Of Life and Death

by A. L. Kessler

  “Then I won’t push tonight.”

  We pulled up to the house where the vampire victims had been found, and I noticed that no officer was guarding it and the PIB tape was gone. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

  Mario had the balls to laugh, and I shot him a glare I was sure would murder him if looks could kill. “Told you, Princess,” he whispered.

  I took a deep breath and resisted the urge to smack him. There was no reason that he needed to keep calling me that. I got out of the car and pulled my gun out.

  Mario looked at it and then to me. “You’re here as a PIB agent?”

  “Yes.” I raised a brow. “You have a problem with that?”

  “I just think you’d get further as one of Levi’s people.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Do I need to stay out here then?”

  “No need for that.” I heard an ear-piercing scream. Darting into the house, I didn’t bother with waiting for Mario.

  I aimed my gun the moment I got into the main room. On the couch sat a child, dressed in a white frilly dress, blood-stained down the front. Her little feet peeked out from underneath the bottom, and she looked at me with wide brown eyes.

  “Oh hello.” Her voice matched her childlike body. She wiped the blood off her chin in a small movement, staining a white glove on her hand. “I’m sorry, but I was taught it was rude to interrupt someone’s dinner.”

  I had no words; it was even creepier in person. My mind knew she was old, that she was a vampire, but my eyes were telling my brain that she was a child. “I was taught it was rude to kill your dinner.”

  Her tiny lips quirked up in a smile. “Aren’t you fun.” She jumped down from the couch and started toward me. I resisted the urge to run. “You’re under arrest.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so.” She met my gaze, and a strange fuzzy feeling started to come over my body. I called my magic up, and the feeling faded. I watched as her smile faded. “Witch.”

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  Her eyes darted to the door, and she started jumping up and down clapping her hands. “Mario!”

  “Hello, Keira.” He didn’t sound happy about the situation. “The killing needs to stop. We have orders to take you in.”

  She patted the skirt of her dress, causing it to sway a little bit. “Take me in? You mean the council and the king?” She motioned to me with a tiny, slender finger. “Or you mean PIB? Are you working with them now Mario? Get tired of being a lap dog for the king?”

  “No. Come on Keira, either come with us, or we’ll be forced to put you down.”

  Put you down. Like she was a dog. I looked at the thing in front of me and wondered if I could shoot the innocent looking vampire in the face. Then she bared fangs and hissed. Yes, yes, I could shoot her if I had to. Because if those came after me, there was no doubt my life was in danger.

  “I’m not going back so that the king can shuffle me around in an attempt to rehabilitate me. There’s nothing wrong with me; I am as I was meant to be.”

  That was an interesting way to put it. “What do you mean?”

  “Now is not the time, Abigail.” Mario reacted a little too quick for my taste.

  Keira laughed, and it was a high squeal that made me flinch. “Oh, she doesn’t know.” She shook her head. “Look into it. You’ll see what I mean. I’ll leave the territory, but only because I know Levi wants it. You, Mario…if it was your territory, I’d leave more bodies for you to find.” I didn’t miss the hate in her voice.

  She disappeared before I could react. I turned to Mario. “What the hell was she talking about?”

  “She wasn’t made in the typical way. Really, it doesn’t concern you, and now she’s gone from the territory, and we failed.”

  Not like he or I did anything to stop it. Was there anything we could have done to keep her from disappearing. I didn’t like the tone in his voice, but I restrained myself in from screaming at him. “Look, it is my concern if I’m going to be on this case. And you don’t strike me as the type of person to give up so easily.”

  “Where would you go for the next step then? She could be anywhere.” He motioned to the couch and the corpse of the person she’d been feeding from.

  I thought for a moment. “Levi said he had to work with Lady R because it was on the outskirts of his territory.”

  “Yes, but then Keira came into Levi’s territory completely.”

  I nodded. “She wants something; she didn’t go far. I’m betting she goes back to the outskirts.”

  “Have you ever met Lady R?”

  “Nope, but I have a feeling we’re going to meet her soon.” I walked back out of the house and pulled out my phone. I dialed dispatch and looked back to see if Mario had followed me out of the house. He hadn’t, and I wondered what he was doing inside.

  “Dispatch, this is Abigail Collins, I need a team down at this address.” I gave them the address. “One body, vampire victim.”

  They confirmed, and I got off the phone with them. I dialed Mason next. “So, no PIB agents or officers at the vampire victim house. Where the fuck are they? Came here to check on something, found our vampire.”

  “That’s a hell of a way to start a conversation, Abby.”

  It really was, but I wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries. “We’re dealing with a vampire child.”

  Silence on the other end.

  “Mason, she looks like she’s five or six.”

  More silence.

  “She disappeared when I walked in on her feeding.”

  “Well shit,” his reply finally came.

  That was my thought on the whole situation. “I might have to bring in Levi on the case since it’s his territory.” Technically, Levi was already part of the case because he was the King, but since Mason didn’t know that, I needed to explain why Levi’s people would be on scene.

  “You know I don’t like that, Agent Collins.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I know, but really, we could probably use the help.”

