Hex and the Single Witch (Vehicle City Vampires) (19 page)

“Great thinking,
Mel. I got to get to the scene but you need to find Galen and tell Satinka what
is going on.”

“You got it girl
and if there’s anything else I can help you with, let me know.”

“Thanks, Mel.”

I finished
getting dressed and headed to yet another murder scene downtown.

****

Lately it was
always the same route to one of these scenes—75 south to 69, get off at the
Saginaw Street exit turn left and head downtown, I knew once I hit the bricks I
was almost to a scene. Did this psycho have a thing for the bricks paving this
part of Saginaw Street?

Hmm, something
to wonder about. One never could tell what kind of magick was woven into
something as simple as bricks and mortar.

I pulled up
behind a line of parked police cars flashing lights and hauled out my badge so
I could cross the lines of yellow tape without hassle. Since I went directly
into the P.I.T. Crew after college and the academy, most of the beat cops and
regular uniformed guys didn’t know me very well. I hardly dealt with them at
all except during times like these.

I followed the
trail and headed downhill, down all the concrete stairs to the small grassy
area by the river where everyone gathered in a huddle.

Mike met me
before I reached the body.

“Looks like the
same killer though this one’s a bit messier than the others. There’s more than
one bite and her clothes are completely shredded. If she was tore up more or if
the bite marks were different I’d pin this on her wolfy boyfriend, but these
are clearly vampire bites, not werewolf bites. The forensics team already
measured, spaced, and took casts of the marks. We’re ready for you to do your
thing.”

I looked up at
him uneasily. This was the most he’d spoken to me since the incident at my
house. And he was all business. I almost didn’t want him to be.

I wanted
something…but I had work to do.

The throngs of
police and human forensics cleared to make a path for me to the body. I gasped
at what I saw.

Her clothes were
literally shredded off her body and littered the area around her. Only a few
scraps remained clinging to her naked flesh. Bites marks covered her breasts,
thighs, and neck. As I looked closer, I could see she put up a fight; her nails
were broken, she had bruises all over her body, her feet were scraped and cut
like she had been running barefoot over pavement and rocks.

Someone had
chased her.

I knelt down
beside the body fearing the visions that would come.

I let it wash
over me. The first thing I saw was Galen. The shock almost knocked me over
though I had been half expecting it. I let go of her, afraid to see any more.

“What’s wrong,
Annie?”

I tilted my head
up slightly keeping my eyes focused on the body not wanting to meet Malone’s
eyes, afraid he could see what was there.

“Nothing, just a
jolt. It’s been awhile, I wasn’t expecting it. I always forget how intense the
visions can be sometimes.” I prayed he wouldn’t see through the lie. I put my
hands back on her.

 I stood in the
doorway staring at Galen. He was smiling. I was scared.

“Look, Galen,
I’m sorry I left without telling you. I was just afraid you’d be angry.”

“Charlotte, how
could you think such a thing? Have I ever treated you badly, have I ever hurt
you?”

“No, but he told
me you were bad, told me about the things you’ve done to people. I didn’t want
those things to happen to me and well…Tom was getting tired of me being a donor
to a vamp and wanted me all to himself. I guess I should have told you I was
leaving.”

“Who told you
what about me?” Galen asked, fangs slightly showing which caused my heart to
race with fear.

“That British
guy at VAMP.”

“Devlin?”

“Yeah, that’s
him, Devlin.”

“I’m going to
tear that son of a bitch apart,” Galen roared.

Fear rose inside
me as I slammed the door in Galen’s face. I didn’t want him taking the anger
out on me. I waited expecting him to say something or pound on the door, but
for the longest time there was nothing. As I turned to walk away there was a
soft knock.

I felt compelled
to open the door.

“Let’s go for a
walk,” he said.

I couldn’t say
no. I didn’t even bother to put on my shoes.

I stepped
outside and he grabbed me hard, kissing me and tugging at my clothes. I wanted
it, I wanted him. How could I not? Even though something told me I shouldn’t.

