“Mixed? From all the bags?”
“Maybe. Just let me run some tests. It’s really important before we even try to remove his body.”
“Shit. Even if he isn’t human, all the stuff we thought before is basically useless.” Jack rubbed his hands over his face again. He thanked Katja and directed Chip and Sully away from the bodies.
“How about Sully translates for the other witness and I can do the interview?” Chip said, clearly trying to keep Jack upbeat. “We can theorize more later, yeah?”
Jack nodded and waved them away. Moments later, Chip grasped Sully’s arm.
“Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine,” Sully said. “Don’t worry about me throwing up.”
“I’m not. But….” Chip glanced around, then back at Sully. “Is Artie involved in this?”
“Why would you say that?”
“You seem… scared. As if you don’t want to go back to work.”
Sully laughed. “I can tell you that, without a doubt, Artie makes me feel safe.”
“Then what’s going on here?”
Sully sighed. There were too many people. Too risky. “I have to tell you a lot of things. But you need to trust me for now, okay? Artie’s involved but not in the way you think.”
Chip stared at him for a long time. Sully thought he’d messed it up completely, and that he’d have to spill on everything that even he didn’t know all the information on, but Chip nodded.
“I trust you,” he said, and the words were like music. “Now let’s see the last interview. Then maybe we can sleep.”
THE WOMAN was less shaky when they finally spoke. Sully had to assure her over and over that she wasn’t going to be arrested, and as soon as Chip gave her his word that they were here to investigate the murders and put away bad johns, she opened up. She knew a lot more English than she’d pretended to know, which made Sully’s job easier. Halfway through the conversation, she spoke freely.
“I was supposed to come and see Darcy,” she said. “The boy in there. I haven’t met him before, but the people around here tell me that the house is safe. But no, not safe at all.”
“Was it you who made the 911 call?” Chip asked, and Sully translated.
She nodded, her lips in a tight line.
“Did you see anyone odd?”
“Everyone here is odd. I remember when I see normal people. And there were a lot of cops around.”
“Cops? Like my friend over there or like the officers in blue?” Chip and then Sully repeated, gesturing to Jack and Jinny.
“Both. Not those people, but like them. There were cops everywhere. Which is why I don’t understand how this could happen. To both! At the same time.”
“How much did you see inside?”
“Not much. Only a body, then I couldn’t go in the room. The smell was too sweet.”
“Sweet?”
“Yes, sweet. Like candy. He’s a water shaper, Darcy. That was what they told me. Their blood like honey to everyone—so be careful. I had some of this,” she said, and from her bag pulled out patchouli leaves capable of masking the smell.
“Oh,” Sully said, going off track. None of this was adding up. Darcy was a supernatural for sure, but water shapers smelled stronger. If he was one, there would have been so many creatures swarming on this building, even if this woman had some leaves in her bag. And his blood wasn’t sweet anymore. It was acrid, almost as if it was eating through the floorboards.
The woman told them both a few more details, but she wanted to leave. Chip wrote down her name, which Sully figured was fake, along with her address, but he let her go and Sully wasn’t going to argue.
“You take care of yourself,” she told Sully in Czech. He wished her the same back. By the time Sully and Chip were done, Katja came out of the house and started to add stuff to her van.
“None of my tests are back yet,” she explained, “but I’ll get him soon.”
“He has a name now,” Sully said to Katja, who repeated the name a couple times before heading inside again.
“Thank you,” Chip said again. “You know we would have never gotten any of that without you.”
Sully nodded, worrying his lip.
“What’s bugging you?”
“Shouldn’t we be worried about the fact that he was an elemental? You know, like clear the place for fairies?”
“I don’t think so since the blood is already sour. Which means he wasn’t killed in the last few hours and it’s probably why Katja’s having a hard time reading it. His blood has been altered.”
