Blood and Thunder

by Roquet, Angela

  BLOOD AND THUNDER

  BLOOD VICE BOOK TWO

  Angela Roquet

  BLOOD AND THUNDER

  Copyright © 2017 by Angela Roquet

  All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the publisher. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  www.angelaroquet.com

  Cover Art by Rebecca Frank

  Edited by Chelle Olson of Literally Addicted to Detail

  For Paul and Xavier,

  who make my world go round.

  by Angela Roquet

  Blood Vice

  Blood Vice

  Blood and Thunder

  Blood in the Water (October 2017)

  Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc.

  Graveyard Shift (FREE on Kindle)

  Pocket Full of Posies

  For the Birds

  Psychopomp

  Death Wish

  Ghost Market

  Hellfire and Brimstone

  Limbo City Lights (short story collection)

  The Illustrated Guide to Limbo City

  Spero Heights

  Blood Moon

  Death at First Sight

  other titles

  Crazy Ex-Ghoulfriend

  Backwoods Armageddon

  BLOOD AND THUNDER

  Chapter One

  Sometimes, when working a particularly shitty shift, I fantasized about what my life might have been like if I’d been a vampire a few hundred years ago. If my sire hadn’t been a total asshat—or dead. I imagined him showing me a good time, somewhere like London. He’d be independently wealthy, and by some other means than running a brothel. I’d wear a ruffled dress, and he a fancy suit with long coattails and a top hat. We’d go dancing, and then relieve a local doctor of his bloodletting collection. The night would conclude with us settling down in a gothic crypt, where he’d gladly answer my every obscure question.

  But, unfortunately, I died in the twenty-first century.

  There were no ruffled dresses or coattails here. No fancy crypts. My sire was a prick, and now he was dead dead. And I had no one to answer the million questions ping-ponging around inside my head along with all these distracting fantasies. Oh. And now that I was one of the undead, I always got the shit shifts. Tonight was no different.

  I hated running DUI checkpoints. Traffic was backed up down Olive Boulevard, more funneling in off the 141 ramps. The heat of idling engines paired with the sweltering August air was wreaking havoc on my hair and skin. The pits of my uniform were damp, and my legs itched under the thick, brown pants. At least it was dark. Of course, now that I slept like the dead while the sun was up, it was always dark.

  The night had yielded a handful of sloppy drunks, and one unfortunate bachelorette party that had tried to win over the only gay officer on the force by flashing him. Now that I worked with the K9 unit, I was, thankfully, no longer subjected to the worst of the catcalling and bribery tactics. I simply had to walk Mandy, my werewolf partner moonlighting as a police dog, around any vehicle pulled in for additional questioning.

  It was an easy gig, though unbearably mind-numbing. Like most of the rookie tasks we were assigned. Mandy constantly nagged me to push Langford, the new captain I was under, for meatier jobs. She wanted something she could sink her teeth into. Literally. I couldn’t afford to tell her how badly I wanted that, too. And I didn’t have the heart to tell her that day would never come.

  We had to be careful if we wanted to make this last. The circus act we were pulling off was unheard of. Vampires and werewolves living on the fringes of the supernatural society weren’t supposed to draw attention. The more eyes, the more risk of exposure. And House Lilith didn’t do warnings. Assassinations and executions were more their style—at least, that’s what I’d heard from my very limited sources. It made my occupation difficult to manage on so many levels.

  Mandy and I couldn’t risk doing anything worthy of praise, anything that might make the local newspapers or television stations take an interest in us. That, too, could draw the wrong kind of attention. If Mandy ever bit someone, there was a possibility that it could be deemed unnecessary roughness. There was the chance the suspect would convince a jury they were innocent and demand that Mandy be put down. And heaven forbid she ever get injured on the job.

  If a vet sedated her, she’d shift back to her human form. Even if they let her remain conscious for an exam, any half-baked vet would figure out soon enough that she wasn’t some rare, mixed-breed dog. Right now, we were fudging her papers with the help of a doctor Mandy knew in Spero Heights, some backwoods town in the Ozarks teeming with all sorts of strange things I didn’t even want to know existed.

  “Earth to Skye. Come in, Officer Skye.” The walkie-talkie clipped on my uniform crackled as Collins’ melodious voice sang through it, and I was ripped out of my nineteenth-century London daydream.

  I stopped and gave Mandy’s leash a gentle pull—the lightest tug imaginable. She growled under her breath and turned her black, wolfy face up to glare at me. We were still working out her job expectation issues with the K9 unit. At least she didn’t show her ass too much around the other officers.

  I huffed an annoyed sigh before tossing my blond ponytail over my shoulder and pressing a button on my walkie. “I’m here, Collins. What do you need?”

  “We’re pulling one in, but Ricker and Yogi are still working over the last car. Wanna bring Star down to do a quick trunk sniff?” he asked.

  “We’ll be right there.” I lifted an eyebrow at Mandy. “Lead the way, Princess Pea.”

