“Could be,” he said, tapping a pen on his chin. “Would you like to see the crime scene photos?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind. That would help a great deal if I could see the crime in situ. I might be able to compare the evidence and get into the mind of the killer.”
He handed them to her.
“By the way, Detective, I believe the files are incomplete. There’s no DNA or trace evidence present. That was a mass killing, so it’s just not possible.”
He simply shrugged, but Jolie could feel his fear.
Jolie flipped thought the file as she walked toward Jacques. “Was this scene clean too?”
“Yes.”
“That’s weird. It’s like someone is messing with the cops. Could it be an inside job?”
There was more fear. Even in the daylight, while she was weaker, Jolie could pick it up.
She continued to rattle his cage.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my time as a doctor helping the police in an investigation. There’s always evidence.”
“Maybe there are vampyres then, Doctor?”
Jolie laughed. “That’s funny, Detective. I’m sure then that there are ghosts, and…oh, I do not know,” she said, pausing, dramatically.
“Demons?” added Jacques, as he gave the police detective his best disdainful look.
“Yes, exactly, Jacques.”
The detective approached her. “Do you think the same individual who committed the multiple slayings, committed this one?”
Jolie felt Jacques touch her mind. ‘Careful, my love. He’s aware of who committed the first crimes.’
Jolie handed him the folder. “No, Detective, I don’t.”
“Really?” He looked surprised.
“The first scene was a slaying, but this scene looks like a movie set.” Then she paused. “Unless there really are vampyres.”
They laughed. Just then, her cell rang.
“Pardon, Detective,” she said, heading to the far corner and out of earshot.
“Hello?”
“Jolie, it’s Flynn.”
She could hear his pain, and it tore at her heart. She looked to Jacques, signaling for him to distract the French detective. When he moved him away, Jolie went back to the man on the phone.
“Yes, darling? What are you doing?”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I’m just checking on you. I felt off, and I think you need to get out of there. I don’t like you trapped inside that house with him. Belladonna could be lurking, and you’re both weak during the day.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Jolie, I think we need to talk later.”
“Yes, we do. Oh, and, Flynn?”
There was a pause. “Yeah?”
“I love you very much.”
Jolie closed her phone with a click and turned back to the men in the basement. “Jacques, I have an emergency patient conference call. The office just called Flynn.”
“Okay, Jolie. We’re out of here,” stated Jacques, taking her by the elbow to help maneuver her toward the door.
“I hope I’ve been of some help to you, Detective.”
As Detective Montclair held out his hand to shake hers, she prepared herself for his touch. Jolie knew she had no choice but to slip into his mind.
Once in, she was sorry she’d done it.
He was sick.
A crazy.
Psychotic.
Mess.
There were traces of vampyre influences. It looked like her detective was right again.
“You have, Doctor. Thank you very much.”
With that, Jacques got her the hell out of there. While they didn't like being in the sun, that was a far better option.
In the tinted out car, Jacques took Jolie’s hand. “Are you all right?”
“Jacques, there was a vampyre in his mind before me. He’s tainted. I don’t think he’s working alone.”
Well, in a way, that made it easier. They could track a vampyre.
“Someone is controlling him, and now we need to find out who and why.”
“Then let’s get home. We can regroup there.”
Jolie agreed.
“Plus, I need to bathe. I feel dirty after touching him and being in that basement.” She shuddered in disgust.
Jacques started the engine.
He was furious.
He’d also been in the man’s mind and saw the fantasies of what he wanted to do to Jolie. Immediately, he shared them with his other mate, and both vowed to kill the detective long before he got near Jolie.
That was a promise they planned to keep.
The detectives followed the Fiat at a safe distance. Neither man spoke, but the car vibrated with tension and anger.
“Are you okay?” asked Bevier. “You seem pissed off.”
“Yeah, I want to kill Montclair. He was thinking vile things about Jolie.”
He wasn’t sure if the man was kidding, or if he had just admitted murder to a police detective.
Flynn sensed his horror.
“I understand. I was once in the position where killing and acting as judge, jury, and executioner went against everything I swore I wouldn’t be,” said Brogan. “Then I ran head first into vampyres, and that all went crashing out the window.”
“How did you get past it?”
“Have you bonded with Jasmine yet?”
“She’s taken my blood,” he said softly.
Flynn glanced over at him. “Once you take hers, you’ll be bonded and move fully into their world. Then you’ll understand what it is to be the predator. For me, it became second nature to protect what’s mine.”
“How do you drink blood?”
“During sex, or if I’m hurt,” he answered matter-of-factly. He left out the part about needing it almost every day.
“No. I meant how?”
“Oh, you mean how, as in how can I do that without fangs?”
“Yeah, you’re human. We aren’t capable, right? Do you have to cut Jolie every time?”
Flynn smiled. As he pictured himself drinking from her, his teeth slid into his mouth.
Bevier gasped.
Flynn ran his tongue over one sharp tip.
“Oh shit! Is that going to happen to me?” He looked horrified and scared shitless at the same time.
