The Musings of a Vampire Sex God:
Interrogation of a Vampire
(STORMFRONT)
Chapter One
I flipped through some paperwork not really absorbing anything well enough to care when the doorbell rang. "Adra? Fazia?" I called for my two assistants, but neither answered. I tossed the papers aside and walked to the front. By then the doorbell was rung again. "Fine, I'll just answer my own door." When I answered the door, I comically opened it and looked left and right over the top of the two officers' heads then shrugged and turned to go back inside.
"Ambrose Raith?" the man asked. I pretended to be startled then looked down at the man. He must have been about 5'4" over ideal weight, with eyes a bit under proportional to his face and a dark brown that hid his pupils. I smelled the cheap cologne and a dab of mustard from where it spilled on his tie. From behind him stepped a cute young woman who contrasted with me drastically.
While I was the better part of 7 feet she was barely 5 feet. While I had raven black hair and storm cloud colored eyes, she had golden blond locks and clear sky blues. While I was all sharp angles and hawkish: she was soft curves and angelic. I smiled my most charming smile, which is pretty damn charming and welcomed them in.
"Ambrose Raith, my name is Karen Murphy of Chicago PD. This is my partner, Ron Carmichael. We have a few questions." She displayed her badge for me so I let the two in and showed them to my office. My office had two white leather armchairs facing my desk. The desk was one of those overpriced pieces, probably carved out of a giant tree so there would be no seams or screws. I pulled out a white suede over stuffed chez lounge that was off to the side under a large mural and chandelier and offered it to her. She passed it and sat in the other chair so I plopped into the chez myself.
"What may I do for CPD?" I asked.
"You showed up in Chicago about 4 years ago." The fat man began. "Built up your industry in days, and become quite the contender to John Marcone, one of our other fairly new big business men."
"Its also well known that you are a big contender in the sex industry; a forte of Bianca Ortega, better known as Bianca St Claire." The detective woman said with a degree of disgust that she was very careful to hide. She wouldn't be able to hide it from me. I could feel her lust from the second I opened the front door. It was very little, mostly just simple attraction mixed with stress from going without for so long. The disgust almost killed the lust. I reclined in the chez.
"If there is one thing I excel at it is sex. Mrs.…"
"Murphy. Lieutenant." She corrected me without answering my implied question. Her partner scowled at me.
"Look, mister man, someone murdered one of both Marcone's and Bianca's people in the same place time and manor, and that leaves you as our prime suspect. I don't expect a rich and privileged brat like you to get your own hands dirty, and you've been slick enough to leave no evidence in any of your shadier deals."
"Whoa, you think I ordered someone to kill these people? To what end? I want to destroy my competition, assimilate them, maybe even humiliate them in the process, but I can't get that by killing a couple of their underlings." I interrupted fat man.
"Then cooperate with our investigation, and prove your innocence." Murphy interjected.
"Anything." I answered. My phone rang. "Let me get this." I asked, getting up to fish my cell out my back pocket. "Frère, je Suis heureux d'avoir de vos nouvelles." I said, crossing to a part of the room we might not be listened in on. "Le non, veuillez ne pas venir maintenant, la police pensent que j'ai tué quelqu'un." I answered my brother then turned and smiled to the cops and turned away again. "Ne vous inquiétez pas de moi, juste subsistance dormant avec de belles femmes à travers le globe." I laughed. "Je vis délégué par vos histoires ivres. Je t'aime aussi, frère. soyez bien." I hung up the phone then sat behind my desk and sighed. "Okay, what kind of help do you need?"
When the two were let out I eves dropped their conversation, walking to their car.
"You think he was chatting with the assassin? He didn't speak English because he didn't want us to listen." The fat mas suggested.
"The call really was from France. The number was 12 digits and started with 336. And I happen to know a little French. I have an aunt who likes to vacation in Paris every year." Murphy countered.
"You have an aunt for everything."
"I have a lot of aunts." She shrugged. "He was talking to his brother. He warned him not to visit because the police are investigating a murder, and he told his brother to just have sex with exotic women and tell him all about it over drinks later." I raised my brows. "It's my opinion that Raith is not the killer. His posture completely changed from cocky playboy to concern and cooperation the second we said murder. He probably expected this to be another prostitution investigation or maybe something blue collar. He is a sleaze ball, and dirty, no doubt, but I don't like him for murder or solicitation of murder."
"It's almost dark. Shall we interview Bianca next?" Carmichael asked. I scoffed from my side of the front door. Good luck. Bianca was pretty tight lipped. Which made me giggle at the double meaning. Even if they were there to help, Bianca wouldn't cooperate with mortal authorities.
The next day was more boring than the last. I couldn't stop thinking about who would kill Bianca's and Marcone's men like that. I sat on the patio with a café au lait and flipped through the news paper and then my favorite paper, the Arcane and found two articles about the same thing; two bodies in a hotel room. The news didn't show their names but the Arcane identified them as Tommy Tom and Jennifer Stanton. Empty night. Their hearts were pulp all over the bedroom and they died in the act. "That was some orgasm to explode their hearts like that." I grumbled.
"Enjoying your handy work?" the gruff and furious voice nearly shocked me out of my pants.
"Stars and stones, Morgan. What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him. Morgan was a warden of the white council, a wizard who got his jollies playing judge jury and executioner on behalf of a governing body for the magical community.
"Two people were murdered using powerful black magic. Your mother was a powerful warlock, and you are the son of a vampire. We have seen your power. We know you are the only one capable of such a spell in this area."
"It wasn't me. I'll prove it!"
"I am a just man, so I'll let you prove it. Go on." Morgan sneered.
