by V. L. Locey
I lowered my poking finger. Gracious, someone was a putrid puppy all of a sudden.
“The body doesn’t stink,” I pointed out. Mikel looked at me as if I had spoken Martian. I folded my arms over my chest. “The dead body. It doesn’t smell bad. Isn’t that abnormal?”
Mikel looked around me to the body then pinned Edward with blistering golden eyes. “Edward, Stop ogling the soprano and do as I told you.”
“Yeah, sure, right away,” Eddie replied. He went, but it was not without countless looks of longing over his wide shoulder at Ms. Panagakos as she hummed an aria while fanning herself. I stepped to the side to allow the senior agent of the OTTER tracking department to do his thing. Mikel kneeled down beside the cadaver and rolled it over. I grimaced at the dried up shell of a being.
“It has no smell,” Mikel said. I rolled my eyes to the domed ceiling. “It’s a fresh kill, not even cold yet.”
I stopped being a wiseass. My gaze flew to Mikel. He had his hand shoved into the shirt of the dead man.
“That can’t be right,” I said. “I mean, surely a rogue killed him weeks ago. Look at how sunken in he is.”
“He’s been drained,” Mikel announced as he stood up. Dave padded back and forth anxiously, casting bizarre looks at the cast waiting on stage. That announcement made us all inhale in alarm. “No, not drained of blood. . . at least, I don’t think that’s the case. I saw or smelled no vampiric signs.”
A collective exhalation of relief escaped us all. If there is one group that is feared above even the lycans, it is the vampires. Yes, wolves can rip out your innards then use them for streamers but they cannot control your mind. That is one of the greatest fears all mystical folk have, and none more so than the werewolves. The history of vampire and lycan is a terribly bloody one. Werewolves cannot abide being made into pets. Vampires take great joy in making lycans jump through hoops and fetch sticks. The two races are notorious for the steeping hatred they carry for each other.
So imagine the look on Mikel’s handsome face when one of those most hated of creatures arrived on a cold blast of winter air. The sleek bat soared over our heads, then transformed into one of the most bewitching men I had ever seen. Tall, elegant, raven hair cut rather modernly -- “emo” as the kids would say -- with eyes as blue as a mountain stream, the undead one looked us all over as if we were nothing more than slugs and he a shaker of salt. The vampire reached up to lift a shock of silken black hair from his brow. There, resting on his forehead, was a glowing gem of pure light set in a platinum band pressing tightly against his high brow.
“As you can see, I am a prisoner of the elder counsel, given to wearing a band of illumination.” His voice was seduction and smoke. “My name is Vincente Elysian, and I am a member of the Nosferarti.” He smiled at us as his hair tumbled back into place.”I would gladly show you my identification badge if someone would call off the lycans?”
“Nosferarti?” Mikel asked with distrust as he grabbed the vampire by his impeccable coat lapels. “That branch of OTTER was closed down years ago.”
“Or so you thought, Senior Agent Lupei.” Vincente smirked. His fangs were thin, pointed daggers that slid through his gums. I glanced from the confrontation to the side door. Eddie came barreling in.
“I got a hold of the elder counsel’s advisor and he said he would send someone from the--”
“Nosferarti perchance?” Vincente asked as his highly polished boots dangled a few inches from the floor. Mikel growled in his face then threw him to the ground. “It is always a pleasure to deal with the wolves, such refined beasts,” Vincente said acidly as he picked his lean ass up and dusted himself off. “As I was saying, I am a senior Nosferarti agent, and this investigation is now in my hands. Thank you, Agent Lupei, for directing a pup to call for help. You may leave now.”
“Like hell,” Mikel snarled. Eddie and Dave closed ranks with their alpha. I sat down in one of the SRO seats to stare at the first vampire I had ever seen. The man moved with lithe grace, dropping down to one knee beside the body. The gem worn tightly to his forehead glowed beneath his bangs. A gem of illumination. How fascinating. I had read of them but never thought to see one. The gem of illumination is the only means of control the elder counsel have ever stumbled upon for vampires. The gem contains the brilliance of the sun at dawn. From what I understand from spending time with my nose in books, the vampires who have been captured, and that is damned few, rest assured, are given the option of staking or working for the Nosferarti.
