by Helen Harper
‘Genius is far more to do with hard work than brain cells,’ he told me.
I gave a small smile. We did have some things in common then: I felt exactly the same about Lady Luck. ‘Well,’ I said. ‘Let’s put that hard work to the test. To the Blood and Bones it is.’
It wasn’t far. That was one good thing about these new communities that Monroe and I had set up: it didn’t take long to travel from one end of them to the other. In two proverbial shakes of a lamb’s tail we were standing outside the pub, which advertised itself by a swinging sign overhead that depicted a bone dripping with blood. Lovely.
I could hear raucous cheering inside. I guessed that the vampires would be there for the day, downing pint after pint while they avoided the sun’s glare. That little fact already told me a great deal about them – but it wasn’t quite enough.
‘What else do you know about these two?’ I asked quietly.
‘You mean, are they likely to cause much trouble when we ask them if they’ve recently sucked a woman dry?’
I raised my shoulders. ‘I guess.’
Monroe put his hands in his pockets and considered. ‘As vampires go, I think they’re alright.’
Damned by faint praise. I sighed. It wasn’t a lot of information to go on but there were six more suspects to track down after these two and not much time left to do it in. ‘Are you alright?’ I asked him. ‘I can do this on my own if—’
‘I’m fine,’ he interrupted with a dark expression. ‘I don’t need your mollycoddling.’
I suspected he was wrong. I’d have to set aside my mollycoddles for now, but I’d do what I could for him later. Monroe and I were inextricably linked, whether we liked it or not. And, truth be told, I did like it.
‘Come on then,’ I said. I shot him a glance. ‘I’ll do the talking.’
I pushed open the door. Almost at once I was virtually bowled over by the cloud of blue smoke that engulfed me. For a moment, my imagination got the better of me and I actually thought I was under attack. I choked and wheezed and flailed my arms around to clear the air so I could see. It was only then that I realised the smoke was coming from the pipes of the bleary-eyed patrons of the Blood and Bones rather than some bizarre smoke monster.
Something else we had the apocalypse to blame for – the loss of the smoking ban.
Coughing one last time, I entered with Monroe so close behind me that I thought he was about to tread on my heels. Rather than his close proximity making me claustrophobic, it was very welcome – there was something about this pub that set my teeth on edge. Maybe it was the glares of suspicion I received from the dozen or so people inside. Maybe it was the annoying music floating over from the far corner that was being strummed by an ancient-looking bloke on a lute, of all things. Or maybe it was the three semi-conscious people who currently had fangs embedded in their wrists.
‘Ladies and gentlemen!’ the rotund bartender bellowed. ‘The Joyless Brigade has arrived!’
A range of mutters reached my ears, mostly consisting of ‘werewolf’, ‘bastard’ and ‘enchantress bitch’. How lovely it was to be welcomed so warmly. I tutted and strode up to the bar. Including the three who were feeding, the idiots they were feeding upon, the bartender and the irritating lute player, there were four vampires, five werewolves and three humans. I congratulated myself on being able to pinpoint each of their ethnicities. I was getting better at this identification malarkey. Unfortunately, it only took one sweeping gaze to register the lack of obvious facial wounds on any of the vamps. That was frustrating – but I could hardly have expected it to be so easy to catch a cold-blooded murderer.
‘You all know who I am,’ I said, my voice ringing out.
Every face turned to me. Annoyingly, the would-be musician continued to strum aimlessly on the lute. I slowly turned in his direction and dripped an icy stare over his seated body. His fingers ceased their incessant plucking and he laid down his instrument. Just as well, it was definitely out of tune. I didn’t think I was the only one who was pleased at the loss of the so-called music; every shoulder in the pub appeared to sag in relief.
Monroe took advantage of the sudden silence to push in. Great. So much for me doing all the talking.
‘Who are these humans?’ he asked. His voice was dangerously low. ‘Have they agreed to this?’
The nearest vampire, a blond-haired man who looked like he wouldn’t say boo to a goose normally, sniffed and detached himself from the human he was feeding from. ‘Of course. We know the rules.’
