I knew my observations would be part of those notes so I didn't bother responding to that part. "We have several big name political vampires here, or at least some of their people. Holding press conferences after dark helps include them. Our city is one of the better ones for supernatural inclusion."
Nick snorted but that was it. I found myself wishing that our partnership would end at some point. We got along well enough, we made sure to work as equals, especially in situations like at the store, but our views were off. It was going to cause problems at some point.
My phone rang, when I saw the medical office's phone number I answered it. "Jason, what do you have for me?"
"Your third vampire victim, I was able to find out the cause of death for you." He paused for a moment and I was wondering if he was trying to be dramatic. "It was a heart attack. Most likely because of fear and shock. He had a weak heart, it wasn't the blood loss."
I felt myself relax a little bit. Shooting the vampire most likely wouldn't have saved the man. "Thank you."
"Of course." He hung up and I looked at Nick.
"Vampire victim died of a heart attack, not blood loss."
Nick's body slouched a bit as if he had been tensed about it too. "Thank you for letting me know."
I nodded and went back to my paperwork. The rest of the day needed to go quickly so that I could get the press conference over with.
Nick didn't join me for dinner. I had a nice quiet meal before returning to the office. The press was already gathering in front of the building, including Stephanie. The office had set up an area for them to stay in and no one was paying attention when I snuck back into the building. I came face to face with Agent Tomes and Agent Grace standing there. Nick came down the hall and shrugged.
"Boss Man said they are taking over the case. I swear I had nothing to do with it."
No, but I had a feeling it had something to do with Levi. I nodded. "That's fine, they can do the talking then."
Tomes cracked a smile. "And what will you do, Agent Collins?"
"I'll stand there and look beautiful." I batted my eyes and he suppressed a laugh with a cough. Agent Grace looked less than pleased.
Nick smirked. "If you're Agent Beautiful who does that make me?"
"Agent Beast, of course." I tossed my hair over my shoulder and then started laughing.
"This is how you do your job?" Agent Grace stepped up. "Laughing and making jokes. You've had a vampire related death and six dead bodies from an unknown assailant. Now is not the time for stupid humor."
I raised a brow. "How long have you been an agent?" I put my hands in my pockets and watched her.
She straightened herself up. "A year."
"How many bodies have you seen?" I asked. I wasn't trying to be mean and I wasn't trying to show her up.
She shook her head. "I'm not answering you. I don't have to, you aren't my superior."
"That's true, but let me tell you something; six months ago I nearly died because of a hex and a rogue member of a cult. He killed several people. Not long before that I had to hunt down a shifter who was trying to change children. The only way you're going to be able to survive this job is if you have a sense of humor or one hell of a therapist."
She met my gaze. "Death is no laughing matter, Agent Collins."
"On the flip side, I think death has a sense of humor." I gave her a forced smile. "Let's go greet the press, shall we? Stephanie is out there, and I'm eager to see what shows up in the tabloids tomorrow."
Everyone seemed to pale at that. She'd already openly said it was Levi's fledglings, but I'm sure she could come up with something better. Agent Grace moved towards the door and the rest of us followed.
More press had gathered during the small amount of time that we had been inside. The sun had sunk completely behind the mountains a few minutes before I had arrived so the flashing of the cameras and the lights from the camcorders were almost blinding. I put on my best blank face and Nick and I stood on either side of the podium while Grace and Tomes stepped up to the microphones.
"These attacks are not isolated incidences."
My heart dropped, that's not what we had been told to say originally. I kept the panic off of my face and listened as Tomes continued.
"Agent Grace and I have been tracking a group of vampires through the state. They are not part of the local clan. They are part of a group who are refusing to follow human laws or follow the truce laid out between vampires and humans."
Screams echoed through the crowd and the sound of squealing tires could be heard. A lot of the crowd scattered as a rust covered dented panel van jumped the curb and headed towards the podium. We scattered, dodging the van by jumping away. My feet hadn’t found solid ground yet when a vampire plowed into me. My breath rushed out of me and my head bounced off the concrete with a sickening sound. I’d be lucky if I only ended up with a concussion. I reached for my gun but his hand wrapped around my wrist. He bared his fangs in a wide mouth snarl.
Shots rang out, but before I could pinpoint the source the world around me changed. In a blur I went from a screaming crowd to an empty metal entrapment. My mind spun for a moment as I tried to get my bearings. Whatever I was in bumped and moved with me in it. The vampire pinned me to the floor, holding me down with his body and his hand on my wrist. Judging by the distance he managed to take me, I figured he was young, not strong enough to get me further away from the scene. Voices shouting directions alerted me to others that were nearby.
My heart pounded against my chest while my gaze scanned around. Rusted white walls went up to a celling. One side held a sliding door that creaked and squeaked with each bump. He’d transported me to inside the van. Shit. Over the vampire’s shoulder I could see another vampire waiting to the side and back of the driver’s head. I couldn’t move as fast as them and my chance of taking on vampires in close quarters and living was slim. I was either going to become a hostage or die. Even if someone had told Levi the moment I’d been taken he wasn’t going to be able to get to me before the vampires drained me. Both vampires in the back stared at me with blood-starved eyes.
