by Skye Knizley
"What did you find, partner?" she asked.
Levac shook his head unhappily. "Not much, and what I found was weirder than our usual level of weird," he said. "Fibers that are probably from his clothing, some odd powder in the hair and leather on his chest…and signs of extreme sexual torture."
Levac lifted Bob Doe's genitals and showed Raven the bruising and the series of nails put through the man's scrotum.
"Oh my Lord!" Raven said in surprise.
"Yeah. Somebody didn't like our friend very much," Levac said.
Raven switched to a fresh pair of gloves from Levac's pocket and then reached down to tug one of the nails free. Levac winced at the sucking noise the nail made as it came free and looked away. Raven ignored him and raised the bloody nail so she could see it more clearly. The nail was made of brass and was just over three inches long. The tip was cut with spiral grooves, somewhat like a screw, but not as deep, and the point was razor sharp. The length was covered in sticky, coagulated blood. Raven raised the nail to her nose and sniffed gently. She detected the coppery sent of blood, the smell of brass, obviously from the nail, and a hint of iron and semen.
"Anything?" Levac asked, knowing his partner's sense of smell was legendary.
Raven dropped the nail in an evidence bag and placed it on top of the pile. "Nothing helpful, yet. But this poor bastard was alive when they did this to him. Someone really didn't like him much.
"Which leaves us with…?" Levac trailed off, leaving the question hanging in the air.
Raven shrugged and pulled off her gloves with a loud snap. "An unexplained headless guy with lots of clues that lead nowhere."
She straightened and walked over to where Aspen was running the print she'd found through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System or AFIS for short. She bent down to peer over the young woman's shoulder and asked, "Get any hits?"
Aspen shook her head. "Not yet. It was just a partial so I am having a hard time getting enough points to match. But don't you worry, if this guy is in the system I'll find him. The boys and I will finish up the scene. We've got this, you and Ripper go and do whatever it is you do, you know, to bring the weird ones to justice."
Raven blinked at the purple haired woman. "Ripper?"
Aspen rolled her eyes and frowned up at Raven. "Buffy? You know, the slayer? Giles' nickname was Ripper because his name was Rupert. Rupert is totally uncool."
Raven looked over her shoulder at Levac, who was picking up the candy and food wrappers he had dropped while processing the corpse. She loved him dearly, but a Ripper he was not. She turned back and shook her head at Aspen.
"Don't call him that," she said. "So far he's stayed alive with me because he listens and keeps his head down when the shit hits the fan. Start calling him Ripper and I just know he will get himself hurt. Okay?"
"Okey dokey, Ray," Aspen replied with a mock salute.
Raven made a face at the kid that said, 'I mean it!' and she watched Aspen's face pale. When she was sure Aspen had gotten the message and Levac had finished cleaning up his litter, Raven turned away and walked back toward him.
"Come on, partner," she said. "There isn't much more we can do here. Take me home, it's been a long day."
Levac nodded and led the way back to his tiny car. A few moments later they were cruising through the deserted streets of Chicago. Raven had leaned the old seat as far back as it would go, which wasn't much, and was slouching, lost in thought as the city's ever-glowing lights flickered past and reflected off the window. She barely noticed when the car came to a halt, part of her assuming they'd reached a stop light.
"Um…Ray?" Levac said, his voice dead calm.
"Yeah, Rupe?" Raven asked, part of her mind on the new case, the rest on a certain blond vampire who'd given her to an evil so dark it still gave her nightmares.
"We've got company," Levac replied, pulling the new Beretta 93R he'd been issued for working with Raven from his shoulder holster.
That got the tall redhead's attention and she turned to look forward. Standing in the street were a dozen men dressed in black body armor and what looked like armored trench coats. They stood in formation behind a tall, slender man dressed in a similar uniform. He stood with his arms at his side, gold-plated Desert Eagles clutched in his gloved hands. No…not man. No man had that shock of white hair. Vampire.
"Shit," Raven muttered. "Rupert, stay in the car."
