‘You’ll get used to it,’ Mary replied. ‘I may have to beat you a few times. Caning. My father was very fond of the cane.’
‘Neither of you are kinky enough to enjoy it,’ Dione stated, and Juliana blushed beetroot red. Mary may have looked a very young sixteen, but it was still water off a duck’s back to her.
‘I, um, have to admit,’ Juliana said, ‘that I, um–’
‘Out with it or I get the cane,’ Mary ordered, never taking her eyes off the screen.
‘Well, it wasn’t terrible cuddling up to a naked woman.’
‘Why should it be? When I was brought up, homosexual men were somewhat akin to demons and the only reason people didn’t think the same of lesbians was because hardly anyone thought women were capable of enjoying sex, so lesbians just couldn’t exist. If a hundred and forty-four years has taught me anything–’
‘Might as well call it a hundred and forty-five,’ Dione said. ‘It’s not even two weeks away.’
‘Whatever. If it’s taught me anything, it’s that you take whatever pleasure in life, or unlife, that you can and the opinions of others can go and get damned. And if hugging a woman is a sin, then someone up there needs to rethink their attitude. Now, I got the data on the Cooper woman from Los Angeles, Dione.’
‘Do tell,’ Dione said.
‘Around the time she vanished, her credit card was used to book two tickets to Chicago. It was used there a few times, and then there’s a move to Atlanta. And then nothing, from about four months after she left L.A. The last thing she bought was a single bus ticket to Nashville.’
‘Do you think he killed her?’ Juliana asked.
‘I think a search on Jane Does in Atlanta might yield something,’ Dione said, ‘but he seems to be rather good at disposing of bodies. No one has ever found Lorentz’s body.’
‘I’ll run the search,’ Mary said, ‘though all it’s going to do is confirm she’s dead.’
‘It also confirms that “Evan” went to Nashville. Oh, Juliana, Leeanne and Lisa will be coming here later to interview you.’
‘Uh… Interview me?’ Juliana looked perplexed.
‘Yes, they’re looking into the reaction of vampires to feeding, supplicants to feeding, that kind of thing. Since this was your first time for a “normal” feed, they want your impressions of the experience. It’s for science, apparently.’ Dione frowned. ‘I got the feeling “science” had a capital letter and an exclamation mark. But I wouldn’t worry over that too much.’
Juliana grimaced. ‘I’m not sure I want to have science done on me, especially with an exclamation mark.’
‘You’re Winthrop’s housekeeper and nurse. It was bound to happen sooner or later.’
~~~
‘Thinking about it,’ Juliana said, ‘there was the same, um, rush when I did it the first time.’
‘When you’d just woken up?’ Leeanne prompted.
‘Yes. I was so focused on not taking too much out of anyone that I wasn’t really thinking about how I was feeling, but the first swallow… It’s like you’ve drunk something that’s warming through your whole body. And my skin tingles a little. Not much. It’s not unpleasant or anything. Um, quite the opposite.’
‘No need to be embarrassed,’ Lisa stated, smiling. ‘We’re doctors, you’re a nurse, and this is just a clinical study.’
Juliana looked around the lab to where Mike and Dione were standing, watching the proceedings. ‘Mike and Dione are not doctors.’
‘Interested party,’ Mike said.
‘Moral support and fellow vampire,’ Dione said. ‘I’m representing your vampire rights and ensuring these humans don’t violate them.’
‘We have a union?’ Juliana asked.
‘Would you prefer “you are a filia and should have a responsible adult present during questioning?”’
‘Uh, I prefer the union idea.’
Lisa giggled. ‘Okay, compare and contrast… Is it the same sort of feeling when you feed, Di?’
Dione pursed her lips and considered. ‘The general quality of the thing would be similar, I suppose. Succubi and valentines are a little different, however.’ She looked at Juliana. ‘From your blushes, I’d assume you’d agree the sensation has a mildly erotic quality?’
Juliana blushed more. ‘Well… I guess. Sensual might be better.’
