03 - You Only Live Nine Times

by E A Price

  Raf nodded his head at the captain who was pretending to be discussing something with Georgia, and trying his darnedest not to make it seem obvious that he was ogling Isis’ long legs. “My captain’s insisting that I work this case.”

  “Indeed? Well, why don’t we see what my boss has to say on the matter?” she murmured sweetly, before yelling louder than holy hell. “Blondie! What’s taking so long?”

  A rumbling grunt answered her followed by the heavy tread of someone big – very big. Possibly the largest guy Raf had ever seen strode into the office, slipping his phone into his pocket. The air was thick with fearful awe as the giant surveyed everyone. One of their patrol officers, at six-foot-four, was nicknamed bigfoot, but he seemed average compared to this guy. He had to top at least seven feet and was built like a pro wrestler. Or two pro wrestlers - the guy had muscles to spare. Sure enough, he did have blonde hair, although Raf doubted he would risk calling the hulk blondie any time soon.

  “Checking up on Erin again?” asked Isis of the giant.

  “Making sure she’s staying in the office,” he replied in a deep bass. “She better not be out in the field.”

  “Awww, papa bear,” she cooed. Raf in spite of his clear disadvantage of being a foot shorter, and he assumed at the very least a hundred pounds lighter, had the distinct urge to pound the giant right in his granite-like jaw for eliciting that cooing sound from Isis. For some reason he didn’t like her cooing at any man.

  He snorted and then eyed Raf, dispassionately. “Gunner Christiansen, SEA,” he rumbled.

  “Rafael Silva.”

  “My boss,” added Isis. She looked over at the captain who was staring open-mouthed at Gunner. “Hmmm, mine’s bigger than yours.”

  “It’s not the size that matters,” offered Raf, surprised at his own audacity. Or maybe he was just keen to prove to Isis that the huge man didn’t bother him. She didn’t seem to want to rein in her frisky behavior, so why should he?

  “Yes, all men would like to believe that,” she scoffed.

  “Isis,” growled Gunner. “What has the director told you about taunting colleagues?”

  Isis tapped her bottom lip with a red-lacquered nail. “That it’s fun and I should do it more often?”

  “The exact word he used was don’t.” Gunner huffed and ate up the floor between him and captain with two large strides. In a daze, the captain allowed his hand to be thoroughly shaken by the massive SEA agent.

  “Nasty business, grave robbing,” remarked Gunner.

  “Yes, yes, yes it is,” babbled the captain.

  Raf rubbed his upper lip to hide the smile that wanted to escape. Not much got his captain tongue-tied. It was a shame Gunner was only passing through. Isis winked at him as he caught the amused look on her face.

  Suavely, Gunner managed to guide the captain into his office, ducking his massive body through the small doorframe as he went. The older human didn’t even know what was happening until he was seated at his desk staring at the smiling pictures of his terrifying wife and snarky offspring. Isis grabbed Raf’s hand and pulled him into the office after them, sailing past an outraged Georgia as they went. Isis shut the door firmly in Georgia’s face when the young woman tried to follow. Okay, he knew he shouldn’t have enjoyed seeing the triumphant look on Isis’ face nor the fury on Georgia’s, but he just couldn’t help himself. His tigress may very well be evil incarnate, and he loved it.

  “Uh, well,” started the captain.

  “So what do you think?” cut in Gunner.

  “This is a serious business,” said the captain, shaking his head making his jowls flap. “I don’t want the public finding out that their deceased loved ones aren’t safe in their graves.”

  Isis nodded. “Absolutely, people go gaga over things like this. Dead relatives and pets are real hot button issues. I’ll never forget the outcry we had when that witch was going around killing people’s cats and selling their mashed up bones as aphrodisiacs.”

  Gunner nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that was nasty. Or when that vampire was experimenting with trying to turn dogs into bloodsuckers.”

  The captain stared at them, not with anger, but with something more akin to confusion. The whole conversation must have seemed surreal to him. The man had spent his career avoiding supernatural creatures as much as possible and here he was faced with two larger than life shifters, and he had no idea how to act.