‘Yeah,’ sneered the woman next to him. ‘Besides, it’s not as if we’re monsters.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Monroe replied. He drew nearer. Satisfyingly, all three vampires flinched. Blondie carefully pulled away from his breakfast – no mean feat considering the human had draped herself over his legs and was moaning in an obsequious, fawning manner. I had to admit she certainly didn’t look like she was being forced into this situation.
The final vampire patron was continuing to suck from the wrist of a young man. Monroe grabbed the back of the man’s head and, with more force than was necessary, lifted it up and looked into his eyes. The man smiled dreamily. ‘Don’t stop,’ he murmured. ‘I like this.’
‘See?’ Blondie said. ‘They’re here of their own volition. They like it.’ He leered at me. ‘Want to try?’
Monroe snarled softly, fur popping out across his cheekbones.
‘Oooooh. I don’t think the wolf likes that very much. What do you think, Carter? Have we offended your delicate sensibilities, Lord Monroe?’
I reckoned it was the ‘Lord’ that did it. Monroe drew himself up, revealing every arrogant inch of the werewolf alpha he used to be. The other wolves in the bar cowered.
‘Get out,’ he said, so quietly that his words were barely audible.
The five wolves collided with each other in their haste to do Monroe’s bidding. It was comical to watch them squeezing out of the door to escape, though the barman didn’t find it funny. He glared. ‘They still have tabs open. You’d better hope they come back to pay up or I’ll be billing you.’
Monroe ignored him. ‘You are here in this community under my sufferance. If you can’t follow the laws, then you have no place here.’
‘We were all vetted when we entered,’ Blondie said. ‘And we are breaking no laws. No one is in any danger here. No one is in pain.’ He gave Monroe a pointed look. ‘Apart from you, that is. Your agony screams from your pores. I don’t normally enjoy lupine blood but I can be persuaded to drink from you to ease your hurt.’ He smiled slowly. ‘I can offer oblivion.’
Okay-dokey. Time to step in. ‘Funnily enough,’ I said, ‘we are here for that very reason. One of your kind has imposed oblivion on a human by killing them. We are trying to find the person responsible.’
Blondie shrugged, suggesting that he couldn’t care less, but the expression in his eyes told a different story. He was putting on a good show but he was discomfited by my news. ‘Accidents happen,’ he said. ‘Some people have weak hearts and underlying medical conditions.’ He pointed at the bartender. ‘Carter?’
Carter nodded and reached under the bar. Monroe stiffened as if half-expecting him to pull out a shotgun but I didn’t feel any threat. I moved to my right, brushing against Monroe to offer brief reassurance. Carter produced a clipboard and waved it in our direction.
‘Waivers,’ he grunted. ‘All legal and above board. We ran them by Julian when we first got here. He agreed them.’
If Monroe was surprised by this, he didn’t react. He took the clipboard and started to read. I scanned it over his shoulder. All feedings are undertaken with an element of risk. While all vampires will undertake to protect their meals and to limit their blood intake, they are not liable for any deaths caused by underlying health conditions. Blah blah blah. Each waiver was signed at the bottom.
Blondie’s human smiled at me. ‘That’s my one. We all know what we’re getting into.’
‘Then why
get into it?’ I asked. ‘Why risk yourself like this?’
She sighed happily. ‘The euphoria,’ she whispered. ‘It’s like nothing else you’ve ever imagined. It’s better than the most potent drug.’
Blondie leaned forward, looking serious. ‘We don’t harm our meals,’ he said. ‘Not deliberately. It wouldn’t make any sense.’ He stroked the woman’s head. ‘We want them to return. Warm bodies with a pulse are the gift that keeps on giving. Dead bodies are worthless. You should be happy that we’re not using up your other food supplies. Whatever happened to your human, it was either an accident or it wasn’t a vampire. Heart attack. Betcha.’
My stomach turned. He certainly didn’t mince his words. ‘It wasn’t a heart attack,’ I said. ‘She was drained dry.’
He whitened. ‘That’s not possible.’
