The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death

[ladydeathfaerie]

Title: The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death
Chapter Nineteen: The Silver Lining
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: graphic sex and violence, language, anything else i can toss in.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the Sues are the sole property of their originators, Ginevra, Dazzledfirestar, Nanaea, SilverFoxChan and ladydeathfaerie. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar. all beta work, plot bunny shooting and ass spanking is being done by Gin. 

The Mary Sue Virus: Beyond Death - Index Link 

Aedan drew her coat close as she stepped out of the back door that led into the Circus, just at the top of the stairs. The light poured down over her to pool at her feet, the glare blinding enough that she couldn't see past the circle of golden glow. She frowned and moved into the shadows, waiting for her eyes to adjust before going any further. She was pleased to have gotten out of the dress and into something more comfortable. The jeans and t-shirt were old and worn, as was the coat she'd thrown on to cover the holster. She suspected it was the only comfort she was going to get tonight.

"I'm glad you're so prompt. I'd hate to have had to come and get you," Edward melted out of the darkness. She'd been expecting him, but his sudden appearance still sent a trill of fear through her and she fought not to show it. The dinner had been in the crapper almost from the get go and the rest of the night was on the verge of following.

"Can we get this over with? I'm tired and I want to sleep. Tonight's been trying," she managed evenly, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her coat.

"How's the visit with Belle and Padma going?" he asked, a slight curl at the corner of his mouth betraying his feelings. She could sense an air of anticipation around him, as if he thought he could get away with walking into the Circus and gunning the two of them down. She eyeballed him a moment, then shook her head.

"They're behaving themselves. Which is a shame. Because one of them is just begging to be shot," she told him.

"And your finger is itching to pull the trigger, isn't it?"

"Fucking right," she nodded. Casting a glance back at the door behind her, she motioned him deeper into the shadows. Someone was coming up the stairs, someone with the cold feel of death wrapped around him. She wouldn't at all be surprised if Jean Claude had sent someone up to spy on her or look after her. It had been a miracle she'd gotten out of the place without her usual body guard. "Let's go. We're going to have company soon and I got the impression from your call that you didn't want anyone to find out what was going on."

"You're right. My car is over here," he motioned to a looming shape in the darkness. One hand curled around her arm and he escorted her a little more briskly than she'd been prepared to walk. It forced her to struggle to keep up with him. Edward said nothing as he opened the door for her. Aedan blinked up at him with the action, then slid in and pulled the door closed behind her. He climbed into the driver's seat and cranked the engine over while closing the door after him. She caught sight of the door to the Circus opening as they pulled away. "Jean Claude okay with this?"

Was that concern in his voice? She pushed the thought away and turned to stare out the window of the car. The scenery passed by in a blur that she barely took notice of. "I'm sure he will be. He was standing right next to me when I talked to you. Chances are good he heard you."

He made a non-committal sound as he pulled the car out onto the road. His attention was fully on the pavement before him, but she could sense that he was keenly aware of her every move or breath. "Will you be reporting to him when you get back to the Circus?" he asked her, nothing in his voice to give away what he was thinking or feeling. She shrugged a shoulder, relatively certain he'd caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye.

"If he asks," she finally replied.

"You know he will." Edward took a right, turning toward a warehouse district. Aedan frowned but said nothing. He'd reveal what was going on when he was good and ready. For now, they were going to play twenty questions for information he more than likely already knew about. "Do you two spend your nights together?"

"No. I spend most of my nights working," she wondered at his line of questioning. "Generally, by the time I get back to the Circus, I'm so tired all I want to do is sleep. He doesn't really bother me much."

"That's good. It wouldn't do for you to get too close to him," Edward told her and she wondered if she was hearing a warning stemming from concern in his words or if he was threatening her. She had to be imagining things. She was still on edge from the dinner party.

"I have no intention of getting too close to him," she informed him, the urge to defend herself rising up within her. He had no right to tell her who she could and couldn't see. Never mind that Jean Claude still scared the piss out of her on any given day. The man was too... powerful. Even with the marks, there was a part of her that was nervous around him, a part of her that wanted to bolt every time he turned that deep blue gaze of his on her.

"That's what Anita used to say," he replied. He shot her a look that was filled with things that didn't belong in Edward's eyes. "She fell in love with the son-of-a-bitch and look where that got her."

"I'm not Anita," she reminded him.

"No. You're not. You're younger and less experienced than she ever was. You're an easy mark for someone like him. Jean Claude is old enough and powerful enough to get what he wants. And he has no problems using whatever means necessary to get it."

"He sounds an awful lot like someone else I know," Aedan returned, her voice barely above a whisper. Edward flashed her a smile that let her know he'd caught her meaning easily enough.

"If I were going to kill you, Chastity, I'd let you know before hand." His voice was cold and hard, edged with glass and promise. There was also a kind of warm pleasure to his words that made her think of sex and satisfaction. Aedan felt a shiver roll up her spine. "I'd warn you so I could watch you squirm and jump at shadows. And I'd hunt you, Chastity. I'd force you to use that gun of yours, to find out if you're capable of killing a man in cold blood."

"You know I don't like that name," she whispered, her gaze locked to the unending row of warehouses that rolled past the windows. There were no other vehicles on the street. Edward pulled the car to a stop in the middle of the road and reached out to curl his fingers around her chin. He forced her to look him in the eye.

"I have far more invested in you than I'd like, Chastity. Don't fail me again. You won't like the consequences," he warned, his tone pleasant.

"I never asked for your help," she rasped out, unable to break his gaze and his hold on her chin. He smiled this time. It was a smile that would have frightened the Devil himself.

