To Kill A Warlock

  The woman smiled, her gaze roving over me and then Knight who stood directly behind me. She was tall—nearly as tall as Knight and attractive with long red hair.

  “What’s going on in there?” I whispered.

  The woman leaned down, desire so thick in her eyes, I could’ve cut it. “A woman with three vamps.”

  Egad.

  She trailed an index finger down my collarbone, stopping just above my breasts. I gulped, trying to swallow the disgust wedging itself in my throat. Knight must’ve noticed because he took a step closer to me and slid his arms around my waist.

  “Do you want to get a better look?” he asked and grinned down at me, his eyes sparkling. I could’ve shot him.

  So, Knight was playing with me? He was going to milk this just as Dagan had. I couldn’t very well say no—talk about destroying my alibi. I turned my attention to the hall as Dagan approached us. Goddamit.

  “Yeah, that sounds great,” I managed.

  The woman stepped aside and gave Knight a knowing grin and an equally knowing pat on the ass.

  “She’s new,” he said.

  The woman smiled at me again. “Welcome. If you want to…play later, find me.”

  “Thanks,” I managed then moved through the open door. There wasn’t a wall or anything separating the room from the hall, so we all just stood along the sidelines and watched.

  Well, I didn’t. I’m not sure how I managed, but I stared at the carpeting the entire time.

  “Like it?” I looked up at Dagan who grinned, looking like a shark.

  I was about to give him a piece of my mind when I noticed the expression of the woman behind him, the tall red head wearing the duct tape. She watched me inquisitively. Her hands ran the length of Dagan’s naked back, and he leaned into her.

  “Yeah, it’s great,” I managed.

  Knight pulled me against him and dropped his head into my neck like he was going to bite me. I tried to push away from him, but he held me in an iron grasp.

  “Don’t blow our cover,” he whispered.

  Then he kissed my neck and ran his hands down my stomach. Shivers raced over my skin. My blood was boiling and not with lust. With anger the likes of which I hadn’t felt in a very long time. Well, okay, and maybe a little lust. Either way, Knight was going to get an earful later.

  My gaze drifted to Dagan who’d changed places with the woman and now stood behind her. He kissed the woman’s neck, and she melted into him. He started to pull against the duct tape on her breasts. As if he could read my mind, Dagan faced me, his eyes full of sinister deliberation. The woman moaned against him, and before I could take another breath, he ripped the tape.

  “Get me out of here now,” I whispered to Knight.

  Knight didn’t respond but lifted me up, newlywed style, and took a few steps away from the room. He dropped me and pushed me against the wall, forcing his lips on mine. As soon as his head shielded my face from the onlookers, I exploded.

  “What the hell are you doing!”

  “Go with it,” he whispered. “I’m getting us out of here.”

  He pushed himself against me and I retreated as far as I could into the unforgiving wall. The concrete scratched my naked back, forcing me into Knight’s kiss. Knight glanced at Dagan, smacked my ass, and then started for the door.

  Once outside, I slapped him hard against the face. “What the hell was that?”

  It had been the first time someone had kissed me since Jack, over a year ago.

  Knight gritted his teeth, his cheek red where my palm had let him know exactly what I thought of him. “If not for me, you would’ve blown our cover. Jesus, Dulcie, you were like a school girl in there.”

  “You didn’t have to kiss me and take advantage of the situation. Groping me like that was uncalled for.”

  Knight chuckled. “You’re a Regulator, Dulcie. You should know the job isn’t always smooth sailing.”

  I frowned and started for my car, my legs weak. “Either way, don’t ever touch me again.”

  “Look, it had to be believable.”

  “Whatever.” I unlocked the door and hopped into the car. I wasn’t sure how he’d gotten here, but I wasn’t about to leave him in leather pants in a dark alley. “How did you get here?”

  He shrugged. “I took a cab. I didn’t know how long I’d be here so I neglected to get a rental. I’ll probably get one tomorrow.”

  “Get in,” I said with a sigh.

