Goddess With a Blade (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Late night at the Vampyre Theatre didn’t make it any more appetizing. Instead, the quality of ladies and gentlemen hanging around only worsened as the pickings thinned out.

Rowan wove her way through the groups, noting how many of them looked tore up. She most sincerely didn’t believe Marv would ever shelter or even condone this killer. But he might know something.

“Marv.” It was all she said to the chick working the front window.

“In the back. I’ll let him know you’re coming.” The girl licked her lips and looked from side to side nervously.

Rowan leaned in. “Is there something you’d like to tell me?”

The girl looked panicked, but no one else was around just then. Rowan slid a business card across the counter. “If you feel up to talking about it, my contact info is there. I won’t expose a source.”

“O-okay. Thanks.” She took the card and put it in the pocket of her little uniform.

Rowan headed through the now empty club toward the back. The last show ended at two and it was already half-past three. The quiet was restful and she took the small respite as she hailed Marv with a wave and a smirk.

But instead of his usual annoyed face, he looked…relieved.

“Walk with me, Hunter.”

She fell into step next to him as they went deeper into the bowels behind the stage.

He opened a door to what must have been his private living space and she went through. Not worrying about him attacking her while her back was to him. He wasn’t stupid.

“Now I’ll never get the smell of Hunter out of the rugs.” He moved past her, rumbling under his breath. “Sit. I gotta tell you a few things. I hear He’s in town. You see Him?”

“The First?” She smiled, showing her teeth. “Yes. You know why I’m here, right?”

“Listen, I don’t like Hunter Corp in my beeswax, yanking my chain and in general, causing me issues. But I don’t like Vampires who get out of control and bring the heat down on my ass either. So as a general rule I keep my head down and my mouth shut except when things need to be handled. And this needs handling.”

“I’ll do my best to look stern and disapproving of your coming to me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Man’s got personal biz and I have no beef with that. Whatever floats your boat, yannow? This may not be as glitzy as Die Mitte, but it’s no dump either. We got standards of our own. Sure, we take a sip or two of the audience, no harm no foul. But, we got rules and the first one is to keep your shit on the down low. No messy situations.”

He pushed to stand and began to pace.

“But I got this guy coming around. He’s targeting the girls, bringing junk into my place.”

“Heroin?”

“Fuck no. We can get high from most opiates, you know that. Meth. And lots of it. Thing is, I used to be under the impression we couldn’t crack that barrier. Now, I’m getting the feeling the status quo on this has changed.”

Clive would so kick her ass, but this was something the semi-decent Vampires like Marv needed to know and guard against.

“Yes. But it’s not good in the long run. The barrier was broken, yeah? But it does massive damage you guys can’t heal. Not forever, if you know what I mean.”

Marv paused. “That so? Hmm. I’ll need to be more watchful with who hangs around my place now, eh? Scion’s gonna be hacked you told me that. Appreciate it all the same.”

She waved a hand at that. “So what? I’m hacked this was even a possibility and no one bothered to update me when dead tweakers began to show up in the desert.”

He laughed, a bit rueful. “I hear rumors about you and him.”

“Yeah? I hear Elvis was down at the Bellagio at the breakfast buffet.”

“But one of those stories is true I bet.”

“Back to the guy hanging around with loads of crystal meth, please.”

He grinned at her, shoving his mass of hair away from his face. “He’s fucking crazy. Bringing the quality down. Narc cops are gonna get wind of this shit and then I’ll have a crapton of blue coming down around my shoulders.”

“Is he old?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’ve been thinking on coming your way. Considered calling over to the Scion’s office, but I don’t like those suit Vampires. Waste of teeth. Worthless, though this one isn’t nearly as bad as the dick from before. Still, I got no call to be traveling over there. I’d take care of it myself, but this dude I’m talking about is easily six hundred.”

Rowan scrubbed her hands over her face. A six-hundred-year-old Vampire strung out on meth? Fabulous.

“The Scion needs to know this, Marv. This is big. Grudgingly, I can admit he’s doing what he can to help. No one wants to be exposed with this stuff. It makes everyone’s job harder and I don’t like it when other people muck about with my schedule.”

