by Skye Knizley
Raven stuck the weapon in the waistband of her pants. “Do you have your phone?”
Levac pulled it out of one of his spacious pockets. “Yep, why?”
“I don’t want to leave her here. Call King and tell him we have an agent down and ten dead lycans. They must have some kind of team for this sort of thing,” Raven said. “I was trying not to involve the Bureau in the vampire crap, but now I have no choice.”
Levac pushed a button on his phone and Raven turned back to look at Kole. “I’m sorry, kid.”
LENOX HOTEL
BOSTON, MA. 5:30 P.M.
RAVEN AND LEVAC HAD SPENT the day dealing with the aftermath of Caderyn’s lycans and the death of Wregan Kole. King hadn’t been happy to hear about the death of his latest prodigy, but had understood the circumstances. Kole had gone down swinging which was more than most Section 13 agents could hope for. She’d get a silver memorial outside his office along with all the others and a commendation sent to her family.
Raven had also taken the time to leave Selene a message about the incident and that she wanted a chat with Caderyn if he was still above ground. As the sun was setting, they adjourned to get caught up with Levac and go over the file. Again.
While Levac was getting settled in his own room, Raven headed upstairs to find Aspen. She entered the room, shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it onto the back of the sofa. A stack of loaded Automag magazines went on the table along with her pistol, holster and knife. She desperately wanted to get out of her sweaty clothes and grab a shower, but it sounded as if Aspen was already there. Considering what had happened the night before, she figured she shouldn’t join her. Instead she pulled a can of soda from the room’s fridge and flopped onto the bed, sipping at the contents. Aspen exited the bathroom a few minutes later with a white towel wrapped around her hair and the scent of vanilla clinging to her skin.
“Hey love,” she said. “Sorry to hog the shower, I thought you and Rupe would still be working.”
“Rupe’s getting a room,” Raven said. “I thought we’d order some dinner and see what else we can come up with because right now we have a pile of clues and no leads to go with them.”
Aspen grinned and picked up her backpack. “Au contraire, babes. While you were dealing with that stack of paperwork for King I was digging through the evidence we collected and I found something interesting.”
Raven sat up, trying to ignore the fact that her girlfriend was essentially nude. “What?”
“The white stuff you found imbedded in Walker’s wall was the venom from a bothriechis bicolor,” Aspen said.
She began rooting through her pack and tossing clothes onto the dresser.
“Asp, please try to remember not all of us have medical degrees,” Raven said. “What the hell is a whateveryousaid bicolor?”
Aspen pulled on a pair of pink panties and began to struggle into a matching bra. “It’s a snake. Most particularly a species of pit viper found in—”
“Let me guess. Mexico.”
“Guatemala, actually,” Aspen said. “But close enough. There was enough venom in that bag to drop an angry rhino.”
Raven finished her soda. “What would Walker be doing with viper venom?”
Aspen pulled on a pair of jeans and added a tee-shirt with a unicorn on the front. “How should I know? I identify crap, you figure out what it means.”
Raven tossed her empty can into a nearby garbage can and stood. “Are we good, Asp?”
Aspen shook out her long purple hair and looked at her. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“You know,” Raven said.
Aspen smiled from under her mop of damp hair. “Ray, I love you. You love me. You may hate to talk about it, but I know. Yeah, I’m disappointed, but I’ve got what I want. You. Yeah, we’re good.”
Raven kissed her gently. “Good. I don’t want you to be mad at me. I promise we’ll really sit down and talk about it later.”
Aspen opened her mouth to reply and was interrupted by Rupert’s trademark ‘shave and a haircut’ knock on the door. Raven opened it and Levac entered, hotdog in hand.
“I got a room just down the hall,” he said. “And I found a hotdog vendor right outside the lobby.”
“We’re ordering dinner, Rupe,” Raven said.
Levac swallowed the last bite of mustard covered sausage. “I know. I’m starving.”