"Maybe not in words, Chastity, But you did ask for my help. And my help always comes at a price. You might want to remember that, in case daddy calls again. He's so anxious to find you, you know." His words were pleasant, the look on his face just as pleasant and utterly empty. She finally managed to jerk her chin from his grasp and resisted the urge to reach up and rub it.

"This isn't what you brought me out here for, so just give the creepy assassin routine a rest. We both already know that I'm afraid of you. Put the brick away. It won't do any good," she admitted and turned her attention away from him. For a moment, she could feel him still staring at her. Then he chuckled and the car moved forward once more.

Silence fell thick and heavy between them. The vehicle eventually turned into an empty parking lot. The warehouse that sat on it was dark, a looming shadow in the murk of night. Windows had been broken out, a myriad of colors spray painted on the walls. None of it appeared to be the uniform characters of gang symbols. Probably children who thought defacing private property was cool. Trash littered the lot, empty bottles and cans spread everywhere. Crumpled, dirty bits of paper rolled and lurched in the wind. A broken down car sat abandoned in one corner. She remained silent as he pulled around the side of the building.

The vehicle came to a halt near an opened door. Edward shut off the engine and pulled the keys from the ignition. They went into his pocket. Then he shoved his door open and climbed from his seat. Aedan followed his lead and frowned as the air wafted past her. "It smells like death here," she whispered.

He nodded and slipped through the open door in the wall of the building. Fingering the gun in its holster, Aedan followed him. Edward hadn't gone through the opening with a gun out and, for whatever reason, she felt she could trust him. When she stepped up behind him, he clicked on a flashlight and moved forward.

The interior of the warehouse was thick with blackness, the bright halogen bulb on his flashlight cutting a narrow path through the murk. There was a lingering sense of sorrow and hatred on the air, a pure rage that defied logic or reasoning. Aedan shuddered and settled the fingers of her gun hand on the butt of her weapon. The cold metal leant her a sense of courage that helped her follow after Edward like a ghost.

The smell of death grew thicker, more choking. Aedan had to breathe through her mouth to keep herself from gagging. She didn't think she'd ever get used to the smell of spilt blood and emptied bowels. The potent stench that came from the combination was almost enough to make her consider another line of work. Until she thought of a seven month old baby that had been tossed aside like a rag doll. Swallowing hard against the burning taste of bile at the back of her throat, she forced herself to go on.

"Watch your step," Edward cautioned. When she looked down, she saw the light glimmering on a pool of liquid. Carefully, she skirted the blood, kept her eyes focused on the thin river of red as they followed it back to its source.

The foot was bare and dirty, petite in shape and size. Almost delicate looking. The brilliance of the flashlight skimming across it was obscene, a blaze of disturbance in the darkness that pointed to the horror that shadows hid so easily. She could see the milky white skin on the bottom, stained with dirt and filth. A few of the toe nails sparkled with nail polish in a gun metal gray color that had been liberally laced with tiny bits of metallic confetti. A female.

She couldn't stop her eyes from following the path the beam of light took. It skimmed up the length of a shapely leg, a lover's caress along dead flesh. More smears of dirt marred the perfection of the limb, as well as some deep cuts that were still bright crimson in the stark light, bloody against the whiteness of the flesh they had been pressed into. The vivid slashes had stopped truly bleeding with death, though the crimson liquid still pooled in some of them. There were trails of the stuff dried down the curve of her thigh, suggesting that the cuts had been made before the onset of death.

"Good God," Aedan breathed, staring down at the body. The light played across the woman's groin, where a strip of neatly trimmed blonde curls was smeared with more blood. A small pool of the liquid was thickening between her splayed thighs. The revulsion she'd felt when her gaze had first seen the foot, that had risen with the smell of death, was eaten away in a heartbeat as anger and rage swelled within her breast. More red slashes marred the smooth skin of the woman's belly, her arms. Not even her breasts had escaped such harsh treatment.

Eyes that had once been a deep chocolate brown were now filmed over with death. They stared sightlessly up at the darkened ceiling, still filled with horror and pain. There was a hole in her forehead, blackened around the edges with residue. Hair almost the same shade as her eyes was matted and tangled, several handfuls of it lying off to the side carelessly, as if someone had ripped them from her head and simply thrown them away.

The flash light moved again, her eyes following it despite the fact that she didn't want to see any more. The left shoulder had been pulled out of joint, the arm hanging at an odd angle. The beam traced the way it laid until it found her wrist. A thick manacle cuff was wrapped around the limb, connected to a thick chain that slithered away into the shadows. The light shone off it brightly. Aedan frowned. Silver. "Her head," she ordered briskly. Edward complied without saying a word, shifting the flash light's glare back to the hole there.

She moved forward, squatted down at the edge of the blood pool. It was hard to get a good look at the hole without moving closer or setting a hand down into the blood. Silently, she held a hand out to where Edward stood to the right and just behind her. He took it wordlessly and held her arm with a tight grip. She dropped her hand on to her knee for balance and leaned forward, trusting that Edward would keep her from falling into the coagulating blood. She didn't have to order him to move the light for her. He shifted it silently, aiming it so she could get a good look at it.

"What do you see?"

"One shot. Killing blow without a doubt. The manacle and chain are of silver. So I'm willing to bet that the weapon was filled with silver shot. The knives were probably silver, too. Which means she's a were of some kind. How did you find her?"

"I was following a target," he told her, his tone suggesting she didn't want to know any more. She nodded and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Frowning, she shifted around to look further at the body.

"They knew," she spat. "Whoever did this fucking knew what she was. I hope it wasn't the first in a string of murders."

