Kiss of the Vampire(9)

The man shook his head. “Not much of anything. This was a body dump, all right. She was killed some place else.” At Tobias’s grunt of impatience, he added, “We have blood and tissue samples, probably all the victim’s, but that’s it, man. There’s nothing else here.”

“Okay, thanks.” Tobias stood still, staring at the ground, at the blood staining the dirt. Rinda’s blood. She was his friend. Had always been a kindred spirit. It was a disconcerting thing, waking up in someone else’s body. But when you found someone who’d gone through the same thing, you right off the bat had something in common. Sometimes that translated to friendship or something more. She’d been like family to him.

Tension rode high down his neck and into the rest of his muscles. He rotated his shoulders, working out the kinks. Who would have done this? And why? He ground his jaw. She’d had something to talk to him about and he’d gotten back to town as quickly as possible, but he’d been too late. He’d failed her.

Tobias tightened his jaw even more. It wasn’t his first failure. He still hadn’t found the quarry he’d followed through the rift. But he would. As soon as he found Rinda’s killer, he’d get back on the bastard’s trail.

Tobias went over to the medical examiner’s van, taking off his booties and gloves and dropping them in the disposal box on the way. “Hang on a second there, boys,” he said before the body snatchers could close the back door of the van. “I need the autopsy report as soon as possible. When can I expect it?”

The lead tech, a werewolf, didn’t look up from his clipboard. “I’ll be assisting the doc with whatever’s left of the old gal. Report should be ready by tomorrow or next day at the latest.”

Son of a…With speed fueled by rage Tobias grabbed the man by the front of his coveralls. Lifting him off his feet, he slammed him into the door of the van, rocking the vehicle. The werewolf looked up from his clipboard, his startled gaze fixing on Tobias’s. Tobias snarled, “You treat her with respect or they’ll be picking what’s left of you up off the street. Understood?”

The werewolf’s throat moved with his hard swallow. “Yes, sir. I meant no disrespect.”

“Uh-huh.” Tobias let him down slowly. With his face just inches from the tech’s, he whispered, “Victims should not be victimized again by your indifference. Show a little compassion.”

The tech pressed his lips together and nodded. “Got it. Won’t happen again.”

Tobias smoothed the material where he’d bunched it, holding the werewolf’s gaze a moment longer, and then turned away. He stopped, his eye caught by Nix and MacMillan still talking. He wondered what the hell they could be talking about so long and then reminded himself it was none of his business. He was here to do a job, and once it was done he’d leave again. Get back to tracking down the man who’d assassinated the leader of Tobias’s people, the reason Tobias had come through the rift to begin with.

The only reason he had to keep going, now that he no longer had Nix.





“…and that’s how he and I met,” Nix finished. She looked back at the crime scene to see Tobias standing tall and strong. She was struck by the lonely picture he made. Surrounded by people and yet all alone. It was almost enough to make her want to go back to him, offer him companionship.

Almost. The pangs of hurt vibrating inside kept her feet planted right where they were.

Dante nodded. “Well, again, I’m sorry about your friend.”

“Thanks.”

“So…” He paused and looked at her. She could almost see the wheels turning inside his head. He said, “You seem to understand the different factions.”

She had a feeling that wasn’t what he’d originally meant to say. “Yeah,” she said slowly, wondering where this was going.

“How did you get involved with EDs? I mean, I’m in this because of my job. Special Case Squads were set up pretty quickly as soon as we humans realized EDs were real, and once I’d gotten the requisite amount of detective hours under my belt, I signed on for this quadrant. But you… How did you get mixed up in all this?”

“You mean what’s a nice girl like me etcetera, etcetera?” She raised her eyebrows, smiling a little when he shrugged and looked like a sheepish little boy. All he needed to do was scuff one foot back and forth and the picture would be complete.

“Yeah, I guess.” His stare sharpened, reminding her there really was nothing boyish about him at all. He was a tough cop. He used humor to deal with the horrible things he saw every day, but when it came down to it he was a hardened warrior. “There has to be more to it than that you’re part demon.”