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I have no idea, Dark. But I intend to find out. They said no more lies.
Just be careful. Killian’s already falling apart. Too much and…
I knew what too much would do. But I had a feeling that we had already passed ‘too much’ a long time ago, and we were only just beginning to see the effects.
SAMAEL
I had told the medical examiner – Gideon – that he was to contact me immediately if he had any suspicious bodies show up in his morgue. But I hadn’t been expecting a call. Ever. Jenny was strange enough. Unfortunately, with Chief Matthews’ newest mission, I couldn’t take any shortcuts.
The old guy owed me one too many favors, and as I entered his office, I knew it wasn’t good. When he pulled back the sheet of his latest arrival, I didn’t try to hide the anger that settled into my features. Fuck.
My eyes grazed over the bloodied woman, knowing at first glance that one of Slash and Aeron’s mothers was lying on that slab. A moment of panic had me thinking that Slash hadn’t been able to hold back any longer and took her out. But that timeline didn’t add up. This also wasn’t his MO.
This was just like Jenny.
Another body with no explanation that the chief would believe was the work of The Three Terrors just so they didn’t have to introduce a new killer in Primrose.
Far from it.
I clenched my fists, tightened my smile, and glared at Dr. Gideon. My anger wasn’t directed at him, but he was about to get the brunt of it. “Gideon, what the fuck is this?”
He threw his hands up defensively, moving toward the body from the other side. “Don’t threaten me over this. I didn’t kill her, Samael.” I growled at him, and he just sighed. Fucking sighed. “Look, right here. You asked me to call if there was something strange. I held up my end of the bargain.”
On closer inspection, I noticed a similarity between this body and Jenny’s murder, something that had been cataloged but never fully addressed. A small bite mark, placed delicately just above the left nipple. The indents were barely there, but being part of the kink community and a detective, it was easy to pick out amongst the other pieces of evidence.
Just like Jenny’s. I had mentioned that Jenny might have been part of the kink community as well when her body had been thoroughly looked over. A far-fetched claim but if Jenny had been anything like her sister, it tracked. The bite mark had been lodged into her shoulder and a few flimsy connections I manufactured had solidified my claim.
The problem was that these weren’t the only two bodies with bite marks like those. A man who had almost unearthed the truth of our identities a few years ago had suffered a similar bite mark but it had been on his leg. The areas weren’t the same and the bite on the man and this woman had most definitely not been welcomed or anticipated.
Gideon had no idea how important that mark was, and no doubt would attribute the killings to something going down in the kink community. I relished the distraction because it would give me time to find a true culprit. A bite as a calling card? Did this fucker think he was Ted Bundy?
I stifled a life and let out a deep breath. “Thanks. Let me know what you find after the autopsy.”
He covered the woman back up and walked me to his office, shoving the file at me for my reference. I didn’t even touch it. I had all the information I needed. “Samael, I don’t want to know what shit you’ve gotten caught up in because, frankly, you get involved in a lot of dark stuff. But this woman? She wasn’t just murdered. She was slaughtered. And you know how there’s usually dirt or skin or something under the fingernails, signifying that she tried to fight back? Well, they’re pretty clean.”
I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.
“She didn’t fight back. She couldn’t fight back. Someone out there didn’t just murder her. They toyed with her, took away her ability to fight, and then cut her down. Someone’s not playing nice, Samael.”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know how to. Seething, I stalked back out to my car and locked myself inside, slamming the steering wheel a few times for good measure. We were in so much fucking shit.
And by the looks of it, whoever was playing with us knew exactly where our weakness was: Killian. It wouldn’t surprise me if Killian started paying for our mistakes next.
SLASH
The hospital couldn’t have picked a worse time to call. We had been seconds away from an entire fuck fest, Killian drooling over our darkness like a lovesick puppy. I wanted nothing more than to ram my dick down his throat and watch him choke as he greedily sucked me up. If Dark or Daemon came out to play, I wouldn’t have been mad.
But no. I got stuck with a raging hard-on and a desperate call for a consultation. I had driven at no less than 100 mph, hoping that whatever had dragged me away from my Kitten wouldn’t take long. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Because when I arrived, I was stuck with one of the hardest fucking decisions of my life.
Annoyance toyed with my smile as I stomped toward my office, Niles catching me by the arm and ushering me to the boardroom that we only used in dire times. I growled at him, and he quickly released me but didn’t slow his pace. Three board members stared back at me as the door closed behind me.
Tense silence shifted between the five of us.
“What the fuck am I here for?” I spat out, snarling at the men who wrote my paycheck. I didn’t fucking care at that point. I didn’t actually work for the money. It was for my cover, and I was getting pretty tired of having to show up at a moment’s notice because someone was dying of a condition that wasn’t my fucking fault. I destroyed things. I broke things. I killed things. I didn’t fucking save things, and I was beginning to see that my ‘cover’ was in complete opposition to everything I was.
I clasped my hands behind my back to hide the tremor, glaring at every occupant in the room. One of them had flinched at my question, directing his attention to the others, but no one spoke. I’m done with this shit. Moving to leave, Niles blocked my way and then sighed.
“Look, I know you asked for time. But we need you to work on this one patient.”