"There have been two others like this," Edward told her, voice empty. Aedan's head snapped up and she glared at him.

"Two more? Why wasn't I aware of this? Someone should have called me about them."

"Anita's death has left the police confused. They're not doing much beyond following S.O.P. You're in the middle of it now, though," he returned, gaze flicking dispassionately over the body.

"You're damn right I am. I'm calling this in," she told him, hand already reaching for her cell phone. She had the device in her hand when she finally looked up at Edward. "Are you going to stick around for when the police get here? Or do I have to concoct some story to tell Dolph?"

"What story are you going to concoct if I stay with you?" he asked. She glared at him but realized he had a point. She considered it a moment before shrugging one shoulder.

"You're a bounty hunter. You were on a surveillance mission when you saw suspicious activity. You called me in. I came, took a look and called the cops. Its as much of the truth as we need to tell them."

"How did you get here?"

"I had someone give me a lift. I can always make sure that whomever it was is able to tell them the same story if the need arises. I'm a Fed. It should be enough without their needing to ask." She waited while Edward looked at her for several long moments. Then he nodded his head and she flipped the phone open. It took only a second or two to find Dolph's number and hit the redial button.

He picked up after two rings, barking out his name with short, sharp precision. "Storr."

"Detective Storr, its Aedan Kinkade. I think you and your men need to see something." She paused and waited for him to speak. He said nothing, a silent indication for her to go on. "I've got a body for you. I'm pretty sure the vic was a lycanthrope."

"Give me the address," he sighed and she thought she heard the faint rustle of paper from the other end of the line. Dutifully, Aedan gave him the location of the warehouse and told him she'd be waiting for his arrival outside.

~*~*~*~*~

"Just what the hell were you doing at a crime scene alone, Kinkade?" Dolph demanded, his words terse and clipped. They were outside the warehouse, standing beside Edward's car. They'd already given him their story, that bounty hunter Ted Forrester had been on a case when he'd come across the body and had called Aedan in to investigate it. She'd been amazed to see cold and calculating Edward morph so easily into his good old boy Ted persona. It had taken every last bit of her will to keep herself from staring at him each time he opened his mouth and spoke with that warm drawl. And now... Now, Dolph was reading her the riot act.

Shooting him a look, she opened her coat and drew a leather billfold from an inner pocket. A casual flip of her wrist opened it and showed the bright, shiny gold of her Federal Marshal's badge. The reminder didn't sit well with the man towering over her and she watched as his lips tightened. "I technically have jurisdiction, if I want to be bitchy. I called you because its your town," she told him quietly. There was deep respect in her voice and it had the effect she'd been shooting for.

Some of the tension leaked out of his shoulders and he gave her a level stare. "I appreciate the call, Kinkade. I like to be kept up to date with what's happening in my city." His gaze swept to where Edward stood. "That doesn't explain why you called her and not me, Forrester."

"Aedan is an old acquaintance. You work in this business long enough, you get to know everyone who does it. I called her first because she's got more experience with this kind of thing than us mere men do," Edward's drawl was perfection, the twinkle in his eyes so good that Aedan had a hard time remembering that it was all an affection.

"That's a matter of opinion," Dolph replied.

"Would you have known you were looking at a dead lycanthrope if I hadn't told you?" Aedan asked him. He took the time to really consider her question before shaking his head.

"Not at first, no. First glance shows a woman who was raped and mutilated. The silver manacle binding her wouldn't have necessarily given it away. The perp could have been someone who liked using silver."

"Exactly. Any cop looking at that crime scene would see a dead woman killed by a human perp. You might have missed it." Aedan frowned. She wasn't sure that the cops would have really cared. The were community was low on the totem pole of supernatural beings. While people saw vampires as mysterious and amazing, something to stare at and try to get close to, they still viewed the lycanthropes as a contagious breed of mindless beasts. The chances were good that the whole thing would have been given less than their best if she and Edward hadn't caught it.

"This should have gone to the local authorities, Forrester," Dolph turned back to Edward, his expression hard to read. Chances were good he wouldn't let this go right away. There was nothing else to bitch about because neither one of them had touched anything. Edward because he didn't want to leave any evidence behind that could damn him later and Aedan because it was the procedure that had been beaten into her while going through her training. "I know you worked with Anita on a few cases. I remember seeing you here before. But don't think your friendship with her will prevent me from doing my job, if the need arises."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Detective Storr," Edward replied. The drawl was intact and the smile was still there, but some of the warmth that had been present were now gone. It almost sounded as if there were a subtle threat in his words. Fortunately, Dolph didn't seem to notice it, something for which she was thankful.

"If anything else comes up, I'll be sure to call you," Dolph said by way of dismissal. Aedan frowned, recognizing that the man was pissed, and merely nodded. She'd done what she could anyway. The police detective turned to Edward. "It would be wise if you didn't leave town or anything just yet."

"Am I a suspect, Detective Storr?" Edward's voice was deliberately light. This meeting was not going well. Shit. The last thing she needed to deal with was a pissing contest between the two men.

"No." The Not yet part was left silent, but they both heard it just the same. Before anyone else could make a comment, though, they were interrupted as a rookie in his blues came out. He looked pale, a little green around the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were wide as saucers.

"Detective Storr," he managed, gulping in huge breaths of air. The hair on the back of Aedan's neck went up at the sound of his voice. She suspected he was new to the force and this was his first really horrific crime scene. "We've found something. You need to come take a look. Zerbrowski said to bring her along, too." The rookie jerked his thumb toward Aedan.