“But you just ate a foot long New York style hotdog smothered in mustard,” Aspen said.
“Yup. What’s the problem?”
“It’s so not fair you can eat like that,” Aspen said.
“You should get attacked by werewolves more often,” Levac said. “Being terrified burns a lot of calories.”
Raven rolled her eyes and picked up the hotel’s menu. “You can order whatever you like, Asp.”
“Well yeah, but that isn’t the point,” Aspen groused. “I’ll get something sensible and Rupe will suck down a whole lobster.”
“Room service has lobster?” Levac asked.
“Yeah, surf and turf, bisque and some kind of roll with coleslaw,” Aspen piped up.
“No lobster,” Raven said. “That stuff gives me the creepy-crawlies like you wouldn’t believe.”
Aspen stuck her tongue out at Levac, who laughed and playfully swatted at her.
Raven watched them and had a rare moment of happiness. These people were her family and she’d missed them. She was glad King had realized that she was better with Levac than without.
She turned her attention back to the menu. Food first, then they had more work to do. There was still a killer out there somewhere.
THE LENOX HOTEL
BOSTON, MA. 12:02 A.M.
THE NIGHT HAD GONE BY slowly. After Levac had filled them in on the dead Russians and the murder of Father Casside, the three of them had taken turns digging through the evidence looking for the pieces that would make everything fit together like an old jigsaw puzzle. It was a task more difficult than it sounded.
“Could someone have survived the fire back in ‘77?” Levac asked after a while. “Everything seems to point back to the incident in Guatemala and then the fire.”
“I suppose it’s possible,” Aspen said. “The report says the fire was so hot most of the victims couldn’t be identified even with dental records. Anyone found missing after the final roll was called was declared lost in the fire.”
Raven shook her head. “Even if they did, it wouldn’t explain what the cops saw. No fifty year old burn victim is going to squirrel up a drainpipe.”
Levac ran a hand through his tousled hair. “I’m spent. My brain hurts and the day has been longer than most. I’m going to go get some sleep.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty beat too, Ray,” Aspen said. “Think we could get forty winks before my eyes start to bleed?”
Raven rubbed her eyes and stood. “Yeah, okay. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can find out about the gold thing I found and I want to pay another visit to Mrs. Givens. She has a mask that fits the description of the one the suspects were wearing. I want to know more about it.”
She escorted Levac to the door and locked it behind him. When she turned around Aspen was already dozing on the sofa. Raven smiled and covered her with a spare blanket before walking out onto the balcony. It was a cold, clear night with a three-quarter moon hanging high over the city, its silver glow even more brilliant than the lights of the city. It was a pretty view, but it wasn’t home. She missed Chicago almost as much as she’d missed Levac. Even with its slime, grime and crime, it was her city. She’d lived there her whole life.
Raven leaned on the railing and took a few breaths to clear her head. The case was getting on her nerves. The clues usually fit together and gave her some idea what they were up against, but this time there were too many questions and too few answers.
“Nice job with the lycans,” a voice said.
Raven turned to see a shadow standing in the corner of the balcony, a cigarette hanging from her lips. Raven reached fo
r her Automag and remembered it was still on the table. “Who the hell are you?”
“A friend,” the shadow said. “The lycans weren’t hunting you, I’m sorry you got caught in the middle and your partner got herself killed. It wasn’t supposed to go that way.”
“What are you talking about?” Raven growled. “Of course they were after me.”
The shadow flicked its cigarette over the railing. “Nope. Think about it. In the meantime, I have to go. I’m not supposed to be here in the first place, I just wanted you to know I was sorry for your loss.”
“An apology doesn’t mean much if I don’t know who it is coming from. Who are you?”
The figure paused with one foot on the railing. “You know. See you ‘round, Ravenel.”
The woman jumped from the railing. Raven moved to the edge and watched the woman land in the alley without apparent injury. It was farther than Raven had ever dared jump. She watched the woman give her a jaunty wave and walk away, and felt the anger rising behind her eyes.
