Under a Blood Moon: Death Witch, Supernatural Investigative Unit, page 18
“You know this guy, Mal?” Danny’s curiosity overpowered him as we walked away from the bay.
“He and Jakob are friends.” I stripped off my bloody latex gloves, wondering what else I could say.
“Best friends,” Mark corrected from ten feet away. I muttered something about vampire hearing and went to interview the man who’d reported this fiasco.
Looking at the owner of the garage made me wonder what Greg would have looked like in twenty years if he hadn’t taken that fateful motorcycle ride. The owner was the same type of man: stocky without being fat, medium height, with a few days’ worth of salt and pepper stubble to match his hair. He looked shaken but was doing his best to cover it.
“Can you handle a few questions?” I tried my best to sound non-threatening.
“Yeah, sure, can you tell me if they found all of them?” He rubbed his hands along his pants, one foot jiggling.
“First, you’d have to tell me how many people that would be. Why don’t we start at the beginning? Was the shop open today?”
“No, we’re closed half a day Sunday and all day Monday.”
“So the last time you were here was when?”
“Sunday afternoon. Mike asked me if he could use the lift. He picks cars up cheap, overhauls them, then sells them for side money.”
“Is that his car on the lift—older four door?”
“Yeah, did you see if it had new brakes? That’s what they were going to do Sunday, new brakes and maybe new rotors. They might have played with the engine too.”
“I didn’t notice, sorry. Would Mike have been here alone?”
“No, I mean the three young guys were thick as thieves, they were all complete grease monkeys. They would have been here. Maybe Jamie, too. Jamie can strip gears like nobody’s business, if they were smart they called Jamie.”
“So we’re looking for the bodies of four young men?”
“No, sorry.” He shook his head. “Jamie’s a girl.”
“Three men and a woman?”
“Yeah, but they’re still kids. You know, in the mechanics program over at the community college and all.” His voice went shaky, making me think he was going into shock.
I glanced at Danny, who looked pointedly toward an ambulance that had come with the initial call. I got the hint and ended the interview, gently suggesting the garage owner get checked out. We headed back inside. Mark was giving instructions to my forensics officers. Of course, I had no right to be possessive. Still, he was FBI, and I was a cop.
“I guess we’ll have to wait on the lab to see if either of those is the girl?” Danny asked me looking into bay.
“Both male,” Mark said from across the room. His habit of answering questions no one asked him was decidedly grating. I did my best to swallow my anger. Jakob had been close to him for centuries. Mark had to have some redeeming quality. He walked over to us.
“The corpse is male, sure, but the rest is nothing but tissue and blood. How can you tell?” Danny asked.
“Female bodies smell different,” he said offhandedly. “I’m going to need all of your case files.”
“I can get them together for you tomorrow morning.” I pointed to the large wall clock. “I’m officially off duty.”
“I need them tonight. The more time you waste, the more people die.”
I seriously doubted the files would stop the wolves from killing anyone tonight, but I wasn’t going to argue with someone who was being so asinine.
“I’ll have them emailed to you in the next hour, unless you’d like them delivered here?” My sarcastic tone was lost on him as he had once again walked away.
“That’s fine.” He dismissed me without looking back.
Danny rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. It was a smart move. Mark could hear us and, unlike every other vampire in the world, he wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.
Left with nothing to say and nothing much to do, Danny and I called it a day. We drove out of the parking lot while someone lifted the police tape to let us through. The full moon had chased away all but two of the most hardened camera crews. I was trying to catch the name of the station, so I could send a note telling them how touched I was, when Danny interrupted me.
“What else can you tell me about the less than personable Special Agent Zollern?” Danny asked, waiting until we drove past the group.
“You know how Jakob hasn’t hunted werewolves since they were declared people?”
Danny nodded, “I seem to recall something to that effect. He’s a pretty moral person.”
“I don’t think Mark suffers from the same moral restrictions.” I was terse but then thought better of it. If Danny was going to work with him, the details might help. “Mark was attacked by werewolves.”
“I guessed as much from the scars.”
“I don’t think he’s gotten over it. He’s been hunting werewolves ever since, and that was four centuries ago. I think it made him a little psycho.”
“Yeah, but he’s a psycho on our side, Mal. That’s a good thing.”
19
However safe it might feel to spend the night at Jakob’s place, it was always good to get back to my own perfectly matching modern apartment. I’d bought it furnished, so I couldn’t take credit for the way it looked. But as girl who’d grown up with cast off furniture, I loved the way everything matched. I dug a box of mac and cheese out of the cabinet. I’d grown up eating frozen dinners and Happy Meals while my mother worked or later struggled to get through her battle with cancer.
No one had bothered to teach me how to cook, so anything beyond boiling or microwaving felt like too much work. Besides, mac and cheese was the kind of horrible but great-tasting comfort food Jakob would never understand.
I heard the phone ring and checked the caller I.D. before I picked up. I didn’t need another threatening phone call. It turned out to be Anna. I grinned as I answered.
“How did the new clothes work out?” she asked.
“I interviewed psycho werewolves, then a guy in shock, and I dealt with a heartless corpse. None of them noticed.”
