Agent Caitlin Parish had only ascended two flights of stairs on her way up to the Third Species Control Division’s headquarters when she heard the scuff of boots against concrete heading down towards her.
‘Morgan, I just picked up your email,’ she said, as she came face-to-face with her boss on the stairwell. ‘We need to talk.’
‘Not right now.’ He could barely look her in the eye as he skimmed past her. ‘I’ll find you later.’
Caitlin turned on her heels, pursuing him down the steps regardless. ‘Why are you questioning my decision?’
‘I’m questioning your decision because we have eight dead humans and I need some answers, Caitlin. And as Caleb Dehain is currently our only link to those murders, I have every right to question why, three days into the case, you still haven’t brought him in for interrogation.’
He yanked open the door and stepped out into the car park, Caitlin close on his heels.
‘And as I keep telling you, it’s not him.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ Morgan asked, turning to face her.
‘It’s obvious to anyone who knows how Caleb operates. Even one of the Curfew Enforcement Officers questioned his involvement when I presented the case to them a couple of days ago. That was just from examining the photographic evidence.’
‘Eden Reece, wasn’t it? Yes, I heard. He’s always been a law unto himself.’
‘He’s also one of the best officers the CEU have.’
‘He’s nothing to do with this case. Nor is he the one who has to deal with the fallout.’
‘I’m telling you there is nothing substantial linking Caleb Dehain to those murders other than the unsubstantiated attempt on his and his brother’s life.’
Caleb Dehain ruled the west side of Blackthorn with the same zero tolerance as Kane Malloy ruled the east. It meant he was going to come up against enemies – those who were reckless or stupid enough to try to knock him off his pedestal. If the rumours were true of an assassination attempt against him, it was logical he would try and track down the perpetrators. But Caitlin had had Kane’s assurance – Kane’s vehement assurance – that Caleb was not involved in those murders.
Morgan took a step closer towards her and lowered his voice, only too aware of how voices echoed in the vast but dense space of the enclosed car park. ‘Or is someone letting you in on inside information? Covering his buddy’s back, maybe?’
The spark of accusation in her ex-partner’s eyes created an even greater sense of isolation than she already felt. Having the rest of the department despise her for exposing the TSCD’s corruption in their attempt to bring down Kane Malloy was a given. Morgan, on the other hand, was her only ally. ‘Are you questioning my loyalty?’
‘I’m asking you to look me in the eye and tell me that Kane has said nothing to you about this.’
Her silence seemed confirmation enough.
‘I knew it,’ he said.
‘Yes, I asked him about it, but I’ve been asking questions of anyone who’s anyone in Blackthorn. And so far there is nothing to link Caleb to those killings other than rumour and speculation.’
‘And right now rumour and speculation are all we have. You need to bring him in. I can get it agreed for him to be shadow read if needs be. Once you get inside his thoughts and memories, you may even uncover enough to make sure he stays inside.’
‘Without preliminary evidence? Since when was that permissible?’
He closed the remaining gap between them and lowered his voice even more. ‘Do you know how it looks that you won’t?’
‘Is that what this is about – how it looks?’
‘As you very well know, for the next few months everything about how the TSCD operates is going to be about how it looks.’
‘Which is why we cannot bring in one of the most respected vampires in Blackthorn without justification.’
‘Respected by his own maybe. He might be smart enough to keep under the radar, but I’ve got enough on him that could more than justify questions being asked.’ He sighed, the accusation in his voice easing. His eyes softened. ‘I’m watching your back, Caitlin. Right now, I’m the only one who is. I know how tough they’re already making it for you out there. They’re not going to ease up. You don’t put their own behind bars, sleep with the vampire they were hunting in the process, and just move on.’
‘Matt, you know me,’ she said, hoping her statement would be reinforced by opting out of the official protocol of using surnames. ‘We’ve worked together long enough … were partners long enough. You know I’m not going to let them get to me. I’m not going to be bullied out of my job. I can handle it.’
‘Which is why you look like you haven’t slept? You’ve only been back three days. You don’t have to prove yourself by working yourself into the ground, Caitlin.’
‘I’m not trying to prove myself. I’m trying to find out who’s responsible for those murders – and it’s not Caleb.’