Dolph nodded and waved the rookie aside. The kid looked more than thankful that he didn't have to go back inside. Aedan followed after Dolph, vaguely aware of Edward's presence at her back. The stench inside the warehouse had gotten worse with the addition of high intensity spot lights so that people could work. She hadn't been back inside since the police had arrived and it took a moment to adjust to the stark reality of everything.

Zerbrowski looked pale and grim, his mouth pulled down into a scowl that eloquently expressed what he was feeling. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his dark brown trousers. His crumpled shirt was dark blue, his tie mustard yellow with, ironically, a ketchup stain on it and his coat was a muted gray that was just as wrinkled as his shirt. When he saw them coming, he stepped away from the body and moved for them. "Whoever the son of a bitch is that did this is fucking sick."

Dolph's eyes met Zerbrowski's and the two of them did that silent conversing thing that people who'd known one another for ages were capable of doing. Dolph's gaze flicked to the body before he turned to look at Aedan. "I want to know what you see," he told her and stepped back.

Trying to hold back a tell-tale swallow, Aedan took the lead and moved toward the body. It had been easier and harder to look upon her in the darkness, under the thin beam of Edward's flashlight. Some how, in all of the stark white of the flood lights, the scene was surreal and vulgar. Obscene. She was careful to mind her step so that her feet didn't touch the blood. The crime scene unit was still collecting evidence, though they'd moved away from the woman's body for the moment.

Details leapt out at her under the glare of the halogens. The hole in her forehead gaped, a lurid invitation that she found herself unable to resist. Someone handed her a pair of latex gloves that she slipped on quickly. Then she was once more staring at the wound in the woman's head. "Did anyone check to see if it went through?"

"We did," Zerbrowski replied, voice coming from a few inches behind her. "That's why we called you back in." Aedan glanced back and up, finding him frowning down at the woman's face. Then he nodded to two uniforms standing by. They moved forward and took the corpse by shoulders and feet. She rolled easily, rigor mortis only just starting to set in. Aedan felt her stomach turn as the woman's body flopped like that of a rag doll that had been tossed aside. And then it turned over again as she spied what she'd been called in for.

Blood coated her back, but couldn't hide the bruising that had started. Given the way a were healed, whatever had caused the bruising had to have been done only a short time before death. Aedan looked up at Dolph silently for permission. He nodded, his face grim. She turned back to the body and inched closer, trying to avoid as much of the blood as she could. There was so much of it on the floor. A quick glance showed that the shot that had killed her hadn't exited, which meant the coroner would have to recover it at autopsy. "The round is still in her head. I'm pretty damned sure its silver. Let me know when you find out," she told Dolph absently before leaning closer to examine the corpse's back.

Holy shit! There were lines visible beneath the blood, sliding between the dark spaces of the bruising. Their perp had carved a symbol of some sort into his victim's back. It took using her fingers to actually trace it before she could make sense of what she was seeing. The lines were crude and she suspected, based on the extra ones she found, that the pattern had been traced more than once. The largest component was a heart that took up half of the girl's back. Sitting on top of it was a cross, a pair of single lines laying over one another. The bottom half of the longer arm was buried in the heart, piercing it in much the same way as cupid's arrow was always shown, with one end going in and the other end coming out.

"Does anyone have any idea what this symbol means?" she asked.

"No. I've got someone working on it even as we speak. There's something familiar about it," Dolph told her.

"You've seen it before?" she looked at him curiously.

"A couple of the regular squads caught a pair of bodies in the past week or so. I don't know all the details, but they did send me pictures of the vics and their backs. Both of them had something similar to that carved into their skin. Any idea what it means?" Dolph asked her.

"No. I don't. There was no indication that the other two victims were lycanthropes?" she asked, voice carefully controlled so that they wouldn't know how furious she was.

"Not that I'm aware of," Dolph shook his head.

"If the bodies are still at the morgue, the coroner needs to do blood tests. Now. And I want to see them. There's a reason behind this symbol and we need to know what it is. It sounds to me as if someone is hunting within the community. That means no one is safe," she barked out, seized by an unmistakable fear. All at once, the faces of the lycanthropes she'd met here in St. Louis swam before her eyes.

First was Vivian, so quiet and unobtrusive. She was probably one of the weakest of the community that Aedan had met, the definition of everyone's meat. She was so passive, so submissive, that she'd do nothing to defend herself. The idea that this disturbing crime could happen to someone she knew made her chest hurt.

More faces came and went, pale and slack in death. The vision of empty eyes crowded her head, stealing the ability to think or breathe. One by one, people she'd come to know and consider friends in the past week or so swam through her mind. Jason, Nathaniel, Micah, Gregory and Stephen, Isis, even Richard. It was almost more than she could deal with. The sound of a voice cut across the unwanted images and brought her back to the here and now.

"We found tissue samples under her nails," someone from the crime scene unit was saying.

"Run DNA on them. And have the coroner run blood tests on her," Aedan turned to look at Dolph. He gave her a puzzled frown. "We need to know what kind of lycanthrope she is. If she's a wolf, we might get lucky."

"How so?" he cast his gaze toward the body once more. Now that Aedan had gotten a good look at the carvings on her back, the uniforms were rolling her back into the position they'd she'd been found in.

"Wolf lycanthropy is the easiest strain to contract. If she was in wolf form when she scratched her attacker, she could have given it to him. It'll make him easier to find," she explained. "If the same person has killed three members of our lycanthropic community, he's local. Which means he'll seek help from the weres here if he's been infected. And if they're given heads up about what's been happening..."

"They'll turn him in to us," Dolph finished for her.

