Conquer the Highland Beast: The Vampire Dylan Macgregor (Hearts of Darkness) (3 page)

Garr laughed as he got out and closed the door. “You worried about leaving the car here?”

“Of course I’m worried.
” Dylan snarled and grimaced thinking about what the scum might do to his precious car.

“Too bad we didn’t stop to pick up the sweet little witch with the
hots for you. You could have had her cast a cloaking spell over the car.”

“That’s a great idea…” Dylan paused for a moment to think
who Garr meant. “What witch has the hots for me?”

His friend just looked over at Max and shook his head. “Cassie,” they both said at the same time.

“Oh, yeah, her.” He never took her flirtations seriously because he could hear her thoughts. All she was interested in was getting involved with the council. He could help her out, but he wouldn’t let her use him. “Never mind. Let’s get to work.”

As they joi
ned Ramon on the way to the back entrance to the cemetery, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure the vehicles were well out of sight. Dylan hoped nobody was stupid enough to mess with his favorite car. He’d hate to join the “dark side”—his new way of thinking of his beast—over a material object, but he wasn’t completely rational when it came to his Lamborghini.

Dylan couldn’t resist probing the cop’s mind, convinced he should develop a closer relationship with Ramon. The local detective had access to a lot of inside neighborhood information he could use
. Although he knew Ramon was in some way one of theirs, he hadn’t been able to identify what the detective was. So far, he’d never indicated he was anything other than human, yet his brain pattern was impossible to penetrate. The good thing was if Dylan couldn’t figure it out, neither could anyone else. Thus, making Detective Delavega much more useful for his purposes.

Since Garr and the cop had already met a few times, Dylan made the introductions between Ramon and Max as Garr prepared to shift.

“Quiet, tonight,” Garr mentioned as he removed his boots and Dylan rounded the police car to inspect the area. “Where is everyone?”

“Dead,
mon ami,” the smart-ass detective answered with a light-hearted chuckle. “Sorry, homicide humor. Really, I sent the others home, told them I’d watch over the scene until the feds got here. Crimes in cemeteries at night even freak out the local beat boys.”

Dylan glanced at the body and grinned. “Understandable, but I’ve
got nothing against the dead.”

“Truly. Or the undead.” Ramon pointed out.

“You are in rare form tonight.”

“Yeah well, demon perp or not, I find this sort of retribution crime…almost humorous.”

“Looks as if your take on this was right, Ramon. Garr, what do you smell?” He asked as he checked out the crime scene. All seemed as he’d been told.

“Victim’s not a shifter. Not human, either. Maybe some kind of demon, but I can’t be sure. I’ve never seen anything like him before.”

Ramon folded his arms across his chest and perused the area. “Doing him here may have saved us a lot of work, but by not moving him somewhere else, she must have wanted to send a message. Maybe to someone who frequents this area?”

“You’d know who they are better than I do.”
After examining the body, Dylan began to believe the killer had other motives. This crime was about more than a simple somebody-done-somebody-wrong. “Where’s his heart?”

“We didn’t find it.”

“Just his heart is missing,” Max confirmed. “Nothing else has been touched…well, except the obvious. And I think that happened while he was alive…” He shuddered. “…before she cut out his heart. And we should note, she didn’t chew it out or rip it out. She sliced through his chest and broke his sternum. Would take a lot of strength with his muscled chest. Couldn’t have been easy, especially on a man his size.”

“
Then, she neatly carved his heart out of his chest cavity.” Dylan bent over to examine the amount of blood everywhere. “Too much blood for a typical demon attack. Demons don’t usually attack their own. They start by draining their blood and then move on to other vital organs. They usually eat their victims. This doesn’t fit the usual pattern. Looks like she is following the Golden Rule and doing-unto-others.”

“Or she just ran out of time.”

“No.” Dylan shook his head when he sensed the female demon’s anguish. The perpetrator was in pain. She’d been hurt by this demon or whatever he was, and her loss had been personal. She’d sliced him open and stolen his heart. This act of violence reminded him of the retribution he once sought for the deaths of his family members. The revenge he eventually achieved never provided the gratification he expected. Instead, it did lead to the destruction of his life almost at the expense of his soul.

Dylan shook the memories off—avoiding them to maintain his sanity. The demon
ess had evidently lost hers. Her reasons were no longer his concern. All that mattered was keeping the details from the FBI, or covering up the details. He had to find the woman who did this and prevent her from killing again. If the victim did something to deserve this kind of death sentence, Dylan had a feeling he hadn’t done it alone.

“Garr
, you and Max see what you can find before our friends from the FBI show up.”

“I stalled as long as I could, but it won’t be long now. The location works to our advantage.
You have time, but when they show up—” Ramon checked his watch and pointed to them, and then to several spots surrounding them. Remember there’s plenty of cover, there and there, behind the mausoleums. Get me? Do not risk being seen.”

Garr nodded and Max said, “Clear.”

“The FBI can’t discover what the victim was. We have to stop the autopsy. Dylan you search the profiler’s mind, find out where they’re gonna transport him, and I’ll bring a team in to take the body, dispose of it, and make it look like a voodoo ritual.”

Max wandered
to the back side of the headstone, moving more quickly. “Uh oh! I’m picking up the irresistible fragrance of eau de brimstone.” His body seemed to bulk up right before Dylan’s eyes as he shouted, “This way.” He moved to the path leading out the back gate. “Hey, over here. It gets stronger the closer I get to the street. You catch that, Garr?”

“No, but she’s covered in his blood, and I’m overwhelmed
by the scent. Point me in the right direction, and I’ll take it from there.”

