by Mary Abshire
“I don’t think our guy is home,” Zale said in a soft tone again.
“I’m not hearing anything from his side either.”
“Are we breaking in?”
She moved closer to the door and attempted to twist the handle. Of course, it wouldn’t budge. She suspected the deadbolt was locked too. If she pushed hard enough or kicked the door, it would break since it was made of wood instead of steel. The loud noise would attract a lot of attention.
“No,” she said as she met his gaze. “I was given the okay as long as I don’t cause a disturbance. I’d have to break the door to get inside. There are too many people here who would hear me.”
“There’s no patio, so we can’t go in that way.” He flipped his jacket away from his shoulders. “Do you mind?”
“No.”
“I’m burning up,” he said as he tugged his arms out of the sleeves.
The top few buttons of his shirt had been left unfastened. A white t-shirt appeared between the small gap. From what she knew about werewolves, their temperature ran warmer than humans. She wondered if he’d dressed up to make an impression with her. Job well done, but he didn’t need to go around feeling uncomfortable wearing extra layers.
“I could ask the neighbors if they’ve seen him,” she said.
“Do you think anyone here will share if they have?”
She turned to the door across the hall. “Maybe. Can’t hurt to ask.”
Before she reached the unit, the buzz of a cell drew her gaze toward his groin. As soon as she noticed the slight bulge, she lifted her gaze. Looking down, he shifted his blazer in front of him, hiding the lump, while he patted his pocket.
“This better be important,” he mumbled as he withdrew his phone.
She smiled as he lifted the cell to his ear.
“Yeah?” he said to the caller.
Anna crossed her arms and listened to the man on the other end of the line talking. He was giving Zale instructions to check out a crime scene. Local police stumbled across horrific remains. He apologized and then told Zale other agents were already in the field investigating other sites. They’d seen an increase in corpses in various spots in the city.
“Send me the address,” Zale said with a sigh. “I’ll get back to you.”
The man thanked him.
“Was that Gordon, your boss?” she asked as Zale lowered the phone.
“He wants me to check out a scene.”
“I heard. He knows you’re working with me, right?”
“Yep, which means it must be important if he wants me to go instead of pulling another agent. Sorry about this. We can come by later again. Maybe he’ll be home next time.”
“That’s fine,” she said in a flat tone as she passed him, heading for the staircase. The slight interruption got under her skin. She’d hoped to check out the other addresses too. Although they still could after they visited the crime scene, it still bothered her the UoJ wanted to veer him from searching for masters temporarily. “How did you get involved in investigating bodies anyway?”
“My partner called me when I was on my way home from tracking a vamp in Merrillville. He told me Gordon wanted me to look at a headless body and take pictures. My partner had checked out a couple of bodies too while I was gone. Based on reports Gordon had received, the corpses, and the lack of resources in the DS, he decided we should look into the matter.”
She paused on the landing between the second and third floors. “I’m really sorry you got stuck with the job, but I’m also glad someone took an interest. If the vampire population is decreasing substantially, we have a big problem.”
“The vampire community is starting to worry. I went to a community meeting on the west side a few days ago. Many of them wanted to take matters into their own hands. I had to explain to them why they couldn’t do that.”
“They know better than to kill. They must be scared.”
“I realize that.” He continued down the stairs and she followed beside him. “If more vamps worked with the UoJ, we could track down the identity of the demons and hand them over to the DS for interrogation. I told them that, but many don’t seem to trust the UoJ.”
“Did they listen to you?”
He pushed the door open for her and held it. “I managed to sway Tim, who speaks for the west side community. Gordon and I met with Colin the same night.”
“The city’s Community Leader?” she asked as he escorted her to the car.
“Yep. I probably shared some details with him that I should’ve kept quiet about, but he needed to know the UoJ is willing to help if vampires will communicate and share information.”
“How did he respond?”
“He was calm and asked if vampires could get amnesty if they killed while trying to defend themselves. I brought up the fact a vampire could fight two demons without killing, but if there were a group of them—“
“Trust me, it can prove to be a challenge.”
He stopped on the passenger side and opened the door for her. “I saw proof of that with my own eyes. Gordon agreed to grant amnesty on a case by case basis, but Colin has to stress to the community to knock the demons out or break a bone if necessary.”
“I had no idea how bad the situation was or that it was impacting the community so much.” She hopped into the seat and then he shut the door.
Aziel had mentioned he’d spoken to many leaders and other DS offices. He’d told her the issue was widespread, but he hadn’t given her any details. Either he didn’t know or he’d kept them to himself. She believed he’d done the latter to keep everyone calm and focused on their jobs.
Zale tossed his jacket in the back before he climbed into the car. “You don’t mind going, do you?” He strapped the seatbelt across his big chest. “You don’t have to look at the remains if you don’t want to.”
“I’m not squeamish. I’ve seen decapitated bodies before.” She looked away from him as the recent memory of finding Glenn’s body surfaced.
