The Wrath of Pan (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 2) (11 page)

I’d found one of the little bastards.  Outside a nightclub in downtown London, the evil creature was making a meal outta some young girl.  He’d spotted me and the chase was on.  Damn vampires are fast.

Thankfully the trail of blood he was leaving behind made this a bunch easier.  As he swerved in and out of different streets, I was able to keep track.  I wondered where the hell Liz was, I could’ve really used her help.

As we turned down another street, the good people of London started shouting obscenities at me for chasing a kid.  Little did they know if it wasn’t for me, junior here would be snacking on them.  The little jerk even turned around and stuck his tongue out at me, enjoying the scene he was creating.

So I did the only thing I could think of, “Stop that kid!  He stole my wife’s purse!”

If there’s one thing people hate more than a grown man chasing a kid, it’s a thief.  I knew the people wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) stop the Lost Boy, but they sure could slow him down.  With me in hot pursuit and now having people reaching out to grab him, the kid’s speed got a whole lot more manageable.  Seeing this was causing him for trouble than needed, he ducked back into the narrow alleyways.

Unfortunately for our little friend, I figured out where Liz was.  As soon as he turned the corner, the petite vampire leveled him with one hell of a punch to the face.  The sound that it made actually made my face hurt.

“Where the hell have you been?”  I doubled over to catch my breath from running.  “I could’ve used some help along the way you know?”

She picked up the out cold vampire kid.  “You were doing just fine dear.  You led him right to me.”  She added a smile as if to say you can’t be mad at me.

“At least we caught the little bastard.  If he would’ve gotten away, I’d been so pissed.”

She looked around; so far no one looked down to see what all the commotion was about.  “We need to make haste and get back to the car.  I do not know how long this one will be out.”

It was slow and tedious making our way back to the car, especially trying to carry the kid’s body back without drawing unwanted attention to ourselves.  I can’t even tell you the relief I felt when we made it back and Liz got him strapped in.

“This should hold him if he wakes.  The seatbelts in this vehicle are steel braided and offer superior resistance.”

I looked on with my doubts.  “Tell you what, why don’t I drive us back and you sit back there with one of these, just in case.”  I pulled out one of my tantos that my granddad gave me.

Liz took it, the silver gleaming in the moonlight.  “It would not hurt to be extra cautious with this vile being.”

We were back in John’s Aston Martin and slowly getting out of the crowded downtown London area.  As soon as we got on to a more remote street, our prisoner decided to come to.

“Ahhh shit that hurt.”  He started shaking his head and he made eye contact with Liz.  “You bitch!  Pan will kill you for this!”

Taking the edge of the tanto, she put it right up to his throat.  “No, I do not think he will.  In fact, I do believe that I will kill you first and then him.”  Pressing the blade harder, “That is unless you give me reason to let you live.”

The smell of blood hit the air; she actually cut him.  I pulled off the road and hit the lights.  “Listen kid, she’s a mean one and will cut your head off.  Me?  I’m rooting for ya to survive this, but that only happens with information.”

“If I tell you anything, then he kills me.”  He either was just a scared, immortal kid or he played his part well.

“I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but she’ll kill you first.”  For affect, her eyes went red and the fangs went out.  “Depending on what you tell me though, I might be able to arrange something for you.”

“Fine, I’ll talk, but I want protection!”

“You tell me what you know first, and then we’ll talk protection.”

“Pan is taking orders from someone a lot older, stronger.  He’s told us we need to find something hidden underneath the city!”

I looked over at Liz and she took the blade away from his neck, just a little.  “What are you guys trying to find?  Perhaps something called the Scythe of Death?”

“That?  There’s no such thing, just a child’s tale.  The real item is in the clues the legend holds.  That’s why we got the old man translating the papers, you see?”

This was new.  “What old man?”

“Some guy that our master saved; said he was valuable.”  He cleared his throat, “I don’t know much about him other than he was a church man before he got turned.”

Liz brought the tanto back up to his neck like lightning.  “What is this man’s name?  Tell me now!”

“Pan calls him Warren.”

All the air in the car seemed to rush out.  I felt nauseous at hearing the name.  I wanted to think the kid was lying, but the fear in his voice, plus the detail about being a church man led to one conclusion.  “Warren Tucker is alive?”

“Our master was very upset at the Baron for killing him.  The Baron’s been killed though, by others.”

He didn’t know we were the ones that killed Forte, or it seemed our history with Tucker.  “Was your master the one who let you off that island?”