He glanced over his shoulder as a car screeched towards the exit. ‘I really don’t have time for this right now,’ he said, turning on his heels again. ‘Like I said, we’ll talk later.’
‘I know that look.’ Caitlin picked up pace to shunt in front of him. She plastered her palm firmly to his chest to bring him to a halt. ‘Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you are?’ Her heart raced as she waited for him to deny it. He didn’t. ‘You promised me.’
‘I’m sorry but I have no choice. The TSCD is still in the wake of the trial. We need results on this one. A public failure could destroy us. That’s why we have to keep this investigation as low-key as possible.’
‘I’m the last one to shout my mouth off. You know that.’
‘And before Caleb’s name came into the equation, I wouldn’t have even been considering this.’
As Morgan’s true concern became apparent, Caitlin instinctively took a step back. ‘You can’t be serious.’
‘Caitlin,’ he said, his tone far too placating her liking, ‘I can’t have you involved in a case with another lead vampire in this district – not so soon after Kane. It’s going to cause too much attention. Attention means even less room for failure.’
‘So because this might involve Caleb, you want to pull me off the case?’
‘You know what his reputation is like.’
‘And I’ve got a type, right? Have you any idea how insulting that is?’
‘And if you’re furious with me for even thinking it, how are you going to handle people saying it to your face? Fellow VCU agents? Others in the TSCD? People on the street? The press? They’re going to have a field day. I’m not willing to do it to you.’
‘And less than three weeks into your temporary promotion, you don’t want to be seen making a mistake.’
Morgan frowned at her retaliation. ‘Bring Dehain in or I’ll have no choice but to withdraw you and hand this case to someone else. If you’re so convinced he’s innocent, prove it.’
‘And I’m telling you that the third species community loathe us enough for what came out in that trial. If I bring Caleb in, any thin thread of what we have with them will be severed.’
‘And the thread you have with Kane?’
‘This is nothing to do with him.’ She looked him in the eyes as she lied. Because her reluctance to bring Caleb in had everything to do with Kane. It had everything to do with him promising her Caleb was not involved, as well as his insistence she stay out of it. That meant Kane knew something. That meant if anyone else took over the case in the interim, trails could lead to him.
She closed the gap between them. ‘Matt, if you pull me off this case, I’m finished at the TSCD.’
‘Shadow read him. See the evidence with your own eyes. Rule him out, that’s all you have to do.’
And get up close and personal with the one vampire Kane had told her to stay the hell away from.
Morgan turned on his heels and strode past the parked cars.
‘Give me a little more time,’ she said, catching up with his strides and keeping pace as she marched alongside him. ‘I’ll get a lead in the next couple of days.’
If anything, it could give Kane no choice but to let her in on what he knew.
Morgan glanced across at her before taking a left as a couple more cars screeched out of the car park. ‘Caitlin, I really don’t have time for this now.’
It wasn’t just the activity surging around them; it was the urgency in his eyes, in his composure, as he picked up pace towards his car that incited Caitlin to quicken her footing to match his.
‘What’s going on?’
He passed her the small, handheld screen as they kept walking. ‘This footage came in twenty minutes ago.’
Caitlin had to study the image closer to confirm what she was looking at: a pile of what could only be described as white flab.
‘It was discovered on the east side of Blackthorn less than half an hour ago.’ The car’s amber lights flashed, the beep simultaneously echoing around the enclosed concrete tomb. Morgan headed around to the driver’s side. ‘One of the Curfew Enforcement Officers discovered it in one of the back alleys.’
‘What is it?’
‘We don’t know,’ Morgan said, meeting her gaze across the car roof. ‘But it has a heart beat.’ He held his hand out across the roof for Caitlin to hand the device back, but instead she opened the passenger door. ‘What are you doing?’
‘We can talk more on the way,’ she declared, securing her passenger seat belt one-handed.
‘Caitlin, this doesn’t concern you.’ Morgan slid into the driver’s seat alongside her. ‘Whatever it is, it isn’t a vampire. This is one for the Demon Control Unit, more likely.’
She relooked at the digital picture. ‘You said this is in an alley? It looks like it fills the entire breadth of it.’
