn’t matter what I wanted or could handle, Malone would probably try to drag every little detail out of me like he always did.
Shambling into the bathroom like a zombie, I turned on the shower and let it warm up for a few seconds before stepping in. The hot water sluiced over my skin reviving me a little.
Even though exhilarated by the shower, I still didn’t look forward to donning my official role as Preternatural Investigator and Liaison today. I just wanted to be simply Anwyn Rose, witch un-extraordinaire. Instead, I had to help the Flint police find a vampire killing innocent human women.
Sounds crazy right? Yeah, it is. Over half of the human population didn't believe in vampires, witches or anything else that tended to go bump in the night. Of course that was partially our fault. After The Hysteria event in the late twentieth century killed many humans and Others, the remaining Others put together a powerful long range spell that made humans forget. Mundane humans all went back to believing Others were nothing but stories and fairy tales. Humans not affected by the spell had enough Other blood inside them the spell didn’t take or they were connected to Others by some kind of relationship, either personal, professional, or political. Many with high rankings in human politics that supported “our side” were spared from the spell.
The spelling spanned the globe and did the job far more successfully than Others ever intended. So much so, werewolves could wolf-out in the middle of the park and some humans may just be like, “Cool, dude, where’s the movie crew.”
To make matters worse here in Flint, there might actually be a movie crew somewhere close by. Flint had become a cheap and sad Hollywood-esque destination for film makers. The empty streets, abandoned buildings and people needing jobs made for good filming conditions. Who knew?
So now, Others like me-an empathic, clairsentient, sometimes psychic witch, helped protect the humans from the bad guys that most didn’t even believe in.
It was all part of my job as a Preternatural Investigator and special forensics consultant for P.I.T. to become Preternatural Liaison for the state of Michigan. To those who don’t know about Others I’m simply known as Detective Anwyn Rose for the FPD’s Special Unit.
I went through the academy, took all the necessary classes, took the test to get my detective’s shield, and I have my concealed weapons permit to carry a gun just like a normal cop. Well, most of the time I carried my gun but preferred knives. A gun seemed worthless for most of the things I helped the police track. I could use silver bullets but those only worked for the were-creatures and vampires. Not that it would kill them but a silver bullet put a hurt on them if one couldn’t get a kill shot. At least it slowed them down.
The Preternatural Liaison position was relatively new, created several years ago when the government officially decided the things that go bump in the night really did exist and those monsters were committing crimes. Then the enlightened law enforcement agencies realized not all the monsters were bad guys, and they needed Others to help find the bad guys. Kinda like back in the day when they used Native Americans to track other Native Americans. Only we weren’t turning on our own kind, we were trying to keep the peace.
While the majority of humans still didn’t believe in or just chose to ignore the existence of Others, the US government along with a select few governmental members of many other countries made it mandatory to have a Preternatural Liaison on staff in all major cities. This helped create an understanding between the humans and the Others and offered a mediator so no one got hurt.
I never thought Flint was a large enough city to have a Liaison, but we’ve had an extraordinary amount of crime in the past several years and most of it involved supernatural qualities. Even the human crimes seemed to be spurred on by supernatural means, we were just not sure why. Experts thought Flint sat right in the middle of a preternatural hotbed—which could be causing the humans to act erratically.
I was just a little witchling before getting this job. Most people still saw me as such, in both the human and supernatural communities. Some of the Others on the P.I.T. Crew didn’t see me as a valuable member of the team. Sometimes I questioned my own validity. I rarely used my fancy college degrees or forensic knowledge, mainly using my visions—which got the job done. But it didn’t feel like my real skills were being put to the test. I still needed to prove myself to everyone...including me. It made the job very exhausting.
Malone didn’t treat me like the rest of the force did. He seemed to trust my skills and he always had my back, even if he was staring at my backside in the process. He didn’t know about Galen though.
Malone hated vampires with a vengeance. But I couldn’t let his feelings or mine get in the way of the job. I wanted to make my dad proud and follow in his footsteps.
I worked my ass off to go above and beyond being just a beat cop out of the academy by attending the paranormal forensics university where I graduated head of my class. I became the youngest female cop to get my Detective shield in Michigan. Then my name was one of the first to come up when the Liaison position opened. But, most of the guys on the force made it clear I got the job and my shield because of my dad. He was the head of The Preternatural Task Force during The Hysteria, the twentieth century one. He died during the final battle that ended that war…but his skills,
and kills, were legendary.
The old timers knew me as Sloane Tremaine’s kid, the witchy one, what’s she called, oh yeah, She Who Knows.
Chapter 4
I stumbled into the station still not feeling quite myself. I looked at the clock on the wall, 11:30 A.M. I normally rolled out of bed right about now. Instead here I was, dressed and out of the house with a mochaccino in hand, ready to deal with Detective Malone.
“Walking a little funny today, Annie girl. You feeling Okay? Rough night?” Detective Malone smiled at me. He looked fresh, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Could he be more disgusting? As if he wasn’t annoying enough, I added being a morning person to his list of offenses.
“I’m fine, just tired.”
“I could have helped last night, you know. Contrary to what you may think, some women have found my kind of magick to be very pleasurable.” He puffed up, shook out his sleeves, and turned up his collar like he assumed the role of suave and debonair. Hah!
“Yeah, I bet.” I snorted. Sure, many women probably did think of him as sexy. Okay a lot of women did, I have seen them fall all over themselves to be near him. But Malone and I…we were co-workers that was it. I glanced at him over the top of my mochaccino.
Damn, there was that look again, like I kicked a puppy or something. But just as soon as it appeared it disappeared, like I had imagined it. Back to business as usual.
“Let’s get to work then. Come up with anything useful from the visions?” His emphasis on the word come did not go unnoticed, but I ignored it.
“No, nothing. Nothing made him stand out. No hair color, eye color, scars, tattoos, anything. No magick trace, nothing. It’s like a completely clean slate. All I get is the woman’s feelings, emotions, impressions, but even then it’s like an edited version. Anything she really saw was cleared out. I tried casting a few spells to make things be seen openly but nothing works. This guy is too good.”
Hex and the Single Witch (Vehicle City Vampires) Page 2
