Silenced by the Grave

by Lina Gardiner

  “Why you little pissant,” she said, standing and staring Diesel down. “How dare you? You’re the one who does what I say, not the other way around.”

  “Morana, he’s right. This isn’t the place for a fight,” Jess said, glancing at the people who were beginning to gather around their table. If they fought, they most likely wouldn’t be able to control their physiology. And showing fangs in public wasn’t usually the best idea.

  Strangely, that snapped Morana out of her angry mood. Her vampirism decelerated, and her eyes reverted to green again.

  “Who wants the iced teas?” she asked Diesel, jumping out of her chair and looking around the room.

  “Over there,” Diesel said, obviously stunned that she’d listened to him. “Bunch of college kids celebrating being old enough to drink.”

  Britt hadn’t gone far and glanced suspiciously at his drink. “You sure you want to serve that drink to kids? It’s pretty strong.”

  “Of course, I’ll serve them,” Morana said. “I put as much care into every drink I make. If they can’t handle booze, they shouldn’t be in here.”

  She marched away, and Diesel shot them a guilty look. “Sorry about that. She’s angry about something tonight and taking it out on everyone.”

  “Before Diesel got far, Jess called him back. “Does Morana own this place?”

  He glanced over his shoulder at Morana, now standing behind the bar. Her brows drew together, and she glared at him. “Gotta get back to work. Nice talking to you,” he said.

  He didn’t have to verify her question. So, that was how she could afford the clothes she wore. Curious how Diesel fit in, Jess thought about his relationship with Morana and wondered how far he’d go to protect her. He was obviously smitten.

  Britt was still standing when Jess slammed her hand on the table, shoved her chair back, and got up. “Let’s leave. We’re wasting our time here tonight.”

  “You two certainly act like sisters sometimes,” Britt said when they exited the club and started down one of the tunnels toward the surface.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Not all sisters get along, you know.”

  “Actually, no, I don’t know. I haven’t had much to do with humans for centuries.” Her voice wandered off, and she walked a little faster.

  “We can try again another night,” he said in a conciliatory voice.

  Normally that would have ticked her off, but not tonight. She was still thinking about her interaction with Morana. “That was a bust. Not only did we not find the serial killer, but I pissed off my sister even more.”

  “She’ll come around. She’s probably just having a hard time coming to terms with having siblings, too.”

  Jess sighed. “Maybe. So, what now?” At home she’d be trolling the streets, hunting for bad vampires.

  “Do you miss fighting vamps back in New York?” he asked.

  “Hell, yes. Do you?”

  He looked momentarily pained before straightening his shoulders. “Unfortunately, I do, and I feel some guilt over that. If I have angelic DNA, why do I want to hunt and kill vampires?”

  “I had no idea you had that kind of angst eating at you,” she said. “You must remember, you’re descended from warrior angels whose role it was to fight for God. Doesn’t it make sense that you’d still want to keep humans safe in His name?”

  He slowed his pace then stopped and leaned against a light pole. The lamp cast shadows on his rugged features and made a funny feeling erupt inside her.

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him, his hands caressing the butter-soft leather of her dress while he held her. “It’s almost like you’re one of us, Jess—one of His angels fighting against evil.”

  Jess instantly stiffened and pushed gently but firmly out of his arms. “Let’s not go that far, Brittain. You care about me, but don’t let deluded thoughts like that take over. I’m one of the evil ones. Don’t ever forget it, because the day might come when you have to kill me, too.” Since she’d been in Paris and Britt had been more distracted, she felt the darkness edging at her, calling to her. Maybe it had to do with being immersed in the old-world vampire culture. But sometimes, it felt like it wouldn’t take much, that she was only a precipice away from losing herself.

  Britt shoved off the light pole, his expression instantly angry. “Don’t talk like that again, doll. I won’t accept that kind of thinking.”

