Jade (11 page)

“Luca!” she exclaimed. “My great enemy, friend, and rival. Who have you brought to see me?” She sounded pleased and she looked very approachable, nothing like what I had heard about her at all. I was a bit stunned, not understanding as my preconceptions were completely dashed.

“This is Jade Smith,” he responded, gently pulling me forward.

“Ah, umm, pleasure to meet you,” I said. The reason I had come tonight was completely lost in my mind.

She held out her hand to shake and I clasped it. She turned my hand over, pulling me slightly closer and kissed the back of my hand, watching the veins beneath my skin, savoring the thought of blood lying beneath.

“We will dance,” she said, standing up. Looking at the band conductor, an old timey vamp in a tux, she ordered, “Play that song I like.”

Lady In Red
started playing. Of course, I thought, what else could it be? I felt like I had just unlocked a door to another dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. I felt as if I was moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. Yeah, that place. It was surreal. She led, I followed, she maintained a constant chatter. She explained to me in no uncertain terms that she was not involved, she had given no direction to the third vamp that was sitting in jail, there was no profit or gain to be had in such a thing. Much like Luca, the recent killings and kidnappings of humans was not good for her position in the community. Like Luca, I believed her. As the song ended she nodded towards the conductor and the song repeated. I got a glance of Luca as she was twirling me around. He looked perplexed, he was scratching his head. Jane kept talking, complimenting me on my outfit, asking me if Luca was a good kisser. On the third playing of Lady In Red I was saved by my cell phone going off.

“Please excuse me, “ I said to Jane, the number indicated it was Rolfe. I knew it must be important for him to call. “It’s my partner. I need to take this.”

We had stopped in the middle of the dance floor, the music stopped as we stopped, couples in mid dip, so to speak. It was like time had frozen for a moment, there was not a sound in the room but my side of the conversation.

“Not exactly the best timing,” I said. I’m sure he could hear my irritation.

“I got word they are raiding your party,” he replied. “They are going to arrest London Jane and every one of her vamps. The Captain said the DA has decided he has enough evidence to prosecute. Looking like you do, they will arrest you as well.”

“What evidence?” I asked, knowing that what we had was nothing more than a lead.

“Beats me,” he replied. “Something is going on behind the scenes.”

I remembered again what he had said before, it was a case involving power and politics. We were not even close to solving this case and my gut was telling me Jane was being honest. “Thanks for the heads up,” I said, and ended the call.

I leaned forward and whispered into Jane’s ear, telling her what was about to happen. Rolfe had said a whole team of cops, SWAT, and FBI agents were just minutes away.

“This party is done,” she announced to the crowd. “Go back to your best hiding places until you get word from me.” Nothing like giving an order and seeing an immediate response: the room cleared out almost instantaneously, leaving me, Jane, and Luca left standing in the ballroom.

“Go home,” I told Luca. “They are only interested in her and her vamps, you should be okay if you leave now.” The power of command must have rubbed off on me because he left swiftly, leaving in a blur of speed.

“Where can you go?” I asked Jane.

“With you,” she replied.

I’m really off the grid this time,
I thought. Helping Jane escape. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing I had done in my very brief and about-to-end, police career.

Chapter Fifteen

Jade, and Jane, ran with the wind. Cutting through yards, vaulting fences, keeping off the roads, we stopped in a group of trees just as a large contingent of cops, SWAT, and FBI vehicles passed us heading towards Jane’s mansion. TV trucks were just minutes behind; somebody had tipped them off almost immediately. We watched from the darkness, avoiding the light, blending with the shadows naturally, as vamps are known to do. We whispered to each other, our shoulders touching. Jane said our first goal should be to find a safe base of operations, without being spotted, until we gathered enough information to determine how to proceed.

It would not be long until they knew I was helping Jane and her phone was probably already being monitored. I knew how the cops operated. I didn’t want to take a chance that my phone was being traced either. I had an idea, my shifter nature might come in handy on this one and I explained my plan to Jane. It wasn’t perfect, but would have to do for now. We headed further out, away from Jane’s place; she lived in a really high class area of large older homes with five plus acre lots. A million dollars wouldn’t cover the price of the lot on most of these places. People around Jane’s place were already out of their homes, trying to see what was going on. They had the place blocked off from traffic and surrounded, they had already set up a perimeter, and the media, including some national media, were already filming from the outskirts. This had happened in a matter of minutes. Jane said it was planned, an orchestrated media fest of a raid. Somebody had wanted her filmed as she was cuffed and led out of her home.

Perp walk central,
I thought, as we moved further away from the action.

We were almost a mile out before I sensed the right home, one that my nose indicated had been vacant at least for a few days. Hopefully the owners were out of town and would not be returning at one am. This was in a newer area of expensive homes, a gated community surrounding a private golf course. Small only in comparison to Jane’s mansion, they were probably just a paltry five-thousand square feet of home on one or two acre lots. I had considered buying one of these when I had searched for a place myself and decided I didn’t like the security, a few guards driving around occasionally and a gate wasn’t much, it certainly didn’t stop us. A simple witch spell turned off the alarm system and I exerted a slow pressure on the rear french doors leading to a really nice swimming pool, surrounded by a privacy fence, safe from the wandering eyes of the golfers, from over the fence you could see the seventh green.

Rolfe made this look easy when he did it,
I thought, as I had to really strain. We didn’t want to make a lot of noise. The wood holding the lock finally gave out with a minor crack. I doubt the neighbors would have heard it.

