The phone continued to ring, as if whoever was calling hit redial before the voicemail picked up. Nikolas finally dug the phone out of his pocket.
"What?"
I laughed, watching his expressions, listening to the one-sided conversation.
"Yeah& No, why? & I see& No, I've got him. Be there shortly."
Ah, yes. The usual call to see if I'd been rounded up. Nikolas was the only one who'd come find me that I'd go home with without incident. He seemed to be the only one who realized that while I was supposed to be kept safe, I was still in charge.
"Reid?" I asked when he snapped the phone shut.
"Of course."
"What's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Liar." I watched him get up, pocket his phone, then head for the bike. "Reid doesn't do the calling unless something's going down, so spill it."
He straddled the bike and rubbed the gas tank affectionately with his palm. After a few seconds, he huffed. "You feed at the club you were at tonight?"
"Yes. Why?"
"We've got a bleeder."
Bleeder. Aka . a vampire vic. Someone who had bled, but probably hadn't liked it.
"At the club where I was tonight?"
"Christ." He started up the Harley and revved the engine. "Guess I ain't gonna get to eat for a while."
I jumped to my feet and went to Nikolas, climbing on behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed the back of his neck. "Won't take long. I promise. I just want to have a look around."
"You are so going to owe me."
* * *
We parked a couple blocks away and walked toward the club. I could see the flashing blue and red lights reflecting off the sides of nearby buildings. At a block away, the scent of gun oil was so strong it burned my nose.
"These are good boys and girls," I said with an amused chuckle. "Clean."
"Yeah, well, don't let it get you all hard, princess. We're just here to look, then we go eat." Nikolas sniffed, nose wrinkling. "I don't smell much blood."
Oddly, neither did I.
We continued walking until we came up behind a crowd of people. They parted for us easy enough until we reached a line of sawhorses bound together by police tape. An officer was just a few feet away, attempting to explain to a young woman why she couldn't cross the line to go in search of a friend she thought was still inside the club.
She whined enough that the officer finally agreed to check out a few names for her. I scouted around, searching for clues on what had happened.
Most of the activity seemed to be centered around the alley next to the club. Crime scene techs went back and forth, from the alley to a van, snapping pictures, collecting evidence. The one thing I couldn't see well was the body.
I slowly made my way toward the van. If I couldn't see the body, maybe the evidence would be just as good. A tech standing at the van set his camera down, and I watched him as he started packing some of his equipment away. Another tech called out his name, needing his help with something.
He started to walk away, but seemed to have second thoughts about leaving his equipment out.
"No, no, it'll be fine," I whispered under my breath, keeping my focus on the tech at the van. "Go."
"What the fuck are you doin'?" Nikolas growled in my ear.
I ducked beneath the crime scene tape, winking. "Just watch my back, okay?"
"Goddamn it, Peter!"
Partially shielding, I made my way to the van. I wasn't trying to disappear as much as I was trying to blend in. On the top of one of the crates inside the van was a crime scene vest. I took it and slipped it on, then picked up the camera. It took me a moment to figure out what all the buttons were for, but I finally found the one that'd let me review whatever was on the card.
There were images of the club, the alley at dozens of different angles, dumpsters, garbage, and a brick wall with a number of substances coating it&
My heart caught in my throat as the next image slid into place.
Ricky. The one I'd fed from only hours ago.
I hit the button again and image after image slid across the small screen, the vacant stare in his blue eyes more than haunting. There was something else about the images that didn't set well, but I couldn't seem to settle on just what that was. Swallowing hard, I pulled the memory card from the camera and tucked it deep into my front pants pocket. I carefully wiped the camera to avoid leaving any of my fingerprints, then set it back down where I'd found it.
I turned to make my way to the alley to see Ricky's body firsthand, but two assistants from the coroner's office were wheeling a stretcher with a body bag toward the coroner's van. I shucked the vest and looked back to the crowd for Nikolas.