King Takes Rook

by A. L. Kessler

  He shook his head. He couldn't surrender the information, not right now. If things changed, then maybe he could consider it. "I don't know anything that is going to help you."

  "Okay. I have to go. Thank you again."

  If only she knew the number of lies he'd been feeding her over the years. "Of course." He bowed his head and disappeared.

  Levi appeared in the mansion, and Mario stood there with his arms crossed. "Did you tell her?"

  "No, I didn't. She asked me again, and I told her I knew nothing that would help her with the case." Levi shook his head. "Ira allowed someone to capture his image on film, and new technology has made that image clear enough to identify him." He ran his hands over his eyes. "He's right on Abigail's desk, and there's nothing we can do about it."

  "Call Grayson, tell him to take the case. Since it's a vampire case he should be able to take it," Mario suggested. "And that will get it off Abigail's desk and let us control it a little more."

  That depended on if Boss Man would allow Grayson to do such. There was no telling what that beady little man would do. Abby had mentioned fifteen bodies and sixteen unsolved murders, chances were that Boss Man would let her handle it. More publicity with a strong Agent at the head of the case. "I'll call Grayson and see what we can do, but I won't hold on to any hope. Boss Man isn't likely to hand over a huge case without good reason."

  "We need to replace that Boss Man with one of our own people." Mario shook his head.

  Levi laughed. "You make it sound so easy. It's not."

  "We could always have him assassinated," Mario mused.

  "No. No assassinating anyone. Call the barkeep and see if she still wants to meet. Did we ever get her name?" Levi glanced at his phone. The night had barely started, and he was already tired.

  "Her name is Heidi."

  "Okay, call Heidi, and we'll go visit if she wants us to." Levi headed to the library.

  "And where are you going?"

  Levi looked over his shoulder. "To call Grayson and then read a book."

  "What a time to read a book," Mario muttered.

  "It'll keep my mind away from thinking about Abigail falling into a basement and the number of bodies on her case." Levi shivered, and he heard Mario chuckle as he walked off.

  Levi walked into the library and sat in one of the chairs. He pulled his phone out and dialed Grayson.

  "Abigail call you?"

  "Better yet, I had to go take her the keys to the Hummer, seems it was her car that was destroyed."

  Grayson laughed. "I know, but I wanted her to be the one to tell you that." All humor drained from his voice. "Did she tell you about the bodies?"

  "Just that there were fifteen of them. She found a photograph of Ira though."

  Grayson was silent for a moment. "That must have been what triggered the search on the vampire king."

  "Yeah, I think so too. But it's too close to home. Can you pull it off her plate?"

  "No, Boss Man likes her too much to pull a career-making case off her plate. I can talk to her about dropping it."

  "No, that'll tip her off that I know more than I want to admit to her." Levi sighed. "It would have to look like the order came from Boss Man for her not to question why the case was moved to you."

  Grayson hmmed for a moment. "You're right. She questions all outside influences, and she's not happy until she solves the case. I've seen her reports and her close rates. They're impressive."

  "Paranoia sometimes helps her in the job." Levi chuckled. "But really, if she's too thorough she's going to find herself face to face with Ira."

  "And that'll cause a new host of problems. Let's ride it out and see. Maybe it's a coincidence. I'll keep an eye on the case files and let you know if he becomes involved any further."

  That was the best he was going to get. "Thank you, Grayson."

  "Of course. I'll see you at the council meeting. Hopefully, it's uneventful." Grayson disconnected the call, and Levi leaned his head back. Typically, the council meeting was simply going over numbers, laws, threats, but lately, it had been all about tracking Ira and different ways of dealing with him that wouldn't bring on mass murder.

  Levi picked up his book and opened it to his bookmark. Maybe he could get a chapter in before Mario interrupted.

  The door to the library creaked as it open. Levi put his bookmark back and looked up at Mario. "Heidi still wants us to visit?"

  "She's dead."

  Levi took a moment to digest the words. "What do you mean?"

  "One of her employees found her head on a spike outside the bar door." Mario pressed his lips together. "We might have been the cause of her death."

  "No, she chose to talk to us and not to take our offer of protection." Levi sat his book down on the table. "Let's go see what's going on. Maybe someone saw it happen."

  Mario raised a brow. "Do you really think that if they did, they are going to talk after that?"

  "Maybe. Depends on who put her head on a spike." Levi stood. "It could be someone else, or it could be Ira. There's no telling without going to see. Though a head on a spike does seem a bit more dramatic than usual for him."

  Mario sighed. "Let's hope he hasn't escalated to that then. Shall we?"

  Levi nodded. "Yes." He stood and gave one last look at his book. He'd been working on the same one for the last few months. All he wanted to do was sit down and read, but apparently, that was too much to ask for the King of Vampires.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Levi and Mario appeared back in the small town, and once again they found the streets empty. Levi looked around and sighed. Down the road was Heidi's bar, and sure enough, her head was still on a spike in the front. He walked down the street and examined it. Blood had dried around her neck where part of her spine still dangled from torn flesh, clumps of dried skin and flesh still clinging to the bone.