  Raf coughed and gave the captain a pointed look. Stay on track. The older man flinched as if coming out of a daydream. “With that in mind, it would be best if Detective Silva continued investigating this case.”

  Gunner folded his arms, and if anything he seemed to grow even huger. Given that he was already taking up about a third of the office, that was no mean feat. “I don’t like it. I can’t allow that.”

  The captain suddenly found his backbone, and his face turned an alarming shade of puce as he wound himself up to give Gunner what for. It was all for naught, though, as Gunner cut him off before he could get out his first splutter of indignation.

  “All the previous grave robberies I’ve dealt with have come back to witches, and we’re not talking about Glenda from the Wizard of Oz.”

  “Or Sam from Bewitched,” interjected Isis. “I used to love that show,” she murmured to Raf as she nudged his elbow.

  “We’re talking about the kind of witches who try to summon demons as something to do on a Saturday night. It might be dangerous, and I’d feel better if you had one of my agents working the case, too.”

  The captain calmed a little but still bristled ever so slightly. “You think my detective can’t handle himself?”

  “I think your detective isn’t familiar with supernatural creatures, and could use some advice. If it turns out our guy is human, then the case is yours, one hundred percent. If they’re not… well, then, it’ll be a good thing that you have my agent on the case. My team doesn’t usually deal with robberies, but since Isis has already been at the crime scene…”

  Isis huffed in exaggerated annoyance. “What? You have got to be kidding me. Working with him? Oh no, nuh-uh, no way. Well, I guess if there’s nothing I can do about it, then okay. I look forward to working with you.” She beamed, radiantly.

  During her mini speech, Raf tried not to hide his rising excitement, Gunner rolled his eyes, and the captain looked mystified – he had no idea what was going on.

  Raf held his breath, waiting for the response. He put on his best stoic face while trying to hide the fact that inside he was jumping up and down like a little boy who’d just discovered ice cream. What? He’d be just as excited if he had to work with any other SEA… ugh, he couldn’t even be bothered to finish that lie. No, he did want to keep the case, but he wanted to spend more time with the intriguing tiger shifter. It was because he was curious about shifters – yep, that was all it was. It definitely wasn’t because he had a burning need to touch and be near her. No siree. He really should stop lying to himself.

  The captain fidgeted in his chair under the merciless gaze of the enormous shifter. Perhaps realizing that arguing wasn’t going to end well, he caved. “I suppose a joint investigation…”

  “Excellent.” Gunner clapped his hands together and the captain almost jumped up the wall. “Isis, keep me posted and let me know if you need any additional man power.”

  “Oh, I think I’m good on man power.” Her eyebrows waggled up and down and despite himself, Raf blushed.

  “Detective, nice to meet you.” Gunner gave him a severe handshake. “Captain.” With that, Gunner strode out of his office, and Isis turned to him. Her tongue darted out and licked her lips. “So what shall we do first, partner?”

  Chapter Five

  Isis took a long hard sniff. Ms. Kitty purred at the fresh rain scent emanating from Raf, but Isis focused on the dead smell.

  Raf eyed her quizzically. “Anything?”

  “No,” she admitted in irritation. She had hoped that she’d get a scent or two now that the
rain had stopped, but sadly she wasn’t getting anything.

  “You always follow your nose in an investigation?”

  “Hey, don’t sound so amused, you guys use sniffer dogs all the time.”

  His lips twitched. “Would that make you a sniffer tiger then?”

  “Laugh it up, dick.”

  He smirked and then started sauntering around the cemetery, randomly reading graves. He bent over to look a little more closely at one, and she was afforded a prime view of his incredibly taut buttocks. His jeans pulled tight across his backside, and Isis let out an involuntary moan as her tiger panted. A warm tingle spread through her sex and Isis closed her eyes to try and create a feeling of control. Of course, all she saw when she closed her eyes was some deliciously lewd visions of Raf performing some very intimate acts on her itchy body. Great, it was last night all over again. A long night filled with overwhelming sexual fantasies, cold showers, an interfering ghost mother, three cats who had zero sympathy for her suffering and, oh yeah, some more sexual fantasies.

