A/N Loosely based on the 'In Death' Series by J.D. Robb. I hope everyone enjoys a good AU Murder Mystery where even the most beloved characters aren't safe.

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Death was never easy Detective Kate Lockley thought as she examined the body of a Licensed Companion named Darla Aurelius and turned on her tape recorder. "Victim is identified as Aurelius, Darla. Initial scan places time of death at sixteen hundred hours and twenty-three minutes. Cause of death appears to be a deep puncture wound into her heart, no weapon found on scene. No indication of sexual trauma, though the suspect has probably had job related sex recently." Kate turned away from the body sprawled on the bed of red satin sheets with traces of a deeper red staining the sheets. She looked grimly at her assistant Anya Jenkins. "Jenkins, get some of the uniforms to start the door to door, while the sweepers bag the hair and fiber samples, then the victim can be bagged and tagged."

"Yes, Sir." The young woman with short blonde hair in a crisp uniform and personal organizer in hand nodded and went to talk to the team.

"Who did you piss off?" Kate asked Darla as she took one last look at the body and grabbed Jenkins on her way back into Cop Central.

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"First impression?" Kate asked Jenkins.

Jenkins looked up from the in car computer. "I'd say that she had a trick turn nasty. Either she knew something the killer didn't want her to know or it was very personal."

"Yeah, I like the second one; this seemed like a warning or a message. Next of Kin?" According to her file she didn't have one, no parents, no siblings, no estranged uncle, no one."

"Boyfriend?"

"No cohabitation on record since, wow."

"Want to share that wow with me."

"Angel."

Kate's blood ran cold at the thought of her husband being connected to the case. "What about Angel?"

"According to this they were together for a long time, almost a hundred years. Lockley, she was a vampire."

"How the hell did a vampire become a Licensed Companion?"

"Apparently, she forged paperwork and the company that gave her her license didn't do the procedural background check."

"Probably had a few enthralled as regulars. You don't complain about the professional woman banging you senseless for free, even if she does take a nipple now and again. Let's head by the morgue and see what Fred can tell us about our vamp tramp."

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The Morgue was quiet when they arrived. Since it was a little after five o'clock Kate assumed most of the staff had gone on dinner break or home to their families. The door to the waiting room opened and Dr. Winifred Burkle with her sympathetic brown eyes and brown hair tied up in a knot came out removing her white lab coat to reveal a red tank top, jeans, and red sneakers. "Hey Lockley, I was just going to call you about the initial test results."

"She was a vampire and there would have been wood found in the wound." Kate guessed.

"Got it in one, the wood was maple. As for the rest of the body she's completely clean, except for the foreign blood in her system. My guess is our girl had already had her evening snack before she went to sleep. I'll get Knox to work on the blood sample and try to isolate it when he gets back in a few minutes before I head home."

"I appreciate you working on it so fast." Kate looked at the tired woman.

"Hey slow death day, besides it's been a while before I came across a dead vampire."

"Yeah me too. I'll contact Knox in the morning for progress thanks Fred."

Once they were outside and getting into the car. "Jenkins, I'll drop you off at home. We can start on the murder profile and the wood sample in the morning."

"You're letting my off at a reasonable hour on a Friday so I can have sexcapades with Xander?" Jenkins asked in surprise. "What's the occasion?"

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Kate drove up to a mansion. It still felt weird that she lived in this big giant house with a man who not only ran the biggest vampiric cult in the world, but had also given up human blood because of his curse and unfathomable love for her. She wasn't surprised when she got through the door that Wesley Wyndam Pryce, Angel's butler, and her own personal pain in the ass, was there. "The eyesore you call a vehicle is once again in the driveway instead of in the garage."

"Yes it is," Kate smiled at him as she placed her jacket over the banister, "and if it is not there in the morning I will know who to kill personal." She turned and walked upstairs to her office. She'd only been in her chair a few minutes before the door between the two offices opened and Angel walked in. She knew it sounded cliché but with the athletic body draped in a stylish black shirt and pants, dark brown hair he loved to gel, brooding dark eyes, and chiseled feature he was own personal opinion of what a fallen Angel would look like. And he was hers, she reminded herself as he came over a kissed her. "I got a new homicide today."

"Really, well it tends to happen when you work in homicide," he acknowledged before he realized that something about the case was upsetting her. "Care to tell me about it?"

Kate looked deep into Angel's eyes. "You knew her. She was a vampire. Probably Order of Aurelius since it was her last name. I didn't put it together at first."

"Well I can start a profile run on her for you and confirm that if you give me a name."

"Darla. Aurelius, Darla." Kate watched sadly as all the color drained out of Angel's face. She noticed he didn't speak a word until he'd poured himself a glass of pig's blood and drank deeply. "She was family wasn't she?"

"She was more than just family she was my sire."