21st February.
Leeanne turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling of Pat’s spare room. It was very dark thanks to blackout curtains, which Leeanne figured were an essential part of a vampire’s life, especially one who worked until the early hours and therefore slept in. There was, therefore, little to be seen of the ceiling, or of any other distraction. And she needed the distraction to take her mind off the sounds.
Within an acceptable margin of error, Leeanne was fairly sure the sounds were coming primarily from Lisa. They were not intelligible sounds, but they spoke volumes. Whenever Leeanne thought she might be drifting off, Lisa would squeak, or moan, or something to yank her back into reality. Pat seemed to like drawing out her torments, but the frequency and volume of the sounds was growing which at least meant they might stop soon.
Leeanne considered calling Mike. She had never been the kind of girl who engaged in phone sex. Then again, she had never been the kind of girl who got up to half the things she had been getting up to recently. Mike had told her Dione thought it was quite natural: Leeanne’s brush with near-death, or near-undeath, had sparked a strong desire for life. Leeanne could understand the psychological underpinning and thought Dione was probably right, but that was not all of it. Ever since discovering that vampires existed, that there was a world out there she had thought she had a good handle on and did not, Leeanne had felt like someone had let her out of a straightjacket. She reached for her phone, and then thought better of it. It was very late and Mike might well be in bed. Which was not an issue, but she did not want to wake him.
‘Oh… G-God!’ Lisa’s voice came through the wall, quite obvious this time. ‘Let me… Please let me…’
Whatever Pat may have replied was lost to the masonry, but Lisa let out a long moan, the pitch rising at the end. Biting her lip, Leeanne slid a hand down between her thighs and found herself embarrassingly aroused. The slightest touch of her finger sent a shudder through her body.
‘Oh…’ Lisa’s voice again. ‘Oh… Oh… Oh!’
Leeanne began to work her fingers in earnest, and was again embarrassed at how quickly she felt the tension rising through her body. Had listening to her friends having sex really been that much of a turn-on?
‘Oh… Oh God! Oh…’
Clamping her eyes and her mouth shut, Leeanne strummed fingers over her clitoris, increasing the pace as Lisa approached her climax.
‘Oh… Oh… Oh, oh, oh. Yes!’
The last word, and anything else which might have been heard, was lost in the light show of Leeanne’s own orgasm. It was the most embarrassing thing she had ever done on her own, and she did not care.
~~~
‘What’s the, um, active ingredient in a vampire bite?’ Leeanne asked. It was Saturday morning, she was off-duty and a little hung-over, and Mike was still on the opposite coast, so Leeanne had decided that paying a visit to the SCU offices to pester Winthrop seemed like a good idea. Winthrop did not seem to mind being pestered by either of his young ‘students.’ Quite often, he seemed rather pleased about it.
‘Active ingredient?’ Winthrop asked in reply. ‘You don’t, presumably, mean the virus?’
‘Uh, no. You get bitten by a vampire, you tend to feel euphoric, and pain is deadened. I figured it was an endorphin of–’
‘Ah, dermorphin.’
‘Dermorphin? Isn’t that an amphibian–’
‘Produced by frogs of the genus Phyllomedusa, yes. It is also produced by a number of bacteria and molluscs. However, the Haemovirus actually codes for creation of the peptide. It’s some thirty to forty times more effective than morphine, producing an analgesic effect in quite low doses.’
‘Wow…’
‘Indeed. That one we are quite clear about since it can be detected quite easily in recent bite subjects, and studying their blood chemistry is simple enough with any vampire. Some of the other “payloads” are less well understood.’
Leeanne frowned. ‘Such as?’
‘Well, we have some idea about what produces the aphrodisiac effect of valentine breath and succubus scent. I’ve suggested that the vampires look into marketing it. It’s an MC-four-R agonist which is some fifteen times more effective than the current pharmaceuticals, acts in vapour form, and has no side effects. Aside from possible blood loss or pregnancy, depending on who happens to be nearby when you get a dose. Attempts to create drugs from it have, however, been rather disastrous thus far, and they haven’t let me try.’
