Stormrage (3 page)

Xavier shook his head in mock sadness and backed away.
When he was ten paces away, he turned and motioned for is men to stand down. They vanished as silently as they had come and soon the street was deserted once again.

Levac joined Raven in the glow of the Nash'
s headlights, the Beretta held in his hand. "What the heck was that all about?" he asked.

Rave
n sighed and turned to face him. "Would you believe that albino son of a bitch was my half-brother? He always was a shithead, but this is a new low even for him."

"We're not going to arrest him
and his goons?" Levac asked.

Raven snorted and turned back
toward the car. "We may as well try arresting the wind. They would all be out in twelve hours or less. He has more connections than Al Capone. Come on, I need a drink and some rest."

Raven slid into the car, only holstering her weapo
n once Levac was back behind the wheel and she was sure the vampires were all gone. Gripping the wheel, Levac looked angry.

"What's wrong, Rupe?"
Raven asked as he started the Met and continued onward into the darkness.

Levac was quiet for several moments and Raven could hear his teeth grinding.
"You always keep me in the dark," he said after a while. "We've fought people that exploded into fire and ash, failed to arrest your family members and friends when we obviously should have, like that Xavier clown…am I your partner or not?"

Raven turned
away from the furious anger in Levac's eyes. "You're my partner, Rupert," she said. "The best one I've ever had. You know that."

Raven heard his hands squeaking on the car's steering wheel.
"Then treat me like one and stop treating me like a mushroom."

"A mushroom?"
Raven asked, turning back toward the lanky man.

Levac gave her a lopsided grin.
"Keeping me in the dark and feeding me a pile of crap."

Raven laughed and reached out to squeeze Levac's hand.
"Just stick with me. Trust in me."

Levac smiled back, "I'm not going anywhere, partner.
Just remember you can trust me, too."

"I know, Rupert,"
Raven said. "And I do. You know I do, more than anyone else on the force. And someday I will explain all of the weirdness, I promise."

"But not today," Levac sighed.

"Not today," Raven confirmed.

The Metropolitan continued into the early-morning gloom, neither occupant speaking.

* * *

Chapter Two

Raven was awakened by the sound of Paramore's song
'That's what you get'
, blaring from her cell phone. She groaned mentally at letting Aspen program her own ringtone and slapped at the phone until it stopped.

"Aspen?
It isn't even dawn, this better be really important," she growled at the speakerphone.

"Sorry, Raven
," Aspen's cheerful voice chirped. "I thought you would want to know that print you found paid off. I got a hit in AFIS on Bob Doe. His name is Zack Shevlin. He has a record for car theft and he did a nickel at the MCC. He was paroled in '04 and seems to be behaving himself, even has a job crewing Witchcraft during the summer and tending bar at night. He's bringing home…well more than most cops if you include tips."

Raven straightened and pulled he
r Hello Kitty nightgown closed against the morning chill. "People keeping clean don't end up headless with nails in their gentleman vegetables. Did you find anything else?"

"I found an address over in South Halstead.
I am texting it over now. It looks like he lives alone, but you never know in that neighborhood," Aspen said.

"Awesome
work, kid," Raven said, stifling a yawn. "Text Levac and have him meet me at the Donut Vault at six and we will head on over."

"Already did,"
Aspen replied, and Raven could hear her grin. "But that isn't all. Doctor Zhu already finished his prelim autopsy. A lot of Shevlin's defense wounds weren't from knives or blades like we thought."

Raven froze halfway to her antique bath.
"What was used then?"

"Get this, he thinks they were some kind of claws, you know like
those fake vampire things S&M chicks like to wear? The wounds are deep and asymmetrical, which he says is similar to that of a bear or wild animal, but far too smooth for an animal attack, hence the claws. He also pulled pieces of metal from Shevlin's spine. He is trying to match them up right now and identify what was used as the murder weapon."

"Swell," Raven muttered.
"Okay. Levac and I are on it. Let me know if you get anything from his urine sample or that key."

She hung up before Aspen could cheer her to death and she turned on the water in her tub.
She added a cap-full of vanilla bubble bath, ignoring the fact it had come from Francois Du Guerre. It may have come from a bastard. That didn't mean it wasn't delicious.

While the bath filled, she extended one of her own claws and sliced her arm.
The wound welled blood, but Raven was able to see the cut wasn't smooth like a blade, but rather jagged and torn.