“Bastards.” She shook her head hard enough that I could hear her earrings beating against the phone. “You try so hard to be a sexy woman, and all they see is cop, cop, cop. It’s maddening.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t care either way. There was only one man in the world I worried about seeing me that way, and he was already on his way over. Looking sexy was Anna’s obsession, not mine.
“Did you really call me to ask if the clothes got noticed?” I asked.
“No, I called to ask which outfit you were going to wear for tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” I parroted dumbly.
“The last Tuesday of the month! You know, Ladies Night?”
I smacked my forehead with my hand remembering our monthly night out dancing. We’d tried doing dinner a few times, but it never worked out. As a practicing Pagan, Phoebe didn’t eat ‘dead animals.’ Isaura was a Jewitch and kept Kosher. Anna preferred meat, grilled over a flame if she could get it. Dancing always went better than picking a place to eat. “I totally spaced girls’ night out. I swear this case is taking over my life.”
“I promise not to tell Phoebe. So, what are you wearing?”
“Ummm,” I stammered hoping she would tell me. After all Anna had bought most of my wardrobe. “I’ll have to come from work, see I have this crazy new schedule…”
“How crazy?”
“Like I don’t have to be in work tomorrow at 7:30, but I have no idea when I will be in work or if I’ll be able to come home and change.”
“If you don’t have to go into work, why don’t I come by tomorrow and we’ll pick something out?”
“That would be amazing.”
We chatted for a bit about Phoebe’s tiny attempts to get over the married man. We both suspected she would be looking for something casual tomorrow night. Rhythm, with her usual lack of morals, had started a pool on what kind of witch Phoebe would go home with. Anna had five dollars on a fire witch. Isaura had five on an air or water witch. There weren’t any death witches in town except me, so my only option was earth. Phoebe was not the crunchy granola type.
I was eating the mac and cheese out of the pot before I realized I could put my money on anything that wasn’t a witch. Anna congratulated me on my logic, and we said our goodbyes. A few minutes after I started cleaning up, Jakob arrived. I greeted him at the door with a kiss.
“You had something terribly bad for you for dinner, didn’t you?” he asked with a laugh.
“You can tell?” I covered my mouth with my hand.
My reflex made him laugh even harder. He pointed to the kitchen counter where the empty blue box was still standing. I felt myself blush, caught in epicurean sin.
“For that I’m making you dry dishes!”
I washed while he dried. Jakob asked about my day and I told him all the exciting details, deliberately saving my time with Mark for the end. I didn’t want to attack his best friend, but there were things I wanted to talk about. I hid my head in a cabinet as I put away the last of the dishes, hoping he would miss the hesitation in my voice. “Can I ask you something, uh, delicate?”
“I’ve slept beside you. There’s nothing too delicate for you to ask me.” He was waiting for me when I emerged from the cabinet with a smile that melted my heart.
I suddenly didn’t care about Mark or his interpersonal skills. I wanted to make the most of the hour or so before Jakob had to be at work. I reached over and kissed him. After the first kiss, I couldn’t stop. My tongue explored his mouth while I ran my hands through his short blond hair. I was ruining the way it looked, but it was so soft I couldn’t help myself.
“This isn’t really a question, is it?” he asked when we finally came up for air.
“Oh, no, the question wasn’t all that important,” I said. I stood on the balls of my feet to reach his earlobe. I nibbled softly, wondering how much longer it would be before we went upstairs.
“It seemed important at the time.”
“It was something about Mark, really, I can handle it on my own.”
Jakob stepped back from me.
“Ask me what you need to know, so we can get back to more important things without being distracted.”
I frowned. Damn his practicality. I could have happily put the whole thing out of my mind with a few more kisses.
“He seems so stiff. It’s like he doesn’t know how people act. But last night, he was fine. I’m worried it’s something about me or…” I took a deep breath and said it. “Does he want to annoy people? I mean, has he always been a troublemaker?”
“Always.”
“Well, as long as it’s nothing new because of me.” I walked forward, happy to move on, but he stopped me.
“It is and it isn’t. Mark…” He ran his hand through his hair, making it look even worse than I had. I knew that gesture. Jakob did it when he couldn’t think of how to say something. I wondered if the habit was older than America. “Mark hasn’t been around decent people much since he changed.”
“But he was around you. I’m betting that the two of you didn’t live on a deserted island. There were people around or other vampires or whatever.”
“We were around other people, but not other people he considered important. He’s always hunting, so there isn’t any way for him to stay in one place. He’s out of practice being part of society.” He shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. He hasn’t held conversations, hasn’t started friendships. In a lot of ways, he’s like a new vampire, still learning how to deal with the difference in who they were and who they are. He drives people away because he hasn’t learned how to balance what he can do with what he should do.”
“The way you have?” I leaned on the counter and watched him. “Like the way you never talk about what you feed on so I don’t leave you?”
“Yes,” he answered before he caught himself. I couldn’t stand the tortured look on his face.