Giggling, Leeanne considered what Winthrop was saying and jumped to a conclusion. ‘But you’re not sure about why succubus bites are more euphoric than normal bites?’
‘I have theories, but actually proving any of them is… fraught with difficulty. I’ve got one potential subject and, despite the fact that we’ve been friends for years, she’s reluctant to let me experiment. Uh, understandably so, I hasten to add. More than any of the species, the feeding practices of succubi are intensely personal.’
‘Yeah… Yeah, they are.’ Leeanne thought of Lisa and her descriptions of what it was like being bitten by Dione. She had heard what sex was like with Pat and it had got close to making her come through a wall. Dione was supposed to be more intense than that… Yes, it was an intimate, very personal experience. But… science!
Long Beach, CA.
Gillian Hives was a slim, almost skinny, girl with very good muscle tone, a tightly trimmed cap of black hair, and warm hazel eyes. Catherine’s people had tracked her down in a gym in Long Beach where she was an aerobics instructor. She was not exactly pleased to see Dione and Mike, but she led them to an office, telling one of her colleagues that she needed a break to talk to the police about the death of an ex-boyfriend, which was true enough.
‘Look,’ Gillian said when the door was shut, ‘I got out of the whole vampire scene after Peter. I thought about finding another to gift to, but… It would never have been the same.’
Dione nodded. ‘There were suggestions that Peter… had undue influence over the three of you who alibied him.’
‘Addiction? No way. He was very strict about it. No one gifted him more than once a month, even if we slept with him more often, which we did.’
‘You all knew about the other supplicants?’ Mike asked.
A flicker of a grin crossed Gillian’s face. ‘We called it the Kellerman Kitty Club. On our birthdays, we’d all get together and just… do whatever came naturally. I miss the other girls as much as I miss Peter.’
‘He sounds like quite a guy.’
‘Oh, don’t get me wrong, he had faults. He’d chase tail like no one I’ve ever seen, but he was charming, a gentleman. Well, a roguish gentleman. He was gentle, nice. He remembered our birthdays, bought us gifts which were for us, not like lingerie or something. If one of us got sick, he’d be there, visiting.’
‘Good in bed?’ Dione asked.
‘Phenomenal, but that wasn’t what kept us with him. Not just that anyway.’
‘I’ve been told he poached supplicants in San Francisco…’
Gillian waved the comment away. ‘That! That was a plain lie. I mean, okay, I only have Peter’s word for it, and you can say I was in love with him and would believe anything he said, but he was telling the truth. I know he was telling the truth.’
‘Which was?’
‘Oh… Well, I guess he did kind of poach one girl. He admitted it, but it was only technically poaching. She was one of about twelve supplicants this old carpathian had in his harem. And I mean harem. He treated them like slaves. Peter didn’t even know the girl belonged to this other guy when they met. She was just a human in a club. He took her back to his place and they banged… Then she said she knew he was a vampire and wanted him to bite her. One thing led to another, and she left the carpathian for Peter. Her choice. That’s how it’s supposed to work, right? We’re not supposed to be cattle you guys brand and fence in.’
‘That’s how it’s supposed to work, yes. Did this older carpathian have a name?’
/>
Gillian frowned. ‘Um… Peter only mentioned the name once, and just a first name. I mean you change names a lot anyway, don’t you? Maybe Darren?’
Dione raised an eyebrow. ‘Derren?’
‘Huh, yeah. That sounds more right. Derren. Yeah.’
~~~
‘You know who this Derren is?’ Mike asked once they were outside and walking back to the limo.
‘There’s a Derren Norton on the Concilium here,’ Dione replied.
‘On the Concilium? Shit.’
‘That would be my sentiment too. I’ll call Catherine when we’re back in the car. He was pretty adamant that they’d ended the right man last year.’
‘The words “potential political clusterfuck” are springing to mind.’
‘Yes, they are.’ Dione looked upwards at the sky through her almost opaque sunglasses. ‘Pick up the pace, would you? I am really hating the sun here. I can barely see a damn thing even with these glasses on.’
Mike followed her gaze. ‘I’m from New York. It’s not exactly comfortable for me either. How the Hell do vampires put up with it?’