‘For succubi, it’s definitely erotic. Valentines aren’t affected so badly, so I assume it’s not as strong. You’d have to ask Pat. For me… That heat you mentioned settles in right between my legs. The urge to give in and… rut is more or less uncontrollable. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy sex, but this is uncontrolled, animal. Even with someone I have an attachment to’ – and she flashed a quick smile at Lisa – ‘it’s not the way I want to behave.’
‘So this is why so many vampires tend to mix sex and feeding?’ Mike asked.
‘I think,’ Juliana said, ‘I can see why it happens. I feel like it’s going to happen to me and I’m not really sure I want to go that way. I mean, I was saving myself and I don’t think I’m going to be walking down the aisle any time soon, but…’
‘You don’t have to go that way if you don’t want to,’ Dione told her. ‘It’s a choice, like any other, and many vampires don’t mix sex and food. Or, do it, get it out of your system, and be done with it or keep it for special occasions. When you’re no longer a filia, you may prefer to go straight, feed exclusively from one supplicant, which is at least a form of civil partnership, and you could save yourself for that. You’re young, Juliana, and you have many options which you don’t need to decide upon right now.’
‘But for next month,’ Leeanne said, ‘I’d like you to get your gift from me or Lisa, here, so we can get some infrared cameras on you. I want to know whether that heating effect is actually physical or just a neurological effect.’
‘For Science!’ Lisa exulted, smiling brightly.
‘You’re right,’ Juliana said to Dione. ‘It does sound like it has a capital and exclamation mark.’
27th February.
Friday night in a strange city, with jetlag. Peri Grover from Godalming, Kent, England did not exactly feel at her best having arrived in New York City, New York, America that afternoon, but everyone said the best way to beat the feeling of unbearable fatigue which was setting in was to ride it out. So she sat in the bar in her hotel and considered whether she should try one of the clubs nearby. New York was the city that never sleeps, right? The only problem was that Peri wanted to sleep and was very much afraid that she might do just that, in someone’s lap, if she tried clubbing.
Peri was not much for clubs anyway. She had been to a few since joining Moresham, White, and Goldsacks in June. Some of the other girls in the office had dragged her out, telling her it would be fun, and it had been, for a given value of fun. Her work friends seemed to like getting blind drunk and shagging men they had just met in the toilets, which was not exactly Peri’s cup of Earl Grey. It had been more fun than the actual work was: accountancy was a living, not a vocation. But she had joined the firm because they had suggested she might get the opportunity to travel. Well, the pay had been good and she had had this romantic notion that she might get to jet off to see clients in exotic locations. Okay, so she had figured they might send her to Glasgow or somewhere like that, and that was as exotic as it would get, but no, here she was handling some tax issues for a client in New York. Hopefully she would be awake on Monday when she had to work.
She checked the time: quarter after nine but it felt like two in the morning. No, clubbing was out. She would finish her drink and slink off to bed, and–
‘Hello.’
Peri looked up into a pair of deep blue eyes. Her attention widened a little to the handsome face around them, the ash-blonde hair. He was smiling a little timidly.
‘A beautiful woman like you shouldn’t be drinking alone,’ the man added.
It might have been the corniest line Peri had ever heard, but it went right past her critical thinki
ng functions and dived into the primitive bits of her brain that wanted food, warmth, sex… Peri shifted forward slightly and pushed her chest out, even though she was not aware of doing it. ‘Uh, well, I don’t have anyone to drink with.’
‘That is practically a crime. Might I join you?’
No, Peri thought, take me somewhere and fuck my brains out! ‘Sure, why not. I’m Peri.’
He sat down beside her, still smiling. ‘Hello, Peri. I’m Evan.’
28th February.
‘Somehow I didn’t think we’d make it through the month before he got another one,’ Mike said.
‘Slight change in MO this time,’ Dione said, not commenting on the remark. ‘Her room instead of one he’s booked. Peri Grover, British national.’
‘Business trip,’ Mike said. ‘She’s got a couple of casual outfits here, but mostly it’s business clothes. Three suits, low heels.’
‘She was an accountant. There are a couple of letters on her desk from her company. I think she was alone, but I’ll get Mary to call and check. This is going to cause issues.’