He impatiently
tore at my clothes, exposing a breast. He quickly sank his fangs into it. I
squealed with delight as he savagely sucked at my tender flesh. He tore at my
jeans until he had a hole ripped through them and my underwear. Two fingers
plunged inside my heated sex. I thrust my hips against his hand to make him
push harder.

God, I liked it
rough and he knew exactly how to get me going. More ripping. My other breast
felt the cool air before his lips trapped a nipple in his warm mouth. He grazed
the nipple with his teeth while I squirmed in his hands. When his teeth sank
into me again I came all over his hand.

While I was
still quivering he pushed me away. “Enough foreplay, bitch. It’s time to get
really dirty,” he growled.

Something in the
tone made me open my eyes.

He wasn’t who I
thought he was.

Oh. My. God.
What was I doing? What was going on?

I started
running. He laughed. “You’ll never out run me, little girl.”

I ran anyway. I
ran for my life. I knew he was going to kill me. But I knew I had to fight. I
couldn’t just let him take me without a fight.

In moments he
was on me. Strong arms and hands everywhere, hurting me, squeezing, bruising
tender flesh. The rest of my clothes were ripped away. I was naked and cold on
the ground.

His fangs sank
into me over and over; my body was a traitor as I came with each new bite. My
treacherous body liked the pain. I overflowed with pleasure before he ever
roughly forced his cock inside me.

I repeatedly
tried to push him off me but couldn’t, I just wasn’t strong enough. He filled
me with his huge cock and my body welcomed him with an orgasmic shudder while
my mind fought repulsion. I finally gave up fighting while he fucked the life
out of me and sucked out my blood.

Then there was
nothing.

I fell back onto
the cold grass crying and shaking.

She fought.
Something went wrong. She came out of the thrall. Yet he held onto the glamour
enough to keep me from seeing who he was, she saw him. She realized he wasn’t
who she thought. It wasn’t Galen; at least I was pretty sure it wasn’t. She
might have thought it was at first but not in the end. I didn’t think.

Strong arms
wrapped around me and his scent filled my nostrils. Malone. “Annie, are you
Okay You’re crying? Was it that bad?”

“Mike, she
fought him. She fought him as much as she could. She just wasn’t strong enough.
Something went wrong with his spell, his glamour, she realized he wasn’t who
she thought he was, but it was too late, he already had her.”

His arms wrapped
around me. Strong, safe, capable. In that moment I didn’t give a damn who saw
us together as the horror of Charlotte’s last moments tore through me.

“Did you see who
he was?” Mike asked into my hair as he continued to hold me. I shook with
emotion and crackling energy.

“No, but she
did.”

“How, don’t you
see through her eyes?”

“Yeah, but this
bastard knows that. He does something, has done something to keep me from
seeing him.”

“Just you?”

“I don’t know.
Are you thinking we should have another psychic check it out?”

“It couldn’t
hurt. I mean we already have a team who can psychically analyze all the
evidence…even the body before it goes in for autopsy, on any case and no one
else has picked up on anything so far but…” Mike’s words trailed off ending
with a heavy sigh.

“But, maybe we
need someone better to look at this case, the murders, specifically.”

“Yeah, you’re
not offended, are you?”

I pushed him
back so I could turn around and look at him. “Mike, you should know I am not
petty. I want this murderer stopped. And I am the first to admit this bastard
is messing with my magick. I think he’s targeted me as much as he’s targeted
these victims, just in a different way. He knows I’m the one who will see what
happened so he’s blocking it, but maybe new eyes will see something he’s not
expecting.”

Mike smiled at
me. “That’s my Annie girl.” He stood up and held out his hand. I took it, and
let him help me up off the cool wet grass.

One of the ME’s
team walked up to us. “You guys done with the body?”

“Yeah you can
get her outta here now,” Mike responded.

“Good, sun’s up,
gawkers are going to be straggling in as people head into work. It’s better to
get this outta here.” He motioned to the rest of his team and they moved in
with a stretcher.

