Sampson's eyebrows rose. “Really? How?"
"Best not to ask.” She looked at the new victim.
"Right. Back to this victim. She had no identification. Not even a purse. Our first task will be to figure out who she is,” Sampson pushed up from one knee, and brushed off his white coveralls.
A flash broke in the semi darkness. Jess glared in the direction of the light, expecting the person to be media. She saw no one. “Where did that camera flash come from?” she asked.
"I don't know,” Britt raised a hand and beckoned one of their team. He leaned over and whispered in the officer's ear.
This time Jess heard every word. She nodded. “And hurry, before he's gone,” she said.
* * * *
"What did you find out?” Drago pushed out of his chair and stalked to his assistant, Mannie.
Mannie shrank back from him.
Ridiculous! Drago had never taken out his anger on Mannie. It always irked Drago that Mannie pretended otherwise. Besides, Drago had learned to control his darkest anger and used it to his advantage for the most part. He needed that inner dark strength when it came to mind control.
In fact, even if he said so himself, he was a genius when it came to entrepreneurial ventures. When he'd learned about vampires and how they existed in the underworld of illicit gambling, drugs, and gangs, he knew he'd have a huge niche market if he could do something to help elevate their status in the human world.
It didn't take long for him to learn that very rich master vampires had everything they wanted except powerful women to slake their thirst. They had to stay low key and could only divest themselves of the lower class women, whose disappearances wouldn't make headlines.
That's when Drago began researching his latent mind control abilities. Since finding a rare drug in a Mayan archeological dig over thirty years ago, he'd become quite good at controlling those around him. All he had to do was touch them enough times to get enough of the Mayan paste's properties circulating through their bodies and he was in control.
By providing powerful women to these vampires, even for a couple of days, he was on the road to becoming richer than he ever dreamed. And the women couldn't remember a thing when they got home. He still wasn't sure if it would work on Jess, a vampire, but the reward was too lucrative to ignore.
The fact that someone had killed one of the women he'd been manipulating made things a lot more difficult for him. The vampire members of his club all knew what was at stake. They could have their victim for forty-eight hours as long as they didn't kill her. They could take their pleasure however they preferred and she wouldn't remember a thing when it was over. But they had to return her alive.
What were the odds that some random street vampire had killed her? It had to have been one of his vampires, maybe even one of the vampires at the table a few hours earlier had broken their pact. If so, the idiot was pulling a hell of a firestorm down on himself. Kellerman had been a favorite of several of his top customers. So popular, he had to pace them. He couldn't provide her to them every week since he could only wipe her memory once a month. That made things more difficult to figure out because any one of them could have gotten greedy and gone after her for themselves.
"The last vampire to entertain Kellerman was Boris Klaufman.” Mannie said, stating the obvious. “If he killed her, however, it had to have been after the fact since she'd gone home and contacted the police telling them she couldn't remember anything, and she thought she'd been roofied, the slang term for the date-rate-drug, Rohypnol ."
Drago scowled. That was bad enough. “Damn it. In essence, she was roofied. Only with a very powerful mind-control roofie.” He let out a long, hot breath, and slammed his hand against the wall in front of him. “Now the cops know she'd reported being drugged before her death. This thing is not going to blow over easily."
"Probably not,” Mannie agreed.
"Make sure nothing points to us. Break into her office and steal all the invitations to the club. Make sure the cabbies who brought her here are duly warned not to talk, or else.” He got into Mannie's face. “And don't fuck this up, or you'll be fish food yourself."
One eyebrow rose, and Mannie, who'd pretended to cower a moment ago, stared blackly into Drago's eyes. He didn't like threats. He didn't mind pretending, but when Drago really got in his face, Mannie's true persona pushed through.
Drago turned and slammed through the leather padded door into his inner sanctum. No one ever came in here but him. No one knew what he kept back here.
Not the vampires who trusted him with their secrets. Not even Mannie.
[Back to Table of Contents]
CHAPTER TWELVE
On the way to Sampson's lab, Britt tried to figure out what it was that had been bothering him about the three victims. Even Jess had been perplexed. He'd seen her expression when she looked at the recent Jane Doe.
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he took the final turn into the parking lot.
It finally hit him!
They all looked like Jess.
Not as beautiful, but overall they had very similar features. Dread pooled in his gut. Was it coincidence? Somehow he didn't think so.
Now the fact that Jess felt as if she was being watched made a whole lot more sense. And what the hell could he do about it?
The minute he got out of his vehicle, he noticed Regent's SUV. That meant Jess was at the Special Ops morgue, too. Good. He wanted to talk to her.
He'd barely made it inside when he heard the shouting. He keyed in his security code and entered the lab. Jess and Sampson were facing off against two burley men from the Coroner's office.
"You can't have the body. I'm the lead coroner on this case,” Sampson said, his hands fisted in balls at his sides.
"We have our orders. Chief says no more autopsies will be done outside the City's purview."
"The Chief said that? I don't believe it,” Jess said, whipping her cell phone out and dialing immediately.
