Stormwind (The Storm Chronicles Book 3) (16 page)

Raven was only a step behind her mother. As Valentina held Evangelina, Raven opened fire, followed quickly by Levac. Evangelina’s companions vanished in a cloud of gunsmoke and ash, leaving the hapless vampire dangling, alone and helpless.

“Now, Evangelina, perhaps you would care to explain what has happened to your familiar and why you have come here?” Valentina asked. “My daughter and her partner will listen and help if they can.”

Evangelina struggled for a moment longer, surrendering when Raven moved next to her mother. Valentina set the distraught vampire down and returned to her seat, taking up her glass.

“I woke at dusk to find my sanctuary in shambles and Karina gone,” Evangelina said. “Her scent was everywhere, but there was no blood or other evidence of what had happened. I felt she still lived so tried her cell; there was no answer. I can find no hint of my jewel. If you, Valentina, were stronger no one would dare take a member of the House.”

“You are not a member of the house, Evangelina,” Raven said. “You lost that privilege when you challenged Mother’s authority. Perhaps whoever took Karina knows of your attempted coup?”

Evangelina hung her head. “I cannot argue that I may be partially to blame, Ravenel. I apologize for my actions and beg forgiveness.”

“You are forgiven,” Valentina said. “I will work out a suitable punishment. In the meantime I believe time is of the essence. Raven, my daughter, I believe you and dear Rupert are as you say ‘off the clock?’”

“I’m never off the clock, Mother,” Raven said. “But we are at a wall on this case unless a suspect breaks or Ming finds something new. I think we can spare a few moments for Karina.”

“Thank you, my love,” Valentina said.

“Ms. Evangelina, may we have the key to your domicile?” Levac asked, holding out his hand.

“You won’t need a key,” Evangelina said. “Simply tell the doorman you have Lady Evangelina’s permission. He is mine and will gladly let you in.”

“Of course. Thank you, ma’am,” Levac said.

“Evangelina, I expect you to behave yourself,” Raven said. “I have no problem adding you to the dust pile. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Fürstin Ravenel,” Evangelina replied, tears running down her cheeks. “I pledge my allegiance to House Tempeste. Please just find my Karina, I know she is in pain.”

Raven holstered her Automag and turned toward the ballroom door. Behind her Levac said, “We’ll do what we can, ma’am,” before turning and following Raven outside.

Raven quickly located Thad and advised him of the cars that would need to be removed from the estate’s driveway. She then headed out into the night where her Shelby waited, still ticking in the cooler night air. She was about to open the Shelby’s door when Levac gently took her by the elbow.

“Ray, what’s going on?” he asked.

“My mom just finally acted like a leader and took a hand in both her own safety and her future as Mistress of the City. Then we volunteered to try and find a psycho bitch vampire’s familiar,” Raven replied. “Just another day in my life.”

“That isn’t what I mean,” Levac said. “I know you try to keep me out of the vampire side of your life and I appreciate it. But that name they called me. Evangelina said you chose me. What was she talking about?”

“Nothing important,” Raven said, trying again for the door handle.

Levac gently turned Raven to face him. “Raven, you’re lying. I know when you’re lying, you stop being snarky.  What were they talking about?”

Raven sighed and shuffled until she could sit on the hood of the Shelby. “I did it to save your life after I thought Xavier had killed you. I couldn’t handle losing you.”

Levac nodded. “I don’t want to lose you either. So?”

Raven blushed and looked at the ground. “So I did something I didn’t even know I could do. I shared my blood with you.”

“And that’s why I didn’t die?” Levac asked.

“Yes,” Raven replied.

Levac was quiet for a moment and Raven could tell his mind was working. She prayed he wouldn’t ask the question she knew he was going to come up with. He was, after all, one of the best detectives on the force.

“That makes sense,” he said at last.  “Just one more thing. What you did to save my life…it did more than just keep me alive, didn’t it?”

“Rupe…” Raven said.

“I deserve to know, Ray,” Levac pressed.

Raven looked up, her eyes green. “Yes. It did more, okay? It made you stronger, faster and gave you the ability to heal terrible wounds like the one that was going to kill you. It made you one of my chosen. My familiar in name and in blood.”

Levac turned away visibly shaking. “How could you do that to me?”

“You were dying in my arms, Rupert, what was I supposed to do? Watch my best friend, someone I love, die?”

Levac spun, anger on his face. “Yes! It was my time, Raven!”

