by Skye Knizley
He stepped up to the bar and pushed his way between a pair of inebriated men he felt certain were lycans judging from their gang attire and unwashed smell. It didn’t take long for the bartender, an older gentleman with grey hair combed into a pompadour and Buddy Holly glasses to approach. He smiled and gave the bar an extra polish before tossing his towel over his shoulder.
“What can I getcha?” he drawled.
“You look a little out of place,” Storm said.
The bartender shrugged. “Not everyone likes leather and spikes, pal. I just pour the booze.”
“Fair enough. I’m looking for some information. Do you know Marta Ardaelean? She’s a tall blonde with blue eyes, was wearing a red dress and heels earlier tonight,” Storm said.
“The name doesn’t ring a bell, but she sounds familiar,” the bartender said. “Let me get you a drink while I think about it.”
“Cranberry club soda and a slice of lime,” Storm said.
The bartender nodded and wandered off to place the order. While he was gone Storm turned to survey the club. Frost had taken position at the far end of the bar and, judging by his expression, was asking the same question of the folks leaning on the bar for support: Did anyone know Marta Ardaelean?
The bartender returned a few minutes later with a frosted glass, a can of off-brand cranberry soda and a slice of lime on a plate.
“Here you are, sir. Three fifty.”
Storm dropped a twenty on the bar and put the glass on top. “Any thoughts on Marta?”
“Now that you mention it, there was a woman fitting that description here early tonight, just after we opened,” the bartender said.
“Was she with anyone?” Storm pressed.
“That name will cost you more than fifteen bucks,” the bartender said. “If Cornelius finds out I’m giving info to the cops I’ll be out on my ear.”
“So we make sure he doesn’t find out,” Storm said.
He slipped another twenty under his glass and looked meaningfully at the bartender.
“She spent a fair stretch of time with Balthazar,” the bartender said.
“Balthazar? Who is Balthazar?” Storm asked.
“Balthazar Blight. He’s an old guy, comes in once every few months to have a drink. All he does is sit in the corner and watch the club.”
“Do you know if he’s still around?”
The bartender craned his neck to look around the club then shook his head. “I don’t see him. I think he left with your Marta woman.”
“Balthazar Blight. You’re sure that’s a name?” Storm asked.
“Positive.”
Storm picked up his glass, filled it with soda and set it aside long enough to write “BB?” on a Club Purgatory napkin before taking a long drink.
Balthazar Blight. What’s your real name, bub?
KRYPTORIUM, CHICAGO
PRESENT DAY
RAVEN COULD HEAR DISTANT CHURCH bells ringing out three a.m. She and Aspen, along with a group of Mother’s most trusted guards had spent most of the night searching for clues and sorting through the mess left behind by Kuren and her followers. The good news was that it looked like Kuren had been powerful, but not a true Mistress. The fledglings and newdead vampires they’d seen in the club belonged to another and wouldn’t be rampaging through the city looking for blood and a safe place to hide from the sun.
The bad news was anything that might have identified the Master had vanished. The club’s safe was empty as were all the cash registers. The security dvd recorders and flash drives had all been taken or smashed, even the DJ’s laptop was gone. It was extremely efficient and quiet, which explained how they’d been operating under the Mistress’ nose.
She now leaned against the side of the Cayenne watching Thad’s team set firebombs. The club would be nothing but ash by morning and the debris would hide the crypt below. The investigation would reveal an accidental fire had torn through the flammable curtains and tapestries, reducing the building to rubble in less than twenty minutes. The bad guys weren’t the only ones who could be efficient.
Aspen offered Raven a steaming cup of hot chocolate. “What do we do now?”
Raven accepted the cup and sipped at the delicious warm drink before answering. “We keep digging. Somewhere there is a legal identity behind this building. Somebody is paying the bills and I want to know who.”
“I’ll get on it first thing,” Aspen said.
Raven smiled. “Get some rest first, Aspen. It will wait.”
