Sorry for the late update, just a lot going on. It looks like Ellis could be in deep trouble. Thanks for continuing to read and comment, you guys are great!
Chapter 10
Ben looked over the incorporation papers for the new law firm. He was still working at home, and he was looking forward to setting up the law practice with Simone. She was taking the lead and he wanted to be more involved. He glanced up as Megan entered the room, "Hi, honey."
She smiled and leaned over, giving him a kiss. "Busy?"
He moved the chair back from the desk and pulled her down into his lap. "Nothing urgent, why?"
"I just wanted to ask you about Coraline."
"What about her?"
Megan settled herself more firmly in Ben's arms. "You didn't say very much when you got back from seeing her."
"There wasn't much to tell," Ben shrugged. "We're still waiting on the forensics and one of my friends at the lab will call me. It could get rough if they decide she's the killer."
Megan shook her head. "Maybe we should just get her out of town now."
"They haven't even charged her with anything. She said she didn't want to have to change identities unless she had to."
"Did she say anything else about what happened?" Megan asked.
"She thought she'd recognize the killer's scent if she found him again. I think it might be a good idea to check out that nightclub to see if he's still hanging around."
"You mean, go with her?" Megan asked, frowning.
"Well, me or Mick, maybe," Ben responded, and noticed Megan's frown deepening. "I know they have a history, but at this point, I think she's more interested in clearing herself of murder."
Megan stood up suddenly, her eyes flashing. "You realize she's a nasty bitch who turned Mick without him knowing anything about it."
"I know, and it was a terrible thing to do," Ben said, hating to see Megan angry. "But that's between Coraline and Mick. Right now, I'm trying to make sure she doesn't get arrested."
She softened, "I just don't want you to get tangled up in any of her plots."
Ben sighed, "I know she's an old, powerful vampire and I don't think she has much of a conscience. My only concern for her is as her lawyer. I think she's genuinely upset about her friend being killed."
He sat back in his chair, "I'm glad to help; it feels good to be doing something with the law again. When Simone and I get going, I might have to be involved in other cases like this, so it's good practice."
Megan's heart melted. She had been so focused on teaching Ben that she'd forgotten he was used to being in charge of a department that prosecuted crime for a large city. She was proud of how well he had moved into vampire life, but he needed to feel useful now. Her sire and Ewan were the same—men seemed to feel their worth was defined by their work.
She leaned forward and kissed him lightly. "I'm sure you'll be able to help."
Ben gave her a smile. His link with Megan was still strong and he had never been this happy when he was human. He held out his hand to her, "Let's get out of my office, I'm sure we can find something more interesting to do."
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The music should have been deafening to vampire ears, but Logan loved how the sound reverberated through the room. It was a good thing his basement was in an unused warehouse so he didn't have any neighbors to object to the noise. He was just about to start up a game of WoW, when one of his computer screens started blinking. It indicated the program that was running was complete.
Logan turned down the music a bit and sat in front of the screen. He'd been running facial recognition programs for several nights now, looking for the rogue vamp that spilled their secrets to Professor Ellis. He'd started out working at Josef's mansion, but found he needed his own computers, and he missed his basement. He brought the information with him and went to work. After dissecting the video, he'd been able to find a possible location of the motel in Tijuana.
Now, he had an ID on the vamp himself, who was a small-time hood and gang member in northern Mexico. He'd been a criminal when he was human, and it looked like he continued after he was turned. Logan looked at the online police report with mug shots and history. It stated that the thug had disappeared and was presumed dead in 1982. Ha, Logan thought, not nearly dead enough—he must have been turned around that time.
Logan cut the music and called Rider, "Hey man, I found that guy in the hotel room. I'll send it over to you."
"Good," Rider responded. "Come over to the office in case Josef has any questions."
"Okay." Logan wasn't thrilled about leaving his basement, but Josef was always generous.
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A summit of sorts was being convened at Josef's office. Mick, Beth and James were on their way with the contents of the lockbox that Ellis had hidden at his cousin's apartment. Rider just informed Josef that Logan had found the traitor vampire and was on his way over as well. Josef was sorry Simone wasn't here, but he wanted her to get some extra freezer time—she'd been working hard lately on setting up the new law practice. There was a knock, and Josef check the security cam. He could see Mick, and buzzed the door open.
Mick entered first, followed by James and Beth. The first thing Mick did was shed his custom-tailored jacket and loosen his tie.