  Anyone would think she was sex starved. She had sex less than two days ago, and now she was virtually pining after a human she just met. She was fairly certain that her current unease was largely due to her upcoming heat, but she couldn’t deny the pull that her body, and not to mention her randy beast, felt towards him. Stupid, sexy human.

  “You okay?”

  “Fine,” she ground out. Not at all struggling to stop herself from running over to him and mounting him in the cemetery in broad daylight. She didn’t have a lot of shame, but she knew that getting it on with a guy while there was a funeral going on just a couple of clicks away was downright tacky.

  “I guess we should leave, I doubt we can find any new evidence, and I think it’s best these graves get filled in sooner rather than later.”

  Plus she was finding the cemetery – the place where they first met – was far too sexy a setting for them to be alone. Or semi-alone as they currently were. The near-sighted mole shifter was watching them from a little way away, but that in no way quelled her urges. They needed to go somewhere with a little less amorous ambience, like a slaughterhouse or something.

  “Hmmm, it’s odd.”

  “Not really, the smell’s already pretty bad.”

  “Not about that, I mean this grave’s odd.” Raf crouched in front of a shiny, black gravestone.

  Isis walked over to join him. “Elspeth Grey, beloved sister and daughter, died 1897. I’m pretty sure Elspeth has a good alibi for last night.”

  Raf pulled his sunglasses down his nose. “All these graves in this row are at least a hundred years old. In spite of what I’m sure are Shep’s sterling efforts at keeping this area tidy, all the other graves have weeds and are crumbling. But this one is nearly new, the ground is well tended and there are some fairly fresh flowers on it – they only look to be a week old. It’s pretty out of place.”

  “Maybe someone has a really strong sense of family and has a total hard-on for their long-dead rellys.”

  He gave her a wry smile. “Or maybe they remember their relly Elspeth in person.”

  “Ah, you’re thinking vampire.”

  “I’m thinking the vampire that pushed you into that grave. What happened to you has been bugging me.” His voice hardened slightly. Could it be? Was he pissed at someone for trying to hurt her? Ms. Kitty was thrilled at the prospect – that was just how mates thought of one another. Ugh, this again. Pushy tiger had been dancing around that word since they met the night before. Then she started actually hurling it at Isis and roaring loudly.

  “Well, now you’re starting to think like an SEA agent.”

  Raf chuckled as he stood up and faced her. “I’m flattered.” He was inches from her, the perfect height just to steal a kiss from those full lips. Yep, the two-inch heels had been a good choice.

  “You should be. Well, if a vampire has been sneaking in here to visit a grave it would explain what they were doing here, and I guess they wouldn’t want to get arrested for loitering.”

  “They might be a witness to who did this.” He pushed his sunglasses up his nose.

  “Or they might not. But maybe we can do a search on Elspeth’s family in the Vampire Directory.”

  “Vampire directory?” he repeated, dubiously.

  “Sure, you never used it?”

  “I’ve led a sheltered life compared to you and it sounds made up.”

  Isis folded her arms. “All vamps are supposed to register with the SEA Vampire Directory, and all new turns are supposed to be approved by an SEA director in advance so they get enrolled on it automatically. Of course, not all of the older vamps voluntarily register, but we reckon at least fifty percent are on there. If that comes up empty, you could always put some patrol cops here at night, and if the vamp comes back, we might actually get a chance to talk to him or her.”

  Raf smiled, and Isis tried not to simper. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I’ll get Jessie on it. She’s my team’s resident computer geek – she can find out in a flash if Elspeth has any fangy connections.” She pulled out her phone and in a few short words set that in motion. “She’ll call me back. So what now?”

  “For first-time grave robbers, whoever did this was well prepared. If Shep hadn’t accidentally come across the broken lock on the gate, they could have filled in the graves and been out of here before anyone had any idea those bodies had been touched.”

  “You think they’ve done this before?”

