“Anthony turned eighteen right around the time our mom died, so my brothers both moved in with me and we haven’t spoken to Shep since. He had the audacity to invite us to his wedding. He tried to reach out a couple times, in that first year, but not to apologize. He tried to explain that he fell in love, that it wasn’t his fault, that I would understand when I fell in love, blah blah blah. His…wife tried to reach out to me too. Only a couple times, but I cut her off just as quickly.” Even remembering some of the bullshit stuff Shep had said made her want to smack his stupid face right off.
“If you wish, I will hunt him down and kill him right now.” Mikael’s words were softly spoken in that sharp-edged way of his that sent a shiver down her spine. She was pretty sure he wasn’t joking at all.
She was going to choose to pretend that he was, however. She nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Not ridiculous. It will be easy. He is old and pathetic. I will make it quick. Unless you want him to suffer.” Again, with the dark, rumbly voice. “Then he will suffer greatly.”
“Mikael! I…” She sighed, unable to deal with this right now. Instead she laid her head on his hard shoulder and stared out at the yard. “We need to trim this lawn. My lawn guy is a slacker.”
He snorted softly since he was the one who normally took care of the yard here. “I’ll make sure I talk to him.”
For a moment she savored the quiet, this little time she was going to simply take, when… She sat up suddenly as she remembered something. “Did my brothers have bruises and bloody knuckles?”
Mikael nodded. “They did.”
She blinked at his honesty. “Do you know why?”
“I do.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“They asked me not to, but I won’t lie to you.”
“Was there…color or something in Anthony’s hair?” It had looked purple, and while she’d been stunned by her father’s arrival, her brain must have subconsciously picked up on all that. Now she wanted to know what had happened.
“I believe it was cupcake frosting. And no, I don’t know why it was in his hair. I think the lion was involved.” Mikael’s face scrunched up a very particular way every time he talked about “the lion.”
She studied his expression. If Mikael wasn’t worried, then she wasn’t going to worry either. Sighing, she laid her head back on his shoulder. She liked being close to him. She felt safe. Protected. Grounded. “I’m going to pretend I have no idea about frosting or bruises right now.”
“With younger brothers, that is often a wise choice. Speaking of…do you know where my brothers are?” There was a tension in his question.
“No. They’re grown men, Mikael, and I don’t need them watching out for me while you’re gone.” Mikael could be sooooo overprotective of her and her brothers, which was sweet, but he got kind of grumpy and mulish sometimes if his brothers left her alone for two minutes. She was twenty-eight and she didn’t need a guardian, let alone three of them.
He just grunted, which yep, meant things were back to normal between them.
Right now she was glad for it, because she craved normal. Or their new version of it.
Chapter 3
King stepped around the prone body and crouched down by the male’s head. It belonged to one of three dead humans.
They all had puncture marks in their necks and wrists. All had been savaged when the vampire had drained their blood. Savaged meaning that the killer had drunk from them as if they’d had no control. And yes, vampires had to have training once they’d been turned, being taught how to drain enough blood to satisfy without killing the victim. It was Vampire 101. Killing food sources was stupid in the long term when you could use them for decades upon decades.
“I’ve seen this kind of feeding before,” he murmured to his lieutenants, Ace and Delphine.
“Yeah, me too,” Delphine murmured, her amber eyes flashing once as she looked down at the bodies. She pulled her long, dark brown braids back into a tie before she crouched down and inspected the wounds on the female human.
“They’re all clothed,” he said, mainly because he wanted to make sure they were all on the same page. “I don’t think this was a sexual assault type of thing.”
Someone could have re-dressed them, of course, but…these killings were sloppy. That of young vampires not in control of their bloodlust. Because he was certain there was more than one killer. The scents hung heavy in the air.
“The vampires lost control, drained them instead of taking only a little. And…” He inhaled again. His olfactory senses were acute, especially for his age of roughly two hundred years. “They were killed at separate times. Then dumped here.” The dumping part was obvious. This area of underbrush was muddy and there was only one set of footprints other than theirs still visible around the dump site. None of the bodies had on socks or shoes—yet their feet weren’t dirty. Definitely dumped. “Not a turning gone wrong either.”
“There’s a moratorium on creating vampires anyway,” Ace said, stepping back and scanning the area.
Of course he already knew that—he had set the damn moratorium with good reason.
One of their sentries patrolling the outer limits of the city had discovered the bodies and reported in immediately. King’s pack had since secured the area, but finding something like this threatened to disturb the balance of the city. One that was still recovering from…a lot of shit.
So far New Orleans had dodged any serious issues with getting the city resettled. People needed a sense of normalcy, and right now he was making sure everyone’s needs were being met. Everyone had enough food, they had running water and electricity, and had limited communication thanks to some of his brilliant packmates. Education was on hold for the moment, but he was working with various educators as well. Any healthcare needs were being met either in the human hospitals or the ones run by supernatural healers. The important stuff was handled, and something like this… Humans being murdered?
It could definitely disrupt things. No, he did not like this at all.
“I want a meeting with all the vampire leaders in the city. Tonight.” He looked at Ace. “Make the calls. We’ll bring the bodies, see if anyone recognizes them.”
His lieutenant nodded once and stalked off, pulling his cell phone out.
“Do you smell that?” King murmured to Delphine, stepping away from the bodies.
She frowned and glanced around the wooded area. The bodies had been left beneath a tree, with a few leaves tossed over them as if the person who’d brought them here had haphazardly tried to cover the bodies, then changed their mind. It was barely a half-assed attempt.
The bodies had been abandoned quickly, discarded like trash. It also told him all he needed to know about their killers.
“You think one of the killers is still here?” she murmured low enough that only he could hear.
“No.” The bodies were cold and it would be stupid to hang around. He stepped between two trees and heard a rustling sound, then looked up, tensing for an attack.
He stepped back in surprise to see a baby dragon the size of a baby elephant staring down at him with wide purple eyes, its gray wings pulled tight against its back.