Sweeter than Blood

Chapter One

"Lydia, I'd like you to meet Garnet Moreau, your new partner on the Bridge Park case."

Captain Allan Richards approached my desk alongside a striking auburn-haired woman at least several inches taller than him. Her unnatural beauty aside, her confident body language and two-thousand dollar black jumpsuit marked her as a member of the vampire coven, and a high-ranking one at that. I had known the captain was in talks with the coven elders to align some of their top investigators with ours, but I had no idea I would be among the first to field test the alliance.

I shook the woman's hand, a chill coursing up my spine at her frigid touch. "Like the stone?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as sheepish as I felt.

All of the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as her breath whispered across my skin. "Exactly like."

Every fiber of my being screamed to run from the apparent threat of her very existence, but my feet held their ground.

"Pleasure to finally meet you," she purred, walking around my determined stance to face me. Her deep red hair matched her namesake, but the predatory smile consuming her full, blood-red lips captured my attention and I started to regret not fleeing for my life when I had the chance. "I've heard so much about the rising-star detective, and would not accept anyone else to help me."

Most of the vampires in the coven had agreed to our terms of peace with little disagreement, yet this woman's eyes were those of a killer restrained by very, very thin chains. I swallowed the lump in my throat, but met her gaze full on.

"Help you?" I stressed, and saw my captain's shoulders slouch a bit as if he were trying to withdraw into himself. Apparently, this vamp scared him more than she scared me. The thought of Captain Richards scared by any woman, vampire or otherwise, brought a small grin to my face for a split moment until Garnet noticed it and her eyes narrowed to deadly slits.

"Yes," she stated simply, but imposing as she was, this was my turf and she was not about to take charge of my investigation.

"Actually," I corrected, "this is my case, so you will play by my rules. You are here to assist, not command, and if you are not willing to be helpful you may show yourself out, but I will find whoever did this, with or without you. Is that understood?"

Garnet regarded me silently for a few excruciating moments, rage burning in her eyes, but finally smiled so brightly my breath caught at the sight of her glittering white and dangerously pointed fangs.

"As you wish, detective."

Captain Richards released a heavy sigh as though he hadn't breathed in years, but the threat of her smile did not pass me by. She would play nice for now, but it was clear that she would not take orders for long.

Richards cleared his throat and announced, "I should leave you two to get started then," and excused himself quickly away from the pair of us, retreating to his office.

I turned back to my desk and laid a hand on the stack of files I had been compiling before she showed up.

"Feel free to catch yourself up on what we know so far," I told her, but Garnet's eyes stayed on me, cold and exacting. "Why are you so interested in being a part of this investigation, anyway?" At the question, Garnet finally broke her scrutiny, turning her attention to the files.

"Murder is murder, no matter who the victim is or who commits it," she said carefully. "But when someone you've allowed to access all of your coven's secrets turns up butchered, it gets a bit more complicated than just catching a stab-happy killer."

"What do you mean 'all of your coven's secrets?'"

"Of course you didn't know," she scoffed. "Here's a little tidbit that I assume isn't in your files... Finlay had been researching an ancient text from the earliest days of my kind." The way she said his name sounded almost endearing, as though she had known and potentially liked our victim, Finlay Lancaster. I watched her closely to see if she showed any signs of pain at his loss, but if she felt anything at all, Garnet did not show it.

"Jameson allowed him to conduct some of his research in the safety of our coven's library, where he would have access to even the oldest information on vampires," she continued, "as long as he shared his findings with us before anything was published." Garnet took the seat beside my desk and crossed one long leg over the other, making a chair typically occupied by criminals look like a throne with the easy flow of her satin-edged jumpsuit and perfect posture. "He was supposed to meet with our elders the night he died." She watched for my reaction, but the disappointment was evident in her face when I showed no signs of surprise and she pursed her lips.

"And what is it that he discovered?"

"Something worth killing for, obviously," she groaned before adding, "would I be here right now if I knew? You honestly can't think I would show up to be part of this investigation if I already had the answers."

"It's only that your timing is a little uncanny," I told her openly, hoping to later have my candor reciprocated. "The nature of his death is gruesome and if the research he found was with him when he was killed, then the killer must have removed it because we didn't find anything prudent at the scene. Otherwise, if it hadn't been with him at all, then his death would be an inconvenience for the killer and he... or she... would find it prudent to obtain that research however possible."

"You think I killed him," she stated simply, not missing my barely-veiled accusation.

"I have to admit, the thought has crossed my mind," I replied plainly. "Or perhaps you want to steer me away from whomever was his killer."

The statement was circumstantial, but I was hoping she would give me a little more insight into her motives for being at my desk. Her presence here confused me and simultaneously distracted every human in the building from their own tasks. No less than eighty percent of the officers in the bullpen had their eyes on the mysterious vamp at any given time since she first stepped foot into the building. It was understandably difficult to look away from such a captivating woman, but many of the people around us didn't even try to hide their stares.

Garnet sighed with a strong hint of annoyance and pinched the ridge of her nose with two slate-gray manicured nails. "I suppose I should have suspected this, but I thought at least this much would have been made clear to you already." She paused to sigh heavily once again and readjusted herself in the chair, perching herself on the edge in a most serious-business kind of manner. "I am here to work this case as a liaison between my coven and the department. I am not here to assist," she spat, "or otherwise be just another resource for your investigation, but rather I am conducting my own investigation alongside yours. I am a ranking elder of my kind and my expertise in these matters is something to be respected, not dismissed as an inconvenience. Yes, I am capable of murder, as is every other human or vampire on this earth including, I suspect, your most esteemed self, but in this specific case this loss weighs on my shoulders, not on my conscience."

Her tone flitted so quickly from anger to determination to hurt that it was hard to deny Garnet was there to find out what happened to her friend, not to cover it up. It was also clear the likelihood she would abide by any of my rules was now completely out the window.

I waited a few moments for her to settle back into the poised disposition she entered with before leaning across the corner of my desk and meeting her eyes directly.

"Then perhaps we can work together to get to the bottom of this," I offered, extending my hand to her in truce. Garnet eyed me carefully, but took my hand and shook lightly, settling herself back in her chair as she released me to the chill of her touch lingering on my fingertips.

"I will support your investigation as vigilantly as you support mine."

She spoke as if swearing an oath, but there was a hint of a challenge in her voice, as though finding the answers to the murder and Finlay's missing research were a part of a competition between her vampires and my humankind.

And she was determined to win.