He looked at me with an all new kind of fear.  “Neverland was a prison, filled with all sorts of abominations and creatures that’d make your skin curl.  When the master arrived to free us, he slaughtered many of the beasties.  Not even Pan could’ve done that.”

Did this kid actually see the Hammer of Jehovah?  “What does the master look like?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know.  The one time I saw him, he was wearing a mask.  Pan deals with him, not us.  I think they’re friends.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear this.  We’d gotten some good information though from the kid.  “I’m just a lowly werewolf.  So what’s going to happen next is I’m going to start driving again and you get to talk to that lovely lady back there about protection.”

I started the car up and turned on the music.  Yeah, I could hear all the little details, but I tuned it out.  There are some parts of Liz that scare me a little bit and this is one of ‘em.  Every so often I’d hear words like torture and and death, but I’d hope she’d be kidding.

When we got back to John’s house, I pulled the car into the garage and turned around.  The vampire kid was ghost white and Liz had a horrible smile on her face.  “What’s the verdict boss?”

“Our friend Luke has agreed to talk to Roderick and give him as much information about Pan and his lair as he can in exchange for a lighter sentence.”

I’m not even lying, surprise hit me.  I would’ve put money on something a lot worse.  “Fair enough.  We got a place to put him tonight until his interrogation?”

“I,” a voice came from behind us, “can be of assistance with that.”  John looked at both of us and then the kid.  Maybe I was just tired, but for a second, I thought I saw a red flash in his eyes.

“Sounds good to me brother.  Come Vic; let us go get some rest, we both earned it.”

I followed, but I had a really bad feeling building in my gut.

I don’t often kiss and tell, especially since my girl is both my boss and super woman all rolled into one.  When we’d gotten back to the room we were sharing, she could tell I was still a bit wound up.  Taking it upon herself, she certainly livened up the mood.  I’ll never know how I pulled this one off, but winning the affections of this woman was one of the best things I’d ever done.

As you know, vampires tend to be good looking individuals.  Liz was on her own scale in that regard.  Sometimes it was a detriment to the job, because she could disarm me without trying.  It wasn’t her vampire voodoo or anything; just I think the feelings that’d been building up between us.

That was one subject we hadn’t talked about really at all and I was in no hurry.  The day would come when we’d have to open up and be honest, but for now what we had was plenty damn good.

As she strolled out of the attached bathroom, her hair was wet and hanging down to her shoulders.  Her ice blue eyes were full of life (ironic, I know) and the robe she was wearing was clinging to her body.

“You just know how to get a guy moving in the morning, don’t ya?”

She walked slowly over to the bed, enjoying the show she was putting on.  “I just know what my wolf likes.”

“We probably should get a move on.  I’m sure the witch has news to tell us.”

“I do not think she will mind waiting a few more minutes.  We have not had a night like that since we got here and if it rolled over into the morning…”

“If you insist.”

She moved into the bed and our meeting in the kitchen would just have to wait.  How could I say no to one sexy vampire, especially after the way she tossed her robe to the floor…?

****

“It’s about time the two of ye showed up?  I didn’t think ye’d ever get down here!”

When we finally strolled into the kitchen, Rosette looked rather annoyed.  It was almost as if she knew what we’d been doing and thought that was a waste of time.  I can tell you, it wasn’t.

I brushed her off.  “Hey, we had a long night chasing down one of Pan’s minions, cut us some slack!”

Her reaction said ‘get real’ but she just huffed and moved on.  “So I did what ye asked and kept watch of them.  I’m with ye Victor; I don’t think she’s working for anyone.  She just seems like a scared girl.”

Liz looked at me.  “You had her spy on Gregory and Rissa?”

“When you put it like that, it sounds awful.  But yeah I did, only because John thinks she could be in cahoots with Pan.  I’m just trying to prove my point that she’s cool.”

Rosette stepped up to defend me.  “Yeah lassie, yer guy has faith in her.”

I’m not sure Rosette helped my case at all, but Liz went from disbelief to bewildered.  “Until further notice, I need to be involved in this…”

The door flew open and Gregory came crashing in, looking sick to his stomach.  “Come quick, all of you!”

Before we could ask what the problem was, he’d left just as quickly as he came.  The three of us went after him and followed down a series of stairs, the smell of blood hitting the air.  I hadn’t been to this part of the house yet, but the further down we went, the more like a prison the area felt.  At the bottom of the last staircase, we went into a door that was already opened.

At the back of the room were John and Rod standing over Rissa.  Lying beside her was the dead body of Luke the prisoner.  A wooden stake was sticking out of his chest with blood everywhere, including of Rissa’s hands.