‘Apparently it is,’ Monroe growled. ‘I should never have allowed Julian to persuade me to let the vampires join us here. It was a mistake from the start.’
Carter took a step backwards. ‘The death happened here? In the north?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘At the Travotel.’
Blondie looked surprised. ‘Under the faery’s nose?’ He exchanged looks with the others.
His human ‘meal’ raised her head. ‘Wait. Wasn’t Philip going there last night?’
Blondie’s teeth clenched and he nodded. ‘He was.’ He looked at Monroe and me. ‘But he wouldn’t have done this. He couldn’t have. Philip is a sensitive sort. He only drinks the minimum, even when his meals ask him to take more. He’s the kind of guy who writes poetry and walks around with his head in the clouds. He wouldn’t kill anyone. And he doesn’t spend a lot of time with the other vampires. He lives on his own, away from the rest of us.’
‘Where?’ I asked urgently. We were getting somewhere. We didn’t have a motive but it certainly seemed like we had opportunity. A loner? Philip sounded like he could be our man.
Carter glared. ‘He wouldn’t have done this. He’s an annoying guy but he’s not the type to hurt someone. Even by accident.’
‘We have to find him,’ I said. ‘Valerie, the woman who was killed, put up a fight. If he attacked her, there will be evidence – if we can find it before it heals.’ I registered the growing panic in the vampires’ eyes. ‘This isn’t a witch hunt. We’re not looking to blame the nearest vampire, we’re looking to find the person who did this. It’ll be better for all of us if we can eliminate Philip – or identify him as the perpetrator. You lot don’t want this to become a lengthy investigation.’
Blondie met my eyes. ‘You already seem to think we’re evil bastards. What difference is it going to make?’
Monroe glared. Carter’s shoulders dropped and he grabbed a pen, scribbling down an address on a scrap of paper. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘He lives here.’
I glanced at it. It wasn’t far off and we could get there in minutes. There was still time. ‘Thank you,’ I said quietly.
‘Just remember that we helped.’
The human woman next to Blondie nodded. ‘All of us helped.’
I nodded. Vampires weren’t so bad. ‘We’ll remember. And,’ I added, ‘for what it’s worth, I don’t think you’re evil bastards.’ I jerked my chin at the lute player. ‘Apart from him maybe. Anyone who can produce music like that must be soul-less.’
I’d intended it as a joke but nobody laughed. The display of bravado that had confronted us when we entered had vanished completely.
‘Make it quick,’ Blondie said suddenly. ‘If it was Philip who did this, at least make it quick.’
Chapter Ten
As soon as we were outside, Monroe lifted his head and howled. It was brief but it was filled with anguish. Then he turned and slammed his fist into the wall. When he raised it again, I leapt in front to stop him.
‘What the hell is wrong?’ I demanded. ‘We’ve got a lead. A decent lead. This is good!’
‘This is not what I wanted,’ he spat. ‘A dive bar filled with vampires feeding off humans? This isn’t the community I planned! I should have been paying more attention. I should have never allowed this to happen! It was supposed to be safe here, it was supposed to be a place where things like this wouldn’t happen. Otherwise what was the point of setting up away from you?’
I suddenly understood. ‘Those humans want to be there,’ I said. ‘Unpleasant as we might find the idea, they’ve chosen to do this. And those vampires need to drink. They won’t survive if they don’t have access to blood. At the end of the day, they’re not doing any harm. They’re not hiding. It’s out in the open. It’s better this way.’
‘It’s not right, Charlotte,’ he snapped. ‘They’re not right.’
‘Didn’t you see what was going on in there?’ I asked. ‘They were scared of us. That’s what the show was for when we entered. Those vampires have spent their lives hiding from the world. Now they don’t have to hide but they’re still not treated like real people. They’re shut away behind their own barricades. The wolves treat them like some kind of sub-species. The vampires are half expecting to get their heads kicked in at any moment.’
‘My wolves do not treat them like that.’