"Give me a week."
"Three days." He sneered, or was that a sadistic grin?
"THREE!?" I stammered, being the cool and confident man I was.
"The council will be here in three days to pass judgment." Morgan said before vanishing. Damn. Now I had 3 days to gather sufficient enough evidence to clear my name of this crime. The news deliberately withheld details of course, but Susan Rodriguez, the investigating journalist for the Arcane was not so thoughtful.
I called up the Arcane and asked for Susan and arranged an interview. I came to the bar that she wanted to meet and was delighted to see she was as beautiful as the picture. She had legs for days, a warm summery bronze, and short dark brown hair that framed her face and hid one eye sensually. Her plump lips were a bold shade of red that made you want to stare at them for days, and her business skirt suit was offset by a long leather jacket in place of a blazer and the top buttons were left unbuttoned so a man tall as I could see everything. I greeted her with a kiss to her hand and pulled out her chair. She took out a recorder then got right to work.
"Ambrose Raith; Chicago's most eligible bachelor. You are the lead suspect in the Love suite murder. I don't suppose I can get your side of the story."
"Right to the point eh? Well the problem is, I didn't do it, or have it done, but I'm interested in finding out who did. Mostly because I'm sure if I am arrested for the crime, I won't live long enough to see a jury. But beside that, this murder was terrible, striking a woman so young and vibrant before her time. I can only hope there was no pain."
"I don't know what to say. You seem sincere. Did you know the victims?"
"Yes, but not too well. Jennifer worked for Bianca; I frequented the Velvet Room before I opened up my own. Tommy, well I've met the guy once or twice. He's a nice guy too. I hardly think it was anything personal against them, but it also seems odd that someone would do such a thing to get at Bianca or Marcone. Especially without leaving a calling card… unless that's what the pulpitation was. Maybe Marcone or Bianca already know who dun it, but want to handle it in house."
"Interesting insight. Now about you personally… you held the chair for me, stood when I stood, kissed my hand… I certainly understand why people call you prince charming."
"Please, miss Rodriguez, stop; flattery will get you everywhere." I was feeling a bit famished so I invited her to a tour of my mansion. Once we got to my office (the first stop on the tour) she was all over me. I pushed the papers off my desk and put her on it, and she tore open my shirt, just like in the movies. She ran her hands over my abs and chest and giggled before hooking the back of my neck and pulling me in for a kiss. I pulled her panties off but left her clothes and heels on then pushed her back down on the desk and wrapped her thighs around my head. She moaned a happy hum and some noise that sounded like reluctant protest that dissolved into affirmations. After I fed my fill and pleased her… multiple times, I had to get her out. "Well… how do you like Chateau Raith?"
"It's breathtaking." She panted from where she curled up on my desk. "You'll have to show me more."
"If I survive all this, would you like a real date?"
"I'd prefer a real interview." She said flirtatiously.
"Done." I agreed with a smile. I took her back to her car at the bar parking lot then with a little searching I found Lt Murphy's home address. I had to shower up, brush my teeth, and change into fitted jeans and a white t-shirt so the smart cop chick couldn't detect another woman on me. It began to rain so I threw a hooded sweatshirt on and came to her door.
"What do you want?" she said through the door before I had the chance to knock.
"Its Ambrose."
"Raith? How did you figure out where I live?"
"I looked you up." I responded indignantly. "I need to ask you about that murder."
"So you can find out what I know?"
"I want to help"
"Forgive me, but I don't believe you. You weren't any help yesterday."
"You didn't give me anything to go off of before. I knew Jennifer Stanton… personally. I may be able to give you information. Let me in, ask me anything."
"How did you know Jennifer was one of the victims?"
"The Arcane." I answered.
"How do I know you aren't trying to lead me around."
"Look instead of hassling me, maybe do some real detective work and ask Jennifer's friend Linda Randal."
"Who?"
"You did interview Bianca right?" I asked. There was a long pause, a sound of frustration then Karen began to speak again in a less skeptical tone, more annoyed than anything.
"It was a dead end. All she did was smile and cross her legs. Who the hell is Linda Randall?"
"She and Jennifer come as a BOGO deal. I can't imagine Tommy Tom booked Jen for the night without Linda."
"How do you know this?"
"I've slept with them… multiple times." I said frankly. She scoffed. "Look, you know I'm a damn dirty smut peddler. I'm a louse, but if I can't clear my name here, it's more than CPD after my hide, and I really don't want to die."
"Wait, die? Who wants to kill you?"
"You mean aside from Marcone and Bianca? The white council of wizards said black magic killed Tommy and Jenifer. They think it was I, personally, and I have a personal code against using black magic, killing mortals, and harming women. My mother went down that road and it got her killed." After a long silence she opened her door. She was in Yoga pants and an oversized shirt that said CPD on it. Clothes comfortable to women but sexy as hell as they sweat and bounce; yoga pants had to have been invented by the white court.
"Magic?" she gave me a skeptical look. "Are you on LSD right now?"
"What? No. Look…." I took my hoodie off, and stepped back off the porch, allowing the rain to plaster my shirt to my skin, but it wouldn't be there for long. I absorbed the heat in the area around me until it was no longer raining, it was hailing in a neat circle around me. I whispered "Ghiaccio" (pronouncing it gee-ashy-o) and a thick layer of frost and icy mist collected around me where the hail was beating against my shoulders. Murphy looked around trying to figure out what was happening, but I wasn't done there. "Fuoco!" I exclaimed and a torrent of fire circled me, melting the ice and evaporating the moisture from my shirt. I stepped through the dying flames and steam and rushed out of the rain to put my hoodie back on. Murphy backed away from me while I let myself in, then closed the door behind me.