‘And spans twenty-foot high.’
‘Any limbs?’
‘None that are visible.’ He held out his hand to get his device back. ‘You’re not coming with me, Caitlin.’
‘Are you going to kick me out? Come on, we can talk about Caleb on the way. Two jobs done at once.’ Her gaze lingered on his as she waited for his approval. She didn’t get it. More tyres screeched in the distance. ‘Sounds like you don’t have time to sit here arguing with me, Morgan.’
He took the device from her hand and shoved it in the space beneath the stereo. ‘I’m your boss now,’ he reminded her. ‘Not the other way around.’
‘Which I respect,’ she said, ‘as long as you respect me enough in return to trust me on this one.’
Caitlin glanced over her shoulder to see another TSCD car skidded into view behind theirs as Morgan sped out of the car park, taking a sharp right onto the main road. She looked out of the passenger side window at the blurred buildings of Lowtown as they left the Third Species Control Division behind.
Morgan stared pensively ahead, awkward silence filling the cabin of the car. ‘Then fess up,’ he said. ‘Are you still with him, Caitlin?’ He glanced across at her, holding her gaze a second longer than was safe considering he was behind the wheel.
Kane had told her to deny their relationship at all costs. He’d told her that confirmation of their being together would both worsen things for her at the TSCD and complicate what he needed to do. She knew he was right about the former. As for the latter, she still had no idea what it was that he needed to do. But she’d known the moment she had been visited by Sirius Throme, head of the Global Council, that denial had been the best option.
‘What makes you so sure I can even find Kane again to pass your message on?’ she’d asked Sirius as he’d sat in her armchair after breaking into her apartment.
Sirius had remained poised, his gaze steady on hers. ‘Kane could have killed you at any point, Caitlin. The fact you’re still alive tells me you remain useful to him. So, yes, I think you’re the perfect person to pass my message on. Tell him to give himself up. Tell him he does not want to face the alternative.’
She’d known she’d need to buy Kane as much time as possible. ‘I can’t guarantee how long it will take me.’
Sirius had leaned forward again. ‘And I can’t guarantee how long it will be before I lose my patience. Best not drag your heels, Caitlin. Like I said, the clock is ticking.’
‘Well?’ Morgan asked, the blurred images that had passed her those few seconds ago now coming back into focus and reminding her where she was. She’d barely registered that they had pulled up at the district’s border and were being permitted, without question, into Blackthorn.
‘No,’ she said, her gaze still out of the window as she scanned the thirty-foot-high concrete wall that permanently marked the border into third-species territory. ‘We’re not together.’
Silence filled the car again.
Caitlin folded her arms. ‘He didn’t like me coming back to the Vampire Control Unit. I guess it was never going to work. And if you must know, this whole thing has been humiliating enough without needing to go over it.’ She looked across at Morgan. She’d seen the brief fleck of uncertainty in Sirius’s eyes when she’d claimed the same, but she’d worked with Morgan too long. ‘So I most certainly have no plans to jump straight into bed with another vampire – least of all Caleb Dehain.’
Morgan took a left and then a right, splashing through the puddles that lingered as evidence of the thunderstorm the night before. It had struck in the early hours, waking Caitlin at her desk, her face stuck to paper, her coffee cold beside her. It had ignited the sky enough for her to turn to face the window, to see Blackthorn being backlit before being cast into darkness again.
Morgan had moved her out of the main office, from the maze of cubicles, to give her a break from the glares. She never had a problem with concentration, but her return to the Unit had left her more drained than even she wanted to admit to. Her new office was a cupboard, but at least she could close the door. At least she could get her head down and work without her every move being watched and her every phone call being monitored as others hung on her every action, ready to pounce.
Morgan had been good to her. She could only hope she could persuade him to continue to be good to her, because if he did take her off the case, the fire would most definitely be fanned. If he did take her off the case, she may as well quit.
They pulled up outside the cordoned-off alley. Fortunately, with it being mid-morning, the streets were quiet. Clearly they’d managed to keep the discovery under wraps.
‘Wait here,’ Morgan said, before easing out. The car juddered slightly as he slammed the door.