‘Stoically.’
Anaheim, CA.
‘Yes,’ Catherine said over the carphone’s speaker, ‘Derren did come down from San Francisco. I’d prefer to check the dates before I say more than that.’
‘Fair,’ Dione replied. ‘I got the impression you didn’t like him much.’
‘That’s also fair, but I’d prefer to discuss it when you get back.’
‘Okay. We’re almost at the address you gave us anyway. You’re sure this Oxeman guy is still here?’
‘That’s what my contacts say. He moved out there about six months ago. Bought the apartment outright. He’s been gifting at a pascua in Anaheim for four months.’
‘Bought the place?’ Mike asked. ‘Where did he get the money for that?’
‘Why don’t you ask him?’
Dione looked out through the tinted windows as the limo pulled to a stop, grimaced, and reached for her glasses. ‘We’ll do that. Why aren’t you blind?’
There was the sound of laughter over the phone. ‘My next identity, I plan to live somewhere where it’s always cloudy.’
‘Good plan. New York is nice. See you in a couple of hours.’
Oxeman lived on the upper floor of a two-storey building which was painted the same bland brownish colour as all the other buildings on the block. It was accessed by an iron staircase which led up from a scruffy, fenced-off yard.
‘Anaheim,’ Mike said as they went through the gate, ‘home of Disneyland. They must bleach all the colour out of it to pour into the park.’
‘Colours are a total washout in this light, for me anyway.’ Dione moved quickly up the steps and rapped on the door at the top. ‘This guy works in the adventure park, according to Catherine’s people. Evening shift, so he should be in…’
The door opened and a short man with thinning, black hair appeared. He was holding a dressing gown around himself and blinking at the light. The room behind him was dark. ‘Yeah? What the fuck is it?’
Dione held up her SCU ID for long enough that he could see something official and not long enough for him to catch the details. ‘Police. You’re Roderick Oxeman?’
‘Yeah. Crap. What d’you want, lady?’
‘We’re reviewing a cold case. The Valentine Killer murders. We’d like to talk to you about them.’
Oxeman’s eyes widened a little. ‘I don’t know anything about that,’ he said and started to close the door.
Dione pushed her arm out, and the door back, carrying through to push Oxeman into the room as she entered. ‘We’ve heard differently, and if you want to keep giving blood down at that little place in the town centre, you’re going to tell us what you know.’
Mike closed the door behind them and the room fell into near darkness. Oxeman did not have blackout curtains up, but the only light was what filtered through the shades. ‘You told the L.A. Hunter that you saw Peter Kellerman on the night of one of the murders,’ Mike said. ‘One he had an alibi for.’
Oxeman backed away from Dione. She took her glasses off and stared at him. ‘Yeah,’ Oxeman said. ‘I did. See him.’
‘When?’ Mike asked. ‘Where? What did he look like? What was he doing?’
‘It was a year ago! How do you expect me to remember that stuff now?’
‘You don’t remember seeing a murderer? One you managed to identify at the time. How did you know Kellerman anyway?’
‘I… I’d seen him around. Talked to him at a club once. Saw him at the place on South Central, the blood place.’
‘The Skid Row pascua?’ Dione asked. ‘You saw Peter Kellerman there?’
‘Yeah, sure. I used to go there back then, and I’d see him coming in.’ Oxeman was getting back into his stride now. ‘Went there quite a bit. Liked blondes, young ones. So, I saw him at another club that night, and he was talking to a blonde and I figured that was just his style, y’know? Thought nothing of it ’til her picture showed up on the news. I told a guy, he told the Hunter, Hunter talked to me.’
Dione stared at him for a second. ‘Nice place you have here.’
‘Yeah. Won the lottery. Not real big, but enough for this place and some savings, y’know?’
‘Yes, I think I do. Thank you for your time, Mister Oxeman.’ Dione started for the door, slipping her glasses back on.
‘My, uh, civic duty, right?’ Oxeman said.
Mike opened the door for Dione, let her pass him, and then followed, waiting until they were at the bottom of the steps before saying, ‘He was lying through his badly-in-need-of-an-orthodontist teeth.’
