Seizing Darkness (Fur, Fangs, and Fairies)

by Mariana Thorn

  He continued, “I think we got off on the wrong foot. I will apologize for my partner here. I’m Detective Larson and this is my partner Detective Grayson from the homicide division. We would be appreciative of your assistance with this investigation.”

  Now that’s more like it, I thought. “All right. I need you guys to secure the scene. Like I said before, after my people are done, your people can go through everything. We get the body, you guys get the rest. Any questions?” I was really hoping that there wouldn’t be any more problems.

  “Nope. You do your thing and tell us when you’re done.” Larson smiled politely. He smelled of fear rather than deceit.

  “Thank you.” As I spoke, I noticed the two members of the forensics team that worked for Val duck under the tape with Gregory.

  Madon joined me. “He isn’t one of mine.”

  “Do you recognize him at all? What about one of Joshua’s?” I shuddered at the thought of Joshua, the neighboring alpha. He was a real ass and I hated dealing with him. Secretly, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to.

  “I don’t think it’s one of his either. I doubt it’s a northern wolf.” He nodded toward the approaching vampire. “I see you called in Gregory as well. The body reeks of rotten corpse,” Madon said, knowing that Gregory would hear.

  “I don’t know how you could smell it at all with that horrible wet dog scent in the air,” Gregory replied.

  They had a small rivalry, but they got along for the most part since their territories and enterprises overlapped. That included the club Gamut. Personally I believed that they held each other in high esteem, but had to play it tough because of their positions. Stupid men, I thought, and their equally stupid games.

  My head was really beginning to hurt. “Now is not the time, you two. Gregory. Go. Do your thing. Madon, if there isn’t anything else you can tell me, get lost. I don’t have the time or patience for your over-inflated egos. Nor have I had enough coffee.” I felt my voice drop to a growl.

  “Since you put it so nicely, Natalya, I will be on my way. Give me a call if you need me for anything else.” Madon’s deep green eyes held mirth that did not reach his voice.

  I really wanted to claw something or someone. No one was cooperating. He gave me a salute as he left. I rolled my eyes. Why had I answered the phone when Val had called earlier? I wondered. I should have turned off the ringer before I’d gone into the club. I was still craving that good romp in the woods.

  Getting back to the task at hand, I turned to Gregory, who was standing still as a statue, as only a vampire could. It drove me crazy when they didn’t even pretend to breathe.

  “What are you doing?” I snarled.

  “Nothing. Just enjoying your fur being ruffled, kitten,” he said with that all-knowing smile of his.

  I would’ve loved to wipe it from his face, but knew it was forbidden. The growl escaped my throat before I could stop it. I even felt my eyes change a little in my frustration. I didn’t know why I was so touchy lately.

  He smirked at me. “I shall go inspect your corpse. I doubt it was one of mine that did this. None of my people would leave such a mess to clean up. My people know that killing is not allowed for any reason.” He waved his hand toward the body with disgust. Then he made his way over to it and began his examination.

  It’s hard to describe the way vampires move. It’s like they think, or know, that they are better than everyone else. He was right about the killing thing though. He kept his people in line. Vampires didn’t need to kill to eat. The law stated that they were to take only what they needed, and only with consent.

  After a moment Gregory returned to me. “It was not one of mine. You might want to ask Richard. Also, I do not know if the mutt informed you that there is a faint smell of cat. Not a weretiger like you. It was some lesser werecat that I cannot place at the moment.” He scratched his chin in thought. “Do you need me for anything else, kitten?”

  “No, you can leave,” I said.

  He flashed me that irritating smile, then was gone. I watched as the forensic team finished up their work. The two humans had moved away from me. I knew I’d better question the witnesses, but I needed a moment to calm down. I started to count to ten; when I got to around two hundred and seven I felt composed enough to be civil to the humans.

  Chapter Two

  I forced myself back over to them. “Who found the body?” I asked evenly.