The big guy got naked and handed Max
a pile of his clothing. “Take care of this. I’m gonna need them later.” He shifted, growled, and then took off in the direction Max suggested.

Dylan picked up on Max’s sudden interest in this demoness when he noted his eyes had changed color. His fangs had begun to drop into place, visibly extending beyond his lips. From his reaction, he suspected her scent had turned Max on.
Not sure what to make of his sudden interest, he had to insure Max could control his raging emotions or he’d give them all away. “Max? You okay?”

“Yeah.” He brushed his hand across his mouth. “Sorry, I’ll work on it.” Still checking out the area, he began gathering evidence.

Dylan wasn’t worried about the profiler picking up anything on him, and Garr was no problem. He was hard to read when he went into his shift. Wolf thoughts were images not words. To the inexperienced psychic, one who hadn’t worked with paranormal elements before, wolves’ thoughts were confusing. However, Dylan couldn’t risk the pretty Ms. Donovan reading Max.

His arousal caused the superfluous
excitement. Dylan could smell it wafting in the air around him. Even Ramon glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. Max’s galloping heartbeat would easily give him away if the agent was anywhere in his vicinity.

“Max, a word of warning—when you are hidden and waiting for Garr, try to block your thoughts and calm yourself. Keep as mentally quiet as possible. This FBI psychic is extremely sensitive. She might pick up on your thoughts or, at the very least, you
r energy. You’re shouting, again.”

“Sorry. I understand.” Max took a few deep breaths and began the mental exercise Dylan taught him. His mind quieted. “I don’t get why I’m reacting this way.”

“Your inner demon is reacting to the female. Be careful.”

Max nodded, slowed down his heart
rate, and cloaked his thoughts.

“Gathering physical evidence without being able to hide that we’ve been here is going to be impossible. Won’t disturbing the blood spatter make the FBI suspicious?” He tipped his head in the direction of the body.

“No problem. Scene’s already compromised.” Ramon explained his plan with his crooked grin. “I let first on scene trash the area before I said anything. I’ll blame it on them being new.”

“Brilliant.” Dylan pointed to the body. “Max, you finish gathering whatever evidence you need to run tests. We have to work fast and
be gone when the FBI gets here and closes down our investigation.”

The Cajun detective pointed not far from where Max was heading and
with a wide white grin, warned him. “One of the new guys threw up over there, so be careful. It’s messy.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” Max nodded as he opened his test kit. “We can at least identify DNA in her saliva. And since she apparently chewed this dude up and spit him out, I’m on it.”

A cell phone buzzed and all three men reached for their phones. The local detective put his phone to his ear, turned to Dylan, and silently mouthed,
Pack it up. FBI is on their way.

Why did
the news send a quiver of satisfaction through Dylan? Was it because there was a chance he’d get to play with the new psychic?

“What’s the ETA? Got it.” Ramon tapped off his phone and pointed to Max. “Less than
fifteen minutes. Get busy and then clear out.”

“Right.”

“You stay out of sight in the alley, Dylan. As a member of our task force and our consultant, I would suggest you show up right after they do. Then they can’t shut you out or complain about you being here at the crime scene.”

“Good idea. Max, take Garr’s clothes
with you.” He pointed to the pile Garr dropped behind one of the headstones. “He can meet up with you, and I’ll join you two, later.”

Max squatted to gather Garr’s stuff and added them to the duffel bag with the samples he’d taken. “Where do you want to meet up? At
the Highland bar you like so well?”

Dylan snorted. “I thought you were looking for some female action.” He gave the other man a hard glare.

Max glanced at the dead guy and shuddered.

T
he expression on the young vampire’s face clearly indicated he wasn’t much in the mood for partying after working this scene. Besides, they’d all seen how he reacted to the residual scent of the female demon. Hell, he was still aroused. Until his inner demon calmed down, no human woman would be safe with him. Even he understood that fact.

“Seeing this guy’s privates turned into
steak tartare
…” He confirmed his disgust by spitting off to the side. “…made me rethink my plan. In the future, I plan to be extremely selective in my choice of women.”

“Point taken.
” Dylan didn’t blame him. This scene would make any man think twice about where he stuck his dick. “Save me a seat and order me one of William Grant’s oldest Glenfiddich single malts. Now you need to get going, and I need to make an entrance.”

Using his vampire speed,
Max traced to his car and waited for Garr while Dylan hung out in the shadows waiting for the feds to show.

He didn’t have long to wait.
Max had just shut the car door behind him when the first of the vehicles whipped around the corner. The first two government-issued SUV’s parked in front at the cemetery entrance, and the next two, sedans, parked out back.

Overkill for one dead body, o
r so he thought. He couldn’t wait to mingle and uncover the real reason they were here. For that, he’d have to get into their heads and discover the reason for their sudden interest.

Dylan’s nostrils flared, his heart began to race, and his breathing picked up a notch. His reaction was similar to the one Max had to the demoness, but Dylan suspected the woman crea
ting his reaction was merely descended from some distant fae.

It was the only
sensible explanation.

Special Agent Caitlin Donovan climbed out of the first SUV
and glanced around as if she were looking for something or someone. A moment of excitement had him convinced it was him. Especially when her gaze turned in the direction of the cars hidden in the alley.

Blocking his thoughts, he
used his vampire ability to trace to the top of the building. Then he moved to the far end, away from where Max’s car was hidden. Once he was sure he’d be out of view, he jumped down to the street.

As if Caitlin
sensed him, she turned her attention in his direction.

A
small blaze ignited within his cold heart. He was in so much trouble. In three hundred years, no woman had ever affected him this way—not even his sweet Evie.