I took his hands in mine. ‘You’ve not been paying attention,’ I told him. ‘And that’s not your fault. You’ve been mired in your pain and your grief. Let’s face it, things still aren’t great for the vamps. Yes, their powers are enhanced because of the magic in the air but so are their vulnerabilities. They can barely spend any time outside because of the sun. They’re loathed by just about everyone else in Manchester. Maybe this will turn out to be a good thing,’ I said. ‘Maybe it’ll highlight their plight, stop this place from being a powder keg and turn it into somewhere everyone can be welcome. Maybe we all needed this to open our eyes to what’s really going on.’
Monroe gazed at me for a long moment. ‘Unless,’ he said eventually, ‘deep down they’re all like this Philip, and they’re all capable of killing at any time. No matter what the vampires are feeling, Valerie is still a corpse. And, if you’re right, a vampire killed her.’
I swallowed. Despite my sympathy for the vampires and their plight, I couldn’t lose sight of what had happened. ‘Valerie’s killer deserves to be brought to justice.’ My voice hardened. ‘It will happen, make no mistake about it. But the people in there think we’ll kill Philip if he’s the culprit. That’s why they said to make it quick. If we do that, we’re the ones who are monsters.’ I looked away. ‘Maybe we are all monsters in the end.’
‘I’ve always been a monster.’ Monroe laughed harshly. ‘Whatever. If Philip did this, we can’t shove him out of the city and let him loose on the rest of the world. He’s our problem and we’ll have to deal with him. We exiled Max. But a stone-cold killer who’s also a vampire? That’s an entirely different scenario.’
I breathed out. ‘Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But we can’t let every vampire be tarred with the same brush.’ I smiled sadly. ‘Besides, this community is safer than you think. Valerie wasn’t killed here. And Philip, if he is our killer, doesn’t live here either.’
Monroe looked away. ‘Maybe you were right,’ he said distantly. ‘Maybe isolation from others was the worst possible thing I could have encouraged.’
‘Not everything is your fault, Monroe. You made the best decision you could with the information and feelings you had at the time. We’ll find Valerie’s killer and then we’ll deal with everything else. We’ve got this.’
For a moment he didn’t react then his hands squeezed mine tightly. ‘It looks like that break in the Travotel worked for you,’ he said gruffly. ‘You’ve made a sudden return to blind optimism and care for the whole community.’
I grinned. ‘I can highly recommend a day or two away.’ And, I added silently to myself, it was amazing what a big problem could do to provide focus and clarity. There wasn’t time to feel stressed about other worries and issues. Perhaps every cloud did have a silver lining.
Like he’d read m
y mind, Monroe tilted his head and offered me a crooked grin. ‘I could do with more sunshine in my life,’ he admitted.
A thrill ran through me. If that didn’t brighten me up, nothing would.
‘Go on then,’ Monroe said, gazing up at the red-brick house where Philip, the potential murderer, was supposedly staying. ‘What are the odds that he is the killer we’re looking for?’
‘I’m not a police investigator,’ I said.
‘No,’ he conceded. ‘But you worked for the police and I bet you picked up a lot from them. You’re too curious and too nosy not to have rifled through their papers and paid attention to their procedures when you were cleaning for them. Anyway, I know you’ll have already calculated the odds in your head.’ He leaned towards me. ‘From what I know of you, you’ll be spot on.’
‘Three to one,’ I told him. ‘It’s not looking good for him.’
Monroe nodded. ‘But it is looking good for us.’
I could only agree. As long as Philip the vampire had scratches on his skin, we could prove we had our man. I hoped so. It would be great to think that Monroe and I had solved a murder in a mere morning. It would certainly deter anyone else from thinking about doing something similar – and it wouldn’t lead to further misery and accusations for the rest of the vampires.
‘Shall we knock?’ I asked.
Monroe shrugged. ‘Sure.’ He walked up to the front door but it wasn’t a fist he raised to it. He threw out a powerful kick, splintering the wood and causing the door to crash open. He turned and grinned. ‘Knock, knock.’
I rolled my eyes, but secretly I was pleased to see that Monroe was acting more like the wolf that I knew. Yes, he was mercurial and still suffering badly but it was good to know that the old, arrogant Monroe lurked behind those blue eyes.
