by Nova Archer
Kellen slurped the last noodle into his mouth and grinned. “Chief, you forgot social director. I’m a frigging awesome party planner.”
“Right.” Caine smiled at Eve. “So, that’s the team. You’ll meet Gwen McKinley, she’s in the lab, and Dr. Givon Silvanus in the morgue.”
The one called Jace pushed up from the table, and tossed his paper plate into the garbage. “Welcome to the Boneyard,” he barked. Making a wide path around her, he walked past without a smile and left the room.
Kellen approached her and rolled his eyes back into his sockets. “Welcome to the nuthouse.” He stuck out his tongue and waggled it back and forth, his metal piercing flashing at her.
“Kel, go do something constructive,” Caine chided.
He bowed his head and walked backwards out of the room. “Yes, Master.”
When he was gone, Caine turned to the woman still lounging on the sofa. Her head was buried in the thick volume of text on her lap. “Lyra, could you please get Eve up to speed on the case?”
“What? Why do I have to?” she whined.
Eve bristled inside. She knew why Caine had asked Lyra to be her guide. She was as close to human as an Otherworlder got, and the only other woman. A witch was essentially human, just with magical power and connections to other planes. Their DNA was the same. Personally, Eve never put much stock into witchcraft. Her best friend in high school had been a practicing Wiccan, and it didn’t impress her much. It seemed like a bunch of hokey crap centered on being in tune with Mother Earth. All she saw was crystals, herbs, and too much patchouli incense. To this day, she despised that smell.
“Don’t whine Lyra, it’s unbecoming for a witch of your station. What would your grandmother say?”
“She’d open a portal to another dimension and blast your butt through it, is what she’d say.”
“Well, it’s a good thing she’s not working here and on my payroll, now is it?”
She stood and set her book down on the sofa. “Fine.”
Caine smiled at Eve. “Lyra will also show you where you can put your things.”
“Okay.”
“Great.” He nodded to her again, and then backed out of the room as if he couldn’t leave fast enough. She had a feeling that Caine Valorian, despite his forced charm, wasn’t too keen on her being here either.
When he was gone, Eve looked at Lyra, who was standing glaring at her from across the room. “So, um, where can I put my bag?”
The woman opened her mouth and it seemed to Eve that she was about to tell her exactly where she could put her bag. But she closed her mouth and walked toward her. “Follow me. I guess I’m your tour guide.”
Eve followed her out of the staff room and back into the drab gray corridor. Lyra opened her arms wide and looked up toward the ceiling. “You see, Gran, this is why I think all men are sexist pigs.”
Great, she’d been shackled with an insane person. What else could possibly go wrong? Eve pretended not to notice that the woman was conversing with thin air, until Lyra turned around and cocked her head as if deciding about something.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll give her a chance.”
“I’m sorry, were you talking to me?” Eve asked.
Lyra shook her head. “Gran says you’re all right. That you have a part to play in all this.”
“Oh, okay.”
Eve lowered her gaze but kept walking. Maybe if she didn’t keep eye contact, the woman would ignore her.
“But I told her she’s crazy.”
Eve smiled and nodded. Right, her grandmother was crazy. Must run in the family.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I got you what you needed. Now when can I expect payment?”
The figure dressed in black stepped out of the shadows in the drawing room and into a soft pool of moonlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling window. His hooded cloak kept his face partially hidden. “Payment. Hmm, what exactly are you expecting?”
The vampire shifted in his seat, licking his lips. Fear floated off him like cheap cologne.
Oh, how he hated vampires. Basically useless creatures. Vain and pompous, without reason. They had their purposes certainly, like the errand he had sent this particular one on. But he hated dealing with them, hated the fact that he needed them for his plans.
“Three hundred and fifty thousand. Cash.” The vampire sat up straighter, trying to give off an air of confidence.
The cloaked man waved his hand in the air as if he was swatting away an insect. A big bald man dressed in black leather stepped toward the vampire and tossed a brown leather duffel bag onto his lap. The vampire squeezed the bag to his chest.
“Did you dispatch your accomplice?”
The vampire glanced up from inspecting the satchel and shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Well, see that you do. I’m not pleased you included him in our operation. We can’t have him walking around with information that can be used against me, now can we?”
“No. But I told you why I needed him. There was no way I could carry that much blood out by myself. Besides, he’s my main source of V.”
The shadowed figure sighed and waved his hand again. “Fine. Now get out. Our business is done.”
The vampire rose and hugging the bag to his chest, walked to the exit. The burly guard opened the double doors and promptly ushered the vampire out, shutting them behind him.
“Do you trust him?”
He turned and glared into the corner where another form sat, unseen, shrouded in the dark. “Of course I don’t.” He turned and sat in the burgundy leather chair near the fireplace where a low fire still flickered. “That’s why when he finishes his mission, he’ll be taken care of like the rest.”
“I heard the OCU has brought in someone from the outside to help with the case.”
He smirked. “I’m not worried about Caine and his team of misfits.” The police and crime lab didn’t concern him. He’d been playing under their radar for a long time now without interference. There was no reason to suspect that that would change.
