“Is there anything of merit, anything unusual that you've found in a forensic capacity that might shed light on why the investigation would be ongoing for over two years, or why... it happened?”
Alexander actually smiled, his jimmies not even vaguely rustled, Karl noted. “I am not a profiler. I am a small town forensic specialist. I do not speculate; I am a scientist.”Then his eyes seemed to bore through the television again. At Karl. “I can't comment on evidence. But I will say that this was the most unusual case I've worked on. And if there is any way that Detective Truman can hear me now, then I beg for him to reach out and make contact with me.”
“Why?”The newscaster was clearly ready to have a convulsion but maintained his decorum by a thread. “Is this a hidden message for Detective Truman? Does he, or something he was investigating, pose a threat to public safety?”
Alexander ignored him and looked at the screen, his pale green eyes caught like a net, a trick of pale sunlight capturing them as they seemed to blaze out of his face. “It's not what we think, Detective Truman. If you're out there, please, contact me, day or night.”
The camera stayed on George Alexander for another heartbeat then they panned away, striking the crime scene, and the image of brown splatter on the driftwood didn't go away even when Truman closed his eyes.
Tie man adjusted his wardrobe again and said, “You heard it here on Channel Thirteen News, and across our affiliates; Detective Karl Truman is to be reached at any cost.”The newscaster pressed his earbud deeper into the hole of his ear and put a finger up as America waited with bated breath. Or at least the rest of America. Truman could have waited forever and been happier than a pig in shit.
“This just in; the FBI has just put out a one hundred thousand dollar reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the missing Detective from the small fishing town of Homer, Alaska. Call the following toll free number with tips, sightings, and....”
The newscaster and his smiling sidekick began to thank each other and move on to the next tidbit but the TV went dark before he even turned.
Marcus gave him serious eyes. “What did you discover in Homer, Detective Truman?”
Truman looked from one to the other who had crowded into the small parlor. Empty eyes met his.
He sighed. “Some of the Homer Were were sloppy in Cynthia Adams' residence.” He shrugged and noticed again that there was no shoulder twinge. He ignored that bit of weirdness and went on, “They left behind trace evidence. Evidence of what they were.”
“They'll kill whoever knows,” Manny stated.
“Did ya hear the death doc, there, chippie?” Karl asked, pegging his tough cop eyes at Manny. Those had survived his transition. There was more to a man than what he looked like. What he was, who he was... had survived. It showed in his eyes. And to the observant, he wore his humanity as he always had- for everyone to see. Truman thought of himself as a simple man, with simple needs and thoughts.
“You are out of your league here, Red,” Manny said with absolute conviction. But Truman didn't believe in certainty anymore. He'd never been a big fan before the change anyway.
Karl shook his head. “No, I don't think I am. But one thing I do know, I need to get a hold of Alexander.”
“No, don't... we break all ties from our lives before... before you were turned. You are dead to that now,” Slash explained, the scar on his face a flash of puckered pink skin like a lightning strike of flesh. Truman's eyes looked at his packmate. Truman liked the guy, he did things right. He'd answer him before the other Were.
“If he says, on a national broadcast, that it is not what I think, it's a warning. That means those hairs were left on purpose, or we're dealing with something different.”
“I've got an idea,” Julia said from the corner of the room.
Truman picked up that two of the Combatant were stationed on that bitch... what was her name? Oh yeah, Jacqueline. Good to keep her scheming ass in sight.
All eyes turned to Julia. “I think that if there are Singers, if there are Were and vampires,” Truman watched Julia and was struck again by how she seemed to be the sun in the room, and the others were just planets that spun around her orbit. “Then there are other things. Maybe that is what Detective Truman should consider.”
“What are you saying, Jules?” Jason asked; for once, without his usual shitty demeanor. Truman couldn't believe these two were married. They fought like dogs and cats but Truman watched the kid's eyes follow her with an intensity that bordered on zealotry.