“Right. Exactly. His blood has been mixed with bags and it seems deliberate. Right? It had to be. I live with a water elemental. I know what they’re like. I….” When Sully spotted Katja by the doorway again, he gestured to Chip to follow him to meet her. “Would your tests be able to read if he’s a water elemental?”
Katja’s back stiffened. She turned around, her face paler than before. “Why would you say that?”
“A witness told us. Is it possible to verify?” Chip asked.
Katja shook her head. It was clear it wasn’t in answer but in horror. “This isn’t good. He can’t be a water elemental. If he was, and he was with a vampire….”
She didn’t get a chance to finish. Sully heard the crackle of the blood on the floorboards, smelled the acrid way it had mixed with the wood. The first lesson in storing blood in Artie’s place was to never, ever mix vampire and elemental blood. Vamps could drink from elementals—but only if they were careful and didn’t let feeding linger too long. Prolonged blood-to-blood contact made it corrosive. And if left long enough, it became explosive.
Katja knew it. Sully knew it too. Chip seemed to reach into the far recesses of his brain and also understood the grave situation they had found themselves in. All three of them remained poised, not daring to move an inch.
“Okay, this is bad,” Katja said. “But the bodies weren’t touching. The vampire was long gone before the elemental died, so it’s possible they didn’t touch.”
“There are coolers and coolers of blood here. Could be from any bag,” Sully said.
“But why would it take so long?” Katja peered around the corner. “Has someone else moved things?”
Another crackle cut out all chance of finding an answer. Katja gasped and placed a hand on her chest. “Shoot. We have to evacuate. Is the building clear?”
“Only us three.”
“Okay. Then we walk really, really slowly.”
Katja took the first step out of the living room into the kitchen, followed by Chip and Sully. The hiss and crackle of the blood grew louder the farther away they stepped. None of it made sense. Had someone deliberately added more vamp blood to Darcy’s body when all of this was going on to throw people off course? Or worse—to deliberately kill who was inside?
A crack and pop sound, like the shot of a gun, made Sully jump. Katja ran out the front door and over to the remaining officers. She seemed to explain the situation. Chip ran too, looking around every corner in the kitchen and living room as he did, like a fucking cop, in order to make sure the place really was secure. Sully felt rooted to the ground. He stood in the front hallway, his hand over the picture of the saint in his pocket.
“Sully! Come on! We gotta go.”
Chip linked their hands and tugged him forward. An explosion roared as soon as their feet hit the porch. The blowback was strong and launched them both forward. Sully let go of Chip’s hand as heat licked his back and singed Tom’s jacket. Sully tasted dirt from the front lawn. When the ringing in his ears died down, his only thoughts were fucking hell Tom is going to kill me for ruining his jacket and oh God Chaz why did you have to be a hero and save me?
“Chaz?” Sully gasped, his voice weak. “Chaz?”
Sully scanned the lawn and house franticly. The doors and windows were black and cracked from the explosion, but there was no flame and very little stray debris considering how far it had tossed Sully. His wrists
ached, but he knew they weren’t broken. He blinked several times, thinking he was staring at a panel of wood, until the outline of Chip’s body on the lawn came into focus. He was spread-eagle, just like Darcy.
“Chaz?”
There was no reply.
Chapter 20
THE RINGING in Chaz’s ears was overwhelming. He tasted his own blood in his mouth, like sour milk left on a counter overnight. He spit it out onto the grass. Each flick of his tongue against his lips seemed to ache as if he’d been sucker punched. He opened his eyes but saw nothing but the arrows from inside the house on the back of his eyelids.
He let out a low groan. His name, his real name, was being shouted. Or is that in my dream?
“Chip? Chip?” The voice came into focus now. Not his real name, but the mask he wore. “Chip, are you okay?”
Chaz blinked until he could make out Jack’s face. The door to the house hung off its hinges, caked in a layer of blackness. The house still stood, but the windows were all broken and the porch was also stained with black and red marks, like burnt meat. The last five minutes played in Chaz’s memory like a film underwater. Water shaper. Acrid blood. Katja telling them to get out. The smell of smoke. Ringing and ringing in his ears.
