In the Blood

by Katherine Kim

  In The Blood

  Katherine Kim

  In The Blood © 2019 Katherine Kim. All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, at katherineukim@gmail.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Follow me on Twitter @katherineukim or on Facebook www.facebook.com/katherineukim

  Cover by Venkatesh at Killer Book Covers

  Copyright © 2019 Katherine Kim

  All rights reserved.

  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

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Books by Katherine Kim

  This one’s for Margaret, who has helped me focus for years.

  Keep up with new releases, giveaways, and other antics by joining my email community. You’ll get news of releases, a free short story, updates from any shenanigans I get up to, and all sorts of things!

  1

  “I’ll have one latte and one black coffee to go, please! Oh, and one of those apple danish things, they’re so good!” Caroline smiled at the guy behind the counter. It was a hot, kinda gross morning outside, but good coffee and a pastry could solve almost any problem at this time of day. She wasn’t going to be so generous as to share her breakfast, but Darien had been pulling some very early mornings recently so a cup of decent coffee wasn’t too much.

  He grinned back. “Our new baker is pretty good, huh? And she’s, like, everyone’s grandmother who bakes and fusses over us. I think she’d fed us all at least twice on her first shift. She’s been here a couple of months and we’ve gotten way busier.” He punched a few buttons on his screen and took her money. She tried to imagine this guy with his ear gauges and tattoos being fussed over as he handed her the plain coffee and the paper bag with her pastry, and couldn’t quite make the picture form.

  As Caroline moved out of the way of the next customer to wait for her drinks, she smiled at the older woman who bustled out through the swinging doors with a cart of fresh goodies. She had hair that was more salt than pepper piled onto her head in a loose bun, and a twinkle in her eye that seemed to stay even when she wasn’t smiling. The woman just reminded Caroline of Mrs. Claus in the off season, and there wasn’t anything she could do to shake it.

  She also seemed to be on the phone.

  “Yes, sweetie, I know. I miss him too,” Mrs. Claus was saying, and Caroline noticed the bluetooth earpiece blinking under a swoop of hair. “He was my baby brother, and I still can’t believe he’s gone, honey, but…”

  Caroline stared at the menu and tried not to listen. There was grief in the woman’s voice, and worry for whoever was on the other end of the call. It hurt to hear it.

  “I know sweetheart. I know. And you know I’m doing everything I can. Yes, dear. I know. Okay. You be careful, okay? I’ll see you for dinner. Love you.” Mrs. Claus fell silent for a moment before letting out a long sigh and shaking it off.

  “Your niece okay?” The girl filling cups as fast as she could asked over her shoulder.

  “She will be. Grief is tough, and she was very close to her father.” The woman’s twinkle seemed to fade briefly before she shrugged. “It’s still pretty fresh for her, you know. It’s only been about six months, but she’s found a project that seems to be helping to keep her focused. So there’s hope!”

  “Well, that’s good.” The barista turned and called “Latte for Caroline?”

  The perfectly turned out blonde woman at the reception desk smiled perfectly. She saw that Caroline was alone and as soon the fancy door into the hallway closed, she relaxed into a much more natural grin. “Morning, Caroline! How’s the outside world today?”

  “Good morning, Jeanie, do you actually live here?” Caroline laughed and rested the cups of coffee on the edge of Jeanie’s desk.

  “God, definitely feels like it some weeks.” Jeannie made a pained face, then jerked a thumb back to the plain-looking door behind her. “Between the goobers back there and the lawyers out here, it can be brutal.” Jeanie was the receptionist for both the law office and the FPAA main office, hidden behind walls of the posh legal firm.

  There was a tiny ‘branch office’ down on the first floor, where mages could get their license paperwork done and normal humans could file complaints, but since the wider paranormal world was hidden from public view, so was most of the Federal Paranormal Activities Agency.

  “Poor thing. You should come over for the next girls’ night with Julia. Otherwise, the outside’s no worse than usual, I suppose. How’s everything here?” Caroline said.

  “Oh, you know. No major disasters yet this morning, so far as I know. Just a couple of minor ones and a handful of irritations. You hear the traffic reports this morning?” Jeanie rolled her eyes.

  “Ugh. The bridge backup?” Caroline rolled her eyes in return. “Seriously, we’ve moved that guy what, two dozen times now, just since I’ve been here? What’s his fixation with the Rapid Run Bridge, anyway? It’s noisy, and smells like skunks and garbage.”

  “You know how some of the older trolls can get. I think he grew up near there or something, and now he’s older than dirt and can’t get past it.” Jeanie shrugged. “Hey, when are you moving into the dorms?”

  “Next week. Julia is bummed out that she won’t have a roommate anymore, which is kind of funny since she lived alone until I got here, but she’s been moping since I started packing up,” Caroline said.

  “More likely she’s sad to lose more opportunities to corrupt your young mind,” Jeanie laughed. “Just make sure to call her about all those wild freshman parties you go to so she can live vicariously though you.”