Not a vampire then
, she thought.
Please just let it be another one of my weird ones.

She watched the wound close and then slipped into the warm tub, soaking away the night's activities in a pool of sweet vanilla.

* * *

Raven skipped down the stairs dressed in a beige sweater belted at the wa
ist over a matching pair of dark brown pants made of the softest leather and a pair of matching suede booties that completed her outfit. The sweater was bulky enough it hid the Automag holstered high on her hip as well as the silvered throwing spikes she had taken to carrying since…since Francois had drugged her and left her for dead.

A moment later she was behind the wheel of her beloved Shelby.
She brought the engine to life and savored the low rumble for but a moment before pulling out of the underground garage and onto the driveway. The sun was just peeking out over Chicago as she left the family compound behind and headed downtown.

The Donut Vault had been Raven and Levac's meeting spot since the week they'd become partners.
The ownership was so familiar with them they now called them "Le Storm", something the precinct found hysterical. Raven didn't see the humor in it, but tolerated their good-natured teasing. After all, Levac was the first partner she'd ever had for more than a single case and one of only three still drawing breath.

Raven stepped through the door and was greeted by Megan, the morning waitress
. She was holding a cup of black coffee and a plain donut. Raven thanked her and scanned the orange booths for an empty one. She took a seat by the window so she could watch her city wake up and wait for Levac. He arrived twenty minutes later, his suit rumpled, his tie stained and his five o'clock shadow already in place. He parked his Nash behind Raven's Shelby and hurried in, snagging his large coffee and two jelly donuts on his way to Raven's table. He was biting into one of the donuts before his butt hit chair.

"Good morning to you too, Rupe,"
Raven said with a smile. "Sleep in your suit again?"

"I was too tired to change when I got home," he replied around his mouthful of deliciousness.
"And Aspen texted me too early to do anything, but empty my pockets and head out."

The redhead laughed.
"Two hours and all you can do is empty ketchup packets from that ancient coat?"

Levac swallowed and grinned, showing his perfect white smile.
"There was mustard and mayonnaise in there too."

"Oh that makes all the difference in the world," Raven
said, still giggling. "Hurry up with those donuts, you're not eating those in the Shelby."

Levac smiled
and continued eating. "So what's the plan?"

"Go down to South Halsted and take a look around," Raven said.
"Maybe Zack left some clues around his place."

Levac nodded.
He busied himself finishing the last of his donut and washing it down with coffee. Raven handed him a handy-wipe from her purse to clean the sugar from his hands. That wasn't allowed in the Shelby either.

She
watched Levac clean the sugar and spilled coffee from his fingers and toss the wipe away. He stood to leave and she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Raven?"
he asked, "We can go, I promise I'm clean and won't get anything on the car."

"It isn't that.
It's your turn to pay," Raven said with a grin.

Levac grimaced
, but fished a wadded twenty from his pocket and tossed it on the table. Raven smoothed it, put it under her coffee cup and then led the way out into the street. A bitter wind was blowing down the street, carrying sand and debris with it. Levac turned his collar up against the chill and reached for the Shelby's door handle, but Raven's attention was elsewhere. She was looking at a shadow atop the building opposite. She could have sworn it had moved when they came out.

"What now
?" Levac asked, glancing first at his partner and then at the bank and businesses around them. "More of your weird instincts?"

Raven shook her head and walked around to the driver's side of the car.

"No, just a feeling. I'm sure it was nothing," she said.

She started the car and accelerated into traffic.
Beside her, Levac winced and gripped the armrest like it was the gutter in Vertigo. She knew he trusted her drivingm but it still scared him that she could maneuver her Shelby through rush-hour traffic at sixty miles an hour when everyone else was standing still. His fear just made her drive even faster.

The drive to South Halsted was uneventful and Raven parked in front of a small white house nestled between a children's center and a church.
Kids were playing in the snow in front of the children's center and they stopped and stared when Raven parked the Shelby and the two officers stepped out onto the street.

"Police!
Police! It's the police!" a small dark haired boy yelled, pointing one little finger at the pair. The rest of the small group squealed and ran inside the center like zombies were attacking.

Levac looked at Raven and shrugged.
"Guess cops are none too popular in these parts."

"At
least they didn't call us 'pigs'," Raven replied. "That always annoys me."

