Blood Dark

A
gent Caitlin Parish
had only ascended two flights of stairs on her way up to the Third Species Control Division’s headquarters when she heard the scuff of boots against concrete heading down towards her.

‘Morgan, I just picked up your email,’ she said, as she came face-to-face with her boss on the stairwell. ‘We need to talk.’

‘Not right now.’ He could barely look her in the eye as he skimmed past her. ‘I’ll find you later.’

Caitlin turned on her heels, pursuing him down the steps regardless. ‘Why are you questioning my decision?’

‘I’m questioning your decision because we have eight dead humans and I need some answers, Caitlin. And as Caleb Dehain is currently our only link to those murders, I have every right to question why, three days into the case, you still haven’t brought him in for interrogation.’

He yanked open the door and stepped out into the car park, Caitlin close on his heels.

‘And as I keep telling you, it’s not him.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ Morgan asked, turning to face her.

‘It’s obvious to anyone who knows how Caleb operates. Even one of the Curfew Enforcement Officers questioned his involvement when I presented the case to them a couple of days ago. That was just from examining the photographic evidence.’

‘Eden Reece, wasn’t it? Yes, I heard. He’s always been a law unto himself.’

‘He’s also one of the best officers the CEU have.’

‘He’s nothing to do with this case. Nor is he the one who has to deal with the fallout.’

‘I’m telling you there is nothing substantial linking Caleb Dehain to those murders other than the unsubstantiated attempt on his and his brother’s life.’

Caleb Dehain ruled the west side of Blackthorn with the same zero tolerance as Kane Malloy ruled the east. It meant he was going to come up against enemies – those who were reckless or stupid enough to try to knock him off his pedestal. If the rumours were true of an assassination attempt against him, it was logical he would try and track down the perpetrators. But Caitlin had had Kane’s assurance – Kane’s vehement assurance – that Caleb was not involved in those murders.

Morgan took a step closer towards her and lowered his voice, only too aware of how voices echoed in the vast but dense space of the enclosed car park. ‘Or is someone letting you in on inside information? Covering his buddy’s back, maybe?’

The spark of accusation in her ex-partner’s eyes created an even greater sense of isolation than she already felt. Having the rest of the department despise her for exposing the TSCD’s corruption in their attempt to bring down Kane Malloy was a given. Morgan, on the other hand, was her only ally. ‘Are you questioning my loyalty?’

‘I’m asking you to look me in the eye and tell me that Kane has said nothing to you about this.’

Her silence seemed confirmation enough.

‘I knew it,’ he said.

‘Yes, I asked him about it, but I’ve been asking questions of anyone who’s anyone in Blackthorn. And so far there is nothing to link Caleb to those killings other than rumour and speculation.’

‘And right now rumour and speculation are all we have. You need to bring him in. I can get it agreed for him to be shadow read if needs be. Once you get inside his thoughts and memories, you may even uncover enough to make sure he stays inside.’

‘Without preliminary evidence? Since when was that permissible?’

He closed the remaining gap between them and lowered his voice even more. ‘Do you know how it looks that you won’t?’

‘Is that what this is about – how it
looks
?’

‘As you very well know, for the next few months everything about how the TSCD operates is going to be about how it looks.’

‘Which is why we cannot bring in one of the most respected vampires in Blackthorn without justification.’

‘Respected by his own maybe. He might be smart enough to keep under the radar, but I’ve got enough on him that could more than justify questions being asked.’ He sighed, the accusation in his voice easing. His eyes softened. ‘I’m watching your back, Caitlin. Right now, I’m the only one who is. I know how tough they’re already making it for you out there. They’re not going to ease up. You don’t put their own behind bars, sleep with the vampire they were hunting in the process, and just move on.’

‘Matt, you know me,’ she said, hoping her statement would be reinforced by opting out of the official protocol of using surnames. ‘We’ve worked together long enough … were partners long enough. You know I’m not going to let them get to me. I’m not going to be bullied out of my job. I can handle it.’

‘Which is why you look like you haven’t slept? You’ve only been back three days. You don’t have to prove yourself by working yourself into the ground, Caitlin.’

