Blood Magic: An Urban Fantasy Wolf Shifter Series (Kait Silver Book 2) Page 2

  I shook my head. “Fine,” I said. “When I start asking questions, you’re welcome to come along.” I smiled.

  He narrowed his eyes, beginning to look a little nervous. “Why are you smiling?”

  “Oh, I just think it’s going to be amusing when you get up close and personal with my world. Max, do you believe vampires exist?”

  “Pffft,” he said. “Of course not. But his wife is somewhere, isn’t she? Maybe you do see ghosts, Kaitlyn, I’m not saying you don’t. But you’re a PI, when it comes down to it. You’ll find his wife, and I’ll be happy to help.” And with an airy wave, he walked from the room.

  “This,” I told Ash, “is going to be so much fun.”

  I had no idea where to find the county master or even what his name was—I’d been without a pack for a long time but even had I been part of the community, I likely wouldn’t have known anything about the master. But I’d have to find him now if I was going to look deeper into Brenda Ferguson’s disappearance.

  He wasn’t likely to tell me anything, but I had to start somewhere. I tapped my finger on my desk for a few seconds, then finally picked up my phone and called the one person who would know exactly where I could find the vampire master.

  “Jared,” I said, when he answered. I hadn’t seen much of him in the last couple of weeks, and the sound of his voice made my inner wolf want to roll over and give him her belly, her neck, and everything in between.

  He was now my alpha, after all, even though I hadn’t moved into Shadowfield with the rest of the pack. I didn’t plan on it, either, though I wasn’t sure he knew that. He wanted me where he could protect me.

  But I could protect myself just fine, and I belonged in the city.

  He said nothing after his greeting, just waited for me to tell him what I wanted. After I took a few seconds to gather myself, I spoke, and there was only a little breathlessness in my voice. “I have a new case, and it involves the vampires. I need the name and location of the master.”

  He was silent for so long I started to prompt him, but finally, he answered. Sort of. “You, a baby wolf, want to face the vampire county master.”

  I swallowed hard at the silky anger in his voice but maintained my calm. “Yes.” The need to explain myself rose up to choke me, but I’d explained enough. I was a grown woman, and I could handle my own affairs. Make my own choices. Just because he was my alpha did not mean he got to tell me what to do.

  Even though my wolf wanted him to.

  “Kaitlyn,” he said. “I don’t want you on the vampires’ radar. There’s enough to worry about trying to keep you from Adam Thorne. You’re a new wolf and—”

  “Look, Daddy,” I snapped, “I didn’t call for a lecture.” I softened my voice and attempted to control my temper. “Jared, this is my job. I’m a big bad wolf, not a vulnerable little girl.”

  I wasn’t sure why I was so angry with him, really. He was being an alpha, and I could choose not to obey him. I didn’t know what was pissing me off, exactly.

  Apparently, he did.

  “I haven’t been ignoring you,” he said gently. “I thought you might need some time to yourself. I’ve had wolves watching you, Kait. You know I wouldn’t allow anything to happen to you.”

  Ugh. Was he gently reproving me? Feeling sorry for me? God, my new wolf was driving me crazy with her neediness and her emotional turmoil.

  I curled my fist but managed not to hit the top of my desk. “Are you going to tell me how to find the master?”

  “No,” he said. “I am not.”

  “Damn you, Jared. I need—”

  He ended the call. Hung up on me, the bastard. Alpha wolves were assholes. “Fuck,” I snarled, and slammed my cell against my desk, causing Ash to get up to investigate.

  “Okay,” Max said from the doorway, “um, you’re obviously in the middle of an emotional crisis? But if I heard correctly, you’re in need of some information.”

  I glared at him. “And?”

  He smiled. “Not to brag, but I can find out anything.”

  “Not this, Max.”

  “Try me.”

  So said the guy who didn’t even believe vampires were real. “I need the name of the Vampire Master of Clinton County.” I sat back and crossed my arms, waiting for his skepticism.

  He gave me a dramatic flourish. “Done.”