"Oh, I doubt that very much. They'll deal with him in their own fashion, Dolph. The pack has a strict set of rules that it abides by. Its how they've survived for so long, even when they were forced to live in secrecy."

"That would be murder." The coldness in his tone was unmistakable, the idea that someone wouldn't dare hold to the same strict code that he did easy to hear in his words.

"And this isn't?" she motioned to the woman with one hand. Dolph's mouth went flat at that, but he didn't have a chance to say anything. One of the crime scene people walked up with a large plastic bag in hand.

"Detective Storr, we found this over there in the midst of some trash. It looks like it might have flesh on it," he said and handed the bag over. Dolph looked at it for a few minutes before he actually scowled.

"What the hell is this thing?" he demanded, holding the bag by its top. Aedan stared at it, trying to decipher what she was seeing. Inside the evidence bag was a wide strap of black leather. It narrowed down at either end and she could plainly see holes punched into one of the ends. The other had a silver buckle on it. In the center of the strip, someone had embedded a piece of metal that shone silver in the night. It was about the width of a pair of fingers and the length of a thumb.

"Open her mouth," Aedan whispered.

"What are we looking for?" the CSU guy asked. She studied him for a few moments, then shook her head and clenched her fists. Without sparing a glance for anyone else, she knelt beside the body and reached a hand for the woman's pale lips. God, she didn't want to be right about this. Not at all. But the sick feeling in her stomach told her she was. It was an effort to keep her hand from shaking as she curled it around the woman's chin. Blood had dried there in a rusty brown stain that made her insides knot up.

It was as if her other hand wasn't her own, as if it came out of nowhere. Careful fingers grasped her nose and, together, both hands pulled in opposite directions. Before she could ask for it, someone was standing over her, shining a flash light into the corpse's open mouth.

Silver reflected up from the back of her throat, a thick puddle of liquid that shouldn't have been there. The woman's tongue, the insides of her cheeks, even her gums and teeth, looked as if they'd been in a fire. Aedan was reminded of the scars that marred half of Asher's body. Where holy water had burned like acid the soft flesh of a vampire's body, liquid silver had done the same to a shapeshifter. The interior of her mouth was corroded and eaten away, showing sinew and bone, tendon and muscle.

"Christ," Zerbrowski breathed, his voice coming from above her.

Aedan rose too quickly, staggered back and nearly stumbled. A hand caught her arm and steadied her. She was only half surprised to find that it was Edward's hand that held her. She flashed him a look that said everything she couldn't, then turned to look at Dolph. Edward's hand slid away from her arm and she was once more the cool, collected Federal Marshal. "Its a gag."

"What?"

"A gag. Its hollow. It held liquid silver," Aedan replied. "She didn't even have a chance to scream. And all of this was just window dressing. The other two bodies. Jump on whoever you need to jump on to find out if there are similarities between this one and those two. If this is what I think this is, things are only going to get worse."

"Serial killer," Edward commented. Aedan turned to look at him and nodded. She didn't need this. There was already far too much going on. She was in way over her head. Anita's death. The shit with Jean Claude. She didn't know what was actually happening there. Much as she didn't know what was going on with Edward. Both of them scared the piss out of her. Then had come the demon killing. She was more than certain that there was more to that than just one murder. And now... Now, someone was targeting the lycanthropes. Her friends.

Her heart hammered hard in her chest. Minette. An image of her best friend rose up in her mind, even clearer than the earlier ones. Sightless, clouded eyes stared accusingly at her. Blood was everywhere, seeping from the gashes in her flesh. Ravaged skin, abused and beaten and broken, an empty shell that had once contained someone she loved. Dear God, what the hell had they fallen into?

"Kinkade, are you alright? You're white as a sheet," Dolph's voice brought her back to herself.

"Fine," she snapped curtly. Something told her that none of the men standing close by believed her. But she was pleased to find that they said nothing and her voice didn't shake. "Get those autopsies moved up and made a priority. All three of them. If this is a serial killer, he's escalating. And fast. The were community has a right to know so that they can protect themselves."

"We'll issue an alert," Dolph assured her.

"I know the head of the coalition. I'll have him spread the word. And I want those results as soon as possible, Dolph. Lives depend upon it," she swallowed and tried to push away the ghostly images of Minette that clung to her gray matter. "Are we done here?"

"I think so. I'll call you if I need anything else. Go get some rest. You look like hell," he nodded at her. She had no snappy come back. She was sure he was right. Shooting a glance at Edward, she snapped the gloves off and tossed them at the crime scene guy as she passed him. She could feel Edward close on her heels.

Outside the warehouse, once they stood beside Edward's car, Aedan gulped in fresh air and tried hard not to puke. He said nothing to her, simply opened the car door for her. She got in, the look she gave him full of gratitude, and relaxed into the leather of the seat. He got in and turned the engine over but didn't shift the vehicle into gear. "Do you want me to take you back to the Circus?" he asked quietly.

"No. I want you to take me to a bar. I need a really stiff drink. And if you tell me no, I'll fucking shoot you," she didn't look at him. There was silence a moment, then Edward's warm chuckle filled the interior of the car. He shifted it into gear and they slid forward into the night.

~*~*~*~*~

"Stop pacing, Minette. I'm sure she's fine," Micah told her as she passed him by the umpteenth time. She'd been pacing for what seemed like hours. Ever since she'd felt swelling panic from Aedan, a thickening sense of distress that she could only recall the woman giving in to once or twice before. Both occasions had been after particularly bad nightmares that she'd never told Minette about. But to feel it, so sharp and intense that it had stolen her ability to breathe until Micah's touch had soothed her, had been something she hadn't quite been able to deal with.