‘I’m not trying to prove myself. I’m trying to find out who’s responsible for those murders – and it’s not Caleb.’

He glanced over his shoulder as a car screeched towards the exit. ‘I really don’t have time for this right now,’ he said, turning on his heels again. ‘Like I said, we’ll talk later.’

‘I know that look.’ Caitlin picked up pace to shunt in front of him. She plastered her palm firmly to his chest to bring him to a halt. ‘Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you are?’ Her heart raced as she waited for him to deny it. He didn’t. ‘You
promised
me.’

‘I’m sorry but I have no choice. The TSCD is still in the wake of the trial. We need results on this one. A public failure could destroy us. That’s why we have to keep this investigation as low-key as possible.’

‘I’m the last one to shout my mouth off. You know that.’

‘And before Caleb’s name came into the equation, I wouldn’t have even been considering this.’

As Morgan’s true concern became apparent, Caitlin instinctively took a step back. ‘You can’t be serious.’

‘Caitlin,’ he said, his tone far too placating her liking, ‘I can’t have you involved in a case with another lead vampire in this district – not so soon after Kane. It’s going to cause too much attention. Attention means even less room for failure.’

‘So because this
might
involve Caleb, you want to pull me off the case?’

‘You know what his reputation is like.’

‘And I’ve got a type, right? Have you any idea how insulting that is?’

‘And if you’re furious with me for even thinking it, how are you going to handle people saying it to your face? Fellow VCU agents? Others in the TSCD? People on the street? The press? They’re going to have a field day. I’m not willing to do it to you.’

‘And less than three weeks into your temporary promotion, you don’t want to be seen making a mistake.’

Morgan frowned at her retaliation. ‘Bring Dehain in or I’ll have no choice but to withdraw you and hand this case to someone else. If you’re so convinced he’s innocent, prove it.’

‘And I’m telling you that the third species community loathe us enough for what came out in that trial. If I bring Caleb in, any thin thread of what we have with them will be severed.’

‘And the thread you have with Kane?’

‘This is nothing to do with him.’ She looked him in the eyes as she lied. Because her reluctance to bring Caleb in had everything to do with Kane. It had everything to do with him promising her Caleb was not involved, as well as his insistence she stay out of it. That meant Kane knew something. That meant if anyone else took over the case in the interim, trails could lead to him.

She closed the gap between them. ‘Matt, if you pull me off this case, I’m finished at the TSCD.’

‘Shadow read him. See the evidence with your own eyes. Rule him out, that’s all you have to do.’

And get up close and personal with the one vampire Kane had told her to stay the hell away from.

Morgan turned on his heels and strode past the parked cars.

‘Give me a little more time,’ she said, catching up with his strides and keeping pace as she marched alongside him. ‘I’ll get a lead in the next couple of days.’

If anything, it could give Kane no choice but to let her in on what he knew.

Morgan glanced across at her before taking a left as a couple more cars screeched out of the car park. ‘Caitlin, I really don’t have time for this now.’

It wasn’t just the activity surging around them; it was the urgency in his eyes, in his composure, as he picked up pace towards his car that incited Caitlin to quicken her footing to match his.

‘What’s going on?’

He passed her the small, handheld screen as they kept walking. ‘This footage came in twenty minutes ago.’

Caitlin had to study the image closer to confirm what she was looking at: a pile of what could only be described as white flab.

‘It was discovered on the east side of Blackthorn less than half an hour ago.’ The car’s amber lights flashed, the beep simultaneously echoing around the enclosed concrete tomb. Morgan headed around to the driver’s side. ‘One of the Curfew Enforcement Officers discovered it in one of the back alleys.’

‘What is it?’

‘We don’t know,’ Morgan said, meeting her gaze across the car roof. ‘But it has a heart beat.’ He held his hand out across the roof for Caitlin to hand the device back, but instead she opened the passenger door. ‘What are you doing?’

‘We can talk more on the way,’ she declared, securing her passenger seat belt one-handed.

