Cause of Death: Unnatural (The Cause of Death Series) (3 page)

She placed a bourbon and coke in front of
Robert, something tall and red in front of Em, and was gone.

“
This isn't what I ordered,” called Em
quickly, but Robert was talking again.

“
If you want to go...” he said.

“
Robert,” said Em. “Stop worrying. I'm OK.”
She looked at her drink and shrugged. What could it hurt?

The lights dimmed and the show began and
as she watched Em raised the red coloured drink to her lips. The second the
liquid touched her tongue Em's head snapped back and she sucked in a deep
breath of air. She knew that flavour very well. She spun her head round to look
at the barman. He was watching her with a wide grin on his face and a smug
expression. He raised an eyebrow at her and tilted his head. It was an
invitation, but Em only snorted.

She knew what he was now, and the doorman.
Lower vampires, but with a considerable amount of dark matter in their beings.
The type of creature that is created when one of the family devours most of a
human soul and fills the rest with dark energy. Alina has been busy after all,
thought Em. She looked back to the stage and recognized a few more vampires
amongst the dancers. Two tables away from her a dark haired man raised his glass
to her, and his date smiled at Em suggestively and then bit her lip, slowly.

It was clear they all knew who Em was,
and, she thought, it was clear they knew her status too. There was a grudging
respect in their sidelong glances, but there was also an overt sense of
playfulness. Em had a pretty good guess as to what that was about. If Alina and
her entourage could entice Em into their little bit of fun, then Em was less
likely to tell her father where his latest concubine had run to. A good play,
but a risky one. Em hadn’t exactly been daddy’s little girl, but when the lord
of the family is jilted in so public a manner it didn’t take an idiot to
realize he was going to reign hellfire on anyone found harboring his runaway
wench. Alina was out of her mind, Em thought. Either stupider than Em had
thought, or more arrogantly confident than was good for her.

On the stage a group of dancers crawled on
all fours to the front of the stage in a tangle of bodies and black leather.
One slapped a palm flat on the floor directly in front of Em and Robert and
snarled like cat. She was a vampire, Em noticed. Yes, the setup here was so
obvious now. Why hadn’t she noticed it before?

Robert glanced over at Em and lifted his
eyebrows and smiled. He was enjoying himself, and he obviously hadn’t noticed
Em’s little moment with her cocktail.

She raised her glass to her lips again and
took a long drink. Shutting her eyes and revelling in the flavour she smiled a
long, slow smile. Watching Alina fall was going to be so enjoyable. Em was
looking forward to getting her own back on Alina for this appalling headache
the wench had visited on her this week. What surprised Em was how much the
drink had cleared her head. She felt fantastic now, and the pain in her temples
was nearly gone.

She shifted her chair closer to Robert’s
and leaned her body up against his. He looked down at her quizzically and he
wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She kissed the line of his jaw just above
his throat, then she turned her attention back to the rest of the show.

*
 
*
 
*

When the last of the girls
trouped offstage and a glittering silver curtain had splashed down from the
ceiling, the lights brightened slightly and the blonde waitress reappeared at
their table.

“
Will you come this way please?” she said
gesturing to a doorway at the side of the stage. The doorman stood there, his
black hat perched jauntily over one eye, his hands adding flourishes to the
mock bow he performed to show the way.

Robert stood up. “Our tour!” he said. “I’d
forgotten. Are you coming Em?”

Em had enjoyed the show and now her
headache was gone she was relishing the prospect of meeting Alina again. Em and
Alina had been battling each other for five centuries now, give or take a
decade or so. This far from her father’s side, and plainly acting without his
blessing, Alina was in a rare position of vulnerability. Em held all the cards
and she was going to enjoy playing them nice and slowly.

They followed the doorman down a dingy
hallway, and then exploded into a busy room dazzling with mirrors, lightbulbs,
sequins, feathers and lots of tanned flesh. Dancers flung themselves out of
costumers and squeezed themselves into new ones. Long legs, fake eyelashes,
loosely buckled pants, big boobs and impossibly defined sixpacks. It was
intoxicating, and the mix of human blood to dark matter seemed to be about
half. Em found herself grinning despite herself. Robert looked like a kid at
Christmas.

From across the room came a screech and a
large figure with hair piled high, a gold lame gown and a fox stole came
striding through the middle of the chaos. Dancers and dressers made room for
her - she seemed to glide across the dressing room as if she had wings.

“
Emiliaaaa,” the woman drawled. “Daarling.”
And suddenly Em was engulfed in a bear hug. “It’s so delicious to see you, my
dear. How long has it been? Two hundred years?” She threw Em out of her embrace
and caught Robert’s eye. She laughed as if she’d made a fabulous joke. Robert
smiled back, bemused. “And who is this, my darling? Don’t tell me you’re
married?”

Em pushed back from the woman and stared.
“Alina?” This was not the Alina she remembered. The Alina she knew was thin and
pale and smiled only when her lord commanded it. This Alina had packed on a
hundred pounds and … gold lame? Em was incredulous. She suddenly became aware
of Robert staring at them both and realized she’d have to play along.

“
Alina.
It’s,
erm, lovely to see you again,” Em managed. And then, regaining her composure,
“I didn’t know you were in town.”

Alina’s eyes narrowed slightly. She
allowed a flicker of dark energy to whisper out of her being and into the
brightly lit room. Em did the same and their energies met in the space between
their bodies and battled for a moment. It was over quickly. Alina didn’t seem
to have the half the strength Em remembered her having, and Em had to reign her
energy in sharply as Alina’s collapsed in seconds. Around them, the vampires in
the room froze for a moment and stared at them, looks of hunger on their faces.
The humans noticed nothing and in a heartbeat the moment was past.

