I clear my throat. “Sorry, Mom. I forgot flowers again, but this is an impromptu visit, so maybe you can cut me some slack?”
I glance around. No one else is here, which doesn’t surprise me. It’s the middle of the night. I typically come when hardly anyone else is around. It’s depressing, the solitude, but sometimes, like now, I embrace it.
“Yeah, Dad, I know. You think it’s stupid for me to come here all the time and stare at your gravestones, but it brings me… not peace. I don’t know. Some kind of comfort, I guess.”
My fingers brush against the indentations of their names. The stones are ice cold, like frozen blocks.
Cold like death.
“So, yeah… I know it hasn’t been super long since my last visit, but there’s so much to tell you. Mom, Dad, you aren’t gonna believe it, but…” I look around to ensure my privacy but still kneel down and whisper, “Vamps are real.”
No way would my parents have believed that. They were sticklers for facts, for the truth. It would’ve taken some heavy convincing to turn them into believers.
“Yeah, crazy, right? Suck blood, fangs, turn into fog… They have creepy red eyes. Super-human strength. Incredible speed. The stuff of nightmares.”
Like the one I just had.
Another howl echoes, loud and long. Has a wolf gotten lost somehow? But wolves don’t come near cities, right?
“I witnessed a vamp bite a woman. He killed her right in front of me! But then he took off, just clear vanished. At first, I thought he had to be a vamp wannabe, but no such luck. He’s dead now, the vamp, and two others that we found. We’re putting together a new unit at the station. I’m part of it. Not the head, though. That pisses me off. I know, Mom. I know. Good things come to those who wait. I kinda doubt I have the patience to wait so maybe I don’t deserve good things.”
My coat doesn’t protect me from the bitter wind. I hunch down in front of their graves, hoping the markers can block some of the gust.
“The vamps are dead, so there’s that. I wish they were still alive… if they were alive. But it’s like you always used to say, Dad. It is what it is. We need to learn more about them, so we can better protect ourselves and the people of Bethlehem. And other cities, too. I’m not sure when the lieutenant is going to talk to higher ups about it all. I doubt he’ll tell me. I’m not exactly in the loop. But at least everyone believes in vamps now. They don’t think I’m crazy anymore.”
Although Lieutenant Reynolds still wants me to talk to Doctor Harris…
“There’s a new unit for hunting down vamps. The head isn’t me. Can you believe it? No, Mom, I don’t think it’s because I’m a woman. Yeah, Dad, I’m gonna work my ass off to get the jerkwad in charge ousted. No, Mom, I’m not upset about it. Well, yeah, I am, but the lieutenant’s right. I kinda haven’t earned it, even though I am the one to break the whole vamp thing out into the open.”
My temples throb. A migraine’s coming. Tomorrow is gonna be Hell if I don’t get any sleep tonight, but I’m not ready to leave just yet.
“Onto better news… I met someone. A doctor. So hot. And kind. An Eagles fan, Dad. Yankees, too, but we’ll just pretend that he doesn’t like baseball, okay? And, Mom, he does volunteer work. Yeah, he’s crazy busy, but so am I. Maybe it’ll work out. A girl can dream, right?”
It always hits me, when I come here, talking to them. I can picture their faces, hear their responses, see them smile or shake their head or nod. I can even feel their arms around me as if we’re hugging again. It’s therapeutic.
And it’s destroying me.
Bitter tears sting my eyes, but I refuse to shed them. I’m twenty-seven. My parents—adopted but who cares—have been gone for a long time now. I need to get over this. I need to stop being upset that they’re gone. But it’s hard, so hard.
Working in narcotics, I’ve seen my share of death. Murder, suicide, drive-bys… the lives destroyed by terrible choices…. Life can be impossibly cruel and devastating. I’ve experienced it and seen it more than most.
It’s almost enough to make me want to push Dean away so he can’t get tainted by all of the darkness.
