by C. R. Jane
Nice neighborhood, a couple blocks away from where I chowed down at dinner with my friend Vesper. He'd adjust to it all soon enough. "Whatcha got for me?"
Good thing the boy wasn't as dopey as he looked. He answered in a clipped manner, straight and to the point, which I appreciated. "A couple of DB's found by housekeeping." He nodded in their direction. "I kept the perimeter clear, and the crime scene techs are on their way."
He didn't say anything about the fact that I was out here before the techs. I didn't need to tell him that I was in the neighborhood.
I nodded. "I'll scope it out from here." Then walked on.
He coughed a little in his throat, a sound that made me turn back to him. "You didn't just have dinner, did you, boss?"
I cocked my eyebrow at him. "I may have?"
"There's a stack of buckets. Left by the cleaning service. In case one may be needed."
I narrowed my eyes at him. He didn't seem to be the type to waste words and yet here he was talking shit at me. "That all, Officer?"
He nodded.
I moved into the suite, and once the doors opened, the smell assaulted me some more. How much blood was there?
And then my eyes adjusted to the scene before me and there was a high-pitched tone that I belatedly realized was a scream buried in my head. I crushed it down, deep down, into the recesses of my mind.
I was not going to freak out in front of another officer and civilians.
I swallowed it down and focused on bits at a time, ignoring whatever was on the bed for the moment. I didn't feel like acknowledging that yet.
I focused on one spot first, on the wall directly opposite from where I stood at the entrance of the suite. The blood was grouped together like a spray. I followed the dots and splatters up the wall until my head craned back. There was more on the ceiling. A lot more.
I focused my gaze even sharper. Yes, there was gore up there, more so than on the walls. Almost as if the initial bodily projectile hurtled upward. The overspray splattering on the wall.
I slowly scanned down and finally allowed my gaze to rest on the bed.
The tableau atop it was like a work of art, and that was how I needed to see it. Artwork. Mixed media. Objects.
The figure on top was bowed back, as if captured in a mid-swoon. The arms were outstretched in surrender to some external force. Mouth open, eyes closed, forehead furrowed, in either pleasure or pain or both.
The body on top knelt astride another figure who was similarly arched.
They looked to be statues almost, as if they could be breathing, except that both of the figures' rib cages were torn open and pried apart.
I took in all I could, checked out all the different angles, scanned the rest of the room and into the bathroom. And then left.
I passed the first unit of Crime Scene techs on the way in.
Nodded at the oncoming officers strolling in from the elevator, who nodded back.
I made it across to the opposite side of the floor, where the ice makers and vending machines stood. I grabbed a discarded ice bucket and promptly emptied my dinner into it.
An hour or so later, I finally left the hotel, breathing in the crisp air as I tried to forget the stench of that room.
Moonlight flooded the city streets. Fucking Hunter's Moon was nearly full and red. It was going to be a blood moon. Fitting.
I was only a few blocks away from the garage where I'd parked before dinner. It was a good thing it was one where the parking attendants knew me and comped my tickets. I approached my car and tried not to act surprised when Balin seemed to appear out of nowhere from behind a pillar.
That man had been popping up after crime scenes lately. If he wasn't so annoying, he'd be hot. "You hanging out in parking garages now?" I called out to him.
He flicked an eyebrow up, but otherwise didn't acknowledge my words. "Deimos wants to talk."
Now it was my turn to raise a brow. The only reason the big D had to talk to me was Vesper. I checked my watch and saw that I didn't have any missed messages or anything dire.
Balin must have seen my hesitation. "Ms. Tallinn is fine."
I searched his face and decided I believed him. "So what, no limo?" I asked. Driving around in that limo felt weird to me, namely because it was so not me. It was a relief not to see it.
He nodded his head toward the elevator. "No, we thought this would be faster."
When he moved to the parking garage elevator, I was curious. I looked around, searching. For what, I didn't know exactly. A reason to turn him down? A killer in the shadows? A hidden coffee stand? In the end, I stepped in line beside him.
When a black card appeared in his hand, I was instantly intrigued. He pressed it against the elevator panel, with its everyday, flat metal box and round up button. Yet the door opened to a lush, modern elevator car, complete with wood accents. Was that mahogany? Whatever it was, this was clearly not the dingy car I'd ridden in multiple times.
I kept myself from openly gawking at it and tsked. "Something tells me that we're not meeting him at the top floor of this parking garage."
Balin smiled in answer, green flecks sparkling in his whiskey eyes. "You'd be right, Lieutenant."
The elevator brought us to the top floor of Janus Holdings. Not a surprise.
I smelled vanilla and cinnamon. "Ooh, did Sage make cookies again?" I asked. The fresh air had settled my stomach post-vomit and my appetite came roaring back in full.
"I believe so," Balin answered.
As if on cue, Sage appeared with a platter of cookies. "Hello, Lieutenant, would you like a cookie? I wanted to try out a flavor called snickerdoodle. Something that fun to say should taste delicious."