Levac looked at his partner in surprise. "Stay in the car? Have you seen the kind of heat they're carrying?"
Raven nodded and opened the door. "Yeah. So stay in the car and if this goes bad get the hell out of here. This isn't a police matter."
Levac continued to stare at his partner in a mixture of anger and confusion. "Ray…you know I always have your back," he said, opening the driver's door. "Whatever this is, it is a police matter, most of that hardware is illegal, even in Chicago."
Raven knew she didn't have time to argue. The vampire's men were about ready to open fire on the Met, she could feel it. "All right, fine! Stay behind the door and cover me. This antique steel should protect you. I don't see anything with more power than the Desert Eagles he is holding and I just know those will be aimed at me."
Levac nodded and knelt on the pavement behind the driver's door, his new pistol aimed at the vampires blocking the road. Raven walked out in front of the Nash so the lights were to her back, silhouetting her and drawing attention from Levac.
"Hello, Xavier," she said in a quiet voice. "Long time no see. I'd say mom sends her love, but she pretty much hates your guts and wants to put your traitorous head on a spike outside the house. Nice group of renegade assholes you've found."
Xavier laughed, a musical sound that humans and even some vampires found hypnotic. It was one of his powers and he loved to use it. The noise just annoyed Raven, like a small dog yapping in the distance.
"How is dear old mother?" Xavier asked, walking forward, his guns held at the ready.
Raven stood her ground and watched Xavier approach. He always had been a cocky bastard, but he was swaggering even more than usual.
"Better than your father, Whitey," Raven replied. "Did you ever find a dustpan big enough to hold all of him? He left quite a mess downtown."
Xavier's face darkened and Raven saw his fingers twitch on the triggers of his Desert Eagles. "Killing Father violated the Totentanz, little sister," Xavier hissed. "You will be punished for what you did to Lord Strohm."
"What Strohm did violated plain old-fashioned morality, not to mention about eighteen Federal laws," Raven replied. "And if you want to talk vamps, he threatened the Mistress of the City, which carries a death sentence under the Totentanz. As Fürstin it was my duty to put him down. As your sister, it was my sheer pleasure. Your father was a psycho just like you."
Xavier ignored the verbal attack on Strohm and stepped forward. "You cannot always protect mother, dear sister."
Raven could see in his glowing blue eyes the vampire was only a few heartbeats away from trying something stupid; something that might get Levac killed. Her next decision was simple. With the speed of a Master vampire she drew her Automag, stepped inside Xavier's guard and pressed the barrel against his chin.
"You've never been fast enough to take me, Whitey," she said, her voice laced with menace. "No one would be stupid enough to send you to kill me, everyone knows I'll send you home in a plastic baggie. So stop posing and tell me what you want or mom will be sending one less lump of coal this Christmas."
Xavier smiled, showing fang. "Do you really think you can take me and all of my friends, dear little Ravenel?"
Raven smirked and thumbed back the Automag's hammer. "I'm always willing to try. I think the real question is, do you want them to be scraping you off the pavement with a toothbrush? Tell me what you want and I why shouldn't send one of Thad's special hollow points out the back of your skull."
Xavier paled then, a neat trick for an albino walking corpse. "My master ordered me and my men to de
liver a message. Lady Valentina has one week to vacate the palace or the master is coming for her. Starting tomorrow he will begin killing one member of the Blood every other day until she surrenders you and herself for punishment before the new Court."
"Master? What Master?" Raven asked. "I left Strohm in a pile of ash and if you are talking about Du Guerre, he hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of taking mother in a war and he knows it. What Master wannabe is pulling your puppet strings, Whitey?"
Xavier only smiled, showing fang. "I have delivered my message. Do what you will. I will answer no further questions."
Raven looked into her brother's eyes and choked back the bitter anger growing in her belly. There was no point in threatening or killing Xavier. The look in his soulless eyes made it clear he was ready to die for whoever was giving the orders. She pushed him away and took a step back, the Automag still leveled at his head. "Tell your master this, dear brother. If he touches any of the royal family, especially mother, I will find him. And when I am through, there won't be enough of him to fill a matchbox."
