by Mary Abshire
Gordon scrunched his brows. “Why was Greg with you at the meeting?”
“I left Ray at Mark’s house to watch him. I didn’t think Mark should attend since he seemed aggressive. He thought vampires should take matters into their own hands to handle the demons. I didn’t want his negative attitude to influence others at the meeting.”
“Who is Mark again? I know you mentioned he was Robert’s coworker earlier.”
“Mark, Tim, and Scott were the three people Robert Galloway had sent a message to last night before we destroyed him. Ray traced their email addresses to a section in the state transportation department. I called to get the names and then ran a query to get their addresses. Before Ray told me about any meeting, I had planned to visit each of the men to talk to them.”
The tension in Gordon’s face lessened with understanding. “That makes sense now. But where is Ray?”
Now Zale was confused. He scooted closer to the edge of his seat. “What do you mean? Isn’t he here? He said he would contact someone to get a ride. He was only to stay at Mark’s house for an hour.”
Gordon stood. “As far as I know, he’s not here. I thought he was with you the entire time.”
Zale hurried to remove his phone from his pocket. He quickly found Ray’s number and called it. While the phone rang in his ear, he faced Gordon and said, “The vampire didn’t seem a danger to us. He was angry, but he didn’t threaten us.”
“I would hope Ray wouldn’t let a vampire rile him enough to destroy the vamp.”
When Ray’s voice mail came on, Zale ended the call. “He didn’t answer. Are you sure he hasn’t been here?”
“Follow me,” Gordon said as he headed for the door.
Zale followed him toward Ray’s office at the end of the hall. Anxiety began to rise with each step Zale took. If Ray hadn’t returned, where the hell was he?
Gordon paused outside the dark room and gestured toward it. “It’s been like this since I arrived.”
Zale glanced in the room. The desk was clean with a pile of folders on the side. All signs indicated Ray hadn’t returned. Zale thought of one man who might know Ray’s whereabouts. He started walking toward the back.
“What are you thinking?” Gordon asked, trailing him.
“Maybe he contacted Henry. Ray knew we were waiting on names from the recent discoveries.”
Several offices down from Ray’s, Zale stopped outside Henry’s room. The light was on and his empty chair had been pushed back from his desk. Folders were laying open on his desk.
Zale twisted to face the cubicles. “Henry?”
“He’s here. I saw him earlier,” Gordon said.
Zale began walking back up the hallway. “Henry!”
“I’m coming,” the werewolf said.
His voice sounded nearby. Zale continued toward it.
Henry emerged at the end of a row of cubicles. He carried a stack of files in one of his arms. “What is it?”
“Have you heard from Ray in the last hour?” Zale asked.
“No,” Henry said. “He was with you the last time I spoke to him.”
Worry grew within Zale as he turned to meet his boss’s gaze. “I’m going back to Mark’s house.” Without waiting for a response, he started backpedaling.
“Call me with the address when you’re on the road,” Gordon said. “I’ll send backup. If something’s happened, this could be bad for both groups.”
“You’ll hear from me soon.”
“And call me when you arrive at the scene,” Gordon said.
He turned and began jogging down the hall. Fear fueled his steps and his heart. He hoped Ray wouldn’t have done anything to start trouble, but he knew Ray had difficulty putting aside his prejudices. If he’d instigated a fight with the vampire, his odds of survival depended on the skills of the vamp unless Ray had a weapon with him. He didn’t think Ray had taken one into Mark’s home, but he couldn’t be sure his partner hadn’t stuffed one in any of the pockets of his pants.
Zale hoped his partner hadn’t done anything that would create more problems with the vampires. More importantly, he wanted to find his friend alive.
Chapter Fourteen
The car jerked when Zale braked hard on Mark’s driveway. He cut the engine and the beams from his headlights shut off. He noticed at that point one of the cars missing. A high level of nervous energy had caused him to speed on the interstate. He arrived ten minutes quicker than the last time he visited. Keys in hand, he shoved his door open and then slammed it shut once he exited.
He stormed toward the vampire’s house. The smell of blood and death brought him to a halt on the sidewalk. The door to the home was left ajar. As he moved closer to the entrance, the two scents grew stronger. He reached the concrete slab in front of the door and saw red spots leading away from the home. They continued along the sidewalk. He stepped to the side, careful not to soil his shoes any more than he already had.
“Mark,” Zale called out. “Ray.” He pushed the door open and it creaked softly.
Standing two feet from the door, he smelled a variety of scents. He estimated seven different human odors. But what bothered him more was the lingering gunpowder smell. The lack of heartbeats in the house concerned him too.
“Ray?” He called out again.
The trail of blood took Zale into the kitchen. He turned a corner and found an open door. He entered a small pantry and laundry room. Another open door led downward where the air reeked of death.
“Ray?” Zale said as he descended the steep stairs at a quick pace and on the side farthest away from the red streak.
The basement had been modernized with walls, carpet, and a tiled ceiling. Halfway down the steps he spotted three bodies on the ground to his the left. One had been decapitated. Based on the attire and stocky frame, he determined the headless body belonged to Mark. The other two men were laying on their stomachs a few feet away from each other. Crimson fluid stained the carpet around the deceased.