  “More like hoping they have.” He chuckled in embarrassment, and a charming dusky pink settled over his cheeks. “That came out wrong.”

  “I got what you meant.” Oh, he was cute when flustered, and also flirty, and also when he was angry – okay he was just plain cute. Ms. Kitty swished her tail in agreement.

  “Maybe if we find a pattern, we can have some clue about how to find them. We can go through the recent reports at the station and see if there has been any made about other cemeteries.”

  “Awesome.”

  *

  The doctor was wringing their hands, worrying about the human arms they had obtained. It hadn’t been the plan to take any part of the human – they only wanted the shifter.

  “Grave not marked,” protested Igor, edgily.

  The doctor sighed and patted Igor’s arm, reassuring him that it was okay. No harm was done, and hopefully they had everything they needed for the procedure. The doctor clapped their hands together almost like a seal.

  Igor grunted unenthusiastically, he had very mixed feelings about the procedure. What would happen to him if it worked? Would the doctor still need him?

  *

  Raf smirked as Isis grunted and slapped another file into the ‘no good’ pile. She readjusted her long body again; this time putting her feet up on the desk. He guessed she wasn’t an indoor kitty.

  They’d been trawling through files for the past hour and hadn’t come across anything of interest. Unless you count the flasher, who was going around revealing his bits at bingo parlors. By all accounts the guy was in his seventies, so he had a target audience. Amazingly, after six incidents, he still hadn’t been caught, but that might have something more to do with the fact that no one enjoyed arresting elderly, naked men.

  Isis drummed her fingers on the desk, trying to put off reaching for a new report to read. “Have the families of our dead victims been notified?”

  Raf tossed his own file into the pile. “No, the captain said not to unless we get any proof that it’s personal. He doesn’t see how the family could help at this stage.”

  “Yeah, he’s probably right.” She yawned and stretched her arms over her head, exposing an expanse of her taut, creamy stomach, not to mention her tiny navel, which just begged to be kissed…

  Abruptly, he stood. “I’m going to get a drink; you want anything?”

  She gave him a knowing smile and for a second he panicked that she could read his mind. Or in particular, she knew the dirty thoughts he was
having about her belly button of all things. “I won’t say no to coffee.”

  “How do you take it?”

  Isis flashed her teeth and ran her tongue over them. “Oh, a million retorts to answer that come to mind, but I’ll be boring and just say black, two sugars.”

  Raf raised an eyebrow. “You? Boring? I’ll be back in a few minutes.” After a trip to the bathroom to put his head under cold water. Or maybe just splash cold water onto his dick. He needed something to cool him down.

  “I’ll be here, trying to stay awake.”

  As he stepped out the file room, he ran straight into Georgia and let out a yelp that he was not proud of at all, and sincerely hoped that Isis hadn’t heard. “Jeez, Georgia, you scared the crap out of me.”

  “Having fun?” she asked, grimly.

  Raf cocked his head to one side. “About as much fun as I have on any case.” Liar, liar pants on fire.

  “I very much doubt that Detective Johnson is quite so flirty or dresses half as sluttily.” Her mouth puckered unattractively in disgust.

  “Probably a good thing, Johnson’s married, and I don’t wanna get involved with a married man who’ll just break my heart.”

  “You think this is some kind of joke?” cried Georgia. “You think the way that shifter bitch is behaving is okay?”

  Raf peered through the window back into the file room and saw Isis flipping through a new report. He took one of Georgia’s elbows and led her down the corridor. “Okay, you need to take it way down. Isis is working as my partner and she deserves your respect.”

  “She’s flirting with you. It’s disgusting.”

  He couldn’t deny her flirting, although from seeing her interaction with her boss earlier he had a bad feeling that she behaved that way with everyone. And that really fucking pissed him off. Not because he disliked it or wanted her to stop, but because he didn’t want anyone else to enjoy her playful attentions.

  “Even if she is, it’s not important. C’mon Georgia, you’re hardly a stranger to flirting yourself. You have half the precinct panting after you.” The half who weren’t familiar with her personality.