  “Officer Larson will answer your questions. I’m going to leave as I’m not needed,” the fat, stinky one said.

  I’ll admit I would breathe much easier not having to inhale his stench. He stuck his nose up at me like I was a nasty little insect. Really, if he only knew what I could do to him, I thought. He didn’t like me, and the feeling was mutual. As he left, I turned to the younger detective and raised an eyebrow in question. He smiled at me. The scent of his fear was fading. Maybe I’d been wrong about how he’d been looking at me before. It didn’t matter – as long as he decided to play nice, then so could I.

  “The waitress from the restaurant over there,” he motioned with his hand, “was the first to find the body. She’d come out for a smoke when she saw it. We were called in and noticed it didn’t look right, so we performed the blood test. Once it showed that the body wasn’t human, we called the PIB. No one has touched the body since it was identified as non-human,” Larson reported in a professional tone. I appreciated his effort.

  “Good. Who performed the blood test?” I asked. I would need a sample of their hair or something to eliminate their scent. Not that I thought for even a moment that a human could have done this, but I still had to investigate the possibility. There were groups of humans that hated us. The biggest and most prominent was the People Against the Devils, which we just called the PAD’s. Real original name, right? Humans hate the things they fear – it’s in their nature. I think sometimes they were better off not knowing about us. But they did now, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about that. Most humans lived with the knowledge, but there would always be those humans that couldn’t accept change. These ones in particular wanted those like me caged or killed. If they were involved here, this would be the first case I’d seen with the PAD behind it.

  “We already got a sample of their scent for you right here.” He handed me a sealed evidence bag. I waved to one of the forensic techs who came and took the bag from me. Then he went back to his business.

  “Thank you. That was most helpful. Have you interviewed the waitress?” I was relieved that his emotions seemed to be calming. It was helping me relax just a little.

  “We took her statement, but kept her here in case you wanted to hear it as well,” Larson said.

  I wanted to ask why they’d been so unhelpful in the beginning when they had already done all this. I felt like hitting my head against a wall in frustration. By now I was out of coffee and I suspected I would need a lot more to handle the rest of the night.

  “Let’s get the preliminary questioning over now,” I said. “We can finish up with her later, after we know more of what to ask. Plus, I don’t think that she’s going to be all that helpful in this situation.” I paused, noticing him staring. “Is there something else you wanted to ask?”

  He blushed. “Um, I was wondering. The two men that came – who were they? And uh, they referred to you as some sort of cat. What are you?” he asked in a nervous voice. The smell of his fear was back.

  I sighed. So that was his problem. Well, it didn’t do any harm for him to know. At least he had left off the kitten part. “I’m a weretiger. It really isn’t polite to ask, you know. And for the record, never call me kitten. As for the two men, they are another story. The first was Madon, the local werewolf alpha. The second was Gregory, the local vampire master.

  “You know from the test that the victim was a werewolf. Madon says he doesn’t recognize him, which is cause for concern. The victim was killed by a vampire that is not associated with Gregory, which is another problem. This mea
ns that now they’re both involved in this investigation. So now I have to deal with them as well as you humans. Hopefully, I can leave most of that to my boss. If not, then I’ll leave it to my partner – if he ever gets his ass here. He’s much better at handling these kinds of nuisances than I am.”

  His face had paled a little. “So…so… you turn…” he stuttered.

  I lost a little more control. His fear was getting to me. “Yes, I turn into a giant cat with stripes, long pointy claws, and razor sharp fangs. So I would really like to get this over with. I’m tired and grumpy, not to mention starving. So you can either get over it or not. I don’t really care. I’m not going to harm you. I’m more likely to bash those two idiots’ heads in than yours.” I indicated where Madon and Gregory had been. “Now are we going to question the witness or not?”

  What I said must have snapped him out of it because he visibly relaxed. “I apologize. It’s just not every day that I get to meet someone like you.”

  “I’m not sure how to take that, so let’s just go get this over with. What do you say?”

