Stormrage (8 page)

Raven ha
dn't realized it was so late, but then she was half vampire… and she was starting to really need a drink after all the blood and energy she'd spent during the day.

"You get some rest, Rupe," she said.
"When you get in, see what you can dig up on DeGrey and Riscassi. Associates they have in common outside our normal mob scumbags, anything."

"A hunch?"
Levac asked.

"One of those feelings,"
Raven said somewhat distantly.

Levac rolled his eyes and stepped out of the elevator.
Raven followed and the two walked toward their respective vehicles.

"And I suppose you're goin
g to Club Purgatory without me…again," Levac said.

"Rupe, don't start,"
Raven replied. "You know about the suckheads now. That place is crawling with them. Let me handle the preternatural stuff while you be a real detective and do what you do best."

And not get your head pulled off
for asking 'Just one more thing',
she added mentally.

Raven could see in his face
he didn't like it, but Levac nodded his assent and headed toward his battered Met. She waited till he had driven away before getting into her own car and heading back to Old Town.

* * *

Not much had changed since they'd left a few hours previously, though
police lights still sparkled in the distance where Aspen and her team were busily gathering enough evidence to bury DeGrey in the MCC for a long, long time.

Rav
en found a safe place to park near Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe and headed across the central courtyard toward Club Purgatory. Though the sun would rise in just three hours' time, there was a line of Goth and Emo kids outside longer than a bunch of groupies at a movie premier. The bouncer had changed since Raven and Levac had walked by previously and Raven didn’t recognize the large African-American vampire leaning against the railing. He had a black bandana holding waist-length dreads in place and was clad head to toe in leather from the finest Fetish catalog.

As usual Raven walked past the line
of hopeful vamp wannabes, hopped the velvet rope and stopped next to the bouncer, whose bulk was blocking the door.

"Fürstin Ravenel," he said with a bow of his head.

"I don't know you, what's your name and what house do you represent?" Raven asked.

"I am
Malik Zoba of the House of Xion."

Raven nodded, recognizing the name.
They were usually quiet at court, if they even bothered to show up.

"It is a pleasu
re to meet one of the blood pact," she replied, returning the head bow. "I would like access to the club, please."

"I a
pologize, Ravenel," he said. "But rules say you wait your turn. Especially you."

"Es
pecially me?" Raven asked. "Cornelius really made that a rule?"

"Yes, Ravenel,"
Malik replied, again omitting Raven's title. "I must ask you to go the end of the line and wait."

Raven sighed and brought the fire to her eyes, knowing this time is was
really going to drain her.

"Malik, I mean no disrespect to
you or your house, though the continual omission of my title indicates you mean insult to me and the Mistress of the City. I will give you a chance. We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. The easy way is you step aside and let me pass in the name of Fürstin and as a Chicago officer on police business."

"And the hard way?"
Malik asked, cracking his knuckles and straightening to his impressive seven foot five inch height.

Raven rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"Seriously? The hard way? Can't any of you mouth-breathers ever take the easy way and just let me in the fucking door?"

There was a crowded thirty seconds where Raven exchanged blows with the larger man
…who eventually threw her over the railing. She landed gracefully on her feet and snarled up at the older vampire, letting her fangs show, to the amusement of the crowd who thought it was all some kind of act for their benefit.

"Not bad, Dreads," she
said, somewhat surprised.

Malik was breathing hard from the exchange
, but he nodded. "Likewise, half-breed."

Raven smiled and leapt back over the railing, one
high-heeled boot catching the vampire in the face and ripping open his jaw. As he howled in pain she back-fisted him across the other side of his jaw and followed up with a reverse spin-kick that ripped his throat out and dropped him gurgling to the walkway. Raven knelt on one knee beside him and pulled him half way off the cement.

"There is a reason I am Fürstin, Malik,"
she said in a quiet voice. "And you're not. The blood of a Sanguinarch flows in my veins."

Malik tried to reply
, but his ruined face was having trouble putting itself back together.

"It was a
pleasure meeting someone from House Xion," Raven said. "Next time, just open the damn door. And it's Fürstin Ravenel to you, Embraced. If I have to remind you again, they will be sweeping your ashes into the bushes. Have I made myself clear?"

The vampire nodded once and Raven dropped him to the ground.
She then smiled at the crowd and passed through the door, leaving it open behind her. Beyond the front door were the restrooms and a coat closet that led to a foyer that had recently been decorated with a variety of paintings depicting the denizens of purgatory all in overly sexual positions. Beyond them was a curtain that led through to the weapons check and massive dance floor. Raven ignored the new check-in girl who offered to take her weapons and passed through the plastic curtain and into the club proper. What passed for 'dance music' assaulted her ears and she winced at the heavy bass beat that threatened to shake her fangs out of her head. She pushed through the crowd to the bar where a friendly face was already pouring her a cranberry club soda. Raven smiled at the Nubian princess behind the bar and sipped the soda gratefully.

"Hello, Pashta," she said, licking her lips
. "It's good to see you, love. Thank you for the soda, but I'm going to need something a little stronger this time."

Pashta reached for the Jack Daniels bottle
, but Raven stopped her.

"Not booze, Pash
" she said, barely above the din of the club. "Claret in a wine glass if you don't mind?"