  Levi raised a brow. "I think it's safe to say that this wasn't done with a blade of any sort."

  Mario leaned in closer. "I agree, it looks like it was ripped off. Where's the rest of the body?"

  "In the bar." A female voice had them turning around to see who was standing there. A woman with dark hair and big brown eyes stood there. Her arms crossed as she stared at the two vampires. "What are you doing back here?"

  Levi looked at Mario and then to the woman. "We came to speak to Heidi. She had called wanting to meet again."

  The woman dropped her arms and stared at Levi. "She was working with the vampire who was here before. The one who brought the blood-starved creatures with him."

  "Did he kill her?"

  The woman shook her head once. "No, we killed her, because she betrayed our town. The people who live here depend on us to protect them. She invited that monster in, and now we have you poking around."

  Levi held his hands up. "I'm not here to cause harm. I was here to see what we could do about Ira and his creatures. I'm Levi, the territory leader north of this town. This is my second, Mario."

  Mario bowed his head. "So did you do this?" He motioned to Heidi.

  The woman smirked. "No, my husband did that. I'm too delicate to do that kind of damage."

  "What does that mean?" Levi kept his voice even. What the hell kind of town was south of his territory?

  She smiled. "I much prefer to use my magic or weapons to take care of problems. But my husband, he's a shifter, simply snapped her head off using brute strength."

  Yeah, Levi was going to have to start keeping better track of the no-man's land territories. "And the spike?"

  "A warning to Ira about how we deal with traitors here." She shrugged. "And warnings to others."

  Mario pressed his lips together, and Levi wondered what he was thinking. After a moment Levi looked at the woman. "Has Ira been back since?"

  She was silent for a moment. "No, but there are whispers in the night of his creatures.
They are taking people."

  "Taking? Not killing?"

  "We haven't found any bodies." She crossed arms. "So I can only assume that they are taking them."

  Levi nodded. "We'll investigate and see what we can find, but if we can't get a good lead, we'll need to bring PIB in."

  "No, no PIB, they'll screw up everything we've worked for in this town."

  He thought a moment about bringing in Abby as one of his people, but she already had her hands full. "They have resources that I don't have, and they do this as a living."

  "No. This town is run by supernatural creatures, and we have our own law. I don't want them here."

  Mario nodded. "Then we won't bring them in. What's your name? So that we know who to contact if we learn anything."

  "Laura. You have my number already because I called you after you tried to contact Heidi again." She jerked her head toward the bar door. "You're welcome to set up shop there if you want. Or are you just going to keep popping in and out?"

  Levi shrugged. "It depends on what we find we're dealing with. Right now, it's just gathering information, so we'll be going home and returning when we need."

  "This is useless. I told them you'd be useless."

  Levi tried not to growl in frustration. "You haven't given us much to go on, and you might have decapitated the only person who had information." He motioned to Heidi's head.

  She looked between them and the head before shrugging. "She wouldn't give us any information, so I doubt she would have given you any either."

  "I have my ways." Levi smirked, making sure he flashed his fangs a little bit at her. She didn't even flinch.

  "You vampires think you're the only scary ones." She shook her head. "Look, gather your information and either help us or get out of the town. For all I know, you're working with Ira and keeping our people captive."

  Levi snarled. "Let's get one thing straight. I do not work for or with that monster. Now, who was taken?"

  "A few of our younger shifters. Three of them, all males, they were all out together." She sighed. "I've tried a tracking spell, but nothing worked."

  Abby had run into that once before, but she'd killed the witch that could block the spell. And that witch had targeted wolves not shifters. Levi locked his jaw. "Okay, where were they when they were taken, do we know?"

  "The park on the edge of town. They like to go there to practice their shifting. At least that's where they were supposed to be."

  Levi bowed his head. "Then we shall start there. Thank you, Laura."

  She nodded and started to walk away. "Let me know if you need anything else."

  Mario crossed his arms. "They are so defensive here. Makes me wonder what they are hiding."

  "A lot I'm sure, especially if they don't want PIB on the property. Let's go take a look at the park." Levi started walking down the road with Mario at his heels. Something ate at the back of his mind about what might be going on here. Ira had visited, and though Levi would love to stick everything on Ira, he needed to make sure that his brother was behind this.

  Levi stepped up to the brown grass that made up most of the park. "Not much life here." Mario snorted but didn't respond. Looking around, there wasn't much to go on. The grass was dead, and the playground equipment on the far end looked rusted and unsafe for children of any species to be playing on. A run-down park, long forgotten by the caretakers it seemed. "So the young ones come here to practice shifting?"

  "If they did that in our city, there would be some human complaints." Mario looked around. "No one here tonight, though."

  Levi nodded. "I'm sure that whatever is going on has something to do with that. It seems that the whole town is scared."

  "Are you still thinking Ira?" Mario glanced around. "No blood-starved out here."

  "I'm sure he visited, but I'm not sure if he's behind the disappearances of the shifters or not." Levi pressed his lips together.

  "What are you thinking?" Mario said after a few minutes.

