Made By Design (Blood Bound Series Book 2) (27 page)

“Father…” Ty’s tone was warning, a challenge he was ready to take. “No.”

“No what?” I tugged on Ty’s arm. “What does he mean?”

Ty stared down his father who flashed canines as he spoke. “I think you should go on recon with Ty. If you’re lucky you could witness my son disposing of a vampire. Or is that too
real
for you?”

I met his challenge head-on, expression set with absolution. “I know what Ty is, what he does. He’s a hero, saving humans from, well…yeah, vampires. Bad vampires. And I have no issue with that. He’s saved me more than once, too.” I now knew what was out there, rouge and damned vampires, creatures that thrived on blood and death. I couldn’t stand idly by and let Ty take all the risk. Besides, this could be linked to our attacks, and even Caius. I laced my fingers through Ty’s. “I’m coming with you.”

Surprise sparked across the older alpha’s face. He half-smiled at his son. “She has fire…like your mother did.”

“Why do we have to see the body?” I asked. My skin crawled at the thought while my Vans made light squeaks across the linoleum floor.

In my short new life as a vampire I had already seen one damned vampire die. Well, almost two if you count Kendrick and Dorian’s attacker being decapitated. In the way that ours had been killed, his body had instantly incinerated. Except this time we weren’t going to see a damned vampire’s body. We were here to see a human who’d been killed. Drained to death. I wondered what that kind of death would change in a decomposing body, and shuddered. I’d not so long ago come close to that end myself.

It was after 8
PM
, the day following my run-in with Mr. Malau. Now in Anchorage, we headed for the morgue on the lower level of the hospital.

Wearing a suit and tie, Ty ran a hand across my back as we headed down the off-white corridors. “Apart from the crime scene itself, a body can tell you so much about the killer. It could lead us to him or even his hideout.”

I went to ask about the formal attire when something distracted me. The capital letters
MORGUE
headed the end of the hallway. There was no turning back now.

“Will they let us see the body?” I asked. We weren’t related or anything. We didn’t even know her name.

“I’ve got it covered.” Ty sounded both cocky and confident. As if this was something he did on a regular basis. And here I’d thought he just put down murdering vampires. Apparently there was much more to being alpha of a werewolf pack than I’d ever thought.

Ty held open one side of the double doors for me to enter, and then followed behind. Inside was a glass-enclosed office manned by a male nurse. Corridors flanked either side of the office with swinging doors. One was unmarked. The other stated NO ENTRY.

The male nurse glanced up from his desk as we stopped in front of the glass barrier. “Can I help you?”

Ty withdrew a wallet from his pocket and flipped it open, displaying a badge. “Officer Scant. I’m here to pick up the murder victim’s personal affects.”

Somehow I managed not to blanch. So that’s why he’d dressed in a black suit with a collared shirt and tie.

“Who’s the girl?” the mid-twenties guy asked, more curious than suspicious.

Ty, or should I say, Officer Scant, glanced to me. “Right. Her.” He gave me a careless tap on the arm. “Almost forgot you were there.” His gaze returned to the male nurse. “Please meet our latest intern. What was your name? Oh that’s it, Jenny, right?”

The nurse scanned us over and shrugged. “You types get younger by the year.”

Ty smiled. “Yeah, and us newbies always get the mundane jobs. Where’s the action I signed up for?”

With a distracted noise the nurse went back to his computer screen. “Head on in, down the left. Second door on the right.”

We began to move away, but as we reached the doors below the NO ENTRY sign the nurse called out. “Oh, and don’t mind the body. It’s still in there but it’s covered.”

“Sure thing,” Ty called.

The doors creaked as he pushed them open. Less light brightened the hallway than the entry, and it was quiet as hell. Hairs rose up the back of my neck. At least I couldn’t see dead people. That ability was part of the spirit gift, to see and speak with the dead. But so far I hadn’t had any eerie spectral run ins. Hopefully that wasn’t about to change.

We paused before a door with a square glass window. I peered inside. Beyond the glass was a sterile room. Cabinets and pigeonholes marked the right wall. Body fridge doors marked the back wall. A suspended lamp centered the room, flickering above a stainless steel table. A knot formed in my throat and I swallowed. A lumpy mass took up the table space, covered by a white sheet.