  She rarely made him angry, but she’d come close just now. Time for a subject change. “I heard from Jane yesterday,” she said. “She took down a nest of vamps in Brooklyn. It was her first big coup, and the team didn’t suffer a single casualty.”

  “That’s great,” he said, but he still sounded wounded and angry.

  And she still needed a little hand-to-hand combat to burn off the frustration building inside her. Maybe that’s why she made such a good vampire hunter—she needed to expel her vile, dark emotions—by killing. Damn it. If only Britt and Regent realized who she really was.

  “What tipped Jane off to the vamps?” Britt asked. Normally, he didn’t ask for details about other teams’ takedowns. He must really miss it.

  “You won’t believe it,” Jess said, slowly relaxing. Jane had impressed her with her ingenuity. “It was an odor coming from a basement apartment on a street she passed by every night on her way to work.”

  Britt’s eyebrows rose.

  “The vamps weren’t disposing of their corpses every day,” she said.

  “Ugh.”

  “Their mistake.” Jess grinned and stopped on a street corner. The crossing light seemed to take forever to change. “Kind of makes a gal homesick, though.”

  “And a guy,” he admitted.

  Unexpectedly, a scream sounded in the distance. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

  They both looked in the direction of the scream.

  “Was it a shriek of excitement or maybe laughter?” she asked, knowing full well it wasn’t.

  “Not laughter,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  Jess touched his wrist. “We’re not supposed to get involved. Maybe we should contact Veronique. We don’t want to get in the way of the police again.”

  “But what if it’s the serial killer?” he said, obviously grasping for a good reason to help. “We’re working on that case. We have every reason to follow-up.”

  “Good enough for me,” she said. “Let’s go.” It was unbearable to be hog-tied by international political bureaucracy, especially since she’d spoken to the chief back in New York, and he’d warned her again not to step on any toes.

  Heat still emanated off the cement while a warm breeze stirred the tinkling leaves on the trees lining the sidewalks. They were running toward the sound as another scream rent the air.

  “It came from over there,” she shouted, seeing an alley on a dingy side street.

  When they reached the end of it, she indicated she’d go right and for him to go left. As she ran, energy ramped up inside her. Nothing would feel better than saving a human life tonight. Helping humanity gave her foul existence meaning and helped her to feel worthy. Hell, she’d promised the Chief they’d avoid trouble. So much for toeing the line.

  But in her mind, that promise always had a loophole. Her only hope at maintaining her ounce of humanity was by saving humans in trouble, and this one sounded like he needed help now. She hoped they’d be on time.

  Even from here, the scene halfway down the alley appeared grim. A police officer lay sprawled on the ground with a vicious neck wound that was bleeding profusely.

  So much for vampires not killing in Europe. She’d known it was too good to be true. It went against their nature. And with so many more vamps over here, they had to have some who followed their lust.

  “Britt, can you help him? His carotid isn’t severed, but he’s bleeding pretty bad. If you staunch the blood, he might make it long enough for an ambulance to arrive. Meanwhile, I’ll help the woman,” she said, turning to the two vampires attacking ano
ther officer.

  The vamps were taking their time, molesting her before draining her blood. Were they the serial killers? Had the previous women been killed by a tag-team? It was certainly possible.

  “Stop, you bastards. If you don’t leave that woman alone, I’m going to vaporize you,” she shouted.

  One vamp tore his gaze away from his prey long enough to look at Jess. The other vampire straightened but didn’t turn around. He was too busy with the woman, a female officer, who was obviously in shock but still trying to defend herself. She reached out and clawed at the face of the vampire holding her down.

  The vamp cursed in French and slapped her hard enough to send her sprawling to the ground, unconscious.

  “That’s it, bastard. You’re dead,” Jess shouted. “I don’t give a damn about your so-called Pact. You’ve obviously already broken it, and now you’re going to die.”

  She made a run at the two vampires. The one who hadn’t turned around smashed his vampire cohort hard enough to knock him down, then he quickly climbed the side of the building and took off, leaving the other vampire behind. He’d sacrificed his partner to get away. Yeah, that was more like the vamps in New York City.