Raven slid off the Shelby’s hood. “No it wasn’t, damn it! It wasn’t your time. Xavier chose your time and I couldn’t let you die. Not like that.”

Levac closed his eyes and looked away. “You took away my humanity.”

Raven turned Levac around and looked up into his eyes. “I didn’t, Rupe. I promise you. You carry some of my blood in your veins. Everything that makes you the person I care about is always there, in your heart and in everything you do each and every day. Sure, you’re a little stronger and harder to kill. You will age more slowly like I do. Is that so bad? Does me having a vampire for a mother make me less the person you care about?”

Levac closed his eyes and shook his head. “Of course not, Ray. You know how I feel. This is different. I wasn’t born this way like you were, this is something you did to me without asking.”

“I couldn’t ask you!” Raven yelled. “If I could have I would have. You were bleeding out in my arms. I had a choice. I made it. I’m sorry you disagree with it, but I can’t take it back. I will never stand aside and just let you die.”

Levac touched Raven’s face with a gentle hand then turned and headed for the garage.

“Where are you going?” Raven asked.

“Thad said I could have that old Ferrari GTO,” Levac replied. “I’m taking it and going home.”

Raven started to say something, but the words died in her throat. What could she say? She doubted saying ‘I saved you because I love you, stupid’ would make any difference.

She stood next to the Shelby and watched the bright red GTO pull out of the garage. Levac never even looked at her. He simply guided the car down the driveway and disappeared into the night. Raven knew he never looked back; she watched until the taillights had melted into the darkness.

She wiped tears from her face and climbed into the Shelby. When she could speak without her voice shaking she raised the radio mic to her lips and said, “Dispatch, X-ray 42, rolling single on a possible lead. Levac’s on his way home.”

“X-ray 42, dispatch. Have you rolling single. You’re off the clock, no overtime on this one.”

“Doesn’t matter. Just keeping you in the loop. Storm out.”

She started the Shelby and headed back toward the city, her eyes on the distant glittering lights, her mind on a certain goofy detective.

THE WOLF MOON, ANGRY AND red hung over the city and bathed it in a hellish glow that made Raven’s fists itch as she guided the Shelby through the maze of back alleys and side streets that made up the inner workings of Chicago’s famous Loop. The dull red glow made everything look like it was bleeding; somewhere deep inside, her vampire was licking its lips while Raven wanted to vomit. Or punch someone.

She pulled into the garage to Evangelina’s building and parked in an empty parking space next to a Maserati of some kind. She barely glanced at the shiny black car. It may have done 185, but it wasn’t as pretty or as brutal as the Shelby and both were qualities Raven wanted in her car.

She pushed through the glass doors into the apartment building, her boots ringing out in the tomblike silence of the lobby. Like most of the vampire havens in the city this one was heavy on the marble, columns and red velvet with a side order discrete gargoyles. It made Raven want to set fire to the place.

She swallowed her annoyance at the vampire décor and walked toward the front desk where a short black man was standing, a solitaire game in front of him. He smiled brightly and offered Raven a half bow.

“Good evening, Fürstin Ravenel,” he said. “I assume you’re here to see Lady Evangelina, unfortunately she and her familiar are both out at the moment. May I take a message?”

“Evangelina is with the Mistress and has granted me access to her rooms,” Raven replied. “Karina is missing. Do you remember seeing her?”

The guard’s smile twisted into a frown. “No, ma’am, I come on duty for the late shift and Karina is usually in bed by the time I come in. I haven’t seen her in two or three days.”

“Did any of the other guards report anything strange today?” Raven asked.

The guard raised a finger and then rifled through a stack of reports. He chose one and read it over. “A neighbor did complain of noise in Lady Evangelina’s room around noon today. The guard on duty responded, but there was no answer.”

“Is there a back door out of this place that doesn’t come through the lobby?” Raven asked.

“Of course, we do cater to those who prefer to avoid sunlight and attention,” the guard replied. “There is a back staircase that leads into the rear lot and a shaded alleyway.”

“Have the video of that entrance from morning until after noon ready when I get back,” Raven said. “And get me a passkey for Evangelina’s room.”

“At once, Fürstin.”

The guard made an electronic key and slid it across the desk. “She has the four bedroom apartment on the nineteenth floor. There is only one neighbor, a Ms. Tabor.”

“Thanks,” Raven said. “I’ll be back for that video.”

