“Whoa, whoa.” Red waved her hands. “Time out. A bat? You two can’t drop that a guy turned into a bat, then move on.”
“Bat shifting is the rarest dark gift after healing,” Quinn explained.
“Pulling a Dracula didn’t help this sorry bastard,” Vic said, then looked at Red. “You didn’t know about the bat stuff? It’s the coolest. What are some of the other gifts, grasshopper?”
“I did!” Red bit her lip before listing some of the gifts off. “From most to least common, we’ve got wall crawling, mesmerizing, becoming mist, and coming inside without an invite. And the bat thing.” She huffed, trying to cover her paranoia at missing one. “Not the time for a pop quiz.”
“It’s a teachable moment!” Vic insisted.
Yanking the conversation away from studying, she gestured to the bones. “Isn’t it a little weird that the grizzled old mountain man came to Culver City, only blocks from the office?”
Vic sighed. “Look through your rolodex of enemies, Q.”
A dim reflected flash caught her eye. She lifted an eyebrow, looking over her shoulder at the curtained window. Glancing around the alley, her stomach dropped.
The far-off streetlamp glimmered on the police officer’s badge. Head down, hat hiding his face, he stepped into the mouth of the alley.
“Cop.” Red tugged on her jacket to cover her stake.
“This isn’t training anymore, Vic,” Quinn said quietly before he raised his voice and turned toward the newcomer. “Joe! You came quick. I just texted you.”
Officer Joe Chang sprinted over to them, covering the length of half a football field in the same time it took most people to think about it. He had been a beat cop with the LAPD as a human and, even after death, never retired. Just moved stations. He knew the streets of LA better than anyone after decades serving his sire, Cora Moon. Lips pressed together and dark gaze wary, buried tension lingered on his handsome features. “I was nearby. Is the body as you found it?”
“No, we took it and hit the strip, Weekend at Bernie’s style.” Vic mimed drinking from an invisible bottle.
Stiffening, Red glared at Vic. He always had to sass around Chang, leftover rebellion from his college days when he used to get caught sneaking onto spooky crime scenes to track monsters instead of studying computer science.
“Vic Park Constantine, why am I not surprised to see you next to a dead vampire?” The cop narrowed his eyes. “Have a smart remark for that?”
Quinn exchanged a glance with Vic, his brow wrinkling in silent communication.
“I’ll wait, then.” The Korean Bard sighed and whizzed away in his chair, mullet blowing behind him.
Watching Vic go, the cop then turned to Orval’s bones. “It’s the old hermit. Died with his boots on.”
“But not over cards.” Quinn shook his head. “What would he always say when you had those poker nights in the sixties?”
Joe took off his hat, holding it to his chest. “‘Boots on my feet, cards up my sleeve, and a gun in my hand.’ That was Orval.”
“He did have some cards.” Red pointed out the scrawled message on the dropped playing cards. “Symbolic placement by the killer?”
“Or someone settled a debt the hard way and the cards fell out of his sleeve.” Snorting, Joe crouched by the skeleton. “Orval loved playing the dead man’s hand, said he knew Wild Bill Hickok. He was a friend, but Orval had a big temper and a small wallet. Not a good combo for a guy with a gambling problem.” Joe tilted his head to read the playing cards, eyes widening. His nostrils flared as he hurried to pull out a plastic bag from his pocket and gather the cards into it. “How do you think they took him out?”
Red noted his reaction before nodding to footprints in a nearby pothole filled with dirt. A dainty tread mingled with a larger sneaker print. “Silver and numbers.”
“Getting bolder…” Joe murmured to himself, licking his lips, as he rose. He put the bagged cards in his back pocket. Pressing the walkie-talkie on his uniform, he barked police jargon and ordered backup into a crackling line.
“This wasn’t local hunters.” Red pointed out when he finished.
Joe shot her a dry look. “I know. The supreme has them under her thumb. This was one of ours.”
“You’ve seen the MO?” Red asked, noting his worry.
Officer Chang glared at her before holding his hands up. “Quinn texted me that you only just stumbled on it. Go, before the team gets here and I have to say more in an official report for Cora. Aisha might keep quiet if you butt in, but the rest won’t.”
Red lifted her eyebrow. “How is Detective Callaway doing with the Fang PD?”
“As good as any do-gooder human does. Sometimes, I get what Fuchs was saying about my soul. It makes you whiny.” Chang rolled his eyes. “Enough catch up.”
Distracted by the thought of what it must have been like for the demon-fighting cop to start working for the local vamps, Red fell silent at his suggestion.
Joe Chang blinked, mouth dropping as if shocked by her obedience.
Quinn asked, “Need more men on the ground?”
“This is a confidential, ongoing investigation.” Joe crossed his arms, cheek twitching as if he realized he’d said too much.
“He’s not the first dead vampire.” Red leaned in, head cocked. All the van time with Vic’s tinfoil hat podcasts must have rubbed off, because she smelled a conspiracy. “Did they all have souls?”
“Okay Quinn, take Nancy Drew here and move it along,” Officer Chang ordered, waving his arm to direct them to the end of the alley.
Red bit her lip. She studied the skeleton before meeting Quinn’s gaze.
“Just walk away.” Quinn guided her away with a hand on her shoulder.
Red turned, put her hands in her pockets, and walked into the lit-up half of the alley, passing from one world into another as if through a dark veil. Crossing a thin line between the paranormal and the normal, the street cacophony grew louder.
Tomorrow, an office smoker sneaking out for their cigarette break would never know that a skeleton had lain by the dumpster. Assuring secrecy, the vampires would cover all traces. Only the maintenance man would notice that the light was broken. Vandalizing teenagers or a clumsy cat would be blamed. The building would pay for a repair. No one would know that an immortal had met his end in the alley. If Chang had his way, not even a whisper would hit the underworld.
“He was coming to see you, I bet.” Red tugged at her sleeves, frowning as she fidgeted. It felt wrong to walk away from a case. “We’ll get pulled into this. Mark my words.”
Quinn leaned in to whisper, “Before then, I’ll find out all about the investigation from Delilah when she goes to yoga with Cora.”
“Oh, talking with the ex-wife now?” Red mentally added- and sire. Vampires didn’t just have complicated political alliances; their personal lives were a mess. She had been dealing with the fallout of vampire drama ever since she arrived in Los Angeles.
“Don’t tell Vic. I won’t hear the end of it.” Quinn shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Red chuckled even as she shivered from the wind. “All the vampires have secrets tonight.”
“Always.”
Find Witch Gone Viral and the entire series order at samivalentine.com/books.
About the Author
Sami Valentine is an urban fantasy writer who grew up in the desert and now wanders in search of wifi and coffee.
Formerly a mild-mannered librarian, she had a quarter-life crisis and shook everything up. She started working in an LGBT homeless center, shaved some of her head, and got really into tarot. After realizing that her goal in life was to get out of her small town and she only made it 30 minutes up the highway, she filled a bag and left. That was two years and a dozen countries ago.
Get access to a prequel novelette about Red meeting Basil for the first time, deleted scenes, epilogues (read about Red and Lucas’ first date), and more.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Trespassers
Sneak Peak of Witch Gone Viral
About the Author
Long Witch Night: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Red Witch Chronicles 2) Page 31