‘Caitlin, this doesn’t concern you.’ Morgan slid into the driver’s seat alongside her. ‘Whatever it is, it isn’t a vampire. This is one for the Demon Control Unit, more likely.’

She relooked at the digital picture. ‘You said this is in an alley? It looks like it fills the entire breadth of it.’

‘And spans twenty-foot high.’

‘Any limbs?’

‘None that are visible.’ He held out his hand to get his device back. ‘You’re not coming with me, Caitlin.’

‘Are you going to kick me out? Come on, we can talk about Caleb on the way. Two jobs done at once.’ Her gaze lingered on his as she waited for his approval. She didn’t get it. More tyres screeched in the distance. ‘Sounds like you don’t have time to sit here arguing with me, Morgan.’

He took the device from her hand and shoved it in the space beneath the stereo. ‘I’m
your
boss now,’ he reminded her. ‘Not the other way around.’

‘Which I respect,’ she said, ‘as long as you respect me enough in return to trust me on this one.’

Caitlin glanced over her shoulder to see another TSCD car skidded into view behind theirs as Morgan sped out of the car park, taking a sharp right onto the main road. She looked out of the passenger side window at the blurred buildings of Lowtown as they left the Third Species Control Division behind.

Morgan stared pensively ahead, awkward silence filling the cabin of the car. ‘Then fess up,’ he said. ‘Are you still with him, Caitlin?’ He glanced across at her, holding her gaze a second longer than was safe considering he was behind the wheel.

Kane had told her to deny their relationship at all costs. He’d told her that confirmation of their being together would both worsen things for her at the TSCD and complicate what he needed to do. She knew he was right about the former. As for the latter, she still had no idea
what
it was that he needed to do. But she’d known the moment she had been visited by Sirius Throme, head of the Global Council, that denial had been the best option.

‘What makes you so sure I can even find Kane again to pass your message on?’ she’d asked Sirius as he’d sat in
her
armchair after breaking into
her
apartment.

Sirius had remained poised, his gaze steady on hers. ‘Kane could have killed you at any point, Caitlin. The fact you’re still alive tells me you remain useful to him. So, yes, I think you’re the perfect person to pass my message on. Tell him to give himself up. Tell him he does not want to face the alternative.’

She’d known she’d need to buy Kane as much time as possible. ‘I can’t guarantee how long it will take me.’

Sirius had leaned forward again. ‘And I can’t guarantee how long it will be before I lose my patience. Best not drag your heels, Caitlin. Like I said, the clock is ticking.’

‘Well?’ Morgan asked, the blurred images that had passed her those few seconds ago now coming back into focus and reminding her where she was. She’d barely registered that they had pulled up at the district’s border and were being permitted, without question, into Blackthorn.

‘No,’ she said, her gaze still out of the window as she scanned the thirty-foot-high concrete wall that permanently marked the border into third-species territory. ‘We’re not together.’

Silence filled the car again.

Caitlin folded her arms. ‘He didn’t like me coming back to the Vampire Control Unit. I guess it was never going to work. And if you must know, this whole thing has been humiliating enough without needing to go over it.’ She looked across at Morgan. She’d seen the brief fleck of uncertainty in Sirius’s eyes when she’d claimed the same, but she’d worked with Morgan too long. ‘So I most certainly have no plans to jump straight into bed with another vampire – least of all Caleb Dehain.’

Morgan took a left and then a right, splashing through the puddles that lingered as evidence of the thunderstorm the night before. It had struck in the early hours, waking Caitlin at her desk, her face stuck to paper, her coffee cold beside her. It had ignited the sky enough for her to turn to face the window, to see Blackthorn being backlit before being cast into darkness again.

Morgan had moved her out of the main office, from the maze of cubicles, to give her a break from the glares. She never had a problem with concentration, but her return to the Unit had left her more drained than even she wanted to admit to. Her new office was a cupboard, but at least she could close the door. At least she could get her head down and work without her every move being watched and her every phone call being monitored as others hung on her every action, ready to pounce.

Morgan
had
been good to her. She could only hope she could persuade him to continue to be good to her, because if he did take her off the case, the fire would most definitely be fanned. If he did take her off the case, she may as well quit.