“What… happened?” she asked. “I remember… I remember the three goons… but everything just goes blank as soon as the one behind me pulls a gun.”
“They injected you with something,” Gus said. “Apparently with all those designer drugs and the like, they figured out one that’s a poison as well. Works on Vampires pretty well. Knocked you clean out.”
“Damn,” Chloe mumbled, using both of her hands to rub at her eyes. “Now I have to worry about someone slipping something in my drink when I go out.”
Gus snorted at that.
“Not sure about that. They injected you with it,” Gus said. “No idea of anything beyond that.”
“Great.” Chloe smacked her lips several times. “I’m so damn thirsty.”
Blinking, Gus remembered Trish’s comment about blood. He knew Chloe wasn’t thirsty for water.
“Yeah, Trish said you should probably feed when you woke up. I think,” Gus said.
“That’s a bit of a problem since I don’t have any here,” Chloe said, her hands still over her face. “Didn’t get a chance to stock up. And I can’t really do what normal vamps do at bars. Since… you know… no fangs.”
“Oh,” Gus said, not really sure how to respond.
I should have got her some blood. Stupid.
Stupid, stupid.
“Did you recognize anyone, by the way?” Gus asked, putting his phone away.
“A few,” Chloe said. “Not many. I think most of the people I worked with from back then are dead, gone, or in prison. Probably.
“Honestly, it’s far more likely they’re all dead. I always suspected we were working for someone else, but I didn’t have much in the way of proof of it. Just that the people at the top tended to vanish with some regularity.”
“You think the SA coven rolls into something else?” Gus asked.
“Well, I think they did. About a year before I got arrested, some seriously crazy things happened,” Chloe said. “And no, I’m not going to talk about it. Doesn’t help us out right now at all. But after that, things changed. Felt like the coven no longer had the support of whatever was above them, and we no longer had the finances we once did either.”
“Is that how you ended up getting caught?” Gus asked.
“Yeah,” Chloe said, smacking her lips. “Yeah, it was. Didn’t have the power we used to, so they couldn’t wipe out what I was doing as easily.
“They all swore up and down they’d get me out, though. Get me back. I believed it, like an idiot. They left me there to rot.”
Sitting up, Chloe let her hands fall to her sides.
Her eyes were bloodshot, she was even paler than she normally was, and she had a faint sheen of sweat all over.
“I feel awful,” she mumbled, wobbling slightly. “I don’t think I can make it to a blood bank on my own.”
Frowning, Gus glanced at his phone. It was five in the morning.
Blood banks that served Vampires weren’t going to be open anytime soon.
“What happened to your fangs?” he asked, contemplating the situation.
“I pulled them out,” Chloe said. “It’s a lot easier to resist the urge to kill people if you don’t have the teeth for it.”
“You? Worried over killing people?” Gus asked.
“I was young,” Chloe said. “Took me a while to realize that humans didn’t give a shit about me and would happily snuff me out given the chance. By then my fangs were long gone.
“If I’m honest about it, it’s been a blessing. Made my kills harder to track back to me. Everyone expects a Vampire to drink their victims. I wore fake teeth back then to hide the fact they were missing. Don’t care anymore. I am what I am.”
Chloe’s head slowly dipped forward as she hunched over.
“I feel so awful,” she mumbled.
Grimacing, Gus only saw one quick and easy way out of this. Except he didn’t really want to do it.
It wouldn’t be the first time he’d fed a Vampire directly, so he wasn’t squeamish about it.
He’d been in a weird one-night stand type of relationship that had lasted several months with a young Vampire. It’d been a lot of sex and blood drinking.
Looking back on it more recently, he realized it’d been a way to punish himself. Punish himself for his failures and what he hadn’t done.
That had all been before he’d gotten the job offer from Mark.
Pulling out his carry knife from his side, Gus unbuttoned his sleeve and began rolling it up.
He knew where to cut his arm and how to give a Vampire a meal. He’d done it often enough.
“Other than the fangs, anything different about you?” Gus asked, flicking open his knife. “Your saliva still seal and help cuts heal?”
“Yes. Why?” Chloe said, lifting her head up. “Oh. Oh… I… okay. I can do that. I’m just… it’s been—”
Chloe’s voice trailed off when Gus didn’t respond. Instead he made the small cuts on his forearm. In the exact same way he’d done it at least fifty times.
If he were human, there’d probably be scars there.
I wonder how Val’s doing.
Could be interesting to look her up.
Chloe was kneeling in front of him now. Having moved faster than he’d realized.
After folding his knife closed, he put it back on his belt and then moved his bleeding forearm over to Chloe.
The Vampire latched on to his arm. Her mouth instantly pressed down around the cuts. He could feel her feeding on him, drawing blood out far faster than the cut would normally allow.
“We’ll be heading into work later to start questioning our guests you found,” Gus said. “Start filling out an organizational chart for the SA to figure out what we know and who goes where.”
Chloe didn’t do or say anything. She just leaned into him as she drank. Her shoulder resting against his chest.
Sighing, Gus pulled out his phone with his free hand and started reading his email.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about her accidentally biting him since she had no fangs.