We didn’t turn on any lights, neither of us needed much light to see and there were a few night lights here and there throughout the house. We found a TV in the daughter’s room. She had both blinds and curtains up, as well as a light already turned on next to her bed. Jane turned the TV to one of the cable news shows. She had made the national news. She had the sound almost as low as it got, we could still hear it just fine. Then they showed a picture of me and Jane dancing at her mansion. “Wanted in connection to the murder and kidnapping of over a hundred humans,” it said, and gave several 800 numbers to call, a tip line already in place.

“Nobody takes pictures at my parties,” she said. “It is not allowed. When I find out who did this I will drain them.”

“We make a nice couple,” I said, looking at the picture. They had it in a little box now on the side of the screen as the news dude droned on about the big break in the case. It sure looked like I was enjoying myself. Jane had a big smile on her face, and it looked like I had my face buried in her neck. We were closer than close, almost tightly wound together.

“We have been set up,” she said. “We are royally screwed.”

The teenager’s room we were in had a nice collection of jeans, one pair in particular that fit like a glove. It was nice to be able to change clothes. The wife had some name brand tennis shoes that were a pretty close fit as well. Jane had discovered a desk calendar in the study where the trip departure and return flights were written down, it seems we would have to leave this place tomorrow night. We were getting bored watching the news, they just had a series of talking heads venting on anything remotely non-human. It was bound to happen sooner or later was the common theme. Supes evil, humans good. They were now speculating about Rolfe and word came that he had been taken in for questioning. They were trying to find out what he knew about me. It seems I was a spy for London Jane now. A police spokesman said they had not ruled out a connection to the Summer Queen being also involved. I needed a secure phone, I wanted to talk to Sarah.

Morning was approaching and Jane would have to sleep. It would be taking a chance but we could see no other way. I would venture out during the day, trying to get some information and looking for a more permanent hiding place. Jane would sleep and I would return at sundown. I was going to ward the place but it would not stop someone who was determined to get in. I needed a disguise and Jane would help me dress for the part. As soon as it was decided, my shifter side kicked in to help. I looked young, but I needed to look even younger, I would be venturing out as a teenager or young college student, complete with backpack and books sitting at the foot of the bed. Jane wanted to cut my hair, it was the most distinctive feature in that picture they kept showing, I explained to her that it would not be necessary, my shifter side would take care of it. Over the next hour my skin darkened, my hair got short and turned bleached blonde. I now looked like I spent hours daily having fun in the sun. I lost the tattoo and my fangs receded. Jane had found a Wake Forest Athletics cutoff sweatshirt to go with my jeans, tennis shoes, and backpack.

* * * *

At five am they raided the Portmeirion. Hans and Markus barred the front door; you could see the Captain arguing with them holding some papers in their face, what could only be a search warrant. The press had been tipped off again, it was on every major station. I noticed a dagger in one of the twin’s boots, it looked suspiciously like mine. I sure hoped so, Markus knew it was important to me and what it could do. I was betting Rolfe had thought of this. If they took my espresso machines, I was going to be pissed. A caption at the bottom of the screen announced that these were my personal shifter bodyguards, I was betting the Pack would now be under suspicion as well. They had tried to kill me many times and had not succeeded, but this new approach was working. I was being effectively killed by the press. People believe anything they see on the news and Jane, as well as Jade and anyone associated with us was now collateral damage. Jane called it a work of art; we were being done in by a PR supertanker.

Jane was getting drowsy, dawn would be here in just a few minutes. “Tell me about Rolfe,” she said.

“I thought I was in love,” I replied. “You should have seen him. A witch experimenting with necromancy had raised nine zombies from a rural graveyard, lost control of them, and they wandered off looking for flesh. A family with two small kids lived out that way and had just driven home and seen a girl that had been on a bicycle that had been attacked near their driveway, she was pretty mangled and eaten up. They called 911 and Rolfe took the call to investigate. He was between partners at the time, probably a good thing. They must have heard them as they arrived and made the call, when Rolfe got there, the door was broken in, the parents were in the kitchen, almost completely cleaned of flesh. The two kids were huddled at the end of the hallway, shaking and crying. Rolfe put himself between the zombies and the kids, calling for backup at the same time. Thirty minutes it took, for backup to arrive.”

“Were you one of the kids?” Jane asked.

It was the obvious question. “No,” I replied. “I was there for the parents, I didn’t have a physical presence. It’s a long story, different from this one, and a story for another day.”

“Like remote viewing?” she asked.

“Similar to that,” I said. “Anyway, Rolfe pulled out that monster gun of his and went through the clip, as well as a second clip in just a matter of seconds. It just made a mess of the walls and made the zombies look even uglier. He shifted in a blur, bits and pieces of his clothing flying off him. Eight feet and nine hundred pounds of shifter-strong Kodiak bear, towering almost to the ceiling and about as wide as the hallway itself now stood between the kids and the zombies. Zombies don’t know fear, they are not very intelligent, all they know is flesh and this was a lot of flesh in front of them. They were climbing over each other to get to him, just two or three could attack at the same time. One would latch on to him as he ripped another one apart. He was pulling their legs and arms off, sometimes their heads, as he would lift one up he would be lifting another that had attached itself to his arms. Occasionally, he would just swat one to the side, causing them to splatter against the walls of the hallway, putting dents and gashes in the walls. This just made the zombies more determined, of course, as they lost the flesh they had gained from the parents, they just became hungrier and more aggressive. It only takes a few moments for zombie limbs to reattach themselves, I think it didn’t even seem to matter if one zombie’s arm attached itself to another zombie with a missing arm. They were eating him alive, he was losing bits of flesh and was bleeding in dozens of places. On one part of his arm you could see they had taken out a big chunk exposing the bone underneath. He kept silent, just continuing, showing no sign of pain or panic, just roaring in anger occasionally as he tore another one apart. Shifters heal fast, especially Alphas but not fast enough for that kind of punishment.”