I grabbed one and inhaled it in two bites. "Magical." I picked up another one, and when she gestured to a gleaming carafe, I helped myself to the coffee. I washed down my second cookie with it. "Absolutely magical, Sage."
She blushed, her cheeks matching her pink suit perfectly, which probably had a fancier name for the color. Something like champagne or rose. "Mr. Deimos should be ready for you now, Balin."
He nodded at her, indulging her unspoken request to eat a cookie. I wasn't shy about taking another one and munched on it as I followed him to the boardroom.
Deimos paced in front of the panoramic windows, the Hunter's Moon red and full. He was in his usual fancy suit that was probably custom-tailored, given the fit. Gray and black, which complemented his brooding leader persona well. He stopped his pacing to acknowledge me. "I'm glad you could be here, Lieutenant."
I dropped onto the couch in the seating area and helped myself to the coffee service laid out on the table. "Yeah, let's pretend you invited me here and I accepted, et cetera," I said with a flick of my fingers. "Tell me what's up."
Deimos turned to face me fully. He was a formidable figure with the bright red light of the moon behind him. "I hear your dinner was cut short."
Gee, considering I was dining with his girlfriend, I could guess where he'd heard that. "Yeah, unfortunately, a few people chose to get themselves killed so, you know, I got called in."
Deimos resumed pacing, back and forth in front of the window. Not for the first time did he remind me of a restless jungle predator. "What were your impressions of the crime scene, Lieutenant Troy?"
I froze in mid-motion as I was bringing my coffee to my mouth and swiveled my gaze toward him. "You know I cannot comment on an active investigation." As if he hadn't tried to hide behind the whole 'Human laws don't apply here' nonsense before.
He looked at me as if weighing me, trying to figure out how best to play an angle. He was used to throwing down deals and whatnot. And I knew that
he was some big hotshot in the Forgotten Realms or whatever Vesper called them.
But I was used to facing down big and powerful men. He was no different.
Besides, I had an in. That was the nice perk of being the best friend of the woman he loved.
His face softened, just a touch. "Well played, Lieutenant."
"I ain't playing." I went back to sipping my coffee as he strolled around to sit on the couch opposite me. Balin remained standing by the door as if he were the lookout.
Deimos leaned back, a casual pose as he rested an ankle over his knee. "Show me what you recall of the crime scene. I know that you must have recorded it somehow."
My guard went up. "Show you?"
His eyes had that tinge of red in them now. "Yes, show me."
"How am I supposed to do that? I ain't letting anything into my mind."
He smiled. "You don't need any of that. Just start talking about what you saw and it will come back from there."
I was skeptical and I wanted to tell him to get himself fucked, but this was the man Vesper loved. If I were honest, I would have wanted to ask her for his help anyway.
And fine, dammit, I was honest enough to admit that the whole thing unsettled me. "First thing's first, hotshot. It was some crazy juju there. And I'm talking crazy."
Deimos chuckled, a swallowing sound in his throat that resonated with my heartbeat. "I can imagine."
"No, you cannot. I haven't lost it like that in, well, ever. Not even when I was rookie. Never. But I lost my dinner after that scene, and I ain't ashamed to say it. It was gruesome and terrible and not right."
I gritted my teeth and felt a crop of goosebumps take over my body. I wanted to rub feeling back into my skin, but kept my hands firmly around my coffee cup.
Deimos leaned toward me and spoke softly. "Trust me. I can imagine."
I looked at him then, and there was a shared experience there that made me realize that he must have seen something similar in his own time. I looked to Balin, and his flinty expression told me that he had experienced something like that too. Somehow, not feeling so alone made me feel better. Like this wasn't just something I needed to carry by myself. "I just need to speak it aloud?"
He nodded.
I sighed. "Okay, then."
And then I closed my eyes and relived the crime scene.
Chapter 2
After the retelling, I felt as empty as my coffee cup. Drained. But at least I felt less burdened. Less alone.
Heard.
I combed my fingers through my hair; it needed cutting. "So? Anything spark for you? Something you've seen before?"
Of course it was something he'd seen before. For all his mysterious ways, the big D was pretty easy to read. All the same, I felt the rejection coming before a word left his lips. "Yes and no. I'm afraid I have nothing for you, Lieutenant. But I find your impressions...intriguing."
Intriguing. I would roll my eyes if it didn't seem disrespectful. I had every respect for him. Just not the words he chose. Pretty words that hid lies. "Intriguing, huh? I would've chosen another word."
Red tinged the black of his eyes again. "Oh? And what word would that be?"
"Bullshit." I tapped my finger tip against my chin. "Wait, is that technically two words?" I glanced over at Balin, who'd gone rigid at my announcement. "Help me out here. You'd know, seeing as you're a supreme bullshitter. One word or two?"
Balin clenched his jaw in response. There were no pretty green flecks in his eyes now. Only fire. Damn, he wasn't allowed to break my concentration with being all smoldering.
"Hm," I said, contemplating this out loud to no one in particular. "I'll go with one word. Feels right. Gotta go with your gut instincts, right, D?"