  “Oh really. So you’re not even shocked that I beli—"

  But I was talking to the air, because Max had already hurried away to find the possibly unfindable vampire master.

  “Found him,” he said, five minutes later. “I sent the info to your email.”

  I narrowed my eyes, suspicious, then grabbed my phone and checked. He’d attached a document with not only a name—Frederick Axton—but his supposed home base, a photo, a compiled list of safe houses, the name of his human servant, and the background he’d fabricated for the benefit of the humans. Axton “lived” in one of the wealthier districts of Jakeston—his city.

  My city.

  “Don’t believe vampires exist, huh?” I squinted at him. “Who the fuck are you, Max Pepper?”

  “Your rather amazing assistant,” he said, and swaggered through the doorway. “You’re welcome.”

  I had to wonder about Mayor Hedrick, hiring people like Max. Maybe the mayor was deeper into the supernatural than I realized. He’d have to be, wouldn’t he? He understood that I was different and hadn’t even blinked an eye.

  I wondered if Detective Moreno knew more than he was telling me. Or more than he had told me when he was speaking to me. I knew he didn’t blame me for the gossip linking us romantically, but I also knew his coworkers were likely giving him a hard time, and I knew that his wife had just attempted to kill herself. Life was being an asshole to the detective right now, but on the positive side, the demon seemed to have disappeared. If he showed up, Rick would have no choice but to call me.

  I could only hope the demon had faded and would give us no more trouble. But I didn’t believe it, really. I caressed the handle of my demon blade, the very blade I’d taken from him and the blade he wanted back. It was his key back into his world. But if he got his hands on it, he’d have control of me, as well. He couldn’t possess me, because I’d had an anti-possession symbol tattooed onto my shoulder—but with the blade, which was now made up of my blood, he could own my ass.

  I went to the corner cabinet, lifted out my kill kit, then grabbed my belts and weaponed up. I was eager to get out of the office and do some physical work, but not eager to face the vampire master.

  “Come on, sweetie,” I told Ash, and he got up and followed me out of the room. Lucy was regaling Joe with one of her wild stories, and Max sat behind his desk peering into his monitor and tapping on his keyboard.

  “Are we leaving?” Max asked, perking up.

  I handed Lucy Ash’s leash. “I am. You’re going to stay put in case someone calls or walks in needing help.”

  “Hmm,” he said. “That does present a problem. Lucy, would you mind taking calls until I return?”

  “Not at all.” She squeezed Joe’s enormous bicep and smiled up at him. “I can keep Joe company until you return.”

  I threw my hands up. “Fine, Max.” I had a feeling he was going to regret his decision once we found ourselves in the middle of a clan of vampires. At least if he went now, he was less likely to want to ride along in the future.

  “I seriously doubt,” I told him, as he buckled himself into my car, “that the mayor meant for you to assist me out of the office. He’s going to be pissed if I get you hurt.”

  He stared at me. “Kaitlyn, as far as the mayor’s concerned, you walk on water.”

  Uncomfortable, I pulled into the well-lit and slightly less busy street. By the time we reached the vampire master’s house in Alexandria, it was full dark. “It’s not very grand,” I murmured. It wasn’t even very large. As a vampire in a human’s world, he’d want to blend in, so no matter how much money he had, he was going to downplay his
circumstances.

  “He owns clubs in the city,” Max told me. “And nearly all of Seventh Street.”

  “Jade’s is on Seventh,” I said absently, my stare on the large brick colonial in which the master lived. It was stately and beautiful as were all the homes in the area. They were very nice, and it was quiet and low crime. People with money lived there, but it wasn’t extreme.

  “What of Jade’s?” he asked, and his voice had just the tiniest shake to it.

  “Not important,” I said. Jade’s was Lucy’s favorite club. I climbed from the car. “You ready?”

  He nodded.

  “They won’t let you in, Max,” I told him as we walked across the street and then up the short driveway. “They probably won’t let me in, either.”

  “Aren’t you scared?” he asked me.