‘But being good police persons,’ Dione said, ‘we will check out the most unlikely part of his story before we decide that he’s full of shit. Very gentlemanly with the door, by the way. Thank you.’
Smirking a little, Mike ran two paces to open the door of the limo ahead of Dione. ‘Oh, it’s my civic duty, ma’am.’
‘You’re not too old to spank, young man,’ Dione said as she stepped into the car. ‘Ruth, we need to go to the pascua in Skid Row.’
Ruth turned her head to look through the window in the partition between driver and passengers. ‘What on Earth do you want to go there for?’
‘Police work,’ Mike said as he climbed in beside Dione, ‘does not always take you to the best places in the world.’
‘Huh. I’ll stick to being an extra on cop shows.’
Beverly Hills, CA.
‘Unsurprisingly,’ Dione said, ‘no one at the place in Skid Row had ever seen Peter Kellerman.’
‘I declare myself shocked,’ Catherine said. ‘Mostly because I can’t manage to actually be shocked.’
Mike had decided he should be shocked, but not about the lack of recognition from anyone they had talked to. The Skid Row pascua was actually one of those places where homeless people could go to get a hot meal and some money in exchange for a pint of blood. There was a small homeless shelter over the top of it. It was just that some of the people who went there knew that, if you were discreet about it, you could also give blood in the basement in a significantly more pleasurable way. The place had been… Seedy was the best Mike could come up with, but it was well run and the staff had known pretty much every vampire who used the place as well as most of the supplicants by name. Kellerman had never been there.
‘I checked and Derren did come to L.A. from San Francisco about two months after Peter did,’ Catherine went on. ‘There were a few rumours that he was heavily involved with the pogrom, but nothing substantial. Peter moved here with a supplicant, a blonde, but he then paid for her to move east after Derren came here. Derren is known to dislike valentines, but it’s never been a problem.’
‘Addison has some interesting ideas about them too,’ Dione said.
‘Addison is the city’s Hunter because Derren pushed for him to get the position when the last one retired. I’m not saying Addison is under Derren’s thumb, because
I’m sure he’s not, but there’s a degree of influence there.’
Dione gave a slight shrug. ‘I suppose the same claim could be made about me and Leo.’
‘Ha!’ Catherine barked the word. ‘Leo is nothing like Derren Norton. If I had a complaint about Leo, it would be that he’s too even-handed. And there’s… another matter which I’m not sure I should bring up. It may just cloud matters.’
‘Spill. I’ll decide whether it clouds or illuminates.’
‘I’m… ninety per cent sure that Derren is gathering support to replace me as Princeps.’
‘Hmm… You know Hunters are not supposed to get involved with local politics. Especially local politics outside their own region.’
Catherine nodded. ‘I know it. That’s why I wasn’t going to mention it.’
‘This Derren guy doesn’t sound like the kind of person you want running a Concilium,’ Mike put in.
‘And you haven’t even met him,’ Dione said. ‘I’m going to need a car tonight.’
Catherine frowned. ‘Ruth can–’
‘No, I need a car. I’m not taking Mike with me either. This is likely to get ugly and it’s got precious little to do with police work.’
‘Well then, I should–’ Catherine stopped as Dione looked at her. ‘Ask whether you would like the Ferrari or the Rolls?’
Anaheim, CA, 22nd February.
Picking the lock on Oxeman’s door was not exactly difficult and he had no chain on the door. Dione was considering giving him a talk about personal security when she stepped through into the lounge, but then she saw the room and decided it was probably too late.
Someone had decided they did not like the room layout. They had, it seemed, taken violent exception to it. Chairs were overturned, and cushions had been pulled from the sofa and tossed across the room. The general look was ‘we came in here to search for something.’ It did not bode well.
The bed was empty. The bedroom had been tossed. The mattress lay half off the bed, drawers had been pulled out of the dresser, and the built-in wardrobe had been opened up and its contents yanked out and thrown on the floor. Dione looked around the room and saw either someone who was very bad at searching a room or an attempt to set a scene.
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