“His name is Dean. Dean Cline,” I say, trying to get back on track, trying to find a means to be happy again. “Clarissa Cline. Ack. I don’t know if I like the sound of that. Stop, Mom. It’s way too early… Dad, I know. I’ll give it time. I won’t rush anything. I promise. I’ll be good. I’ll be careful. Yes, I’ll be careful with work too, Mom.”
I’m grinning now. The tears remain, still unshed, but I am happier. Somewhat. As much as I can be.
“I should try and get some shut eye. Thanks for the talk.”
I pat their gravestones and head back to my car. The moment I shut the car door, a sense of sad isolation threatens to overwhelm me. It takes a few deep breaths for me to try to find that sliver of happiness again.
The roads are mostly empty as I make it back to my small house. As I close the front door behind me, I swear I hear another wolf howl. I lock the door and double check that it’s secure before I make my way back to my bedroom. Today is gonna be a busy day, and I swear it’s not just gonna be filling out paperwork.
Chapter 5
That’s exactly what Rex wants me to do, though, as soon as I enter the police station the next morning. Paperwork.
“There’s a lot of red tape when creating a new unit. We need to file motions for funds and…” On and on, Rex Hunter drones, indifferent to my distant and bored demeanor.
Honestly, I want to shove the papers back into his hands or up somewhere else. Luckily for him, the lieutenant walks by just then so I force a smile.
“I’ll get right on it,” I say as if I’m eager to accept this task as a personal challenge.
“Great.” And Rex walks away as if he hasn’t a care in the world… or like he has pressing work of his own to do.
With a sigh and muttering under my breath, I go back to my old station. Until Rex finds us a new spot, I can’t work right beside my new partner.
Travis isn’t here. Neither are Marlon Price and Mercedes Adams. Mercedes and I used to vie for Marlon’s affection. The two of them are partners, also in narcotics. Guess the three of them are working together on a case. It’s strange to not be out there, with them.
After an hour of filling out forms, my eyes are crossed. I stretch and glance around. Angelo is talking to a few other officers, laughing and fooling around. Rex isn’t to be seen. Neither is Diego.
Seriously? Am I the only one doing any work for SIV?
I grab a stack of forms—maybe half. Fine, more than half—and stalk over to Angelo, a wide smile on my face.
“Here you go.” I shrug. “Rex asked you to fill these out.”
Angelo looks me over. “Sure thing. Wanna come back to my place and—”
“Got my own work to do.” I jerk my thumb back toward my desk. “Try to get those done before you leave tonight.”
“Oh, I know how to get work done so that I can have plenty of time to play.”
The other officers laugh.
I force a giggle. “Great.”
Before he or the others can comment, I hightail it back to my desk. Since I’ve cut my work by more than half, I’m able to plow through and finish the rest before lunchtime. I dart out of there and actually do grab a bite from Subway. That way I won’t be lying if anyone questions me. Then I’m off to do some patrols of my own. I doubt that there will be anything to see. The vamps tended to only be active at night. Besides, it’s not as if I expect to see a wolf in the city anyhow, those howls notwithstanding. I’m probably just imagining them. Stress has been my bestest of friends lately.
An hour passes. Another. Nothing to see. A few drivers are jerks and cutting each other off, but I don’t bother to pull over anyone. Traffic control is not one area I particularly like.
Eventually, a call comes in about an injured woman on South Mountain. Without hesitating, I put on my sirens, pull a U-turn, and hightail it there.
<
br /> I’m not the first officer on the scene, but I do arrive before the ambulance, although its wail signals it’s nearby.
The woman is lying face down in a ditch. She’s wearing jogger’s clothes, no coat. Crazy if you ask me. Way too cold, even with the heat generated from running.
But it’s her clothes that warrant another look. Slash marks. Like claws.
“Any reason to suspect foul play?” I ask.
“Nah. It’s clearly an animal attack. Too bad. She looks young. No wallet on her.” The officer is one I haven’t worked with before. He looks like a rookie.
“No wallet?” I bend down and carefully ease her wallet from her sock. “Looks like she’s Xandrie. Young is right. Nineteen. Going to Lehigh University.”