  “You’re offering me a ride?” he asked with a bashful grin.

  “Get in before I change my mind.”

  Knight started for the passenger seat. “I’m staying at the Marriott on Evergreen Street.”

  I nodded and pulled out of the lot when I remembered I hadn’t brought up Bram’s Chinese massage parlor with Dagan. Damn. Well, now I’d have to make another trip. Double damn.

  “Well that was basically a waste of time,” I said, wanting to break the monotony of silence.

  Knight shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. It’s all part of the job.”

  So, he had a good perspective on it. Guess I was impatient.

  “What’s your phone number?” Knight asked.

  I threw him a frown. “I’m not giving you my phone number.”

  “I need to be able to get in touch with you.” He shrugged. “It’s that or I interrupt your pirate dreams again.”

  Heat washed over my face like a wave. I dropped my gaze and tightened my hands on the wheel. How freaking embarrassing could this night get?

  I gave him my phone number.

  SEVEN

  The creature had struck again.

  In a matter of two days, there had been two more killings. The first, Guy Riley, had been a well-known illegal potions importer who’d been contributing to the delinquencies lining Splendor streets for years. I couldn’t say his death brought me any level of sorrow.

  Now, as Trey and I had been called onto the scene of the second killing, I didn’t know what to expect. Guy had been torn up like Fabian had. And like Fabian, his head had been left. Apparently, the creature didn’t have a taste for brains.

  Trey handed me a pair of latex gloves and stepped aside, motioning with his arms that I should go ahead of him. Such the gentleman. I stepped over the yellow crime scene tape and blinked against the glare of the portable floodlights shining down the alleyway.

  Guy had been killed inside his dark arts store, much like Fabian had been. But this second murder had taken place in an alley behind Guy’s; almost like the victim had witnessed something he shouldn’t have.

  “Do they have any idea who the victim is?” I asked Trey, who’d managed to get on the scene a few minutes before me.

  He shook his head. “No, I waited for you.”

  I nodded and followed the white hazmat-suited A.N.C. forensics team down the alley where they gathered around what I could only assume was the body. At our approach, they separated like bowling pins.

  I glanced down at what was left of the body. As with Fabian and Guy, there was no blood. Just a head and a fleshy mound sitting beside the head. The fleshy mound was about the length of my forearm with the white of various bones peeking through the flesh. I squatted down and reached for the pulpy mass before noting the numbered markers set beside the head and rib cage, used for crime scene photos.

  I glanced up at the forensics team who were still surrounding the body.

  “Am I good to shift stuff around now?”

  A man with beady eyes gave me a salute. “It’s all yours.”

  I lifted the fleshy mass. “Rib cage,” I said to Trey.

  “That’s what I was thinking too.”

  “Bag it,” I said and handed the rib cage to the closest hazmat man. He regarded it with disinterest so I waved my hand a bit, acting the charade of “take this damn thing already.”

  “Looks like there are some teeth marks on the bones but other than that, it isn’t going to tell us much more than what we already know about the killer,” I said.

>   A short man with blond hair and a blonder handlebar moustache opened a clear plastic bag as Mr. Reluctant dropped the rib cage in, sealing it away. It would then go to our crime scene lab to be placed in a cryogenic chamber that would ensure we could return to study it.

  One rib cage down, one head left to go.

  I sighed and turned to the fun task of rotating the head so we could get an idea of who our John Doe was. In the heat of the lights, I could feel beads of perspiration skiing down the small of my back. No one ever said this job was a glamorous one.

  I grabbed a handful of black hair which felt cold against my gloved hand. I rotated the head until the eyes fixed their sightless gaze on me, an expression of wide-eyed shock still resident in them.

  I couldn’t help my gasp.

  “Tad,” I said in a breathless voice.

  Trey groaned and shifted his extreme weight from one leg to the other. “Goddamn.”

  If Guy and Fabian’s deaths hadn’t bothered me much, Tad Jones was a different story. Though Tad had definitely had his dealings with the law and he’d spent many a night in our holding cells, he was someone you wanted to bring under your wing. There was a flawed, but innate goodness about him.