“I think you're going to call this guy and it's going to be bad news.” Julia looked directly at him.
“I know it's going to be bad news,” Karl said.
“Better to know than not,” Cynthia said, her head a valley between the male hills that were Jason and Emmanuel.
Karl paced back and forth and stopped at her voice. “You're right.”
He looked at Marcus. His hand went to the palm of his chin. He wondered. “Why did you bring this to my attention?”
Marcus sighed but answered, “This will come to our doorstep Were, it is inevitable. We must protect the Rare One at all costs. For the Singers, Were and Vampire.”
Julia looked around the room, the quiet interrupted only by the ticking clock. “And whatever else is out there,” she said.
Karl noticed no one told her she was wrong. And the calculating Jacqueline, standing in the corner of the room, just kept that infernal smile plastered to her face.
It never reached her eyes.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Delilah
“So what? Vamps are just cool now...?” Scott asked. “Correct me if I'm wrong... father. But, didn't we just have a vampire barbeque out in the back yard?”
“We did,” Michael enthused, dragging a lollipop in an out of his mouth, a red stain like blood appearing and disappearing as he worked the red orb over.
Julia sighed, but she held Scott's hand, and just that small gesture made her calmer, less agitated. She tried not to stare at the newest part of the triangle that they would become, but it was almost impossible.
Delilah was reclining on a fainting couch in the parlor as if in repose. However, she was alert, her eyes moving endlessly over the people who packed the small room, made even tinier by their clustered presence.
“Do not disparage me, your own kin know why I've come,” she said, partially answering both brothers. Julia didn't know how she did it, that bored tone. She wished she was as adept at emulating boredom.
Jacqueline nodded. “Is it not interesting....”
“No,” Adi replied.
“Nothing you say is interesting, it's all lame as hell,” Michael finished.
Jacqueline looked at them like they were bugs to be squished.
“Enough.” Marcus looked at his two children. “Jacqueline will pay for her crime against Julia.”
“The attempted murder,” Truman corrected and Julia gave him a look. He narrowed his eyes on Marcus. “Where I come from, poisoning someone is immediate grounds for jail time.” It seemed like trouble followed the Caldwell girl wherever she went.
Marcus looked at Truman, then at Jacqueline. “It is more complicated than that, Wolf.”
“Seems simple to me,” Truman commented and Julia gave a small smile. He didn't look like Truman anymore, but he sounded so much like him it made Julia's heart ache for Alaska- her past. Karl Truman, the hard-nosed cop from Homer, had survived the change with who he was- intact. It could be done. If you kept sight of who you were.
“Jacqueline is of royal blood,” Marcus began to explain.
“And a bunch of other crap too,” Adi said and Slash hid a smile with his hand.
Truman crossed his arms. “Have you talked to the girls? The Were and... Cynthia Adams?”
Marcus correctly interpreted what Truman was steering toward and intercepted the pass like a quarterback. “I know that Anthony Laurent attacked Adrianna... and absconded with our newest Singer, Cynthia.”
/> Karl's brows popped to his hairline. “Okaaayyy... so, what do we do about it?” Karl thought his question was logical.
“We?” Marcus asked, his tone full of the autonomy of his station. “That is entirely the wrong pronoun. Anthony Laurent is a Were, as is Adrianna. However heinous his deed, it is pack business and doesn’t fall under my purview.” He pushed his perfectly black hair away from his forehead and looked Truman full in the eyes. “It is you who shall take action.” Then he sighed. “It cannot be his death. For he is the sire to your own Moon Warrior.”
Julia frowned. She could see why a Rare One was needed. Nobody gave a crap about each others' groups. It was all for themselves. And that was why there was a problem.
“Okay... I'm just a tad confused, so sue me. But,” Truman swept his palm at Reagan, noting her resemblance to the criminal who was her father, “she is the product of a rape. I saw the evidence on the old microfiche. Before computers, people—there was this. Some was erased but not all. He's a thug that happens to be a werewolf. Period, end of story. Who gives a rat's ass if he's supernatural or not. He needs to be held accountable for his crime.”