If she can do it I can do it. she thought.
She vaulted the railing and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her gut tightened and the tickling ‘oh shit’ sensation crept over her, but she was committed. She concentrated on controlling the fall and not making a woman-sized hole in the pavement. She landed in a crouch, one hand slamming the pavement to burn off momentum and help her maintain her balance. It hurt like hell, but she was alive. She straightened and followed after the woman. She couldn’t have gotten far.
Raven spotted the retreating hood less than a block away. The woman wasn’t moving very fast, in fact it looked more like she was out for an evening stroll than having just leapt from a tall building in a single bound.
The street was almost empty at that late hour and Raven had no trouble following the hooded woman past the Boston Public Library and into Copley Square. Some kind of event was still going on in the Square and Raven found herself trying to track the hooded woman through a crowd of costumed men and women dancing to some of the worst music she’d ever heard. A blonde woman was singing and prancing around half naked on a makeshift stage in the middle of the square and her audience was chanting something Raven didn’t have time to worry about. She pushed through the crowd, using her enhanced senses to track the woman by scent and body temperature, which was slightly higher than the people around them. The woman was almost to a nearby church when she turned and Raven saw a flash of white teeth as she smiled. She knew Raven was there.
The woman hurried into the church and Raven started running, muttering apologies to the people she knocked out of her way in her dash to the Old South Church doors. She leapt to the top of the stairs and grabbed the handle before the door could close. It burned in her palm and she felt the migraine beginning behind her eyes. Evidently this was still a house of the lord. Whatever that meant.
Raven entered anyway, squinting in the light. The hooded woman looked over her shoulder.
“I’m impressed, Ravenel,” she said.
Her voice was nagging at Raven.
“I didn’t think you would follow me in here.”
Raven kept walking. “I’m not here to impress you. I’m here to find out who the hell you are. Raise your hands and turn around.”
“Sorry, Ravenel, I can’t do that. Not tonight. Besides, I think you forgot the Automag back in your hotel room,” the woman said.
“I don’t need the Automag to take your ass down,” Raven replied. “Turn around and raise your hands.”
“Tough talk, Ravenel,” the woman said. “Someday someone is going to kick your ass for you.”
“Maybe. But it won’t be you.”
Raven could see just a hint of the woman’s red lips split into a smile.
“Not today,” the woman said.
She ran, leaving her hooded cloak behind her. Raven followed, pushing through the side door and into the street. A woman in a black tactical vest was running toward the end of the street. She turned the corner and Raven lost sight of her. When she reached the intersection the woman was gone.
Raven looked around in irritation then realized she was standing on a street corner in the middle of the night in a pair of leather pants and a tank top. Her jacket and wallet were both upstairs in the room.
Great. This is going to be hard to explain to Aspen…
80 COMMONWEALTH AVE.
BOSTON, MA. 9:30 A.M.
A LIGHT SNOW WAS FALLING as Raven guided the Aston Martin Rapide through Boston toward the Givens residence on Commonwealth Avenue. The snow inside the car was even worse. Aspen hadn’t been happy to be awakened in the middle of the night by her half-dressed girlfriend. She was even less happy to find out Raven had wandered into the night without telling anyone and without her phone. The morning had been on the frosty side and no amount of coffee had made it any warmer.
Raven turned onto Commonwealth and stopped, surprised to see a line of police cars sitting outside number 80. A coroner’s ambulance had been backed up to the door.
“That can’t be good,” Aspen said.
Raven parked the Rapide and the pair climbed out. Aspen grabbed her gear from the back seat and Raven led the way down the sidewalk to the police line. Raven recognized the officer guarding the tape and raised a hand.
“Hi Bobbi, how are you feeling?” she asked.
Bobbi raised the police tape for them. “I’m doing pretty well, thank you, Agent Storm. What brings you to our crime scene this morning?”
