Sweeter than Blood

Chapter Five

I pulled the tie from the braid across my shoulder with a single tug, and shook my hair into its most natural state: messy and free. It was nice to unwind after enduring my new role as vamp-sitter, and I couldn't help giving my reflection a little wink before running my fingers through the wild blonde waves and exiting my bathroom. I knew I couldn't hold a candle to Garnet's raven-like beauty, but I figured as far as humans went, I wasn't half bad.

Before I could step one foot fully out of the bathroom door, I froze at the sight of a figure standing in my small galley kitchen, just a few paces from me. She was unmistakable, even in the dim light from my living room television, standing with more poise and confidence than a prima ballerina.

"What are you doing in my home, Garnet?" I pursed my lips, trying to look unthreatened by her unexpected presence, though entirely relieved I didn't have cause to retrieve one of the guns stashed around my apartment reserved for intruders.

"I needed to speak with you," she replied, sounding calm as ever, but she looked uncomfortable standing in what was probably a room the size of her closet.

"It couldn't wait until morning?"

Who was I kidding? My entire apartment could probably fit into her closet twice over.

"Not unless you wanted to miss your perfect chance to catch Jamie in action." Garnet's blood red lips twitched into a smirk, knowing full well I would not pass up the opportunity to see Jameson Lourd potentially incriminate himself.

"You drive a hard bargain," I yielded, and followed her to my front door, loosely re-tying my braid and casting one last longing glance at the bottle of wine I had promised myself for tonight. Another time, I promised, and locked the door behind me.

"You think his murdering feathers got ruffled after our visit to the mansion this afternoon," I asked as Garnet drove us to the university library where Finlay had conducted a large part of his research. It as a turn-of-the-century building with few modern updates, but boasted an enormous collection of volumes on any subject fathomable, and probably some completely unfathomable.

"That's definitely possible," she said, agitation lacing her tone, "but I'm holding out hope that he was telling the truth about not being the killer. Maybe we said something that resonated with him, or reminded him of something helpful."

As a professor at the university, Finlay had constant access at all hours to the library's stacks, though the computer equipment was inaccessible after hours. Any research he'd wanted to do between 5:01 p.m. and 7:59 a.m. had to be done the old fashioned way: one page at a time.

Tonight, however, it was the vampire leader we were waiting to see emerge from the building. Jameson had been seen by a passing patrol car entering the library just past nine o'clock and now half an hour later after the station got the call, he had not yet left. For a vampire to be in there at all was against every rule the library had, and especially after closing. He had likely used Finlay's ID card to gain entry, but why he would risk trespassing and other charges for the trip was a mystery.

Garnet and I waited silently from the comfort of her car. She'd cut the engine when we arrived and shut the lights off in hopes he wouldn't notice someone was there. All we could do was wait.

"You know, we're not evil," Garnet whispered after several minutes. I turned my head to look at her, but she kept her eyes forward. "Vampires are just like anyone else, just with a longer lifespan."

"And an insatiable bloodlust," I added.

She sighed dejectedly, but didn't argue the point any further.

"What I'm trying to say is that just because a human was murdered doesn't mean it was a vampire who did it."

"I'm perfectly aware that humans are capable of murder," I said. "My father was a cop for most of his life, and actually Chief of Police for a while until he retired. Even before I joined the force I knew more than most that anyone, human or otherwise, could hurt others." I twisted in my seat so I could face her fully. "I'm not suspecting Jameson because he's a vampire. He is a suspect based on his relationship with the deceased.

Garnet continued to stare ahead at the library doors, but I saw her shoulders relax a little.

"I'm glad to know you're not making blind assumptions based on his nature," she said finally. "It's rare for humans to treat us like anything other than monsters nowadays." Meeting my eyes for the first time since we left the mansion, she said carefully, "All I want is for this case to be treated fairly."

"You have my word," I promised, and held out a hand to her, which she shook tentatively. I suppressed my reaction to the tingle of a chill from her touch, but not enough. She released my hand with a mumbled apology and clasped her palms together in her lap, returning to her front-facing watch. "You have nothing to apologize for," I told her, heat rising in my cheeks. It was strange, but I felt just as embarrassed for my reaction as she probably did for the cause of it.

In my short time of knowing her, it was clear to see this woman was not a monster at all. She had a temper, surely, but so would I if someone so close to me lied about something so important. Betrayals aside, Garnet was actually rather kind and easy-going, and her laugh was as sweet as I'd ever heard. I struggled to envision her taking the life of another, looming over some stranger's corpse with blood streaked down her chin, but the image faltered in my mind.

Garnet sat up in her seat, snapping me from my imagination, and pointed at the doors of the library.

"There he is," she whispered, and we watched together as she strode away from the entrance and toward the edge of the campus. Garnet ignited the low purr of the engine and drove to where Jameson had parked his slate-colored Mercedes SLS. He was just opening the driver-side door when he saw us coming his way, but he didn't run as I expected. Instead, he set the bag he had been carrying at his feet and raised his palms to the sky.

"I know how this looks," he said as we stepped from the Porsche.

"Then you must know what my question will be," I replied.

"It was just something that came to me, a thought after our earlier conversation," he started. "I wanted to see exactly how long ago he started really diving deep into one strand of his research. I remembered that he had been particularly obsessive some weeks back about something, and I was hoping to find out more tonight, here at the only place I couldn't work with him."

"And what did you find?"

Jameson lowered his hands back to his sides and nudged the bag toward us with his foot. "Nothing, unfortunately. Whatever got his attention wasn't enough to record in any way I could locate. It's probably a non-issue, but I'm grasping at straws here."

Garnet snatched the bag Jameson had pushed toward us from the ground and shook it angrily at him. "How many more secrets do you have," she shouted and recognition clicked. The bag he had handed over was the same canvas bag that had been missing from the scene.

"None, I swear," he protested.

"Why did you take this from his murder scene," I asked, trying to remain neutral but finding it increasingly difficult.

"I realize it was a bad choice to take this, and not telling you sooner was an even worse one, but I wanted to know what he had been working on. He'd been so secretive after everything I had done to get him the access he needed from us, and I was worried there was sensitive information from our archives in his records that I couldn't risk it falling into anyone else's hands."

Garnet opened the bag and riffled quickly through its contents before asking, "and is everything still here that was with him when he died?"

"Yes," Jameson answered. "I have only looked through the documents, but have not removed or added or altered anything. It isn't any information that could do any damage to our coven, which is why I came here. I thought maybe his findings were kept somewhere at the university."

"Well unfortunately for you, that was a pivotal mistake, coming here," I said. "I'm sorry to say I will have to place you under arrest for trespassing and interferring with a murder investigation." I read him his rights as the officers I'd called arrived at the campus. Using the handcuffs they supplied, I bound Jameson's hands together behind his back and helped him into the back of the cruiser. "We will continue this conversation in the morning," I told him and shut the car door.

I turned around to see Garnet stomping back to her car, canvas bag in hand, and an impatient wave at me to go with her. I sent the cruiser on its way, knowing the officers would handle booking the vampire even though they might be shaking in their boots the whole time, and got back into the Porsche.

If nothing else, at least we might get some important questions answered in the morning.