The guard nodded and Raven turned away toward the elevators. One of the doors opened when she pushed the button and she stepped inside the wood and brass car. She stabbed the nineteen button with her thumb and tried not to stare at the empty space where Levac should be.

The nineteenth floor was divided into two rectangular apartments with a central corridor that ran from the elevators to a pool at the far end of the building. The hallway was carpeted in red with white fleur de lis wallpaper and looked like something out of a horror movie. It seemed to stretch on forever with a handful of doors spaced along its length for maintenance and emergency stair access and a tiny pinprick of light at the far end where the pool was located.

Raven stepped out of the elevator and looked at the hallway with distaste. “Someone should invite Stevie King or that Koontz guy to spend a week here,” she muttered. “They’d write a bestseller for sure.”

She walked down the corridor, pausing at the door marked ‘STAIRS’. She pushed it open with her toe and examined the jam and the edge of the door. The door locked from the outside and required a passkey to enter the building. Anyone using the stairs for access had to have a card or bypass the lock by some other means.

She found what she was looking for at the edge of the stainless steel lock plate. Someone had used a tool like a large screwdriver or pry-bar to pop the door open from the outside. Whoever had taken Karina had likely entered through the alley and exited the same way with Karina in tow.

She took pictures of the door and stairwell with her phone and continued down the hall to Evangelina’s room. She opened the door and again looked for signs of forced entry, but found none. Karina had either known her abductors or had some other reason to open the door for them.

Raven opened the door with the passkey she’d been given. The lock disengaged with a faint click and Raven drew her Automag. She pushed the door open and dropped to one knee, checking the room beyond for targets. She found herself in a spacious living room arranged around a gas fireplace. A sofa of white leather surrounded the modern fire pit with two tables set into the sofa to hold bloodletting bowls and goblets. The bowls and goblets now lay on the floor among satin pillows and an assortment of blades. Raven frowned at the mess on the floor and turned her attention to the rest of the apartment. A hallway led toward the four bedrooms while a wide kitchen lay opposite the kitchen area. Raven checked the kitchen and was surprised to find the refrigerator stocked with a variety foods. Obviously Karina lived with Evangelina full time.

She also noticed that a large knife was missing from the butcher block next to the gas stove. She looked around and found it discarded at the threshold of the hallway. She nudged it with her boot and saw that the handle had been cracked and now hung in pieces from the rivets that once held it in place. Blood smeared the length of the blade as if the wielder, possibly Karina, had gotten a bite of her attacker.

What happened here?
Raven wondered.

She licked a finger and touched it to the blade. A drop of blood came free and she sniffed at it. There was a tang she wasn’t familiar with and a hint of A positive.

Frowning, she turned down the corridor checking the doors on either side of her. The first two bedrooms were neatly decorated in white leather and silver satin, but held neither signs of use nor the personal touches that indicate someone has been staying in the room.

The third room was decorated tastefully in black and gold with an oriental flare that included rice paper screens, katanas, black lacquered boxes containing secret treasures and a circular bed covered in black and gold satin. Unlike the living room, the bedroom appeared untouched for the most part, however Raven noted that both a katana and a pair of tanto knives were missing from Karina’s collection. She took a photograph of the stand and examined the remaining blades. They’d been made by master sword maker Hansu. Real swords, not cheap Little China replicas. A robbery with a side of kidnapping? That made no sense; nothing had been taken from the other scenes.

Raven turned and walked across the hall into Evangelina’s private chamber. This room smelled of freshly turned earth and was sparsely decorated with black drapes, red candles on iron pillars and an ebony coffin. An antique armoire stood in the corner, the doors ajar. Evangelina had probably left it open when she got dressed.

Raven took pictures of the room and walked back into the hallway. She closed her eyes and awakened her vampire. When she opened them again she could see the room as if it were lit by candlelight. Evangelina’s scent, heavy with blood, hung in the air like a brick, underlined by Karina’s more delicate floral scent. Raven followed Karina’s scent down the corridor and to the door where two more scents joined the young Asian girl’s. Both smelled of meat and wet dog. Their scents mingled then went back out the door and down the secure staircase. Raven was certain they’d had a vehicle waiting. With any luck it would be on the surveillance footage.

She locked Evangelina’s apartment and turned to the door across the hall. She knocked politely and waited. After a few minutes a middle aged woman with her brown and grey hair held back in a bun answered the door. She pulled her purple robe around herself and looked up at Raven. “Do you know what time it is?”