If the agent is found using his mental powers for anything other than Nosferarti business, the gem is shattered while the band is still on the vampire’s brow. Instant and incredibly painful death. The elder counsel are not to be taken lightly. The Nosferarti is a highly secretive offshoot of OTTER, and deals in things that are super confidential. I had also thought the elite department had been closed. Goes to show you what we underlings know. I found myself riveted by the onyx-haired vampire. There is no better agent than a Nosferarti agent if you wish to interrogate a suspect, or so rumor has it. Obviously this Vincente had been captured somehow since he was banded with a gem of illumination. Had he killed humans and then been apprehended by some of his own? The mystery surrounding him intrigued me, as much as it shouldn’t.
“Please, spare me your pack mentality. Who discovered the body?” he asked as he ran an elegant finger along the dried-up jugular of the body. All eyes turned to me. I remained where I was, pretending to admire the friezes on the wall while secretly spying on what was going on. “Interesting.” Vincente slowly got to his feet. “I don’t recall ever seeing such a unique manner of death inland. The merfolk have been known to suck the life essence from a mystical being, but they always leave the remains along the shore.”
“Uhm, I don’t wish to intrude in your musings, but I really only saw the body from our box. Agent Lupei was the first one to actually get close to it,” I offered as I stood then stepped around the wall of werewolf. Vincente was smelling the finger he had touched the body with. His nose was long, rather beaky, but perfectly situated on his face. “So I would be of little help in any way,” I tacked on hopefully. The vampire met my look. His eyes roamed over my face. I jerked when he wriggled into my mind. His blue eyes shifted from inquisitive to surprised.
“Well now, isn’t that quite amazing?” he said, looking directly into my face. “None of the cast or orchestra are to leave this area until I have had a chance to speak with them. I’ll be taking this body to the nearest OTTER office for an autopsy. I will also be requisitioning a place to reside until the murderer is caught. That, my dear fellow agent, will be at your home, which I have heard is most accommodating to those with less than favorable facets?”
Mikel nearly lost his grip on his base animal. It was a rare sight to see Mikel Lupei so mad he was speechless. What exactly had the undead bastard learned while he had been inside my head? Less than favorable facets? I felt the fine hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“For now, if it’s within your realm of procedure, perhaps we could split up to speak with the orchestra, cast, and witnesses?” Vincente offered with a slippery smile. I stepped forward just as my wolfish lover did, my chest bouncing off Mikel’s. Vincente glared down at me. “Why don’t you and your litter go work the crowd while your ‘lineage scribe’ and I speak with the cast and orchestra?”
“Yes, that is a good idea. A fine idea.” I grinned up at the lycan who was this close to shedding his pelt, as the young in our world say. “Mikel, go with the lads. I’ll go with the pompous Nosferarti agent. We’ll meet back at the carriage in an hour.”
“My, what a pushy little scribe he is.” Vincente chuckled as he walked past. “One would think you were fonder of the malodorous caste than is proper, Agent Lupei.”
“Ignore him,” I whispered, keenly aware of how flip I had sounded a moment ago. Damn, but it was hard to mind your place in public. “I’ll go with him to placate him. We can’t have an incident here,” I said softly,
making sure I did not look up at Mikel. “Maybe I can find out just how much he plucked out of my brain.”
“Fine.” Mikel stalked up the walkway, Dave and Eddie falling in behind him. I glanced up in time to see them exit the hall. I cleared my throat, plastered my most subservient face on, and then went to see if I could help the vampire with his interviews.
***
We had been directed to the dressing room of the star of the show after speaking with the orchestra. They knew nothing but my stars, were they servile. Perhaps sycophantic is a better term. I smiled graciously as I followed behind the tall vampire. The ladies of the orchestra were all strikingly lovely. Each possessed delicate facial features, thick hair, glowing eyes in a rainbow of colors, soft speech, and perfectly proportioned, svelte bodies. They fawned over the Nosferarti agent, so eager were they to oblige. My nose was filled with various perfumes. It grew so bad I withdrew my handkerchief to cover my nose and mouth as the musicians hovered around us, bowing and cooing as we walked backstage. Once at the door with the gold star Vincente snapped at the women. They lifted their gowns over their ankles then scurried off, but not without some dark glowers being thrown at us as they disappeared into the shadows of the opera house.