Ty squeezed my hand. “You ready?”

I feigned strength. With everything we’d been through and would have to deal with, this would end up being a walk in the park. Plus I needed the exposure. In the future, I may have to kill to stay alive. Seeing death without falling apart was a step in training. I nodded, feeling anything but ready. “As I’ll ever be.”

We moved to the table. Beside it was a trolley with a plastic bag on top. Inside appeared to be the victim’s bloodstained things: a Lycra skirt, skimpy top, heels, and a purse. Below the table a bucket collected draining blood. It was a fair sized bucket, but hardly a drop filled it.

Ty noticed it too and frowned. “She was almost completely drained before being dumped.” He took hold of the edge of the sheet and uncovered her face.

I gasped and stepped back, hitting the trolley. The girl was young, maybe eighteen. Her auburn hair was tangled and wet, her pale face dirty. Her dead fish eyes were frozen in an open and eerie stare. But something about them stood out. Even though they were cloudy their silver-blue color was still visible.

“She’s a vampire.”

“You’re right.” Ty bent, pulling back more of the sheet.

I fought the urge to gag, even as the sight tingled my gums and made my stomach ache. The girl’s neck was shredded. Chewed into so viciously that bone glinted through the mess.

“The attacker was newly turned, ravenous,” Ty said. “Probably a first kill.”

I clutched the edge of the trolley as he peered under the sheet at her body. “H-how can you tell?”

“He kept biting until he punctured a vein. That’s why her neck’s so shredded.”

Glancing away, I opened the plastic bag to rifle through her belongings. I needed a distraction, and without chocolate, that bucket of blood drops was the only thing on offer in this room. The fact that I even thought about it made my stomach lurch. I reached past her soiled clothes to pull out her purse.

“Her name was Delina,” I said, studying her pretty face in the picture I.D. Apart from that there were a few twenties and small change. There was a card for the local blood bank and one other. It was worn and tattered with a fold through the middle. She’d had it for a while. “She’s been to
Pulse
, a lot,” I said, putting the card in my back pocket. I grabbed the clipboard from the top of the trolley. Delina’s body was found a few blocks from the popular vampire club. “But she wasn’t killed there.”

“Don’t crap where you eat,” Ty said. He replaced the sheet over her body. “It doesn’t make sense. A new vampire wouldn’t be able to think rationally enough to take his victim from the abduction site. What else doesn’t make sense is…” He lifted the sheet from her thigh, exposing another vicious bite mark. “That she’s been bitten in three separate places. A new vampire would latch on and not let go until their victim is empty. He wouldn’t change positions.”

I cringed at the memory of my own attempt to kill the school quarterback. I’d latched on too, fangs finding that spot and keeping a fatal hold. That had been the night I’d discovered I was a monster.
But you’re not one now,
I told myself. Since then I’d come so far. Every day my control over bloodlust improved.

I dared to ask, “So what does it all mean?”

“That there were three attackers,” Ty said, his voice grim. “And they were all starved. New vampires. Unless—”

“Unless what?”

A creak followed by footsteps, cut off Ty’s response. Someone was coming. Ty grabbed my hand to pull me from the room, but the door swung open before we’d even reached it. A blond guy strode in, flanked by two men in black gear. The men tensed and went to move in on us. The first guy held up a hand, freezing them in motion.

“Marcus?” I couldn’t believe it. “What are you doing here?”

“Leave.” The order in Marcus’s voice was crystal clear, disobeying would mean punishment. Before we could react the two men with him vacated the room. He studied Ty, moving slowly from his face down, then up again. “Is that him?”

Ty tensed, a rumble vibrating from his throat.

I edged forward, blocking him from Marcus. “It is.”

“Why are you here?” Marcus’s nostrils flared as if scenting him.

Ty made fists of his hands and his lips curled back from canines. “Stepping in because your ‘powers that be’ won’t police your own kind,” he snapped.

“Why do you think I’m here?” Marcus looked amused, unmoved by Ty’s hostility. “Besides, when it’s one of our own and not just a blood bag, we’re a little more vigilant. Can’t have humans running autopsies on vampires, now can we?”