Zale’s phone buzzed, catching their attention. He held it up as he tapped the screen of his GPS device. “The bodies aren’t always decapitated.”
Her brows came together. “What do you mean?”
“Sometimes the corpses are burned or limbs are torn apart in addition to being decapitated.”
“What?”
He backed out of the parking spot and then righted the SUV. “I found a few burned bodies at different locations. Then at a warehouse, I found three pairs of arms hanging from chains. The bodies had holes in the abdomens. The heads had been taken from the scene too. From what I saw, it appeared as if they’d been tortured.”
“I haven’t heard of demons torturing vampires. Why would they do that?”
“For the same reasons any enemy would; to get information.”
“I wonder if my boss knows about this.”
Zale exited the apartment complex and turned onto the main road. “I’m pretty certain Gordon would’ve mentioned it.”
Still, she needed to ask him to make sure.
“Do you have the identities of the vamps you recovered from this warehouse?”
“I know of one. The agents that took over should know about the others by now.”
“Was the one you identified anyone important, like a leader in the communities?”
“No, she worked at a bar. Her boyfriend, also a vampire, worked for a division in the state transportation department. But I think she knew the leaders. My partner and I went to visit her boyfriend’s coworkers. He’d sent a ‘rise up and fight’ type of message before we had to destroy him for killing a human.”
“He killed someone?”
“It was stupid of him. He was trying to get answers to find his girlfriend. He saw us, panicked, took a hostage, and tore his jugular on the way out of the bar.”
“Damn it, that’s not acceptable.” She shook her head in disgust. No vampire should take a human’s life in such a
situation. The vampire should’ve maintained control of his emotions.
“Anyway, I left my partner with the coworker while I went to the meeting on the west side. I later returned to find my partner and the vampire decapitated. Two demons were dead too.”
She stared at him with wide eyes. “Your partner was dead too?”
He clenched his jaw. “He was shot six times in his wolf form. They took his head and the vampire’s too.”
She swallowed hard as sadness pressed upon her heart. She understood the grief of losing a valuable partner. “I’m sorry for your loss. Demons destroyed my partner a few days ago too.”
He glanced at her. “Was it two days ago?”
“Yes. A group showed up at his home. He’d triggered his silent alarm, but we arrived too late.”
He slowed the car as he steered into a turn lane at a stoplight. “What a strange coincidence. We lost our partners on the same night.”
Anna stared at the beam of lights facing them on the opposite side. She didn’t believe in chance happenings. Everything had a reason, just as her creator had spared her. She’d been destined to work for the DS and save humans. Perhaps the same held true for her and Zale. Maybe they were intended to collaborate to prevent an outbreak. “Maybe we were meant to work together to find the masters.”
“Possibly. We’ll get back to searching after we check out this crime scene.”
Whether he believed it or not, she had a strong feeling in her gut there was a purpose for them working as a team. Given they were the top agents for each of their organizations, she had to think their partnership would lead them to find the masters and stop an outbreak. Time would tell. And the clock was ticking.
Chapter Four
The drive from the apartment complex to the address Gordon sent to Zale took less than ten minutes. Zale spotted the police cruiser parked near the curb in front of a three-story warehouse. The windows on the building were broken at the top and boarded up on the first two levels. Other businesses along the street appeared to be in a similar state of decline. Zale passed the cruiser and then made a U-turn. He parked behind the police vehicle.
“You said you’d found corpses who had looked tortured at a warehouse, right?” Anna asked.
“Several days ago,” he said with a nod.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this one,” she said, gazing out her window at the building.
He suspected the details about the vamps had surprised her. He’d been stunned to learn she hadn’t been informed. As a top agent in the DS, he would’ve thought her boss would’ve shared the information. But then, he understood her priority had been to find the masters. At the time, his focus had been to find the identities of the demons destroying vamps. Outside of their primary tasks, the rest could wait.
A cop walked out of the warehouse. He wore the typical black uniform with a weapon at his side and communication device on his shoulder. He had short hair, a mustache, and a small gut. The officer stared at Zale’s SUV.
“You can stay here if you’d rather do that,” Zale said as he opened his door.
“No, I might be able to help.”
They left the car and headed for the cop standing in front of the entrance. Anna pushed her hands into her pockets and slowed her pace, waiting for Zale. The officer’s gaze darted from her to Zale. Even from a distance, Zale could smell the odor from a cigarette and some other smoke.
“I’m here to investigate the scene,” Zale said as he approached the cop.
“Are you Zale Wallace?”
“I am, and this is my partner.” Zale angled his thumb toward Anna.
“Thank you for coming. I got a report thirty minutes ago about a fire. I was in the area, so I arrived within a few minutes. The fires were small, so I managed to put them out before the fire department arrived. I called them off, so they never showed up.” The cop led the way to the entrance. “I notified my superior immediately when I saw the headless bodies. He told me a little while ago you were investigating this sort of thing and would come out to look. It smells really bad, so you might want to cover your face.” He opened the door.