  "That we really need to make some allies in the shifter world. The only one I know of is Agent Grace, but Laura made it clear that she doesn't want PIB near this." Sticking his hands in his pockets, he sighed. "I could call Abby in; she just dealt with a missing wolf case not long ago. Or, I can call Oliver."

  Mario snorted. "And what thing are you going to trade him this time?"

  "I don't know, but I'd rather him deal with a shifty town than have Abigail deal with it." Levi rubbed his eyes. "But we need a witch or warlock we can trust to start this off."

  Mario nodded. "You make the call. I want to explore the town a little more and see if I can't find out anything else about what they are hiding."

  "Okay, report back to me before sun up. I'm going to call Oliver and devise a plan and hope that he's willing to work with us."

  Mario hit Levi on the shoulder. "I don't think we're going to need him." He motioned further into the park where three figures were moving slowly. At first, Levi thought blood-starved, but then the scent hit the air. It wasn't death and dirt, the smell that was typically vampire, no it was blood.

  "Go get Laura and tell her that we need a medic." Levi shoved Mario back toward the neighborhood and then took himself to the shambling group of shifters. The moment Levi appeared, the three teenage boys collapsed on the ground. Levi leaned down and checked their pulses. Still alive. One small favor for the night.

  Mario reappeared with Laura who ran to the boys. "The doctor and a healer are on their way." She didn't even glance at Levi or Mario. She looked over the boys, checked their pulses again, and examined the visible injuries.

  Levi stepped back and let her work. "They're alive, but their pulse is weak."

  Mario sighed. "Think they'll be able to give us information when they wake?"

  "Hopefully, but this," he motioned to the boys, "isn't Ira's work."

  "Not consistent with what we've seen lately at least."

  Levi looked behind him as two people came running. The woman shoved right past him and went to the three teens. She looked at Laura and then the boys. "I've got this. They're going to be okay."

  Levi assumed that she was the healer. The man with her came to a stop at his side. "Do we know what happened?"

  Mario shook his head. "We were just looking around the park when they showed up. They weren't here when we arrived."

  Which left the question of who dropped them off and where did they come from? "We'll need to speak to them when they wake up."

  Laura glared over her shoulder, but the witch next to her shrieked.

  "They aren't healing." She put her hands on a wound and muttered something under her breath. Nothing happened, and she looked at Laura. "Tim needs to get them to the clinic. Now." Her eyes were wide. Mario stepped up. "Let me take you. We'll get there quicker."

  The doctor stepped up. "That's a good idea. Let's go." He held his hand out to the witch and then put a hand on Mario.

  "We need to make sure someone is touching the victims, so they come with us." Mario bent down and touched one of them, the witch put her hand on the other two, and within the blink of an eye, they were gone, leaving Levi and Laura together in the empty park.

  Laura turned to him. "What do you think?" There was a slight shaking to her body, and her hands twitched like she was trying not to curl them into a fist.

  "I think that you have other problems than just Ira, but I can't confirm that without talking to your young shifters first. But the fact that they can't be healed, and your magic couldn't find them makes me think that there's a darker magic at play here."

  Laura's lips twitched into a slight smile. "What do you know about dark magic?"

  "I have a warlock on my payroll who has some darkness to his aura, and in my past, I've dealt with my fair share of black magic."

  She didn't look like she believed him, but she straightened up from the ground
and met his gaze. "I've never seen a spell that can prevent healing."

  "Then you aren't dealing in dark enough magic." Levi gave a sinister laugh. "There's always two heads to magic, a light and a dark side, if there are those who can heal, there are those who can prevent it." He'd seen it first hand, but the warlock who'd performed the spell was dealt a death sentence.

  She looked him up and down. "The risk for magic that black isn't worth it."

  "Not everyone sees it that way." Levi shook his head. "Is there anyone who would target your young shifters or your town?"

  She moved uncomfortably on her feet, and Levi found himself wishing that he had telepathic abilities so he could read her mind. "The town has been peaceful until Ira showed up. So I have no idea who would try to hurt us."

  "You're lying. If you want me to help, you have to give me the truth, Laura, and not hide things from me. Or things like this could happen again. You don't want that. I don't want that." Levi shook his head when she remained silent. "When you're ready to tell me the truth, you have my number. When the boys wake, call me, and I'll speak to them." He turned away from her and waited in case she had changed her mind about talking to him. When she didn't, he disappeared, taking himself home.

  When Levi reappeared in his office, he sent Mario a text saying that he was home. Levi sat down at his desk and took a moment. He didn't need to call Oliver in to perform a tracking spell, but he needed to know what warlock or witch was capable of doing an anti-healing spell. Oliver tended to keep tabs on people like that so he would be able to give Levi at least some idea on how many living warlocks or witches would be capable of this.

  He reached for his phone, hesitating for just a moment. Oliver tended to demand things that were hard to get, with the exception of the last request which had been to paint the Hummer a different color. Much to Oliver's disappointment, Levi had painted it a bright yellow, which still fulfilled the deal which Oliver had only specified a 'brighter' color than the dark green.