It would have been better if Aedan had returned by now. She'd been gone for hours and, other than that brief moment of blind fear, there'd been no word from her. That was more than enough to convince Minette that something was wrong. Especially when London had reported seeing her go off with Edward. She couldn't imagine what that meant. She only knew that Aedan was afraid of the man and that her friend had felt deep, paralyzing terror. For all she knew, he could have done something to Aedan.

"She's not fine. You didn't feel it, Micah," Minette turned to him, eyes large in her face. "She was petrified. She's scared of him. She..."

"She's a grown woman and she's armed. Even if he is better than her, he'd be a fool to challenge her now. If he hurt her, he'd have damn near every vampire in St. Louis hunting for him. Edward isn't going to hurt Aedan," Micah stood and walked over to where she'd stopped her pacing. Carefully, as if he thought she'd fight him, he folded her into his embrace and hugged her close. He was still holding her like that when she heard the distinctive tread of Aedan's feet.

For as long as Minette had known her, Aedan had walked with a quiet grace that she'd never quite figured out. She was almost completely silent in her steps. Though it was possible that the normal human ear couldn't hear her coming. Perhaps it had something to do with Aedan's powers. Perhaps it was something to do with the past she didn't want to talk about. Whatever the reason, there was no mistaking the almost non-existant sound of feet as they approached the door. Micah drew back far enough to look Minette in the eye. There was a look on his face that was just shy of being a complete 'I told you so' kind of thing.

That's when the combined smells hit their sensitive noses. The bitter, strong scent of alcohol mixed with the metallic tang of blood. Aedan's feet paused just outside the door and they could hear the slow beat of her heart. Chances were good she could feel their energies on the other side of the door. It was through that ability that Aedan had known what Minette was from their very first meeting. After several long moments, the knock sounded softly on the thick wooden panel. "Minette, can I talk to you?" Aedan's voice sounded thin and worn through the door.

Minette pulled from Micah's arms and moved to the door, swinging it open on the second knock. She saw Aedan's eyes go wide at the sight of her robe. Before the other woman could back away and stammer out an unnecessary apology, Minette reached out and took her hand, gently tugging her into the room. Micah had put jeans on, but they were unbuttoned and showed a good deal of skin. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt," Aedan refused to look at Micah.

"You aren't interrupting, Aedan. Minette's been worried sick about you. You missed the show by a couple hours," he offered with a smile. She flicked her gaze toward him and managed a pained smile. Minette was the only one who didn't smile.

"What's wrong, Aedan? You smell of blood and alcohol. And you stink of fear," she spoke softly, sliding an arm around her friend's shoulders to urge her across the room and into a chair. "What happened? Did Edward..."

"He didn't do anything, Minette. Other than buy me a couple drinks," she shrugged and reached up to rub her eyes. Her hands shook ever so slightly.

"Aedan," she took the woman's hands in hers and squeezed them gently. Aedan looked at her, eyes haunted by ghosts. "What happened?"

"I'm glad you're both here. I have something important to say and its vital that you both pass word along through the grapevine."

Minette glanced at Micah, her eyes wide with concern. She could see he felt the same way. Her friend wasn't acting like her normal self. Something had obviously unsettled her. It was the worst Minette had ever seen her. Even worse than when she'd come back after that first crime scene with Dolph. A flick of green eyes in her direction earned Minette a shrug from Micah but she could see that he wasn't going to leave her to deal with all of this on her own.

"Aedan? You look like hell," Micah frowned. He moved over and knelt in front of her. "And you're being cryptic. What happened? What did Edward want?"

"He found a body," she replied quietly.

"Found a body or left a body?" Micah asked, only half joking. Aedan shot a sour look at him.

"This wasn't his style. She was... tortured."

"She?" Minette frowned. "How was she tortured?"

"With silver." The two words came out as a whisper. They both stared at her as the implications of what she was saying sank in. Minette rocked back on her heels and swallowed hard.

"Why?"

"I don't know. But Dolph said there were a couple of other bodies found that may have been killed by the same person." Aedan's voice was soft and firm, no hesitancy or fear in it. Just a kind of sorrowed resignation that left her sounding older than she was. Minette reached up and cupped her face in her hands. They stared at one another for a long time, the silence stretching as each of them came to grips with what had just been said.

"A serial killer?" Micah asked softly. Aedan nodded, swallowed hard. "A serial killer targeting lycanthropes?"

"Yes. It was horrible. I can't discuss the case. But what I saw..." she shuddered and wrapped her arms around her belly. It took her a moment to pull herself together, but Minette saw it happen. Saw it in the way Aedan's spine stiffened and her eyes went empty and cold. Almost as if she were putting the misery and the horror away. She swallowed hard and straightened, her gaze flicking from one face to the other. "I won't know for sure if we are dealing with a serial killer until I have more information from Dolph. Photos and autopsies. Crime scene reports. I should be getting them in the next couple of days."

"What do you need from us, Aedan?" Micah questioned, voice serious.

"I need you to make sure the entire lycanthropic community is made aware that the police believe there is someone out there targeting them. This person knows how to torture," her voice faded and Minette could tell Aedan had folded in on herself in memory. "If its possible, no one goes around alone. I know its a lot to ask, but you need to make sure that the solitaries are informed. This woman was just the beginning, I think. There's something inside that says there will be more. And the sick bastard responsible for this is already escalating. Nothing clicked with Dolph about this right away. But there is apparently something that ties the three of them together."

"Oh God," Minette sat back and stared at her friend. "It can't be."

