SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (45 page)

“No signs of forced entry,” Special Agent Miguel Sanchez said.

“Not at this entrance, but slayers always have an escape route in case of attack,” Jesus advised and turned to Anthony. “Do you know where it is?”

The Council member hesitated since such secrets were usually closely guarded, only Richard wasn't going to be escaping to anywhere.

Anthony gestured toward a far door and what appeared to be a bedroom. “In there. I can show you.”

As the most senior of the field agents, Diana took control. “Jesus and Miguel go with. Helene and I will start processing this area.”

The two men followed Anthony from the room and Diana handed Helene latex gloves so they could gather evidence.

Diana yanked the gloves on and walked to where Richard lay. She faced Helene and gestured to the highball glass on the floor. Beneath the metallic scent of blood lingered the odor of alcohol. Bourbon, she guessed. The aroma was familiar as it was Ryder's preferred human libation.

“He had the time to pour himself a drink, so he either wasn't aware that someone was here with him or he knew his attacker.”

“Wait a moment,” Helene said, reached behind her and snapped off the lights.

Moonlight bathed the area where Diana stood. Helene was visible thanks to the light spilling in from the bedroom door. But as the men returned from that area, she called out to them, “Please shut that door.”

When they did, the entire area was plunged into darkness and only their vague silhouettes were visible.

“You can hit the lights,” Diana said and when they all stood together by the door, she continued. “The killer may have already been in the room, waiting for Richard in the dark. Since he didn't force the lock, he either had the key – ”

“Or he came in through Richard's escape route,” Jesus finished.

“Who would know about the entrance?” she asked the slayer.

Anthony clenched his jaw and answered past gritted teeth. “Another Council member.”

Which meant that Benjamin and even Michaela might be suspect. For that matter, Ryder if the Council suspected that he and Benjamin had acted together. She was certain the Council would jump on the chance to eliminate Benjamin and Michaela or for that matter, Ryder. By all rights they should have sanctioned her husband for turning her, but the intercession of their Council members had made it impossible.

She jerked her head in a go ahead gesture and said, “Let's start processing the scene.”

Miguel and Jesus took photos of the area, dusted assorted spots for prints, and searched for any fibers that might give them a clue while Helene and Diana examined the body.

“The throat wound is consistent with a vampire attack,” Helene said as the two of them crouched by the body, examining the ragged flesh and muscle. The attack was so vicious that Richard's head was nearly sliced off his body.

Diana shook her head. “This is overkill, Helene. It was more about settling a score than feeding.”

“But someone fed from him. There's not enough blood in the area for a wound this bad.”

Diana scoped out the blood pool and spatter. “Or he was dead or close to it when his throat was ripped open.”

“Perp was right-handed based on the path of the wound. Slightly taller from the up to down motion of the slice. He used a Taser to subdue him,” she said and gestured to the marks left behind by the barbs and electrical charges.

Helene nodded. “He got hit twice by Taser blasts.”

Diana examined the twin scorch spots on his shirt and then leaned close Helene. She whispered so Anthony couldn't hear. “Can you see anything out of the ordinary?”

Helene closed her eyes and a second later, a bright aura surrounded her body for a split second before Helene jerked out of that state. “Very weird.”

“Weird even for an immortal? You've probably seen more weird than anyone,” Diana said.

Helene, who was actually Nemesis, the Greek goddess of Justice, nodded. “There's a very unusual energy signature in the air. Almost . . . primordial.”

“Primordial? So we're dealing with something other than human?” she asked.

Helene shook her head. “No, actually something very human. But also vampire and slayer.”

Diana's gut tightened as she recalled Ryder's words from earlier that night about Richard zapping him. Was that the energy Helene sensed or was it something else?

“Can you get another read off him? TOD or any images?” she asked. One of Helene's immortal powers was the ability to see things by touching objects or people, but only if a short time had elapsed since death had claimed them.