Fangs were the magically needed component to turn someone.
Val always threatened it, to a degree.
Looking back, that was a pretty messed-up time.
Chapter 8 - Snacks and Traps
Gus slowly flipped through all the printed photos. One by one, he double-checked them and re-read the names on the backs.
Really don’t want to fuck this up. This is what our department was made for, after all.
A pair of arms wrapped around his middle and squeezed him tight.
“Hello my sweet, sweet Indigo. I missed you,” Melody murmured against his ear.
Grinning, Gus patted Melody’s hands for a few seconds before going back to his photos.
“Honestly, I missed you too, Mel,” Gus said. “Good trip? Was only like two days.”
“Indeed,” Melody said. “While I was out there, I found someone willing to take care of our guest-in-the-basement problem, too. My niece’s husband said he’d offer her a job. She can take it or die.”
Gus frowned, not sure how he felt about that. He liked the law. Liked that it protected everyone and gave the public a feeling of safety.
Gus had made it a point in his life to follow it as closely as he could. It was one of the only things that’d kept him together when he’d started working as a detective.
He’d strayed from that core belief lately, but he was trying to move back to it. Trying to be a law-abiding citizen.
“I know, Indigo, I know. Look at it this way—we were already contemplating getting rid of our guest in the only way we knew how,” Melody murmured. “This offers us a different option.”
“You’re right, of course,” Gus said with a sigh. “Okay. Do what you need to. Otherwise, trip was okay?”
“Mm-yep! Irma won’t stop making fun of me for contracting three people so suddenly,” Melody said. “They didn’t have much to add about the current operation, but apparent
ly they crossed paths with the SA in the past.
“Said the SA was indeed controlled by someone else previously, but that partnership ended a while back. Didn’t have much to offer otherwise. They did have a good number of potential hires for me. I sent out invitations to apply. We might have a full department in a month.”
“Good work, Mel,” Gus said. He felt odd about the way she was holding him, like he was ignoring her, so he finally gave in.
Turning around, he kissed her. After lingering for several seconds, he eventually pulled away from her and went back to organizing his photos and notes.
“Goodness,” Melody said in a breathy voice. “Maybe I should go sit down before I tip over.”
“Probably. The others will arrive shortly. And you need to meet Chloe,” Gus said.
“Ah, yes. The fangless Vampire. She sounds interesting.” Melody let go of Gus.
Picking up the case of push pins, Gus began to slowly put all the pictures into their pre-assigned places.
Taking on an organized “business” really came down to knowing all the players and their responsibilities. That and getting ahead of them when it came time to move.
It was much easier to figure out who went where in the “company” with the technology available, but that didn’t make it any easier to stop the crime or get proof of wrongdoing.
Certainly not within the constraints of the law.
“Didn’t expect to see her ass at the top. Then again… I guess it makes sense given how things have changed.”
Glancing over, Gus found Chloe in the doorway. She was dressed in the same professional attire as everyone else. For all intents and purposes, she looked the part of a Fed agent.
Melody and Chloe were immediately eyeing one another.
“Chloe, this is Melody. Melody, this is Chloe. Vampire meet Contractor. Contractor meet Vampire,” Gus said, then looked back at his board.
As he adjusted the photo of the Vampire at the very top of the pyramid, Gus looked at her face. Much like all of her kind, she appeared young. Black hair cut short and styled, with dark brown eyes. She looked like someone who would be climbing a corporate ladder or selling million-dollar homes for a massive commission.
Not running a coven that specialized in illicit activities.
“…to meet you,” Melody said.
“Likewise,” Chloe said. “Didn’t expect to find the Lark working for the Fed though. You had more charges than I did.
“You take a deal? Did Mr. Handsome Agent come for you, too?”
“Actually, no,” Melody said with a laugh. “I turned myself over, went full witness, gave up way too much in favors and other things, and… I just gave up. I surrendered completely.
“All so I could work with Mr. Handsome Agent, as you called him. But he was only PID at that time.”
“No shit, you did?” Chloe asked. “Never would have figured you for that. Went all romantic in the end.”
“Neither did I. But Gus made a lady out of me. I’m a good girl now,” Melody said. “I even started paying taxes. All for the sake of loving him.”
“Anyways,” Gus said loudly. “Feel free to take a seat or grab a snack. I made sure there was something for everyone.”
“Sorry, he doesn’t like it when I talk about him,” Melody said. “Very bashful. Come on, let’s go grab something.”
Shaking his head, Gus continued to pin up photos until his hands were empty.
Then he took a step back and looked it over.
Really does look like a business.
In fact… it’ll be rather difficult to crack into this, won’t it? Unless we get people to roll over on their bosses. But even that only goes so far.
They’ll need to provide evidence for us to do something with it. The word of a gangster doesn’t go that far with juries and judges.
Chewing at his lip, Gus felt like maybe this task was too much. Maybe Mark had misplaced his trust.
“He doesn’t expect us to do it in a month, you know,” Vanessa said as she stepped up next to him. Then she took a long sip of what looked like coffee.
“I mean—” Gus started.