"What can't be? Minette? What is it?" Aedan frowned at her, sliding from the chair so she could lay her hands on her friend's face. Minette shuddered when she realized how cold Aedan was. "The other night... Jason and I... We were talking. He told me that a couple of the wolves, the weakest in the pack, had been attacked. They thought it was just something random, hate crimes. But the attackers used silver on them. The last one was Andy. He almost lost an arm."

"Shit," Aedan frowned. She stood and made her way across the room to the door.

"Where are you going?" Minette asked, meeting her there. Aedan blinked at her a moment, then sighed.

"I need to talk to Richard, find out about the wolves who were attacked," she explained. "They should have gone to the police and filed a report about it. Maybe we could have prevented this girl's death if..."

"Aedan, you shouldn't be going anywhere," she put her hands on the other woman's shoulders and turned her away from the door. "You look dead on your feet. You should get some sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough to talk to Richard."

"I need to talk to him tonight," she insisted, but didn't resist as Minette steered her back toward the chair. Aedan dropped into it almost bonelessly.

"You're on fumes, woman. Get some rest. What time did you get to sleep this morning? How long did you sleep? Did you even eat today? Damn it, Aedan. You're no good to any of us if you crap out now. Get some rest. Richard can wait until tomorrow."

"I should talk to him tonight. The sooner I can..." Aedan began but Minette had had enough. She stood in front of the other woman, hands in fists on her hips.

"Its four in the fucking morning. Any sane person is sleeping," she spat at the other woman. Aedan frowned, as if she hadn't realized it was quite that late. "What the hell is so important about this that you figure you need to bother him now."

"He should have reported Andy's attack to the police," Aedan shot back, anger coloring her words. Anger and something else.

"Come on, Aedan. Do you really think that the cops would do anything for Andy? You know how they think. The lycanthropes aren't worth their precious time. They'd have taken all of his information and chucked it the moment he walked out the door. You know they would have. They're cops. That's the way they are," Minette snarled.

"I'm a cop, Minette. And that isn't the way I am," the other woman's voice was soft and controlled. Aedan came to her feet, eyes dark with her temper. She glared down at Minette a moment before the words really sank in.

Minette muttered a curse. "Damn it, Aedan. Don't do that. You're my friend. That negates the badge."

"No it doesn't, Minette. It makes the badge worth more. Because I'm going to do what ever I fucking have to in order to make sure that what I saw tonight doesn't happen to you!" The words cut the air with the sharpness of a knife and she understood what it was that drove her friend. Minette stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Aedan's stiff body, hugging her close.

"It isn't going to be me, Aedan. I know you won't let it happen. None of them will let it happen," she whispered. "Micah will protect me. You'll protect me. So will Jason and Requiem. You'll all protect me."

"You know she's right, Aedan," Micah's voice was gentle. He joined them, wrapped his arms around the two of them. Minette shot him a grateful look. She'd never seen Aedan like this. Never. "Get some sleep. You can talk to Richard tomorrow. You aren't thinking straight. If you're going to convince him of anything, you need to have a clear head. Going off half-cocked is going to get you hurt."

"Looking at that woman tonight, I couldn't stop myself from seeing your faces," the other woman said quietly, the tone of her voice indicating she was lost in her memories. After several long moments, she finally focused on Minette's face. "You. Micah. Jason. All of you. Even the fucking Ulfric. I saw you all mutilated and tortured like that and it killed something inside of me. This whole thing scares the shit out of me and I'm not strong enough to deal with it."

"Then why don't you let someone else handle it, Aedan? No one will fault you for turning it over to another cop," Minette suggested softly. Aedan looked at her, eyes haunted with more than she'd seen tonight, and shook her head. Like Minette had known she would.

"Because I'm not strong enough to walk away."

The words were delivered so softly, Minette thought that Aedan was going to cry, that she was going to break down. She didn't. Instead, she stepped out of their combined embrace and muttered something about Jean Claude. At the door, she stopped and turned to look at them both with wide eyes. "You're lucky, Minette. I'm happy for you. He's great. And he really cares."

Before Minette had a chance to respond, her friend slipped out of the room and left her alone with Micah. He pulled her close and hugged her tight. "Let's go to bed, Minette," he suggested. She turned to him, ready to protest, ready to suggest they go find Aedan. He silenced her easily, his mouth covering hers, taking her own in a kiss that almost managed to drive the troubling thoughts from her head.

~*~*~*~*~

They were together again. The demon and his whore. He'd been watching her for so long. It seemed as if she'd been avoiding the demon on purpose. For a moment, he'd been afraid that she'd found out he was tracking their movements. But tonight, he'd gotten lucky. She'd stayed in, locked herself inside of her apartment as darkness had fallen around them without fan fare or celebration. Perhaps people were growing tired of the demons claiming the night as their own. And then the golden demon had showed up at her door.

He'd tried to be faithful to his cause, tried to do what the man had instructed him to do. But the whore... She didn't seem like a whore. He'd watched her quite a bit, seen her interact with other people. She'd never behaved in an inappropriate manner, never once made any overt passes at the men or women she'd come into contact with. In fact, she'd been so proper that he'd started to question whether or not she really was a whore.

She was sweet and pure. He was sure of it. His little red-haired beauty was being controlled and manipulated by the demon. He was sure of that, too. The man had told him that there was no way, that she'd given herself to the demon willingly, that she was as tainted by darkness and sin as the demon was. That she was as evil as the demon. But he couldn't believe it. He'd watched her so much, seen her in so many daily activities. She was his flaming angel, the reason he'd been put on this earth. Her smile was so beautiful and bright, her eyes filled with the promise of salvation and redemption.