“Did you do that?” I asked as Vincente and I waited to be admitted to Ms. Panagakos’ private room. The vampire knocked a second time, his sight flickering down to me, then lingering on my face. I found his perusal more than a little uncomfortable.
“No. If the annoying little chits had been under my control I’d have put an end to their incessant touching. I dislike people touching me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I mumbled just as the door opened. The coloratura soprano stood before us, still in her stage costume. She offered Vincente her hand. He bowed over it, pressing his lips to the tanned skin on the back of her knuckles. When he straightened, Agent Elysian whispered to the plus-sized performer in what sounded to be a Mediterranean dialect. Her cherry red lips split into a smile so beautiful it left me speechless. The two chatted for several minutes in a language I did not understand as we were made comfortable.
“So,” Vincente finally said in English as we lounged in Ms. Panagakos’ well-appointed dressing room, “now that we have the tidbits of our mutual love of your native Greece put aside, my new associate and I would like to ask you a few questions.”
My eyebrows flew to my hairline. Associate? Since when? Does one brain tickle make me a vampire’s associate? I thought this might need some clarification before a certain lycan caught wind. Elders know they catch wind quickly.
“I’m sorry for interrupting, Agent Elysian, but about you calling me...”
Whatever I was about to say was forgotten when Ms. Panagakos strolled out from behind the ornate changing screen in the far corner. She was draped in a deep purple satin robe that made her violet eyes seem that much more stunning. The robe covered her bounty but just barely. Her breasts swayed as she walked behind the lanky vampire seated in a padded chair. She was humming something softly. Vincente turned his head to watch her pass, his sight riveted to her large backside. A cloud of hyacinth engulfed us as she moved by. The smell of spring flowers made me yearn for those lengthening days. It looked like Vincente was yearning for something Greek. I cleared my throat. The vampire rolled his head lazily. I cocked an eyebrow. The heavy-lidded look left his face.
“Forgive me,” he mumbled, “It’s been days since I’ve fed.”
“Ah.” I eyed the door. If he lunged for me I would shift. A shot of the old musk in those mesmerizing eyes of his should see me clear. “They might have some finger sandwiches left in the lobby.”
He smiled. A chill skipped down my spine. Ms. Panagakos stopped humming. Vincente and I both looked at her. I marveled at how she managed to keep all of that pulchritude inside that purple robe.
“You come to ask me of dead man?” the beauty inquired, reaching across a make-up table to lift a hairbrush from amid the bottles. Her accent was very thick. Quite appealing to the ear, actually, and melodic in the extreme.
“Yes,” Vincente replied, crossing one long leg over the other. I sat with my hands in my lap, mouth shut, senses on the ready for a hungry vampire lunge. His sight roamed over the mounds of breasts and thick-thighed legs that were displayed for our enjoyment. I found the show a bit much, if you know what I mean. Then again, I’m a gay man. If Dave and Eddie had been in here they would have been salivating on themselves. I saw the vampire wet his pale lips. I scooted my chair away from him an inch. “Did you happen to see anyone who was not part of the performance over the past few weeks lingering about?”
The diva pursed her lips. She tapped her chin. She pulled a darling moue. Then she shook her head.
“No, Agent Elysian, no evil men. Many strangers yes, for they flock to me, the men. You understand?”
“Yes,” Vincente said hungrily. I shot to my feet.
“Thank you for being so helpful.” I bowed to the singer. She graced me with a regal nod of her dark head, her violet eyes narrowing as she studied me. “I think our hour is up. Agent Lupei will come looking if we don’t--”
Vincente raised his hand. His fingernails were wonderfully manicured. My mouth shut with a snap. We left with a courteous goodbye for the singer. She fell back into humming as I stepped out into the hall then closed the door gently behind me.
