Lurking in the Dark

Chapter Three

Bryan Garrett

I got in behind Emre. Her scent from the front seat seemed to spin around me, filling my senses and making my wolf jump to attention. I looked at her in the rearview mirror, where I could see just a glimpse of her beautiful face. Her brother Calub and I had been partners since the day Calub had joined the force, almost eleven years ago now. I had been on the force a couple years before hIm and now I liked to think of him as a brother. In those years, I'd gotten to know his wife and kids well and knew the rest of the Shore family fairly well also. Emre, however, I had never met. Calub, of course talked about her frequently, but she had moved for college right after high school and joined the Department Magic and Supernatural as a new graduate. According to Calub the job kept her busy, so she didn't make it home much. I knew though that she kept in touch with everyone with phone calls a couple times a week. 

I remembered the day Calub had called me to tell me that she was missing. She'd been in an ally seeing off an ambulance. Her team had been in New York for a month tracking down a serial murderer who had a taste for human flesh. She and another member of the team had been searching the ally for clues as a number of the victims had been found in or close to the spot, when they came across the body of a woman fitting the description of the latest victim. The victim fortunately had still been alive and was saved, but the killer had been waiting. Her partner had been wounded and her taken. It was nearly a week before she was found. I’d gone with Calub to visit when she'd come home to heal. She'd been in bad shape then. Aside from the bruises, broken leg, and a dislocated shoulder, I'd heard David and Helen talking about how a silver knife was used to cut her, making the cuts slow to heal and scar. I studied her face in the mirror. She hid the nightmares well, but I knew they were there, just under the surface.

She took the phone away from her ear, ending the call with Agent McCollum. Sensing my gaze, her green eyes met mine in the rearview. My heart seemed to beat faster, my wolf howling in my ears. I shallowed, trying to ignore how tight my jeans suddenly felt. “Mac wants us back at the house. Tommy and Calub are on their way back too.” I nodded, as did the blonde psychic in the front seat. Her strange cat sat in her lap, it's head nestled into the crook of her arm. The car ride was quite after that. We pulled into Emre's driveway nearly twenty-five-minutes later. Calub's car pulled up as we got out. We all went into the house. Agent McCollum stood on the far side of the living room, staring at the two evidence boards that had been set up. On one a map of the city had been pinned up. Red and orange pins were stuck in various locations. I recognized them all. The orange were where the boys had gone missing and the red marked the location where each of their bodies had been found. The side by side photos had been hung on the second one, their names written above the photo. Agent McCollum turned as we came into the room. He looked at Emre, “What do you see?” Emre went over to the boards, her eyes scanning everything. After a moment she turned,

“Whoever is responsible has a type. Dark haired boys from shifter families.” Her eyes flicked to the map. “And a hunting ground.” Her fingers traced over an area of map where the orange pins were stuck. “The Levee.” She cursed under her breath. “They're definitely smart.” Agent Ramiro came up next to me, confusion in he's eyes.

“What's the Levee?” I stepped next to Emre at the map. Using a finger, I traced the area to the east of Lake Mills. “The Levee is the shambles of Bayeville. It's where the city's poorest live, overrun by gangs, drugs, you name it, it's in the Levee. People go missing from the area all the time, usually never seen again.”

“Crime in the Levee is second nature and hardly ever reported.” Emre interjected. I nodded,

“She right.” 

“So, basically it's the perfect place to kidnap boys.” I sucked in a silent breath,

“Yes. Yes, it is.” We were all quite for a moment. Agent McCollum cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

“Tommy, Calub, did the M.E add anything not in the reports?” Calub shook his head.

“Nothing. All the bodies had been washed and redressed, she's guessing postmortem. All of them were underweight, but,” 

“Coming from the Levee that's not unusual.” Agent McCollum finished. He sighed, “So, that means the rest of the reports are accelerate.” Calub nodded,

“Each was drained of blood.” He took turns looking everyone in the eye. I heard Emre take a sharp breath.

“Vampire.”