by Megan Hawke
"Well, I'm not a crime scene guy," he said, confused but thinking.
"Think about it," I said, and jumped back down to the alley.
Back at the dumpster, I told Longhouse and Morris what I thought. The body couldn't have been thrown off the building and land where it did without hitting other things.
"That means she was dropped straight down," Morris said.
"Like from a helicopter?" Longhouse said. "I mean, vampires can change into bats and fly, but no bat is strong enough to carry a human body."
"Some can," I said. I could fly. Roger could, too. In fact, Roger was there last night. Flying. "When was the body dumped here? Do you have a time?"
"Nothing written in stone, mind you," Morris said, flipping through his notes. "Best guess right now is somewhere around six or seven this morning."
"Everyone agrees she was killed and dumped by a vampire, right?" Heidi said. She'd been so quiet I'd almost forgotten she was there. We nodded. "Vampires are strong. Super human strong. So who's to say he didn't just stand atop the dumpster or the wall, and throw the body down hard enough to make it look like she was dropped thirty feet?"
"Damn, she muddied the waters," I said. "The vamp could very well do that if he was trying to implicate another vampire who could fly."
"The real problem is finding out which vampires can and can't fly," Dane said. "Vampires keep their unusual abilities closely guarded secrets."
"And there are different ways to fly," I said.
"Or levitate," Heidi said.
"True," I said.
"You mean to tell me vampires can fly without turning into bats?" Morris said.
"Afraid so," Dane said. He glanced at me, then turned back to the cop. "Older vamp develop odd abilities, or powers. Few vampires can fly except by turning into a bat, but some can."
"Are they strong enough fliers to carry an adult body?"
"Some are," I said.
"The more I learn about vampires the more they scare me," Longhouse said.
"Me too," I said. "Now, how do we flush the vamps out in a way to make them fly if they can?"
"Two of the three vampires are inside the club now," Morris said. "Philip Murphy and Gustav Herrman."
I gawked at him a long moment. They didn't just leave? No cop could stop them from leaving. Not a hundred cops. They weren't old vampires, like Antoinette LaRue, but they weren't babies like me and Heidi, either. They were strong and experienced dealing with mortals.
"They aren't acting very guilty," Dane said.
"I know. It's disturbing," I said. I looked at Morris, now a bit more wary of him. "Can I go speak with them?"
"What are you going to do?" Morris said. Ah, suspicious cops. Gotta love them.
"I going to scare the truth out of them," I said.
"Nothing scares vampires," Morris said.
"Black Heart scares them," I said. That made his brows rise. "And a beautiful sunrise will make a vamp pee his pants."
Dane and Heidi chuckled, but the cops just looked at each other. Some people don't get my sense of humor.
So we all trooped back through the boutique, and up to The Crimson Knot. First thing, I got my purse back. Morris objected, but Longhouse pointed out that the club itself wasn't officially a crime scene. I could take what I wanted.
"Why do you need your purse to speak to the two vamps?" Morris said.
"I don't," I said. "I need the pistol inside."
"You have a gun?"
"Don't get your panties in a wad, Morris," I said, eyes narrowed. I pulled the Glock 31. "Silver bullets, blessed by a preacher. Doesn't kill them, but puts a whole lotta hurt in them."
And, with a silver bullet inside their body they couldn't transform into a bat or wolf and escape. Just the threat of being shot by blessed silver was enough to get your work-a-day vamp to stand up and take notice. The big, bad vamps weren't so easily impressed.
Gustav and Philip were standing in the corner, next to the cage and DJ booth. The other members of the club were confronting them. From Gustav's tone, I suspected he was repeating his reasons for lying to them for the ten thousandth time. They were all well past anger, and had settled into somber.
"Make a hole!" I called, and the crowd separated. I walked up to Gustav and Philip. Both looked ready to morph and fly away. I showed them the pistol. Dallas' vampires understood I carried sanctified silver bullets. "Hello, boys. It's time we – "
All Hell broke loose out in the parking lot. We all froze, staring back at the top of the entry stairs. The rat-a-tat-tat of multiple officers firing filled the air. Then came the screams of terror and agony.