  “Your friend left you behind. Are you going to cry?” she said. “Maybe you think you can molest me, too?”

  She quickly assessed the poor female on the ground. Her face was terribly swollen, one eye had closed, and blood streamed from her nose. She’d regained consciousness again though and had taken out her cell phone to call for help. Strong woman.

  “I guess you’re not used to fighting people like me,” she said with her angriest look at the vampire, grinning wide enough to show her newly elongated eyeteeth. “As in, a woman who can fight back.”

  “Merde!” he shouted. “Une vampire! C’est pas possible.”

  “C’est pas impossible,” she said, realizing suddenly that she hadn’t seen a single female vampire—with Morana being the exception—not in the clubs, not on the streets. Possibly they were mere followers, not fighters in Europe? Somehow that irritated her. Still, it wasn’t as if she wanted more attacking vampires on the street. “And, I’m going to kick your ass and send you to wherever it is vampires go. Hell, most likely.”

  Britt still had the cloth pressed on the officer’s neck and hollered for the woman to hurry the ambulance, just as Jess dove at the lone vampire.

  This vampire was bigger than she, but that didn’t scare her. She was smarter. She prepared herself for battle because this guy wasn’t backing down. When she realized he didn’t intend to run away, excitement spread through her core.

  Taking a fighting stance, he waited for her to come at him, a lascivious grin on his face. He thought he had the advantage because he was bigger and older, but she’d prove him wrong.

  She leapt through the air, her toe spike extended in order to stake him through his black heart.

  As if he knew what she’d do, he skirted to the side. She missed him completely.

  “Tsk, tsk,” he said, shaking his raised index finger back and forth in reprimand while he allowed her to turn back to face him again. “You fail. Now, I kill you,” he said.

  Broken English or not, she got the drift. But she wasn’t scared.

  He charged her. The fact that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his teeth covered with blood—no doubt from injuring the cop on the ground—made Jess even more pissed.

  When his ham hock-sized hand connected hard with the side of her head, she saw stars for about two seconds. Shit! That would be his only advantage. She dove at the wall, ran part way up, and somersaulted backwards, knocking him sideways. She’d ripped a hole in his arm with her blade in the attack.

  He hissed then looked at his arm. “Don’t think you’re the one who’s going to win, vampire.” His vile breath washed over her. He glanced again at the arm she’d deeply sliced open, then narrowed his devil black eyes on her. He meant business now, and she was ready for every second of it. In fact, she craved this fight.

  “No contest,” she said, with a fang-baring grin. “Come and get me, big boy!”

  He halted and frowned at her, no doubt wondering how she could be so sure of herself. Whaddya know? She’d thrown him off-guard, at least for just a second. But that was long enough. Because she had a secret weapon that he’d forgotten about. Britt.

  His eyes bulged, and his mouth opened when a silver spike burst through his chest from behind while Jess watched.

  The vampire stared down at the tip of the spike protruding from his chest while blood streamed from it. His mouth remained open in a silent scream, and then his body blew apart, sending his dissipating molecules up into the atmosphere.

  After the blowback was over, Jess bent over and fluffed her hair to make sure the expired vampire’s soot was gone.

  Wait a minute. Why had Britt left the bleeding officer alone? Had he died?

  Half afraid of what she’d see, she slowly turned. Had she been enjoying this fight too much while the poor man bled out? But, instead of seeing a dead French police officer, she looked and saw the female cop now putting pressure on his wound. And, hallelujah, there were sirens coming their way.

  While the ambulance attendants were taking care of the wounded officers, Veronique arrived. She strode purposefully toward Jess.

  “Holy hell, she looks angry enough to kill us herself,” Britt said in a low voice only Jess was meant to hear.

  “Too bad. We saved the lives of those two cops. That’s more important than their precious Pact,” she said.

