He let out a sigh and went to his office. He sat down and put the envelope on the desk. There was no reason he should be so nervous about it, but he needed to know what Ira wanted.
Finally he picked it up and opened it. He pulled out the contents. He swallowed as he looked at the picture. Abigail leaving the mansion.
Ira knew where the mansion was. Ira knew Abigail’s movements.
He was closing in on them. If Ira hadn’t taken the picture himself, he had people around the territory that worked for him. No one had led on to working for him, but it’s not like Levi could keep track of all the people in the city. It could have been any of the humans, shifters, wolves, anything in the territory.
He couldn’t ask the council for more protection because then he’d have to explain why Abigail needed it.
He flipped the photo over.
“My darling niece has grown so much. She looks a lot like Elizabeth.” -Ira.
Levi put the picture back into the envelope and leaned back in the chair. Ira was taunting him, and the other vampire was hoping Levi would rise to the bait.
But if he did, he’d show Abigail as a weakness. All he could do was hope that Ira was bluffing and wouldn’t touch Abigail.
Maybe there was a shred of humanity still left in him, and the fact that Abigail looked so much like her mother would keep him from hurting her. He could hope. And if not, then he hoped Abigail would be smart enough to either let Levi protect her or realize the threat and neutralize it.
Mario walked into the office. “Body is taken care of, what was the note?”
“A picture of Abigail. From Ira.”
Mario was quiet for a moment. “You know, if you would just tell Abigail what is going on and who she is—”
“Out of the question,” he snarled. “I swore to Elizabeth I would never tell Abigail. To tell her such would not only break my word but put her in additional danger as we’d have no choice but to drag her further into politics.”
Mario motioned to the desk. “And when Ira gets to her and tells her?”
“She won’t believe him. And he won’t get near her. My people always surround her.” He was lying to himself, and he knew it. Eventually, Ira would find a way in. “I can’t show her as a weakness, or he’ll know he has a way to control me. It puts everything in jeopardy. You know that.”
“I do, but if you tell her, maybe she’ll understand and agree to lay low for a little bit.”
Levi laughed. “You don’t know Abigail very well. That woman is stubborn and would never just ‘lay low,’ and we’ll be lucky if she even wants to see me again if she ever learns how much we’ve hidden from her. How much I’ve done to make sure she doesn’t learn our secret.”
“Then you better hope that you’re the one who tells her everything. Because if Ira does and Abigail confirms it, what do you think will happen?”
“She’ll turn away from me.”
Mario nodded. “Which creates an even bigger problem.”
Levi nodded. “I’ll consider it through the day.”
Mario bowed his head. “I’m just saying keep the options open.”
Maybe the vampire was right. Maybe Levi should consider telling Abigail about her origins and then just put her under lock and key in the mansion. He shook his head. Abby would never go for it. PIB was her life, and she wasn’t about to give up the life she built for herself, even a life built on lies.
He left the office and went to the garage door where the keys to all the vehicles hung. He grabbed the set for the Hummer just as he heard Abigail coming out of the basement. He met her by the front door.
She didn’t exactly look too happy with him, and he wondered if Simon had told her she’d be spending part of the night on pack grounds.
She raised a brow. “What?”
“Are you coming back here tonight?” He wanted her back here after dealing with the wolves.
She shook her head. “No, my house is clear. I just need to borrow a car until my insurance takes care of the investigation and gives me a new one.”
“Why didn’t your protection rune on the car work?” It wasn’t like her not to protect her things. She was paranoid, just like him.
She was quiet for a moment. “I honestly don’t know. I assume because Devon’s magic is much stronger than mine and more unwieldy so it can overpower my controlled magic.” That wasn’t comforting. Of course he knew there were people stonger than Abigail out there, but when she admitted it, it was never a good thing.
“Don’t blow this one up.” He tossed her the set of keys.
She snatched them out of the air. “I’ll try not to.” She shook her head. “It’s not my fault that it blew up.”
He grinned. “Keep telling yourself that. Keep me updated. I’ll let you know when I need you again.”
“Uh huh, thanks, boss. I’ll stop by eventually.” She waved to him as she left.
He watched her out the front door as she found the Hummer and climbed in. Tonight he’d leave her in the hands of Simon and hope nothing happened. Tomorrow she’d call him and probably yell at him about the werewolf politics. For now, Ira wouldn’t be able to get to her.
CHAPTER TEN
Levi woke the next night to the news alerts on his phone. Warehouse fire downtown. He blinked a few times at the images that came across with the article. Abigail standing next to Detective Mason. How on earth did taking down a suspect end in a fire.
Of course Abigail’s newfound ability might have had something to do with it. He switched apps on the phone to call her, but the device rang in his hand already.
“Hello?”
“Levi, it’s worse than we feared. I need you here to talk to the PIB agents about what is going on.” Grayson’s voice came across the phone.
Levi rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Okay, give me the location, and Mario and I will be there soon.”
“It won’t be long, Levi. We just need some confirmation on things and to catch you up on what’s going on. The vampire of the territory seems to think that you need to know.”
