Page 63 of Cursed to Be Mine
Poising his pen above paper, Vlad turns his gaze to my girl. “Hello, Scarlett Davis,” he says. “I’m Detective Vlad Laska. I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m going to need to ask you a few questions and then have you come down to the station to identify the body.”
She’s perched on the edge of the bed, her hands twisted in her lap. Her pale cheeks look whiter above the dark bruises on her neck and face. When her chin wobbles, my girl rolls her lips in to bite them still. Releasing a shaky breath, she looks directly at Vlad. “How did she die?”
“They were attacked by home invaders with a knife.”
She shudders, bowing in. A hand goes to her mouth. A tear slides down her cheek. “Wh…” Her question trails off as her shoulders suddenly stiffen. Jerking her head up to look at Vlad, she whispers, “They?”
“Yes. Your mother was found witha younger man –”
“Daniel,” she hisses, and I reach over to grab her hand, squeezing it to signal she needs to rein in her anger.
Vlad catches it anyway, a smirk playing across his lips. But if he thinks he can pin my crime on her, I will kill him before he can file the paperwork.
“How do you know the other victim, Ms. Davis?” Vlad asks.
“He was my boyfriend.”
“Was? How long ago did you break up?”
She hesitates before looking at me, then quickly to her lap again. I squeeze her hand, this time giving comfort.
“Uh...it’s complicated… He ghosted me about ten days ago.” Swallowing, she looks back at Vlad and exhales shakily. “But a couple hours ago, I found out Ma’s been fucking him for the last six weeks.”
He raises an eyebrow, his pen poised over the paper. “I bet that made you angry, knowing you weren’t as good.”
She half-snorts, half-sobs as her face twists with pain.
I move the fingers on my free hand, hiding their dance behind my thigh. Beneath my shirt, one of the runes inked across my skin glows red, and the vampire grimaces as pain flares across his shoulders.
He glares at me, and I hold his gaze, daring him to keep hurting her.
His voice tight, he asks, “What time did you two get here?”
Tears clog her throat, and she sucks in harsh breaths in an attempt to answer. Squeezing her hand, I cut in. “About two hours ago. Around...four?”
“Did you two arrive together?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll want to verify that with the security tapes.”
I grin, letting him know he can watch them all he wants, but they’ll only show what I want them to. I’m not magically adept when it comes to technology, but my brother, Talon, loves playing with electricity. “Of course,” I deadpan. “I’ll get Xander to drop them at the station later.” Right after Talon removes my image from them.
“Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your mom or Daniel?” he asks, going through the motions. He already knows what really happened. The human police might accept that this was a brutal knife attack, and the WALL might believe it was wolves hiding their kills, butVlad isn’t stupid enough to think my presence here is a mere coincidence.
Scarlett chokes, then falls into a coughing fit. She leans forward, her elbows on her knees as her chest shakes. By the time she’s breathing normally again, her palm’s damp and her fingers are clenched around mine. “Do you think the murderer knew her?” she asks, the slightest bit of hope in her voice.
A hope that it wasn’t wolves. That it was just some disgruntled voter. A human citizen.
“She was butchered. In my experience, people rarely expend that much energy on a stranger.”
Color drains from her face almost completely, and I know she’s imagining the horror of the scene. When she shudders, I pull her hand onto my lap.
“Where did you get the marks on your neck and face, Scarlett?” he asks, scribbling on his notepad.
Swallowing, she raises a hand to her throat.
“They’re mine,” I say as she stutters over her answer. She ducks her head as Vlad takes a step forward. He stops right before I’m about to make him.
