Beyond the Grave

by Lina Gardiner

  Probably for lack of anything else he could do for her, Regent went to work and prepared a poultice to wrap around her neck. “These herbs will soothe you and make you feel better."

  She rolled her eyes. “I've had enough mollycoddling by the three of you for one night.” She motioned for all of them to disappear. Though a little weak, she stood. “If I promise to wear this for a while, will you all just leave me alone?” she asked, grabbing the poultice and heading for her bedroom in the basement. “James, it's nearly sunup, you'd better get going, too."

  "If you need me, Jess, just phone,” James said.

  "If you insist,” she gritted out just before shutting the basement door and breathing a sigh of relief at being alone at last.

  Moments later, she heard Britt descending behind her. “You're a hard man to dissuade.” She pulled off the useless poultice and threw it on a side table outside her bedroom door.

  "Jess, I'm sorry for what I did to you. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think it was necessary to keep you safe.” He took her arm, his thumb rubbing over the spot where he'd sliced her open and inserted the tracking chip.

  "Piss off, Brittain.” She wrenched her arm from his grasp. “I've survived for fifty years without you looking after me. I'm quite capable of kicking ass all by myself."

  "I know that's true. I want to make it up to you."

  Only a brave man would make bodily contact at this juncture, yet he molded his hands to her shoulders then let one hand glide softly down her arm until his fingers entwined with hers. One quick tug and she was in his arms.

  Unafraid, his lips pressed against hers hard enough to stop any half-hearted objection. Besides, his scent filled her nostrils, and she closed her eyes while he tasted her. As much as she wanted to protest, his expert mouth took her breath away and she got lost in the moment.

  Though detrimental to her plans to drive Britt away, she allowed his advances. Their tongues made contact.

  She'd never felt this close to humanity since she'd become a vampire. His lovemaking made her body react in ways that she'd previously thought impossible.

  She shuddered against him, and moaned. Her hands moved up his neck and into his hair, while his lips caressed her face, her neck, and moved toward her cleavage. Sexy and tantalizing. A full night with Britt would be heaven.

  Just as he started to slowly unbutton the trench coat she still wore, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs stopped him.

  He took a step away from her. “Damn it,” he said with a sigh. “We're always interrupted."

  She pressed her hand on his chest and quietly pushed him farther away so she could regain her equilibrium. How could she make herself believe she didn't want this? She wanted more—much more.

  "This can't happen, Britt. We're just torturing ourselves."

  "I'm not giving up, Jess. You and I are meant for each other,” he whispered, moving closer again.

  She turned away. Only if he wanted to die. And, even while his warm breath caressed the back of her neck, she was planning her next move to distance herself from him.

  "Good night, Regent,” she said to her brother, who'd just reached the bottom step. With that, she entered her bedroom and closed the door, leaving the two men on the other side.

  * * * *

  Britt's team was on patrol tonight. Even though he was the senior officer, he wished he had another experienced cop with them. After Jess had phoned James for backup last night he'd been severely dinged in the macho pride area. Why'd she make him team Captain if she didn't think he could cut it?

  "How long do we have to be out here, sir?” Marshal Banes asked.

  "As long as it takes, Banes,” Britt said a little more sharply than necessary. Taking out his wounded pride on the new recruits was not his style. He pasted on a professional exterior and became the tough cop they needed to emulate if they wanted to survive this job.

  Mind you, they hadn't seen any vampires for hours. The night would most likely be a non-event. He would let his team of seven finish this street then they'd head back to the station. Maybe Jess would be in her office.

  Yeah, he was distracted, all right. So distracted he nearly missed the vampire who'd spotted one of the recruits dressed in street clothes.

  The recruit, unfortunately didn't recognize the vampire. She was the prettiest hooker Britt had probably ever seen. Tall, statuesque and very buxom. And only had eyes for the recruit. And teeth.