She stood flattened against the farthest wall from me for a while before she attempted to speak. "Magic… is real." She whispered in a distracted tone.
"Yeah and there's a group of a bunch of pompous old wizards who've deluded themselves into thinking they are the authority on how others should use it."
"The white council you mentioned earlier?" she asked in a dreamy listless tone.
"They sent their enforcer to my place to warn me that if I can't clear my name in 3 days that he and the council will cut me loose… from my head. And they don't have trials like civilized folk, they just tell me what circumstantial hearsay they heard through the grapevine led them to assume I did it, and then make with the queen of hearts act. My mother was a warlock… so you know… sins of the mother…"
"That's terrible." Murphy said. She gestured to the couch so I obediently sat. "So tell me more about Jennifer. Did you know Tommy Tom too?"
"Not really, but from what I hear he was actually a cool guy. Nice, gentleman, still a contract killer, but a good-natured fella. Everyone loved him. Jennifer too. She was kind of matronly. Liked to take care of people, make them feel good. Emotionally." I added. Being a prostitute and all, I felt I should specify.
"You know I did some digging. I have a friend in the FBI and a cousin in Interpol… we couldn't link you directly but we managed to tie together some strings… you smuggle women into the country and put them to work in the sex industry."
"I won't deny that." I said rubbing my arms. She made an exasperated noise out her nose and left the room. When she came back a while later she passed me hot tea.
"The thing that gets me is where these women come from: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Nepal, Somalia, China, India, Pakistan, Mali, North Korea, Guatemala, and the DRC…" she shook her head. "You rescue women from countries that rape and murder them as a matter of course, where one in 10 die before adulthood and the rest die before they're 45. Why keep it a secret? All this time I've been looking at you like some petti criminal, and you're a god damn hero."
"I am a criminal. I bring those women here illegally. Have homes set up for them made out of shipping containers, pile dozens of them into one apartment together, or some come to live with me as décor practically. I make some of them have sex with strange men for money… I don't see it as any better a life really."
"But you give them medical attention, an education, work, and respect."
"And I eat them… some of them. The ones that cant make me a profit, I feed on them." I shivered. Part of me hated myself and wanted nothing but to let myself shrivel up and die. One last monster in the world, but when I came face to face with a meal I never turned it down. I rarely even paced myself. I learned a great deal of self-discipline over the years, but used none of it aside from practice.
"What do you mean, you feed on them?" Murphy asked cautiously.
"I'm a vampire. I don't drink blood or anything like that, but I live off the life force and lust of women. When a girl isn't productive enough, or making enough progress, I take her in as one of my 'pets' and have her hang around waiting for me to feed off her life force with a touch or a kiss."
"Vampires are real too?" she stepped away.
"Yeah we come in different flavors though. Dracula junior was a black court vampire, Bianca is a red court vampire like 'From Dusk till Dawn' and I'm more like a Twilight vampire. I can go out in the sun, but people are attracted to me like magpies to sparkly things." I explained. "There are smaller, more localized groups like the jade court in Asia and japan, or the ivory court in Africa."
"I'm going to need a drink for all this. You a whiskey man or beer?" Murphy said, rubbing her temples. "I think I'm going to need both." She said, roving to the kitchen. She returned with a bottle of double distilled gentleman jack and some glasses along with two brown ales from a local brewer named Mac. I took a swig of my beer while she poured me some jack, and looked at the amazing brew.
"Marry me."
"Maybe after a few more of these." She chuckled, holding her glass out to clink against mine. We tapped glasses together and took a drink then she was back to business. "Okay, so you didn't do it but someone using black magic did… If you see the evidence, can you maybe give me a list of suspects or something?"
"I'll try."
"Give me a sec." she retreated down the hall then returned with the case files. I flipped through the notes and pictures and ME report then took another swig of heavenly brew. She downed a glass of the whiskey then chased it with beer, then chuckled. "Fucking team Edward in my living room."
"If it's any consolation, I never thought I'd be here either. I try not to be too chummy with the cops." I wrote some notes on some scratch paper then itched my scalp. "They used Thaumaturgy. It happens to be a specialty of mine, actually."
"What is Thaumaturgy?"
"Like voodoo. As above, so below. I make a representation of something, you for instance, then whatever I do to the voodoo doll should happen to you." I explained. "This is bad. A sacrifice had to be made, and the person doing this had to have known the victim's well. They had to have something to create this connection; a personal item belonging to the victims and a lot of emotion behind the act."
"We've already looked into Tommy Tom's personal life. Jennifer's too. On top of telling her parents she was dead we had to tell them she was a prostitute. I thought I was going to be slapped." Murphy grumbled. "Neither of them had any real friends. Everyone loved them but they never let anyone too close. People like that never do." Murphy took the empty beers and the jack back to the kitchen and returned with more beers. "I did notice the car registered to Tommy Tom… a black Mercedes SLK-55, no more than a few months off the lot, but it had a lot of miles on it… like he drove out of town often. Might be nothing but it had a couple of Jennifer's things in it; purse, makeup bag, hair brush, a whole bottle of lotion, earrings… like the two of them went on trips together often. I accumulate crap like that in my car over time so I figured she had too."
"Brilliant. So where were they going?" I asked. Wow this detective work is kind of fun.
"I'm waiting for the black box to be analyzed for that very answer. First thing in the morning I'll find out."
"Wherever they went together is likely to be where they met the sorcerer that killed them." I agreed. "So I guess there's not a lot more we can do tonight…" I moved close to Murphy and used my power to draw her in. "Maybe we should get to know each other better." Her eyes lowered and her lips twitched. She had such soft, plump little berry pink lips… they curled into a cocky grin.