“And he can’t relay it through you?”
“No.”
Levi sighed. The stupid, stubborn vampires. “Okay. Let me grab Mario. I’m assuming you have secured places to stay and let them know I was coming.”
“Yes.”
“And terms of negotiations?”
“He simply asks that you don’t interfere with anything that doesn’t relate to the murders.”
That didn’t sound promising. The only advantage to this was that it allowed Levi to see what was going on in the territory first hand without being under the guise that he was a king’s guard. “And the blood-starved vampires?”
“We just need to figure out where they are coming from and who is controlling them. It seems that they’ve been traveling through the US. I’ll show you the map when you get here.”
There was a small beep when the vampire hung up.
Levi stood and stretched. He shook his head again at the news notification and decided against calling Abigail. If she was in trouble, he’d know. One of his people would have told him.
He walked out to find Mario standing there with Tara. “Thought you’d need to feed.” Mario motioned to the shifter. “I was tempted to bring you breakfast in bed, but I know how you like your privacy.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “I don’t take my meals to bed like you do, Mario.”
Tara snorted. “Come on, let’s get you fed and then you two can continue to harass each other.” She looked at Mario. “I’m glad you’re feeing better.”
Mario bowed his head and walked down the hall, leaving Tara there. Levi motioned down the hall. “Let’s go to the sitting room.”
She walked down the hall, and he followed. A quick meal and then off to help Grayson with murders and blood-starved vampires.
Tara sat down on the couch and held her wrist out. “Ready?”
Levi sat next to her, and she turned so, he was able to take her wrist. He ge
ntly bit into her wrists, the skin giving easily under his fangs, and let the warm blood coat his mouth and run down his throat.
The hunger in his stomach started to ease, and he felt the tension of the last few days ease a little bit.
He pulled back and bowed his head. “Thank you.”
She smiled. “Any time Levi. You have to take care of yourself too.”
“I try.” He stood. “Now if you would excuse me, I have some work to attend to.”
“Of course, always the busy vampire.” She stood and stretched. “I’ll let myself out.”
“Thank you again.”
She nodded and gave him a little salute as she headed out of the sitting room. Levi walked out and saw Mario standing against the hallway wall.
“We have to go to help Grayson.”
Mario shook his head. “You are going. I’ll stay here to hold down the territory.”
Levi hesitated for a moment.
“You don’t want to leave completely if Ira is lurking around. If he sees me around, he’ll think you’re nearby.”
Levi hated to admit it, but Mario was right. “Okay, I’ll go help Grayson, you hold the fort down. Abigail’s case ended so she shouldn’t be visiting.”
“But if she does, I’ll make myself scarce.”
“Perfect.” Normally, if Levi wasn’t here, Abigail just went about her business, usually to use the magical chamber. If she needed his help, she’d call first. She knew he didn’t just hang around the mansion all night.
“I’ll see you when you get back.”
Levi nodded and took himself to the location that Grayson had texted him.
Levi appeared in front of a house that looked like any other human home. Off-white painted siding, simple red door, and a one car garage. He looked down at his phone to check the address and then back up at the door. This was the right house.
Grayson walked out in his typical three-piece suit and fedora and looked at Levi with his two different colored eyes. “Come in.”
He followed the other vampire into the house and looked around. A few humans were sitting on the couch, and some were puttering around in the attached dining room. “I thought I was here to help with murders.”
Grayson nodded. “Downstairs is where we’re discussing what is going on and how to handle it. We have two local PIB agents assigned to the case.”
Great. “And they are?”
Grayson motioned to the two PIB agents at the table when they got to the end of the stairs. “Agent Melody Grace and Agent Brian Tomes.”
“And they check out with Victor?” Levi looked the two of them over. Agent Grace looked new to the force. Her clothes still nicely pressed, her hair and makeup done carefully, and he could see the effort on her face to keep her expression blank.
Tomes, on the other hand, was older. His shirt had probably just come out of the drier, his tie loose, and his face had extra lines etched into it making him seem older than he probably was.
“Agent Grace, Agent Tomes, nice to meet you both.” Levi shook their hands. “I’m being called in to help?”
They nodded and motioned to the pictures on the table. Each image showed vampire bite marks all over the bodies, not just on the usual feeding points. A common sign of an out of control vampire.
He picked up one image and looked closely at the man’s neck. Around the fang marks was a faint outline of human teeth. Someone hadn’t learned how to be gentle yet, or they were so far into bloodlust they couldn’t control it.
“Where’s Victor?” He put the photo down.
“He’ll be back soon. He’s talking to the latest victims’ families.”
Normally that was PIB's job, but it was a nice touch to have the vampire do it to show that not all vampires were out of control. “How many victims?”
“We know of five,” Agent Grace answered. “We don’t know where the vampire is or who it is.”
Levi looked over the pictures again. “Five that you know of. Has there been any disappearances lately?”
Agent Tomes nodded. “There’s been a rise in runaways and werewolf disappearances.”