I couldn't control the panic, my pulse sped up and my body refused to figure out how to breathe and that made the two vampires in the backseat with me grin. It pushed their blood lust further.
The one next to me grabbed my wrists and pulled me out from underneath the other one. He wrapped his arms around me from behind, pinning mine against my body. I forced myself to focus; I wasn't a damsel in distress. I was an agent in a bad situation. The one who had snatched me stroked my cheek and met my gaze with his crazed one.
"I get first bite." He grinned and I saw his fangs. One distracted vampire would help me, even if it was my blood distracting him. I hated being fed from and the fear that flooded through me did nothing to ground me in the situation. I needed to get control of my breathing and focus on the problem at hand.
The one behind me used one arm to brush my neck. My entire body tensed.
"We can share." He chuckled. "She's terrified."
"Remember, we need her alive." The person driving called out. I assumed he was a vampire like the other two, but it was hard to tell from my current position.
Them wanting me alive meant that they wanted me as a hostage, a bargaining chip, but at least it promised that I'd survive for a while longer. If I could take the two with me out, then I could survive this and escape a possible hostage situation.
Both of them bit at the same time, pulling me out of my thoughts of survival. I screamed and the one behind me tightened his arm around me. Thrashing would only add to the damage they were already causing to my neck. I needed them distracted and maybe, just maybe...
I felt his arm loosen around me. Witch blood was like a drug; they'd be lost to it. I slowly moved my hand and he didn't respond. I wiggled and managed to get my hand to my gun and get it out of the holster. Instinct kicked in at that moment and I shot the one in front of me and turned the moment the second one unlatched
. I shot him and kicked his body away. It rolled against the metal floor and against the side of the van. I moved to the driver, ignoring the feeling of vampire blood on my body. I put the gun against the top of the back of his head.
"Pull over."
He jerked the wheel throwing me against the side door of the van, against the dead vampires. I raised the gun to take a shot. He turned towards me giving me a wicked smile to match the madness in his red eyes. A glance out the windshield told me what his plan was. He was going to make us crash. Fear choked me as I realized that I was going to die. The vampire disappeared and the car smashed into the tree. The passenger front door met the tree with an impact that rattled my bones. Screeching metal and shattering glass surrounded me. The impact forced the back sliding panel to jump off its tracks.
My body hit the dirt and I gripped my gun, feeling grateful for the pain and pressure in my body because it meant that I was still alive. I couldn’t breathe around the sheer agony of being thrown to the ground, but I forced my eyes to open and my body to feed off the adrenaline coursing through me.
The driver materialized a few feet from me and sauntered towards me as I raised my gun. Squeezing the trigger, I put two bullets in his head before my arm dropped to my side. With half his head gone and most of his face missing, he still moved towards me. His mouth moved and a gurgled voice escaped.
"In life or death, we serve no king." Two shots rang out and they weren't from me. My body had given up and I was lying back in the dirt. All feeling of pain and fear fled from me as the world started to fade away. "Hang in there, Abigail." Oliver's voice was the last thing I heard and the only thing I could think of was 'what reason did he have to be right there?'
CHAPTER SEVEN
They say that when you die, you see a white light. I opened my eyes and saw a fire. Though fire wasn’t the right word. The coals of the logs glistened with red and orange crackling embers of the fading flames. The fireplace wasn’t familiar to me; I wasn’t at Levi’s then. Clearly this wasn’t home, but I was more focused on figuring out how I got here without dying.
"Can you move?" Oliver's voice caught me off guard. The memories came crashing back to me and I closed my eyes.
"I don't know. How am I alive?" The van had to have been totaled and everything had happened too fast for me to put up a circle. I wasn't wearing a seat belt and Goddess only knew how fast we were going. What happened to the vampire? I remembered shooting him, but I also recalled him talking to me. I opened my eyes and debated sitting up. I didn't feel a ton of pain, but I was willing to bet that when I sat up it would hit me like a ton of bricks.
"You were lucky I was there. I was able to heal some of your wounds." He said simply and came into my view. He looked just as always, a black three-piece suit, dark hair and dark eyes.
I thought back to the book my father left me. "You don't have that ability. It skipped you; you have the elemental ability like me." I took a deep breath and sat up slowly, using my arms to support myself against the mattress. My body was sore and pain sliced through me.
"Been reading your father's book, have you? I have the ability, it's not as great as your mother's, but I have it. I was able to heal the worst damage, to save your life. If I had healed all of it, you'd have a lot to explain when you return to work."
He didn't want to bring attention to himself; I'd have to explain it somehow. "What did you tell people when you found me? There were at least thirty reporters at the press conference. Someone else had to have followed the van hoping for a story."
"I followed the moment they grabbed you, I was there before any of the reporters. As far as they know you're at a private hospital. Levi knows that you're here and we paid off a few hospital workers to tell your superiors you are there."
I shifted so that I was sitting on the edge of the bed. "I would have been dead if you weren't there."
"Or you would have had a very long road to recovery." He handed me a glass of water. "What did they want with you?"