“You’re very astute. Pity you are such an offensive creature at your core. Tell the man you’re doing ‘lineage work’ for that I will be waiting at his mansion when your party returns home.”
He shifted not into a bat but into a foggy black vapor that swirled around me and then slipped into the murky corners of the Osterman. Oh me. Mikel was not going to be a happy pup.
Six
“I will not have it!”
My lover paced the den of his house, his long legs propelling him around the room with speed. I was seated on a settee under a lovely oil painting of the glory of Valhalla. My hands were folded in my lap. My eyes followed Mikel. He really was sexy when in a snit. Also lethal, although I knew I need not fear that wild side.
“Mikel,” I said, trying for the tenth time to get him to listen to reason. The old manse creaked softly as a wintry wind assailed the keep. The flames in the fireplace bowed and sputtered as cold air whistled down the flue. “Why don’t you come sit down so we can discuss this rationally?”
He stopped circling to stare at me as if I had said something stupid. I patted the space beside me on the settee. He resumed pacing. I blew out a breath.
“Who does that parasite think he is to tell me that he is staying in my home?”
“He thinks he’s a high-ranking special division agent, that’s who he thinks he is. Mikel, you’re going to give yourself a sour stomach if you don’t--”
“The only thing that would sour my stomach would be to have that pale leech’s kidneys in it. I think it would be worth the gastric upheaval.”
I had no reply to that, so I sat on the settee trying to not think of kidney entrees.
“I understand that you’re upset,” I said as he passed me. The man snorted. “Perhaps upset isn’t a strong enough word, but you need to calm down enough to think this through. If you refuse to accept him into your home, the elders will wish to know why. What will you tell them?”
“I’ll tell them that I would sooner be neutered than have one of those vile, manipulative creatures residing in Lupei Manor!” The force of his rage was something to see. It was almost a living thing. I could taste his anger on my tongue. If I didn’t love the big lug so, I would be more than a little odiferous at the moment.
The fire leaped upward when the wind shifted, pulling the flames up the chimney. Mikel kept pummeling the carpet with his highly shined boots.
“That’s all well and good, but what happens when he tells them what he pulled out of my head? Then what?” I asked as he rounded his desk.
“We’re not positive about what he knows,” Mikel snapped, his voice dropping danger
ously close to a rumbling growl. “I should stake him to the wall now.”
“Don’t be a dolt. We can’t stake a Nosferarti agent,” I shouted. Mikel pinned me with a simmering glower. “I’m sorry, I know you’re no dolt, but you’re acting like a brash pup instead of a well-versed alpha. Until we know exactly what he extracted from the mind probe, we’re going to have to accommodate him. There is too much at stake, pardon the pun,” I said at his quirked eyebrow. “Remember the plans we have for Lupei Manor to be a home for those in our society who are hiding their love, as we are? One whispered word from that vampire could wipe out those plans, not to mention that if he dropped the knowledge of our love affair into the hands of the elders it would see us both imprisoned or worse.”
Mikel placed both hands to the wall of books that backed the wintry lake. His brow rested on the spine of a well-read tome. I waited. I knew the man would curb the beast. After several deep breaths he pushed back from the shelves that held Dickens, Shakespeare, Twain, Austin, and Fitzgerald.
“You’re right,” he admitted, flopping down into a large padded chair behind his desk. “I must not let my disgust for his kind endanger what we hope to accomplish here, for our gay brothers and sisters.”
I smiled at him. He really is a good wolfish man.
“Shall I ask Rugby to show him in?” I offered. Mikel rolled a lip but nodded. I sprang from the settee, opened the door, inhaled to shout, and then leaped a foot into the air when Rugby appeared out of the murky shadows of Lupei Manor.
“Did you require anything, Master Reed?”
I swallowed down my heart to reply. “Yes, Rugby. Would you inform Agent Elysian that Master Lupei will see him in his study as soon as is convenient?”
“Right away, Master Reed. Would you care for some refreshments while you await Agent Elysian? Mrs. Dunrite has just removed a tray of apricot boysenberry tarts from the oven.”
“No, I don’t think we’ll be needing--”