No, she wasn't evil. She was all that was good and right in the world. And she was his. All his. He knew that she understood, that she felt the same. She'd smiled at him one day when she'd almost caught him spying on her. She'd smiled and then had spoken to him in that sweet, melodious voice of hers. And she'd pressed a few folded bills into his hands. Oh, yes. She knew about him, knew that he loved her. And she loved him, too.

But she'd still gone with the demon. Shortly after he'd shown up on her doorstep, the two of them had left her apartment and climbed into the big black car. Before he'd been able to move from his position near her windows, it had pulled away and he'd been left behind. They hadn't come back until a few hours before the sun rose. He'd been there waiting for them, crouched low in the bushes as he prayed to the man's God that she would come back. That she'd been safe and whole. And she had, smelling of fresh air and water. She'd been smiling and she'd shyly asked him to come inside.

He was still in there now, the blonde demon, and he knew that his angel had led the demon back to her bedroom. He could see the lights shining through the blinds and the curtains.

And he could hear them.

The window was cracked just the slightest bit, allowing the sounds of flesh meeting flesh to escape into the night air. He could hear her voice, soft and filled with sensual notes, as she gasped and panted for air. And the demon was whispering to her, telling her things that no doubt made her forget that she was an angel, that she belonged to him. The demon was defiling his angel, using her. 

Fucking her

Jealousy and anger spread through his veins, warming him from the inside out. How dare the demon touch her? How dare the demon take his angel and sully her! What was he trying to do? Did demons make more demons by fucking angels and getting them pregnant? Would the demon seed kill his angel? Hatred filled him. He was going to have to kill the demon. It was the only way to save his angel.

But the anger faded, pulled back. The jealousy and hatred slid away as the sounds of the demon and his angel grew louder. More heated. She was chanting something, her voice low and husky as she begged him for more. He felt her words slide deep inside of him and touch his soul. Felt them travel lower, into his crotch. The words brought blood with them and he felt her passion as she spoke to him. Felt the demon's words curl around his brain and fill it with pleasure.

He grunted softly, dropped one hand to the hard bulge in his dirty pants. He wanted his angel so badly. He wanted to do to her what the demon was doing. He wanted to push himself inside of her and fuck her. He wanted to hear her gasping out his name, wanted to feel her body hot and wet and slick as it rode his. His fingers grabbed at his cock and stroked it through the material of his pants.

He imagined her face in his mind, the desire in her eyes as he took her again and again. She would give herself to him until he was sated and spent. She would do whatever he wanted, would let him hurt her as he sought his pleasure within her body. He wanted her so badly, wanted to hear her cry out and beg and whimper and moan. He would take her anywhere he wanted, whenever he wanted. He would drive himself into her cunt and make her scream, make her bleed. He'd fuck her in the ass, would pound himself against her until she begged for him to stop. He would ram himself into her mouth and fuck her there, would drive himself into her so hard that she'd choke and gag and then he'd make her swallow every last bit of his seed when he fed it to her.

His hand fumbled with the waistband of his pants. He needed to feel her around him. Now. The button gave way and the zipper dropped easily. Then he had his hand fisted around his cock, his hips thrusting violently into his choking grasp. He thought about her, about her body as he used her, and his passion increased. He imagined that his hand was her cunt. His fingers squeezed down hard, drawing a groan from his lips. His nails cut into the rigid flesh and he felt the blood as it leaked out.

His hips pumped hard, forcing his cock in and out of the death grip his hand had on it. Forcing it back and forth against the hard edges of his nails while they tore his skin open time and again, while they made deeper and deeper furrows into it. Eyes squeezed shut, lips caught between his teeth, he watched his angel's face flush with pleasure in his mind and it broke his control. He came hard, the sticky ropes of his seed pulsing out over his hand, staining the front of his pants. Even so, he continued to thrust, continued to hump his hand. It didn't matter to him that his cock had gone limp. Still, he was fucking his angel and she was begging for more.

"Asher? What is it?" her voice cut into the silence of the night around him, bringing him back to himself.

"There is someone outside the window," he informed her. He heard his angel begin to speak, but the words drifted off into silence. He frowned and tried to climb from the bushes as silently as possible. It was hard to do with his cock still hanging out of his pants, but he somehow managed it. Once clear of the bushes, he turned to run.

And found himself face to face with the blonde demon.

He was found out! The demon would kill him now. He had to defend himself. The man had warned him that the demons were quick. He wasn't sure how quick they were supposed to be. He only knew he had to protect himself.

The man had given him a knife. He'd told him it was a special knife. That it would kill the demons if they tried to attack him. He didn't know if it would really work, but he had to find out. The demon didn't move as he drew the knife, barely batted an eyelash when he buried the blade in the demon's chest. He staggered back, eyes wide. The man had told him that it would kill demons.

The blonde demon reached up and withdrew the blade from his chest. Clenched it tight in his fist and squeezed it down into a pulp. Tossed it away into the shadows. Then the demon opened his mouth and hissed. He saw the fangs and felt fear flood him. At the same time, warmth flooded his pants. Then he ran. He could hear her voice as they went.

"Asher! What's going on? Oh my God! You're bleeding! What happened? We need to get you home," his angel was saying. He didn't stop to look and see if she was clothed or not. He had to run.

He had to get away from the demon. And then, he had to find a way to get his angel away from the demon.

Comments

[nanaeanaven]

*starts breathing again*

Wow. Holy fucking shit. That was intense. And the zealot... *shudders* Creepy!

Excellent job, hun.

[ladydeathfaerie]

i'm glad you enjoyed. and i'm glad it came across the way i intended it to. hope it was worth waiting to read until well after the vacation.

already started on the next chapter. a little bit, at least.