  Caroline nodded and laughed and pushed open the somewhat plainer door next to the reception desk with her back, to roll through it into the main office for the Federal Paranormal Activities Agency. The coffee was still hot and very full, so she was careful as she made her way into the bullpen. To the side, she saw Greg glance up from where he was joking with Zanna and Felix. His eyes lit up and he made an over exaggerated attempt to sneak up on her and grab the coffee she brought for Darien.

  “Not for you, Greg. Next time you have to get here at five o’clock for three days running, I’ll bring you coffee. Until then, get your own!” Caroline fended him off.

  Greg just laughed and circled around to her other side. “Awww, come on, C! You know you like me better than Darien!”

  “You on troll duty this morning? I heard the traffic reports,” she asked, dodging another of his attempts to steal her coffee.

  “Nah. Ollie took care of that. The Chief went too, actually.” Greg shrugged and started to wander back to his own desk. “Someone to speak the old guy’s language I guess. D’s in a meeting, so… I can have his?” Greg flashed a grin and took a couple of steps back towards her coffee cups.

  “No! Back off! Go get your own!” She shrugged her shoulder out defensively in his direction, laughing. Over his shoulder she saw the edge of an elbow as someone whipped around the corner.

  “What’s that on your
desk?” She asked.

  “Woah, sweet!” Greg leaped towards the sparkly thing, and Caroline rolled her eyes again. If she didn’t know better she’d swear he really was part puppy. Or house cat. She watched for a few moments while Greg batted the glittery orange yarn ball across his desk before turning away. They both knew perfectly well that one of the brownies from I.T. was teasing him, and he was usually more than willing to oblige. It was that kind of office.

  Finally reaching her own desk, she set her take out coffee cup down and dropped her bag onto her chair, then stepped over to Darien’s desk and put his coffee down right where he’d look for it when he came back. They weren’t technically partners— technically she was just an intern— but the two of them had worked together— along with Greg— since she’d started, and she’d already decided to stay on after the official end of the summer internship program when they offered her part-time hours around her classes.

  She’d asked Point— the new Chief of the department and actual, literal troll— how he’d managed that. Government offices weren’t always known for flexibility in hiring practices. He had just grinned at her in a way that showed almost all of his deadly sharp teeth and said.

  “Take it or leave it kid. I like you and Darien together. You make a good team, and you both somehow manage to get Greg to take things a little more seriously which is a damn miracle, but it’s your call.”

  She’d taken it. After all, continued employment by the Justice Department looked good on any resume she might want to put together, not that she was sure she wanted to get a job somewhere else. Besides, there weren’t a lot of ordinary humans in this field, with it being so specialized and well, paranormal. Her ability to just walk out the door and into literally any human establishment without having to undergo hours of disguise work in Human Relations— or training on how to behave for that matter— made her a valuable member of the team despite her youth and relative inexperience.

  And she liked the work. It was a little bit Men in Black and a little bit James Bond, with a sprinkling of Harry Potter. At least that’s how she explained her impression of it to Julia one night at the pub they liked to visit after work.

  The place catered to the paranormal community, and once she’d started going in there with Point, Darien, Greg, and Ollie— an ogre that mostly stayed in the forensics lab but occasionally came out on raids where his sheer size would be an asset— the bar’s staff had welcomed her into the fold as an honorary paranormal, so long as she didn’t try to trick the waitstaff into serving her alcohol. They even forgave her for being a ‘dirty fed,’ which they always said with a grin, and sometimes while flirting with one of the others she was with. The idea of it made her giggle, and she’d made a few friends there from outside the office.

  “Oh you are an angel, Caroline.” Darien dropped gracelessly into his chair and said nothing as he gulped the coffee.

  “Where have you been?” Caroline asked. “Greg said you had a meeting?”

  Darien groaned and leaned back in his chair and nodded. “Yeah. Agent Grace was here and I met him over in the law office. Just some paperwork and a few details. Looks like that ass Whitman helped facilitate the theft of way more than just that horn we investigated. Unfortunately, schedules meant that Agent Grace and I had to meet at way too early o’clock this morning. On top of that, apparently there’s a case of a guy going a little nuts and biting his neighbor who was a normal human. Wouldn’t be as big an issue if he wasn’t a vampire.”

  “Oh no! What happened?” Caroline herself knew what it was like to be bitten. She’d fed Darien, in fact, but she had already known what he was, and she had already been bleeding from a wound at the time. She couldn’t even imagine being jumped by a random guy with no understanding of what was going on.

  “Yeah, the neighbor’s okay, and is under the impression that his neighbor was drugged or something. We’re not sure what happened yet, but the vampire is in the hospital in a coma,” Darien sighed and sipped his coffee. “Point let me know about it in case there’s any anti-vampire fallout around here.”