Chaz jumped to his feet and ran right into Sully.
“Sully,” he said, gripping his arms. His jaw ached again as he spoke. He was sure his skin was still pink with wounds.
“Sit down. I’m fine. Katja is fine. But Ch—” Sully didn’t finish as he directed Chaz to the ambulance. “Your head…. Gah. There’s a lot of blood.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Chaz’s stomach reeled. He ran into the bushes, each step agony, and threw up. His mouth was even more sour than before. When someone stood beside him, he hoped to God it wasn’t Jack or Declan trying to rub his weakness in his face. Or the fact that they’d totally fucked up this scene by not realizing what kinds of bodies they were dealing with.
Instead it was Sully. He placed a hand on Chaz’s shoulder and rubbed it back and forth.
“That hurts.”
“Sorry.” Sully took his hand away. “The fire?”
“The debris. I think it struck me in my back.”
“You were out on that lawn like a rag doll. I’m surprised you’re not broken in seventeen places.”
“Well, I’m not.” Chaz smarted. “If it’s my whole body that hurts, it’s one injury right? Maybe I’m a bit dizzy. Are you okay, though?”
Sully shrugged. He gestured to his slacks, which were now ripped, his bloody knees peeking through. “An occupational injury,” he joked. “I’ve been in this position before. Not the blood explosion, but… I’ve been on my knees a lot.”
Chaz laughed at Sully’s attempt at humor, but his stomach churned. He saw the shriveled vampire body and the water shaper on the ground. The women yelling about the devil. Sully flying through the air, like him. He lurched and threw up again. There was nothing in his system but water, so it felt like acid coming up.
Sully rubbed his hand back and forth against Chaz’s neck and in his hair, careful to avoid the places where rocks had seared his skin. There was still pain, but most of it ebbed away with Sully’s gentle hushing. He was humming too; Chaz was sure of it.
“Sully?”
“Yeah?”
“What the hell are we dealing with here?”
“You mean other than the explosion?”
“Yes. I deserve to hear it.”
“It’s a long story. Even if I told you everything right now, I doubt you’d remember with a head injury like that. You need to get checked out.”
“I can’t,” Chaz said through clenched teeth. “I can’t get checked out. They’ll know all about me. I’m fine. I heal fast.”
“You have a concussion. At least. And your back is covered in burn wounds. I’m still surprised half your arms and legs aren’t shattered. You need something. Anything.”
“It’s not exactly like I can go to a monster hospital.”
“No, you can’t. But you also can’t walk away from an injury like that, like it’s nothing, or they’ll know something is up.”
Chaz was about to argue when he saw Jack running toward them. Chaz took a step away from Sully, limping as he did, and pretending to be in even more pain than he really was. His acting was easy, almost natural. He’d been doing it for so long now, anyway.
“Chip. Jesus. What happened?”
Declan came jogging up to Jack, his face grave. “God. I’d thought you’d died.”
“No, not so easily,” Chaz laughed, then held his side. “Our vic was a water shaper. Mixed with the vamp body and boom.”
Jack stood with wide eyes, uncomprehending. Declan seemed even more grave than before.
“Katja can explain it,” Sully said. “She realized it first.”
When Katja came over, she looked as if she’d only been caught in a windstorm. She spoke rapidly about the events, what happened, and what to do next. Jack grew paler and paler. Chaz swore he saw his hair go gray.
“I’m going to lose my promotion,” he murmured.
“Hey, no you’re not. How were you supposed to know?” Declan said. “It was a trap, obviously. Maybe one of the women did it?”
“Not likely,” Sully said.
Too many people spoke at once and it made Chaz’s head ache. When an EMT showed up and started to shine lights in his eyes, he stepped away.