His flippant tone and words shocked me. “Humans aren’t blood bags. They’re—wait. So you knew she was a vampire?” I hoped that wasn’t the only reason The Council was stepping up. Though with how they kept their humans for food, it shouldn’t have surprised me so much.

“Not just a vampire,” Marcus said. “She was a Pure Blood.”

~

“There’s nothing here,” I said, kicking rubbish away with my Vans.

We’d left the hospital after Marcus’s bombshell and checked into our hotel. Now we were down the alley where Delina had been drained to death. Marcus had of course ordered us to steer clear of Council business. Like that was going to happen. Ty was an alpha, and whether the vampires appeared to be policing their own kind or not, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance. His integrity surprised me. After discovering the victim was a vampire, I half expected him to let it go. But it seemed that human or not, Ty didn’t discriminate. Delina may have been a vampire, but she was still a victim.

“She wasn’t killed here.” Ty straightened from the wet asphalt, taking a deep breath through his nose. “I can’t even pick up the scent of blood. With how badly she was chomped into, there should be at least some.”

“So what now?” I asked.

Ty slid his hand around me and into the back pocket of my jeans. I held my breath at his closeness and touch. An alchemist mark on his chest blocked his amazing scent. Still that didn’t mean I couldn’t remember the delicious taste. Though in spite of my rising desire, this dingy alley was far from romantic. I hadn’t even pulled up the walls in my mind to block Kendrick.

“Ty, uh…”

In a flash his hand left my back pocket, now holding up a card. It was the card I’d found in Delina’s purse. “I need to check out
Pulse.
”

“Oh, right.” Of course Ty hadn’t been about to get intimate in a disgusting place like this. His brain was on the job. Not that I could say the same for mine. “Let’s go then.”

Ty hesitated. “I’d rather you didn’t.”

“You don’t want me to come with you?” Was my lack of experience getting in his way?

“No, it’s not that. At least not in the way you think.” Ty reached for the inside pocket of his jacket and withdrew two silver stakes. “I think the victim was abducted from the club. And she was a royal, taken out by new vampires.” One stake was shoved into the back of his pants. The other one he slid into the front, concealed by his bomber jacket. “Normally new vamps target easy prey. They’re not strong yet. Not until they’ve fed a few times. They definitely aren’t as strong as a royal.”

“So you don’t want me there in case the killers come back looking for another vamp to feed on?”

“Yes,” Ty breathed, almost looking relieved that I understood.

That look wasn’t going to last long. “Well,” I said. “Are new vampires as strong as the damned we took down on the cruise?”

Ty’s response was hesitant. “No—but what if I’m wrong? It could be a damned attack.”

Ty was right, it was a definite possibility—but that wasn’t about to change the outcome of this discussion. “Well, aren’t you training me to be able to defend myself against any evil creature that tries to kill me? Dead or not?”

Ty sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’re coming with me, aren’t you?” I nodded. “And nothing I can say will change your mind?”

“Nothing.”

Ty bent and lifted the leg of his pants. Below the cover was another silver stake strapped to a holster at his ankle. Prepared for anything, as usual. He slid it free and held it out. “Then you may as well be armed.”

~

A few minutes later found us in the alley behind
Pulse.
Being out here in the place I’d almost killed the first person I bit for blood made my chest tight. The dumpster was still here. The stink of rotting garbage hung on the frigid air. And there was the brick wall I’d pinned my prey against. I shivered, trying not to release my fangs at the memory of the quarterback’s fresh blood. Trying to believe I wasn’t anything like that monster anymore. This was also the place Ty and I first met. The night he’d stopped me from killing. The night he’d intended on putting me down. But he hadn’t been able to. Something about my reaction to having almost killed a guy had reached his heart. He’d never seen a blood-hungry vampire repent and beg for death.

I looked at him, amazed. My would-be killer was now my boyfriend. But now wasn’t the time for reminiscing.

Ty was jiggling a thin piece of metal in the back door’s lock, grunting with frustration. When it clicked open he sighed and faced me. His expression fell with regret. “I can’t believe I almost…” He stared at a spot of asphalt. It was the exact spot I’d begged for death from. “It would have been the worst mistake of my life.”

I ran a hand down his face, lifting his chin. “But you couldn’t do it. Remember? Even then you saw the real me. You saw right through my fear into my very soul. You saved me.”