  “Ugh. Well, I’m glad I can caffeinate you, then.” Caroline asked. “Greg looked a little extra distracted this morning.”

  “Yeah. The stakeout paid off about one this morning, so he’ll be in for his own pile of paperwork after he’s gotten some solid sleep,” Darien took a long sip of his coffee then grinned at her. “Ready to sort through this very exciting commercial enchanters case statements? He-said-she-said cases are always the most fun.”

  “This is definitely the thrill a minute life I expected when I came here,” Caroline said drily. “Every other day it’s killer elves or mass murderer mages. I swear, we should get hazard pay for this stuff.”

  “The glamorous work of the FPAA.” Darien agreed, reaching for his mouse.

  2

  The next morning went much the same as usual. Caroline stopped for coffee and a pastry again and chatted a little with the baristas.

  “Hey, what’s the band-aid for?” Mrs. Claus asked when she hurried out of the kitchen and saw Caroline waiting for her coffee. Caroline glanced down and laughed at the cartoon mummy bandaid on her arm.

  “I completely forgot about that! I donated blood yesterday in the park on the way home,” she said. She had a number of reasons to donate. There were the usual ones about saving lives and helping hospitals, but then the fact that she worked closely with a vampire who did occasionally need to drink blood factored in a bit more prominently in her decision. Darien bought his blood in magically preserved cans, a few at a time, from a licensed provider. She wasn’t sure exactly where the blood came from, but she knew that honest blood donations was part of it.

  “Oh that’s so good of you!” The woman gushed. “Such a responsible, generous thing to do!”

  “Well, I figure I’m young and healthy. I should help when I can, right?” Caroline smiled.

  “Oh, my dear. Here.” The Mrs. Claus lookalike bustled around behind the counter for a moment and then handed Caroline a paper bag. “We try to support the blood bank around the corner, you know. Usually a free coffee, but since yours is almost ready, I’ll just sneak you this. You had the apple one yesterday, right?”

  “Oh! You don’t have to—”

  “I insist, dear. No good deed should go unrewarded!” She said with a beaming smile. She looked for all the world like a proud grandmother and Caroline wilted under the assault.

  “Well, thank you,” she said.

  “You’re very welcome, my dear. And than you for your community spirit! You have a wonderful day today!” And with that the woman whisked her cart back into the kitchen, leaving Caroline shaking her head. Well, free pastries were’t anything to complain about for sure.

  It was a gorgeous day outside so far, hot and sunny but not too humid, and Caroline took her time walking from the coffee shop to the office.

  Jeanie smiled at her and winked as Caroline walked past, while using her very professional ice queen voice over the phone, and Caroline grinned back. It was a beautiful day so far and she was in a wonderful mood.

  “Hey, C,” Greg called almost before the door had shut behind her. His normally cheerful face frowned down the hallway at her. “Something’s going on. Point called Darien into his office a while ago and said he’ll want the two of us ready to roll when you get in.”

  “I knew it was too nice a morning to last,” she said. “Well, I’m here now, do we have any ideas about what’s up?”

  Greg shook his head and followed her to her desk. “Not even a hint.”

  Point’s office door opened and Darien stepped out, his eyes not really landing on anything. They watched him walk over to his own desk and sit down, mostly moving from long habit than any real internal decision.

  She looked at him and realized that he was wearing the same clothes he’d worn yesterday, though they were now much more rumpled. His face was pale with exhaustion and darkened with stubble, both aspects serving to highlight the slight bru
isiness around his eyes, which were red, though not from his magic like she was used to.

  “Wow. What happened?” Caroline asked. She’d never seen her friend so… wrecked. “Darien, are you okay?”

  Darien nodded. Then he grimaced and shook his head, and started to speak a couple of times.

  “D, what’s wrong?” Greg asked. He actually crouched down beside Darien’s chair and put a hand on Darien’s shoulder. Caroline wheeled her own seat over to his other side and reached out to put her hand over his on the desk and wrap her fingers around it. He took a deep breath and looked over at her.

  “My cousin is dead,” he said. Caroline’s odd gift let her hear the nuances to his blunt statement.

  She hadn’t even known it was any sort of real talent until she’d met Darien and he’d introduced her to the paranormal world, but she could hear shades of intent and meaning in a person’s voice, even beyond what was normally communicated. It had come in very handy since she’d started to learn how to use it more effectively. Lies, half-truths, greed, intended violence… she could hear it all from a simple hello, my name is…. She probably did qualify as very slightly paranormal herself, but not enough to need to register with the FPAA as a mage, and nobody seemed to know where her gift came from.

  Right now, Darien’s voice held grief, which she expected, but also shock and… anger? The look on his face did not speak to death by natural causes.

  “Oh no, I’m so sorry. How?” she asked. “What can we do?

  “She—” Darien’s face flickered from grief to fury, and his eyes hazed over red for a moment. “She was murdered.”