Page 82 of Bitten

Apes were so close to human in the first place that ape shifters changed very little when they went into their animal form. Gorilla fangs remained when those shifters were in their human form, making them sometimes mistaken for bloodsuckers. If anyone looked close enough, they’d see gorilla fangs were thicker and less pierced at the end.

“I don’t like being reminded they’re there,” was all Kane said.

Chris lifted a brow, but said nothing. A ring sounded from his side of the space. Chris reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. Lifting it to his ear, he answered, “Scimmia.”

Kane went back to the email he was sending before heading out to check on a few of his contacts on the streets.

“Fuck,” Chris said, tossing his cell onto the top of a pile of files.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’ve put in calls to all my informants, and they’ve got nothing. Zero. It’s quiet… but too quiet, ya know? The eye of the storm… that’s what we’re in right now, and it’s got my head buzzing.”

“My informants came up empty, too. And I’ve got the same feeling,” Kane admitted. “You know full well they’re planning something. The vampires won’t let Midnight go without a fight.”

Chris was thoughtful a moment. “Two large nests were taken out days apart. They might be sitting back and licking their wounds right now. Maybe we truly delivered a death blow and there’s nothing coming.”

“There are more nests out there. You and I both know it.”

Chris nodded. “Finding them is going to become harder now. Maybe we need someone on the inside.” A notification pinged. Chris turned to his computer screen. “Oh wait—what do we have here?” A smile crossed his face. “Thank you, Records Department.”

“Anything good?” Kane asked as he heard footfalls behind him. Turning, he saw Noah had arrived. “Hey, boss.”

“Hey, guys,” Noah said before turning to Kane. “We got any news?”

“I’ve spent the last few days working for the guard,” Kane said, eyeing Noah. “Not investigating.”

Noah sighed. “I’ll talk to Theis.”

“He and I already talked. It didn’t go well.” Kane relaxed some. “Before training, I’d sent out an email asking anyone who could to start searching for the trail of money. Chris took the ball and ran with it.”

“I just got an email back from the records department,” Chris added, his stare on the screen.

Noah moved closer. “The buildings the two nests were within—do we know who owned them?”

“Midnight Five, Incorporated,” Christopher answered. “Never heard of it. Both properties were purchased within the last year. Two different prior owners. One elf, one were.” Chris clicked through a few more pages. “Not much on the company itself.Owner is listed as MFI. No other name. Looks to be a shell.”

“These vampires are getting their money from somewhere. They purchased two large properties. They had power and gas. They had weapons and feeders. And there were a ton of vamps. Someone is bankrolling them. We need to dig into this Midnight Five and figure out who or what they are so we can cut them off at the knees.”

“I can track down the previous owners and see what they know,” Chris said. “Maybe they can give me a lead.”

“Good idea.”

“Money… money,” Kane murmured, the wheels in his head turning. A glimmer of something floated in his mind. He chased the thought. Easy money. Easy money. He turned to both Noah and Chris. “I have another idea—but it might be a stretch.”

“Let’s hear it,” Noah said.

“Blooddust,” Kane said.

Blooddust. Fairy dust mixed with demon blood—the crack of the paranormal world. It was said to give a high unlike any other. Human drugs and alcohol didn’t really numb most paranormal beings—unless they were more human than paranormal. Magic spells could do the trick, but witches couldn’t be trusted. They charged outrageous fees for spells that often didn’t do as anticipated.

Dustweed helped a little—marijuana laced with fairy dust—and was fairly benign. But nothing gave residents a true high until blooddust hit the streets.

“What about it?” Noah asked.

“We rarely saw it in the city before the last year or so—and now suddenly it’s an epidemic. Mass trade on the streets. PD is busting dealers left and right—I was busting them myself just before I made it onto the taskforce. Abusers and ODs showing up in the hospitals and the morgue.” Kane paused. “That portal inside the nest was a fine piece of equipment before I tore it up. Cost a pretty penny, I’m sure. Magic like that isn’t cheap. From the bits and pieces of information we got about it on the streets—it opened up a few months ago—since the epidemic began. It could just be a coincidence, but someone is profiting off the drug trade. Where’s the money going?”

Noah nodded. “Can’t hurt to do some investigating along that vein. Wouldn’t be outside their MO to use illegal profits to fund their enterprises.”

---