Page 12 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“Gladly.”
The next car that pulls in is Cyrus’s, and I perk up before realizing that I need tonotperk up. I’m sure he’s already agreed to marry Zach and have little human babies with him.
“What’s wrong with your face?” Cyrus asks as he walks up.
He… he noticed me? He noticed I was displeased? Hemustcare about me!
His face scrunches up. “Why are you so excited about that question?”
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“Anyway. So, I guess the blood didn’t belong toeitherof the victims,” Cyrus says.
“Interesting,” I respond. “I should have licked it to see.”
“Please do not ever lick the blood,” Cyrus says, looking only minorly concerned.
“Think of how much sooner you’d have gotten results!”
“Just… no. We’re running it through the vampire and werewolf database now to see if we find anything. Like… did the killer use their own blood? Did they bring some blood?”
“If it’s a vampire, it could have been blood they were planning on consuming and not even related to the case at all,” I say.
“That’s true. It would be easier than running over and dipping their fingers repeatedly in her blood. I’ll let you know what I find out. Casimir, could you speak to the vampires in the territories near us, and see if they’d be willing to run the blood in their databases just in case there’s a match?”
Many territories try to keep a register of the vampires and werewolves in their area and require blood and fingerprints from them. This cuts down significantly on vampires seeking out blood from unwilling sources and weres getting away with attacking innocents on a full moon. But it’s kept separate from the police database, at least in our territory.
Casimir nods. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can find.”
“Thanks,” Cyrus says. “At this point, we’re unsure how many people were involved. Ezio mentioned the possibility of the two victims handling a body before they were killed. Upon searching the drains, there were traces of blood found in the bathroom connected to their bedroom. It looks like they’d used some type of cleaning product in the sink but had not properly washed it down. So far, no match for that blood either.”
“So… did the two humans kill someone, hide the body, and then a vampire came and killed them?” Casimir asks.
“I really don’t know. The whole thing is quite strange,” Cyrus says as he looks over at the council hall. “Looks like quite a few people are here. You guys ready to go in?”
“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Casimir grumbles, looking like we’re about to drag him off to the guillotine where Steve awaits him… although if he was allowed to pull the rope on Steve at the guillotine, I think he’d have a bit of a pep to his step. “Can’t I go even a week without seeing their faces?”
“Casimir, you sweet and kind creature, why are you the territory boss if you hate them all so much?” Julian asks. “See if Ezio will take over.”
“Hell no,” I object. “Every part of that sounds dreadful. I don’t mind helping Casimir run it, but running it myself sounds atrocious.”
“I don’t mind terrifying people back into place; I very much enjoy that part. I just don’t like… their bickering. But you’re so good at dealing with them. I really don’t think there’s anyone better than you,” Casimir says, buttering Julian up. “It does help now that your father stopped being the main annoyance. Now I only have to be annoyed when I look at him and not when he talks as well.”
Terrance growls, obviously not pleased to hear any of this while he holds the door open for us. There is clear pain and suffering as he keeps it open for Casimir, and I feel like Casimir even slows down his steps so Terrance has to suffer longer.
“Now I just have Steve,” Casimir snarls before seeking out Steve in the crowd. “Hey, Steve.”
Steve looks over and grimaces the moment he sees Casimir’s face.
“Fuck you, Steve.”
“Fuck you too,” he snaps.
“What if you got to know Steve, and he was actually this like… really nice guy and you guys became fri?—”
Casimir clamps a hand over Julian’s mouth.
“Julian, please… I don’t even know if I can vomit as a vampire, but I feel sickeningly nauseous,” Casimir complains. “Ezio, can you control this wolf for me?”