“Sure thing,”
Mike said without even looking at him. His eyes were on me as we walked to my
car.

“Annie, are you
alright? Really? It looked like this one really messed you up. You were shaking
through the whole thing and not in a good way. You trembled, you even cried out
in pain once. Was it as bad as it looked?”

I couldn’t help
myself; I sagged against his strong body. This whole situation was becoming too
much for me and the readings were harder to do, more draining. He didn’t
hesitate wrapping his arms around me again.

“Mike, it was
worse than it looked. The really, really awful part…she enjoyed it, at least
some of it. She was into pain. Go figure. I guess that’s why she was with a
werewolf.” I almost added ‘and why she was a donor’ but that would have
connected her to Galen. “She liked it rough and while he sexually abused her,
she fought him, her mind told her it was wrong but her body…her body was
wracked with pleasure. Torment of the worst kind because her own mind and body
betrayed her.”

Mike’s voice
rumbled through his chest against my ear as I leaned into his body and he
asked, “Do you think it was part of his spell? To confuse her? Torment her?”

“It’s possible.
This vampire is so evil, so sadistic…” A thought popped into my head that I
couldn’t share with Malone. I regretfully pulled out of his warm embrace.

“Mike, can I go
home and take a shower before I go to the station to record my vision?”

“Sure, Annie, if
you think you’re okay to drive. You go ahead. I’ll see you later,” he said with
a soft smile. “Just give me call later and let me know you’re all right.”

“Sure,” I
mumbled. I drove home furiously recollecting everything I knew about Galen, the
things he had told me…and Devlin.

What was their
beef about? Obviously they did not get along and Devlin seemed to want to hurt
Galen. Was he behind these murders? But how? I hadn’t felt the slightest bit of
magick come off him, at least nothing other than basic vampire magick. Of
course, I hadn’t gotten anything off Galen either, but both Satinka and Mel had
felt strange magick around him at times.

Now I was more
confused than ever. I needed to talk to Mel.

Chapter 25

“Are you in your
office or are you at home?” I asked Mel.

“I’m down in my
office at the station? Where are you?”

“I just left my
house. I have some errands to run, then I’ll be in.”

“Was the crime
scene bad? It was Charlotte wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, has Galen
been found?”

“Troy, one of
the Guardians, I think you met him last night, found him wandering around kinda
out of it again. He took Galen back to Satinka’s. He’s back in his chamber.”

“You mean
prison?”

“It’s for his
own good, Wyn. You know that.”

“I know. I am
just so damn confused. This is making no sense. And Mel, Galen was there. At
Charlotte’s. I saw it in the vision. They argued, sorta. She was afraid of him
because of something Devlin said to her.”

“Devlin? I
thought he left town.”

“Yeah, so did I.
Satinka gave him the boot and told him to get lost. I don’t understand why he’s
still hanging around and why he and Galen don’t like each other.”

“Galen didn’t
tell you?” Mel asked incredulously.

Now what didn’t
I know? “No,” I said flatly.

“They share the
same sire.”

“What? The
sadistic, freak who sired Galen also sired Devlin? Galen said he was the only
victim left. And what’s the deal, no one ever says his name, is he one of those
He who must not be named guys?”

“Yeah well…details
are a bit hazy. The whole damn situation is a little freaky. Devlin asked to be
sired by him. You see, Devlin was one of his customers. He liked to watch and
to sometimes play rough. He really got off on the pain and pleasure of Roark’s
clients and victims. Devlin wanted to be made into a vampire. He was never on
the receiving end of the games like Galen. Devlin wasn’t a victim. No, he liked
dishing out the pain and I think he and Galen shared some rather unhappy
encounters Galen would rather forget. Anyway, when the rumors spread Galen
offed their sire, who called himself Roark, no one knows his real name and if
they do they’ve kept it quiet for good reason—you know the whole power of true
names thing, anyway, Devlin was not pleased Roark got killed.”