"Wolves!" someone screamed.
"Werewolves!" Dane cried, pulling his pistol.
"Jesus, I forgot. Nessa was a Trudeau Family minion," I said. "That's the Trudeau Pack."
"They're going to kill everyone," Dane said. "Shit!"
A huge blonde furred wolf bound up the stairs. Dane shot more out of instinct than anything, and nailed him between the eyes. I was impressed. The wolf was dead before he hit the floor, and began a slow transformation back to human form.
"Take the battle to them!" Dane cried.
"Shoot to kill!" I said. "Nothing else stops them."
"We don't have silver bullets," Longhouse said.
"What? You're investigating vampires and you don't have silver bullets?" I said. "Idiots!"
Dane and Heidi were halfway to the stairs. Heidi had a pistol. When did she start carrying? It was a Glock 26, which was one of the smaller models. That pistol had Dane's influence written all over it.
Dane amazed me by going down the stairs in three bounds. Heidi and I in our high heels could only manage two at a time, and I felt good about that. Going down stairs in heels always kinda freaked me out.
I counted fifteen wolves and three wolfmen when I reached the bottom. The werewolves seemed more intent to scaring cops out of the way than killing them. Even the Trudeau Family had to hesitate when it came to killing cops, but they wouldn't hesitate long.
Dane stood to the right of the door, Heidi to the left, and I took the middle position. Longhouse and Morris filled in the space between us. Even Philip and Gustav joined up, but didn't have guns.
We shot any wolf attacking a cop, but otherwise we only shot the ones charging us. I only had the magazine in the pistol, and I doubted they had much more than that. The two cops had more ammo, but it had little effect on the werewolves. Though, I noticed if shot a few times with a regular bullet they would back off, so it must still hurt pretty bad.
Even so, dead bodies began to pile up.
I knew one of the wolfmen was Mercedes, but none of the three alphas wore any clothing. And it is very hard to tell the difference between the sexes without some kind of clothing. At least for me it was.
"Damn, I'm out of bullets," Heidi said. She looked at me, and that's when I fired my last round. I tossed the pistol aside. Heidi grinned evilly at me, "So, is it flight or bite time?"
"Bite," I said.
"Bite," Gustav said.
"Bite," Philip said.
"Kill them!" I cried, and attacked.
Wolves seemed to be coming out of nowhere. Thanks to my supernatural strength and speed, I was able punch and kick them as they leapt at my throat. A vampire punch or kick to the head knocked them out, and they began morphing back to human form.
The police jumped on them as they turn back into humans, and quickly handcuffed them. Most police issued handcuffs were enchanted to keep werewolves and vampires from morphing. Some of the smaller cities couldn't afford the enchantments, which weren't permanent and required constant upkeep. Of course, keeping a vampire or werewolf handcuffed wasn't their biggest concern once they caught one.
"Mercedes! You're wolves will all be either dead or caged within a few more minutes," I said.
"They killed Nessa! They must die!" she cried.
Now I knew which one was her. Once I was able to ID her, I realized there were other signs. She h
ad breasts. Not large, but the other two wolfmen didn't have them. Of course, wolfmen had big shaggy manes, almost like a male lion. That hid her breasts to a degree.
"They didn't kill Nessa," I yelled. "Dammit, bitch, have a heart. They're human, mortals. They were her friends."
"A vampire killed Nessa," Dane said.
"Then give me that vampire," she demanded.
"I can't. I don't know who it is yet," I said.
"Give me all of them," she said, looking at Heidi, Gustav, and Philip.
"No, I won't be party to murdering an innocent vampire, either," I said. "I will find the real killer. I promise."
"Don't bother. Our way is better," she said.
The werewolves all started growling, creeping in closer and closer.
"First off, you and your litter mates can't touch us," I said. "We can just fly away if the battle goes awry. So back off, before we kill some more of you."
Mercedes suddenly started morphing back to human. It took all of ten seconds. That was fast for a werewolf. She was a very powerful werewolf. She could be almost as strong and fast as me, though not in human form.