She led the way down the sidewalk and up to the door of the two story house.
The white paint was cracked with age and the wood siding beneath was weathered and rotten, some so badly Raven was certain she could poke a finger through. She opened the storm door and knocked on the whitewashed door beyond. The wood rattled at her touch and flakes of paint scattered to the ground like snow. Raven closed the storm door and waited politely, but there was no answer. She knocked again with the same result. Casting a quick glance to make sure she and Levac were unobserved, she grabbed the door's antique knob and twisted. To her surprise the door was unlocked and opened easily, screeching on hinges that probably hadn't seen oil since the turn of the century. She pushed it fully open and slipped through. Like most houses this old, she found herself standing in a narrow hallway. An arch led to her right into a small living room stuffed with mismatched furniture and a television bigger than some apartments. To her left was an equally small dining room that contained a table and four chairs. White candles had been placed in the middle along with a small arrangement of what Raven's nose told her were fresh flowers. Two cartons of Chinese takeout sat at either end of the table on top of matching place-settings.

Levac picked up one of the cartons and popped the top.

"Moo Shoo Chicken?"
Raven asked.

"Pork, I think.
Colder than Shevlin's corpse," Levac replied.

Raven watched Levac make a note of the restaurant's name
and then led the way deeper into the house, one hand trailing down the wall.

An archway at the end of the corridor led into a large kitchen.
Though old, the kitchen was well kept. The counters and sink were spotless, the 50s era appliances were in good order and looked to have been carefully painted within the last year or so; even the counter-top dishwasher had been painted to look like the Love Bug. A vase of white roses sat on a small table next to a doorway that led out to the back porch. Raven walked across the black and white tile and picked up the card:
To Christina from Zack, Happy Birthday!
was engraved in silver ink.

"Looks like Zack had a girlfriend," she said, putting the card back and turning around.
"Someone named Christina."

Behind her, Levac had opened the refrigerator and was poking around with gloved hands.

"What are you doing?"
Raven asked.

"Remember the last really weird one?
We found bricks of cash in the freezer," Levac replied.

"Yeah
, but your hand is on a chocolate bar," Raven said with a smile. "Come on partner, let's check the other rooms."

From the kitchen, a stairway led upwards into gloomy morning sunlight that filtered through barely visible windows like something out of the Amityville Horror; another archway opened into a sizable pantry stuffed with canned goods, instant soup and MRE's.
Raven and Levac poked around among the packages and cans, but found nothing of interest, though Levac spent far too much time lingering over an unopened package of cookies.

Upstairs they found themselves in a foyer lit by the Amity windows.
Doorways led into two bedrooms and a spacious bathroom. Raven and Levac split up to check the bedrooms with Raven choosing the master bedroom.

The bedroom, like the kitchen, was freshly painted in pastel blue.
A king-sized bed took up most of the small room, flanked by white wicker bed stands, two matching lamps and an armoire. A single door led into a walk-in closet.

Raven pulled on a set of fresh gloves and began a careful search of the room.
The chamber was filled with the scents of a woman; perfume, hair products, lipstick and moisturizer permeated the air, undetectable to anyone who didn't have preternatural senses. Oddly, there was no indication that a man had shared the room.

Storm moved through the
bed chamber, letting her senses guide her. There was a tang in the air she couldn't quite place, but that was horribly familiar. After a moment she pulled open the draw to the bed stand. Inside was a collection of small glass vials, each filled with a fine red powder. She collected them as evidence and turned to the closet.

It was n
othing she hadn't seen before. Ladies clothes in a size six filled the closet, all organized neatly; jeans, tees, blouses, sweaters, dresses, skirts…and at the back of the closet what could only be described as dancewear, the kind of garments that could only be called clothes because you couldn't call them lingerie. Raven picked through the outfits, looking for one that had been worn, but not yet laundered. Her sensitive nose picked up the sour scent of sweat, cigarette smoke and booze coming from a leather number that consisted of a belt that was probably supposed to be a skirt, a shelf bra and a choker with a D ring at the front. She picked it up and sniffed gently, but detected nothing new beyond the subtle scent of a woman; she had a hunch the girl had danced at one of the clubs in Chicago. A girl had to make ends meet and sometimes that was all you could do.

Raven put the outfit back on the shelf and left the master bedroom to find Levac leaning into the bathroom.