‘Foreign national?’
‘Yes. The British will take an interest, and it’s more likely that the FBI will poke their noses in. I’ve been expecting them to take an interest anyway. Cross-state fugitive with an international aspect… Dealing with the FBI is never much fun.’
‘Never had to before. I guess there’s a first time for everything.’
~~~
‘If we get a visit from the feds,’ Dione said as they headed back to the office, ‘you and I will handle it in the precinct office. They don’t go downstairs.’
‘Okay,’ Mike said, nodding. ‘That seems reasonable. Mary wouldn’t let them in anyway.’
‘There is that. Did you get anything from the bar staff?’
‘No one there was on duty last night. Miss Grover charged a drink to her room about eight forty-five. Nothing after that. The evening staff will be on about six. I figured I could drop back there on the way home and ask some questions.’
Dione nodded, her eyes flicking between the wing mirrors and the rear-view. ‘Good plan. We should have Winthrop’s autopsy results by then, which probably won’t help with the questions, but you never know.’
‘Something wrong?’
‘The same silver sedan has been following us, three cars back, since we left the hotel. Two occupants.’
‘You think we’re being tailed?’ Mike frowned. ‘There was a guy in the hotel bar seemed to be paying a lot of attention when I was asking the staff about Miss Grover, but… Well, a cop asking people about a murder victim is eavesdrop-worthy.’
‘Description?’
‘Uh, white, brown and brown, maybe five-eleven, slim. Dark blue suit and glasses.’
‘Difficult to tell at this distance, but the suit, hair, and glasses match one of them.’
‘You want to lose them?’
‘No point. We’re just going to the precinct. Just be aware of possible tails. So long as we’re not doing anything interesting, they can do it all they like.’ Dione frowned. ‘But a few additional security measures might be in order.’
~~~
‘So… What does it do?’ Leeanne asked, looking at the box with the blinking lights which was resting on the coffee table in the lounge.
‘It’s an electromagnetic disturbance detector,’ Mike replied. ‘It’ll pick up EM variations anywhere within about a hundred yards and it records them for later analysis. SCU uses them when they get asked to look into hauntings.’
‘This place isn’t old enough to have ghosts.’
‘Actually, Winthrop says the age of a building has nothing to do with it. A lot of newer buildings develop a reputation for haunting due to construction faults, weird geological conditions that go undetected, all sorts of odd reasons. That thing cracked one case where a new-build apartment block had these strange electrical problems. TVs with weird reception problems, lights flickered for no reason. Turned out one of the residents was doing some weird experiments with high-powered radio equipment. Unlicensed.’
‘Oh,’ Leeanne said, and she looked around the room, frowning.
‘But we’re looking for a different kind of spook. Dione thinks someone governmental might be interested in the Valentine Killer case. That little box will detect radio bugs. Even the burst transmission types.’
‘We’re being bugged?!’
‘Well, probably not, but we’re being cautious. No mentioning the v-word in unsecured locations.’
Leeanne opened her mouth to protest the very idea of someone bugging her home, and then closed it again. She was in on one of the biggest secrets in the world and she knew there were people out there who wanted to know more about it. ‘So, no mentioning Voldemort?’ Widening her eyes, she gasped and put her hand in front of her mouth.
‘Now you’ve done it,’ Mike said, trying not to grin.
‘Do you think he heard?’
‘Well, if you wake up a frog or something… You know how hard it is to find a prince willing to kiss one.’
‘I know… I should be punished. Thoroughly.’
Mike raised an eyebrow. ‘I thought you were on call tonight?’
‘Yeah, but I just said “Voldemort” out loud. I believe in living dangerously.’
1st March.
Mike put a carton of milk and a loaf of bread down on the counter of Eddy Ross’s grocery store and Delia shook her head, slowly. ‘You shouldn’t be eating this plastic bread crap,’ she said. ‘It’s unhealthy. Seriously, white and pre-sliced?’ She was a pretty sort of girl, looked both quite young and the kind of person who might be into health food, but her idea of ‘health food’ probably involved drinking blood from bodybuilders.
