The Succubus: A Lawson Vampire Novel (The Lawson Vampire Series)

by Jon F. Merz

  Letourneau frowned. “Why? You worried about him?”

  I sighed. “Just don’t like the idea of him being there by himself. I mean, I don’t think this woman would come back to a previous crime scene. She doesn’t seem like the type to do that. But neither do I want to have our one possible expert on this thing dangling out in the cold like he is right now.”

  Letourneau pursed his lips and then pulled his phone out. “Consider it taken care of.” He punched a number and spoke to the desk sergeant for the local precinct, ordering him to get a uniform cop down to the Luxe development and station him outside of the room in case anyone tried to pay a visit while Newby was working. Then Letourneau called Newby to let him know what was up.

  “Done.” He said when he was off the phone.

  “Good,” I said. “What are you up to now?”

  “I’ve got a bunch of other cases clamoring for my time until Newby can give us something. What about you?”

  “I’ve got to make a visit to my boss,” I said. “He’ll want to know what’s going on with the case. And I just know he’s just going to be super excited when he learns I’ve got nothing to give him.”

  “Yeah, but you will have soon,” said Letourneau. “As soon as Newby works his magic.”

  “I hope you’re right.” I stood and we walked outside. “Because we really need a break.”

  26

  Letourneau called a cruiser to pick us up since we’d used Newby’s to drive over to Luxe. I had them drop me off at Back Bay and walked over to the Council Building on Beacon Street, taking my time to triple back on myself in case Letourneau tried putting a tick on me. I didn’t see anyone and eventually ended up in Niles’ office.

  “You’re not exactly keeping a low profile on this one.”

  The afternoon sun streamed in through the window and cast long shadows across his desk. He sat with his hands folded in front of him and a disapproving look on his face.

  “Can’t be helped,” I said. “The nature of this case isn’t one I can do covertly. If I could, you know that’s exactly how I’d run it down. But we’ve got two of our own dead, one of whom was killed on human turf. To that end, I’ve got to play along with them. And when I went to Wirek for help, he couldn’t give me much, necessitating help from a human expert on this stuff.”

  Niles sighed. “It’s messy.”

  “Damn right it is. And I happen to hate it. But there’s nothing I can really do about it. If we want this woman stopped then we’re going to have to go outside of our comfort zone on this in order to see it completed without another loss of life.”

  “And the drive by shooting this morning across the river? What the hell was that about?”

  I pointed at him. “That I do not know. But clearly someone wants us dead.”

  “The question being, who?” asked Niles. “You were there, but you were also in the company of two humans. Is it possible you weren’t the target?”

  “It’s definitely possible. The cop probably has plenty of people who want to see him in the ground. As for the expert, I don’t know what his past is. But most successful people don’t go through life without attracting their fair share of enemies.”

  “Agreed,” said Niles. “Which leaves us nowhere. Just me telling you to watch your ass and make sure you don’t get it blown off.”

  “Message received. I’m rather fond of it, after all.”

  “Where do we stand with this human expert? What’s he doing now?”

  “Last I knew, he was at Luxe carefully removing layers of blood from the symbols on the walls. The goal is to reveal them all, take pictures, and then start a laborious process of translating them.”

  “And you’re hopeful this will give you a clue as to the identity of the killer we seek?”

  “That seems to be the only thing I can hope for,” I said. “She’s been extraordinarily careful. No traces anywhere. Nothing on security cameras, no DNA. At this point, I’m grasping at straws and this translation thing seems to offer a chance to get some insight into who she is.”

  Niles sighed. “I’d hoped you’d have this wrapped up by now. But what do we know about her, if anything?”

  “Guessing she’s attractive in order to get Amalfi’s attention. Cousins wouldn’t jump for just anyone, either. If I had to peg an age, I’d go with somewhere between twenty and forty.”

  Niles took a sip of water. “That your gut?”

  “It’s whatever,” I said. “The way I see her, she’s just as much involved in the seduction, even if she might make it look like they’re the ones picking her up. She’s a hunter but a crafty one. And to be that crafty, she’s got to be good looking.”

  “She’s got to be better than just good looking,” said Niles. “Amalfi wasn’t the type to take up with a six. He’d shoot higher than that.”

  “Agreed, so let’s say she’s a real beauty then.”

  “And apparently knows a bunch of ancient language?” Niles shook his head. “Not exactly the sort of knowledge you just happen to come across.”

  “According to the human expert, she would have had to learn this type of stuff from someone. It’s not in any textbook. Now, he dismissed it out of hand because it would mean the person in question would have had to have been around over a century ago. But that’s fine for us because we happen to live so much longer than the humans.”

  “Indeed.” Niles rubbed his chin. “Is it possible she knew an Elder at some point? Someone who might have bequeathed to her this type of arcane knowledge?”

  “Would an Elder do that? Would they risk breaking the law to do it?”

  “Damned if I know. But if we run a trace back on all the Elders who might have known about this stuff, we’re bound to come across something. That is, if that’s what happened.”