Xavier shook his head in mock sadness and backed away. When he was ten paces away, he turned and motioned for is men to stand down. They vanished as silently as they had come and soon the street was deserted once again.
Levac joined Raven in the glow of the Nash's headlights, the Beretta held in his hand. "What the heck was that all about?" he asked.
Raven sighed and turned to face him. "Would you believe that albino son of a bitch was my half-brother? He always was a shithead, but this is a new low even for him."
"We're not going to arrest him and his goons?" Levac asked.
Raven snorted and turned back toward the car. "We may as well try arresting the wind. They would all be out in twelve hours or less. He has more connections than Al Capone. Come on, I need a drink and some rest."
Raven slid into the car, only holstering her weapon once Levac was back behind the wheel and she was sure the vampires were all gone. Gripping the wheel, Levac looked angry.
"What's wrong, Rupe?" Raven asked as he started the Met and continued onward into the darkness.
Levac was quiet for several moments and Raven could hear his teeth grinding. "You always keep me in the dark," he said after a while. "We've fought people that exploded into fire and ash, failed to arrest your family members and friends when we obviously should have, like that Xavier clown…am I your partner or not?"
Raven turned away from the furious anger in Levac's eyes. "You're my partner, Rupert," she said. "The best one I've ever had. You know that."
Raven heard his hands squeaking on the car's steering wheel. "Then treat me like one and stop treating me like a mushroom."
"A mushroom?" Raven asked, turning back toward the lanky man.
Levac gave her a lopsided grin. "Keeping me in the dark and feeding me a pile of crap."
Raven laughed and reached out to squeeze Levac's hand. "Just stick with me. Trust in me."
Levac smiled back, "I'm not going anywhere, partner. Just remember you can trust me, too."
"I know, Rupert," Raven said. "And I do. You know I do, more than anyone else on the force. And someday I will explain all of the weirdness, I promise."
"But not today," Levac sighed.
"Not today," Raven confirmed.
The Metropolitan continued into the early-morning gloom, neither occupant speaking.
* * *
CHAPTER TWO
Raven was awakened by the sound of Paramore's song 'That's what you get', blaring from her cell phone. She groaned mentally at letting Aspen program her own ringtone and slapped at the phone until it stopped.
"Aspen? It isn't even dawn, this better be really important," she growled at the speakerphone.
"Sorry, Raven," Aspen's cheerful voice chirped. "I thought you would want to know that print you found paid off. I got a hit in AFIS on Bob Doe. His name is Zack Shevlin. He has a record for car theft and he did a nickel at the MCC. He was paroled in '04 and seems to be behaving himself, even has a job crewing Witchcraft during the summer and tending bar at night. He's bringing home…well more than most cops if you include tips."
Raven straightened and pulled her Hello Kitty nightgown closed against the morning chill. "People keeping clean don't end up headless with nails in their gentleman vegetables. Did you find anything else?"
"I found an address over in South Halstead. I am texting it over now. It looks like he lives alone, but you never know in that neighborhood," Aspen said.
"Awesome work, kid," Raven said, stifling a yawn. "Text Levac and have him meet me at the Donut Vault at six and we will head on over."
"Already did," Aspen replied, and Raven could hear her grin. "But that isn't all. Doctor Zhu already finished his prelim autopsy. A lot of Shevlin's defense wounds weren't from knives or blades like we thought."
Raven froze halfway to her antique bath. "What was used then?"
"Get this, he thinks they were some kind of claws, you know like those fake vampire things S&M chicks like to wear? The wounds are deep and asymmetrical, which he says is similar to that of a bear or wild animal, but far too smooth for an animal attack, hence the claws. He also pulled pieces of metal from Shevlin's spine. He is trying to match them up right now and identify what was used as the murder weapon."
"Swell," Raven muttered. "Okay. Levac and I are on it. Let me know if you get anything from his urine sample or that key."
