Keri Arthur - Bound to Shadows

None of which was particularly helpful when it came to tracking down these killers. "And you can't tell me anything else about them?"

The energy in the air climbed another notch, making the small hairs along the nape of my neck and along my arms stand on end. The trembling in my muscles was getting stronger.

Finally, she said, The vampire wasn't the type who took blood. They smell a little different to what this one did.

Meaning we were dealing with an emo vamp? In this case as well as the other? What were the goddamn chances of that happening without there being some sort of connection?

Which meant that my watch on Vinny had just become more important than ever. She might not be involved in either of these killings, but she surely had to know who was. Vampires—whatever the make—were very territorial. If there was another emo working on Vinny's patch, she'd know about it. And be profiting by it in some way.

"There's nothing else you can tell me?"

Well, they were both extremely good looking. And well dressed . Her voice seemed softer, but maybe that was a result of my growing fatigue. But it all happened so quick, you know? I saw them, and ran. I tried getting to the phone in the lounge to ring the police, but there was a gunshot. Then, this…

Can you give me a description of them?

There was no response. The energy flowing around me was ebbing along with my strength. Maybe she no longer could answer.

"Thank you for your help, Helen." I hesitated, then added, "You can move on now, if you want to."

Her sigh echoed through my mind, then her fragile form disintegrated and the remaining energy burning though the air disappeared with it.

I grabbed at the bookcase as my knees threatened to give way, and took several deep breaths in an effort to clear the tension and fatigue still rolling through me. It didn't help much.

" Here ," Dusty said roughly, and shoved a steaming mug of coffee at me. "We figured you might need this if you did connect with the soul."

"I think I love you." I wrapped my hands around the mug, trying to get some warmth back into my fingers. "Was Helen Hills a werewolf?"

"We haven't checked. Why?"

"Because she spoke of smelling people." I glanced around as Cole walked into the room, his expression one of concern as his gaze swept me. He seemed to relax a little when he saw that I'd suffered no outward damage from my communication with the soul, and that warmed me more than the drink. "Our soul said there were two men involved. One of them was a vampire."

"And the other?"

"She said she wasn't close enough to catch his scent, but he was carrying a camera he didn't use. The vampire was doing the beheading."

"Well, that's going to put a cat amongst our vampire pigeons, isn't it?" He frowned. "Why in the hell would they bring a camera and not use it?"

"I'll ask the bad guys that when I catch them." I took a sip of coffee. The heat of it slid right down to my belly and I had to resist the urge to sigh in pleasure. I took another sip, then added, "At least this might ease the tension on the streets. It isn't humans doing this, so the vamp population can stop getting so uppity."

"My natural response would be to state that vamps are reborn uppity, but I know a fair few humans who could be classified that way, too."

"Yeah, and more than a few of them are journalists."

He grinned. "Seems I'm not the only one with an unsavory attitude. Jack would not approve."

"Jack himself is not fond of the way some reporters tend to over-sensationalize these type of events. And if they hadn't disobeyed the embargo, we would not have been confronted by that lynch mob."

"True." Cole grimaced and scrubbed a hand through his hair. "And whoever our two killers are, they're damn good, because we're not finding much in the way of clues."

Which meant it was more important than ever that I got to talk to someone on the council.

"Well, we have a vampire involved in the killings, and we have council members as the victims, so it's not hard to guess what the connection is. All we have to do is find the why behind that connection."

"I wish you luck with that," Dusty muttered.

"I'm going to need it." I drained the coffee in several gulps, just about scalding my mouth. I didn't care, because the heat of it burned all the way down, chasing the last of the chill from my flesh.

If only I could get rid of the weakness as easily.

I pushed away from the bookcase. The room spun a little, but my knees held up just fine, even if my muscles were still trembling.

"Go get a burger before you do anything else," Cole commented. "You're still looking rather pale."

"It'll be my first port of call, Doctor Reece."

"Idiot," he said, and walked out of the room.

I gave a grinning Dusty a nod goodbye and headed out to my car. Which took more out of me than I cared to admit. With my hands still shaking, I dug my phone out of my bag, hit the vid button, and dialed Quinn.

He answered on the second ring, but the call remained voice only. Which meant he was somewhere other than his office. "Hey lovely lady, this is a nice surprise."

"I couldn't go another second without hearing your dulcet Irish tones," I replied, a smile twitching my lips.

"As much as I wish that were true, I know its not. What can I do for you?"

"Besides take me out for dinner, you mean?"

"I shall have the helicopter prepared and take you somewhere exotic."

My smile grew. There were benefits to having an extremely rich boyfriend. "I thought you had a date with your friend, Julian, tonight?"

"But not until eleven. He doesn't believe in hitting the clubs any earlier, because he doesn't believe they really start getting interesting before then."

"Then he really does need to visit a wolf club." They were interesting any time day or night. "And I'm actually ringing because I need your help with a case."

He didn't answer immediately. In the background, doors swished open then came the echo of his quick steps. I knew that sound—he was just entering his office building. "What sort of help?"

"The three vampires beheaded are all on the Melbourne council. I need to talk to one of the councilors to see what decision they might have made recently that could have pissed someone off this much."

He hesitated. "That won't be easy."

"As I gathered when Jack didn't actually suggest it."

More doors swished closed, and an electronic voice started giving floor numbers. He was more than likely in the express to the fiftieth floor—an elevator I hated. The damn thing moved too fast for my liking.

"For the very good reason that he's probably doing it himself."

"Maybe he is, but I'd still prefer to talk to someone myself. He has to be respectful. I don't."

"You will if you want to get anywhere near the councilors. They tend to be even more old fashioned than I am. "

"Yeah," I said dryly. "They're so old fashioned they attend clubs to service blood whores."

"Bastiel didn't."

I raised my eyebrows. "You've already heard about that?"

"Bad news always travels fast." His voice was as dry as mine. "I'm gathering you know about Dante already?"

"Yeah, and I want to avoid him as much as possible. That man is a sexual predator."

"A werewolf backing away from another predator?" Surprise and amusement ran through his voice. "I never thought I'd live to see the day."

"Meaning you want me to go see the man?"

He laughed. "No. I'll talk to one of the other councilors and see if he'll agree to a meet. More than that I can't promise."

"Thanks for trying."

"As I said, no promises. I'll be finished work at six. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"I'm meeting Dia at our usual place in Brunswick at five-thirty."