by Jen Pretty
I moved closer, peering at the skin beneath her ear as if I could make the star I had seen on the other victim appear.
"Did you see the imprint in the skin? Just in this area?" I asked the coroner.
He stepped up beside me. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't see anything."
"Maybe you were seeing things," Falcor said.
"I wasn't seeing things. I know what I saw." My magic spilled out like a dam breaking. It flowed easily onto the table and the wraith of the woman popped up like a jack-in-the-box.
The coroner screamed and stumbled backward. A look of horror on his face.
"Sorry," I said, but when I turned back to the table, it wasn't the wraith of the woman whose body was under the sheet, it was a man whose face was torn and rotting. His scalp was peeling off and his hair hung in clumps, his eyes were just holes and worms wriggled and writhed around the empty sockets.
Bile rose, and I covered my mouth with my hand as Crow flapped across the room and screamed at the wraith, somehow making her vanish and the wraith of the girl on the table sat before us calm and waiting patiently.
"What the hell was that?" I asked as silence fell on the room.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Falcor was the first to speak up. "That was another one of your random wraiths unless there is another body here that you just raised."
We all looked at the coroner. "I don't have any other bodies here except the two victims of this murder." His face was still as white as the sheet.
"Maybe you should sit down," I said.
Dr. Elliot rubbed the back of his neck, still staring at the place the rotting corpse had been. "Yeah," he said, stumbling over to his desk and plopping down in his chair.
"Random wraiths?" Zander asked. "I thought you had to raise a wraith specifically."
"Our Selena is a bit special," Falcor said.
I glanced at Nick. But he was just staring at the floor as if he was lost in thought.
I turned back to the wraith of the young woman. She sat there silently blinking at me, waiting for her time to talk. I pulled out my pocketknife and slit my arm, putting the image of the rotting wraith out of my mind. There would be plenty of time to think about it later since there was no way in hell I would be sleeping ever again with the image etched on my brain.
As soon as the blood dripped off my arm and landed on the white sheet, the normal-looking wraith began speaking.
"You have to find my friend. She was with me. She has blonde hair and was wearing a sequined dress. Her name is Annie Lockheart. She is 20 and lives on Persia Street, downtown. Her mom will be freaking out already. You have to find her."
"Whoa," I said. "How do you know she is missing?"
"Because whoever killed me dragged her away. I watched him push her into a car and he drove away with her while I was still alive. I saw it."
I bit my lip. "Did you see what the man looked like?"
She shook her head. "It was so dark, and he wore a hood, but he was driving an old car. Like a station wagon. It had that old wood panelling."
"That's helpful. Is there anything else you can tell us?"
Her eyes lifted to mine. "He had a lot of teeth. Too many. And his breath was terrible."
I grinned sadly at her. "I'm sorry."
She shook her head. Just find Annie. Please?"
"I will." I knew in my bones that I was definitely dealing with a monster. Too many teeth? Vampires had sharp teeth, but only a normal amount. Like a human. This sounded more like something else.
I slit my arm and gave the wraith one last look as she faded back into her body. Then I turned to my motley crew of a team, none of whom looked happy, apart from Zander who looked quite intrigued by everything he had seen.
"Can someone talk to Annie's parents? Maybe they can track her cell or something?"
The coroner nodded. "I'll tell the detective."
I glanced back at Nick and Falcor, "Can we go? I'd like to go see the places they found the bodies."
"I already scouted them," Falcor said. "I'm ready whenever you are, princess."
"Don't call me that."
Falcor grinned and wrapped an arm around my back, grabbing Zander's arm at the last moment. The room spun, and I found myself in a grassy area behind an old warehouse. A few scrubby trees clung to life along the fence line, but otherwise, it was just trampled weeds and empty beer cans.
"This is where the second victim was killed?" I asked, searching for any signs of recent activity.
Falcor disappeared, and I hoped he was off to get Nick. The vampire would be extra pissed if we abandoned him there.
"They found her over there," Zander said as he started walking through the weedy area. "Hey, Selena, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," I said.
"Is Nick always so... um, intense?"
I scoffed. "I didn't think so, but I guess I don't know him that well."
A branch snapping behind us had me spinning around. A face I hadn't expected to see again was standing right there. Anlon.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Hey, Selena. I was just following up on the case."
"Really? I didn't think you were on the investigation," I said.
Anlon bit his lip and kicked a beer can. "Not officially. But I didn't want to leave you alone on this." He looked at Zander quickly before looking back. "I mean, I know you aren't alone. I just thought I could be helpful."
"Sure," I said. "This is Zander from the DPI. He is helping too."
The two men shook hands. I took a few seconds to wonder if I should be worried that Nick and Falcor hadn't shown up yet, but then they appeared a few feet away. Both were rougher looking than when I had last seen them as if they had been in a bit of a scuffle, plus they were both breathing hard, but they seemed to have worked out whatever problem they had, so I ignored it.
"Where was the body found?" I asked Anlon, but Falcor cut him off before he could speak.