  “I’ll come down with the forensic team. Will you be there when I arrive?”

  “Probably not, I’ve seen the scene, and I really want to go home and just grab some dinner.”

  He grumbled something and hung up. I put my phone in my pocket and started toward the Hummer. Mario ran to catch up to me. “Police coming?”

  “Yeah, Mason and a forensic team. I told him I already looked over the scene and caught the vampire in action.”

  Mario climbed into the passenger side. I got into the driver’s side and started the car, wasting no time getting on the road.

  “Where are you going?” Mario asked after a few minutes.

  “You said that Keira was staying up north with a vampire named Kathrine. Right?”

  He nodded. “I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to go back there.”

  “That’s true, but maybe Kathrine can give us some idea of where Keira is or may be heading. Better yet, she can tell us what the creepy child vampire is here for.”

  Mario leaned back in the seat. “And why do you think she’s headed for something?”

  “Because she hasn’t left yet, she came back to the scene of the crime, and she’s been leaving bodies around. She wants us to know that she’s here, which means there some reason behind her visiting.”

  “Exit here.”

  I glanced at him. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Do you know where the house is?” he snapped back. “Exit here.”

  He had a point, but I still didn’t like the command in his voice. I listened anyway because he was right, I didn’t know where exactly the house was. “I thought you were giving up.”

  “And I thought the only place you knew to look was on the outskirts of Levi’s territory.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What do we know about Kathrine?”

  “She’s a low-level vampire that doesn’t normally stir up trouble; she’s been in the territory for about a hundred years.” He shrugged. “Not sure why Keira would stay with her.”<
br />
  “Low key, no trouble, why would the territory leader check in on Kathrine? It’s actually a good hiding place.”

  He directed me down a side road that led into a patch of the area that’d been damaged by fires. “That’s true, had it not been for one of our vampires knowing who Keira was, then we wouldn’t have known where she was staying.”

  Some part of me was happy that he actually agreed with me like we could get along if we had to. He continued to give me directions until we came to a steep dirt-covered parking lot. I highly doubted that the vampire who gave us this piece of information was just out for a stroll and happened to see Keira. No, I’m betting they were out for something else because this was way too private for that.

  The Hummer crawled up the steep driveway, and we stopped at a faux log house with a balcony that stood above a three-car garage. There were strange contraptions on top of each window and no lights on in the house.

  “She has steel shutters, that’s impressive.” He whistled. “That’s not a cheap way to keep the house sun-tight.”

  I walked up to the house without asking for an explanation on why he knew that. I knocked on the door. Once. Twice. Three times.

  Mario was still standing where I left him.

  “No one’s home.”

  “No, she’s dead.”

  I went back to him. “How do you know that?”

  “I can smell the scent of a decaying body, and I can’t sense another vampire.” He grabbed my hand, and suddenly I found myself standing on the balcony, looking into a massive kitchen and dining room. The sliding-glass door was open with no signs of forced entry.

  I glared at Mario. “Warn me before you pull that shit.” I ripped my arm away from him and walked into the house. I pulled my gun out and kept it at my side, just in case.

  “There’s no one here, Abigail.” Mario came up behind me.

  I didn’t trust him to really know that. I didn’t want to depend on vampire abilities to keep me safe. I rounded the corner that led into a hall and there on the ground was a head. Set up as if it was staring down the hall at me. I let out a little bit of a squeal and Mario came running.

  “Were you frightened by a mouse?” The tone of his voice was joking, but I still wanted to smack him.

  “No, there’s a fucking head in the hallway.”

  He looked a crossed his arms. “So there is. Wonder where the rest of the body is.”

  I debated for a moment on if I should call PIB or not. Mario echoed my own thoughts. Where was the rest of the body? The long black hair of the head stuck to the wood floor with dried blood, the eyes were open, but glazed over, and there was no sign of the rest of the body. Great. “Handle this as Levi’s person?” I asked and put the gun away. “I don’t even know who to call at this point.”

  Mario walked over and squatted down by the head. “Yes, as Levi’s person. Now what we do is we contact Hannah, and we start talking with her about Keira.”

  “And Hannah is?”

  “Her maker.” He reached out his hand again. “I’ll have Levi’s people clean this mess up. For now, let’s head home.”

  I could see the tension in his jaw and debated on questioning what he was thinking, but thought better of it. I took his hand, and he transported us to the car.

  I started the car and looked back up at the balcony. “Keira is technically a PIB case, and this is related. I should turn this into PIB, but I know it’d be better to handle it as Levi’s person.” Doubt started to stir in my gut as I wrapped my hands around the wheel.

  “How long do you think you can walk between two worlds?” Mario turned in his seat to face me, ignoring my statement.

  I drove back down the steep driveway. “I wouldn’t have had to walk in two worlds if Ira hadn’t dragged me into this.” I studied the road. “Or, had Levi let me in on his little secret I might have found another way to find my independence than working for PIB.”

  “Or you would be dead already.” Mario snorted. “Ira would have found you as a child and slaughtered you.”

  Slaughtered me, like my parents were. “Do you know who killed my parents?”