Zale continued to the end of the staircase. Shock squeezed his heart when he found Ray’s naked body laying face down on a coffee table to the right. His head was missing and blood spilled from his neck, soaking into the cream-colored carpet.
Anger coursed through Zale and shot his temperature sky high. He moved closer to examine his partner’s body. He suspected a group had arrived to destroy Mark. Ray had changed to fight, hence why he was naked. Hands shaking with rage, Zale covered one over his mouth as he knelt closer to examine the neck. The cut had been clean, meaning someone had used a sword or long blade. Maybe a machete.
More dark fluid spilled from underneath Ray and dripped onto the rug. Traces of gunpowder were strong near his torso. Carefully, he lifted Ray’s shoulder so he could view his torso. Ray’s leg slid off the table on the other side. The weight of it pulled the rest of his body. Within seconds, Ray’s body fell to the ground, smearing blood over the wood.
“Fuck!” Zale yelled.
Fury consumed him. Heart pounding and breathing heavy, he stared at Ray’s headless body. Six holes in his chest were the reason he’d died, not the decapitation.
He clenched his fist tight, wanting to hit something or someone. Revenge seemed appropriate until he looked at the headless vampire. The problem wasn’t about one man or a single species. Retribution wouldn’t come in a fistfight or death.
Still enraged, he grabbed the coffee table and threw it back. It flew several feet before it crashed into a bookcase, breaking glass and knocking down shelves. Books fell to the ground. In little time, the rest of the bookcase toppled over.
“Fuck!” He shook his head as he lowered it.
The partner he’d trained and worked with had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He shouldn’t be dead. He didn’t deserve to die. And the vampires who obeyed the law didn’t deserve to be tortured and destroyed either. The demons needed to go.
The ring of Zale’s phone in his pocket made him f
linch. He removed his cell to find Gordon’s number on the screen.
“I’m here,” Zale answered in a low tone.
“Did you find him?” Gordon asked.
“Yes.” He swallowed hard. “Among the departed.”
“What?” Gordon sounded exasperated.
“I’m looking at his naked headless body now. He has six bullet holes in his chest.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone decapitate a werewolf? The bullets killed him.”
“You don’t need to tell me that,” Zale said sharply before he realized it.
“What about the vampire?”
Zale walked away from Ray’s body and strode to the three on the other side of the room. “He was decapitated as well. There are two more bodies next to him.”
“Can you tell if they’re demons?”
“No, they’re face down.”
“Turn them over and look at their eyes. Tell me if the eyeball is white or gray.”
“Hang on.”
The wet carpet slushed under his weight. He’d have to toss his shoes before getting into his car. When he reached the first man, he gripped the arm and then rolled the body over. His open eyelids revealed the area round his pupils was gray. He stepped over the dead man to reach the other who had chocolate-colored skin. Again, Zale used one hand to roll the body over while he held his phone. Similar to the man nearby, the African American’s eyeballs were gray instead of white.
“Zale, I just received word a team will be there in five minutes,” Gordon said.
“They were demons,” Zale said as he lowered his gaze to their arms and abdomens. “It looks like they were stabbed and bled out.”
Zale shifted his gaze to the vampire. Red smears covered the vamp’s hands. He scanned the floor and found two knives.
“I think Mark was fighting them. I can distinguish seven different human smells,” Zale said as he looked around the room, searching for a gun.
“We can speculate demons arrived, Mark and Ray fought back. Someone shot Ray. Two demons were killed. If I had to guess, I’d say Mark managed to do it. And the demons decapitated both Ray and Mark. Do you see the heads?”
“No, and I can’t find a gun.” He lifted his head to the trail of crimson leading up the staircase. “I think they took the heads with them.”
“I don’t know why they would do such a thing. I’ve never seen this kind of behavior in my existence.”
“Someone took the heads from the vamps at the warehouse, put them in a bag, and then tossed it in the White River. Maybe the demons are trying to delay us in finding out the identities of the vampires.”
“Possibly.”
“There’s something else I noticed when I arrived. One of the cars was missing. When I was here earlier, there were two sedans on the driveway.”
“Do you know if they belonged to the vampire?”
“No, but we can find out through the Bureau of Motor Vehicle’s records. If they were both listed in his name, we can put out an all points bulletin for the missing one.”
Hope surged within him. With help of the local police, maybe the vehicle would be found within the next few days.
“Okay, here’s what I want you to do,” Gordon said. “Take as many pictures as you can and then return here. I don’t want you staying around in that gruesome mess. I’ll call the local police so they can get the bodies to the morgue.”
“Gordon, we have two demons. If DNA or fingerprints can be run to identify these men, we can focus an investigation on them. I can go to their homes and talk to their families. I can figure out who their demon friends are. I might even be able to find out how they became possessed. This could be a big break for us. I can get a few staff members to help me do research about these men. If I can get their names and addresses I can hit their residences tomorrow. And we have the potential of issuing an APB for the missing car. I can find the demons.”