  He’d been addicted to marsh root, an illegal potion that worked like speed, since I’d first met him five years ago. He was young—maybe in his late teens and he’d had a hard, short life. He was a werewolf without a pack—he’d been ousted as soon as he’d gotten addicted to marsh. Wolves weren’t the most forgiving of creatures.

  “I always liked the kid. Thought he’d clean up eventually,” Trey said as he chewed his lip.

  I nodded. “He was a good kid.”

  Even though I didn’t say much, that didn’t mean I wasn’t reeling inside. I’d spent lots of time with Tad, talking about his future and trying to help him. As a Regulator, it was my job to bust the bad guys but I also tried to keep everyone on the straight and narrow. I couldn’t help but think I’d failed Tad and it brought stinging tears to my eyes.

  “So, you think Guy’s murder is related?” Trey asked.

  I could tell he was trying to change the subject, trying to get my mind off the fact that I’d failed Tad and because of that, he was now dead before me. I had to give it to Trey for trying.

  I cleared my throat, forcing the tears back. I would not cry.

  “Yeah,” I said with a sniffle that I turned into a cough.

  Trey nodded. “They were both torn up like Fabian,” he said and flicked up one finger.

  “They all had something to do with the illegal potion industry.” Finger two.

  “Yes,” I said, forcing guilty thoughts of Tad to the back of my mind. I couldn’t save him, but I could damn well find out who killed him and see them pay.

  “So, whoever did this was trying to cover something up. All the deaths were related to street potions,” I said.

  “Fabian was a dealer and so was Guy, but Tad wasn’t,” Trey pointed out.

  I nodded. “So, why kill him?”

  Trey shrugged. “Maybe Tad saw something or knew something?”

  “Maybe. I can’t help but think if he’d known something was up, he would have come to me.”

  “Yeah, the kid did have a crush on you,” Trey said with a sad smile.

  “Whatever it was, he trusted me.”

  And I failed him…the silent words clung to my tongue.

  “Well, do you think we got enough here?” Trey asked and we both glanced around the alley again, almost waiting for another clue to rear its head. Of course nothing did.

  Yeah, I was ready to go.

  ###

  I was tired. Tired, depressed and really not in the mood to go to work but hey, sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to, right? I opened the double glass doors to Headquarters and stifled a sigh.

  “You look like something the cat dragged in,” Elsie said with a compassionate smile.

  I frowned and bobbed my head—it was all I could manage. Luckily, today didn’t look like much of a busy day—no one in our holding cells and no phones ringing. Thank you, Hades. Now I just needed coffee and lots of it before I started writing up the notes on Tad’s murder.

  I walked to my desk and threw myself into the seat.

  “Dulce.” I didn’t need to turn around to recognize Quillan’s rich baritone. But, I did anyway.

  “Morning,” I muttered.

  He avoided my gaze. That’s when I knew something was up. “Can I chat with you for a minute?”

  Words that no employee ever wants to hear from her boss. I so didn’t want to deal with this today. I stood up with a sigh and followed him into his office.

  “Have a seat. Do you want some coffee?”

  I took the chair. “Yeah, please.”

  Shutting the door, he turned to his Mr. Coffee, and poured me a cup, using a mug I’d gotten him for Christmas. It had a picture of the Blues Brothers—his all-time favorite movie. He plopped one sugar cube and a bit of Coffee-Mate into the cup, then stirred—just how I liked it.

  “Here you go.” He handed me the cup. “You and Trey were on the murder case last night?” he started.

  “Yeah, it was Tad Jones.”

  Quillan shook his head. “Damn shame—he was a good kid.”

  I didn’t want to think about exactly what a damn shame it was…shame wasn’t even the word for it. Instead, I turned my attention to the warm cup in my hands and thought about the information I needed to share with Knight. But I had no way to reach him. Guess it would have to wait.

  “What did you make of it?” Quillan asked.