“No, really. He doesn’t expect us to solve it in a month. I asked him. This is more like a year-long exercise, Gus. And even then, he’s not expecting you to bring it down completely. Just have enough information so you can track it and keep it down,” Vanessa said. “I asked because you’re so single minded. I figured you’d end up stewing on this as if you had to solve it instantly.”
Gus opened his mouth, then promptly closed it.
She was right of course.
“Thanks, Ness,” he said, grinning at her.
“Course. I’m still your partner, you know. Sleeping together or not, part of the PID or not, you’re still my partner.” Vanessa grinned back at him. “You put your trust in me, so I’ve put it in you. You’d do the same for me for my own blind spots.”
She did shoot down an ex-girlfriend she still cared for—for me, her partner of only a month.
I need to make sure I protect her the same way she does me.
“Going to go get a seat. You making doe eyes at me is making it a little harder than I thought it would be,” Vanessa mumbled. “Especially with everyone watching.”
She turned and left him there.
Doe eyes?
Hm.
Wait, everyone?
Turning around, Gus found that indeed, everyone was actually here. Most everyone seemed to have something they were drinking or snacking on as well.
“Hello,” Gus said. Then he pointed to the side. “Thanks for coming. If you didn’t grab something, do so.
“Beyond that, this will be rather simple, I think.”
He walked to one side of the display he’d been working on and held up a hand.
“This is what we have on the SA coven so far,” he said. “It’s… organized like a business. There’s really no other way to say it. It has a CEO—”
He paused to point at the woman at the top.
“A financial officer.”
Gus pointed to a woman on the second line of photos.
“Operations,” he said, then indicated a man on the second row before pointing to a man next to him. “Security. You get the picture. It all moves downward with a structure you’d expect.
“Somewhere around this point—”
Moving his hand, Gus indicated the line where it went from mid-level managers and team leaders to individuals.
“Is where we’re going to focus most of our attention at first. We’ll have to work our way up, of course. Anyone below this line probably won’t be missed by the SA and won’t cause them issues. They’re throwaway trigger pullers.”
Everyone was nodding at that.
“What were the three people we picked up the other day?” Trish asked. She was seated with Hailey. The two were clearly becoming fast friends.
“Grunts,” Gus said. “Throwaway people. Vampires, to be specific. All three of them. No one’s come for them, they’re not asking for lawyers, and they’re not talking.”
“They’ll just take whatever sentence they get, serve it, and come back for a reward,” Chloe said. “It’s… different for Vampires. So long as it isn’t a life sentence, you can serve it and just… come back. Pick up a fat paycheck and get right back into the business.”
“Which means… we won’t have anything to work off of?” Indali asked.
She was sitting by herself off to one side, but close to Gus. It was fairly clear to Gus she felt awkward about being included here. He’d made sure to invite her directly.
If she wanted to train to be an agent while working for his department, he saw no reason not to work on recruiting her directly.
“Well,” Gus said with a smirk. “We won’t have anything actionable, but we’ll get answers one way or another. Just nothing we can use to justify warrants or seizures.”
“Oh,” Indali said.
“Don’t worry about it. Suffice it to say,
we do have an answer, just not one we can publicly show. That’s all,” Gus said. “In fact… I can already safely say those three men we picked up have given us a lot of information. But we’ll get to that in a second.”
He picked up the stack of papers he’d printed out.
Walking around the room, he handed one out to everyone.
“This is everything we’ve compiled so far on the SA coven. Make sure it doesn’t leave this room,” he said. “There’s an electronic copy available on the server as well.
“Their main area of business is actually pretty straightforward and what we expected, more or less.”
Holding out a set of papers to Chloe, he found her staring up at him.
Since he’d fed her directly, she’d become rather docile around him. So much that it felt like she was afraid of making him angry.
I wonder.
Can they tell I’m not human by the taste of me?
Val never said anything about it. She said I tasted more like a redhead, whatever that means. But redheads are human.
Moving back to the front, Gus set his own copy down in front of him.
“Blood running, alcohol, drugs, prostitution, and gambling,” he said. “It’s all run out of strip clubs, night clubs, warehouses, and street deals. Really, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. They’re just in control of a good chunk of real estate, and they’re expanding.”
“That’s where I worked,” Chloe said. “I was part of expanding the business, taking territory, and building it up. I didn’t… I didn’t do any of the other stuff. I was just muscle.”
Curious that she needed to specifically point out her duties.
“I figure the easiest way to get them moving, and get us our way in, is to go after their money makers,” Gus said. “And it just so happens that most of the people we’ve picked up or spoken to were helping to expand that part of the business.”
“Oh, do we get to go into some strip clubs?” Melody said. “I know a few I’d really like to take you to, just to see what you think. There’s this really fun one where all the girls are Weres and they—”
“No,” Gus said. “We’ll definitely be going after the clubs, though. We’ll hit the ones that are a bit easier to drop a collar on immediately. Blood running and prostitution. The drugs are a bit harder, because it’s all Vamp drugs. Stuff that isn’t technically illegal right now because it doesn’t do anything to humans.
Swing Shift: Book 2 Page 9
