Page 24 of The Duke’s Bloody Bargain

I gazed away. “Goodness.”

Alex took my hand gently and rubbed my knuckles. “If it’s too much, we can leave.”

“No. I’m fine.”

He avoided the sunlight and kept to the shadows. It wasn’t anything unusual, but his aversion to sunlight had increased quickly, and when he brushed past the sunny patch, the bond strained painfully.

“These three are the bloodless victims.” The inspector pulled down the blankets on the last three bodies in the room. “The pathologists are puzzled. They can’t agree on anything. One believes it was a wild animal. Another one thinks the men died from a new type of influenza or pox. I hope they don’t declare an emergency and lock down the city.”

I braced myself for a gruesome sight, but aside from pale faces, there wasn’t much to see.

The inspector tilted the head of one of the bodies, showing us the marks left by the rogue. Several round wounds marred the men’s necks. “As you can see, these marks are on all three bodies. It’s the first time I’ve seen such wounds, but my wife thinks they are vampire bites, and she knows more than I do on supernatural matters.”

“They are indeed vampire bites.” Darius got a closer look. “All the wounds have the same width and depth. I would say they’re from the same vampire, which is a small comfort. At least there aren’t many vampires at large killing humans.”

I’d been bitten by Alex, and it’d been the most exciting experience of my life, but seeing the marks of a vampire’s teeth on a dead body was a different experience.

I touched my neck. “But Alex doesn’t leave any marks when he feeds. Why would a vampire leave them, knowing they would give him away?”

“Because I believe this is a rogue vampire.” Darius scribbled in his notebook, glancing at the corpses. “Rogue vampires lose the ability to heal wounds. Healing is an act of kindness, and rogue vampires are anything but kind.”

Alex frowned. “My sire left the marks of his bite on my neck as well.”

Darius kept scribbling. “He must have lost his healing ability, too.” He stopped writing. “He had to be a rogue, or on his way to becoming one. Interesting, considering your sire is a four-hundred-year-old vampire. Perhaps age has a slowing effect on a vampire turning rogue.”

“So it’s true.” The inspector’s voice quivered. “There’s a rogue vampire in London.”

“I believe there is,” Darius said in a grave tone. “There are different levels of danger when it comes to a rogue. New rogues are less dangerous than vampires who have been rogues for longer. They lose control completely. There’s hope this vampire hasn’t been a rogue for long.”

“Hope?” Inspector Talbot pushed up his bowler hat. “How can you tell?”

Darius took more notes. “A very dangerous rogue, in his last stage of depravity, would kill hundreds of people in a few hours.”

A chill made me shiver. Hundreds.

Alex examined the men’s faces closely. “I know these men.”

Darius showed a troubled expression, mirrored in the turbulence in his aura. Dozens of tendrils crossed it. “You’re right. They were members of Rothbart’s gang.”

The inspector’s concern pulsated sepia around him.

A muscle in Alex’s jaw twitched. “Where were they found?”

“In the same room, in a small gambling den in Whitechapel,” the inspector said. “They were still sitting on their chairs, cards and drinks in front of them, which makes me think the attack arrived so quickly they hadn’t had time to stand up or react.”

“That confirms it’s a rogue,” Darius said. “Only rogues drain their victims and kill more than once in a row.”

“It’s not a coincidence.” Alex covered the bodies. “A vampire is targeting Rothbart’s thugs. He might not be a rogue after all, just someone with a grudge.”

Darius stopped writing. “The question is why.”

“Why? Rothbart is ruthless and has many enemies.” Alex shrugged. “He has one too many.”

Darius cradled his chin. “They were killed at the same time, almost instantly. Only rogue vampires are that quick, lethal, and precise.”

The inspector gazed from the bodies to Alex. “Isn’t it the same for regular vampires?”

“No, it isn’t,” Darius said. “Rogues lose some abilities, like their healing powers or tolerance for sunlight, and acquire others. More lethal.”