"I find it odd that a tall dark and handsome, mysterious bad-boy millionaire like you would need to get a girl drunk and use your sexy vampire powers to make a move."
"I find it odd that even after all that, you can still resist me."
"I've been told that I'm hard headed." She answered before standing up.
"I looked into you too. Your daddy was a police captain, part of the black cats. Took his own life when you were 11. That's when you started martial arts. Your dedication to the art led you to the highest rank in six disciplines, and a fair amount of knowledge in three more. You even teach adults every morning and kids almost every night. It's really no wonder you've been divorced twice. I doubt the kind of men into your looks would be too keen on their wife being more of a badass than him. No offense; but a basket of 1 week-old kittens aren't as cute as you. In bows and bells or dressed as human babies, playing tiny drum sets, the works." Murphy went from offended to laughing instantly.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"So, now what? There's another hour before Burger King opens and you won't have sex with me. How am I supposed to spend my time while we wait for the black box to be analyzed?"
"20 questions?"
"I prefer truth or dare." I suggested with a charming and suggestive grin. Honestly anything I do is suggestive.
"20 questions. No lies. You first." She said authoritatively, fetching more beer and sitting on the opposite end of the couch.
"Fine, I'll play. Why won't you have sex with me?"
"I believe in abstinence."
"You said no lying."
"Because, you've probably slept with too many women to count, and I won't be a part of the rabble. My turn." She took a pull from her beer. "Why do you sleep with everyone?"
"I mentioned feeding on lust already. In order to pull enough energy from someone to satisfy my hunger, I need to bring an emotion to the surface. Lust is my flavor of choice, but fear and sorrow work too. I have to make you particularly lustful to feed well."
"So how much do you have to feed?"
"Hey, its my turn to ask. But if you must know; to survive, not all that much, but just eating enough to survive wears on a guy. Imagine being too poor to eat every day, then one day you get an unfair craving like… you like seafood?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Like you crave a bucket of crab legs and drawn garlic butter with a baked potato, but all you can manage is shrimp flavored ramen and the crumbs from a bag of chips you so cruelly didn't throw away when you finished them. Yeah you ate but it wasn't what you wanted and really you're left more hungry than before. You'll live a few more days, but be miserable. That's how it is for me, if I were to feed off of you with say, an innocuous brush of your hair," I reached out and tucked some hair behind Murphy's ear. "A harmless caress of your fingers," I put my hand on the top of the couch by hers and let my thumb move across her knuckles like it was on accident. "An innocent peck on the cheek." I leaned in close but didn't close that hair thin gap. I left it to her. She held her breath. "It's not nearly as filling as if I say… bent you over this couch, fondled your breasts… pulled your hair…"
"You almost sound like you've been there. Struggling to get by." She changed the subject and slipped away to dispose of the empty beer bottles. I smiled and moved back to my corner of the couch.
"I was shipped off to boarding school the second I was of age. Once I graduated law school I came back to Chicago. My father basically told me I had to fend for myself and do him proud because if I wasn't successful enough, I will have shamed him and he would kill me, or if I became too successful, I would be considered a threat and he would kill me.
"Some dad you got there." Karen replied sardonically.
"I lived off of ramen in that big empty mansion with an old Volkswagen beetle that broke down all the time. I was a legal consultant to the Vargassi's for some time, did some pro bono work, put some criminals back on the streets just to make a good name for myself. After I came into enough money I started my industry. Dad let me use the family's company name for some product recognition, and I just traveled to Asia and the Middle East, and smuggled one or two women back to the states at a time. Eventually I made enough money to streamline the process. All of my employees are the women I stole. Do you like music?"
Karen stared at me, already buzzed and just in awe. "Oh music? Of course. I listen to a lot of rock when I work out. What kind of music do you like?"
"I like it all… well not gangster rap or a lot of country. If I want to be depressed I just talk to my employees. If you could hear some of their life stories… I couldn't give a rats ass about some hick being dumped for going fishing." I said, getting comfortable in the couch. She passed me another hot tea.
"You like sports?"
"Hey it's MY turn." I warned her. She put up her hands. "Do YOU like sports?"
"I do. All sports. Mostly martial arts but I like football and basket ball too."
"I'm a sports fan; Baseball and basketball mostly. Football is all right but it's too violent for my taste. I prefer a gentleman's game. I went to Chicago U on a basketball scholarship after all." I smiled at her all curled up with her tea in both hands. "Favorite flavor?"
"Strawberry. You?"
"Cinnamon. Fragrance?"
"Wildflowers, you?"
"Cinnamon. Color?"
"Black."
"Don't lie." I smiled my best inviting smile.
"How many questions is that?" she smiled back.
"Don't change the subject."
"It's PINK, okay? I'm so ashamed!" she feigned a pout.
"Mine too. 9 down, 11 to go." I laughed.
"Crap." She chuckled a bit. "Do you ever get lonely? Being a creature of physical pleasure and feeding. My god, how old are you? Do Vampires live a long time?"
"We're supposed to take turns. You aren't very good at this game."
"Sorry."
"Okay, yes I get lonely, I'm almost 30, and my dad grew up with Alexander the great and almost looks young as me."
"That's amazing!"
"Do you get lonely being a badass and all?"
"No time to think about it. If I do I start wondering how I failed the whole marriage thing twice."
"What's your type of guy?"
"Intellectual, funny, and good."
"Why does that feel like a stab at me? Okay, next question… favorite fast food restaurant?"
"We talking global or can I pick a local joint because in Arizona there was this place called Eegees that had huge affordable subs, amazing salads, and these frozen drinks like shaved ice with real fruit. Amazing."