  Britt raised his arm and spoke into the mike he held in his palm. “Retreat. Vampire at 12 o'clock. That means you, Mr. Brooks. Back away from the hooker, she's not what you think."

  Brooks didn't handle the message being piped into his left ear very well. He started backing up, all the while looking wildly around. Panicked, he started searching for his other team members, and giving their positions away, too.

  "Shit!” Britt moved in quickly. They'd have to run into a vampire tonight of all nights. But even with his battered ego, he could handle a single vampire, female or male, for that matter. After all, he had a handful of greenhorns to look after.

  This vampire was a tall one. At least six foot to his six foot three. That gave her an advantage since she had superior strength.

  He smiled at her, showing his human pearly whites to throw her off. She would expect a human to be more afraid.

  Her eyes narrowed and she hissed before lunging at him.

  Classic vampire move. In all their years on this earth, Britt still marveled at how they'd never come up more than a few new moves, mostly because they relied on their speed and strength. And even though they were nearly invincible, their action/reaction was always pretty much the same. That gave him a very slight edge.

  He countered her move.

  She screamed in anger when he outsmarted her. That move led to the next one he was expecting. He countered again, and she saw red. That's when he had her. Slamming his hand out and driving the stake into her heart came as a complete shock as she slashed her long fingernails across his left cheek then fell to the ground. She didn't vaporize; only the oldest vampires did that.

  His cheek stung, and he dragged one hand across it to wipe away some of the blood. Chest heaving from exertion, he stared down on the woman who's life he'd extinguished.

  His team moved in for a better look at the dead vampire. Most of them had never seen a real one before. This group still had no idea Jess was a vampire, and since James was on parental leave with baby Sephina, they hadn't met him yet. Maybe it was best that they weren't confused by the fact that at least two vampires were good. At least not right away.

  He bent down on one knee and checked her pockets, then the tiny purse that hung on her shoulder by a chain. She had nothing in her pockets and only makeup in her purse.

  "Check her bra,” Kendrick said. “Some hookers keep their most important valuables in there."

  Britt raised his eyebrows. He didn't like the idea of pawing inside a dead vampire's bra. He tentatively poked at her. Even though he'd killed her, it felt like a violation to feel her up afterwards.

  Damn it, there was something inside her right cup. He stuck two fingers in and grabbed the item as quickly as he could. It was a shiny red and black business card.

  Big surprise. Probably her own.

  He flicked the card between his fingers and held it up toward a streetlight to get a good look at it. In black Cyrillic print, the name Drago Vaslov was embossed onto the shiny foil. That nearly made him drop it.

  What the hell!

  Vaslov again.

  "Let's get this woman off the street,” he told his team while he tucked the card into his pocket.

  Brooks stepped up and kicked the woman in the head.

  Britt reached out and yanked the recruit away from the corpse so fast the kid look dazed. “Have some respect for the dead, Brooks. Not to mention you've just interfered with a crime scene,” he shouted into the kid's face.

  "Respect? She's a freakin’ vampire who would've killed me as quick as loo
k at me. Why should I respect that?"

  The kid was obviously in shock, or didn't want his job much longer. “She was also someone's daughter. People don't go out and ask to be turned into a monster who hunts for blood. Remember that. It could happen to you too. Besides, now that she's dead, she's no longer a vampire and she deserves the respect we'd give any dead person."

  He heard a snicker at the back of the group, and someone whispered. “I heard he takes it hard when it's a woman."

  Britt heaved a low breath and rubbed a weary hand over his eyes. He remembered one male vampire he'd killed, a young man who'd led him to believe he was worthless. In reality, the kid had just wanted to die because he could no longer live with what he was. That killing still weighed on Britt's conscience.

  He had a lot of work to do with this group. They still didn't get it. Yes, they had to kill vampires, but they had to retain their own humanity in the process.

  After his team was sufficiently reprimanded about improper conduct on the beat, Britt left them in the classroom writing up reams of paper on how they viewed the incident. Brooks would think twice about his actions, especially since his fellow officers were being punished for his insubordination.