Pashta raised her
eyebrows in surprise, but reached beneath the counter to the bottle warmer. She pulled out an unmarked wine bottle and poured Raven a full glass of deep red blood. Raven choked back her distaste and swallowed the whole glass as quickly as she could.

"God I hate having to do that
," she said, feeling her energy return.

Pashta placed a shot of Jack in front of her friend and smiled.
"You looked like you needed it. And the whiskey. What have you been doing this night, Ravenel?"

"More than I should have,"
Raven replied. "Thank you."

She downed the shot of whiskey, using it to wash the taste of blood from her mouth.

"You fought Malik, didn't you?"
Pashta asked with a smile.

"He wouldn't let me in,"
Raven replied, half turning to watch the crowd.

"
I would have loved to see that. He is a Master of House Xion," Pashta said.

Raven swiveled back in surprise.
"Is he? 'Lius put a Master on the door? Why on Earth would he do that?"

"Because of you, dear Ravenel,"
Pashta replied with a grin. "If you recall, the last time you were here you broke into his sanctum and threatened to kill him and tear this place down. He is somewhat afraid of you."

"He'd also kidnapped my sister's familiar,"
Raven said. "He's lucky I didn't dust him. I let him live and I hold no ill will. 'Lius is a puppet and a coward."

Pashta nodded and cle
ared the glasses from in front of Raven before providing another glass of claret and a shot. "Is there something else I can do for you?"

Raven frowned at the blood
, but drank it down, chasing it immediately with the fiery whiskey. When her throat had stopped burning she said, "Actually, yes. Levac and I are working on a new case. I think one of the victims was here at least once. Do you think you can look at a couple pictures for me?"

Pashta glanced over her shoulder at the other b
artender, who was busy flirting with two cute human men, then nodded and made a motion with her fingers like she was rubbing money together.

Raven laughed and slid two fifty-dollar bills under her wine glass.
She then showed Pashta the file photos of Zack and Christina. Pashta tapped the DMV photo of Zack.

"I have seen this man several times," she said.
"He was a regular on nights after he'd worked on the yacht Witchcraft."

"Did he speak with or dance with anyone in particular?"
Raven asked.

Pashta looked uncomfortable and slid the bills into the pocket of her white leather pants.
"You won't like it, Fürstin."

Raven frowned.
She knew and was friends with Pashta. Though they had met under the usual circumstances they'd become friends over the last few months. It wasn't like her to be shy with information. "Come on, Pash! How bad can it be?"

"
Bad. Xavier Tempeste and Lord Du Guerre. They sat in the far corner."

Raven blinked in surprise. "My brother and Du Guerre were meeting with my murder victim?
When was the last time you saw them?"

"Your brother was here earlier this evening, he left with a dark-haired woman wearing a domino mask.
Lord Du Guerre has not been here in maybe two days," Pashta replied.

"Two days…
the night Shevlin was killed," Raven muttered.

"Do you know who served them?"

"Sienna," Pashta said, pointing at a blonde waitress who was weaving her way through the crowd with the skill of a formula one driver.

"Thank you, hon,"
Raven said. "Talk to you later."

"L
ater, Ravenel," Pashta answered with a nod.

Raven pushed her way through the crowd until she reached the blonde, who was serving a group of
very familiar-looking bikers; Lycans Raven had dealt with before. Two rose to stop her as she got closer, but their alpha motioned for them to sit.

"Hello again, boys,"
Raven said with smile. "Just passing through. Sienna?"

The blonde waitress nodded and finished placing mugs of mead on the table.
"Yes? Can I get you something?"

Raven took the girl
by the elbow and guided her away from the werewolf pack.

"I'm Detective Raven Storm of the Chicago Police Department," she said.
"I would like to ask you a few questions."

Unphased
, the girl led Raven to an empty table and sat across from her. Raven pulled out the photos of Zack and Christina Shevlin and passed them to the girl.

"Do you know either of these people?"

Sienna tapped Zack's photo without hesitation.

"This is Zackie," she said.
"A really sweet guy and a great tipper. He always came in after he'd been working the yachts, said he liked the spooky atmosphere here."

Raven took the photos back.
"Did you ever see him with anyone?"

Sienna laughed.
"Oh yeah, he met a couple of real good looking guys on a couple of occasions, I think something to do with one of the boats he worked on. One was tall, an albino guy with a bad attitude. The other dude was a Frenchman, a beautiful man with blonde hair and a beard shadow that begged to be stroked. You know the kind I mean?"

"Did you ever hear them talking?"
Raven asked, ignoring the description of Francois.

Sienna shook her head. "No, not really.
They only spoke to me when I brought or they ordered fresh drinks. The rest of the time they were quiet when I was around, like they didn't want me to hear what they were talking about."

"Shit!
Okay…thanks Sienna. That is at least more than I had."

"You're welcome,"
Sienna replied.

Sienna turned to go
, but Raven stopped her with Levac's trademark line. "Just one more thing, Sienna."

Sienna turned and looked at Raven.
"Yes, ma'am?"

"Those guys you were hanging with?
Don't go home with any of them. And I mean that. They can be real animals when they aren't here," Raven said.

"As you say,"
Sienna said with a nod.

Raven watched her go and drummed her fingers on the table
in annoyance. So Francois and Xavier were working together and had likely been with Shevlin on the night he was killed. What the hell would they want with an ex-con working Witchcraft and how did his sister fit into things?