"Follow me," Falcor said, wrapping his hand around my arm and shifting us across the field. "Listen, are you sure about this Anlon guy?" Falcor's voice was so low, I didn't think Zander or Nick would have heard it.
"He seems Okay, why are you asking?"
Falcor's mouth opened to reply, but Anlon was also a wizard and the other three guys appeared beside is before he could speak.
Falcor pressed his lips together and looked away from the other wizard.
"The body was found just under that tree," Anlon said. "By a man who brings his dog here to run. It's fully fenced, and he said there isn't usually anyone here during the week. Just on weekends when the kids come here to drink and party."
I stepped toward the little scrub trees and crouched next to a flattened area of grass. If the police had done any investigating in the area, there was no sign of it now.
Crow landed on a branch in one of the trees and called out. His crow was returned by other crow calls, but he ignored them and peered down at me.
"What do you think?" I asked him.
"You talking to your bird?" Nick asked from behind me. I glanced back to find he was right behind me; the rest of the guys were still where I had left them.
"I was just telling him not to drink the dishwater." Repeating back to him the line he had given me when I caught him talking to Crow back home in my diner. He grinned, and I was sure it was his first relay smile since we left home.
"I got a gig tonight at a rave," he said. "If whoever is doing this is targeting party kids, maybe we can find them there."
I nodded. The place was of no use. It was just an empty lot. "Can we go see where the first victim was found?"
"Yeah, Apparently Zander knows where it is, so he and Falcor will take us all together."
"Is everything okay with you and Falcor?" I asked, grabbing Nick's arm to stop him from leaving yet.
"No worse than usual," Nick gave me another smile, and I almost felt like things with us were all right again. I hoped a night of playing music for a bunch of wild par
ty-goers would help Nick deal with whatever was going on here. I could understand if he just didn't like his family, lots of people didn't like their families, but Nick was apparently some kind of vampire royalty. If it wasn't for this whole murderer thing, we could have time to talk about it. If he even wanted to talk about it.
I let go of Nick's arm and we walked back to the others.
"I'll take Selena, you can take the vampires," Falcor said. Before anyone could object to the plan, Falcor wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we shifted from the abandoned lot and ended up in another one. This one had bigger trees, and the ground was paved or had been decades ago. Now the pavement was cracked and crumbling. More beer cans littered the ground.
Anlon showed up with Nick and Zander a moment later.
Nick had the scowl back on his face, but Anlon cleared his throat. "The party was at the far end, they had floodlights hooked up to the building and a DJ."
It was nearly 200 feet away. Far enough to leave this part of the lot in darkness even if they had a lot of floodlights.
"He was in the trees here?" I walked into the small forest and looked around. The trees cut off my view of most of the empty lot. One tree had a thick branch about thigh-high that was worn across the top as if many people had used it as a bench. I sat down and scanned the area. Some garbage littered the fence line about 10 feet away and the tree straight ahead had initials carved into the bark. JP plus KR and a crude depiction of a male anatomy part. I glanced back at Nick who was watching me silently. I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't much of an investigator. If the dead couldn't tell me who did it, how was I supposed to be any help at all?
"There is a weird smell here," Nick said. "It was at the last site too. Like burning newspapers."
I dragged a deep breath in, but I couldn't smell it.
Crow popped in at that moment and landed beside me on the tree branch, then hopped down into the grass and began flipping leaves and looking for worms or whatever he ate. I watched him for a moment before finally giving up. I was about to tell Nick we should get dinner and get ready for the party that night when a glint of the sun caught my eye over by the fence.
I hopped up and ducked under a few lower branches, moving garbage carefully so I didn't cut myself on anything. Then I saw it.
A thin silver chain caught on the fence at the very bottom. I untangled it and pulled it free, finding a star-shaped pendant on the other end. One just like the one Lolita had been wearing when I met her the day before.
"What did you find?" Anlon asked from behind me.
"Nothing," I said, slipping it in my pocket. "I thought I saw something, but it was just garbage."
I rose and returned to Nick. "You ready to go?"
Nick looked at me strangely for a second, then turned to Falcor. "Let's head back to my parent's house, we can get ready."
"I'm staying at the hotel just up the road," Zander said. "Want to tell me where we will be tonight?"
"I'll text you," Nick said, grabbing Falcor's arm. The warlock raised an eyebrow but thankfully shifted us back into the mansion, leaving the outsiders behind.
"This," I held up the necklace as soon as the room stopped spinning. "Is going to be a big problem."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"Someone want to clue me in?" Falcor said.
I pulled the necklace out of my pocket and held it up. He narrowed his eyes at it. "I knew I didn't like that guy for a reason."
"It doesn't necessarily mean that Anlon is a murderer," I said, setting the necklace down on the small dining table in the middle of the kitchen area of the suite Nick's parents had put us up in.
"Well, it doesn't look good that his coven's item was found at the crime scene," Falcor replied.
"Who knows how long it had been there before today." I looked down at the necklace like it would tell me how it got to a crime scene. "How could the police not have found it?"
Nick scoffed. "They probably assumed it was an overdose even after obvious evidence pointed in a different direction. The cops here hate raves and kids who party."