  Just as he entered his office at the precinct, his cell phone rang. He sighed and whipped it off his belt. He was beginning to hate the damned phone. “Brittain here."

  "John?” It was Sampson.

  Britt's gut swooped. Lately Sampson only called him for one reason.

  "Can you meet me at our favorite spot in the park?"

  Britt didn't realize he'd been slumped in his chair until he shot upright. “You can't be serious?"

  "Unfortunately yes, and there's something very disturbing about this one."

  "More disturbing than the last three?” While he waited for Sampson to spill it, he mindlessly grabbed an apple from his desk drawer and bit off a large chunk realizing he hadn't eaten yet today.

  Sampson paused. “I'd rather you see the victim first. I want to see if you come to the same conclusion I did."

  Britt chewed the apple and swallowed. It could've been sawdust for all he noticed. He'd lost weight lately, and he couldn't fight vampires if he didn't stay bulked up. He needed every advantage he could get.

  "Be there in ten,” he said, clicking the phone shut and dumping the apple core in the waste basket.

  Another body! And this one so soon after Jess's last black out.

  Britt's gut twinged to the point he thought he might actually be sick. He stopped, and leaned over—pain cutting through his mid-section. The apple curdled in his gut. He breathed for a minute, waited for the nausea to pass, then rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth and made for the door.

  Jess Vandermire could not be killing those women! He slammed one hand into the wall as he strode down the hallway, his heart beating double-time and feeling like it might shatter if he didn't find out what the hell was going on.

  He hurried to his vehicle.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  CHAPTER NINTEEN

  "Is it possible that this victim is in the exact same position as the last one?” Britt surveyed the all too familiar scene. His insides twisted at the sight of another beautiful brunette on the ground. Another woman who looked way too much like Jess.

  Sampson clucked, and straightened his stance. Today, he looked like a giant insect in his white overalls and those big yellow goggles. “That would be inherently impossible, but she's pretty darned close to where the other bodies were found."

  "So who the hell is doing this?” Britt's hands tightened into fists, and he fought back the urge to curse loudly. Not good for the leading investigator to do in full view of the public. Did this have something to do with Vaslov? So far the evidence they'd found just didn't fit the way they should.

  "Someone is obviously obsessed with Jess,” Sampson said.

  Britt froze, then turned slowly to look at Sampson. “So I'm not alone. You think these women all look like Jess, too."

  "Sure do. And since we got the bodies back, I've been able to do some testing on the VNA present. There's something a lot more disconcerting going on here, Britt."

  "Why haven't you presented your report?” Britt frowned.

  "Just made the final analysis before I got the call about this gal."

  "Does Jess have this information, yet?” Why did Britt think Sampson hadn't given Jess the report? Something about his demeanor? The man looked beaten down tonight. Like the world had turned against him. Not like him, at all. He was the consummate upbeat forensic vampirologist.

  "Because I want to redo my tests first. I think they may have been compromised somehow. I may have mistakenly cross-contaminated the samples."

  Muscles tightened along Britt's shoulders. Sampson would never mix up the samples. He was too good.

  Weary eyes peered at Britt from under fogged up goggles. “It was Jess's VNA, Britt.” He flipped the goggles onto his head and swiped at one eye with a gloved hand.

  "That's not possible, and you know it,” Britt ground out. “Jess would never do this.” He looked down at the vapid stare of the corpse on the ground and felt his world begin to crumble. He hadn't forgotten that Sampson had told him he'd promised to eliminate Jess, kill her like any other vampire in the city, if she turned bad.

  "It's true. It's Jess's VNA."

  "Do not do anything to Jess! Do you hear me, Sampson?"

  Sampson sniffled, then covered it with a ragged throat-clearing sound.

  "There's no damned way Jess did this. She's being set up somehow, and I'm going to find out who's doing this to her.” Britt fingered the business card in his pocket. “I have a pretty good idea where to start."