Aspen sipped her own hot chocolate. “What are you going to do?”
Raven rubbed her eyes and looked back to where Thad was setting the final charge.
“Wait for this place to go boom.”
“You should get some rest too, boss,” Aspen said. “You burned a lot of energy tonight.”
“I will, I Promise. Get going, Asp.”
Aspen kissed Raven’s cheek. “G’night, Ray.”
Raven stood on the sidewalk and watched until the taillights of Aspen’s Jeep vanished into the night. When they were gone, she turned to see the front of the club already engulfed in flame. She couldn’t help but think it was the first of many fires she would see before this was all over.
1401 STATE STREET, CHICAGO
PRESENT DAY
THE SUN’S GOLDEN RAYS FILTERED through the grey drapes and hit Raven in the face like a hammer. She winced in the light and buried her head under a satin-covered pillow, hoping she could get a few more hours’ rest. It couldn’t possibly be later than nine.
She was almost asleep when Levac’s ringtone began blaring from her phone. She growled in frustration and rolled over to glare at the black Sony with its pink aluminum case. The case had been a gift from Aspen and she just couldn’t bring herself not to use it.
She ran her thumb over the screen. “This better be important, Rupe.”
“Good afternoon to you, too, sunshine,” Levac replied.
Raven sat up, spilling the covers and her stuffed Tigger to the floor. “Afternoon?”
She could hear Levac’s smile. “Yup, the bells are ringing noon, partner and Frost is screaming for an update. Are you going to grace us with your presence sometime today?”
“Damn. Yeah, let me get cleaned up and I’ll be in.”
“Hey, before you go get all gussied up, Frost was asking about a lake district fire early this morning,” Levac said. “Aspen sent me a text to stay mum, but I don’t actually know anything.”
Raven stood and padded toward her bathroom. “It’s probably safest that way, Rupe. It was vampire shit connected to our case, but I’m still working out the details. Why does Frost even care? It’s a fire marshal issue.”
Levac paused and she suspected he was leaning down behind his desk. He did that when he didn’t want Frost to notice him. “I don’t know, but he came through here like a hurricane asking for you and if I knew anything about a fire.”
“Marvelous. I’ll be in as soon as I can.”
Raven tossed the phone aside and turned the shower on as hot as she could stand it. It was going to be one of those days.
SHE PUSHED THROUGH THE BACK door of Homicide, Division One an hour later. She’d chosen a pair of green jeans tucked into brown riding boots and matched with a brown sweater and patterned scarf. Her pistol was holstered at the small of her back and her knives were sheathed in their usual places. The only jewelry she’d added was a red gem left to her by her great grandmother Mina.
She dropped into her chair opposite Levac, making him jump and her grin.
“Hey, partner.”
“Bout time you got here, Ray,” Levac said around a mouthful of sandwich. “I think Frost is about ready to chew steel and spit nails.”
“It was a late night,” Raven said. “I didn’t get in until almost five.”
“I heard. Aspen is dragging, too. But she’s got something for us,” Levac said. “She’s had some kind of search algorithm going and she got a hit from one of your father’s old casefil
es.”
He pushed a piece of paper across the desk. It was a copy of a property deed faxed from Aspen’s lab.
“Balthazar Blight,” Raven read. “That can’t be a real name.”
Levac smiled. “This from someone named Raven Storm? Aspen ran a background check on him. He’s got no motor vehicle report, but he’s got an address, passport and an arrest record. Lieutenant Frost brought him in back in ’99.”
“Balthazar Blight… BB…” Raven said. “Come on, let’s check it out.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Storm,” Frost said from behind her. “My office. Now.”
Raven shrugged and followed Frost toward his office. He’d already pulled the horizontal blinds, a sign he intended to yell.
The interior of the office looked like something out of an 80s cop movie with grey filing cabinets, a wide glass desk with an old-fashioned telephone and windows that overlooked the city. The only decorations were a handful of photographs, including one of the Lieutenant and Raven’s father when they’d been partners and some commendations. There was no evidence the man ever did anything but work, but Raven knew he had a wife and two daughters, one about her age.