She hung up before Aspen could cheer her to death and she turned on the water in her tub. She added a cap-full of vanilla bubble bath, ignoring the fact it had come from Francois Du Guerre. It may have come from a bastard. That didn't mean it wasn't delicious.
While the bath filled, she extended one of her own claws and sliced her arm. The wound welled blood, but Raven was able to see the cut wasn't smooth like a blade, but rather jagged and torn.
Not a vampire then, she thought. Please just let it be another one of my weird ones.
She watched the wound close and then slipped into the warm tub, soaking away the night's activities in a pool of sweet vanilla.
* * *
Raven skipped down the stairs dressed in a beige sweater belted at the waist over a matching pair of dark brown pants made of the softest leather and a pair of matching suede booties that completed her outfit. The sweater was bulky enough it hid the Automag holstered high on her hip as well as the silvered throwing spikes she had taken to carrying since…since Francois had drugged her and left her for dead.
A moment later she was behind the wheel of her beloved Shelby. She brought the engine to life and savored the low rumble for but a moment before pulling out of the underground garage and onto the driveway. The sun was just peeking out over Chicago as she left the family compound behind and headed downtown.
The Donut Vault had been Raven and Levac's meeting spot since the week they'd become partners. The ownership was so familiar with them they now called them "Le Storm", something the precinct found hysterical. Raven didn't see the humor in it, but tolerated their good-natured teasing. After all, Levac was the first partner she'd ever had for more than a single case and one of only three still drawing breath.
Raven stepped through the door and was greeted by Megan, the morning waitress. She was holding a cup of black coffee and a plain donut. Raven thanked her and scanned the orange booths for an empty one. She took a seat by the window so she could watch her city wake up and wait for Levac. He arrived twenty minutes later, his suit rumpled, his tie stained and his five o'clock shadow already in place. He parked his Nash behind Raven's Shelby and hurried in, snagging his large coffee and two jelly donuts on his way to Raven's table. He was biting into one of the donuts before his butt hit chair.
"Good morning to you too, Rupe," Raven said with a smile. "Sleep in your suit again?"
"I was too tired to change when I got home," he replied around his mouthful of deliciousness. "And Aspen texted me too early to do anything, but empty my pockets and head out."
Th
e redhead laughed. "Two hours and all you can do is empty ketchup packets from that ancient coat?"
Levac swallowed and grinned, showing his perfect white smile. "There was mustard and mayonnaise in there too."
"Oh that makes all the difference in the world," Raven said, still giggling. "Hurry up with those donuts, you're not eating those in the Shelby."
Levac smiled and continued eating. "So what's the plan?"
"Go down to South Halsted and take a look around," Raven said. "Maybe Zack left some clues around his place."
Levac nodded. He busied himself finishing the last of his donut and washing it down with coffee. Raven handed him a handy-wipe from her purse to clean the sugar from his hands. That wasn't allowed in the Shelby either.
She watched Levac clean the sugar and spilled coffee from his fingers and toss the wipe away. He stood to leave and she arched an eyebrow at him.
"Raven?" he asked, "We can go, I promise I'm clean and won't get anything on the car."
"It isn't that. It's your turn to pay," Raven said with a grin.
Levac grimaced, but fished a wadded twenty from his pocket and tossed it on the table. Raven smoothed it, put it under her coffee cup and then led the way out into the street. A bitter wind was blowing down the street, carrying sand and debris with it. Levac turned his collar up against the chill and reached for the Shelby's door handle, but Raven's attention was elsewhere. She was looking at a shadow atop the building opposite. She could have sworn it had moved when they came out.
"What now?" Levac asked, glancing first at his partner and then at the bank and businesses around them. "More of your weird instincts?"
Raven shook her head and walked around to the driver's side of the car.
"No, just a feeling. I'm sure it was nothing," she said.
She started the car and accelerated into traffic. Beside her, Levac winced and gripped the armrest like it was the gutter in Vertigo. She knew he trusted her drivingm but it still scared him that she could maneuver her Shelby through rush-hour traffic at sixty miles an hour when everyone else was standing still. His fear just made her drive even faster.