  He motioned me ahead of him and said, “After you.”

  As if I would let anyone behind me right now, even a helpless human. So I suggested, “Why don’t you just walk with me?”

  “I noticed that you seem to have a better relationship with Madon than Gregory,” he said as we walked over to where the poor waitress was sitting and rocking herself back and forth.

  I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He was observant and was trying to be sociable, maybe even a little nice. Hmm, I thought, I could deal with that.

  “I’m not overly fond of vamps in general, and Gregory was trying to get on my nerves. Madon, as a wolf, wouldn’t try that. There is a chance I could knock his head off, so he’s a bit more respectful. Vampires, on the other hand, are a bit tougher, and definitely more arrogant.”

  Before we reached the witness, rock music blared from my pocket. It was Val’s ring. “Hold on, I got to take this,” I said turning from Larson. I answered my phone, “Yes, Val?”

  “Madon said you were in a bad mood.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “I’m definitely not in a good one. And he should watch his furry tail, I might just bite it,” I snapped.

  “Sorry to hear that. Anyway, Radek and Dante are heading your way. As I said earlier, there was another body tonight. They’ve been to that scene already. I told them to stop for more coffee. I thought you could use some and I know how you are about your coffee. You’re going to be teamed up with them on this. How are things going at your scene?”

  “Oh just dandy. I finally have the humans cooperating. It looks like a body dump. There isn’t enough blood on the scene for it to have happened here. It reeks of vampire, and Gregory said there was a faint werecat smell that he didn’t recognize. I don’t know what that’s about. I couldn’t smell it. I’ll ask Madon if he smelled it when I talk to him again. I’m about to question the human that found the body, but I don’t think that will lead anywhere.” Something he had said sunk in. “And did you say Radek was coming?”

  “Yes, Radek is going to be there,” he replied.

  What is that old cat up to? I wondered. Radek was Val’s son and reportedly one of the top agents. I had yet to meet him. He had been traveling around the country from what I’d heard – I wasn’t privy to the details. I was rather curious about him though.

  “Back to the case, it doesn’t sound good. The other was a body dump as well. Just like all the others this week. I’m betting that it’s an agent. Radek or Dante should be able to identify him if it is. Thanks for helping out tonight. I know you’ve been working hard. When this is over you can have a nice long vacation, I promise.”

  I was just relieved that there was more caffeine headed my way. “As long as those two bring more coffee, I think things should be fine. Thanks, Val. I’ll report in when I have more information.” There wasn’t much else I could do.

  I could hear the weariness in his reply. “Glad to hear it,” he said, then hung up.

  I turned back to the waiting detective. He was smart and kept his mouth shut. I motioned him to continue on to the waiting witness. She was just taller than me, with stringy blonde hair. She was bone skinny, wearing a short black skirt, white button-up shirt, black high heels, and stockings. She reeked of fear, cigarettes, and sweat. Typical waitress, just trying to get by, I thought. I felt bad for her. Larson was introducing me so I tried to focus.

  “Carol, this is Natalya. She has a few questions for you, and then you can leave,” he said gently.

  I was glad he had left off my title. The girl was scared enough as it was. I needed her calm and telling her that I was one of those things that go bump in the night wouldn’t help.

  “Okay,” she said in a shaky voice and turned her blue eyes on me. She looked relieved to be dealing with me rather than him. Oh, if she only knew what I was.

  I knelt down in front of her. She was already shaken, and I needed information from her, so I had to play nice. “Carol, can you tell me briefly what happened? Then you can go on home for the night. I’ll have to ask you to come in tomorrow to give a more detailed statement. But I just need the basics for now,” I said in my softest voice, knowing that the calmer I was, the calmer she would be.

  “It’s like I told them. I just came out for a smoke, and I was like, what the hell? There that thing was! And I screamed and Darrel came running out. He threw up over there,” she pointed to the trash can. “Then I ran in and called nine one one.” Her eyes were wide with fright.