“Was going,” the officer sniffs, clearly disgusted I one-upped him.
I figured she was dead, although I hoped I was wrong—and the EMTs confirm it. What kind of animal killed her, though? I don’t see any paw prints in the soft mud near her body. It’s getting cold out. Don’t most animals become less active in the winter?
I’m baffled. It’s tragic, but it’s not anything I can help with. Appalled, I take off and do more patrols, especially near the cemeteries since the creepy vamps seem to like them. Although I burn a lot of gas, I don’t see anything worthwhile, despite circling around until well after dark.
Chapter 6
Angelo greets me by the door with a scowl the next morning. “You gave me your work to do yesterday?”
My urge to roll my eyes is almost unbeatable, but I resist. “Better it get done than not, and besides, idle hands are the devil’s—”
“My hands are never idle.”
“Your tongue is,” I snap.
“Never, love.”
I sigh and rub my temple. “Without an Irish or an Australian accent, you just can’t pull it off.”
“Italians can use love as an endearment!”
“True, but everyone knows Italians only love themselves.” I grin.
He sighs himself and clasps his hands to his heart. “Say it’s not so! Has she really cracked the code?”
I can’t help laughing at his theatrics, but then I notice something’s missing. “Where’s your…”
Me and my big mouth again.
Angelo sombers up real fast. “The missus isn’t the happiest with me right now. She wants a… You don’t want to hear all the sordid details.”
“No,” I say dryly.
Knowing Angelo, sordid is right.
“But you gave me your work?” he asks.
“We’re partners. My work is your work.” I wiggle my fingers in a mock wave and force my way past him.
I always figured Diego to be the fun kind of a flirt. Conversely, I thought Angelo to be the one who can’t be trusted to be faithful to his wife. Wouldn’t put it past him to have done something to warrant his wife wanting a separation or divorce.
But that’s on him and that’s outside of work. Here, his head needs to be in the game, or else he’ll get his throat ripped out… or maybe mine. And I want my head attached to my shoulders, neck smooth and un-fanged, thank you very much.
I track down Rex—he’s in a meeting with the lieutenant, and I know better than to interrupt. Basically, that leaves me with nothing much to do outside of checking the last of the tips. As it turns out, I end up not bothering with that, either. Maybe that makes me lazy, but I find myself looking up Xandrie. She had been a model student. Wanted to be an engineer. Wow. That’s amazing. I can’t imagine being an engineer. She had a scholarship to go there. Good. Lehigh isn’t cheap. Not by a long shot.
Then again, what good are that scholarship and her intelligence doing her now?
Life can be so cruel. They say only the good die young. I have no reason to think Xandrie hadn’t been anything more than a victim of wrong place, wrong time.
I’m not a jogger. I’m not someone who can run for hours, let alone even contemplate accomplishing such a feat. I always thought it strange how people can train to run impossible lengths of time. They kill their ankles and feet, all the blisters and callouses, fight dehydration. How many times have you heard about deaths involving joggers? Either they’re the ones murdered, or they locate the bodies.
Then again, lifting weights and training for karate isn’t some people’s idea of a good time. They think I’m the strange one. But the chances of a person dying from picking up heavy things and putting them down are a lot less likely. Kicking and punching and karate or other disciplines, heck, even yoga, are less dangerous too.
Xandrie hadn’t even reached her twentieth birthday yet. She must have had dreams, hopes, and wishes for the future that will never come true now, and for what? Had she frightened the animal? Had it been an animal?
A wolf?
Those howls…
No. I will not—I refuse—to go down that rabbit hole. Been there. Did that. Found vamps. Don’t wanna find anything else. I’m not a bond person. I’m not a PI. My job isn’t to find stuff. It’s to hunt clues and answers. Well, to some extent, my job description now includes tracking down vamps.
The day ends, and neither the lieutenant nor Rex came by. I’m not tolerating this. I’m not gonna be content to be in the dark. Nope. That’s where the vamps dwell. I refuse to be blindsided. I wanna be in the know. Whatever they have planned, I want in. I want to hear about it.