Caitlin strained to hear the muffled voices beyond the glass, relying more on the gestures and facial expressions of both Morgan and the officer who had greeted him from behind the yellow tape.
Figures head-to-foot in white jumpsuits and masks milled around at the bottom of the alley in the distance, the officer addressing Morgan pointing to them several times in between resting his hands on his hips and running his hand back through his hair. From what she could gather as another came to join them, this one bearing the blue logo of the Unidentified Species Unit, his shrugs and head shakes told her they were no further forward in identifying the blob.
The urge to leave the car and head down the alley to investigate for herself was overwhelming. Caitlin remained rooted as she had been told though, not wanting to give Morgan any further cause to reconsider her position.
She chewed her bottom lip, tightened her folded arms and looked down to where Morgan had tucked the phone beneath the stereo. She reached for it and examined the image again. She tapped it against her lips a couple of times, watching Morgan as he headed down the alley towards where the creature was tucked out of sight.
She squinted through the glint of sunlight that bounced off the wet paving, leaned forward to look up at the tops of the buildings, wondering if she could maybe sneak up there for an aerial view.
Until her attention snapped to the end of the alley.
Even within the vacuum of the car, she heard the yells, the simultaneous scuffle beyond causing her to snatch back a breath.
One of the officers at the end was there one minute and gone the next. As she stared ahead wide-eyed, two more vanished in quick succession, what looked like giant white suckers shooting out from the shadows and snatching them up.
The others ran back down the alley towards her.
Heart pounding, adrenaline kicking in, Caitlin pulled her gun from her holster. She shoved the car door open, the morning breeze cool against her perspiring forehead as she braced herself.
As its body filled the end of the alley, its roar reverberating out onto the street where Caitlin stood, she stopped breathing. A second later, it spun towards her like a limbed snowball, its myriad of elongated suckers clamping to the walls either side of it as if to control its momentum as it grabbed officers who were trying to escape.
Caitlin held her gun poised, despite not knowing where to shoot first. Others fired regardless, Caitlin joining in as the frenzy of bodies shoved and ploughed past her.
But it didn’t stop, the gunfire only seeming to infuriate it more.
Caitlin slid back over the bonnet of Morgan’s car to create a shield, but the vehicle was cast aside seconds later, smashing to the ground forty feet away. A sucker snagged her calf, yanked her to the ground, her chin hitting tarmac. She lost her gun and desperately clutched for it as she was dragged towards the alley entrance, the creature having stopped there as if sensing the threat of open space beyond.
She snapped her head to the right, saw one of her fellow agents, his gun poised in his hand as he held it at the creature, firing with no effect, before looking down to notice her.
‘Shoot it!’ she yelled, pointing at the sucker that gripped her leg.
But he just stared at her somewhere between blank and pensive.
At first she thought it was shock, maybe even panic. She held out her hand. ‘Give me your gun!’
But then she saw it in his eyes, in his expression, as she was yanked past him.
He had no intention of helping her.
Caitlin clawed concrete, ripping her nails as she clutched onto a pothole. As the creature yanked again, she twisted onto her back, kicking at the sucker with her free foot.
She thought of Kane. Thought of not seeing him again, and kicked with more fervency as she glared up at the now thirty-foot-high monster bearing down on her.
Morgan was behind her a second later, clutching her arms, struggling to hold her back as another agent was grabbed, and another.
Caitlin continued to try and kick the tentacle away as Morgan nestled in behind her, being dragged along with her as he shot at the sucker, further ammunition firing off around them.
There was a spark of light, a distant crack. Caitlin shielded her eyes, only looking back when she felt the tension had left her leg.
Everything fell silent.
She stared back at the empty alley, still panting as Morgan did the same against her back.
‘What the…?’ Morgan muttered under his breath, his confusion matching her own.
‘Where did it go?’ Caitlin asked. ‘Is it gone?’
His breaths were heavy in her ear. ‘It looks like it.’
She snatched her gaze back to the agent who had abstained from helping her. Despite the pain in her calf, she overrode the shock of the past few minutes and struggled to her feet. She lunged at him seconds later.
To her frustration, Morgan had pre-empted her and was right behind her, dragging her away from giving the agent a face full of fist.