“They brought in a human to help with the case. A human woman.”
Well, that did interest him. Sitting back in the chair, he chuckled. “Perfect.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“So what’s the new girl like?” Gwen asked as she poured liquid into the plastic test tube with the errant hair that Lyra had extracted from under the victim’s fingernail.
Before Caine could respond, Jace growled from his perch beside Gwen. “She stinks.”
“She does not, Jace.” Caine protested.
“I can smell her a mile away. I know when someone stinks, and she does.”
“Well, what does she smell like, then?” Gwen asked.
“Like plums and vanilla,” Caine answered not lifting his head from going over the other trace evidence they had logged. When it suddenly became as silent as a tomb, he glanced up. They were staring at him as if he had grown another head. This, of course, was genetically impossible. “What?”
“Ah nothing, Chief.” Jace smirked then went back to filling test tubes with liquid.
“Is she pretty, then?”
Jace pushed off the worktable. “Who cares? She’s a NOP.”
Caine bristled. The last thing he needed was animosity in this case. They couldn’t afford to have biases blind them to the truth. “Jace, I’d appreciate if you didn’t use that word in this lab. I will not tolerate any specism here.”
“You hate them just as much as I do, Chief.” Jace stared at Caine. “Shit man, you have more reason than anyone here to hate them. What they did to you.”
He put his hand up to stop any more accusations. “Although I find this matter as difficult to swallow as you do, I do not hate—,”
“Excuse me?”
The soft feminine sound came from the doorway. Caine swore under his breath and turned toward the voice. Eve stood framed in the doorway, her white blond hair falling in her eyes. He wondered how long she had been listening to th
eir vulgar conversation. He hoped not long.
However, by the look of anger and hurt on her face, he assumed she had been standing there long enough.
“Yes, Eve, hello. Has Lyra gotten you up to speed?” He walked toward her, hoping to defuse the situation.
“I need a computer.” She brushed a stray hair from her forehead and lifted her chin, but avoided meeting his eyes.
Caine had to give it to her. She likely heard everything they had said, and she still had the guts to walk in here and rise above the insults.
He’d been worried when he first saw her, looking like a Malibu Stacy Barbie doll. Long white-blond hair, dark blue eyes, blemish free tanned skin, little pert nose with a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge. Thankfully, she was not rake thin. No, she definitely had curves. She filled out her navy pinstriped suit and skirt very well. Not that he was trying to notice, it was just one of those things a man couldn’t help to observe. For a human, he had to admit, she was attractive.
When he had taken her hand, he had felt something jolt through his skin. An energy of some sort. She wasn’t psychic, but she possessed some kind of gift. And given the fact that his hand tingled after, remarkably with pleasure, she had certain sexual potency as well. Something, he believed she had no idea that she possessed. If he had been the vampire from his past, he would’ve jumped at the opportunity to test that potency.
“Yes, of course,” he answered, giving her his best diplomatic smile.
“I thought since the rest of the team is processing evidence, I would get a jump on IDing the victim. I can access AFIS, CODIS and missing person’s reports.”
“You have complete access to all the systems in San Antonio?”
Arching a brow, she smiled back at him prettily. “What I don’t have access to, I can hack.”
Gwen whooped. “A girl after my own heart.”
Caine’s lips twitched. The girl had guts, he’d give her that. More than he expected from a human woman. Now, if she could back that up with skill, he’d be one happy crime investigator.
“You can use the computer in the analysis room.” Still carrying his clipboard, Caine exited the lab and led the way down the hall to another small, enclosed area.
When he walked through the doorway of the analysis room, he stopped in his tracks, and Eve nearly collided with him. The computer was being used. Lyra was happily going through magical symbols and spells that she had archived in their system years ago.
Lyra glanced up at him and smiled smugly. “Why don’t you let Eve use the computer in your office?”
Caine wanted to reach over and strangle Lyra. She knew how much he detested people being in his office, in his space. It wasn’t that he was obsessive about it. He just didn’t like when others touched his things. Working as an OCI, he knew how germs could spread just by opening one’s mouth.
“How long are you going to be?” he asked.
“As long as it takes to figure out these symbols, Chief.” She raised her brow. “You do want me to figure that out don’t you?”
As Eve sidled up next to him curiously, he cleared his throat and nodded to Lyra, his little trouble-making witch, who he was tempted to write up under some insubordination charge. “Of course.”
Turning toward Eve, he motioned toward the door. “We’ll use my office.”
Without a word, she followed him out and down the hall to his sanctuary.
Once through the door, he showed her where his computer was, and motioned toward the chair for her to sit. Instead, she looked around his office seemingly taking everything in. She particularly eyed his book collection with intense scrutiny.
Before she could take a step toward his extensive and private collection of books, he moved in front of her blocking her path. He motioned toward the computer once again.
“Do you need some help getting started?”
He meant the question to be condescending, and by the dark gleam in her eye, he suspected he made his point.
Lifting one perfectly plucked brow, Eve flexed her fingers and sat down in his chair in front of the computer. “No. I think I can handle it, thank you.”