“No, no, I’m fine. Maybe a wrist brace and I’m good to go.”
“Nonsense,” Jack said. “You need to be checked out. Protocol. And my job, yet again, is to make sure there are less explosions and death. Not more.”
Chaz shook his head, but the action made him want to throw up again. He definitely had a concussion. As he swayed on his feet, Sully stepped in to support him.
“I can take him home,” Sully said. “He drove me here tonight, so it won’t be a big deal. I’m also trained in first aid, so if he gets really bad, I know a doctor that can make house calls.”
Jack eyed Chaz and then Sully again. “You’re sure?”
“Double sure. There’s a lot for you guys to sort out. I don’t want to get in the way.”
“Thank you,” Jack said. “Can we send some files over to you when you have a chance? And the 911 tapes?”
“Sure, that’s okay.”
“What’s your address? Do you have an office you work out of?” Jack asked.
Sully’s face went white with panic.
“Send them to me,” Chaz said. “I’ll be out on desk duty for a while, right? I may as well work on them with Sully. If that’s okay?”
“Yes, that works,” Jack said.
When Sully nodded, Chaz was steadier on his feet. There were another couple rounds of back-and-forth discussions, trying to pin down exactly what happened, while Sully draped a blanket over Chaz’s shoulders and filled in the blanks where Chaz couldn’t remember. Sully lied for some of it; Chaz now knew his tells of touching his left ear and blinking too fast. When it was all over, Jack told Sully to submit his paperwork to join the force since he was a “natural” under pressure. Sully laughed, but Chaz knew Jack was serious. And the idea of having Sully as his partner warmed his heart more than he thought possible. The investigation tonight, as much as it had been botched, had felt good. They worked well as a team. And maybe, when they were alone, Chaz could know the truth about everything that had passed him by tonight.
“You ready to go?” Sully asked.
“Yeah. But… the elemental. Is he…?”
“Gone.” Sully bit his lip. “I heard Katja talking about getting soil samples so she could complete some kind of tox screen. I’m sorry. There was nothing you could have done.”
“Maybe.” Chaz allowed Sully to lead him to the car, his body feeling as if it had been through hell and back. Maybe the devil really did do this.
“So,” Sully said after he started the car and drove away from the scene. They were at an intersection. Chaz blinked in and out of c
onsciousness, desperate to stay awake. “I’m driving you home right now, and that involves me needing an address.”
Chaz told him and Sully nodded. “I know the area. Nice. I’m going to stay with you for a while too.”
“You can’t. I’ll be fine.”
“I know you’ll be fine. But I still need to tell you what the fuck happened in there and what I’m worried about.”
Chaz nodded, but he was still too tired to process much of anything. They were ten minutes away from his place when he said, “I can pay you for this, if you’re staying. I don’t mind.”
“I know you don’t mind. But maybe this time, I owe you.”
“For what?”
“You grabbed my hand when we ran.”
“So? I would have done that for anyone. I need to do that for everything. Protect and—”
“I know, I know. Protect and serve, whatever. But I really do have first aid experience. So now you need to let me protect and serve you.”
“Okay, thank you.” Chaz smiled, but it was short-lived. He wanted to sink down into darkness and forget about tonight, this killer, and everything else that seemed to be going wrong. “Hey, Sully?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I go to sleep? I know that’s not always good with head injuries, but I’m really tired.”
“That’s an old myth,” Sully said. “You can actually go to sleep with a concussion. I’ll check on you every two hours, though I suspect that since you’re a vamp, you’ll heal faster and I won’t need to check in on you that often.”
Chaz tried to nod and say thank you, but he was already gone.
Chapter 21
SULLY WOKE Chaz up long enough to get him up the front steps of his building and into an elevator. He only deadweighted a couple times in the process. Sully rooted around in Chaz’s jacket and pants pockets until he found his keys. As soon as the bed was in sight, Chaz seemed to understand what was going on and eagerly went toward it.
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