  It was my turn to sigh. “This is how I’ve been feeling this entire case. It’s like there’s something missing. Like we’re looking for clues where none exist. Is it possible this is someone new altogether? That we might not have run into this before?”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Just that on its surface, this case looks like a serial killer. But what if it’s not? What if the real purpose is what this expert claims, and it has something to do with summoning a demon?”

  “Well, demons aren’t the sole province of humans,” said Niles. “They could just as easily be summoned by a vampire, I suppose.”

  “The question is: why?” I shook my head. “And this is what eludes me. I can’t fathom the reason. Most of our people have everything they need. Sure, we have the nut jobs who crave world domination and all that stuff and we deal with them. But by and large, we don’t want for anything.”

  “There’s always something,” said Niles. “People always have a way of finding something they don’t have and wanting it. Even if they spend their time denying the desire, it’s still there. Lingering under the surface until it explodes in one way or another.”

  I nodded. “And perhaps that’s what is happening here. Perhaps this is a person who spent their life denying what they wanted and now, all of a sudden, it’s become uncontrollable.”

  “But a lack of control usually implies a lack of discipline. And this case, the killer has shown incredible discipline.”

  “Good point.”

  Niles took another sip of water. “Well, there’s nothing really to it, is there? Just keep running down whatever leads you can find and let me know how it goes. I really hope this expert of yours can give us something tangible, though. The Council isn’t a happy bunch of campers this week what with all the commotion being made around the city.”

  “You mean me hanging out with humans.”

  Niles smiled. “Your job demands that you circulate among them. No one is grudging you that. But you know Ava and her cronies. They’ll see the news of the shoot-out and lose their minds over it. They don’t see the progress you’re making - slight as it is - they’re only seeing the possibility of compromise.”

  �
�And the rest of the Council?”

  Nils shrugged. “You know how it is. Ava is the queen bee and generally everyone else falls in line behind her. Even if they think she’s being a complete bitch, no one has the guts to say anything, let alone contradict her and risk her wrath.”

  “Pathetic,” I said. “I’ve never understood why people will simply go along with something they know is wrong.”

  “Because most people are cowards,” said Niles. “And they don’t like rocking the boat and putting themselves at risk.”

  “It’s lonely out on the edge.” I got up and shook Niles’ hand. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I have something worth sharing. In the meantime, tell Ava to calm herself down and not worry about me. It’s my job not to compromise the security of our race and I happen to take that pretty seriously.” I smirked. “Even if I happen to wish from time to time that Ava would vanish from my life.”

  “Heresy,” said Niles with a grin. “She hears you say something like that - or if any of her stool pigeons do - you’re going to pay for it.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Niles slid a parking slip across the desk. “New ride for you. We parked it where you normally park. Try not to get this on shot to pieces.” He wrote down the license plate number and gave that to me as well.

  “Understood.”

  I walked out of the office and found my way back to the Boston Common garage. A brisk wind blew off the Common and I turned up the collar on my coat as I walked. The Council would always be worried about its safety first and foremost and about the rest of us thereafter. Ava had herself a nice cushy position and she intended to hold onto it. Usually, she did this by cowing other members into subdued behavior. She had seniority and they always deferred to her. About the only member who wouldn’t was Wirek. But even he had seemed a little different lately.

  Or maybe I was just getting old. I’d been in this game an awfully long time. I was tired of the constant political machinations that seemed to drive other people on with reckless indifference. I’d always thought of myself as a crusader and a protector for my people. But I’d come to realize that not everyone saw their role in the same light. For some of these people, it all came down to how well they looked and how much power they could amass around themselves.

  I didn’t know how they were able to look at themselves in the mirror. Humans definitely did not have a monopoly on self-delusion.

  I paid my parking ticket at the self-service kiosk in the lobby and then stepped on to the elevator. The doors closed and I slid down to the parking level where my car was.

  I wondered what Lilith was up to.

  It was the first time all day I’d thought about her. Her eyes burned into my consciousness and I realized I was really drawn to them. At dinner last night, I’d enjoyed staring into them while she listened to me talk. And when it was her turn to speak, I had a hard time paying attention to my meal.

  But she was just a housewife. And she was nothing nearly as exciting as Talya. Hell, I didn’t even usually like vampire women. That was part of my problem: I’d never really enjoyed the company of my own kind when it came to romance. Sure, I had a number of lovers in the past, but that was in the past. To find myself suddenly attracted to a woman like Lilith was something I hadn’t really experienced in quite a long time.

  Part of it felt good. I always enjoy the thrill of a crush. Part of it felt weird. And part of it felt like I was stepping out on Talya, even though I wasn’t. We had our agreement firmly in place and we both took advantage of it.

  I slid into my car - a brand new Acura SUV - and turned the engine on. The question I was going to have to ask myself was this: was I more into Lilith than I thought? Was there something about her that was drawing me to her beyond a little sexual fling? And if so, what did that mean for me and Talya?

  Uncomfortable questions, I decided. And I didn’t know right then if I was even in the mood to try to answer them.

  What I did feel like doing was going to the gym and getting a workout on. But then I suspected that might be a lie as well. Was I really looking forward to a workout or was I looking forward to the possibility of seeing Lilith again?