Britt decided to hang back. This wasn't his arena, but he'd stick around in case Sampson or Jess needed backup. It really looked as if Sampson wasn't going to give up this victim.
Jess moved away from the men yelling at each other, so the Chief would be able to hear her when she got him on the line. “Chief Brown. This is Captain Vandermire. I'm phoning from the Special Ops Morgue. There are two men here from the Coroner's office demanding to take our latest victim. What the hell's going on—sir?” She added as an afterthought.
"Surely this isn't a surprise to you, Vandermire. You must know the second victim was taken from the morgue?"
"Yes, I knew the other victim was removed, but I've been too busy to phone you to find out why. Actually, there are some things I have to tell you about that case, but not over the phone.” She realized she was holding the phone so tight that with her strength she could break it. She loosened her grip.
Chief Brown cleared his throat, obviously irritated. Whether irritated by her questions, or whatever else was going on, Jess wasn't sure.
"Get your ass in here as soon as you can. And release that woman's body right away."
"Chief,” Jess said. “That's a really bad idea. You know why we use this morgue for our special cases. Surely you understand the serious implications that could arise if this victim is autopsied outside of this lab?” What was wrong with the man? Had he lost his mind? They couldn't release another vamped woman and wait for her to go into hyper drive and kill the innocents working in the morgue. They'd have no idea how to handle themselves. Even if they were able to get over the shock of a dead person coming to life in time to put up a fight.
"Let her go, Vandermire. That's an order."
Jess held the phone out and looked at it with incredulity, then pressed it back against her ear. “Under protest. I'll be writing up a formal complaint when I get back to the office."
"You do that!” He hung up in her ear.
Jess could feel her VNA saturated blood beginning to boil
and her teeth threatening to break through. An angry growl was forming in the pit of her stomach.
"Jess. Everything's okay. Don't worry, we'll get a handle on whatever's going on. Let's not let this situation get totally out of hand.” Britt placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Only he would dare take the chance of touching her right now. No one else would even think of touching her in this heightened state of emotion.
The two men in uniform, obviously tired of the waiting game, forced their way past Sampson who was still doing everything he could to stop them. He'd even thrown himself in front of the body on the gurney. They just pulled him off and roughly shoved him aside.
Sampson was middle-aged, and balding. A loveable, slightly overweight science geek. They knew he'd be no match for them, and she hated the casual way they shoved him aside. Like he wasn't the most amazing brain on the planet. They had no idea who they were manhandling.
One of them cursed under his breath when he looked at the Jane Doe in full rigor mortis, and who looked very much worse for wear.
Jess's VNA neared the boiling point again, and she closed her eyes to repress the urges that could come upon her quickly. She could kick their asses, and send them running. They'd be more scared of her than that bluish corpse staring at them from the gurney .
Britt stepped in front of Jess, blocking her view of the men. She nearly shoved him aside, but one look at his caring eyes made her stop. Cool her jets. Recite a silent prayer to keep her dark urges at bay.
"You've got guts, Brittain. You do realize what you just did could be dangerous. Even to you?” She slammed her arms across her chest, exposing a little more of her cleavage than usual. He didn't dare look. Smart man. “Even Regent would be cautious about approaching me in this state,” she said, enhancing her voice to make it vibrate through him. To make him realize he shouldn't mess with her.
"I know you wouldn't hurt Regent, or me,” Britt said, rubbing the quarter inch of shadow on his unshaven jaw. He looked lean and angular, and totally kissable. She tried to shove that thought to the very furthest recesses of her conscious mind, but images of the way he looked at her in his apartment the other night exploded into her memory and she had to force herself to maintain her stance.
"You know nothing of the sort. And if you're wise, you'd remember what I am. Not who I am, Lieutenant John Brittain."
She turned and stalked away, slammed out the door and left Britt to mop up Sampson. He'd be a wreck after losing another patient and John would be a better choice to soothe the poor man.
She trusted Sampson, just like she trusted Britt. In fact, she had a pact with Sampson that no one knew about. Not even Regent. If she ever turned evil, he'd find a way to take her out. To kill her.
Holding her head in her hands, she stood outside the SUV in the black of the night and prayed she wasn't being sucked into that dark existence against her will.
She wouldn't let it happen. Not without a fight.
[Back to Table of Contents]
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Britt followed Jess to the police station a few minutes after assuring Sampson they'd find out what the hell was going on. He left the man looking barely mollified and sipping a soothing cup of herbal tea.
He knew exactly where Jess had gone.
Raised voices penetrated into the hallway before he got close to the Chief's door. No vampire hearing required. He walked by casually, trying to catch the drift of the conversation.
The Chief spotted him. “Detective Brittain, in my office, now!"
Britt turned his head and feigned surprise. Chief Brown probably wanted a buffer between himself and Jess, and any able-bodied cop would do.
Jess didn't acknowledge Britt when he entered the room. Her entire focus was on the Chief, who appeared to be holding his ground against Jess, even though the tension in the room was palpable. “I don't agree with you,” she said. “This is something I should handle on my own."