Raven passed under the tape and waited for Aspen to come through. “Mrs. Givens was helping me with the Quinn case. We’re here to ask her a few more questions.”
Two men wearing jackets from the Coroner’s office exited the house carrying a gurney between them. The person on the Gurney was covered in a black sheet.
“You’re about four hours too late,” Bobbi said. “Mrs. Givens died sometime during the night.”
“Hold it right there!” Raven ordered.
The two men stopped and Raven pulled back the sheet. Carole Givens lay there, eyes wide in terror. Even though she was pale the bruises on her face stood out in stark shades of purple and yellow and her left ear was missing. Just below the ragged tear in her flesh was where her artery had been severed. Raven guessed by the shape and depth it had been done with the same knife that was supposed to be locked up in evidence.
Aspen pulled on a pair of gloves, laid her kit on Givens’ belly and elbowed the lead technician out of her way. “Scuse me, Moose.”
“What are you doing?” he asked. “This is an active crime scene.”
“She’s doing her job,” Raven said. “We should have been called before Mrs. Givens was moved. Dollars to donuts this woman was killed by the same people that did Monsignor Quinn.”
“Based on liver temp I’m guessing her time of death was between one and two in the morning. Lividity isn’t as bad as it should be for that timeframe, but I’ve got pooling in her buttocks.”
“We found her in a chair,” the tech said. “Someone tied her down and tortured her, we thought it was all part of a home invasion gone wrong.”
“Most home invasions don’t end in murder no matter how wrong they go,” Raven said. “You find any more slit throats before this case is closed, you call me. Understand me?”
“Yes ma’am,” the tech said.
Raven turned away. “Bobbi!”
“Yes ma’am?” Bobbi asked.
Raven made a face and Bobbi blanched. “Um… Raven.”
“Who was the first officer on scene?” Raven asked.
Bobbi flipped through her notepad in a mannerism similar to Levac. “Officer Thoroughgood. He responded to a complaint call from the alarm company. We have so many false alarms in this neighborhood it wasn’t a priority.”
“What the hell else was he doing at that time of night? Where is he?”
Bobbi shrugged. “The Lieutenant sent him home after me and Luigi arrived. We’re assisting Detective Lance.”
“Lance? Wh
ere can I find him?”
Bobbi jerked a thumb at the door. “He’s inside somewhere with Luigi.”
“Swell. Come with me. Asp, I’m going to find the detective who thinks he’s working this case. Let me know if you find anything new.”
“I already did,” Aspen said.
She held up a pair of forceps. Held between the tongs was something clear the approximate size and shape of a guitar pick.
“Scale. Specifically a snake scale, the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”
Raven squinted at it. “Snake venom, snake scales, silver bullets, does that mean anything to you?”
“Not really,” Aspen said. “I can hit the books when we finish up here. Maybe there is something in the books.”
“See what else you can find here. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Raven followed Bobbi into the house. A chair had been dragged into the middle of the foyer between the doors. Blood soaked rope still hung from the arms and dripped into the pool on the floor with a steady sound like water in an old tub. Bobbi crossed herself in front of the chair then led Raven deeper into the house. They found Detective Lance in the library. He was a tall man in a dull grey suit. He had close cropped hair and enough five o’clock shadow he may as well have called it a beard. He turned when he heard them; his expression was not a good one.
“Officer Kinnamon, what are you doing in here? I told you to wait outside.”
Raven flipped open her badge. “Agent Storm, FBI. I asked her to come with me and I’d like to know what you’ve got on this case.”
Lance shoved his hands in his pockets making his jacket flare. “A home invasion, one dead victim no suspects. Nothing to bring in the Feds.”
“I don’t think so,” Raven said. “I think this is somehow related to the Quinn case I’m working.”
The library was a mess. The books and artifacts had been strewn all over the room, the shelves had been pulled down and two separate safes hung open, the doors nearly ripped off the hinges. Raven walked over and pushed one of the doors with her finger, making it squeal.