  I shrugged. “Guy, Fabian and Tad all had something to do with the illegal potion trade. I’m not sure what the link is between them yet, but I intend to find out.”

  Quillan nodded. “Next steps?”

  “We should put some guys out to monitor the comings and goings of other creatures dealing street potions. Not only for their own good but also to see if we can get any leads.” I paused and tapped my fingers against the ceramic cup. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all the deaths have to do with street potions and if I had to guess, I’d say the creature will kill again.”

  Quillan smiled with a nod of his curly-locked head. “I’ll get a list going of all creatures we’ve suspected of being involved with illegal potions.”

  “I don’t mind doing a little reconnaissance, myself.”

  Quillan immediately shook his head. “I’ll take care of it.”

  I just gave him a small smile of thanks—he knew I didn’t exactly enjoy stakeouts.

  “So, Dulce…” Quillan started, looking at me anxiously.

  “What’s up?”

  He rested his tightly packed ass against the edge of the desk, one leg curling over the side, the other stationed on the ground. I leaned back in my chair, a mere six inches from him—so close I could smell his Tommy Bahama aftershave.

  “I received word from the Relations Office this morning…”

  Great, here it came. He was pissed off I’d withheld information about Knight. Well, what choice did I have? Knight was higher up on the Netherworld totem pole than Quillan, and he’d given me none-too-subtle orders not to breathe a whisper of the case to anyone. This was so not my fault, but I couldn’t even defend myself.

  He took a deep breath. “You’re off all future cases.”

  I felt like I’d been blindsided by an elephant. “What? What the hell are you talking about? What did I do to deserve this?”

  Quillan put a hand on my shoulder, but I coldly shrugged it off. There was no way in hell he was going to make me feel any better about getting…fired.

  “This has nothing to do with you,” he said, and it was as dumb a line as when a guy breaks up with you and says it isn’t you, it’s him. It’s you—it’s always you.

  “What the hell did I do?”

  “The Relations Office seems to think you might be in danger. That’s all they’d tell me. Apparently this is very hush-hush.”
r />   I narrowed my eyes. “What a load! I’m starting to wonder if I’m off the squad because I’m a suspect in Fabian’s murder!”

  Quillan shook his head. “You aren’t off the squad. I received word from the Relations Office this morning that you aren’t considered a suspect. I don’t think you ever were.” He paused. “And you know I never thought you were.”

  I swallowed a retort. “What kind of danger do they think I’m in?”

  “They wouldn’t tell me. They just said to give you a break for a little while. Think of it as a little downtime—a mini vacation.”

  I leaned back in my chair. At least I wasn’t fired. But this whole danger business? It made no sense. Somehow Knight had to be involved, and the bummer of the whole thing was that I couldn’t ask a goddamned question without somehow bringing Knight into it.

  “For how long?” I asked.

  “Until I hear back from Relations and they tell me.”

  I dropped his gaze. “This sucks.”

  “I know you’re angry, Dulce but it’s for your own good. Fabian’s killer is still out there and now with the other murders…this way you’ll be protected.”

  “Protected?” I scoffed. “How will I be protected? By staying home?” Well, there was Sam’s protection spell on my house, but somehow I didn’t think Quillan was referring to that. And Sam’s spell could be broken.

  “That’s not the end of the story. We’re…setting up some other protection for you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “A few gremlins to patrol your house.”

  I started shaking my head “But…”

  Quillan interrupted me. “You won’t see them. They’ll be out back in the woods but close enough to keep an eye on the place.”

  “Gremlins, Quillan? You should be more afraid of them attacking me!” Gremlins had the unfortunate reputation of attacking anything that moved. “And what about my neighbors? They’re all human and wouldn’t survive a gremlin attack. That is the worst freaking idea…”

  “The Netherworld is sending a species of evolved gremlins. They’re smarter and stronger than your average…gremlin.”

  I was so pissed off, I didn’t even get to ponder the fact that I’d warranted Netherworld gremlins. “This bites the big one, Quillan.”