Raven dropped into one of the black leather and chrome chairs and crossed her legs as Frost took a seat behind the wide glass desk. He shuffled some papers and raised his light blue eyes to glare at her.
“Tell me about last night’s fire.”
“What fire?” Raven asked.
Frost tossed a photo across his desk. It was a screen capture from a surveillance camera outside Kryptorium and it clearly showed her standing outside.
“You were there last night,” Frost said. “Early this morning there was a fire that burned the place to the ground. Now, tell me what you know.”
“Not much,” Raven said. “I was at the club last night following up on a lead. The number we found in a vic’s pants was theirs. It didn’t pan out and I went home. The place was standing when I left.”
“You didn’t shoot anyone or knock over any candles?” Frost asked.
“Of course not,” Raven replied. “What’s the problem, Chris?”
“The problem is where you go mayhem follows.”
He picked up a handful of paper. “Once again I have shooting forms and internal affairs investigation reports on my desk and every one of them is for you.”
“Chris—”
“Lieutenant,” Frost interrupted.
“Fine. Lieutenant. We’ve had this discussion and temper tantrum before. Weird cases often involve shootings. You know it, I know it. I’m not jeopardizing myself or my team because you don’t like paperwork,” Raven said.
“I don’t like dead bodies and neither does the Captain,” Frost said.
“Me either, Lieutenant,” Raven replied. “They stink up the place. But every single one was justified and cleared by IA.”
“Someday it won’t be,” Frost said darkly.
Raven leaned forward. “What are you suggesting, Lieutenant?”
“I’m not suggesting anything, Detective,” Frost replied. “Get back to work.”
Raven stood and leaned forward so Frost could see her eyes. “I’m not a murderer, lieutenant, if that is what you’re implying. I take scumbags off the streets. Sometimes they get dead in the process. But if I thought I’d killed an innocent, I’d take myself off the street, with or without Internal Affairs’ say so.”
She turned and left, for once not slamming the door behind her. Levac met her on the way back to their shared desks.
“You okay, partner?” he asked.
Raven looked back at Frost’s desk. “Yeah. The lieutenant is in one of his moods. Ready to roll?”
“Yep. Just let me get my coat.”
Raven nodded and headed for the stairs knowing Levac would catch up after he grabbed his coat. And probably a hotdog.
On her way down the stairs, one thought nagged at her. Where had Frost gotten that surveillance photo? The security disks were all taken and Thad’s team had found nothing. So how had he gotten a photo?
The thought nagged at her and she drove in silence for several minutes before Levac turned in his seat.
“What happened last night, Ray?”
Raven shrugged. “Just another night in vampire town. The telephone number we found belonged to a club called Kryptorium. You were busy, so Aspen and I went to ask a few questions and get a feel for the place. We found a blood bath and a large crypt in the basement full of coffins and some sort of dais. The wood of the main coffin matched the wood we found at Pepescu’s place, but I don’t think it was fresh. There was no scent to it.”
“Sounds interesting. You didn’t make any arrests and the building is charcoal so something didn’t go as planned.”
Raven smiled without humor. “Does it ever? We bumped into an older pureblood named Kuren and half a dozen of her fledgling friends. The end result was a bunch of dead vamps and a burning coffin. When we got to the main floor everyone else was gone and the place was covered in a mix of human and animal blood. Thad thought it had been pumped through the sprinkler system somehow. Other than that, the whole place was cleaned out. Thad thought it was best to burn the place rather than let the police and news have a field day with it.”
Levac chewed on his lip and leaned back against his door. “So more evidence is gone?”
“No. There wasn’t any evidence besides the coffin and we already have a sample,” Raven replied. “All the coffin would have done was lead us back where we started. It’s the wood that is important.”
“Was destroying the building the only way?” Levac asked.