"You travel often?"
"I've been to every Disney theme park in America with my family, the grand canyon and the Alamo, Hollywood and the Empire State building. That's about it. I know YOU have… have you ever had a serious relationship?"
"When dad found out I had powers he sent me to live with a friend of his named Justin DuMorne. He was a wizard of the white council but secretly he was a master of the dark arts. He had another student, his adopted daughter. We had the same birthday and had to do everything together. After puberty, you can guess we got curious and well…"
"How old were you?"
"14."
"WHAT!?"
"It was innocent enough at first. Kissing, holding hands, caring about every little thing. I pressured her. She was nervous, but I just kind of knew instinctively how to please her, and how good it would feel if she gave me the chance. Then she did, and the vampire in me was awakened. I fed on her until she died."
"That's terrible. Do you still have human emotions?" she looked so sad when I nodded.
"Unfortunately, one has to be a vampire a long long time before the part of them that was human goes away. Hey, Burger King is open now, want some breakfast?" I asked.
"Oh god no." she got up. "I have to get to the gym." She explained. "Go home. I'll let you know when I get something." I bowed a goodbye and headed home to grab a few hours of sleep.
Chapter Two
I shirked my responsibilities off to Adra for the day to stake out the 13th precinct. Once Murphy and Carmichael got into their car I got into the back seat. "Where we headed?"
"Damn it Raith, I said I'd contact you" Murph scolded.
"But we haven't finished our game. Besides, how will you know if you run into any voodoo?"
"You're a civilian, you can't come. Its dangerous."
"Vampires heal quickly, besides if this shadow man shows up, your guns will be useless and I doubt he'll let you just arrest him."
"Voodoo, vampire, what's all this crap?" Carmichael asked.
"Its nothing, Ron. We may as well bring him." Karen said petulantly. Carmichael began to drive, taking us to the lake. We pulled up a gravel lot then came to a two-story house with a raised deck in the back that would be accessible from the second floor. I scanned the area with my second sight or third eye as it's called and felt remnants of the dark. Most was washed away by the sunrise but the aura of a black sorcerer's place of business is like a thick purple tar stain on an otherwise comfy blanket. My senses were already keyed up by the storms. One had just passed but another was rolling in. "Raith? What's wrong? You look… scary." Murphy asked.
My eyes felt intense pressure behind them, the world was a far more complex color spectrum, and I could almost see, smell, and feel within myself the greed, lust, fear, and elation within the cabin. "This is it. This is the place. I whispered to her."
"Your eyes are glowing…"
"Reflecting." I corrected. "I was looking at the aura of the house. When I get over emotional or super focus on something my eyes tend to do that. Vampire thing."
"Okay. What are we looking for here?" Murphy asked so Carmichael could hear.
"A circle with a star or a triangle inside. Dead animals, occult trinkets like onyx, obsidian, black candles, sage, patchouli…" I listed. "Anything belonging to the victims." I said, moving to the trash bin, then to the windows.
"Trash is empty. We sure anyone is here?" Carmichael asked.
"This morning was trash day. Some one's been here recently. Maybe still around." I surmised. Carmichael went to the front door and knocked while I went around the left of the house and Murphy checked around the right. We got to the back when someone threw open the back door and began to flee. With my long legs and athletic build, I caught him in seconds. Murphy arrested him and began to recite him his rights, then was going to search him in front of the car, where there was likely a hidden dash camera. "Hey, I know this guy. Lawrence. He's one of Marcone's body guards." I said after a good look at him.
I returned to the lakeside and looked around before making a circle around myself and crouching down inside it to whisper a name. Within seconds I heard a flutter of wings and flash of purple and then Toot toot, a dewdrop fairy got in my face. "How dare you summon and bind me, heathen of the white court!" he drew a toothpick sword on me, a bit small for him but it would still hurt. I put my hands up.
"Sir Toot, I come to barter for information. I need to know if any black magic was done in this house and by whom."
"I don't know about any black magic, but there has been quite a lot of sporting in this house. What will you pay for this information?"
"What do you want?"
"PIZZA!"
"Done. An exchange of one large pizza for information about this house's past few days."
"I must consult others."
"But of course." I erased the circle and waited, ordering a pizza online with my phone. Pizza 'Spress was the only place that delivered out these parts. After a moment the fairy came back with five others and they all recounted the things they saw over the past few nights. I barely noticed Murphy approach but the Fairies vanished behind veils when they saw her come near.
"Talking to yourself Raith?" she smirked.
"What's up?"
"Did you order a pizza?"
"Yes. Uh, let me speak with the driver, I believe he knows about the victims."
"Why? How'd you find that out?" Murphy asked. "Was it those glittery things you were talking to by the lake? Hey!" she shouted after me as I walked quickly to the pizza guy.
"Hello sir, my name is Ambrose Raith I ordered the pizza. Tell you what. I'll give you a generous tip if you can tell me anything about the activities in this house."
"I don't want any trouble man. I swear I didn't see anything. That guy wasn't with me."
"Slow down. These two are cops. I'm a lawyer. We can protect you, but we need to know from whom. So start over, when was the last time you were here?"
"Couple days ago."
"And what did you see?"
"Three guys, two chicks. One was super hot and tanned. They were having a sex orgy inside a circle with chanting and weird smoke. There was a guy taking pictures through a window. I knocked on the door, went around, then one of the orgy dudes grabs me, and I dropped the pizza and ran. So did the camera guy." I looked at Carmichael.
