CHAPTER 4

“This is not a good idea,” Evan frets as we sit down, thanking the waitress who hands the three of us menus. We’d chosen an outside table in case things got a little dicey. It’s much easier to maneuver out in the open and keep innocents out of our line of fire.

Dan had spoken to his lieutenant earlier to apprise him of the situation. I vehemently disagreed with the choice to involve the police before we know what’s going on. Evan agreed with me, but my darling husband, cop that he is, refused to budge. So it is now a police investigation, and Dan has his police-issued gun along for the ride. I abhor guns. He knows this, but his gun is equipped with iron- and silver-coated bullets forged in holy water. A triple whammy, according to Zeke, who manufactures them. Win for Papa and his company and a win for the police and the Hunters who use them.

“It’ll be fine.” Dan waves Evan’s fears aside. “I made sure no other police officer will be within miles of here.”

“I bet that convo went over well with Miguel.” Miguel Rivers is in charge of the Supernatural Crime Unit for all of Chicago. I’ve met him. He thinks more like me than he does an actual cop. Maybe that’s why we get along.

Dan snorts. “About as well as you can imagine.”

“Does he actually know anything about vampires?” Evan twists, looking around at his environment. We’d chosen a table that had a wall on two sides. Dan and I could see what might come at us, while Evan is at a distinct disadvantage in that regard. He has to turn to see what’s behind him.

“Yes.” Dan takes out his phone and lays it on the table.

“Are you recording us?” There is no mistaking the suspicion in Evan’s tone.

“No.” Dan looks patiently at him, aware of how nervous he is. “I need it where I can reach it if things go south. I have units waiting two miles out. They’ll be here quickly, but I need to contact them.”

“It won’t be quick enough,” he mutters. “I’ve dealt with the old Master of the City. Gloria decapitated him and took over about a year ago. She’s the scariest creature I’ve ever come up against.”

I can’t say that until I’ve met her, but I still think the primordial evil I faced might actually be one of the scariest things ever created. Her kind was responsible for vampires. I guess we’ll see, though.

“What time is it?” Evan looks at his watch for the hundredth time since we picked him up at his place.

“It’s one forty-five,” I say. “Now, stop fidgeting. One thing I know about vampires is they can smell your emotions. She’s going to know you’re terrified as it is. No need to act it too.”

Evan takes a deep breath. “There are days I still think you need a good spanking.”

“Really?” Dan’s voice goes soft and deadly.

“Uh…” Evan’s eyes widen when he looks at my husband. Dan Richards, wielder of the Sword of Truth, one of the Four Holy Swords, is also one of the scariest creatures alive.

“You want to spank my wife?” There’s a tick in his jaw.

“Uhh,” Evan stutters, realizing his mistake. It’s one matter to say things to me, but quite another to say them in front of Dan.

Dan leans toward him, and Evan leans as far away from him as he can. “Squirt, how often does he say things like this to you?”

Crap on toast. He sounds more pissed than I thought.

“He didn’t mean anything by it. He reminds me of Eric, who says things like that all the time.”

“Eric is your brother. Evan is not.”

“I understand she’s yours.”

“Do you?” Dan whispers. “Because if you don’t, friend of hers or not, I will put you down.”

Evan swallows loudly. In all honesty, it’s probably best that this happened. Get it out of the way once and for all.

“She’s made it perfectly clear how she feels.”

“I didn’t ask that. Do you understand she’s mine and not yours?”

Evan’s nostrils flare. “She’s yours and not mine.”

“As long as you understand, we’re cool.” Dan sits back, his body relaxing and some of the Holy Warrior juice dying down out of his system.

“Now that the testosterone has been dealt with, can we get back to what’s important? Which sandwich do you want?”

Both men stare at me incredulously as my stomach growls loudly and then burst out laughing.

What? Food is always important.

“Frieda must be fed,” Dan says affectionately.

“Isn’t that what she named her stomach?” Evan tilts his head. “I think I remember you saying something about that at your wedding.”

“There is nothing wrong with naming my stomach. It has a mind of its own, you know.”

“Didn’t say there was.” Evan picks up his menu. “What is good here?”