Raven smiled. “Yes ma’am and I apologize. I’m detective Raven Storm and I am investigating the disappearance of the young woman across the hall. I understand you heard a disturbance this morning?”

Tabor nodded. “Lina and Karina can get a bit loud, but nothing like this. It sounded like they were fighting. I could hear Karina yelling in Chinese, but I didn’t understand what she said. I called security to investigate and they said everything was fine.”

“Can you repeat the Chinese you heard?”

Tabor shrugged. “Well, it sounded like Lan Gren and xuè yuèliàng. Does that mean anything?”

“Yes ma’am, it does,” Raven replied. “You’ve been very helpful. I’m sorry to disturb you so late. Goodnight.”

Raven turned and hurried to the elevators. Minutes later she was back in the lobby with the guard, whose name turned out to be Kevin. He’d queued up the video and the pair sat behind the desk to watch it on a small monitor. The video mainly showed men and women, many of whom Raven recognized as familiars, carrying goods up and down the stairs. However at 11:48 a.m. two men in white coveralls carrying a large white tarp and painter’s tool belts entered through the south entrance. The men were approximately the same height and both had blonde hair and wore sunglasses that hid most of their features.  Neither man looked familiar.

The pair returned to the stairs at 12:02 p.m. carrying the same tarp, though it looked somewhat thicker. Raven slowed the video and looked closely for anything that would identify the men with no luck. She could, however, see strands of long dark hair hanging from the tarp. She could also see a white van parked just beyond the door. She wrote down the partial plate and smiled with satisfaction. She then ejected the disk and stuck it inside her jacket. “Thank you, Kevin. I will let Evangelina know how helpful you’ve been.”

Kevin bowed. “Not at all, Fürstin. It has been my pleasure to serve.”

Raven bowed from the neck and headed back to the parked Shelby. On the way across the garage she called in to her mother and confirmed Karina had been kidnapped by unknown parties. She also suggested, much to her own displeasure, that Evangelina be offered a room with a guard, just in case. When she ended that call she put in a call to dispatch and gave a description of the men, the vehicle and the partial plate. Maybe they’d get lucky.

A few minutes later the Shelby drifted out onto North State Street and headed toward Old Town. While she drove Raven used her free hand to feed Thad’s specials into her pistol’s empty magazines.

Half an hour later she pulled up to the curb outside Club Purgatory. She climbed out and shook her head at the line of vampire, Goth and emo kids waiting to get in. No matter how many places opened, Purgatory was the place to be.

Raven walked past the line and climbed the short staircase to the door. A vampire bouncer Raven recognized as Verde stood at the top taking covers and stamping hands. He smiled when Raven approached and held the heavy plastic curtain aside. “Good to see you, Ms. Raven. Welcome to Purgatory.”

“Hi, Verde, it’s nice to see you too. Is Pashta in?” Raven asked.

Verde nodded.  “Yes ma’am, she tending bar as usual.”

“Thanks. Listen, Verde, I have a feeling you may want to get the straights back from the door,” Raven said. “I have to talk to someone who might not want to talk to me.”

Verde nodded. “Not Pashta though?”

Raven laughed. “Of course not. Anyone who hurts Pashta answers to me.”

She turned and passed through the curtain and down the short hallway. Pashta had installed a revolving tunnel around the entrance giving the feeling you were walking through the Veil to get into the club. It was eerie and thrilling at the same time. Pashta had really brought the club up without losing the regular clientele.

Raven stepped off the catwalk and approached the coat and weapons check. She showed the petite young vampire her badge and passed through another rubber curtain into the club proper.

The layout of the bar had changed, with the main bar now being located along the far wall. It was home to three trained bartenders who made slinging booze an art form and show in itself.  Where the bar used to be was now a caged-in stage where local bands kicked out the latest in heavy metal and between the two was a dance floor surrounded by private booths where bar food, but excellent bar food, was served to snuggling couples.

Pashta had also added a partial second floor that consisted of a wide metal catwalk. Café tables had been placed discretely around the metal floor allowing a little more privacy and an excellent view of the club below. When Raven stopped in for a drink she usually took one of the corner tables where she could see everything. But she wasn’t interested in a table. Instead she walked straight to the bar where Pashta was juggling four bottles at once, somehow getting the alcohol into glasses without spilling a drop. Her long pink dreads stood out from her head like she’d been shocked and she was wearing silver leathers that displayed her glistening ebony skin to the fullest.