Zale rattled off the words so fast his head was almost spinning. His heart raced. All he could think about was finding out the identities so he could start questioning people. The deceased demons had to be connected to other demons. One way or another, Zale wanted to find who killed Ray and bring an end to the death and violence plaguing the city.
“I know you want justice for Ray’s death,” Gordon said.
“Of course I do. These two demons could lead us to the ones responsible and maybe a master. We need to stop them sooner, not later.”
“Wait for the team to arrive. They should be there soon. Then come back to the office and let’s work out a plan.”
“You bet I will.”
“See you soon.”
Zale lowered his phone. Once Gordon’s number disappeared, he brought up the camera application. Excitement remained strong within him. Now that he had demon bodies and a missing car, he had hope he could find other demons quicker. UoJ agents still needed to learn more about Bethany and the other identified vampires. The amount of work continued to grow, but on the bright side Zale believed he and the UoJ were getting closer to stopping the demons. Justice would come from all the dead and destroyed once the demons were gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Few cars were on the road at the early morning hour. Gripping the wheel tight, Zale drove along the main thoroughfare to reach the interstate. His emotions were a mixture of sorts, all of which kept him on the edge of spilling his guts. He mourned the loss of his partner, but he was also furious. His hunger for vengeance encouraged him to get to work so he could find the ones responsible. But concern pressed upon his thoughts. How did the demons locate Mark’s house?
Mark’s home sat on an isolated stretch of road with neighbors separated by several acres of land. Had demons followed him from somewhere? The answer seemed unlikely. Mark would’ve noticed someone behind him. The only other option Zale could conjure was a vampire gave Mark’s location to the demons. And if such were the case, what vampire would offer such information?
He slowed the Explorer as he approached an intersection. One car passed across the road. Rubbing his temple and the side of his face, he tried to figure out who would supply addresses to the demons. Mark had worked with Tim, Robert, and Scott. Tim had been at the meeting. Scott hadn’t been at his house when Zale dropped by earlier. He could’ve been at the meeting. Robert and Bethany were gone. Henry confirmed Bethany’s identity belonged to the female vamp found at the warehouse. Was it possible Bethany had supplied the demons with Mark’s location? But why would she do such a thing?
A chill snaked through Zale. The vampires found at the warehouse appeared to have been tortured. Either the demons had fun hurting the vamps or the demons had wanted something from them. What would the demons want? Their ultimate goal was to rid the Earth of vampires and rule everyone. If Zale were in their shoes, he’d want information about other vampires, such as names of important ones and locations. If Mark, Scott, and Tim had known Bethany, which seemed likely since they had worked with Robert, then Bethany could’ve supplied the demons with addresses. They could’ve tortured her for details to plan their next moves.
The light flashed green. Zale accelerated and changed lanes. His reasoning could be off base, but his instinct led him to think otherwise. If Bethany shared Mark’s address, she could’ve supplied Scott and Tim’s as well. The meeting had ended over an hour ago. Zale suspected Tim wouldn’t be home yet, but he had no idea about Scott. The demons had plenty of hours of darkness left to make a move against Scott and Tim. Since Scott’s home was the closest, Zale decided to pay him a friendly visit.
He sped down the street and through intersections. The SUV’s engine hummed louder as he pressed on the accelerator. Although Gordon expected him at the office, Zale felt confident his boss would understand his decision to check on Scott.
The lack of traffic helped Zale reach Scott’s neighborhood within minutes. Lights outside the homes illuminated the area. The interior of most homes appeared dark. Given the h
our, many were probably sleeping.
He reached the large two-story house he’d visited earlier with Ray. A light glowed from within the home. Two cars sat idle on the driveway in front of the garage. Someone had shown up.
He stopped his SUV near the curb across from Scott’s home. Staring at the house, he debated if he should go inside. One of the cars could belong to Scott, which meant another vamp owned the other vehicle. He estimated at least two vampires were inside. At the meeting, the vamps hadn’t seemed cooperative. They’d pushed Greg into a fight. What if Scott and his buddies attempted the same with him? He debated bringing the Taser.
Having decided not to bring any weapon, Zale tugged the key from the ignition. The right thing to do was warn the vamp he could be in danger. Even if the bloodsucker didn’t want to listen, at least Zale could say he warned him.
Phone in his pocket, he left his car and headed to Scott’s house. Determination fueled his steps. One way or another, he had to find a way to convince Scott to stay elsewhere for a while. And he wouldn’t let any vampire egg him into a fight.
He jogged up the few steps to the reach the porch. Before he made it to the door, a young woman with long red hair opened it. She wore heeled boots, black tights, and a long-sleeved tunic.
“You just don’t give up, do you?” she asked with one hand on her hip.
“Who is it?” a man called out.
The tap of his shoes on the hardwood floor indicated someone was approaching.
“I’m looking for Scott,” Zale said. “Is he here?”
The lady stepped aside as a man came to stand near her. Neither of them had a heartbeat. He stood taller than her and had long dark hair. His large build led Zale to believe he’d died strong and healthy. Dressed in black pants, a button-down dress shirt, and a blazer, he could’ve obtained any modeling job.