This screamed Ira all over. Levi nodded. “Once I talk to Victor about what is going on, we’ll form a plan to find the one behind this.”
“What makes you think you can find them when PIB can’t?” Agent Grace asked, her voice tight.
Levi turned to her. “Have you dealt with blood-starved vampires before, Agent Grace?”
“Levi…” Grayson warned.
“No, sir I have not.”
“Have you ever been a blood-starved vampire?” The answer was obvious, the woman was clearly not a vampire, but it would help make his point.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “No, sir.”
“Levi, stop scaring the rookie?” Grayson asked.
Levi shook his head. “I’m not scaring her. I’m trying to make my point. Grayson and I are vampires. We have both been blood-starved before, so we know how they think, move, and the mistakes they will make.” There was no need to mention that there was probably a more powerful vampire behind this one. “Now, as soon as I talk to the territory leader, we’ll regroup and focus on finding this vampire and sending an executioner after them.” Or bring him to vampire justice, whichever worked out better.
The two agents looked to Grayson, and he nodded. “He’s my boss too. So what he says goes.”
Levi swore he saw Agent Grace roll her eyes at him. It was much like dealing with Abigail. Levi started flipping through the pictures again. Male and female victims, uncontrolled feedings, he paused at one that had marks around the wrist.
“Has your ME identified what made these marks?” He held the photo out to Agent Grace.
She nodded. “A medical restraint.”
“Did any of the others have the same marks?”
“Yes, we’re looking into it. We’ve talked to several of the hospitals, but none of the victims had been admitted recently.”
“We’ve also checked in the mental hospitals as well,” Tomes chimed in. “We don’t know where the marks came from.”
“Maybe they have an interesting sex life.” Grayson stepped up to the table. “It’s a possibility that someone is using the same type of restraints for bondage.”
Levi raised a brow and looked at Grayson. He shrugged one shoulder but remained silent. Levi turned back to the images. “Okay, guess we should start with lovers then.”
Neither of the agents said anything, and it made him wonder if they had thought about that. The door opened, and another vampire walked in. He stood a little shorter than Levi, brown hair and eyes to match, his polo shirt tucked into his jeans.
“Hello, Victor.” Levi held his hand out and shook it. “Good to see you again.”
“Levi.” Victor grasped his hand and patted his shoulder. “This is a doozy. I’m glad you’re here to help.”
“It seems to be one. I trust you and PIB have worked well together, so all information has been shared?”
He nodded. “I have, we’re working together on this, and it’s agreed that once we locate the vampire, it will be in PIB’s hand to execute him or her.”
“Good.” Though sometimes vampire justice worked faster, it was never good to suggest it in front of any PIB agent. “So what do we know about the victims?”
“The victims vary in what they are. Two werewolves, two humans, and a witch.” Agent Tomes spread the images out. “They’ve all died of blood loss from multiple feeding wounds from a vampire.”
“Are we sure it’s just one?”
“We’re hoping it’s one. All the bite marks measure the same.”
Levi nodded. “Okay, so they aren’t all supernatural. Do they have anything in common?”
“They were all on missing persons.” Tomes moved a folder forward.
“That’s all we know.” Grace flipped open the folder. “They didn’t know each other, and some of them are from out of state.”
Levi picked up the paper and looked
over it. “I’d like to see the bodies in person.”
“That can be arranged.” Grace crossed her arms. “But do you think you’ll be able to see something we can’t?”
Levi turned to her. “You better hope I do, because you are at a dead end, and I’m willing to bet more victims show up.”
“And why do you think that?” There was a tone in Agent Grace’s voice that said she didn’t like being questioned.
Levi took a deep breath and reminded himself that Grace was only doing her job. “Because I’ve dealt with something similar to this before. Ten victims, evenly split between supernaturals and humans.”
Ira.
He tried to push down the panic he was feeling. Mario would keep Ira away from Abby, for now.
“What do you think, Levi?” Grayson interrupted his thoughts.
“We’re dealing with the same vampire from that time. Or at least one of his minions.” Levi laid the paper back in the open folder.
The agents exchanged looks. Tomes looked uncomfortable for a moment. “Who are you talking about?”
“There’s a vampire named Ira who has some…dealings with blood-starved vampires.” Levi hesitated a little bit. There was no need to bring the agents completely into the loop. “It’s a Vampire King case. I need to get a message to his guards to see how he wants to proceed.” The lie came easily to him. What he needed to do was talk to the council and see if they needed to take over completely.
“You can’t take our case.” Agent Grace snatched the folder from the table. “The Vampire King agreed to work with the human authorities, not to sneak around behind our backs.”
Levi raised a brow at her. “Quite brave for a rookie. The vampires made a deal with the human authorities when supernatural creatures made themselves known to humans. That if our kind gets out of control, the King handles it. The council and the King will have to petition your higher-ups if they want to take over the case.”
Grayson stepped in. “Don’t worry, the King is reasonable, and it might be enough that Levi and I are on the case. It’s not like the King can just swipe it away from you.”
The King's Gambit Page 11