“That’s the issue with you vampires, you think everything has to be a fight. You’re right, I might not be able to take on a vampire hand-to-hand, but I have the weapons skills and the smarts to hold my own.”
Brooks shakes his head. “Why? What’s wrong with where you’re at?”
That’s a secret, but I’ll give him part of the truth. “I need to do something else with my life and you guys are a man short. You guys need me. You guys long for me. You just don’t know it yet.”
Marcus snorts, like I might have forgotten about him. I definitely haven’t. Marcus Church is very well-known amongst us detectives because he’s good at what he does and a bit ruthless. The women, and a few men, all like talking about the renowned Marcus.
“We just filled the spot. Sorry about your luck,” Marcus says.
I tilt my head at the guy in the corner and notice almost instantly that he’s young. Through years of interacting with vampires and watching them closely, I’ve learned how to decipher whether a vampire is young or old since physical appearance doesn’t help. The younger they are, the more they wear to protect themselves against the sun. But they also do other social things that give it away. Vampires are very respectful of age. The older a vampire, the more respect you give them. Then the dead giveaway is how well they can handle blood. This man is hesitant and he’s having trouble with the blood that’s been spilled across the floor, which is easily noticeable by the way he’s wrinkling his nose. “Him?”
Most older vampires, unless presented with a large quantity of blood, can handle the smell and control themselves. And vampire blood is rarely noticed by vampires unless the vampire presented with the blood is extremely young. But it’s a requirement for them to keep a mask on their belts at all times, in case they’re presented with a situation they can’t handle. If they’re driven by bloodlust, there’s no telling what they could do.
“Yes, him,” Brooks says.
“Good luck,” I say with a smile.
Brooks shakes his head. “Don’t give me that tone.”
I widen my eyes like I have no idea what he’s talking about. “I had no tone. I just kindly wished you luck.”
Brooks folds his arms across his broad chest as Church stares at me, clearly unimpressed. “That’s because you think it’s not going to work out.”
“It’s not,” I say, and Church gets a little hint of an expression on his face that tells me he actually agrees with me. “Even Church here doesn’t like him.”
Brooks turns to Church and raises an eyebrow. “While Church might have been a bit… hesitant, our new hire was at the top of his class and Church has taken him under his wing.”
Church audibly scoffs at that and I realize I kind of like the guy.
I smile at Church. When I first met him a few months ago, I thought that he could be a bit of a dick, but I think it’s a façade he puts up. “I can’t wait to work with you,” I say as I give Church a pat on the shoulder.
“Who does this kid think he is?” Church asks.
“He’s like a tiny fly that loudly buzzes around pestering everyone,” Brooks teases even though he clearly loves me and all the stuff I put him through.
“And your new partner,” I tell Church before holding a hand out.
Church glances at it then completely ignores it. “I need to get back to work.”
“When you do, check under the couch, there’s probably a knife or something under there. I’m surprised your superior sniffy skills didn’t kick in and notice it. You can see the scrapes in the hardwood from where they forced it under, and I’m assuming it’s the murder weapon,” I say. “See ya at work tomorrow, Brooks.”
Brooks shakes his head, clearly forgetting how to show excitement. “Don’t come in.”
I grin at him as I back toward the door. “You know you don’t mean that!”
“Don’t come in, Finn! No one wants you!”
“Church does,” I say as I wink toward a scowling Church before leaving the room.
While I know they have no interest in me because I’m human, I also know that I will whittle them down until they let me join. They have to because I need to kill him. And the only way I’m going to kill that asshole is with a team of vampires behind me.
I know, they say that you shouldn’t fixate on revenge.
But I have a vendetta and I’m not going to stop until that man is lying at my feet with every ounce of his blood drained from his body.
And then I’m going to watch him burn.
I might be bad at holding on to decade-old grudges, but this is one that I just can’t drop. Not yet, anyway.
I get into the car and rub at my thigh that’s aching. It’s not like I can rub the pain out of it, but it helps.
Now I just need to get rid of the new vampire, who is book smart but not old enough to control himself in a department such as this one, and show them that I can be a vital part of their department.
I just hope it’s not too late.
MARCUS
I turn away from the interruption and back to the dead woman lying on the floor. She’s a vampire, but a young one. One young enough that a slit throat killed her. VRC deals with any case involving a vampire while homicide deals with human deaths caused by other humans. Occasionally, they mesh, but most of the time if homicide realizes they’re dealing with a vampire in any form, the case gets pushed over to our department.
Which is how I met Finnigan Hayes. I’d been taking over a case that he’d been deeply involved in. While I understood his reluctance to hand over weeks of hard work, it was needed because they realized that the killer was a vampire. Instead of willingly handing it over, we got stuck together for part of an afternoon which led me to realize that he’s an annoying human. Thankfully, I haven’t seen him since.
This is also why I knew that he didn’t belong here, and he knew that as well.
But humans like him think they’re allowed to do anything they want and get away with it. Why should he be allowed to join this unit without the correct requirements? Unless he’s planning on dying anytime soon, he’s not welcome.
“Welks, help me move this couch,” an analyst says as he grabs the edge of the couch to see if the knife really is under it.
The analyst is a human who was pulled in just for the day because the regular one had the day off. Since he’d already been called in before they realized it was VRC’s case, he was asked to stick around.
The analyst grabs the couch as the new recruit, Welks, walks over to help.
“Fuck,” the human analyst cries as he jerks his hand back. “There’s something sharp on the edge of the couch.”
I think nothing of the sweet smell of blood until Welks lunges for the analyst. Briar grabs Welks as he zooms on by, ready to “help” the analyst with his bleeding problem.
“Nope! Out you go!” Briar, a fellow detective and member of my group, says as she hauls Welks outside with her.
Welks had already been on edge all day from being surrounded by blood, and this seemed to just set him off. But if this minor of a thing could set him off, what happens when we’re thrown into a bigger case?