The Mech Who Loved Me(19)

And dhampir were just one step along in the evolution chain for a blue blood. Ava paused. The black veins looked very similar, though Zero's capillaries had all burst, and she'd bled internally. Though the craving virus should have healed her, especially with the CV levels Zero had, for some odd reason it hadn't.

Something stopped her body from healing, even as it caused her to bleed.

Was this the same? Was it some sort of disease? A malady that killed only blue bloods and their evolved brethren, the dhampir?

Or something else?

"You think there's more to the death than there seems?" Kincaid asked.

"I'm just wondering.... Zero had black veins just like this when she died," she replied vaguely, peeling the blue blood's lip up to see if there was anything in his mouth that might have caused this.

"If Malloryn thought this had anything to do with Zero's death then he wouldn't have sent us. He'd have been here himself, probably with Byrnes and Ingrid, despite their wedding."

"You think I'm conjuring a link between the two deaths?"

"Six deaths," he pointed out. "There's been five blue bloods go down with whatever this is."

Ava quietly gathered her skirts around her and stood, fussing with her gloves as she pried them off. "But you think I want this to be connected?"

Kincaid's mercurial gaze settled upon her, and he crossed his arms. "I know you want a case-"

She threw her gloves on the floor. "That is not true, damn it. Or yes, it's true-I want a case. But I'm not simply trying to conjure a link because I want this to connect back to the missing dhampir, or even Ulbricht. I've been taught to assess facts, not find a conspiracy. And the facts state this man died in mysterious circumstances, and his symptoms are familiar in some ways-though not all-with the mysterious death of our dhampir captive. Even you have to admit the black veins are conspicuously similar."

His gaze remained flat. "If this does lead back to the dhampir, then perhaps it would be best to bring in the others."

"What are you saying?"

"That neither of us is equipped to deal with those monsters. I'm human, and you're...." He suddenly seemed to realize she was glaring at him.



       
         
       
        

"I'm what?" Ava practically dared him to say it.

After all, she'd heard it all before. She had hysterical attacks at times; she'd panicked the one time she'd tried to shoot a pistol at a man who'd tried to kill her; and she felt both a little ill and excited at the sight of blood, which was ironic in itself considering the craving virus. What sort of blue blood disliked the idea of drinking blood?

She was not Gemma, femme fatale and dangerous spy.

She was not Ingrid, whose Amazonian build and verwulfen temper frightened even the boldest of men.

She was Ava. Quiet conqueror of the laboratory, the woman most men overlooked in favor of others, and awkward enough in company she generally sought to avoid it these days.

A muscle in Kincaid's jaw ticked. "You... are no match for a dhampir."

Ava threw her hands in the air. Coward. "Who is a match for a dhampir? One of them took down both Byrnes and you without breaking a sweat."

"That's not the point," he said, his voice heating.

"Or should I say... by breaking a nose?"

Kincaid winced, and she focused on the slight hook to his nasal column. "The point is neither of us is suited for a confrontation with a creature that could rip our throats out without even blinking. If there is a link between Mr. Thomas's death and Zero's, then we're calling in Malloryn and the others, and gratefully handing this case on."

"Fine. If this leads to the dhampir, then we wash our hands of it." She didn't have to like it. This case was hers. "I'll go with Mr. Thomas to the morgue at the guild and see if I can sit in on the autopsy. I want to see if he's bleeding internally, as Zero was."

"You'll be careful?"

Ava looked up sharply.

"This is the fifth blue blood that has died like this," he pointed out. "What if it is some disease? I'm fairly safe, but who knows if you could become ill?"

"If it is a disease, then it's not very contagious." At his blank look, she continued. "It was compulsory for unapproved blue bloods to be listed before the revolution overturned the process. I checked the blue blood registry before we came, and there are certain boroughs of London that were approved for blue blood housing. This borough was a hot spot, which means there are quite a few blue bloods living in the area-probably the cause of the rumblings of discontent we ran into. Last year's census showed over thirty in this borough alone. If the disease were contagious, you'd expect more cases. This is the only one in this district. Clerkenwell's the only borough with more than one death within it."