"How did you know?" Carmichael asked. I didn't answer I just tipped the kid 110% and went into the house. It had crates of imported oddities. There were stacks of boxes of absinthe, but the kind that had wormwood in it, bags of shimmery fine cut glitter, and a didgeridoo on top of the pile. There were shrooms, peyote, and all kinds of psychotropic hallucinogens. I found a terrarium with toads, another with snakes, and a caged rabbit. I showed Murphy the circle and a pair of panties too bright and gaudy to belong to Jennifer.
"Stars and stones, no. Linda is the next target." I whispered.
"How can you know that?"
"The hot tan girl the pizza boy mentioned was most likely Linda. She likes to wear neon undergarments. The shadow man kept this just in case he had to off her."
"We have Lawrence, lets get him to the precinct for questioning and get Linda Randal into our custody."
"We won't be able to protect her from magic."
"Maybe we can solve this before they try to kill her." Murphy looked me dead in the eyes; something I try to avoid. She let out a barely audible sound of alarm then collapsed. In that second that our eyes had locked she saw into my soul and I saw into hers. I saw a little girl fighting to save the world with no regard for herself: just reckless heroism. She was gold and glowing like an angel, cutting down foe after foe, then she looked at me and the real Murphy fell. "What the hell just happened?"
"A soul gaze. You saw who I am and I saw who you are."
"You don't want to be your parents. You don't even want to be you. You want to die." She said shakily and tearfully.
"Lets get back to the precinct and ask Lawrence why he was here." I suggested, helping her to her feet.
Chapter Three
"House belongs to Victor Sells, family man, recently unemployed but retirement and investments are barely keeping him afloat. I did notice he isn't earning as much as he's spending and his bank says he has been making regular cash deposits that put him just over broke. So where is the cash coming from? The things we found in his lake house suggest he is selling drugs. A small amount, nothing major but he may be cutting it with less illegal substances." Murphy reported over the phone. "Carmichael is interrogating Lawrence as we speak, and I have a black and white picking up Linda Randall for questioning. We have her panties from the lake house."
I reclined in the little chair by her desk and tapped my toes until she gave me an exasperated look. I put up my hands and left her office to wander. A man in a nasty shirt and jeans with his jacket tangled into his cuffs was struggling violently to escape the cops, and then he broke free and bolted. I happened to be in the way so I clothes lined him. That's when his twitchiness turned to complete stillness. He looked right at me, into me, through me and smiled. "I see you vampire. I see you wizard! I see the hunters who walk beside you, behind you, and before you." He laughed. "I see them outside the wall calling for your blood, star-born!" he burst into maniacal laughter, pissing himself, then screamed as he was taken further away. "The outsiders scream for your blood, star-born!" I was shaken but I heard one of the cops grumble 'another damn 3eye druggie.'
The things in the cabin made a little more sense to me now. They weren't recreational drugs; they were ingredients for a drug that brought out the wizard's second sight. I heard from my girls that some of them were offered a chance to peddle the crap. I don't sell drugs.
Linda strode confidently down the hall to the interrogation room beside where we held Lawrence and Murphy grabbed me by the arm and dragged me in with her.
"Linda Randall?" Murphy asked.
"The one and only." She purred confidently. "We found some underwear and have a witness report matching your description so I would like to know what you were doing at this home two nights ago." Murphy showed pictures of the house, inside and out, that she took while we were snooping.
"Don't I need a lawyer?"
"Why? You aren't under arrest. I want to know about the shadow man." Murphy said sliding a picture of Victor toward Linda.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Linda scoffed. I sat beside Murphy.
"How about I tell you, and you tell me if I'm right." I said extending one hand to her on the table. She grabbed it and shook her head.
"My sister is married to the freak. He's scary. So freaking scary. When he's mad, the curtains light on fire, when he's paranoid you feel it like you are too. When he looks at you just right…" I felt gooseflesh rise on my arms. "He got laid off a while back because of Marcone buying out his company, then he just became a recluse. He locked himself in the attic for days, talking to things… making this concoction…" Linda shivered.
"3 eye!" I whispered, realizing what was going on. "Its not a drug, it's a potion meant to make mortals see what wizards can. The second sight."
"How do you know about 3 eye?" Murphy accused.
"I ran into a guy on it while I was wondering around the precinct. He said something that made me think he was legit." I answered.
Linda nodded. "He started doing everything out of the lake house, but he needed lust. So my sister and the Beckets and my friends Tommy and Jen, and some guy from Marcone's crew that the Beckets brought in started meeting at the lake house regularly. After a while my sister got scared of it so I would go…" the slowly mounting terror, lust, excitement and shame in her became too much to handle so I let go of her arm and offered a handkerchief, hiding my silvering eyes. "Once we got in the circle something would come over me and then nothing mattered but flesh…" she began to cry. "I was the one who brought in Tommy Tom and Jennifer Stanton. I introduced them… it was my fault they were killed. If I hadn't ever… it was Tommy's birthday when they died and sweet Jenny wanted to treat him, but I had to go to the lake house." She cried. I moved around the room and held her, drinking in the sorrow.
"Linda, you mentioned the Beckets. Who are they?" Murphy asked.
"Some rich older couple that knew Victor. They hired me to drive them around, and paid more than I made as a courtesan. They wanted to get back at Marcone for some reason so they were bank rolling this drug we were making."
"Oh my god." Murphy growled. "Sells was trying to fight Marcone by out doing him in the drug trade, he didn't kill Jenifer and Tommy because of Marcone, he killed them because he didn't want them blowing the whistle. The heat from a high profile murder like this would take priority too so the cocky bastard thought someone else would get the heat and he would have a week or two that we didn't care about the drugs. On top of that, killing Tommy had to upset Marcone a little bit. Win win win." She sneered. "Now all I need is real evidence that he murdered them, and something other than magic as a weapon."