  “Did you see anyone else out here? Or hear anything?” I had to stop myself from asking what she’d smelled. She was only a human, I reminded myself.

  She just shook her blonde head, causing some of her hair to fall from the ponytail. “I didn’t see anything but that.” She pointed to where the body had been.

  I stood up. “All right, Carol. You can leave. Make sure the officers have your contact information. We’ll need to speak to you sometime tomorrow. You can make whatever arrangements work best for you with the officer. Thank you for your time.”

  Resisting the urge to rub my aching head, I went back to where the body had been. It had already been removed, so I was left staring at the pavement. There was very little blood at the scene. The metallic scent of it was light compared to the stench of the nearby dumpsters. It wasn’t like a normal vampire attack though. They would have drained the blood from small puncture wounds. This wolf had been ripped almost in half. Blood would have gone everywhere.

  I barely noticed that the detective was with me. He didn’t make a sound as I thought through everything. The team was still taking pictures and attending to other business. With the scene that Dante was at now, that would make five scenes like this one this week.

  I heard them approach, but didn’t look their way. They were introducing themselves to the detective. A hand with a large cup of coffee appeared in front of my face and went from side to side. He smelled a little like Val, like fur and wildness – almost a little spicy. It had to be Radek, Val’s son. I wanted to step closer and breathe him in. The other smells around me were killing my nose and he smelled so good.

  I turned. “Thanks,” I said as I accepted the coffee. I could tell it was decaf just from the smell. I glared at him and he seemed unfazed. He had a mischievous grin on his very attractive face. “This is decaf.” I growled, but I didn’t really mean it.

  Radek looked a lot like his father. He was almost a foot taller than me, with dark hair, dark eyes, and a dimple in each cheek when he smiled. He was built, that was for sure. I could tell he was all muscle, not bulky, but nice lean muscle like most weres. His jeans molded to him like a second skin. He had on a black fleece jacket and gloves.

  “Madon said you were a little wound up. I thought some decaf was in order,” he said in a rich, lightly-accented voice. I couldn’t place the accent. Most of the older creatures lost their accents if they traveled a lot. We had the
tendency to adjust to our surroundings in order to blend in. That included our speech patterns and accents.

  “What is this, a conspiracy to see who can piss me off the most tonight?” I complained, not wanting to let him know that just his presence was smoothing my ruffled fur.

  “Maybe. So what do we have here?” That was Dante, my vampire partner.

  We’d become close over the past year. He was the only vampire of my acquaintance that I liked. He nodded at me with a smile that told me he was in on this too. I sucked down the coffee to hide what I really wanted to say. It was better than nothing.

  “First off, you took your sweet time getting here. If you haven’t already figured it out, there was a dead wolf, killed somewhere else by a vamp and dumped here. Gregory said he smelled a hint of werecat – not a weretiger but something lesser. Whatever that was supposed to mean?”

  “It means we have our work cut out for us,” Radek said. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I think the detective has a thing for you.”

  I looked up in to his humor-filled eyes and whispered back, “You got to be kidding. He was looking at me like I was a disease or something when I first came under the tape.”

  He winked at me. “We can discuss this in the car. Dante, let’s take a look around, then you go on ahead. We’ll see you later tonight. I’ll hitch a ride back to headquarters with Nat here.”

  I didn’t know whether I liked him or wanted to smack him. He confused me to say the least.

  “Good luck with that, Dek,” Dante said.

  I couldn’t believe that my own partner was abandoning me with him. That’s when I noticed it. I looked between the vampire and the weretiger. My jaw dropped. “No way,” I whispered. My sneaky partner had been hiding a very big secret. Not that he was all that chatty, but he could have told me this one. I wasn’t sure if I should be angry or not.

  “She really is observant,” Radek said to Dante.

  Detective Larson looked confused. He didn’t have my night vision, so he couldn’t see what I could. Now that was really interesting, I thought. I knew better than to say anything in public, but oh when he was alone with me in the car, it was on.