  Sampson looked hopeful for the first time. “You do?"

  "I sure as hell do. Meanwhile, you redo the tests, okay?"

  "Yeah, tonight after I do a preliminary workup on this poor woman."

  "Let me know right away. No matter what time of night or day. And...” he reached out and touched Sampson's shoulder. “Whatever you do, don't tell Jess yet. You know she'll automatically believe she's guilty."

  "She might be guilty, Britt. You have to face that fact."

  "No, I don't. And she isn't. I'm going to talk to Regent, and then I'll come by the lab later on tonight to see if you've come up with anything. That okay with you?"

  "Yes. I really regret promising Jess I'd handle things if they got out of control.” He sniffed again. “I honest to God never thought it would happen."

  "Don't think about that now. Not yet. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That goes double for Jess. After all her years of saving human lives, she deserves that much."

  "She does."

  When Britt finished at the crime scene he jumped in his car and made for the Rectory. It was two a.m. Regent would be asleep and Jess should be at work shuffling papers, so he wouldn't have to worry about running into her.

  He knocked on the Rectory door for several minutes before a light went on in an upstairs bedroom. When Regent finally opened the door his tousled hair looked whiter than ever. The last few weeks had been hard on him.

  "What's wrong, Britt?” He looked over Britt's shoulder as if he expected someone else to be standing there. “You alone?"

  "Is Jess at work?” Britt asked. He could have used the GPS signal if he hadn't promised Regent he'd only use it in dire emergencies.

  "She must be at this hour.” Alarm instantly pinched Regent's expression and he leaned against the door casing. “Why, has she disappeared?"

  Britt felt terrible about the way he was handling this. The last thing he wanted to do was cause Regent more stress. He held up his hands in protest. “No. I'm sure she's at work. I need to talk to you, fill you in on some things that are going on, but first I wanted to make sure she wasn't here."

  "Since she's the boss, isn't it wrong to have a discussion without her?"

  "It would be if she truly were the unfeeling vampire she thinks she is and could disas
sociate her feelings from what I'm about to tell you."

  "What's this about?” Regent stepped back allowing Britt inside. He shut the door and led Britt into the kitchen where he put on the kettle and sat at the table.

  The thing is, we both know Jess's biggest fear is losing her humanity. I think someone's playing on that fear. There's been another murder tonight, and someone's making it look as if Jess killed these women. She's being set up."

  Regent ran a hand through his wild hair. It didn't help. When he leaned his elbows on the kitchen table and lowered his head and closed his eyes, for a moment Britt wondered if he'd done the right thing in coming to Regent. Then he remembered James telling him Regent could take it. He might be a tad sallow-skinned tonight, but he was a tough old priest, who would want to help his sister. And Britt had to bounce some ideas off him.

  Regent finally lifted his head. “I've just added another prayer to my repertoire for Jess. Now tell me why you think she's being set up."

  "Sampson told me tonight he found Jess's VNA on all of the victims but one, but you and I both know Jess would never do this."

  Regent remained silent, but his faded eyes stared unflinching into Britt's while he waited.

  Britt shifted uneasily and went on, “Sampson thinks he contaminated his own samples somehow, but I don't think so. I think someone has gotten hold of Jess's blood, possibly during one of her blackouts, and they've planted evidence on the bodies."

  "What about her blade? It was under the first body."

  "Yeah, and what a coincidence for Jess to have left it behind."

  Regent started to look more upbeat. “You're right, my son. That is too much of a coincidence. We have to find out who's doing this.” He started to get up. “But, Britt, I honestly think we need to tell Jess."

  "I hoped you'd say that, Regent. I wanted to leave that decision up to you. If you think she can handle the information without instantly believing she's guilty and shutting herself off, then she should know."

  "She can handle it.” Regent's expression turned even more serious. “Britt, you understand that Jess might never be able to go back to being human, don't you? That she does good things as a vampire."