At least he and Dan seem to have moved on quickly from that little squabble. Or both of them are just really good at hiding what they’re feeling. I’m betting on the latter.

“Get the meatball sub.”

“I’ll get sauce on my white shirt!” He looks so horrified even Dan chuckles.

I shrug. “Suit yourself. It’s delicious.”

“Are you getting it?”

“No. I want the chicken BLT. I will, however, take a meatball sub home with me.”

Dan hums happily as he peruses the menu. He doesn’t know the place, but I used to eat here all the time.

The waitress approaches, and we order, Dan and Evan both going with a Reuben sandwich instead of a hoagie.

“It’s five of two,” Dan muses, his gaze sweeping the area. “Think she’ll show?”

“She will if she wants us to take her seriously.”

But it is not the master vampire who approaches us at two o’clock sharp. It’s the same man who approached me at the diner last night.

“Mrs. Crane, Mr. Richards, and Mr. Pierce. Ms. Monroe asked me to collect you all and bring you to her home.”

“Sorry, no.” I turn my attention to him. “I’m guessing you’re her human servant?”

He nods. “I’m Michael.”

“Well, Michael, as I told you last night, I don’t get into cars with strangers. I also left your master a message, which I assume she told you about.”

He says nothing.

“Then she’s not who I thought she was. If she can’t walk in the daylight, she must not be a very good master vampire.”

His nostrils flare and something shifts behind his eyes. Aleric Rinaldi, a master vampire himself, if a young one, told me a master can hear and see everything through their servant’s eyes. I’m assuming she can hear every single word I’m saying.

“And if she thinks to pay a visit to any of us when the sun falls, then that would be an even bigger mistake than not coming here today. Our homes are heavily guarded against everything, even human servants. We’ve learned our lessons when it comes to the humans as well as the Supernaturals.”

“Are you always this arrogant?” he asks, and I know it’s not him. It’s her.

“I’m a Crane.”

“That, you are.”

He simply turns and walks away.

“Now what?” Evan asks.

“We wait,” Dan and I say at the same time.

He grins. I know what he’s thinking too. He always tells me I’d make a great cop. Thank you, but no.

“She’s not here. Why are we waiting?”

“She’s here,” Dan says. “She just wanted us to come to her.”

“It’s a power play,” Evan realizes. “I’m too tired for this.”

“Yup.” I told him to stay home, but he insisted on coming. Man needs a nap.

None of us really say anything while the minutes tick by. The waitress brings our food, and I dig in. I’m starved, but then when am I not starved?

Dan yawns, food in his mouth.

“Don’t be gross.”

He smiles, knowing he’s got food in his teeth. Idiot. I steal a fry from his plate, and he just scoots it closer to me. Bless him.

“Ah, here she comes,” Dan says, not bothering to whisper. She’ll hear a whisper from a thousand yards.

I glance over to see a tall woman striding purposefully toward our table, followed by Michael. He looks none too pleased. I bet she chewed him out but good. I can’t keep the snarky smile off my face.

“Don’t.” Dan’s lips barely move, but we all hear him.

Sighing, I school my features into an expression of indifference. Dan is always the voice of reason, and as much as I want to be bratty, doing so to a human servant of a thousand-year-old vampire probably isn’t the best call. I should know. Been there, done that.

“Mrs. Crane, you do test my patience.”

She takes a seat, and it gives me the opportunity to study her up close. Her skin is pale, but she’s applied just enough make up to make it appear like ivory instead of the pallor of death. Deep blue eyes study me as intently as I do her. Her hair is her distinguishing feature, however. I’m sure she’d call it auburn, but honestly, it’s as orange as a carrot. Bright, bright orange. I wonder if hair dye sticks when it comes to a vampire. If it were me, I’d do everything in my power to get rid of the godawful color.

“Can I ask where you’re from, originally?”

“It’s the hair, I suppose.”

I nod. My first inclination is either Ireland or Scotland.

“I was born in a small hamlet in the Highlands.”

So, Scotland. I’m sure Dan’s filed that little nugget of information away, but I don’t know how it might help us if this derails.