“’Spose it helps when your dad is the head honcho. People take you all seriouslike.”

She snorted. “Nightly tuck-ins were a total blast. I’m sure you’d be envious.” He shuddered and she knew he got the point. “I know you don’t want to deal with them, and normally I’d agree with you. But this, well you and I both know this is different.”

“He’s different, you mean?”

“He’s something. But when it comes down to it, he’s a Vampire just like you. You all have a certain way of seeing the world and that’s fine. This murderous fucker I’m looking for doesn’t and he seems hell-bent on taking you all down with him.”

Marv sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Do it.”

“When I leave here, I’ll go to Die Mitte. I’ll do my best to keep you out of it. Tell me the rest.”

Marv sat back as he started. “About seven months ago this older Vampire started showing up here on Wednesday nights. He’d sweep in, check everyone out and invariably choose one of the leftovers from out back. Weak willed, with a sweet tooth for substances and flash.”

His lip curled. “Anyway, I caught him with meth and told him not to bring any more here. I figured he was using it because he had a shitty thrall, or he just was lazy and wanted his blood partners really dependent on him. It’s not unheard of.”

He got up and went to a desk on the far side of the room, rifling through a drawer until he found what he’d been searching for. Missing posters. He handed her three of them.

“In the last three months I’ve had concerned parents, boyfriends and counselors here looking for some lost loved one. Not an unusual thing. You gotta realize that just because we’re not eating these humans and leaving their bodies in the sand, it doesn’t mean these kids are alive or that they want to be found by anyone. They come to Vegas to be other people. You know that. So I just tack the posters up in the break room and move on.”

It was true, she knew it. “He’s really chosen the perfect hunting grounds.” Except she was there and this would end. She looked over the fliers featuring pictures of the humans who’d gone missing. She’d seen them so often in Paris, in London, Boston, D.C., Seattle, Los Angeles and especially in Vegas.

“I draw the line at serial killing. I know a lot of us don’t care one way or another about humans. But I kinda like you guys. You’re far more delicious when you’re alive and coming to me willingly than carrying torches and pitchforks, which is what would happen if this shit went live.”

She looked at the faces in the black-and-white photocopied fliers. “He’s totally got a type.” Each of the women bore a striking similarity to the three who’d disappeared already.

“Yeah and one of those missing is the roommate of the one who let you in. The girl you gave your card to. Been gone for two days. Last time Honey saw her, it was with this Vamp I been telling you about.” He sent Rowan a raised brow as if he’d caught her.

She rolled her eyes. “Do you think I’m surprised that you have camera surveillance at your ticket booth? I’m far from being an amateur, Marv.”

“She’s one of mine. Not a Servant like you and your line, no, but it means the same to me. This Vampire came onto my turf and he’s taken one of my protected.”

As a member of Marv’s staff, humans and Vampires would fall under his dominion and protection. Of course he’d want to keep his human staff protected.

“Gosh, you’re going to make me like you with all this nobility. Stop it.”

He flipped her off, but looked a little less angry than he’d been a moment before.

She got a solid description that she sent to Carey’s email with a request to get working on a positive ID. She told him to run it by Clive’s people to see if they’d got a hit on the tooth she’d recovered. The sun would be up in two hours so she needed to get moving.

“I’ve asked her to wait. Honey, the girl from out front. You can talk to her in the break room. It’s private enough. Most of my people are gone, anyway.”

She paused at his door. “Did you know she was using? What’s her name? The one who’s missing?”

“I can’t keep day-to-day track of everyone. I wish I could.” She could see from his face that he did indeed feel that way. She understood it. “She’d been missing work, but her friends had been covering for her.” He shrugged. “I’d have fired her for it. But I sure as fuck wouldn’t have killed her and dumped her body.”

She sighed. “I like that about you, Marv.”

Half an hour later, as the very late-night Vampires were all streaming home, she hit the lobby of Die Mitte.

She’d apparently reached visitor status as no one tried to stop her when she got into the elevator up to where Clive’s offices were.

