Save the Last Vamp for Me (7 page)

“Sure.” He kissed my cheek. “Tomorrow will be fun. I promise.”

I was finally going to meet his parents, which didn’t really fall under “fun” in my thinking, but I smiled anyway. “Yeah. We’ll pick you up Monday, Soames. I’ll call and let you know when.”

“All right. Good night.”

After waving them out, I went to my office and logged onto my computer. No email yet. I plugged in my phone after digging it out of my purse, and started the picture file transfer. Next step was hunting down photo paper for my printer.

By the time I had the tray loaded, all the images had transferred to the computer. Unplugging my phone, I dropped it back into my purse and began setting up the printing process. It wasn’t until I’d carried the photos to the War Room and began taping them in place that I noticed a defect in one. “Crap.”

There was a horizontal blur to the left of the first victim’s ashes. I checked the others, wondering if I’d touched the tiny lens on my phone, but they were all fine. Squinting at the blur, I decided it could be Stone’s shadow. He’d been standing in the right place when I snapped the first picture.

Minor mystery solved. I rolled my eyes at myself and finished the task before stepping back. I hoped the results looked professional as a thrill of excitement coursed through me. Vampires or not, this was a big case. One closer to those I’d helped the police with, instead of those that typically strolled through the doors of Arcane Solutions.

The excitement faded as I looked at Merriven’s section. Regardless of what Derrick thought, Merriven stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

I believed what Ginger had told me about the vamp, that he’d killed humans. Maybe he’d been able to keep that a secret from Derrick and his no-kill buddies, but other vampires with no problem eating people had known his secret. So why would he end up on the hit list, if he was really on the “kill humans” side?

No answer came to mind. I looked at the sections that also only had one victim, wondering if they had the same secret. Maybe, maybe not. It was definitely something to find out. If they did, it would certainly change who the possible suspects were.

Hey, maybe Esme found out Merriven’s secret, and told Ramon. Only she’d been killed before they could do anything, and then Ramon went vengeful, killed Merriven and the other two.

I snorted. Holes, there were many in that theory. After all, Lira had been killed after Esme, but before Dalton, and the last three of Esme’s bloodline were now kaput too.

They didn’t kill themselves just to give me something to do.

Though beginning to feel the effect of my long day, I walked down the wall, double-checking how each had been killed. That was actually pretty easy to determine, something I’d been surprised to learn in the early days of my career.

All of Esme’s family had been beheaded, Merriven too, but the other two victims had been staked.

At about a hundred years of age, vampires turned to ash when killed. What kind of ash told you how they’d died. If you burned a vamp, either with fire or sunlight, the ashes were a fine, light gray powder. Quite similar to the ashes you got if you burned a sheet of notebook paper.

Stake one through the heart, and the results looked like fireplace ashes. Some fine powder mixed with heavier gray and black grit, and small charred chunks. Only the chunks were bone, not wood. Lastly, beheading one left behind a sandy black grit that felt greasy.

I glanced at the table and realized no one had carried the sword in from Nick’s truck. “Argh.”

The jewelry was in my purse. I dug out the two baggies and put them on the table, intending to try psychometry on them come Monday.

We had one murder weapon, but something else had taken off the heads of the last three victims, which meant a total of three different types of weapons were used. That could mean one killer who liked to mix things up, or multiple killers.

The killers could be anyone. Vampires weren’t the only supes who favored old-school weaponry. I’d seen both Logan and Nick use swords, as well as Thorandryll and my boss.

The occasional pile of vamp ash would be discovered around the city, leading to rumors of a vigilante group on the prowl. If there really was such a group, they could be humans.

Or psychics.

A few of those piles might’ve been caused by me, except I tended to use my pyrokinetic ability, leaving the finer, light gray ash behind any vamps who decided to jump me. That stuff seldom ended up in a neat pile, what with the death gyrations. Any that did pile up could be scattered by the lightest of breezes.

Of course, I wasn’t the only psychic in town. Just the only one with more than one or two abilities. I grabbed a dry erase marker and moved to a clean white board to make a list of potential suspects.

My job was the find the real killer or killers, not to point fingers at Derrick’s political opponents to make things easier for him.

I hesitated before adding “psychics” to the list. Turning vampires over to vampires was one thing, but humans? Shifters or elves?

That would be a problem, since I felt certain vamps didn’t have a prison system offering three squares a day, exercise time, and a work program. “I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.”

Decided, I capped the marker and stepped back to check my list. Vamps of either party, shifters, elves, the rumored vigilante group, and psychics. After a second, I added one more to the list: humans. Some teen’s family could’ve gone proactive or on a revenge bender.

Fully satisfied I’d covered all potential suspect bases, I left the marker on the table, grabbed my purse, and left the War Room, locking the door behind me. Once in the hall, I called Leglin out of my office, and off the giant doggy bed I kept in there for him. “Let’s go home.”

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T
hanks to a muddled nightmare that included a rotting Ginger, Henry Wilkins’ flashing straight razor, and a zombified Dalsarin riding Apep, Eater of Souls, as they chased me through tunnels spewing blood from fanged mouths, my sleep wasn’t particularly restful.

They cornered me, and my eyes popped open as Apep began to strike. I barely managed to swallow the scream burning in my throat while focusing on the four dog noses inches from my face. My voice was hoarse. “Guys, come on. We’ve talked about dog breath first thing in the morning.”