‘I know,’ Morgan whispered in her ear. ‘I saw. But back down – this isn’t going to help.’
She reluctantly conceded, Morgan only then letting her go.
She limped down the alley, wiping the back of her trembling hand across her dry mouth before glaring over her shoulder to see Morgan jabbing the infuriated officer in the chest. She looked around at the eyes watching her, still too startled from the onslaught to notice the reprimand, to notice anything but their own gratitude for having survived.
She rested her hands on her hips as she finished catching her breath and stared down at what lay just a few feet away.
Caitlin stepped up to the long, slender piece of wood, the aluminum arrowhead glinting in the morning light. She crouched down, her heart pounding as she recognised the navy-blue fletchings. Fletchings that matched the colour of his eyes.
She looked across her shoulder up at where the sunlight, dull though it was, blocked her vision to the roof of the building above.
‘Who the hell uses a bow and arrow these days?’ Morgan asked, stepping in behind her.
She stood up, her gaze locking back on the arrow.
Her pulse raced. She had to hide her smile.
Because she knew exactly who.
Kane Malloy held the bowstring back to anchor point, the arrow aimed directly at the back of the agent’s neck. Two centimetres higher and he could kill him outright. Two centimetres lower and he could leave him paralysed from the neck down. He pulled the string a little tauter, his hands as steady as his gaze on his target as he ran his tongue slowly and contemplatively down his elongated incisor.
The bastard deserved to die after what he’d just done to Caitlin. He knew it was a mistake her returning to the TSCD and this was proof. No one had her back, no one but Morgan. But letting that arrow go would have confirmed too much. It would have exposed that there was still something between them. It would have led to Caitlin being hated even more than she already was.
Hidden by the sun in just the right place, a trick he had learned and perfected as a child when he had first picked up his weapon of choice those centuries before, he lowered his bow, removed the arrow and reluctantly placed it back in the quiver on his back.
He looked down the alley at Caitlin, at where she stared up at the building, her hand a visor to shield her eyes from the sun.
As soon as she sensed Morgan behind her, she dropped her gaze, avoiding drawing attention to his presence – further proof she knew it was him.
She’d been looking through his myriad of glass cabinets some days before and had come across his bow standing proud and central in one of them. Highly polished with aluminum carved tips, it worked in perfect unity with the matching collection of arrows by its side. She’d taken it out to handle it, and he’d rested his shoulder against the arched doorway as her eyes had met his – eyes that had ignited with intrigue.
‘It’s surprisingly heavy,’ she’d declared.
‘Have you ever used one?’
She’d shaken her head.
He’d stepped in behind her, guiding one hand to the shaft and the other to the bowstring as he helped her slowly stretch it. ‘It’s as much about posture as pressure,’ he’d told her, her body distractingly warm and soft against his. ‘And a steady hand,’ he’d declared, his breath teasing her ear.
‘Are you any good?’
His laugh had been brief, deep. ‘Yeah, I’m good.’
‘Show me.’
She’d eased away from him, reached for a piece of paper discarded on the nearby table. She scrunched it up into a ball and held it in her open palm. ‘How far away could you shoot this from my hand?’
He’d glanced over his shoulder, through the open-arched rooms. He looked back at Caitlin, her eyes glinting with excitement in the muted light.
He’d eased her back against the wall, holding her paper-holding hand out to the right and guiding the flat of her hand to the wall to her left. ‘You mustn’t move.’
She’d nodded, trying to suppress the glimmer of apprehension in her expression.
He’d wandered through the arch to three rooms away – the furthest distance he could get to in the confinement of the place.
And he’d drawn back his bow.
Contrary to what she’d expected, he hadn’t aimed at the ball of paper. Instead he’d aimed at the tiny space between her ring finger and little finger as she’d held her palm flat to the wall. He’d nestled the arrowhead side on between them, her gaze saying it all as he sauntered back through the rooms to join her.
‘You missed,’ she’d declared teasingly.
He’d placed his palm flat beside her head, pulled the arrow from the wall before raking its tip slowly across her bare collarbone. ‘You know better than that.’
As his eyes had met hers again, her breathing had picked up a notch, her lips slightly parted in a way that had become impossibly tempting.