“Dead man’s blood?” She cocks her head to the left.

“I was held hostage by a psychotic vampire. Since then, there’s not been a day my family and I don’t ingest it.”

“You survived?”

I’m sure she knows this already. I wouldn’t have gone into a meeting without finding everything out I could either.

“Yes.”

“And did the vampire?”

“To a degree. He’s locked away in a prison he’ll never escape from.”

“Why didn’t you kill him?”

Now, that is a closely guarded secret. No one will ever know about Alice. “Why should I? I wanted him to suffer the same way I did. Starving every day for the rest of his undead life is a torture even you have to be concerned about.”

The truth flickers in her eyes, but it’s there and gone so fast, you wouldn’t have seen it if you hadn’t been looking for it.

“Why did you want to see us?”

Her gaze flickers to Evan. “I asked to see you and your husband. Mr. Pierce wasn’t a part of the conversation.”

“He’s part of my conversation.”

She nods slightly. “He knows more about the underworld of Chicago than most.”

We all say nothing. I stare directly at her while Dan and Evan keep their eyes down. I was always told to never look a vampire directly in the eyes. They can ensnare you, but I don’t fear that anymore. If I had no dead man’s blood in my system, I’d be more cautious. Maybe.

“You show no fear, child. Why is that?”

I shrug. “You don’t scare me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve killed a blood demon, a primordial evil that created your kind. I know how many of you died when she did. The news rippled through the community when thousands of vampires turned to ash in seconds.”

“Thankfully, my sire was not tied to her, but another of her kind.”

Again, I merely shrug. “Doesn’t really matter to me. I took her apart piece by piece, and I can do the same to you. You might scare others who don’t have my particular gifts, but it takes a lot more than you to scare me.”

Anger sparks in her expressive blue eyes. The tone of the atmosphere changes. Her power ripples out from her and settles into the humans around us, both inside the deli and outside. The entire street, really. She’s taken control of them all. Their intent is to hurt us. To rip us apart.

No.

That white space in my mind opens, and I let myself settle into it. It’s the place where I have no feelings, no emotions. The place where I can kill and have no remorse. I have killed, and I probably will again before my life is over, but in here, I don’t care.

“Don’t.” Even my voice has gone cold and hollow, no emotions whatsoever. Evan leans back in his chair, shocked. He knows this version of me. It’s who he met when I first came to Chicago.

She smiles. “I will do as…”

Her voice cuts off as she gasps for breath. Did I mention I’m a bit of a syphon? At least that’s what Alex Reed calls it. It’s the ability to absorb the gifts of those around me, including her. The longer we sit in each other’s presence, the more of her abilities I absorb.

But her abilities aren’t the important ones in this moment. Sadie Walker is a Necromancer. I gained every ability she has to control the dead. She is a descendant of the very first Necromancer. Girl even looks like the woman. Her abilities are greater than any other Necromancer alive, and her abilities are also mine.

It’s easy to combine the gifts of a Necromancer with my own to control this creature. I pity her, really. She’s just a lost soul when all is said and done. I can taste her pain, feel her soul pulse within her, crying out for help. I could kill her here and now, but doing so might unleash horrors upon this city unlike anything it’s ever known.

“As I said, I don’t need to kill, but I can easily do it.”

Her eyes widen when she feels her body begin to age, her skin start to dry out and shrink in on itself. A neat little trick I learned from Sadie’s boyfriend, Aleric, a master vampire himself.

“I can keep you in this state for as long as I wish, or I can heal you.” I allow her body to return to the same state as when she arrived. “So, do we understand each other?”

She nods, but there is hatred in her expression. I don’t need her to like me, just fear me. Fear works best in the realm of evil. Silas taught me that.

I keep a firm grasp on the white noise in my head. I don’t want to slip so far into it that I can’t come back from it like last time. Dan’s thigh pressed against mine is a good reminder I need to stay in the here and now.

“Now, why did you wish to see us? Michael said people were dying?”

“There is something hunting my kind. Something that is killing off the very young.”

“It’s a thing and not a Hunter?”