“
Of course I’m not married,” said Em
loudly. “This is my boss, Robert Williams. You invited him here, Alina.
Remember?”

Alina flung an arm expansively in Robert’s
direction. “Of course I do. Our local forensic pathologist. I had the chief
inspector here last week. One must always look after the authorities, don’t you
think? Mr Williams, how did you enjoy our little show? Did you find it
enticing? Did you find it entirely divine?” Leaving him no time to answer Alina
called to a well muscled man standing close by watching. “Raoul, my darling, we
promised the delightful Mr Williams a tour. Show him the sights, will you, and
do take very good care of him.”

Raoul and Robert bustled away and Em and
Alina stood staring at each other.

“
What on earth are you doing?” said Em at
last.

Alina shrugged. “I’m enjoying myself,
darling. I’m living my life the way I want to.” She looked at Em slyly from
under long rhinestone lashes. “Not unlike yourself, Emilia.”

“
And what about
your
… staff?” Em burst out. She flapped a hand at the room in general. “How many
creatures have you made, Alina? You know my father isn’t going to be happy
about that. What do you think this is, a free for all?”

“ My employees?” said Alina, grinning
around the room. “My
permanent
staff?” She lowered her voice and stepped closer to Em. “Oh, it’s just
a few, Emilia my darling. A girl’s got to have her fun. And look at them.
Aren’t they simply delectable? My vampires are hand picked - the best of the
bunch. And it’s not as if they’re going to go around draining anybody, not that
it would matter if they did. They’re all very well behaved.” She smiled as if
this was a huge joke.

Em was stumped. This new Alina was the
very last thing she’d expected. And given the woman’s quite obvious weakness,
there seemed little point in the blood battle Em had recently been considering.
She was a little disappointed, if she thought about it.

“
There was a killing last week,” said Em
hotly. “Three bodies, not far from here. What do your hand-picked permanent
staff know about that?”

Alina’s smile shut off like a light.

“
Nothing,” she said quickly. “You’re the
crime scene investigator. You figure it out.”

Em gathered a small bolt of dark energy
and was going to launch it at Alina when the older woman suddenly clapped her
hands, all smiles again.

“
You must meet some of my darlings,” she
said ebulliently. “After all, Emilia, we are practically family.”

Alina hooked an arm through the elbow of
the nearest dancer, a lithe woman in black leather hot pants and not much else
other than tassels. “You know who this is, don’t you?” she asked the girl,
indicating Em. The dancer looked at Em and an excited, predatory smile crossed
her face. “We’re so honored by her presence - the daughter of the lord,”
continued Alina. “Graced.”

Behind the dancer, a young man with a
gorgeously sculptured torso snapped the elastic of one suspender belt against
his chest and squeezed the ass of the girl in front of him making her jump,
squeal and then melt back into his arms.

He purred at Em. “Thanks for … coming,” he
said.

“
Naughty,” said Alina, batting him with the
tail of her foxfur. She turned to the other side of the dressing room. “Now
this is who I want you to meet, Emilia. Come and meet Raeisa.”

Raeisa was a redhead decked out in a dress
of green reptilian leather. When the girl turned around her deep green eyes
glittered at Em and she stretched out a hand complete with long scaly
fingernails that matched her dress.

“
Raeisa is our star attraction,” drawled
Alina putting a possessive arm around the redheaded girl's waist.

Raeisa leaned into Alina's embrace. Em
wondered if she might disappear entirely into the folds of the larger woman's
flesh, but Raeisa reached up and licked the side of Alina's face looking at Em
all the time she did so. She smiled and revealed an impressive set of teeth.
Too impressive. Em saw Alina freeze for the merest second, and then the woman
burst back into character again hoisting that grotesque smile onto her face and
shaking a finger at Raeisa.

“
Isn't she sweet?” cooed Alina.

Sweet? thought Em. Alina was scared of
this Raeisa, that much was obvious. But why? Raeisa wasn't a vampire. It was
curious, but Em wasn't sure exactly what Raeisa was.

Em saw the redhead was still looking at
her. Raeisa winked, and suddenly Em's headache pounded back into her skull. It
was so fierce Em found herself blinking and frowning. She gave Raeisa a tight
smile, turned back to Alina and put a hand to her forehead.

“
Daaarling,” said Alina gleefully. “You
look like you need another drink.”

* * *

Robert drove her home later and hesitated
wishfully at her door but Em wasn't in the mood.

They'd left the dressing room at the club
and headed back out to the bar with Robert plying her with questions about
Alina.

“
You knew that woman?” he asked,
incredulous. “And you didn't even know she'd opened the club? What an amazing
coincidence.”

“
She's an aunt,” Em improvized. “A
particularly obnoxious aunt. And she's changed a lot. She used to be much …
quieter.”

Robert frowned. “An aunt? I'd heard she
was Ukrainian. Your family are from Maine, aren't they?”

Em sighed. She should have known better
than to try and pull such a lame story over Robert. He dissected alibis for a
living, and she hated lying to him.

“
It's complicated. Second marriages, this
and that, you know how it is.” Em had slugged back a vodka shot and yanked
Robert onto the dance floor, slinking her body around Robert's almost
aggressively. Anger brought out her rough side.

Robert had
had
the good sense to keep his mouth shut. He looked pleased, actually. Em knew
he'd had a very enjoyable evening.

She found Robert so interesting. Perhaps it
was his scientific mind, his eagerness to experiment to get to the truth of
things. She knew that Jennifer and most of the people at work thought Robert
was a staid, boring thing
who
preferred his lab to the
real world. They thought he preferred dead bodies because he was too timid to
get out and about with living bodies. That was a little harsh. Sure, he had his
quirks, but he was also one of the most confident men Em knew, and that had its
own attraction.