Caine watched, at first unconcerned and then with rising interest, as her fingers flew over the keyboard accessing more programs and screens than he’d ever seen. In five minutes, she had full access to the San Antonio police department mainframe and was tapping into AFIS and CODIS. Using the prints and DNA samples they had on the victim, she ran both searches at once.
Seemingly very satisfied with herself, Eve leaned back in his chair and smiled up at him, the blue in her eyes sparkling with humor. “May take a while, but at least we’re in. If she’s in the system we’ll find her.”
“Great.” He nodded. “You’re, ah, very efficient with the computer.”
“Thank you. I’ve been hacking systems since I could type. This was when I was four.” She laughed.
He joined in, intrigued by the dimple in her right cheek and the crinkle of her eyes. She didn’t look like a Barbie doll right then, more like a confident woman. A warm tingling radiated up his spine, telling him he needed to get out of this situation. The room suddenly became too small, too warm. She was too close. Taking a distancing step back, he rubbed a hand over his face.
“It’s my shampoo, by the way.”
He looked at her, eyebrow lifted in question.
“Plums and vanilla.” She touched her hair with the tips of her fingers. “That’s what you smell.”
Before he could comment, his cellphone buzzed. Feeling very aware of Eve’s presence, Caine turned from her amused gaze and answered his phone. “Valorian.”
While Mahina grumbled in his ear, Caine felt Eve watching him. He sensed that she was eyeing him up and down, taking in everything about him. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched her face blush and she quickly turned her head putting her attention back on the computer screen.
He needed to get out of the office and now. It was becoming excessively uncomfortable in here. Thank the moon, Mahina needed him at the crime scene.
He ended the call, pocketed his phone, and shuffled his clipboard from one hand to the other. Without looking at Eve, he started toward the door. “I need to go back to the crime scene, so if you’ll excuse—”
“Can I come?”
Pausing, his foot just over the threshold, Caine turned around. “I’m sorry?”
“The search will take a while. I could sit here in your office and paw through your things, or you could take me with you to the crime scene.”
Again, that sparkle in the blue of her eyes flashed annoyingly at him. She could read that he didn’t want her in his office around his personal effects. She had him, in slang terms, by the short and curlies. Sighing, he nodded.
With a smile, she stood, smoothed down the line of her pencil skirt and followed him out.
The intoxicating scent of plums and vanilla clung to her like a gossamer spiderweb.
He had no desire to be the fly lured into it.
CHAPTER SIX
It was nearing ten in the evening when Caine maneuvered the lab’s black SUV into the Black Heart Hotel’s parking lot. Eve had stared out the passenger window as they whizzed through the city, taking in everything she could.
Necropolis wasn’t all that different from any other city in America.
High-rises brushed the night sky. Storefronts lined the busy streets. Fluorescent signs declared this week’s special sales. Couples out on the town lined up to get into the hottest nightclubs. What were you expecting? Neon signs flashing: Beware Vampires Live Here?
She’d seen all the same things in San Antonio, and it was easy to forget that these people were not the same. They were Other. And she was the outsider.
Glancing over at Caine, she thought the same about him. He was nothing she expected him to be. Vampires were supposed to be flamboyant and extravagant, with a penchant for flair and dramatics, just like in the movies. But Caine was the exact opposite of that. He seemed aloof and r
eserved. Right down to his corn flower blue tie and pressed grey slacks. At first, he had been charming, with his killer smile, but now he seemed almost nervous. Why would he be nervous around her? It’s not like he had anything to fear from her.
Opening the passenger door, the heat of the sultry night hit her full blast in the face. It was hot in the summer in Texas, but lately it had unbearably humid. Already, her blouse was sticking to her back as she rounded the vehicle and grabbed her field kit from the back.
Caine had offered her one of theirs, but she had come to Necropolis with her own stainless-steel, fully packed kit. Everything was right where she needed it. Using someone else’s gear just didn’t feel right to her. Like wearing someone else’s clothes.
With her kit in hand, she followed Caine into the hotel.
“This is the Black Heart. One of a few unsavory hotels here in The Digs.”
She glanced around the lobby, taking in the grime on the yellowing linoleum floor, and the greasy sheen on the walls. Definitely not The Four Seasons. She’d been in her fair share of shitty hotels in San Antonio training for her job. This was no different.
They took the stairs up to the second floor. Eve was very careful not to touch the railing. She didn’t like the look of the substances stuck on the flaking orange painted metal. One she was certain was gum, but the other white goo, she really didn’t even want to think about. Her stomach was already queasy as it was.
This was technically her first crime scene. Back in San Antonio, she had worked the lab. For two years, she processed evidence and maintained the computer lab. When she was training, she’d been out on a few crime scenes, but this was the first time she was out here by herself, or without anyone she knew that is. She really hoped she didn’t blow it. Captain Morales had given her the opportunity for this assignment, and she didn’t want to disappoint him. Because she knew if she failed out here, she would never get another chance to prove herself.
When they arrived on the second floor, Eve noticed a muscular woman in jeans, and t-shirt standing with a scrawny weasel of a man and a taller man in a suit in front of an open doorway with yellow tape across it. The crime scene.