“Not the only, but it was the quickest and cleanest,” Raven said. “There was just too much evidence of weirdness that didn’t need to be out in the open. Besides, the fire should result in somebody getting a fat insurance check and I want to know who. As dad always said, ‘follow the money’.”
“I can’t agree with the method, but it makes sense,” Levac said.
The conversation lapsed and they again rode in silence, heading north and west toward Old Town.
“What about you last night?” Raven asked to break the silence.
“I got caught up with Sloan,” Levac said. “Nothing major, I just needed the night off.”
“I’m glad things are working out with her,” Raven said. “I’d love to meet her.”
“And how would that go, Ray?” Levac asked. “Hi honey, I’m home, I’d like you to meet my Mistress?”
“What?” Raven asked.
“Never mind,” Levac said.
“Rupe, that’s ridiculous!” Raven said. “I never call you for vampire stuff or do any of that familiar shit. You’re alive and I’m grateful and that’s it.”
“Yeah. Yeah. I know that, Ray,” Levac said. “I’m sorry, that just came out.”
“It doesn’t sound like you do. I thought we had sorted all this out,” Raven said. “I can’t take it back and I wouldn’t if I could.”
Levac turned to look at Raven. “I said I know, Ray. And I wouldn’t ask you to. It’s just, sometimes I can feel you. Or Aspen. It’s weird. It happened last night while I was with Sloan and things got awkward.”
“I’m sorry, Rupe. Aspen has been a familiar longer and has a handle on things, maybe she can teach you ways to block us out so that doesn’t happen. Want me to ask?”
Levac shook his head. “No. I’ll do it.”
They reached their destination a few moments later and Raven parked the Shelby at the curb across from a massive Gothic mansion that had been finished just after the Great Chicago fire. The three story building was within walking distance of Old Town and had that old world feel that preternaturals always seemed drawn to. Dark grey paint, black steel roof, gargoyles on every corner and enough fireplaces to start a smithy all hidden behind a wrought iron fence Dracula himself would envy. It made the hair on Raven’s neck stand on end.
Levac smiled wryly. “That looks welcoming.”
“Definitel
y the kind of place for a person with a warm and inviting personality,” Raven replied. “Norman Bates would be right at home.”
They found the main gate unlocked and passed through into a wide yard covered in thick snow. A large birdbath was the only visible decoration though Raven suspected that lumps under the snow were planters of some description. No doubt the lawn was abloom with hellebore, black petunias and lotus blossoms in spring.
She climbed the stairs to the door and knocked, half expecting Ted Cassidy to answer. To her surprise a short, plump woman with rosy cheeks and a wide smile opened the door. She was dressed in a classic black and white maid’s uniform and comfortable-looking black loafers.
“Can I help you?” the maid asked.
Raven held out her badge. “Detective Storm and my partner Levac. Is this the Blight residence?”
“Indeed it is, Detectives,” the maid replied.
“Is the owner available? Balthazar?”
The maid shook her head. “I’m sorry, no he isn’t. Is there something I can do for you?”
“May we come in?” Levac asked.
“Oh, of course! Where are my manners?”
The maid stepped aside and held the door. Raven and Levac stepped through into a large foyer with wood floors and white plaster walls. They were ushered through another set of double doors and into the grand hallway where they were greeted by the cries of a great crow held in a cage near the curving staircase.
“Hush up, Noir,” the maid said. “Don’t mind him, he came with the house. Noisy, he is and lazy, but the Master seems to love him.”
The crow settled down at the maid’s voice and she led them into a side drawing room decorated with plush blue carpets and overstuffed chairs made of white leather.
“Have a seat, do.”
“Thank you,” Levac said.
When they were seated the maid said again, “What can I help you with?”
“Mr. Blight,” Raven said. “Do you know when he will be home?”
“No, ma’am,” the maid replied. “He doesn’t keep regular hours. I myself have never met the man in person. I had a brief telephone interview with him and that was all.”