"That's crazy. They were still someone's children and friends," I said.
Nick just shrugged.
We stood in silence for a moment, but it was broken by a knock on the door. It opened and the woman who had shown us to our room on our first day in Phoenix stepped inside and bowed at the waist. "Master Anick, your mother and father sent me to see if you will join them for dinner."
Nick's nose scrunched. "Yeah, all right." He muttered, turning back toward the bedroom. "Might as well get this over with."
The bedroom door clicked shut and the housekeeper or whatever she was stepped back out of the room, closing the door too. Falcor and I were left alone in the room. We shared a look and then split up. He went to his room and I joining Nick in our room.
The lights were all off in our room, but I could make out Nick in the corner, a glass in his hand. I knew immediately it wasn't tomato juice but told myself it was.
I sat down across from him on the bed and wanted to ask if he was okay, but I had asked it too many times already on this trip.
Nick pushed his green hair back from his face and sighed. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry. Let's just get through this and then you can go make the masses dance."
He nodded and threw back the rest of his glass of blood. I watched his Adam's apple bob in the shadows, then he set down the glass and rose to his feet. "My father sent a suit up for me to wear to dinner, but I'm going dressed for the club." His eyes trailed to me. "It'll be awkward."
I laughed. "You rebel."
It was sometimes hard to remember that Nick was in his thirties. He looked eighteen and acted like a rebellious teenager. I guess if you lived forever, there was no point growing up too fast.
I rose and rooted through my luggage until I found a tight, bright pink dress I had bought specifically for going out with Nick. Once I was showered, I quickly got changed.
When I stepped back out, I found Nick and Falcor in the main room sitting on the couch beside each other as if they weren't mortal enemies. It was nice. Almost comfortable. Until they noticed me.
"Holy shit," Nick said. It was exactly the reaction I hoped for when I bought the dress.
"Where is the rest of it?" Falcor asked with a snide look.
Nick’s elbow swung back and caught him in the gut, which caused Falcor to zap nick with his magic, shattering any peace between the two of them.
Nick rose, and I admired his tight jeans and the glittery silver tank top that clung to his chest. "Can we just go, please?" he said, glaring at Falcor.
"Whatever," Falcor replied. "I'm sure your parents will love me."
Falcor was wearing a suit. He had his dark hair slicked back and looked like a vampire, though I wouldn't tell him that. His pale skin and dark features were a perfect contrast to the dark suit he wore.
"I'm sure they will love you. Maybe you'd like to be their heir." Nick turned back to me. "But this dress makes it worth sitting through dinner."
I grinned and Nick took my hand, leading us out of the suite and then on a merry little tour though the giant mansion until we found ourselves in a rectangular dining room with seating for at least 20 people.
"Oh, there you are, dear," Nick's mother said. "Please sit down." She gestured to three place settings near the head to the table at the left of Nick's father. The first setting just had a wine glass, but the others had cutlery, I assumed, for Falcor and I.
Nick took his place, his father's sneer obvious as he inspected Nick's clothes. I had to admit, they weren't dinner type clothes, but Nick was determined to step out from under his father's thumb and maybe give him the middle finger while he was at it, so who was I to stop him.
"Anick, I put a suit in your suite," Amon, Nick's father said. He looked like a larger version of Nick. His broad shoulders and taller height obvious even while he was sitting down.
"It didn't fit," Nick said, moving his wine glass
slightly to the right.
"I find that doubtful," Amon replied. "You haven't changed in ten years."
"Leave it be," Mara, Nick's mother said. "We are glad you are here. Why don't you tell us how the case is going?"
Nick glanced at me then back to his mother. "Selena raised some wraiths, but they couldn't say who had killed them. The bites on their necks could have easily come from a vampire though."
A young man wearing a suit with tails like an old butler entered the room at that point, pushing a cart and Nick paused. The man set a tray in the middle to the table with a large decanter of blood, he then set a plate of food in front of Falcor and another in front of me. The food smelled amazing. Steak and fried mushrooms with a side salad.
"Thank you," I said to the young man, but he just backed out of the room.
Once he was gone, the conversation continued. "So, you haven't any idea who the culprit is?" Amon asked, reaching for the decanter and pouring the contents into the glasses in front of the vampires.
"No, but we have reason to believe the local witch coven might be involved somehow."
Amon's eyes grew round. "That would be a twist."
Nick picked up his glass and drank half of the contents.
"We should talk about you staying on in Phoenix," Amon said, his eyes firm as he stared at his son.
Falcor's knife scraped on his plate and when I glanced at him, his eyes danced with humour. He was having way too much fun at Nick's expense. I scowled at him, but he just popped a piece of steak in his mouth and chewed while he watched the family drama unfold.
"There is no reason to bring that up now," Nick's mother said in a hushed tone.
"There is no reason to bring it up ever," Nick replied. "You know I don't want to stay here, father. Besides, I'm doing important work with Selena."
Amon's eyes slid to me. "Does the Black Crow even need protection?"