“Were you chasing rabbits?”
Bone tilted his head more. The other three drew their muzzles back and jumped off the bed.
“You sure were running and whimpering.”

“No, I was being chased.” I turned my head to check the time, only to sit upright in a panic. “Crap! I overslept. Move, move!”

I had forty-two minutes before Nick was supposed to arrive, and spent seven of them apologizing and soothing Speck after dumping him off the bed with the covers when I threw them off. He’d tucked in between the top sheet and comforter, and was so light, I hadn’t realized he was in them.

Even so, I slid on a pair of red deck shoes at the same time the doorbell rang.

“Nick’s here!” Tonya yelled over the thunder of tiny paws—how such small dogs made so much noise running was a mystery to me—and the shrilling chorus of their welcome-slash-warning.

“Thanks! I’ll be out in a minute!” I yelled back, giving myself a final once-over in the full-length mirror mounted on the back of my bedroom door. My choice for the day was dark denim capris, the red deck shoes, and a red, short-sleeved polo. Cute, but suitable for light hiking. Nick had told me we’d have to do some walking to reach the village. I hoped the village didn’t prove to be of the primitive type. Grabbing my purse and a dark blue, zip-up hoodie, I rushed to the living room. “Hi.”

Nick wore a baby blue tee, jeans, and black running shoes. Plus a big smile that made his chocolaty brown eyes appear to twinkle. “Hi. Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Not that we were allowed to leave right away. Mom came to tell him hello, and she shoved a large, Halloween-themed tin into my arms.

“There’s four dozen peanut butter cookies in there. Nick’s favorites.” She beamed at him.

“Thanks, Sunny. That was nice of you.”

“No problem. You two have a nice day.” She waved us out, but not before I pecked her on the cheek.

Outside, Nick helped me into his truck. “How did the pictures come out?”

“Pretty good.” I was smiling. He was in a great mood, a combination of happiness and pleasure flowing heavily from him. I soaked it in, letting it flush the dregs of my freaky nightmare away, and we were off.

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T
he entrance to his pack’s territory looked a lot like the drive to leading to the house I wanted, just five miles past it and on the opposite side of the highway. The turn-off was nearly hidden by mesquite trees and overgrown brush, but the drive itself was graveled and well-maintained.

It was also an S curve, blocking the view of a small parking area where two neat lines of vehicles sat. The only two openings to the rectangular space were the drive and a dark gray, moss-encrusted stone arch. The day was a lot darker through the arch, because it opened onto a forest. “Not sure I’m ever going to get used to pocket realms.”

“They made things a lot easier after the Melding, since most of us weren’t displacing human property.” Nick guided his truck into the first line of vehicles. “You’re going to like this. Our territory’s beautiful.”

“I bet.” Actually, I thought the forest looked spooky. All those trees...anything could be hiding in there. Like a huge pack of wolves.

I followed Nick out, almost forgetting the tin of cookies, and wished Leglin could’ve come with me. It would’ve been rude to ask, considering the general dislike and fear most shifters felt toward elf hounds. Plus, probably uncomfortable for Leglin and possibly a sign of distrust, which wouldn’t make this visit any more auspicious.

Not that I was expecting it to be easy. This was not a normal “meet the parents” deal. It couldn’t be when the parents were shifters and my boyfriend had a ring in waiting.

“Well, come on.” Nick took the cookie tin and led the way to the stone arch. The temperature dropped a good ten degrees when I followed him through it. The smell of sun-baked dirt, mesquite, and dryness became cool, pine freshness. I drew in a deep breath, even as a shiver tickled down my back. “Mm.”

“Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yeah.” Also cooler than I’d expected, so I put on my hoodie as we set off down a rather broad dirt path. It only took a few steps before the feeling of being watched raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. I didn’t see anyone upon casually looking around.

It’d make sense there’d be guards, keeping an eye on the way in, so I did my best to ignore the sensation. I had permission to be here. Now that I was, I could probably teleport in whenever I wanted to. I’d been able to teleport into Thorandryll’s fairy mound. No, Logan had told me it was called a sidhe. Anyway, I could teleport into the Barrows too, but tended to use conventional entry methods because appearing smack dab in the middle of vampires made my stomach clench.

We only walked for about five minutes before a trio of people appeared further down the path. One was carrying a toddler. The man in the lead waved at us, and Nick waved back. “That’s my dad and mom.”

“Oh. Cool.” We met halfway between our respective points, and his dad took immediate charge.

“Keith Maxwell, Alpha of the Three Rocks Pack. Call me Keith.” He didn’t offer his hand. “My mate, Annie.”

“Discord Jones. Pleased to meet you both.” I wondered who the woman holding the toddler was.

Keith half-turned. “Our grandson, Jake. He’s Patrick’s first born.”

I gave the kid a little wave and smile before meeting the woman’s eyes, even though my assessment of Patrick had just taken another deep plunge. “I bet you’re his mom.”

“Susan,” she responded, her tone rather subdued. Keith moved, blocking my view of her.

“I thought we’d take a short walk before lunch, show you around a little.”

“Sure.” Patrick appeared on the path several feet behind them. He ambled up, took Jake from Susan, and apparently dismissed her since she turned and walked away.

“Psychic Girl finally made it.” He nuzzled his son’s cheek. “Look, Jake, that’s a human.” He grinned. “He’s never seen one before.”