“Thanks,” Zale said.
The strong scent of death and burnt flesh singed his nose as he entered the building. The odor hit him so hard that a cough escaped him. He dampened his sense of smell so he wouldn’t choke on the pungent stench.
Together, they walked into the darkness. Since they both had superior vision, he didn’t bother to use the light on his phone. Two staircases sat at the opposite end of the building. Bits of debris had been scattered in different spots. But it was the two bodies in the back and burnt pile of rubble in a separate area that held his attention. He headed to the corpses first.
Anna’s boots clapped on the concrete behind him. “It reeks of death in here.”
Zale stopped near the two headless bodies on the ground. He weeded out the stench of death and took in the other scents. “Many people have been here. I can’t count them all, but there are plenty of other body odors, colognes, fabric softeners, and shampoo fragrances.”
“You can smell all of that?”
He grinned. “I’m sure your sense of hearing is similar to my ability to pick up scents.”
“Each species has a talent or two.” She walked around the bodies, studying them. “Do you think a group of demons did this?”
“Since humans aren’t aware of your existence yet, I’d wager demons are responsible. They smell the same, of course.”
The two on the ground appeared to be of the male persuasion. Pale skin clung to the exposed bony fingers and arms.
“They were definitely vampires,” she said in a soft voice.
Zale removed his cell from his pocket. “I figured as much.”
“If demons are organizing, then this is a big problem.”
“I detected multiple scents from other scenes I’ve been to.”
She shook her head. “This is bad.”
She walked away from him as he held up his phone and took pictures.
“Is this your first crime scene?” he asked as he snapped photos.
Having finished, he strode toward her. She stood near the pile with newspapers and bits of broken furniture. Faint smoke drifted up. The scent of burnt flesh overwhelmed him as he came to stand next to her.
“Well this is new,” he said.
“It’s my first time witnessing something this horrific.” Her tone sounded grim.
“There are firsts for everything. Many can be good.” Given the scene, he tried to hold a positive attitude. A little playful dialogue or humor never hurt. He even smiled when she looked at him. But the forlorn expression on her face ended his effort to flirt. “Of course, I meant other things. Not this.”
She stared at the pile. “I know what you meant.”
Four charred heads sat among the rubble. A white film coated everything. Zale guessed the cop had used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.
“There are two bodies. Why are there four heads?” she asked.
Zale pointed his phone and took pictures. “Good question.”
“The morgue can run DNA tests to get the identities. I’d like to know who these heads belong to. I’d guess two of them are for the bodies over there. But why the extra two? Where did they come from?”
“Good questions.” He moved to the side to snap another shot of the pile. Lowering his cell, he noticed she had her head tilted up.
“Someone is upstairs,” she said before she walked away.
He followed her to one of the staircases. The heartbeat sounded as if it were outside, possibly on the roof. He hadn’t noticed it before since he’d focused on the scents in the warehouse.
She climbed the steps at a quick pace and her boots clattered on each one. He marveled at her round butt as he kept up with her. Every time he gazed at it he fought the urge to grab her ass.
She reached the second level and continued up the next fl
ight of stairs. The beat of the heart sounded further away. She hurried up the remaining steps.
Reaching the third floor, she took off toward a door along the back wall. Zale slid his phone into his back pocket as he followed her. The door had been left halfway ajar. She shoved it open and came to a halt on a balcony. As he came to stand next to her, she pointed to a ladder leading up.
“Come on,” she said.
Before he could get a word out, she’d started climbing. He trailed behind her, gazing up at her derriere. Damn, he wanted to slide his hand between her legs.
She swung each leg over the edge of the roof and then ran.
“Anna, wait,” Zale said as he reached the top of the ladder.
He hurried to catch up to her. Although they’d met only a short time ago, he had an instinctive feeling to stay close and protect her. She stopped at the other side of the building. As he reached her, she stepped up onto the ledge. In the distance, he spotted the head of man as he climbed down an emergency escape on the next building.
Anna backed up as far as she could go on the ledge and then leaped. She landed on the ledge of the next building. Without stopping, she jumped down and then ran toward the emergency escape.
Zale hopped onto the ledge. The three-foot gap between buildings wasn’t a challenge. He sprang across it and then chased after her. She’d already started descending the ladder by the time he reached her. The person they were after was reaching the bottom.
Without pausing, he followed her down the metal ladder. The metal shook and smelled of rust. Perspiration formed on his head and neck. Had he known he might have to pursue someone he would’ve dressed in his normal attire.
The patter of steps collected his attention. A young African American man ran down the street behind the buildings. Glancing down, he saw Anna was close to reaching the bottom. She let go of the ladder. Seconds later, her boots smacked on the concrete.
