The Lion's Den (8 page)

The man had seen what Darian assumed was the vampire responsible for dropping the shifter
fifteen-thousand
feet to the ground causing practically every bone in his body to snap like matchsticks. To the man who had been looking behind his telescope, the vampire looked to be a shadow surrounded by the mist of clouds, then it was gone in a blink of an eye. That was it. No face, no other identifying features. Just a shadow. Darian released the vein, pulling back from the blood, his tongue running along his bottom lip. The man himself rested against the cushions of the sofa. His muscles were relaxed, the dark stain on the front of his pants was already starting to stick.

Darian chuckled as he leaned towards the man’s ear. “You will not remember me, you will not remember what you saw last night. There was no shadow, only the brightness of the stars.”

He knew his subliminal persuasion would take care of any unanswered questions the man might have, all except why his groin was in the shape it was in. Darian decided to leave that a mystery. Once he was done with him, he left. Finding a secluded area in a dark alley to land, he placed his feet on the ground and walked towards the
Eclipse
nightclub which was still closed due to the ongoing S.U.I.T. investigation. Immediately, he could smell the blood scent left behind by the corpse. He walked toward the area where the body landed and eyed the blood splatters. He was not surprised that there were very few. There wouldn’t be a lot of blood if the shifter was drained nearly bone dry. He looked upwards, judging the distance the shifter had fallen. He wanted to see the corpse and knew Warren would be his best ticket into the heart of the S.U.I.T. facilities. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his ultra thin, internet-equipped, high-tech cell phone with the touch screen he’d recently purchased only two months into his contract, replacing the one before it that wasn’t “ultra-thin”. At that point, Natasha had teased him, calling him a “techno-addict”. He had replied, telling her, “that’s how he
rolled
.” using her own slang term.

He dialed Xander’s number.

“
Hello Darian?” Xander greeted, recognizing Darian’s cell number.

“
Good evening, Xander. As you may know, I’m performing an investigation of my own, but I really do need to see the body. I was wondering if Warren would be able to assist me with this?”

“
Ah, he should be able to. He’s not here right now, but here are his numbers.” Xander gave Darian, Warren’s home and cell numbers.

“
Thank you.” They disconnected and Darian called Warren’s cell.

On the third ring, Warren answered. “Warren.” It was a greeting and a prompt for the other person to introduce themselves.

Darian smiled at the crude greeting, but answered. “Hello Warren, this is Darian. I need a favor from you tonight.”

“
Sure, what’s up?”

“
I’m looking into this murder, but I really do need to see the body. Is there any way you could get me into the S.U.I.T.’s morgue tonight?”

“
Yeah, I’m actually glad you called me, I was going to suggest that you do just that. I can meet you

”

font size="3">I can be there in three minutes, literally.”

“
Yeah, I bet you can. Unfortunately, I can’t. I’m at a restaurant right now getting dinner, so I’ll be able to meet you in about fifteen minutes,” Warren said.

“
Very well, I’ll wait for you in the parking lot.”

“
Why wait? Can’t you just hypnotize your way through?”

“
And mentally exhaust myself when I have so much to do tonight? Do you realize how much concentration it takes to perform such a skill and on so many people. Trust me, it’s easier for you to escort me in,” Darian replied.

“
Okay, I was just asking. I’ll be there shortly. ”

With the call ended, Warren finished getting his and Matthew’s order, then he climbed into his car, heading for the precinct. He pulled into a parking spot closest to the back door. Leaving his dinner in the car he walked towards Darian who was standing where he said he’d be, beside the back entrance.

“
Hey, I take it you don’t want to sign for a visitor’s pass?” Warren asked, knowing full well that Darian wanted nothing to do with the S.U.I.T., especially after the last encounter he had with them.

“
No.” Darian smiled and watched as Warren slid his ID into the electronic key card slot.

Warren punched in several numbers and the red light turned green, indicating the door was now opened. Stepping inside, he motioned for Darian to stay by his side.

“
I figured as much,” Darian replied dryly to Warren’s silent command.

“
Do you want my help or not?” Warren looked over his shoulder.

Darian’s mouth opened to respond with a condescending comment of his own, then he reconsidered. Their routine banter could wait for lighter circumstances. “No need to get testy, I need your help.”

“
Okay, we’re still going to do this the legal way, whether you want to or not. Reason being, there’s cameras all around the building, and I don’t want to have to explain why I let you walk around with me without signing in.”

Darian sighed, but decided not to argue. “I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t hypnotize my way through here as you suggested earlier”

“
I guess, but at that point, I wouldn’t have been with you. You were on your own.” Warren smiled wickedly.

Darian’s eyes rolled upward, but he understood. The last thing he wanted to do was get Warren into trouble. They walked towards the front desk and Warren signed him in.

“
You need to sign right here, too.” Warren pointed to the blank line beside the line where he’d signed his name.

Darian obeyed, scoffing at the entire situation. “This is annoying.”

“
Yeah, I bet. I’m sure you’re used to getting exactly what you want

“
As a matter of fact, yes.” Darian refrained from telling him about how he obtained information earlier that evening.

Warren smiled. “Then you’re really going to hate this part.” His smile widened as he handed Darian a white sticker with his name on it under the word “visitor”.

Darian looked at the sticker. “I think you’re enjoying this far too much. I’m not wearing that.”

“
Do you want to see the body or not?” Warren asked, hand and sticker still extended.

Darian rolled his eyes, but snatched the sticker from Warren. Peeling off the protective paper, he pressed the sticker on his shirt. “Can we go now?”