"I thought we'd decided you wouldn't go there on your own. That you'd find someone to back you up."
She looked repentant. “It wasn't an order, sir."
"It is now, and John Brittain is going to be your backup."
"What? No,” she said.
"Yes,” said Brown. “And that is an order. No discussion.” He brushed invisible crumbs from his hands, and leaned back in feigned repose. “Report back at the end of the week, whether you learn anything or not. Dismissed."
Britt had no clue what the Chief was talking about. But seeing the sparks flying from Jess's eyes, he'd wait to let her tell him after she'd cooled down.
"You haven't answered my question,” Jess said to Brown, staring at him, pulling his gaze into her own. No doubt, making him experience the bleakness she could instill. That cold sense of dread that filled one's senses and left a lingering feeling of hopelessness. Just a couple of seconds. That's all it ever took. When she allowed him to break contact, he looked away from her. Britt almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"Why did you have the bodies removed from our lab? I know you realize the repercussion of having these victims autopsied by regular M.E.s,” Jess said.
Brown's face turned to pale marble, and he took a long, hard breath. “I don't have a choice.” He gave her a suspicious look. “And, if you happen to have any idea who stole that body from the morgue, I'd suggest you warn that person that surveillance has been heavily upgraded so that no one can get in and out without being caught on hidden cameras."
When the Chief scanned the interior of his own office Britt guessed he'd probably just stuck his neck out to tell her that.
"This whole situation is crazy, and dangerous. How will we control the population if they learn the truth? The last thing we need are lynch mobs in the city,” Jess told the Chief.
"I'm working on containing this thing. And trying to make sure Sampson is the only ME who handles these cases. If things go the way they should, he'll have the body back within a few hours."
"Why didn't you just say so?"
"I just did. As I said before—dismissed!” He turned his back on the two of them and opened an email on his computer.
Jess glanced at Britt angrily, then turned and marched out of the office.
He followed her but remained silent. In fact, he followed her right into her office and closed the door behind them.
When she heard the door latch she spun around and glared at him. “What are you doing? Did I ask you to come in here?"
"No. But I think we need to talk about what just happened in Chief Brown's office."
She dropped into her chair. “Nothing happened. We're being kept in the dark."
"I have something to tell you, but I don't want to say it here. Can we meet later tonight? After I take my team out on patrol?"
She flashed him a curious look. “Where and when?"
"In the establishment next to the spot where we first met.” He'd deliberately withheld the location just in case the walls had ears.
Her head lifted and she squinted at him suspiciously. Then she nodded.
* * * *
It was well after two a.m. when Jess arrived at their designated meeting location outside the bar. This place brought back memories best forgotten. A breeze ruffled leaves in the small green space on the other side of the street. The sounds of nature used to be pleasing to Jess when she was human. She now tried to recapture some of those feelings but couldn't quite manage it.
"Fancy finding you here.” His voice came from behind her and startled her. She jumped.
Instant concern crossed his face. Of course he realized she should have heard him coming. Why hadn't she?
She pretended not to care. “What's going on, Britt? Why did you want to meet here?"
"Back in Chief Brown's office, when he was talking about added surveillance cameras in the morgue, he kept glancing around his office. You were ticked at him at the time, so in case you didn't notice, I thought I'd apprise you. I don't think he felt that he could talk openly."
"Rea
lly?” She pursed her lips. “You're right I didn't notice. I seem to be missing a lot of things lately.” She slumped. “What the hell is going on, Britt? And what's wrong with me?"
"I intend to get to the bottom of it, Jess. I'm not going to give up until we figure this thing out."
His words washed over her and warmed her. “I guess now's the time to tell you, the Chief insisted that you be my backup in future.” She held up her hands. “But only when it comes to finding out about Vaslov. For some reason, Vaslov's a little too interested in me. The Chief wants me to play along and find out what his agenda is."
"I can't say that plan impresses me. What the hell is the man thinking!"
"He thinks I'm a cop who can handle it.” Her words were ice.
"Of course you can handle it, but after what happened in the alley, it's not safe to...” He gaped at her. “You were supposed to have backup that night, too, weren't you?"
No doubt Britt knew he'd made a mistake the minute the words came out of his mouth. Even before she'd chastised him so succinctly. He'd inadvertently insinuated that she needed help to do her job, and she didn't appreciate it.
She glared at him, infusing him with the essence of darkness. He deserved it this time.
But, when his face paled and his gaze flinched she broke eye contact. Damn it. She hated being a vampire some days. “Yes! I ignored his orders the night I passed out in the alley. I wasn't supposed to go alone.
"From now on you have backup,” he said. “Let's get to the bottom of this thing, and the sooner the better."
Jess avoided making eye contact.
"No matter what our personal problems are, we can work together as professionals."
He'd hit home. Her mask slipped, just a little. He'd touched the lingering element of woman inside the vampire. As much as she tried to deny it, just possibly she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
"What about your current murder investigations? Whoever killed those women is not a normal feeding vampire. He's calculating, and he's deliberately leaving a body trail. It's your job to find out who it is,” Jess said.
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