"And you need proof that the stuff in his house was from the 3eye."
"I got some in evidence from the first bust." Murphy said. "I'll have the analysis compared to the list of crap we found. In the mean time, we have a bunch more unknown factors, and no time to resolve them. We have to put someone on the sells house and lake house to bring Victor in on suspicion of drug trafficking and murder. That will keep him from blowing hearts out of chests for a while as we tie up these lose ends." Murphy said as she left the interrogation room and dialed someone on her cell. I clamored to follow her out and she relayed concisely what she had learned and directions from there. She stopped suddenly, and I almost toppled over her, but I stopped before we touched and rocked back. "You and I are going back to the lake house."
Chapter Four
The coming storm was electricity to my senses. Wizards get it but vamps get it in HD! Raw energy, naked and pulsing through the clouds, mounting, seeking out his mate on earth. When he found her, he crashed through the air, and she rose to meet him, and their energy as they met streaked through the sky. I could hear the rumble, and feel it in my chest: Nature's love song. The rains were tears of pleasure, and the wind; soft caresses.
"What's with that look?" Murphy asked me. We were speeding toward the lake house.
"Just feels good. The storm gives me energy, makes me feel invincible… empty night… that's how he did it. I've been thinking HE was the one with all the power, but he was using something OUTSIDE to fuel his spells, it's how he was able to accomplish the one hump exploding heard technique." I was absolutely astonished. He had smarts. "He could just be an average Joe Schmoe with the right spell book. He is still a shadow man, but he might not be the all powerful warlock we assumed he was."
"What are you talking about?"
"The storm; the lightning in the air. I feel it as if it were in me, which is how magic feels too. He's using the storms to supplement his power to accomplish the murders and make the drugs, but he also needed a power source to begin with. That's what the orgy was for. Powerful emotions can be tapped into by magic folk too. Real magic is a very sexy and scary trade because of this." I explained.
I couldn't see the sun set in all the storm clouds but I felt it. Magic is more powerful at night, and even day walkers like me could feel their instincts intensify, and bloodlust breed. Karen had cut her lights already but pulled the car out of view of the house windows and got out. She had a long arm slung and two hand guns, one with flashlight attachment. The rain was weighing her hair down around her face and her Kevlar vest was showing through her blouse. We verified Sells' car and a limo in the drive way and called in backup but the storm was mounting, the time to act was present.
"You pays your money, you takes your chances." I said, sneaking in the door. Murphy nodded and began creeping up the spiral staircase but I had a dramatic entrance to make. I opened my arms like wings and turned my chin to the ceiling and called "Salire" and I was thrown up over the railing and landed like an action hero. A dead rabbit, heart gouged out with a spoon, lay on the table before Victor, a smudge of lipstick all over it's face. In the circle beside him, the Beckets writhed together almost oblivious to their surroundings. Murphy's blond hair in the faint light streaked soundlessly from the top of the stairs behind a plush loveseat. The wind I kicked up continued to knock over odds and ends and lamps, and made my duster flap like batman's cape.
"You!" Victor bellowed in a pretty good villain impression.
"ME!" I retorted, a manic little grin spreading across my face. I plucked a framed photo of the Sells family; mom, dad, daughter, and little brother, out of the torrent of knickknacks swirling around the room, and threw it at the 'Manage a trouble,' breaking the circle and letting the power scatter into the air. Victor and I were thrown away from the building energies, and the gangster bang exploded apart from each other, and went rolling the other direction.
"You bastard!" Victor screamed as he lifted a fireball in his hand and threw it at me. I lifted my arm and muttered a spell to deflect the fireball and looked over to see Murphy cuffing mister Becket. She had zip ties in her belt and used them to subdue Mrs. Becket, and then she focused on Sells. He was unaware of her, too focused on slinging fire at me, lighting his own house up around himself. I ran for him, and tackled him to the ground then kneed him in the junk. He hissed, "scorpis, scorpis, scorpis!" and the dried husks of scorpions from a cracked open bone tube on the floor began to move, and free themselves from the debris.
The wind was dying down but a broom finally rattled it's self from it's place between the fridge and the wall to hit me, scaring my heart out my chest. I laughed, grabbed it out the air and said, "Mossa, mossa!" half shaking it like it was supposed to do something and I was mad that it hadn't, but then it shook all on it's own, and began to sweep when I let it go. It swept the scorpions down to the bottom floor. Victor shot it with a fireball, and it's splinters joined the low swirling of wind and energy in the house. Karen was staying low, waiting for me to give her a chance at arresting Sells.
"Cute trick Raith! But pathetic. There is no way for you to survive this."
"What the fire? That's the first thing us real wizards learn in school. Takes maybe a week or two, then we move on." I figured he felt pretty awesome slinging magic around. His lack of family might have been pretty powerful too, but they weren't around to teach him, he learned from a book. He thought he was special.
"Who's the real wizard here? Who's cowering while the other has all the cards? You're nothing Raith. A loser! Look around you! You're in the jungle, now. Survival of the fittest!"
"And you're the fittest?" I interrupted his monologue. My eyes turned silver and he tried to mask the concern in his face. "The white council knows what you've done, Vick. You know about the white Council right? You want to do whatever you like, but there are laws, even for wizards, and you broke rule number one! The first law of magic! They're coming for ya Vick."
"You're lying!"
"Maybe. But I told John Marcone all about you too. He didn't appreciate what you and Gimpy did to Tommy."