‘It makes good toast,’ Mike replied defensively.
‘That’s about all it’s good for. I’m amazed Leeanne lets you consume the stuff.’
‘Doctors are amazing at not heeding their own advice. Uh, is there a guy hanging about outside? White T-shirt under a leather jacket. Denim jeans and running shoes.’
Delia glanced toward the door. ‘Hang on…’ Leaning back, she looked under the counter and then reached down and Mike heard a click as she fiddled with something. ‘Yeah, there he is. He’s standing across the street about a hundred yards down. We’ve got a few cameras set up to watch the street, just in case.’
‘Useful.’ Mike counted out money as he considered. ‘You got a back door in this place?’
‘Want to lose him?’ Delia asked, grinning. ‘What is he?’
‘Not sure. FBI or CIA, probably.’
‘Naughty. The spooks aren’t supposed to get involved in domestic activities. Through the storeroom. You can get through to a back alley and head home that way.’
‘Thanks. I really just feel like annoying him, which is probably a bit petty.’
‘Oh, take it from someone a little older. Annoying bureaucracy is never petty. It can be counterproductive, but never petty.’
~~~
‘I spotted another one on the subway,’ Mike said. ‘They seem pretty determined.’ He was in the office, having gone in to report to Dione and hear whether there was anything new from Winthrop.
‘They’ve set up a post across the street from my apartment,’ Mary said. ‘They’ve got a couple of cameras and, I think, a laser microphone. I think we can assume that the phones are being tapped, but all our internal communications are encrypted. Just be careful about talking to anyone outside the unit.’
‘It’s an indignity,’ Winthrop grumbled. ‘Even if they can’t see in my windows directly.’
Dione sighed. ‘I had to lose one of them on the way to see Pat and Lisa this morning. Well, decided I wanted to. Do you want me to do anything about the crew across the street, Mary?’
Mary shook her head and smiled rather maliciously. ‘No. I have a plan for them.’
‘All right… Mike, what did the hotel staff say?’
‘They said that they saw Miss Grover with a m
an, both at one of the tables and then leaving with him. They weren’t paying a lot of attention, but he was fairly tall, blonde and blue, good-looking. It’s vague, but it sounds like Evan, or whatever he’s calling himself now, and they agreed he looked like the sketch we have. He left with Miss Grover between nine forty and nine forty-five.’
‘Which fits with the time of death,’ Winthrop said, ‘though it’s a little tight. He doesn’t take much time for intercourse before he kills them. No more than thirty minutes.’
‘I rather think he does it during intercourse,’ Dione said.
Winthrop nodded. ‘That would be consistent with the evidence, though, obviously, it’s not something I can precisely determine. Anyway, this victim shows he has some flexibility. He is not wedded to the exact process. He has taken her to her own room to kill her, so the setting is not important to him. The victim, the bite, the sex, and the execution are the same, however. I have now confirmed the presence of valentine viral material and the bite mark matches the previous cases.’
‘Doesn’t put us closer to nailing him down,’ Mike said.
‘No,’ Dione agreed. ‘But let’s assume he’s following the same pattern as L.A. and Paris. That means he’s found himself somewhere to stay with a supplicant he’s taken from another vampire. Mary, put around word that we’re interested in hearing from anyone who knows of a vampire, wealthy and straight, with their own private house and a blonde supplicant who’s gone quiet recently. In fact, see if you can get us a list of anyone matching that kind of description in the area.’
‘It’s likely to be a big list,’ Mary replied.
‘Yes, but we can get the regular NYPD to assist in narrowing it down. I think it’s our best shot at the moment.’
2nd March.
Mike led two men in suits into the little office in the Midtown South precinct, which was the official home of the Specialist Crimes Unit. It had a pair of desks, facing each other, in the middle of the room, with basic computers and a couple of phones on them. Off to one side at the back, there were two filing cabinets and a table with a coffee machine which was gurgling as it brewed that most life-giving of drinks, at least as far as cops were concerned. There was also Dione, sitting at her desk in a black blouse that was slightly translucent and showed the lacy bra under it, which she was wearing because of the two suits.
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