Maybe I’m just frustrated and bitter that I’m not the head of the new unit, but this is a kind of slow death for me. It’s a torture I won’t withstand.
So when the next day comes around, I seek out Rex. Basically, I corner him, almost pouncing on him the moment he walks through the door.
“I need an assignment,” I say. “A lead. A city block you want me to check out or patrol. Anything suspicious you want me to look into. The cemeteries—”
Rex narrows his blue eyes skeptically. “You really want to hang out in cemeteries?”
“It lured out vamps last time,” I point out, hating his condescending tone.
He’s taller than me, and he’s actually looking down his nose at me. He might be former homicide, but he’s not better than me. He’s not! I am not inferior compared to any of the guys. I’m not inadequate. I’m more than confident that I am an important member of the squad.
“Who said there are more vampires to be lured out? Do you have reason to think there is?” he asks, hostile.
He crosses his arms and lifts his head up in an I’m-better-than-you-are kind of way. His nostrils are huge. And disproportional. Maybe if he realized that, he wouldn’t look up at people like they’re less than.
“I don’t know. And neither do you. Isn’t it better to be proactive and—”
“Yes to being proactive, and we will be. Starting today.”
“Go. Sitting on your ass all day is only gonna make it get wider.”
Rex blinks a few times. “Don’t comment on my ass.”
I wince and hang my head. “I’m sorry. I just meant… Sitting around all day, working on paperwork… I like to be out and about doing something.”
He nods formally. Damn. I’ve been hanging out with Diego and Angelo too much. Rex isn’t like them.
“I like for the people on my unit to do as they’re told,” he says coldly.
Okay, I’ll let that one slide. I did make a comment that could be considered sexist even though that hadn’t been my point behind making it.
“So tell me what to do.” I smile as wide as I can. I probably look crazy.
“You and Angelo are going to do your best to track down that vampire hunter guy.”
“Blake Damon?” I ask incredulously.
Rex rubs his chin. He’s one of the few guys who can’t pull off stubble. “Yeah, that’s his name,” he says.
“Why are we going after him? Wouldn’t it be a better use of our time and resources to try and—“
“No.”
“But if we—“
“No.”
“What if the vamps—�
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“We don’t know if there are more,” he points.
“It only takes one to start up a killing spree again,” I counter critically.
“If you’re gonna be so argumentative, you should’ve been a lawyer,” he snaps, clearly frustrated himself. “Angelo in yet?”
“No.”
“As soon as he gets in, mine the computer for anything you can get about Blake Damon. Any aliases, last known addresses…”
“Whether he prefers Coke or Pepsi,” I joke.
So not amused, Rex just stares at me like I have three heads.
“You know what? I won’t even wait for Angelo.” Eager to get away, I move to step around him out the door.
Rex coughs. “Start on the computer.”
“But the trail—“
“Paper always leaves a trail.” He leans close and threatens in a low tone, “Prove you belong here, on my unit,” before walking away.
My hand shakes at my side, my fist one of suppressed fury. Maybe he’s just feeding off of my own frustration. Maybe he’s not really a jerk. I’ll give him another day or two.
And then what? It’s not like I’m in any position to take over. The lieutenant is right. I don’t deserve to be the head, and since Rex is, he gets to be the one calling the shots. Yeah, I think it’s stupid to try and hunt down a vamp hunter. Especially one who disappeared from the police station somehow without leaving a clothing fiber, skin cells, hair, or anything at all. Yeah, I think we should try to find other vamps. True, it might be a wild goose chase. Wicked vampire chase? And we do need to learn all we can from that vamp hunter if we’re to protect Bethlehem to the best of our abilities.
Why can’t we do both? Keep an eye out for vamps and do our best to locate Blake Damon? Don’t get me wrong. I’m uber pissed at myself for letting him slip through my fingers. How had I missed that he intended on killing our vamp captives? I definitely want to find him and give him a piece of my mind.
When Wolves Howl: A Mayhem of Magic World Story (Bedlam in Bethlehem Book 2) Page 3