"You son of a bitch!" He screamed at me. I laughed. The ceiling was crackling. "kalshazzak," he began to chant. Thunder seemed to crack inside the room with us, and the air filled with the smell of brimstone. "kalshazzak," he repeated, raising his voice, then he turned to a frightened but still useful Murphy, who chose to smash him in the back with her collapsible baton, to get him away from the doors. He fell to the floor, and a toad demon began to corporealize between him and me.
I stood there frozen with fear while Murphy forced the naked couple out the door. They were glad to escape a crumbling fiery showdown between two monsters. She returned to Help Victor to his feet but he tried to throw an elbow. She took it, then bent it the wrong direction, and pushed him back to the floor. "Only the strong survive! And the weak are torn to pieces!" he screamed but he was the weak one being disassembled by Murphy.
She watched the toad demon with wide eyes as she held Victor down. She ran out of zip tie cuffs and was hoping that hit on the back of his head would have knocked Vick out. I was more concerned with the toad demon. Vick didn't get to complete the spell which would have bound the beast to his will so now it was a free agent. Demons had a prerogative to kill their masters first in the event that they broke free, but Murphy was currently sitting on said master.
"Murphy, Run! Leave!" she tried to protest but this was too frightening to keep the hardened exterior up. She stood up, leaving him and backed toward the door. One toady eye gave her a look I didn't like, and I began to cast my spell.
"What are you doing? Kill him!" Victor screamed at the toad demon, but it licked it's lips and moved toward Victor. Victor went pale and ran for the door, but I used my wind spell to throw Murphy out of the house, and the door shut in Victor's face. He reeled then looked at me.
"You really are naive. The fourth law forbids the binding of any creature to your will. So my friend there interrupted you before you could." He was visibly afraid. I nodded at him. "It's free. And it looks hungry." Oh the fear, and smell of burning wood, plastic, and fresh urine. The Demon howled in pleasure. I heard the sirens, saw the flashing lights, and watched the Toad demon kill Victor. It occurred to me only when the man was gone that I should have left too. I looked around for my escape then back at the Toad Demon. Fuck it.
I threw myself at the nearest window and tumbled out, ignoring the sharp pain of glass cutting and digging into me, and the long fall onto gravel. Then I ran away from the cop lights leading the toad from any potential prey. It didn't take the bait. Murphy had decided to release the Beckets so they could run away from the demon and followed after them. The cop cars swirved around them, one stopped in a position to block them, and cops came out to arrest the naked folks.
Murphy explained what was going on, but was interrupted by the Toad demon swatting a car out the way to grab at her. Cops opened fire on it, but the bullets barely pierced the skin. He swatted another cop out the way and grabbed her by the hair and tugged her close enough to grab her around the waist with his other arm. "I'm gonna fuck you, tear you limb from limb, then eat you." It said plainly. Her eyes went wide and she froze, hell I froze, the cops all stood aiming at it, not sure what to do.
"To hell you will, ugly!" I shouted as I swung Murphy's dropped baton at the hand holding her hair. He shook off the pain in that hand then swung it at me. After I hit him a few more times in the arm, he roughly threw Murphy down and attacked me. I drew him away from the others, little by little, but I could feel the love song playing in my chest. I found where the lovers would rendezvous and placed myself between them muttering, "evocare," drawing the baton and pointing it at the charging toad demon. "Evocare Fulmine!"
Energy rose from the ground and from me, as energy descended on us from the sky, and the three of us became a bolt of passionate energy that I collected for the spell and weaponized to sling at the toad demon. "You know what happens when a toad is struck by lightning, you son of a bitch?" I paraphrased Haley Berry. He blew up, that's what friggin happens. Ectoplasm erupted from the spot, grass was singed, I was suddenly very dry, and drained of energy. At that same moment a deafening boom shook in my chest, and it all went black.
I awoke to an annoying beeping sound and when I tried to talk it was like I had webs in my mouth. I looked around and saw Susan in a sexy little black dress grip my hand and Murphy, still in the gear when we were at Victor's, hurrying out the room. I looked around, I was in the hospital and the sky was streaked red as the sun rose through the storm clouds.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Susan as she held my hand up to her cheek. Instinctually I fed a little and felt a lot better. Murphy returned with a hospital pitcher of water and a plastic cup and poured some for me to gulp down then refilled it and I could feel her chiding me to slow down. So I did then she left as soon as she topped my cup off.
"Lieutenant Murphy already gave me the exclusive. Too bad it was off the record. I'll be able to write a bit about the 3eye drug… the Beckets were arrested for public indecency then were implicated in the 3eye drug ring. Victor Sells is presumed alive and on the run. His wife and kids, and sister-in-law are being moved to witness protection. Cops saw you running from a big guy, and then get struck by lightning and the big guy vanished. They rushed you here for burns and all that… but…" Susan lifted the sheet and looked at my feet.
"They thought they would have to amputate. Your hands and feet were black… but now, you're just fine!" she shot me a wolfish grin then kissed me. It was a good kiss and topped off the vamp tank. Come to think of it I was totally drained before I got there, how was I so well fed now? "A nurse got fired, you know." Susan said to me. "She was caught molesting you in your sleep."
"Ah, that explains it." I replied, feeling much better after the water and kisses.
"Oh, yeah, and a guy named Morgan visited you. He spoke to Lieutenant Murphy about you. I don't know how he got in with a sword but I heard him say Doom of Damocles before he left. Kind of a pretentious title for something, but Murphy looked kind of relieved." Susan shrugged. I smiled at her, and just took in the view, then shrugged and pulled her in for another kiss.
"The doctors want to run some tests on you, then you're free and I want to know every detail of what happened." Susan asked me. I smiled and pulled her in for another kiss.