  Mandy groaned and grumbled as we turned around and headed back up Olive Boulevard. The white letters spelling out POLICE on her ballistic vest glowed in the dark. I knew she hated wearing it in this heat, but it helped disguise the fact that she was no German Shepherd. It also made me feel a tiny bit better about dragging a teenager into my dangerous line of work. Mandy was barely eighteen. We’d celebrated her birthday just the month before, with fireworks and a backyard barbeque, and the small handful of people who knew our darkest secrets.

  As we slipped between a pair of cars being flagged through the barricades cutting across Olive, disgruntled drivers shouted through open windows. Someone wanted to know how much longer this was going to take. Someone tried to argue how unconstitutional checkpoints were. Someone called me a bitch. I ignored them all.

  The cherries on top of Collins’ cruiser flickered over the road, marking the entrance to the lane blocked off for the lucky few chosen for further inspection. Four officers manned the flow of traffic, while Collins and his partner Ramirez questioned the drawing winners, occasionally calling in Ricker and Yogi or me and Star, Mandy’s on-duty name, to be extra thorough.

  As Mandy and I approached the second car in line—a yellow station wagon with Kansas plates—the driver’s door opened. A lanky man with dirty blond, shoulder-length hair stepped out of the car. He wore a flannel shirt and ragged jeans. Our eyes met briefly, and then his attention was pulled away as the beam of a flashlight flickered across his face.

  Officer Max Collins was every warm-blooded, hetero woman’s idea of perfection. His chiseled chest filled out the shirt of his uniform as if it had been made for him—or made to be torn off on a stage adorned with poles and pil
es of cash—and his deep green eyes managed to maintain an air of sensitivity even when they smoldered.

  “Hey!” Collins shouted at the flannelled man as he circled the car. “Sir, please remain in your vehicle.”

  A low growl stirred from Mandy, and before the man could say anything, his attention snapped down to my partner. His pupils swelled as he took in Mandy, and then he was off. He tore past the barricades and stumbled over the median and into oncoming traffic. A horn blared, and headlights washed over him. He threw an arm up over his face without stopping until he dropped off into the ditch on the other side of the road.

  Collins was hot on his trail, the beam of his flashlight bobbing against the nest of trees not far off—where the Kurt Cobain doppelganger appeared to be heading.

  Mandy barked, snapping me out of my shocked trance. And then we gave chase, too—albeit, more methodically and without blindly rushing into traffic. As we caught up with Collins, I felt a stab of panic in my gut.

  What had made this man so terrified of Mandy? Did he know what she was? Or would he have reacted this way to any large dog? What would he do once we took him down? What would Mandy do?

  My heart throbbed in my chest, dreading the long list of overwhelming possibilities, and my vision was suddenly painted in shades of red. All except for the man we were chasing.

  Vampire. He was a fucking vampire. And Mandy knew it. I could tell in the way she dragged me ahead of Collins. We had to reach this guy first, and we needed to do it without human intervention. But what we would do when we caught up with him was the real problem.

  The man darted past the halo of a street light and under a buzzing row of power lines. Then he disappeared beyond the trees. I squinted ahead, using the Eye of Blood to suss out the path of least resistance through the woods. Creve Coeur Creek dipped under Olive Boulevard and ran alongside a small clearing before coiling back toward us and succumbing to the trees and brush.

  My guess was that our suspect would try to cut through the woods long enough to lose us and then cross the clearing and the creek. Collins seemed to agree. He pointed toward the clearing with his flashlight and spared me a quick glance.

  “Chase him back this way. I’ll cut him off when he comes out the other side.” He rubbed his free hand over his forehead and sprinted away from me before I could reply.

  I pressed my lips together and ushered Mandy through the brush and bramble outlining the trees. Then I bent down and reached for the leash hook on her collar. I pulled her face in toward mine, directing her eyes away from her quarry and gave her a sharp look.

  “We have to make sure he escapes,” I said under my breath. “Do you understand?”

  Mandy yipped and tugged away from me, but I held firm to her collar.

  “This is important,” I said through clenched teeth. “If he’s caught and held by the human police, House Lilith will hold us responsible.”

  Mandy grumbled, but she nodded in understanding. Satisfied, I unhooked her leash. She sniffed the ground as I gazed through the trees, assessing the best way to cut off the vampire before he reached the clearing where Collins would be waiting.

  I projected my concentration ahead, weaving it through the thick summer foliage. Leaves rustled, and twigs snapped, and the vampire’s breath hitched as he stumbled over a fallen tree trunk.

  “There. That way.” I pointed south of his location. Hopefully, we could push him north and away from Collins.

  Mandy rushed through the woods ahead of me, but I followed closely behind, my blood vision easing my navigation. I couldn’t see the creek where it bent around the northern tip of this patch of woods, but I knew it was there. From the higher vantage point atop Olive Boulevard, I’d seen enough to know what needed to be done.

  Mandy’s growl urged me to hurry, and I doubled my pace again when I heard the vampire hiss. I pulled the can of pepper spray from my belt and tagged a couple of trees before slipping through the brush to where Mandy had cornered our target. They stood frozen, glaring at each other in a tight span of tall grass illuminated by the moon shining through a gap in the canopy. The Kurt lookalike hissed at me next.