Flynn loved his new ‘abilities’.
“This is what I evolved into, but don’t worry. They tell me that it’s rare to pick up this trait. I think it has to do with the whole ‘Jolie is the harbinger of Death’ thing. Since she died, everything seems magnified. Jacques is losing his accent and acting more like me, and I got a wicked set of teeth. It seems fair.”
“Oh,” he sounded relieved.
Flynn snapped to attention as Montclair pulled his car off the street and parked in front of a house. They pulled over and watched from the dark windows of Jasmine’s Mercedes. William snapped pictures for his boss at work, and Flynn simply observed. He scribbled down the address as the man entered the townhouse from a side entrance.
Yeah, he’d done that before.
“We got him,” admitted Flynn. “I bet this is his nooner.”
William was pleased. “I’ll drop you off and run this address.”
“Thanks. I have some stuff to clean up at home,” he said, copying the address down again before passing it to the cop beside him.
“A really big mess,” he muttered under his breath.
Jolie slid into the scalding water and sunk below the bubbles. She wanted to remain submerged for as long as she could to hide from the entire day. When she finally surfaced, Jacques was sitting on the edge of the tub with a steaming mug of tea. “Feel better now?”
“Ehhh.”
Before he could offer a way to cheer her up, Jolie’s phone rang. Grabbing it, Jacques passed it to her.
“Hello?”
“Jolie, it’s Jasmine.”
“Hey! How are you?” she ask
ed, standing from the tub. She was a wrinkly mess and needed to get out. Besides, Flynn would be home soon.
It was time for round two.
“I’m fine, but I just got a call. We’ve been called before the council for an update.”
Jolie pulled on her robe. It was obvious that the Paris societies had heard the gossip. Now they wanted confirmation.
“Okay,” said Jolie. She caught movement from the corner of her eye. When she glanced over, Jacques was watching her.
She didn't trust him.
There was a twinkle in his eye.
“We’ll meet you there,” she began, but was cut off when he pounced.
Jolie screeched.
“Are you okay?” came Jasmine’s concerned voice.
She laughed. “Yes, I’m good. Jacques is feeling frisky.”
“Ewww! There’s a picture I don’t want in my head! Okay, Jolie. It’s going to be at the same place but this time at eight.”
Jolie laughed as Jacques slapped her on the ass.
“We’ll be there,” she said, trying to get free.
Jacques knew their other mate was on the way, so he wanted to find a way to lighten the mood, bridging them back together again. So, he distracted Jolie until their bedroom door opened.
No one moved.
“Hello, Flynn,” he said, turning to greet his friend.
“Am I interrupting something?” he asked, trying to not notice Jolie was over his shoulder, ass facing him. “I can come back later.”
“No. You need to stay. Our unit isn't happy right now, so you two need to talk,” he stated, grabbing his robe as he prepared to give them privacy. “We’ll talk about Montclair when you’re finished.”
Jolie grabbed her robe and slid into it, so she’d have some protection from her mate. It was silly, but it offered her an iota of security.
God!
She missed him.
Flynn didn’t hold back. “He’s right. We do need to talk. I don’t know what happened this morning, but we need to fix this. I don’t want you angry with me. I love you too much to feel like this all day,” he admitted, staring down at his hands.
“Flynn, I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry I gave you that impression.”
“You looked mad this morning,” he replied, still unable to meet her eyes with his own.
“I was sad because I know I’m going to lose you one day, and I won’t even try to stop you from leaving. How can I?”
He was confused. After all they’d been through, did she really believe he’d leave them?
He couldn’t.
Flynn was in love.
“Why are you going to lose me? Where am I going exactly?” He was obviously missing something.
“If I can’t have children, and you want them, how can I force you to stay with me? I won’t be able to get pregnant. I’m old, Flynn. Vampyres my age seldom live this long, let alone have babies. That ship has sailed for me.”
He stared at her.
“How do I keep you from a life of being a dad and loved by children? That’s a treasure, and if it matters, you were right--you would make an excellent father.”
Just those words meant everything to him. “Jolie, I thought you didn’t want kids with me.”
It was Jolie’s turn to look confused and shocked. “Where did you get that idea from, Flynn? Of course I’d want children with you! You’re handsome, smart, and a very loving man. You’re the perfect person to have a baby with.”
He took a step closer.
“You told me that you never thought about children, because you hadn’t met a human you wanted to have kids with,” he said softly, the ache was still there because of her words. “I thought that included me.”
She was horrified at his assumption.
Jolie took his hand in hers and held it to her cheek. “Flynn, how could you think that I wouldn’t want to have children with you? If I didn’t love you, I can assure you that I wouldn’t be with you.”
He stared into her eyes.
“I don’t just randomly bed hop with humans. You’re the first one I’ve ever been with. When I have sex with you, it’s not just rolling around. You’re my soul. Sex is sex to our kind, but the love, the tenderness, and the connection we have is so much more.”
He felt the pain ebb away.
“What we have is all.”