The humidity ratcheted up a notch, as if a storm front would break on top of my head. I was sure the big D would love to smother me in a monsoon right now.
Instead, the man in question sighed, and the air was easier to breathe after a moment. "Lieutenant, I think you already know that there are…things…that are hard to communicate given your position."
"As what? Lead for the Major Cases Squad? Decorated detective who's good at solving cases? Or representative of human law?"
My gaze all but dared him to spout his 'Human law does not apply' bullshit at me. There were dead people—no, check that. There were piles of blood and flesh that used to be people. That needed to be investigated and he could either help me or stay the fuck out of my way.
Deimos didn't even blink. "I don't want to sound presumptuous, Lieutenant, but I will have my team look into the matter."
"Look into what? If I can't stick my nose into your business, you sure as hell can't stick yours in mine."
As if he read my mind, his eyes glowed as red, like the promise of blood. "Can't I, Lieutenant?"
He can, can't he?
Images and choices whirred through my mind and I realized why I was really here. Why Balin was sent to get me. Why I was distracted by coffee and cookies…as if they would help to ease the medicine of his handiwork down my fucking throat.
"You fucker." My voice was softer than I expected it to be. Good. It would have been unexpected and I hoped it fucking unsettled him. "You sent a team out already, didn't you? Analyzing the crime scene, picking through the evidence." I scanned my memories of all the crime scene techs. The first wave of them that I had passed right before I threw up into an ice bucket.
I'd recognized them, but not because they were part of the NYPD. They were his men.
My eyebrow shot up so fast it was a wonder it was still attached to my face. "Look, I know that V thinks it's cute that you have your minions all over the place, but I'm not cool with having anyone on me or fucking with my cases, you got that?"
A look, plain as day, flickered over his damnably beautiful face.
Another realization dawned on me. "Oh for the love, you've had people on me, haven't you? Before today. How long?"
Deimos didn't look the slightest bit sorry, that unapologetic bastard. "Lieutenant, I make it a point to make sure that key assets are kept as safe as possible. If it helps, I don't order them to be anywhere near your home or in your precinct. Just while you're out in the field."
Bristling from his words, I just stared at him. "In the field? So like at least every day? Good Lord." I swiped my hand over my face in frustration. I was about to say something else when Deimos leaned forward.
"Hush now, and listen to me well, Lieutenant." His voice thrummed with a gravity that shut my mouth with a clack. This was his power. Not the fact that he had so much of it, but that he lulled you into forgetting that he did, right until he wanted you to remember. "You are one of the only people in Vesper's life she claims as family. She is my family. Which makes you part of my family. I protect my family. Deal with it." Red eyes bored into my mind, and even though I had police-issued psy-shields tattooed onto my flesh, I knew he could wipe them away with less energy than it took for me to sneeze.
I was speechless, both warmed and yet…fucking pissed off. "Are you fucking kidding me? I'm not a child!"
Deimos chuckled then, in that 'I do what I want' way of his. "I never said you were a child. I just told you to deal with it."
There was a finality to his words. He would do what he would do. I would do what I needed to do. Getting mad about it would be pointless because he'd never be swayed from his purpose.
I stretched my neck and rolled my shoulders, popping some joints as if I needed to stay loose for the next spar. "Can you at least tell me something? Anything? Why did you even need me here if you know all of this already? All the crime scene shit?"
The universe passed over his gaze a
nd I knew an infinite truth: that he didn't know as much as people thought he did. He still needed my impressions of the scene, my firsthand account, which he received right here from me as if he were actually there with me.
Damn, did he ever win this round.
"Smoke and mirrors, Lieutenant," he said, a small smile quirking up his lip.
I just shook my head at him, exceedingly frustrated, but dumbly relieved that he was on my side. I wouldn't want him as an enemy. Still. Didn't stop me from wanting to plow my fist in his face. "You're so lucky Vesper loves you."
He smiled fully now, his beautiful face as much a deadly weapon as the rest of him. "Don't I know it."
Chapter 3
Instead of going home, like a normal person who was completely wiped, I swung by the precinct. Midtown was awash with light, even now after midnight.
Especially after midnight.
Never knew what kind of crazies lurked the streets, and that was just the everyday humans.
I weaved through the main lobby, scanning the lively crowd. Some hyped up thug was causing a ruckus. From what I heard, he smashed up some swank jewelry store because he thought he could get away with it.
I rolled my eyes. No matter where they all came from, there was always some dude who believed that 'might makes right' and churned out his own brand of anarchy. Poor bastard chose the wrong day to cross paths with me.
I marched over to him. As he was distracted by his chest-thumping, pseudo-manly display, he never saw me coming. At least not until I jammed my taser against his spine.
He dropped like a sack onto the floor, seizing with all the electrical current coursing through him. I wrinkled my nose when I realized that he had less control over his musculature than I'd hoped. "Sorry about the loose bowels, guys."
The responding officers waved me off. "We good, LT. We got this."
I nodded at them and moved on. People always blamed crazies on the full moon or whatnot. Here, though, we knew. This was just another day.