  “No. I don’t think they’ll hurt us. They don’t know who we are. We might be important.” I grinned at him, trying to get him to relax, but honestly, he was better off being nervous.

  Before we reached the front entrance doors, a man stepped out of the shadows. “Hello,” he said mildly. “Can I help you with something?”

  He was human. It was so recently dark that there hadn’t yet been time for a shift change. Probably the vampire guards were…eating. He was also armed—when he brushed his jacket open, deliberately, I saw the gun.

  “Hi,” I said. “Possibly you can. My name is Kait Silver, and I’d like a word with your—employer.” I’d almost said “master” but changed it at the last second. I didn’t want him to know I was aware he worked for a vampire.

  “Might I inquire as to the nature of your business with Mr. Axton?”

  “It’s personal.” I smiled. “Please ask him if I can have a word.”

  His stare went from me to Max and back again, and he must have decided we were harmless, because he walked a few steps away and muttered into his watch.

  “I think he’s going to take us in,” Max whispered.

  The guard came back. “He’ll see you. Only the girl,” he added, when Max started to walk with me.

  Max took my arm. “Um, I’m her bodyguard?”

  The guard chuckled. “I’d be more inclined to believe she was your bodyguard.”

  I sighed. “Wait in the car, Max. I’ll be fine. If I’m not out in…twenty minutes, call Detective Moreno.”

  “Come with me,” the guard said, and as we walked on toward the house, another guard slipped from the shadows and trailed Max to make sure he did as he was told and found his way back to the car.

  We’d barely stepped inside before a woman in sensible heels and a clipboard—an actual fucking clipboard—rushed toward us. “Out you go,” she told the guard. “Go on.”

  He curled his lip and gave her an unfriendly look, but turned around and walked back outside, leaving me with the woman.

  She smiled at me. “My name is Jennifer, and I am Mr. Axton’s assistant.” She didn’t offer her hand. “Follow me, please.”

  I tried not to stare as she hurried me along, but I couldn’t help it. It was just so busy. And bright. And more amazing than anything else was the fact that the “room” we walked through was a large, echoing hall. The house was huge—but it had been glamoured. Anyone who happened by would think it was just another house.

  People stood in little groups talking, a big screen TV blared at one end of the hall while on the other end were couches, chairs, a fireplace, and another TV. It was bizarre and looked nothing like one would think from viewing the exterior. Most of the walls on the main level had been knocked out to make one enormous hall, and despite the brightness, the noise, and the TVs, there was a distinctly dark vibe to the place.

  Jennifer was a human, and likely much more than Axton’s assistant. Possibly she was his human servant. The vampires could completely trust their human servants, but I highly doubted they were going to allow regular humans inside the front doors.

  Unless, of course, those humans were controlled by sheer terror, which I could definitely understand.

  Jennifer led me to a private room at the back of the hall, and as we walked, we picked up two men. They weren’t armed, probably because they were vampires and didn’t need to be. Not against me.

  A little healthy fear added itself to the knots of nerves tying up my stomach, and I casually brushed the handle of my blade, giving myself a dose of courage. But when we got into the room, one of the vampires shut the door and the two of them watched me quietly.

  It was a small room and held a closet, a table, a bench, and some lockers. There were no windows. Two of the four lockers had open doors, and Jennifer went to one of those, pulled the door all the way open, then once again smiled at me. “You will put all your weapons in here. I’ll bring you back to fetch them when you’ve finished your visit.”

  I didn’t want to. I didn’t mind handing over my other knives or even my gun—but my demon blade…

  “This stays with me,” I told her, after I’d unloaded everything but the blade.

  “All of it.” Her smile was firmly in place but there was an edge to it that told me she was in no mood to argue. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it back.”

  “It’s just a single blade.” I crossed my arms. “Surely your master isn’t afraid of a girl with a knife.”

  She narrowed her eyes and said nothing, but the two goons by the door took a couple of steps forward. “Oh come on, guys,” I said, moving so I could face all three of them. “Of course I know what Axton is. I’m working a case that involves him and his people, and I need to ask him a few questions. That’s all.”

