Inferna Nuntius

Chapter 1

1

            Cassidy Danmark sighed audibly and rolled her head to the side, trying to figure out if her husband was awake. When he didn’t stir, she flopped onto her front, her head turned towards him. There was still no movement from his side of the bed. She could lay on her front all night long and her husband wouldn’t notice. She shook her head lightly and attempted to roll back onto her side. She struggled for a moment and then lifted herself with her arms, sliding the body pillow between her legs, wrapping her arms around it.

At this point in her life, things came in three. She had been married to John for three years, been sleeping in a separate bed from him for three months, and hating her life with him for three months. More than three months, she thought. But she had only recently realized it. The last three months had made her realize an abundance of things, like participating in the FBIs prestigious Criminal Behavior Unit case study may not have been the smartest move of her career. Three months ago, she had been more than content to be a part of the New York Police Department, to be a street cop that patrolled the very streets that she had grown up on and grown to love. Then, in a quick flash of fate, she was suddenly at the mercy of a psychopath as she began to study how and why some of the most violent criminals do what they do. Cassidy had been recommended at the last minute to fill in for one of her colleagues to attend the three-month accelerated program based out of Virginia and had not hesitated to accept the abrupt change of venue.

She was one of only five women in the country that were recommended for the course, a fact that was obvious as she soon realized that she was partnered up with a male officer from her same precinct because the other four women were all from the same squad.

Over the years Cassidy had grown accustomed to standing out from her peers, first and foremost because she was a female in a male dominated field. Being the only one in the room without a testosterone problem was nothing new for her. She had grown up with three older adoptive brothers and passive mother who realized early on that Cassidy preferred trucks and building blocks to dolls and tea time.

 When she joined the NYPD five years ago, she was warned of the fact that a majority of female recruits never made it past the basic physical requirements, let alone graduate from the police academy at the top of their class. Cassidy had done both and had managed to piss off most of her graduating class. After graduation she was shuffled from one precinct to the next before finally settling on Precinct 7 in the heart of New York City. The precinct was also home to the second thing that made Cassidy stand out-her father, Marcus, and his organization the Shenandoah. When she joined the force, there had been whispers and rumors of her involvement with the Shenandoah, but Cassidy had never fully disclosed to most of her co-workers who she really was or what her connection to the Shenandoah was. Cassidy Danmark was a vampire.