"It's easier to talk like this," Mercedes said.
Mercedes Trudeau was a beautiful woman. She always dressed well, and turned a lot of heads. But naked. Let just say, that woman had an awesome set of abs. Her dark complexion and dark, almond eyes gave her a Eurasian beauty hard to resist. Her dark brown hair was long, wavy, and silky.
"I would recommend a good bikini wax," I said. Yeah, the girl was big time bushy. "At least trim it."
Mercedes scowled. "That doesn't work for wolves."
"Oh. Sorry," I said. "Now, call off your dogs or they're going to the pound. Bet the Boss will love that."
She motioned and they began to back up. Slowly.
"Release my brethren," she demanded. Rather imperiously, too.
"That's not my call," I said. "And we both know cops don't let anyone go after they cuff them."
"Damn right," Morris said. "They're going to jail for assaulting police officers."
"Then you leave me no choice," she said, acting like she would morph.
"There are always options, and you better choose the right one," I said. "Or bad things happen."
"Sometimes it is just do or die," Mercedes said.
"Yes, you're right. But this isn't one of those times," I said. I looked over my shoulder at Gustav and Philip. "Heidi." I motioned her to the other side of them. They became instantly alert and suspicious. "Okay, boys, let's hear your alibis. Remember, I can tell if you're lying."
"That's easy," Gustav said. "We were both inside the club the whole night. We saw Nessa leave, and did not go after her."
"We have a hundred witnesses," Philip said, rather smugly. "Even Black Heart can't mesmerize that many people to lie for her."
"Bull. No one was actually watching you, so one or both of you could've slipped out for a short while," I said.
"No. Didn't happen," Philip said. They looked at each other, then laughed. "We pulled up chairs, sat together and listened the whole time while Mistress Mercy over there beat and whipped you."
"What?" Dane said.
Mercedes grinned evilly. Cops and werewolves were looking at me. Good thing vampires can't blush.
"You screamed and cried like a little girl," Gustav said.
"I used a bullwhip on her," Mercedes said. "I taught her the meaning of pain and humiliation."
"Told you she was using the bullwhip," Gustav said to Philip. "He thought you were using a riding crop."
"Crops don't cause the amount of damage I wanted," Mercedes said.
I didn't want anyone to know about that. No stopping word from getting around now. Black Heart was captured and whipped by a werewolf. The city's wolves would be howling happy.
"What are they talking about, Sable?" Morris said.
"They're saying they couldn't have killed Nessa," I said. "And if the same one killed her as the others, then they are innocent."
"Where does that leave us?"
"Roger," Gustav said, rather viciously. "Roger Rippner."
Chapter 15
The office building was five floors, with three levels of parking garage below. It was all bluish-gray mirror glass, but with really nice landscaping. The Stokes Building was just off Loop 635. Five minutes from Roger's house.
Dane and Heidi had gone to Roger's house. They were looking for anything to connect him to the murders. I prayed they didn’t find anything. I didn’t want to believe Roger was the killer. How could he? He got sick at the sight of blood.
But when I mentioned that last night, in Roger's defense, Philip suggested that would be a really good reason to drain the victims so slowly with needles instead of just opening a vein.
Mercedes and gang wanted to know where to find Roger. I refused to tell her. Instead, I would find out for certain. If he proved to be the killer, then he didn't deserve any compassion on my part. Mercedes could have him for all I cared. If he was guilty.
I wasn't completely convinced.
Heidi let me borrow her Beemer. I had driven Dane's old Ford Explorer SUV a few times, but it was still kinda weird driving her SUV. I liked my cars low and sleek. The Beemer made me feel exposed. But I loved how it handled, and it was fast. That little bugger could haul ass.
"I'm fixin to go in," I said. I was talking to Dane on my phone. "Wish me luck."
"Don't bite anyone who doesn't deserve it," he said. "And good luck."
"Hmm, bite? I'm hungry," I said, and laughed. "I'll be good. Promise."