“How can we protect our people if every bad guy gets a pass?” Michael added and Truman inclined his head in tacit agreement.
“Would we kill everyone?” Julia asked softly and Jacqueline laughed at her. Julia glared at Jacqueline. “How can you find any humor in this? Haven't you hurt me enough? Hurt the Singers—your own people.”
“I grabbed what is rightfully mine. I, and I alone, have the fortitude to see a reign of this magnitude through. You are a weak link.”
Julia felt it was all about perspective and for Jacqueline, hers was the only one who counted.
“She is blood chosen,” Scott reminded in a flat voice. It begged for confrontation from its very emptiness.
“And now both my son and daughter, Singer and vampire, preside closely with the Rare One.” She said Rare One as a curse instead of the honor Julia knew it was supposed to be.
“Strength isn't about dominating, its about doing what's needed no matter how ugly, how frightening, how sacrificial. Being a leader is holding up those who can't hold up themselves,” Julia said.
Many eyes went to Julia's face as the passionate sentiment dropped from her mouth. It wasn't hard for people to sense what was genuine and what was false.
“And therein lies the difference,” William said to Jacqueline. “You will live in a Region, ostracized by the very people you wished to rule because you could not contain your greed. It has come wonderfully full circle.”
Julia watched Jacqueline's eyes narrow to slits, aimed at William. Probably because he was making sense, she thought.
“She cannot truly be punished,” Delilah broke into the perfect silence that followed William's truth and everyone looked at the newcomer.
“And you would punish me?” Jacqueline scoffed, her voice holding her disdain, her disbelief.
“No. It is punishment enough that you lay with the vampire who was my sire and pimped your royal Singer blood in a bid to bear children who would later hold court to you. But we will not. For as willful as you are, we are more so.”
Julia just stared at Delilah, so smart that she cut the very air they breathed with her intellect. It was something to see another being as smart as William. Julia wondered if Vampire were underestimated for their intelligence. Maybe that was a mistake.
“You speak for me, drinker?” Scott asked and Julia's hand tightened around his.
“I do... brother,” she replied, while a mocking smile ghosted her lips as she spoke that last word.
“From another father,” Michael chortled and Julia couldn't help it, she laughed out loud in a surprised bray.
“Shut up, Michael,” Scott said and gave a small frown at Julia even as he tucked her against himself.
“You have to admit how weird all this is, Scott,” Jen began, “there's all these... relatives, crawling out of the woodwork.”
Julia put up her hand, having put a lid on her humor. “I have a lot of stuff to say. But the main points are as follows,” Julia put the tip of her index finger against the opposite one, “Tony is dangerous. He's proven that, and needs to be treated with as much caution as what I've heard they had with Jason when he was the Feral.” She'd captured everyone's full attention and went on, “Jacqueline can't be allowed anywhere near me. I understand we can't do anything,” Julia moved her hand back and forth, “too extreme ... as a punishment, but the hands of the Combatant are tied if she makes a play for me again, because they can't defend me with say- deadly force.” Julia's eyes came to rest on Jacqueline. “And finally, I won't be forced into a union with three men based on a loophole in the Book. I would do it because it was a sacrifice worth making, for the good of everybody. Not because Jacqueline screams the 'royal' card.”
“Maybe I underestimated you,” Jacqueline noted coolly.
“Yeah... maybe you did. While you've been busy being pampered your entire life, which I know is long, I've been making my way without back up, no parents and two years of running and hiding. Only to find out that there is no escape. This is what I am. Where I need to be.” Her eyes glowed with the truth, amber shot through by the sun, though the night lay like a blanket of black all around them. “Maybe- whatever higher power, God, or whatever everyone believes in, knew what He was doing when He allowed these powers to manifest and blood to choose. Maybe He didn't want it easy. Maybe He wanted it right,” Julia finished to the stunned silence of the room.