"Hey Mick, watch the threads," Josef said with a suppressed smile as Mick threw the coat over a chair.
Mick snorted, "If they're that good, they should stand up to a little wear."
Beth giggled, and sat in one of the armchairs near Josef's desk. James took out the DVD and flash drive from his pocket.
"Here's what we got from the cousin's place."
Josef nodded, and picked up the phone to call Rider. The techie vampire was buzzed into Josef's office and pounced on the data immediately. Josef stood up, allowing Rider to sit at his computer as he loaded the DVD.
The group crowded around behind Rider, and the video started to play. It was the same as the one provided by Ellis. Rider shut it down and inserted the flash drive. On it was the document detailing vampire existence.
Rider sat back with a smile, and Josef commented, "It looks like that's it."
Josef went to pour drinks in celebration and the group sat down.
"What's the next move?" Beth asked.
Josef gave them a sinister smile. "Now we collect Ellis and let him know what it means to mess with vampires."
Mick glanced at Beth to see what she thought of Josef's comment, and was relieved to see her nod in agreement with the older vampire.
James spoke up, "When should we get him, boss?"
"Before we get overconfident, I need to make sure this is the only information Ellis has hidden."
"Maybe when Ellis finds out we have the documents, he'll cooperate," Mick said.
"I just want to know if he has any other back up." Josef responded.
There was a knock on the door. Josef went to his desk and saw Logan waiting to get in. He buzzed the door and the vampire entered, surprised to see the office so crowded.
"Um, hi," Logan said, a little shyly. He wasn't used to seeing so many vamps in one room.
Josef smiled, and Logan sat down. "Rider says you think you found the vamp that helped Ellis."
"Yeah," Logan said. "I took a clue from the DVD and found out the motel he was using was in North Tijuana."
"How did you figure that out?" Beth asked.
Happy to be talking about tech things, Logan replied, "It was pretty easy. I just isolated a portion of the video and blew it up to see out the window of the motel. Across the street was part of a restaurant sign. I extrapolated the letters and it turned out to be a bar called the Blue Palm. There are only two in Mexico, one in San Cristobal and one in Tijuana. The place in San Cristobal doesn't have any hotels nearby, but the one in Tijuana was across the street from a cheap motel. It's in an old part of town and I figure this vamp goes there a lot," Logan finished, gratified he held their attention.
"What's the guy's name?" Josef growled.
"Rudy Ricardo Gallegos," Logan said. "He's a small-time hood who disappeared around 1982, at least that's the last he's appeared on the Mexican records. He was probably turned then."
"I wonder if he's still using that name?" Beth asked.
"Probably," Mick said. "The Mexicans aren't going to look for someone who's dead. They have a hard enough time keeping up with their current gangs and criminals."
"All right, now that we've found him, I'll contact the Cleaners in San Diego. They have Tijuana in their region and they can go after him." Josef said with satisfaction. "As for Ellis, he continued, "I want him picked up and brought to Cleaner's headquarters and I'll inform Bella. Now that we've got a handle on this situation, I'll fill them in. Good job, everyone."
The group basked in Josef's praise for a moment as they stood and prepared to leave. Josef looked at Mick, "I suppose you want to get Ellis?"
"Yeah," Mick responded. "James and a couple of the guys can help. We need to make sure he doesn't have anything at the house that can incriminate us."
Mick became aware that Beth stood next to him, tapping her toe. He turned to her with a small smile, "Yes, you're included."
"Good," Beth said with satisfaction.
Josef smirked, and said, "I'll leave you to it. I have some calls to make. Let me know if you have any problems, otherwise we can meet tomorrow night at the Cleaners."
They left and Josef got on the phone.
Across town, Ewan was trying to work on his manuscript but wasn't getting very much done. His mind was on Sofia. She was leaving in the morning to go see her mother. After some discussion, Sofia said she needed to let her mom know she had decided to be turned and remain with Ewan. He was happy they'd made the decision, but apprehensive about what Maureen would say. What if she talked Sofia out of it? Ewan knew that Sofia loved him, but a mother always had influence on a child. If Sofia changed her mind he didn't know how he could handle it. He was thinking about going to the gym in his building and working off some steam when his phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Ewan, it's Josef. I know you heard about the human trying to blackmail us."
Ewan remembered Megan telling him about the situation, but knew Josef was handling it. "Yes, I've heard."