“Oh,” he said, looking into her eyes. Maybe a part of him always worried that a woman like Jolie would wake up one day and see he was just a human after all.
Rough around the edges.
Unrefined.
And nothing more than a cop.
“Flynn, I simply might not be able to have kids. That’s my problem, not yours. If I was younger, I’d already be trying to get pregnant with you.”
Flynn pulled them down to the bed. Protectively, he curled against her. “Jolie, baby, I don’t care if we can’t have children. I won’t feel like I’m missing something. Knowing that you love me that much, and would have them with me--it’s more than enough.”
Jolie nuzzled his cheek.
“Besides, there are other ways to fill our home with children, Jolie.”
She listened to him.
“We’ll discuss the other options when we get home. You can’t tell me there aren’t vampyre adoption agencies and orphanages.”
She laughed. “There aren’t, Flynn.”
That was surprising to him.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m never leaving. I belong with you and Jacques. This is my family. I know I left before, but I was scared. I’m not afraid now.”
Jolie brought her lips to his. “Thank you.”
He was glad they were better.
“Now, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot,” he said.
“What about the other part of our situation?”
Flynn paused for a moment, trying to understand. “Are you referring to the fact that our children, if we had them, would have two fathers?”
“Yes.”
“Why would it be any different than our relationship?”
“Jacques can’t have children. Would you share yours?” she asked softly. The only way she’d ever bring a child into their home was if both men were able to play the role of dad. Jolie couldn’t hurt either man by excluding them.
“Jolie, I think of myself as an equal partner in this relationship--one of three. Why would I exclude Jacques from that? By all rights, he allowed me to be part of this, giving me a gift. I want to give that gift back in any way I can. It has to hurt him more that he can’t give you a child, and that I could. If you can conceive, that is…”
“I love you, Flynn.”
“Yeah, well, I am pretty damn loveable. If need be, we’ll find a surrogate vampyre who looks like one of us, or one who looks like Jacques.”
Jolie laughed. That wasn’t ever going to happen, but she didn't have the heart to tell him that. Instead, Jolie placed her head on his chest, above his heart, so she could listen to the steady rhythm. Just that he had thought this all out showed her that she had been right when she first met him.
Flynn Brogan was a catch.
Jacques peeked around the door. “I assume we’re better, since I see no bloodshed.”
“Yeah, it was all a misunderstanding,” he said, kissing Jolie’s forehead.
“Jacques?” Flynn shifted his attention to his other mate. He deserved to be allowed in on their discussion. “How would you feel about a surrogate vampyre?”
“For children?” he asked cautiously. Hopefully, his face remained neutral.
“If Jolie can’t have kids, how would you feel if we used a surrogate?”
Jolie saw the quick flash of pain on his face. She knew this was a hard topic for him.
“Flynn, it doesn’t matter. I can’t sire a child. I don’t think I should have any say in this.” Deep down the ache was debilitating, but he tried to shrug and not share the hurt with them.
“No, you can’t, but what if we found a sur
rogate vampyre who looks like you and one like Jolie? The chances are that the children would be a blend of all three of us.” After all, that was what his mate’s mother had done.
Jacques didn’t know what to say.
Here, this man was offering him something so precious. Before this moment, it seemed out of his reach, so why hope?
“They’d be our kids. Since vampyres don’t have DNA, what does it matter if I’m the one making the ‘donation’?”
Jolie’s eye filled with tears. The compassion, which this man held in his heart for both of their feelings, was overwhelming.
Jacques wanted to say something, but he just couldn’t form the words.
“Just think about it. We have plenty of time,” he said, kissing Jolie on the tip of the nose.
“I will.”
Brogan rolled off the bed to remove his gun harness. Somehow, his day seemed so much better now that they had worked out the issues.
Jolie broke the silence. “Did you get an address?”
“Oh yeah, here it is.” He reached into his back pocket to pull it out.
Jolie took it from him “It’s in the nice part of town, but I’ve never heard of it before now,” she said, handing it to Jacques.
“It is a nice house, and you can tell that it’s old money,” said Flynn. “Montclair had a key and went in by a side door. This isn’t the first afternoon he was getting his gun cleaned.”
Jolie laughed.
Suddenly, Jacques let a tirade of profanities rip. Then he began waving his arms around angrily.
Flynn and Jolie both jumped at the sound of his voice.
“Jacques, are you okay, my love?”
“Jolie, I know this address!”
“How?” she asked, touching his arm.
He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but here it came. “Jolie, this is the same address I wrote down the night I found your brother. It’s his house.”
Jolie stared open mouthed, unsure what to say.
“Oh boy,” muttered Flynn, knowing that the game just got very messy, and before it was over, blood would be shed.
Harcourte blood.
CHAPTER twenty-five
Sunday Early Evening
Horror swept over Jolie as she sat on the floor of her bedroom. The words seemed trapped inside her body, and she was both frightened and scared for Alexzandre. A hunter was going in and out of his home.
Dangerous Misery (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 3) Page 40