“Ms. Summerwaite, I was told you were on the way up.” Once the doors had opened, Alice glided to her, taking Rowan’s hands for a moment. “Come through. He’s waiting in his office.”

Rowan may have been mistaken, but she was pretty sure he looked more smug than usual when she entered the room. Her office at work had one window that looked out over a parking lot. This place was giant with views looking to the east. Dawn was somewhere out there, just on the horizon.

She avoided looking at his desk and wondering what it would be like if they had sex on it. Because that would not be professional. Ha.

“And what is it I can do for you, Ms. Summerwaite?” Clive stood and indicated she sit. Wanting to keep him on the other side of the desk, she plopped into the chair and pulled out her notepad.

“Here’s how this has to go. I’ve just received a great deal of information from one of your Vampires. I’d love to share it and all, but you have to agree, up front, to leave this source alone. No punishment for telling me instead of you.”

He frowned and she shrugged. “I can go right now with this. I don’t need to be here sharing with you. I am because I agreed to, but I can’t in good conscience get this Vampire punished for not wanting to come over here.”

“I’m supposed to look away when my own people are allowing this vermin to break our laws so flagrantly?”

“Don’t be so dramatic. I’ll give you details once you promise and we can move along. Sun’s a comin’ so let’s go.” She made a circular motion with her hand, indicating he hurry up.

He may have growled in frustration, which was a cheerful thing.

“Fine, my hands are apparently tied. So tell me what Marv told you.”

She should have known he’d anticipate her actions, or even had her watched. She’d have done so in his place.

“Your Vampire is older than we thought. Probably close to six hundred. Hanging around the Vampyre Theatre and he comes to the party with oodles of crystal. I’ve got a decent description of him from Marv and one of the humans who works for him.” She tossed a sheet of paper across the desk before leaning back.

He looked it over before picking his phone up. “China, I’ve got a description on our killer. Yes, I’m in my office. You can meet the Hunter while you’re here.”

“Bet she’s all aquiver with that one,” Rowan mumbled.

He ignored that. “Go on.”

“I’ve got my people working on the description too. If he’s that old, there may not be much to find. But if you got a ping on the tooth you’d at least be able to correlate or eliminate him as a suspect.” The older Vampires weren’t much for complying with Vampire Nation rules about having identification but they still had their own version of DNA so if he was in the database they’d find him.

However, she knew the Nation had resources they didn’t share so widely. Her best shot at a positive identification on this killer was through them. If she had to kill him, which hello, she totally did, it needed to be all aboveboard.

“Latest victim is a girl who also worked at the Corsican in the Vampyre Theatre. I mean a girl, she’s only twenty-two, for Goddess’ sake! She’s been gone two days. Roommate says Ellie’s, that’s the girl who’s missing, problems with bitch have gotten worse in a big old hurry. This Vampire, who calls himself Petyr, emphasis on the
Y
apparently, has been giving Ellie wagons of the stuff. Not that his real name will be Petyr, unless he’s an idiot.

“Also, he has a type. Long, dark hair. No bangs. Brown eyes. Big knockers, a perennial favorite of the penis I’ve come to notice. My people are running some cross checks for missing persons with those descriptions. I’m going to take a guess and say this Vampire has to have killed others and we haven’t found the bodies.”

“I see you’re going to blame more on us.”

China, Rowan presumed, walked into the room looking very much like an extra from a
Blade
movie. Rowan would totally underestimate this chick as a poser if she didn’t already know her history. She’d been taking care of Clive’s security problems for a hundred years.

But it seemed that China was underestimating her, which was so very silly. Sloppy even, given her record of service to the Nation. But everyone, she supposed, was capable of letting personal feelings blind them to the truth they’d see otherwise. Only in this case, well, she had a feeling Clive was not going to react favorably to such human behavior.

“Yes, indeed. It’s my fondest wish to spend every waking moment finding dead bodies dumped in the middle of nowhere with organs missing and blood drained from every part of their bodies and blame it on Vampires. You’re all such sweet innocents I’m sure no one would believe me anyway. Right there in all the mythology books under Vampire it’s all entry after entry about you guys walking old ladies across the street and working at soup kitchens every Thanksgiving.”