“If it were a Hunter, they would have already been dealt with. Whatever this is, it leaves a taste behind that is very different, something I’ve never come across before.”

I noticed her flavor the moment she sat. I rolled it around in my mouth, and she did taste ancient. She also tasted of soured cherries and bitter dark chocolate. Silas also taught me that evil in all forms will always taste sour. Gloria is no different.

“You want me to hunt the Hunter?”

“I’m not sure it can be hunted. And it’s not only the vampires it’s killing. This morning, we found a shifter torn to pieces in the market. I believe it’s the same thing going after the vampires. It may be targeting Supernaturals in general. We don’t know.”

“How long has this been happening?” Dan asks, keeping his gaze firmly downcast.

“We’ve been aware of it for a week and thus far have been able to contain the story. This morning’s attack was one we didn’t reach before the humans found it and called in your particular division, Detective.”

“How many bodies are there that we don’t know about?”

“Nine.”

His nostrils flare. “Our division isn’t just to guard the humans from your world, although that is what happens, mostly, but it is also to protect those in the community who need it as well.”

“That might be your intention, but that does not mean it is the intention of others.”

She’s not wrong. Dan’s ideals don’t always align with even his own division back in New Orleans. A monster is a monster to most. It’s hard for humans to recognize the monsters aren’t always the bad guys. Loving a monster and marrying her certainly helped Dan to understand the difference.

“We’ll need access to the bodies if they still exist,” he tells her.

“They do. I have them in a walk-in freezer in a secured location.”

“Our medical examiner will do the autopsies…”

She laughs. “You assume there is enough left of them for your butcher to work with.”

“The ME is not a butcher. Her job is to speak for the dead when they can’t. She looks for clues as to what happened to them and does her best to make sure we have the information we need to bring them some form of justice.”

“You are very young, Detective, and perhaps the longer you are on this Earth, the more you’ll understand the truth.”

“Which is?”

“Which is that there is no true justice in this world.”

“I beg to differ.” The Sword on his back flares.

“Yes, Holy Warrior, I know you do, but your wife, who wields the Sword of Justice, can attest to what I’m saying. She knows it in her very core.”

“She’s not wrong,” I say after a moment. “True justice doesn’t exist. Reactive justice? Sure. But if bad things never happened to good people, then there would be no need for this Sword. There would be no need for either Sword.”

I can tell Dan doesn’t agree, but his truth and mine are different beasts. Neither is right or wrong. They just are.

“As Dan said, we’ll need access to the bodies and any witnesses or, at the very least, the people who found the bodies. Can you do that?”

“They will not come to your interrogation room.”

“They don’t need to,” Dan assures her. “We can meet out in the open where they can have people watching to ensure we do them no harm.”

“I’ll have Micheal set it up, then.” She stands, and I feel her power release everyone around me. “Do not underestimate me, Emma Crane.”

“Never. People underestimate me all the time, and they end up dead. I’m not about to do the same. And it’s Richards-Crane.”

She smiles, and it actually reaches her eyes. “Good day to you, Mrs. Richards-Crane.”

She turns and walks away.

Dan relaxes, but Evan doesn’t, not until he sees her walk around the corner.

“Challenging her wasn’t a good idea, Rachel.”

I shrug. We’ll agree to disagree.

“There are people she can call, creatures older than she is that will come and…”

“And?” I prompt.

“And make sure the problem is dealt with.”

“Me being the problem?”

He nods.

“They can try.”

He glances to Dan, and the two of them share a brain cell moment. Both are worried.

Truthfully, so am I, but the difference is they’ll never see it. She is old, and if she brings others in who are older, I could have a problem. I don’t know if I can handle more than a few of them all at once if they’re that old.

But I keep that worry to myself. No need to freak them out more than they already are.

“What say we order food to take home, and we wait to hear from Michael before we start spiraling?”

Dan smiles, but I can feel his anxiety. He’s more worried than he’s letting on.

“That’s a good idea, Squirt. I’d rather be behind wards than out in the open right now.”

Evan agrees. There’s not a lot any of us can do until we hear from Michael.

Except finish our food.

Hey, Frieda has to eat.

So sue me.