I shook my head and the room moved a little bit and my head pounded. I closed my eyes and took a breath to steady myself. "I assume they wanted me as a hostage, they wanted me alive."
"And you managed to kill two." He pressed his lips together. "Self-defense of course. I shot the third when your bullets failed."
I opened my eyes and sipped the water. "Of course. I had two vampires feeding from me. The last thing I wanted was to become their hostage. I've seen hostage situations with paranormal creatures, it normally doesn't end well."
"I've heard of a few cases." He sat next to me. "Levi wants you to stay away from the case and let Agent Tomes and Grace handle it on their own."
After being thrown into a van and fed from I was actually willing to listen. "It seems to be a continuation of their case, they can have it. I have another case to work on." I stood and found that both my legs were sore, but not incredibly painful; however, I felt a sharp pain in my ribs. "It's a good thing people believe in miracles."
"You came out with some bumps, scrapes and bruises, and maybe a broken rib. They'll call it a miracle."
But we knew better. "I need a shower and anything that survived the crash, like my gun and my phone."
The more I moved the more I realized how stiff and sore I was. Dull aches and pains worked their way through my body. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what I'd look like when I stripped my clothes off.
"Of course, bathroom is attached to the room. You’ll find your phone, gun, and badge on the nightstand. I'll let you be, you should be okay alone now."
I touched the back of my head. "Still tender, possible concussion."
"The rest of the internal damage has been healed though." He promised. "Despite what Levi thinks, I don't want you harmed."
"He doesn't think that or he'd be here with me now." I slowly made my way to the bathroom and closed the door. I leaned against it and took a deep breath. Hexes I understood, most paranormal creatures I understood, but almost dying in a very human way scared me.
I turned on the water to let it heat up while I undressed. I looked in the mirror and part of my face looked like it had skidded across the ground. I was lucky I hadn’t lost an eye. Bruises continued down my shoulder and my ribs looked like someone tossed red and purple paint over them. I brushed my fingers over the bruises and cringed, even that hurt. I looked down at my legs, at the scrapes there. They'd heal and probably look better once I got the dried blood off.
I stepped into the shower and tried to relax under the hot spray.
Oliver drove me home and left it up to me to call those who needed to know I was alive. I was starting to wonder if exploding cars and kidnappings were going to become a bi-annual occurrence. I sighed as my phone went off with missed messages and voicemails. I carefully sat on the couch and the cat decided to join me.
"Yeah, buddy, I'm sure you're hungry. We have another meeting tonight with someone who thinks you belong to him."
He mewed in protest. He rubbed up against my rib and I groaned. "Easy there, kitty. Let's get you fed, and I'll make some phone calls."
I texted Nick first.
I'm alive and out of the hospital.
I hit send and wondered if I should have expanded on it. After a moment I sent him another one.
Update me on the case, please.
It was daytime, so Levi was going to wait. I texted Simon.
I have a Craigslist person coming over today about the cat. Care to keep me company? And bring me food? Then I'll tell you all about how I survived.
I hit send and it wasn't even a minute when I got a return text.
I'll be there in ten.
I smiled at that. Company would help keep me out of my own thoughts. I didn't want to dwell on my second near death experience in the year. I fed the cat and sat back down on the couch, this time he curled up next to me when he was done eating. Simon knocked on the door ten minutes later.
"It's open."
He walked in and his eyes widened just a
touch. "Well..." He shut the door behind him.
"I look good for being in a van that hit a tree, huh?" I asked and stroked the cat.
Simon pressed his lips together. "I saw the press conference, that car managed to hit six reporters."
"Was Stephanie one of them?" I motioned to the recliner and he sat down.
"No. In fact, the fiasco made the front page of her paper."
Of course it did. "Damn, a girl can dream I suppose." I mumbled. "I'm kidding. Are they okay?"
He nodded. "A couple broken bones, but they'll heal. Nothing like you."
I wasn't sure what he was getting at. "Hey now, I'll heal. I escaped with bumps and bruises, and a broken rib."
"Abby, what is going on in your life to lead you to getting kidnapped for a second time?" He put his head in his hands.
He was genuinely worried about me. I frowned and put a hand on his knee. "I promise this isn't a normal occurrence. In this case it seems to have been random. I was the closest agent, and they were planning on using me as a hostage."
"Until you got wrapped around a tree." He looked up at me.
"To be fair, I was thrown out." Even though that had been caused by the impact. “And the van hit the tree, it wasn’t wrapped around it.”
Simon blew out a puff of air. "Seriously, Abby, how are you walking around right now? How are you alive?"
"Oliver followed the van. He was able to heal a lot of the damage, but he doesn't want attention drawn to himself, so the story is that I'm a miracle and that I was in the hospital for the night." I shrugged and it pulled on the muscles in my back and then on my rib. I was going to need something for the pain until that healed. "On a different subject, how was the rest of the party?"
He leaned back in the chair and chuckled. "Uneventful, and Mina was very interested in yours and my relationship. It made it hard to enjoy the rest of the night."
"You know that she's a witch, right? Powerful, scary, tainted aura." I ran my hand over the cat.
Simon blinked. "What?"
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