“I wouldn’t leave you.” I wrapped my arms around him. “Not if you dined on the flesh of nuns and children.” He started to protest but I stopped him. “I know you’re a good person, and what you eat and how you eat it doesn’t change that. Knowing you so well, I know it can’t be all that terrible. Tell me or don’t tell me, it’s not going to change how much I love you.” I kissed him, trying to stop him from protesting my words. My kisses started in the kitchen but didn’t end until much later in the bedroom.
My body tingled with the pleasure we shared, but my mind kept coming back to the crime scene I’d been at only hours before. I searched for something to distract me.
“What did you do to Rick on the night we met?” I asked, drowsy from our lovemaking.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Is he still alive?” My morbid curiosity wouldn’t let it alone.
He laughed. “Eric was alive when I left him.”
“Why don’t you call him Rick?”
“Because it’s not his name.”
“You call Woldemar ‘Mark’, and that’s not his name,” I countered.
He laughed again, “I respect Mark. I don’t respect Eric.”
“Really? Why not?”
“He’s arrogant and stupid. I’ll be surprised if he lives to be one hundred.”
“But you didn’t kill him?”
“No.”
That answer had come out pretty quick. I asked another question. “Would you?”
“Why are you asking so many questions you don’t want to know the answers to?”
“Just curious?” I tried, but his look told me he didn’t believe it. “I’d like something to think about other than what I saw today.”
“Ah.” He pulled me closer to him. “Did I ever tell you the story of my youngest daughter and the fox?”
“Nope,” I said, suddenly eager. Jakob rarely mentioned his family. I was curious to hear any stories about them he was willing to share.
“The spring Hedda was five, she became infatuated with the wild strawberries that grew in the wood,” he began, but I fell asleep before the fox even made his appearance. Jakob must have left and gone to work, but his voice filtered into my dreams. He certainly wasn’t telling me stories then. My mind reviewed his body and the times he had touched me. I woke up from the dream aroused. By then, Jakob had made it back into bed next to me. I smiled but then stopped, cursing the sun that must be rising outside. With a heavy sigh, I snuggled back against his sleeping form.
After a minute, his hand moved over my breast, his finger gently circling my nipple. My body responded without my permission, forming it into a tight peak.
“You’re supposed to be dead during the day.” My tone was light, even if my words weren’t.
“Technically I’m dead all the time.” He rolled me over, pulling my body under him. His face was inches above me. “That doesn’t make me want you any less.”
I kissed him, hard and deep. I’d seen too many bad things to pass up this chance at pleasure, no matter how small. He kissed me back, matching my passion but adding his own gentleness. I ran my hands up and down his back, the smooth skin calling to my touch. My hands cupped his backside, sliding up from there to his narrow waist, pulling him closer to me. He kissed my neck gently.
“What were you dreaming of, my love?” he asked, his voice heavy with lust. When he spoke, his lips brushed my skin. I laughed into his neck, then grabbed his free hand and moved it between my legs.
“What do you think?” I teased.
He moaned at the hot wetness there, my body responding instantly. His fingers rubbed the swollen bud between my legs and I arched my back, pushing myself onto him.
My dream was foreplay enough. My body was ready for him. I called his name, begging him for more. He sank into me, inch by inch, turning my breath into rapid pants as waves of pleasure came over me. His body spread that blissful agony through me. He pushed deeper into me with each sweet thrust, but it wasn’t enough. I grabbed onto his hips and pulled him into me. Time lost all meaning as the sensations built. Finally, I tightened around him as everything peaked, heat and pressure exploding from me. I whispered sweet words and filthy encouragement until he leaned back, his eyes squeezed shut against his own intense climax.
“What did I ever do to deserve such paradise on earth?” he whispered, looking down at me. Half a dozen pithy replies sprang to my lips, but instead I kissed him. I cuddled with him for a few minutes, then finally had to ask.
“How are you awake?”
“I can stay awake after dawn. It just takes a good bit of effort.” He looked away, but not before I saw the guilt on his face.
“What are you looking so guilty about, hmmm?”
“There have been other times that I could have woken up but didn’t.”
“What you’re saying is that when I wake up aroused, you’re willing to spend the energy to stay awake?”
He blushed bright red.
“But you’re happy to sleep through the dishes or saying hello to my friends?”
He looked so mortified that I couldn’t help but laugh.
20
There’s something decadent about taking a shower that lasts more than ten minutes. I reveled in the feeling. Mark might strike me as cold and prickly but working with him meant I could savor the simple parts of my morning. Thanks to that alone, he earned a second chance.
I dried my hair while watching Jakob sleep. At rest, his high cheekbones made his face look chiseled. My adoration was rudely interrupted by the phone.
“Chica? What are you doing home? You’re supposed to be out catching the bad guys.” It was a good thing Jakob was a vampire; her voice carried enough to wake any sleeping human in the apartment.
“Good morning, Phoebe. I’m officially an FBI liaison now, so I have a new schedule.”
“Oh my, and who are you liaising with? Is he cute?”
Cute? Was Mark cute? I hadn’t really thought about it. Sure, the huge scars ruined the modern idea of beauty, but he must have been pretty stunning before he got them. “I’d say he’s above average,” I decided. “Good looking with a few points knocked off here and there.”