“
Do you always make simple things hard?” Warren asked as he led the way to the morgue. Darian decided to not answer the question. The two men entered the morgue and saw the medical examiner bent over a body. “Hey Galen, need a favor from you.”

Marshall looked up from yet another corpse, a victim of a vampire attack. “I’m going to have to start charging you for favors really soon, I see.” He looked at Darian. “Traded up on Matthew already?”

Warren gestured to Darian. “He’s an expert in this field, so to speak. I wanted him to take a look at that body from the club. He may be able to tell me a bit more.” He knew that Marshall was fully aware of who and what Darian was. The incident three years ago sort of let the cat completely out of the bag, not that Darian himself seemed to mind.

Marshall pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “If you think you can find out more about this murder than I did, please be my guest.” He walked towards the many stainless steel drawers and pulled one out. Laying there on the cold stainless steel slab was the corpse in question. Even before Marshall unzipped the thick plastic bag, Darian could smell the blood. He could also smell that it was a shifter from the feline lion breed.

Darian stepped up to the corpse, studying it. He didn’t need Marshall to tell him how the victim had died or how the victim had been flayed. Even if he hadn’t already been told, he could see the handiwork of the vampire coven responsible for killing on his territory. They’d pay for their offense, of that, he was sure.

“
So, see anything we didn’t catch?” Marshall asked.

Darian’s forest-green eyes locked onto the slender, unkempt man. “You did a very good job with your autopsy. Thank you for letting me view the body.”

“
Not a problem.” Marshall zipped the body bag up and slid the corpse back into its slot.

Warren took a look at the body laying on the table under the bright halogen light. “What’s this here?” He pointed.

Darian turned towards the corpse as did Marshall.

“
Ah, he just came in about twenty minutes ago,” Marshall said, walking towards the corpse.

“
What’s the COD?” Warren asked, approaching the table as well.

Darian followed the men, secretly impressed with both the human and the shifter in their abilities to do their jobs well.

“
Another vampire attack. Only this time, one is responsible. See here,” he pointed to a set of puncture wounds on the shaft of the penis. “He pierced the vein. I was able to match this set of bite marks to a pair I found on the other corpse. So it looks like at least one of our guys fed again.”

The muscles in Darian’s jaw tightened. How
dare
some unknown coven enter his territory uninvited! How
dare
they kill in his city and with such callousness!

“
Shit, why the fuck weren’t Matt and I called in for this?” Warren asked, pissed that he wasn’t notified about the body until now.

“
Because the MO didn’t match. Not until now. Your DB was a shifter, between the ages of twenty and thirty based on the size of his bones. This guy is a human, and looks to be fifteen, no more than seventeen. Your DB had multiple bite wounds, this one only had a single wound. Your DB was flayed alive, this one

”

“
Galen, I get it. I’m not dense,” Warren huffed.

“
Okay, all I’m saying is, easy to miss. It wasn’t until I had a closer inspection did I recognize the space and size between the two punctures and was able to match them to your DB.” Marshall nodded in the direction of the steel drawer. He was quite pleased with himself for being able to make the comparison.

“
Fuck me,” Warren hissed as he ran fingers through his dark locks. “Who’s on this case, now?”

“
Currently, Johnson and Weinstein. But that’ll change once I pass my findings over to the captain.” Marshall and Captain Michelle Lawrence were in a pretty serious relationship outside of the precinct. Inside, however, it was strictly business, so no one had anything to say about it.

“
Yeah, that ought to please them greatly, having their case yanked out of their hands and given over to us,” Warren stated sarcastically.

“
I’d be happy if it were me. Your case isn’t looking any prettier now than it did last night.” Marshall looked at Darian. “Are you able to catch a scent off this body?”

Darian looked up from the body to Galen with a start. He was surprised to find the man so blunt. “You know who I am?”

Marshall nodded. “Who and what. I remember you from a few years back. The remains of a crime you were accused of did come across my path. To tell you the truth, I’m glad you were cleared of all charges. Looking at you now, something tells me I wouldn’t have wanted to see the outcome of a guilty verdict.”

In spite of himself, Darian smiled. He liked the man. “No one was more please than I was with the outcome of that particular case.”

“
And the lawsuit that foowed, no doubt.” Marshall nodded, remembering the high profile case and the multimillion dollar suit that followed, which set a new precedent for standard procedures on proper investigating of crimes involving murder by a supernatural.

“
To answer your question,” Darian began, getting back to the matter at hand. “I did catch a scent.” He decided against elaborating on how useless a scent on the body was now if he couldn’t track it later.

“
Well, it’s a start,” Marshall said. Darian nodded.

“
Is there anything else, skin particles? Hair follicles, anything?” Warren asked, hoping that since the newest victim still had his skin and nails, maybe he took something from his killer that would be able to put them on the right trail.

“
I scrapped under the nails, sent what little I found there to the DNA lab. Like the body found last night, he was also naked.”

“
Where did they pick this one up at?” Warren asked.

“
Hyde Park. He was laying between two parked cars in that huge lot over there off 53
^st
street.” Marshall’s cell began ringing. He looked down at the little device, noting the number. “Well, looks like we may have another DB.”

“
What the fuck?” Warren tossed a glance at Darian then back at Marshall who was returning the call. Both Darian and Warren could hear the conversation. Apparently, another victim was found, this time a female adolescent, the bite marks were very visible as the body was also naked. Once Marshall hung up, Warren’s cell phone rung.

Marshall chuckled at the accuracy of the S.U.I.T.’s hotline. “I take it you already know what that phone call is going to be about,” he said, letting Warren know that he knew he heard his conversation due to his superhuman hearing.