He’d had her in his domain for nine days at that point – the time they’d spent together inconsequential beyond their own needs. After the intensity of the three days they’d first been together, back when he’d been hell-bent on seeing his original plan for revenge through, he’d finally learned to relax with her. Instead of the gameplay, the escalating battle with his own conscience amidst his reluctantly developing feelings for her, he’d finally been able to enjoy her – physically and mentally. It had been a much-needed and much-welcomed relief.
Until she’d talked about returning to the Vampire Control Unit.
Until he had felt his heart being ripped out.
In his domain she was safe. In his domain, no one could touch her.
In his domain, she was also a caged bird. A caged bird who, with time, however long they had left of it, would come to resent his over-protectiveness. And he had never felt it more than those few days as they’d built up to her return, when he’d found it hard to conceal his resentment, his anxiety, his frustration.
But despite knowing she was back on the job, she’d still been the last one he’d expected to step out of the car outside that alley.
He’d been on a ten-hour stint looking for Jask Tao’s young. The lycan pack’s young had been snatched straight out of the compound days before, leading to a hunt across Blackthorn. He’d got a call a couple of hours after dawn to say that they were all back safely, all except one – Tuly Saylen, the daughter of Jask’s beta, Corbin, was still missing.
He’d been heading over to the lycan compound when he’d got the call about the nilkim having been found in the alley. Docile most of the time, a maniacal rampant killer the rest, he knew he had to get to the fourth species quickly before it woke. It would have been over swiftly and quietly if the TSCD hadn’t interfered.
Lucky for them, the minute he’d seen Caitlin emerge from the car, every protective instinct had kicked in. It had taken seconds too long for him to home in exactly where he needed to shoot the nilkim, it closing in on Caitlin adding to the pressure of him needing to be accurate first time. He’d had to wait for the creature to rotate for the third time before its ear was exposed again. When it had, he’d hit it with precision. With his arrowhead smeared in a mixture of salt, ash of bay leaves and a touch of basil, it had sent the fourth species right back to where it had come from. Though what the fuck it was doing appearing in Blackthorn, in this dimension, in the first place was the question he wanted answered most.
The medics were now treating Caitlin, checking her leg as she gestured she was fine in typical Caitlin style. It made him smile. A lot of what she did made him smile. As he watched her, he thought back to all those years when he had hated her and had planned her demise along with those she loved. Those who had murdered his sister.
Now he couldn’t imagine being without her. As heavy the weight of responsibility it brought with it was, the warmth she sparked in him as he looked at her made up for it. The laceration in his chest as he saw the nilkim spiral towards her confirmed what he’d already come to acknowledge – being with Caitlin was the only good to have come out of what had happened to his sister, Arana.
If only being with her wasn’t now the biggest chink in his armour. Which is why he had to keep his distance from her – in public at least.
Kane sauntered back across the rooftop. He placed a cigarette between his lips and cupped his hands to light up.
As he felt the vibration in his back pocket, he removed his phone to receive the call. ‘Yeah?’
‘Kane, it’s Corbin.’
Kane came to a standstill, exhaled a stream of smoke into the morning air as he glanced up at the now-muted light as heavy clouds masked the sun. ‘I was on my way to see you.’
‘Good. Because we have an unexpected visitor.’
Kane’s chest tightened at the tension in the lycan’s voice.
‘Caleb Dehain,’ Corbin declared. There was a moment’s silence. ‘Caleb Dehain has just turned up at the compound.’
‘What the fuck is he doing there?’ Kane asked.
‘He brought Tuly back.’
Despite the great news that the last one of the stolen young was now back safely, there was still tension in her father’s voice.
‘Is she okay?’ Kane asked.
‘She’s fine. A little shell-shocked, but fine. She’d escaped from the south with the rest but she got lost. One of Caleb’s men found her in a back alley.’
‘Has he come alone?’
‘The pack has checked out the periphery; he’s alone,’ Corbin declared. And for the pack’s beta to have been the one making the call, there was no need to guess where their leader was. ‘We’ve kept lookouts. No one will get within a mile of the compound without us knowing.’
‘Jask is with him?’
‘He’s keeping him in the outer room.’
‘Phia?’ Kane asked.
Th
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