"We have the documents the bastard was using to blackmail us. Mick is going to pick him up tonight. We're meeting at the Cleaners tomorrow night to take care of the problem. As an Elder, I'd like you to be there to observe. I'm also asking Megan, as she's the Council liaison. I want everything to be done properly."
Ewan's eyebrows raised, he was surprised Josef needed any support for his decision. "Of course, I'll be glad to. Is this something that needs our approval?"
"This wasn't an attack on me personally, it concerned the community and I want to make sure there won't be any repercussions."
"I understand," Ewan responded. "Let me know where and when."
"It will be tomorrow night, I'll text you the time."
Ewan hung up, impressed at the younger vampire's handling of the situation. Ewan often wondered if he had shirked his responsibilities by not taking over as Elder of some community, and sighed. He was certainly old enough, but the thought of handling all the minutiae of a vampire region was daunting.
At the loft, Mick and Beth changed into what Beth called their 'ninja' suits of black from head to toe. She could tell Mick was troubled, but didn't know if it was from worry about her, or guilt about Ellis.
He was grabbing his jacket when she put her arms around him. "What's wrong, Mick?"
Mick dropped the jacket and hugged her close.
"Are you feeling bad about Ellis?" She asked shrewdly.
He sighed, "Yeah. If I hadn't lost control in front of him, he'd never know about us, and he wouldn't be in this position."
Beth reached up and touched his lips with her finger. "We all make mistakes. Now that I'm a vampire, I can see how hard it is to keep that side hidden." She ran her hands up and down his back, soothing him.
"Ellis was the one who put himself in this position," she continued. "Even after he found out about us, he could have kept quiet. He had a choice, Mick. He made a bad one."
She looked at him, hoping her words made him feel better. He gave her a nod, "I know, and we have to protect ourselves."
Beth Bent over and picked up Mick's jacket, handing it to him. "Ellis would have made a very bad vampire."
Mick nodded and shrugged on his jacket, "Are you ready?"
"Yup, let's go get him."
The couple met James and two other security vampires from Josef's force. They took two Escalades and parked down the street from Ellis' house. It was after midnight and they agreed to wait another hour. They crept up to the house, and stationed themselves in the backyard, waiting for the lights to go out. When they did, the vampires waited another hour before approaching the back door. Mick quietly picked the lock, and they entered. Mick said in the vampire undertone, "James, let's get him restrained and then we can search again."
James nodded, and they entered the bedroom where they scented Ellis. The human was asleep, and the vampires grabbed him, tying his hands and feet quickly. Ellis woke groggy, and started yelling. Mick quickly slapped a piece of tape over his mouth. In the dark, Ellis couldn't see who was attacking him. they dragged him into the living area, and Beth flicked on the lights.
Ellis was shocked to see the room filled with people dressed in black. He saw Beth and tried to speak.
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You shouldn't have tried to blackmail us, Professor."
Ellis was still in shock and Mick left him on the floor, struggling to get out of his bonds. The other security guards had been ransacking the house, but didn't find anything of note. "Nothing here," one said.
"Good," James responded. "Bring the car around."
One of the vamps left immediately, and the others wrapped Ellis in a blanket. "We can take him out the back and around the house," Mick said.
They carried Ellis out, and he was too frightened to do anything. Beth looked around the room, and turned off the lights.
"We're done here," Mick said as they exited the house.
They saw Ellis being loaded into the other car. Mick checked the neighborhood and couldn't hear anyone or scent anything unusual. He went over to James. "Anything?"
"No, it's clear. We'll be taking him to the Cleaner's. Go ahead and use the Escalade and bring it back tomorrow night," James said in the vampire undertone.
Mick nodded and he and Beth went back to the car, watching the other SUV take off.
"You, okay, sweetheart?" Mick said as he started the car.
"Yes, let's go home," Beth replied, moving closer to him. She pulled his arm around her and snuggled up as he drove. She remembered so long ago when Mick had saved her from Ellis's teaching assistant and took her back to his apartment and she'd hugged him and felt so safe. Then she recalled everything that had happened between them to bring them to this moment—her discovery of his true nature, working on cases, and her turning. "I think it's time to talk about our wedding."
Surprised, Mick said, "Whatever you want, babe." He held her close, wanting to get back to the loft.
TBC
A wedding? It sounds like Beth is ready, finally. Looks like Ellis is in for a bad time. Next, some vampire justice coming up…
Thanks for reading!