  Dangerous waters, Lawson, I decided. Lilith was about as far from what I normally chased as they came. And yet, she was also quickly starting to occupy a lot of mental real estate. That was space I couldn’t afford given the current case I was working on.

  I saw the irony, of course. But I found myself wondering more what Lilith and Manny’s situation was on the home front. Were they like so many other married couple? Just co-existing without any real passion? I’d seen it so often that it didn’t even faze me anymore. It just seemed so commonplace.

  One thing was certain: I wasn’t going to figure any of this out sitting underground in a garage.

  I slid the car into drive and rolled out.

  27

  I ended up at the gym. Or I should say the box. CrossFitters refer to their gyms as boxes, but I don’t really care what they’re called as long as I can get myself a decent workout when I’m there.

  I’d be lying if I said I was there solely to get a workout, however; I really wanted to see Lilith again. It was weird how I could see her presence getting me excited while at the same time, I was a bit worried about how she was affecting me.

  It wasn’t the first time in my life I’d found myself attracted to a woman that didn’t make sense for me to be attracted to. Way on back, I’d had a serious crush - or maybe it was love, who the hell knows - on this Korean woman named Hae. Hae wasn’t even vaguely attractive, and if I was being kind, I’d say she had a sparkling personality. Except she didn’t. She was coarse, boorish, and lacking even rudimentary social skills. She walked bowlegged and smoked like a chimney.

  And for some inexplicable reason, I was nuts about her. I was still young, so maybe it was just naiveté on my part. Or maybe it was because Hae just seemed to go through life not giving a shit what anyone else thought about her or how she lived. Maybe it was because even back then I recognized that she was a similar spirit to me; that’s how I wanted to live - without caring what anyone thought.

  So I chased her. Hard. And we became friends, but that’s exactly where she kept it. She wanted nothing to do with a white guy and told me repeatedly that her parents would shit themselves if she brought me home.

  That was the first time I learned about how people fool themselves into thinking they’re badasses when in reality, they’re not. Despite Hae’s cavalier attitude about living life on her terms, she was still - at the end of the day - beholden to what her parents thought about her. She wouldn’t take that final step; she wouldn’t go as far as she could have.

  And it crushed me.

  It was one of the first times I’d fallen in love and when she rejected me, my heart felt like it was going to wither away and die. I wrote tons of sappy, pathetic poetry about the entire thing, imagining myself sending her these and somehow winning her anyway.

  By the time I finally got my shit together and resolved to carry on without her in my life, I’d wasted a few months in mourning. Looking back at it now, I could only shake my head. But then again, I was young and you’re supposed to be dumb when you’re young.

  That same excuse doesn’t necessarily hold water when you’re older, however.

  On the surface, Lilith shouldn’t have attracted me, but she did. At least she was a helluva lot better looking than Hae, but still. She was a housewife. What the hell did I care about housewives?

  I realized that Lilith looked exactly like a girl I’d had a crush on in high school. Blonde, icy blue eyes. The sort of girl who always went for the loud, strong jock types instead of the geeky, skinny guys like I’d been back in the day. Way back in the day. It was only after I’d gotten out of school and entered the Service that I’d started packing on muscle and confidence. It was only when I got out into the field that I started becoming my own man.

  But somewhere deep down inside of me, I still wanted to be like
d by that high school crush.

  And Lilith looked just like her. It wasn’t her, of course, but the appearance of it stoked something buried way down deep in my heart. As tough as I was on the outside, I was a big ol’ softie on the inside, especially when it came to romantic stuff.

  So was I attracted to Lilith for Lilith herself, or was I still chasing something from my past? And what was going to happen if I actually managed to catch it this time?

  Today’s workout of the day was a fifteen-minute AMRAP (as many reps or rounds as possible) of five hang power cleans, 10 burpees-over-the-bar, and fifteen push-ups. I slapped two hundred and twenty-five pounds on the bar, practiced a few hang power cleans, and then settled in for the clock to count down.

  Lilith walked past and didn’t look at me.

  “Hey.”

  She turned and smiled. “Oh, hey. You all ready for this?”

  I smiled back. “I hate burpees-over-the-bar.”

  “Me, too.” She grabbed some weight and walked back to her bar.

  I frowned. That wasn’t exactly the interaction I’d been hoping for. I sighed. Maybe she was in a bad mood about something. Maybe Manny had read her the riot act for going out with me last night. Maybe she was concerned about how it would look if we were seen to be too friendly at the box with each other.

  Who knew?

  I had to get my mind right for the workout and sooner than I wanted, the clock ticked down and we were off to the races.

  Fifteen minutes burned by fast and by the time it was over, I was flat on my back on the floor in a pool of sweat and exhaustion, trying to reach for my water bottle. CrossFit has a helluva way of beating the ever-loving crap out of you, leaving you curled up in a ball on the floor, and then getting you excited about coming back the next day for more punishment.

  In other words, the shit works.

  I gradually came back to some state of normalcy and hauled my carcass off the floor, wiped the sweat, and then got some anti-bacterial wipes to wipe down my weights. I slid the plates off and rolled them back toward the stacks. Then I put my barbell back in the gun rack and wrote my score on the board.