  He actually jerked like I had hit him. “No.”

  “Whoever killed them left me alive for a reason. Levi and I have spent my entire life thinking that person would come back for me. That’s no different than Ira being a threat to me as a child. I would have survived.” I took the exit for the back road that led to my house. “Levi never should have hidden this from me.”

  Mario didn’t answer, maybe because he knew he wasn’t going to win the argument, maybe he had nothing more to say about it, who knew, but I was grateful for the silence.

  I pulled up to the house and hesitated. A slightly painful feeling marched over my skin, letting me know that someone was here without my permission.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I looked around as I got out of the car. “Someone was here.”

  He put an arm around my waist, and I knew he was just putting on a show in case someone was still there. “Friend or foe?”

  “Not welcomed that’s for sure.” I led him to the door and looked at the knob; there wasn’t any sign of forced entry, and my alarm hadn’t alerted me to any other entries being opened or forced. I put my code in, and the tumbler unlocked. The door creaked slightly as I opened it, Mario surprisingly didn’t jump ahead of me but kept right behind me. His hand on the small of my back.

  Osiris sat in the entryway and meowed at me, trotting forward. I assumed that it meant things were safe or Merick would have found a way to tell me otherwise.

  I relaxed and put the gun away. Mario raised a brow. “Trusting the cat?”

  “Remember, he’s the one who saved Levi, you, and I when the house imploded.” I locked the door behind us. The security system would rearm itself in ten minutes, so I didn’t bother with that.

  Mario walked in and sniffed. “I smell another witch or warlock.”

  “Your imagination.” I waved a hand in the air. I assumed he smelled Merick since he ran around in human form most of the time now.

  I went to the control panel for my alarm and navigated to the videos from the front cameras. If someone approached the front door, the videos would show me. There was nothing on the cameras but the wind setting it off on occasion. I frowned and heard Osiris meow from further in the house.

  Mario came up behind me. “Magic, technology, the only thing you’re missing is a bodyguard.”

  I did have a guard, because Merick was there, but Mario didn’t know about that. “Why are you even here?”

  Mario wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Because we’re supposed to be together. If someone is watching the house, we need to make sure there’s no doubt in their mind that we’re dating.”

  He kissed my cheek, and I shivered. I didn’t want to keep up the facade, and cheek-kissing and snuggling were as far as I was willing to go. Anyone who’d seen my relationship with Simon would know I didn’t kiss and tell. Not that there had been a lot to tell.

  Osiris meowed again, and I pulled away from Mario. “I should go feed him.” Except that was a lie because I didn’t have cat food in the house anymore.

  “I’ll wait for you here.”

  Oh good, so he wasn’t going to stalk me around my own house. I walked into the kitchen to see Osiris sitting on my counter. There was an envelope under his paws, and I sighed. I knew exactly what was in there. The photos that Seth said he’d drop off.

  I picked Osiris up and put him on the chair before picking up the envelope. “I’m going to run upstairs and get out of work clothes.”

  I swore I heard Mario snicker. If he was thinking I was going to put on something sexy just for the sake of pretending, he was going to be disappointed.

  Osiris followed me to the stairs and then to my room. We wouldn’t be able to talk without Mario hearing us, so I wasn’t sure what he was doing. I just wanted a chance to look at the pictures without Mario looking over my shoulder
s.

  I shut the door and looked down at the cat. Osiris slowly changed into Merick as if the cat was stretching upwards and took on human form. Luckily for me, Merick was dressed after he shifted back to human form. Unlike werewolves or regular shifters.

  He motioned silently to the envelope, and I opened it. About twenty different pictures of runes laid inside. I emptied them out onto my bed and flipped them over to see that there were notes on the back of them.

  “Abigail,” Mario called up the stairs.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be down in a minute.” I put the pictures back in and looked at Merick. I handed the envelope to him, and he nodded as if he understood that I wanted him to look at them. I grabbed my flannel PJ pants and a tank top and went to the master bathroom to change.

  When I got out, Merick was sitting on the bed, looking at the photos, putting them in some kind of order. I let him be and headed back down the stairs.

  Mario was in the kitchen standing by the breakfast counter with a glass of wine in front of my chair.

  So he could be thoughtful. “What’s this?”

  “Every time I’ve seen you at home, you have a glass of wine.”

  It was a fair observation. I took the glass and lifted it to my lips. A strange scent hit my nose, and I put the glass back down. “This isn’t what I normally buy.”

  He raised a brow. “It was in your fridge.”

  Maybe Merick had bought it. I noted the cork and the corkscrew on the counter. “Must have forgotten I bought it.”

  I took a sip and savored the sweet liquid, I normally didn’t like my wine sweet, but this tasted pretty damn good.

  Another few sips and something strange went through me. My limbs started to go numb, the glass slipped from my fingers, crashing to the floor and shattering. I looked at Mario with wide eyes as my knees buckled.

  He lunged forward to catch me before I hit the floor. “Abigail?”

  My hand shook as I pointed to the wine. “Something in it,” I rambled out. “Clarissa.” My hand fell as the world around me went dark.