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"There's been no sign of her, and she's been missing from work for several days. But given our workload, she's currently listed as low priority."
Meaning he'll only start to worry if she turns up dead somewhere. Bastard. "What about Gautier?"
"What about him?"
"Do you think he's behind the sudden rise in baby vamps and would he be doing it just to piss us off?"
"Probably."
"So have you figured out how did he manage to walk out of that flat when it was past sunrise?"
"All he needed to move around in was a van with blacked-out windows."
"If there was a van around, the old biddy next door would have seen and reported it. She didn't, so there wasn't." I paused. "Dunleavy and his girlfriend must have known something pretty vital to be killed the way they were. Did a full background check reveal any clues?"
"No. But the security tapes from the Cattle Club show Trudi and Jin working together on several occasions. Maybe she overhead something she wasn't supposed to."
Maybe. But that was something we'd never know now. I scratched at an itch on my leg irritably. "Here's another odd one for you, boss. How can Jin, who's listed as human and feels human, defeat a vampire?"
"I don't know." He paused, and I could almost hear his brain ticking over. It wasn't hard to guess in what direction. Eventually, he said, "But I think you need to hang around him and find out."
"Like that's a surprise."
He snorted softly. "Hey, you admitted you enjoyed yourself."
"That's beside the point. There's something more going on with his brand of sex, Jack. There's an odd energy in the air - something I've never felt before."
"Does it feel dangerous?"
"No. But - " I hesitated, not sure I could fully explain the odd mix of unease and desire Jin's energy inflicted. "I'm a werewolf, Jack. There is no way known sex with a human should leave me as shaky as I was feeling this morning."
"Unless he's some kind of emotive vampire."
"Meaning he feeds off emotion?" Which is what Quinn was probably getting at when he said blood vamps weren't the only kind out there.
"Yes. Some feed off pleasure, some feed off pain. Some like a mix. fin sounds like the latter type."
"So why does he read as human?"
"I don't know. He shouldn't."
"If he was an emotive vamp, could he beat a regular blood vamp? One who wasn't a baby?"
"As a genera! rule, no. Emotive vamps are more energy beings than physical beings."
Well, Jin was definitely physical. "So how can I protect myself against his feeding?"
"You can't. You just have to ensure you take a break between sessions and get some food into you. The richer the better, because it refuels your energy faster."
Which was why Jin had been feeding me gooey chocolate cake last night, obviously. "So, even though he's sucking down emotions, I have to eat to keep my physical energy up, same as with regular vamps?"
"Afraid so. Though emotive vamps do tend to leave you a little more strung out emotionally for a few hours afterward."
I must have slept through that period of recovery, because I was feeling okay by the time I'd left Jin's. "And if I don't eat and refuel? Can it become dangerous?"
"Well, he could drain you to the point that you're physical unable to defend yourself, but he can't kill you with his feeding as a blood vamp can." He paused. "See if you can grab some hair samples. We'll run some tests and see exactly what we're dealing with."
"He said he'd ring tonight, so I'll see what happens." I paused. "Have you decoded whatever was written on the inside of the ring?"