“Why did you kill him?”  Rod slapped her down to the floor.  “You have ruined everything!”

Gregory rushed forward, “Do not hit her!”

The two elder vampires locked eyes.  Rissa was sobbing on the floor; I couldn’t tell if from the blow or the situation she was in.  I moved towards the scene.  “This is a crime scene and as the only one here with the responsibilities to investigate, this is my case.”

“Werewolf, you dare impede?”  Rod went to grab my throat, but I caught his hand, surprised at my own speed.  His face also was caught unprepared for that.  Pulling away, “I am the law around here!”

“Everyone stop!”  We all turned towards Liz.  “Vic is right, he is the acting inspector seeing as you never replaced your last one Roderick.”

“The girl should be killed immediately!  Allowing her to live a second longer would be an affront!”

As Rod continued ranting, I noticed how oddly quiet John was being.  I’d have to look into that later. 

Turning my attention back to the scene, “There will be no sentencing until the investigation is complete.  But considering the circumstance, I do agree detaining the suspect is best.”

“Victor, you cannot be serious?”

I turned on Gregory, “Listen to me, until this is sorted out, I need her close by.  If it’s okay with John, I suggest house arrest with twenty-four hour monitoring.”

He looked at me, but never Rissa or even his sister.  “That should not be a problem.  I know of the perfect room on the third floor.”

“Who will be watching the girl?  This one,” Rod looked in disgust at Gregory, “cannot be trusted around her.”

These two were getting to the boiling point.  Unfortunately, Rod had good reason to feel like that given Gregory’s obvious feelings towards Rissa.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at keeping a situation calm and made it a lot harder for me.

I looked around the room and took in the angry vampires.  There was only one person in this place who didn’t have a vested interested in the case or the girl’s loyalties.

“I’ll decide these things and it won’t be a vampire.”  I motioned for Rosette to come close, “Congratulations Rosette, you’ve been promoted to my deputy.  Take the girl to the room that John has in mind and watch her.”

“The witch?!  This is getting more and more out of hand!”

“Roderick, you must calm down!”  Liz got right up on him.  “I do not know what was happened to you, but this is not behavior becoming the head of the European coven.”  He looked like he was going to retort, but instead he turned and left the dungeon area.

I needed all these crazy idiots to get outta here.  “Everyone except Liz please leave.  We have an investigation to start.”

Under my eye, Rosette took Rissa and followed John out.  Gregory wouldn’t leave at first until I told him I’d do everything to prove her innocence.  Finally, he relented and left too.

Alone, “This whole thing stinks Liz.”

“As if we did not have enough to worry about.  This situation on top of Tucker being alive, I do not know where to start.”

I ran my hands through my hair.  “Someone didn’t want this kid talking anymore.  Worse part, who besides me, you, and John knew he was here?”

As I leaned down to start inspecting the body, “That is an ominous fact Vic.  I highly doubt Gregory or even Rissa would have seen Jonathan bring him down here.”

“So either John’s the killer,” that got me a look, “or the real killer has connections to the inside somehow.”

“I think we also have to look at the realistic possibility that the girl is truly in league with Pan.  Killing a loose end would certainly make sense.”

I hated it when she was right.  “We got no choice, until we can prove otherwise; we gotta assume she did this.”  I looked down at the body.  “I see a staked vampire.  Anything unusual in this kind of death?”

So far I’d only seen three vampires die; Baron Forte had his head cut off, Nigel took a silver bullet to the head, which caused it to blow up, and Divas committing suicide.  “Staking is a very old fashioned way to kill a vampire, messy and most do not prefer to get their hands so dirty.  As far as clean kills, burning is the best option to use.”

The way a perp kills his/her victim says a lot.  Judging by the force and amount of blood all over, the murderer was very angry.  “So this would’ve been a very personal kill?  Getting up close and watching the kid die?”

“Yes, that would be an accurate statement.  Given the force used to thrust the stake in, the killer probably was full of rage.”

“Given what the kid told us, if the killer knew he talked, betrayal is a good motivator.”

I looked over at the cell the kid had been in.  “There are no signs of forced entry or an initial struggle.  My guess is the kid knew his killer and thought he was being freed.”

“So the lock was either picked open or the killer had access to the key?”

“It sure seems that way.  Where does John keep the keys for this area?”

She put her hand on her chin.  “I am guessing someplace close, in perhaps a lockbox?  I do not know how often this area of the house is put to use.”

“I guess we know who our first interview is.”  Liz looked a bit apprehensive.  “Trust me, we’ll take it fast and I won’t make it uncomfortable.  I do want to keep dating his sister, you know?”