There was a little drizzle, but not too bad. I parked in the guest parking out front. There were only two other cars there. Employees parked below ground. It was gated, so I couldn't drive down there. So I walked through the drizzle.
I kept to the shadows as I moved. Even if seen, no one would mark me as a threat. I looked like a million other young women. There was nothing vampish about my appearance. I wore faded low-rider jeans, powder blue t-shirt with "Got Milk?" written across my bosom in white, pink baseball cap with a Cowboy star on it, short red leather jacket and brown suede ankle boots under my jeans.
I was cute, not overtly sexy or anything.
Roger's gray Ford Mustang was parked on the first level down, along with seven other cars. They were gathered near the glass doors. Those doors required card access.
I waited. My access was coming. I could feel him below, getting closer, working his way up. Security guard, patrolling the garage. Roger had mentioned security before, and that there was just one security officer at night. If he was on patrol, then there was no one watching the cameras.
My Momma didn't raise no fool.
"Hello? Can I help you, miss?" he said.
I shoved my hands into my back pockets and cocked my head to the side. Then I graced him with my best winning smile. It was an amazing "I'm really nice, please like me" smile. Very few people could resist it, and no man was ever left wary of me after seeing it.
"Hi! I'm Brandy," I said. "My boyfriend was supposed to meet me down here."
"Who is your boyfriend?"
He smiled warmly at me. Really, it was a fatherly smile. He had to be seventy if he was a day. Very distinguished looking man, too. I kinda felt bad deceiving him like that. And for what I was about to do.
"Roger Rippner. Do you know him?"
"Roger? That old scallywag is dating a pretty little thing like you?" he said, incredulous. "Did he win the lottery? Or use a love potion on you?"
He was grinning fiercely. Roger said they shared some interests and some friendly banter.
"I think it was a love potion. I am so totally obsessed with him, you know?" I said, and giggled like I just said something naughty.
He was totally charmed. I could sense it. Men were so easy.
"Are you Roger's friend he talks about? Simon?" I said.
"Well yes. He told you about me?"
"Uh huh," I said. We were like two feet apart now. He was tall and sl
im. I had to crane my neck to look up into his face. Our eyes connected, locked, and he was mine. "Let me in, please."
"Right away," he said, and ran his card through the reader. The door popped when the maglock disengaged. He pulled it open for me.
"Thank you," I said. "Come with me."
The helpdesk was on the second floor, so we took the elevator up to the lobby, then the stairs up to the second floor. He ran his card through the reader, and let me in.
"You're so sweet," I said. "Now, forget you saw me and continue your patrol as normal."
I found the helpdesk easy enough. It was the only part of the floor with the overhead lights on. They were a bunch of five foot high cubicles with men and women in headsets. According to the overhead board on the wall, there were no calls waiting and five technicians available.
"Roger! Where are you?" I called.
Eight heads popped up. Seven men and one woman. One of them was Roger, who looked stunned.
"Oh, a girl," one of the men said.
"Sweet," another said.
"Who are you?" another said. "How did you get in here?"
"I'm Brandy. Roger's girlfriend," I said. Everyone looked at Roger. To say they were stunned was to put it mildly. Roger started to wilt under so much scrutiny. "Isn't he cute?"
"Roger's a lot of things, but cute isn't one I'd attribute to him," he said.
"Are you Aaron? Roger's boss?"
"Yeah. He mentioned me?"
"Oh yeah. He thinks you're the best boss he ever had," I said. Aaron looked pleased, and a little surprised.
"Um, Brandy, why are you here?" Roger said, hurrying over to me.
"You said I should come see you at work some night," I said. "So, here I am."
"Hey, Rippner, your phone is ringing!" one of the others called.
Roger hurried back to his cube and took the call. I looked at Aaron, who was merrily staring at my chest. Someone looked like he had a hankering for some fresh milk. I ducked my head, catching his eyes. A second later he belonged to me.
"Aaron," I said, looking around to ensure no one was watching or listening in. "Get me a print-out of every day Roger missed, called off, or took vacation or holiday on, for the last three months."