Helene once again closed her eyes and laid a hand on Richard's arm. As before, only the briefest hint of aura limned her body before she shook her head. “This is so odd. I'm not getting anything at all, but he hasn't been dead long. No more than an hour or two which means I should be able to see something.”

“But you can't?”

Helene shook her head. “It's almost like his brain was zapped clean. Like a computer hard disk that's been wiped by some kind of magnet or jolt of power.”

Back to that zap
, Diana thought uneasily. “Let's check his liver temp so we can better gauge the TOD.”

Diana pushed to her feet and walked to where Anthony waited by the door as Helene worked by Richard's body. She took the measurement as Diana asked and then called out, “He's been dead for about an hour and a half.”

Ryder had only been with me for the last hour
, she thought.

She faced Anthony. “We're almost done here. We'll have a report for you by the morning.”

“Need time to coordinate your stories? Create some alibis?” the slayer shot back.

“Let's settle this right now, slayer,” she said, opened the door and asked the others to enter.

As they did, her gaze skipped over each of their faces as she asked, “Where were you at approximately eleven tonight?”

Michaela's gaze swung to Jesus and she said, “In bed with J. He can vouch for me.”

“I can,” her boss and friend confirmed.

She peered at Benjamin who shrugged nonchalantly. “Home alone. Your doorman or security tapes can probably confirm when I arrived at the building.”

That left just one, but the most important one as far as she was concerned.

“Ryder?”

“I was in transit from the Blood Bank to our home,” he answered without hesitation, although he, too, recognized that he had just jumped to Number One on the list of suspects.

“Did anyone see you? Do you remember the route you took?” she pressed, grasping at anything that might help her clear her husband.

“No one. As for the route . . . .” He shook his head and sighed. “Who knows.”

“I will have to report this to the Council,” Anthony replied, almost gleefully.

“We're far from finished with our investigations,” Jesus advised and he was backed up by the murmured comments of Helene and Miguel. “We'd like to do an autopsy.”

Anthony shook his head. “No can do. No one besides another slayer can handle him.”

“How do you propose we finish our investigations then?”

“Not my problem,” Anthony replied smugly and crossed his arms over his chest.

Diana sidled close to Ryder and tucked her hand into his, but he pulled away and she could feel him shutting her out through the connection they shared.

Anthony continued after a quick glance at all of them. “We'll expect concrete proof of his innocence.”

“You'll get it,” she advised and hoped she wouldn't be wrong.

“Then you'd best get to work,” Anthony said and stood there, vigilant as they completed the few tasks they could.

Vampire Reborn
: Chapter Nine

Ryder stood at the wall of windows, staring out at the night sky and the ever present activity along the Queensboro Bridge and up and down the city streets.

In the living room behind him, Diana and her law enforcement types tossed out scenario after scenario and reviewed the evidence they had so far. Not that they had much. Just a few scattered fibers as well as blood samples and photos of the scene. The Taser marks on Richard's body. Still, he'd seen his wife solve a crime with far less to go on.

He felt useless just standing there. As useless as he'd felt the night Connall Burk had beat him to within an inch of his undead life. As useless as he'd felt earlier that night when Richard had jolted him.

Just like someone had electrocuted Richard. After hearing Helene's comments, he had no doubt that it wasn't just Tasers that had jolted Richard.

Had the hit of energy been powerful enough to kill him or had he survived long enough to feel the bite of whatever had torn his throat open
?

From the corner of his eye, he caught Benjamin's approach, but he was in no mood for company.

“This isn't a good time, Ben.” His voice had the low rumble of the vampire as anger and worry ate at his control.

“There never is such a thing as a good time, Ryder. Can you remember anywhere you went after you left the Blood Bank?”

He nodded. “I've been mentally piecing together the trip home. I'm pretty sure of where I came down to street level. Maybe there's a traffic camera or some other CCTV that caught me on the way.”

Like the storefront where he had seen his reflection. He could confirm it with a quick trip down the avenue, but first, there was something else that had been bothering him.