“I stood behind you Jules,” Jason said quietly in the wake of her words.
Cyn raised her hand. “Ah, hello? Forgetting me already?”
Julia looked at them both. “I could never forget you guys. But there were two years when I believed I was alone. I didn't know Cyn had never given up on Jason and me... I didn't know Jason was held in the hope he'd someday be... okay.” Julia felt her lip tremble and she bit the inside of it hard. “I didn't know. So I was alone.”
“And now?” Scott asked from her side and she looked up at him and shook her head in the negative.
“Not anymore.” Julia knew it was all false, that her blood hummed in synchronicity to the man beside her. But, it was still her reality. He was blood chosen of her and his very presence eased her. After so long of not belonging and strife, she'd take it.
“Marcus, you know what the Book of Singer states. That once the Combatant is assembled, one such as she must take the leadership of all regions. We also know the triad of advisors will form, that if she takes a true mate from each species, then, and only then, will true harmony fall on the supernaturals.”
Julia watched the colors of everyone in the room mingle, auras touching and swirling with others and thought it was time for her to have some crazy ear thing manifest. First, it was telepathy, now her sight was all screwed six ways to Sunday with this aura stuff. And let's not forget the untrained telekinesis. It wasn't like her to get distracted but she'd had almost all she could take of this circular argument. Jacqueline needed to be banished and Tony as well. Then she could have time to get used to the idea of being with all three men. If she even could.
If she ever could.
Marcus looked at Scott.
“Oh no. Please, don't tell me that there's some other clause I have to deal with. I don't want to know.”
“She has put a claim on Tony.”
“Yes, I have put a claim on Tony,” Jacqueline repeated, looking as pleased as the proverbial Cheshire cat.
“I don't get it? They're perfect for each other,” Adi said like so what?
Marcus put his hands on his hips and glared at Jacqueline in blatant accusation, his head swinging back to look at the female Were. “It protects them both. The Were suddenly unites with a Singer royal, and she unites with the sire of the Moon Warrior. Apart, they are nothing, together, they afford themselves much protection.”
“Protection from what?” Julia asked slowly, knowing she had to ask for an
answer she wouldn't like.
Marcus' silence spoke volumes. Finally when he did speak, the murmurs of the crowd died. “There is a role for every supernatural. There are roles within each group. In the case of a joining, some of these roles overlap within the groups.”
Julia glanced at Jacqueline and saw that her smile couldn't get any wider. This could not be allowed. There's no way that Jacqueline and Tony uniting could help anyone but them and Julia didn't think they needed any aid in their goal to screw everyone over.
“Let me get this straight,” Adi began. “Jacqueline's going to mate with Tony, the rapist, to solidify her power base within two groups. And she can do this? How? How does she almost kill Julia then hook up with Tony and suddenly... she's what? Absolved?”
Julia nodded. Adi was completely able to say her thoughts aloud.
Marcus gave a serious expression. One that Julia wouldn't have wanted directed at her. “She will never be absolved and there will be a fitting punishment. Like the human judicial system, she will be brought to a trial of sorts.” Marcus looked at Julia. “However, I can't stop what she has begun. Not even for you, not for all the Singers within all the Regions.”
“She's screwed the pooch and sold the pups,” Michael said and Jen punched him in the arm.
“Ouch!” he replied, rubbing the spot she'd hit.
“Shut. Up,” Jen hissed, her fair complexion coming to life in an angry flush as she folded her arms across her chest.
Marcus sighed and Scott smiled.
Then he gently let go of Julia's fingers and circled Jacqueline. “You hate Tony.” Scott's words were hard, his eyes narrowed. His voice—certain.
Julia watched Jacqueline straighten the long-sleeved cuffs of her blouse, picking imaginary lint off her clothing. “I tolerate him,” she replied, never rising her eyes to his. Scott slapped the table beside her, rattling a glass paperweight shaped like a sphere on the delicate antique tabletop.
blood 03 - blood chosen Page 16