  “Quiet,” I snapped, taking aim at his eyes with the can of pepper spray. “This works just as well on vampires. Trust me.”

  His snarl evaporated. “You know?”

  “I am,” I countered.

  “But you’re a cop.” His confused eyes shifted to Mandy. “And you’re working with a werewolf.”

  I shook my head. “We don’t have time to play twenty questions. You have to get out of here.”

  “Then why did you stop me?” The snarl was slowly returning.

  “Because you’re going the wrong direction. There’s already an officer waiting for you east of here, and the school and residential area beyond that will guarantee a full-blown search party.” I pointed north. “The creek cuts through the woods and then dips under 141. Stay in the water until you get at least that far.”

  Another dog—Ricker’s German Shepherd, Yogi, I guessed—bayed not far behind us. The vampire flinched at the sound.

  “Go,” I whispered, pointing north again. “We’ll buy you some time.”

  As soon as he was out of sight, I made a wide circle, spritzing every third tree with pepper spray. Mandy whimpered and rubbed her nose into the earth before covering her muzzle with both paws. Yogi echoed her sounds of distress as he and Ricker joined us.

  “Jesus H. Christ.” Ricker coughed and hacked as he waved the end of his flashlight back and forth in front of his face. His uniform wasn’t as flattering as Collins’, highlighting love handles and the Marlboro baby he’d acquired after he ditched his nasty habit. At least his teeth were whiter these days, and he smelled better. After the initial month of mood swings, he was even pleasant to be around again.

  “What the hell, Skye? You find a den of bears out here or something?” he asked in between gasping for air.

  “I tried to spray the suspect, but the nozzle on my can must be broken.” I shrugged and blinked to clear the tears burning in my eyes. “But hopefully Collins got the guy once he slipped out the other side.” I nodded my head east, away from the direction I’d pointed the vampire.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Ricker ambled through the trees and led Yogi past the toxic clearing.

  Mandy trailed after them, giving a wolfish snort as she stepped around me. I sighed and glanced north, using my fading blood vision to see how far the vampire had made it. He was almost to the creek. He’d be long gone before anyone ventured that far to check.

  When I exited the woods, Collins was waiting for me, arms folded across his wide chest. Mandy sat at his feet, an equally cross expression on her furry face. Collins pointed his flashlight in my eyes.

  “What happened?” he asked, his voice thick with accusation.

  I swallowed and pushed the end of his flashlight down. “My pepper spray malfunctioned.”

  “Why did you even have it out? That wasn’t part of our plan.” He pulled the flashlight out from under my hand and pointed it at my face again. I squinted against the harsh light and grunted my offense.

  “Our plan?” I said, folding my arms to match his. “We didn’t make a plan. There was no time for that. Ma—Star and I caught up to the suspect. I pulled my pepper spray, but the nozzle wouldn’t work, and the guy took off.”

  “Why didn’t Star follow him?” Collins’ squinty, judgy eyes migrated to my partner. Mandy’s ears flattened back against her head as she stared at me.

  “The pepper spray must have been too much distraction. I should probably take off early tonight to clean her up,” I said.

  Collins’ lips scrunched together. “Uh-huh.”

  “I’m sorry.” I threw my hands up. “What more do you want from me?”

  He finally lowered the flashlight out of my face, but as I turned to head back toward the road, he snatched the can of pepper spray from my belt.

  “Hey!” I reached for the can, but not before he had a chance t
o depress the nozzle. A stream of bitter fluid shot the ground at my feet. Collins sighed as I grabbed the can away from him.

  “I don’t get it, Skye,” he said, shaking his head as he walked away from me. “I know you’ve been through a lot, and it can take time getting settled with a new unit, but you’ve been off your game ever since you came back. You’re not even trying anymore. I don’t know how long you can keep this up.”

  I held my breath as I watched him go, the beam of his flashlight dancing across the tall grass as he made his way back to the road. Darkness engulfed me now that my blood vision was gone. It would take longer to retrace my steps to the checkpoint, but that was okay. I was in no hurry.

  I hated to admit it, but Collins was right. And I didn’t know how long I could keep this up either.

  Chapter Two

  Mandy’s puffy, bloodshot eyes avoided me on the drive home. She’d shifted into her human form in the back of my new cruiser, within the cocoon of tinted windows, eager to tuck away the magnification of her canine senses. Her tank top and gym shorts were wrinkled, having been stashed in the glovebox. I’d made a petty excuse to Collins about getting her cleaned up after surviving the fog of pepper spray in the woods, and now, after realizing how much it had actually affected her, I felt like an asshole.

  “Would it help if I cranked up the AC?” I asked, fiddling with the dials on the dashboard.

  Mandy grumbled some noncommittal sound and turned her face away from me to glare out her window.

  “I’m hungry,” she said, almost accusingly. As if telling her she couldn’t take a bite out of the vampire suspect had been a deliberate attempt to deprive her of a tasty snack.

  “We could swing by that diner on Delmar.”