  Jess was all set to throw Veronique’s damned Pact back in her face when Veronique came up to them and said, “Thank Dieu you were here tonight. You saved my people.”

  Britt’s confused expression most likely mirrored her own. “Excuse me? You aren’t angry at us? I thought you said we couldn’t go around killing vampires because of the Pact.”

  Veronique’s shoulders tightened. “This is different. There’s a splinter cell attacking citizens in this area. Killing them. Up until now, we’ve been unable to catch them. They’ve already killed four of my officers.” She glanced back at the two being tended by the EMTs. “You saved these gendarme from a horrible death.”

  “Shouldn’t you have warned us about that?” Jess said, displaying her extreme irritation at being kept in the dark.

  “I’m sorry. In hindsight, maybe I should have told you,” Veronique said.

  “I thought we had an understanding. You know we’re experienced in taking out rogue vampires, and we could have shared our expertise in helping catch these bastards, if nothing else.”

  “Unfortunately, my hands are tied in more ways than you’ll probably ever know. I accept that you’re angry, and I do appreciate your understanding and your help with this matter tonight. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave it at that.”

  Jess’s teeth clamped together. What could she say? Veronique was evidently sticking to her policy-imposed silence.

  “I’m just postulating here, but has anyone considered that the way those vamps manhandled the female officer might mean they’re the killers you’ve been looking for?” She brushed her fingers through her hair again and dislodged more particles of dead vampire.

  “Why do you think that?” Veronique asked sharply.

  “One of them had a blade on his hip. Most vampires don’t use, or need, weapons. Then again, according to you, attacks don’t happen around here.”

  Veronique shrugged, but her face remained pinched.

  “Unfortunately, one of them got away,” Jess said.

  “Did you get a look at his face?” Veronique asked. “Whether he’s our serial killer or not, he’s targeting humans.”

  “Now that you mention it, it was odd that the runner didn’t turn around once. He kept his face averted.”

  “My officer will give us a description if she’s able,” Veronique said, turning and walking to the ambulance to check on her wounded officers. Jess and Britt followed.

  “Captain,” the fem
ale said weakly, “I managed to rip this out of the vampire’s lip.” She held up a lip ring that looked very familiar to Jess. She wanted to ask more about the guy’s description, but the EMT responded in English, saying the officer’s jaw was broken and she must not to speak again.

  Okay, they could wait to find out what the guy looked like. Besides, Jess imagined Diesel wasn’t the only vampire with piercings in Paris, so she couldn’t immediately put the blame on him. It was a city of fashion and design, and vampires here dressed the part. And that included body piercings.

  “How long have cop-killer vamps been active?” Jess asked, expecting to hear a day or two.

  Veronique watched the ambulances drive away, sirens blaring. “A month or more,” she admitted.

  Jess stared in disbelief. “We could’ve helped you,” she said again.

  “I’m sure you understand when I say we don’t usually ask for help from outside sources. It goes against policy to admit we occasionally get rogues who kill. Most of the vampires follow the Pact. We try to maintain it as best we can, and that means we have to keep the killings quiet. No one can know.”

  “No one?” Britt said.

  “No one, especially not the clergy,” she said, eyeing Jess very seriously. The Church has been the most powerful critic of the Pact recently.”

  Britt made an irritated sound. “Can’t say as I blame them.”

  Veronique pasted on a strong expression.

  “You said you wanted to share information when I first told you about my team in New York City. You made it seem like we’d be collaborating. So far, the collaboration has only been one-sided,” Jess said, not trying to hide her irritation.

  Veronique held her hands up in exasperation but said nothing.

  “Since we’re working with you on this serial killer case, you owe it to us to divulge the truth, especially since the serial killer could just as easily be a vampire. And in light of recent information, it probably is,” Britt said.

  “The killer might also be a human. There’s no physical proof it’s a vampire,” Veronique said a little too strenuously.

  “Minimal blood at the crime scene doesn’t spell vampire to you?” Britt asked between clenched teeth.