  “Still,” Jennifer said, her smile a little less friendly, “if you want to see him, you’ll put the fucking blade into the fucking locker.”

  No way in hell was I taking a chance like that. “Can’t do it,” I said. “Back away, Jennifer, so I can get my fucking weapons out of the fucking locker.” I grinned at her, but I’m sure my smile was just as fake as hers.

  She shook her head and glared at me, but she backed up, watching me as I grabbed my shit from the shelves and began sticking them into my belts and sheaths. “By the way—do you happen to know of a human named Brenda Ferguson? It’s her disappearance I’m looking into. I’m going to take it up with law enforcement once I leave here since you people are so uncooperative. If there are any certain preparations you need to make to get ready for a couple of cops—who, I can assure you, will not be putting their fucking weapons into your fucking locker—then I suggest you get them done in a hurry.”

  They continued to stare at me, saying nothing, indecisive.

  I slung my kill kit strap over my shoulder and looked at the two vampire goons blocking the door. “Move out of my way, boys.”

  They tensed, I tensed, and I was pretty sure we were going to fight and dammit, I did not want to shift and leave my blade unprotected, but I didn’t think I’d have a choice in the matter.

  Then Jennifer held up a hand. “He wants to see her,” she said, her voice empty but anger and something else in her eyes. “Take her upstairs.”

  Shit.

  I was about to meet the vampire county master, and I was beginning to wonder if I’d make it out of there alive—or at least unhurt.

  My guess was…no.

  Chapter Three

  “Weapons?” one of them asked.

  She glared at him. “Take. Her. Upstairs.”

  He shrugged and opened the door, and the other one motioned for me. I didn’t hesitate, happy enough to get away from Jennifer. There was something awful about her. But in the doorway, I stopped and looked back. “He’s twisted you all up inside, hasn’t he? You don’t even belong to yourself anymore. You’re just his…object.”

  And suddenly it hit me. I was terrified of the same thing happening to me with my alpha. That was why I wanted my distance while my wolf wanted only Jared. I was terrified he would own me, fuck me up, and then…then I’d be just like Jennifer with her pitiful clipboard.

  She only stared at me, ho
llow and lost, then lifted her fingers to the side of her neck. Her long hair moved, only for a second, but I saw what was there—what was likely over her entire body. Scars from hundreds of bites. She was his food, and her clipboard was likely all that remained of her former life.

  And when she died, would he even care? Probably he had dozens of Jennifers, I couldn’t know. “You’re not his human servant, are you?” I murmured. “You’re his drudge.” His human slave. His feedbag.

  “You don’t know anything about it,” she said, then gestured sharply at the two men. “Get her out of here.”

  As we walked, and to take my mind off my nervousness, I recalled what I’d been taught about vampires.

  Vampires didn’t turn humans into vampires simply by biting them or feeding from them. The turning of humans was much more complicated than that. They killed the human with their bite, then brought them back by a rather complex series of events that included magic, feeding them the mixed blood, and going into the earth to sleep with them for days. After that, the human had to be raised nearly like an infant to survive his turning and be taught how to be a vampire.

  A lot of younger and less experienced vampires killed humans by attempting unsuccessfully to turn them, and that practice had been forbidden long ago by the vampire council—at least that’s what the wolves were taught. I was sure the vampires had their secrets, but that was the gist of it. It was not easy, by any means, to turn a human into a vampire. It was, however, horribly easy to turn them into corpses.

  Though no one knew for sure, it was believed that an accidental mishap with magic had created vampires to begin with. Dark magic. It was always dark magic that created the monsters.

  Creating human servants was yet another complicated process. Only vampire masters could make human servants, and they could do it without the human’s permission. Once they did, that human was bound to him forever, would give his life for his master, and would find it literally impossible to disobey him. In return, the servant lived longer than normal humans, was taken care of and protected by his master, and was highly important in the clan. The human servant was given servants—though not human ones.