He approached Diana and her colleagues. As he neared, they quieted and looked up at him.

“Did you remember something?” his wife asked.

“Lots of little things that could maybe help,” he said. “There might be video of me nearby that can confirm where I was at the time of the murder. And we had set up security cams at Foley's, so maybe there's video there as well.”

“We can check on the public cameras at the office,” Miguel advised and Ryder provided them information on the locations where he had been on the street before arriving at the apartment.

“I'll check with Foley,” she said.

He stuttered a protest, but his wife said, “We can't let a suspect secure his own evidence, Ryder. Please understand.”

He did understand, but he wasn't happy about accepting it. “I get it, Di. I may not like it, but I get it.”

She offered him a reassuring smile and said, “That's a good start. Anything else?”

He dipped his head. “You felt some weird kind of power from when Richard touched me. Helene sensed something unusual with Richard.”

“You want to know if it's the same kind of energy?” Helene asked and when he nodded, she rose, stood before him, and released her goddess powers. A beautiful blue aura slowly leaked from her until she was bathed in color. She closed her eyes, raised her hands, and let them hover close to his body. He could feel the peaceful kiss of her aura as she read his life force.

“I sense it. Energy besides your own,” she said. “But it's different than what I picked up around Richard. Actually, the more that I think about it, it was like Richard's life force was just wiped away.”

“What do you mean 'wiped away'?” Michaela asked.

“Empty,” Helene said and peered at Michaela. “I can see your life force all around you. Similar to Richard's and to the lingering energy that's staining Ryder's power.” She looked from Michaela to Benjamin. “You have almost none of that life force left, Ben. There's another aura of power in you. Undead energies.”

Helene finally examined Diana. She motioned between her and Michaela. “The two of you have similar energies. More like Ryder's.”

“What do you mean, 'more like mine'?” he asked, wondering why the goddess wouldn't group him with someone like Benjamin, who was more vampire than slayer apparently.

Helene stepped away from him and ran her gaze up and down his body. “Your life forces are mixed. Very mixed, almost like there's a battle going on inside your body.”

No shit
, he thought. It was much like the war going on inside his head, now more than ever.

“So what you're saying is that someone didn't just drain some of Richard's blood. They drained his life force?”

Helene nodded.

“So we've got an energy vampire at work?” asked Miguel, her partner and lover. He walked to her side and laid his hands on her shoulders protectively and Ryder understood. If someone was after intense powers, Helene was like catnip.

Diana rose from the couch and paced back and forth for a moment before facing Helene. “Could you identify if someone had Richard's power inside them?”

The other woman shook her head of curly auburn hair. “It's not that specific for me. Not like those of you with undead blood who can connect to each other through the link of that shared blood. All I can tell you is whether someone has that same kind of energy within them.”

“It's a start at least,” Diana said with a sigh. Facing the group that he'd come to think of as their posse, she said, “I think it's time we called it a night. We can pull tapes and get the videos in the morning. Try to alibi Ryder and figure out who on the Council might want Richard dead.”

“I'll ask around about that,” Michaela said.

Benjamin seconded her response. “There are still some who might speak to me about the internal conflicts.”

Diana turned her attention to Jesus. “Do you think we can ask Maggie to work with some of the physical evidence? Maybe have David assist her?” she said, referring to two other members of their otherworld group of friends.

Jesus nodded. “I'll speak to them first thing in the morning.”

Feeling as useless as tits on a bull, he asked, “And what about me? What am I supposed to do? Just stand here and look pretty?”

His wife winced and dragged a hand through her hair in frustration. “We'll need your help, Ryder. For right now, you need to lay low.”

Fury rose up inside him, driven by that feeling of helplessness and failure that had been dogging him for over a month. “You expect me to tuck my tail between my legs – ”

“Not now, Ryder,” she said with an angry slash of her hand. “This is between the two of us.”

“And I think it's time we all left,” Jesus said and literally pushed the others out the door, leaving the two of them glaring at each other.