Chapter 48 Book 2 Tease 1
“You couldn’t have called me BEFORE you dusted him? Do you know how hard it is to identify a vampire AFTER they have been dusted?” Squatting beside the ashes I looked at my partner accusingly. I waved a hand towards the pile. “I might have known him. Now, it’s a little hard to tell. Did you happen to snap a picture of him before he fit in an ashtray?”
Conner looked at me with his business face on. He didn’t look even a little guilty standing there in his suit with his arms crossed. Of course he was crossing his arms to keep pressure on his forearm where the vamp had bit him. The suit was kinda artistic looking with the left sleeve shredded and blood splattered on the blue pinstripe.
“And did you have to dust him in an alley between an Indian restaurant and German one? The smell of curry and cabbage is overpowering. Even the smell of your blood is overridden by it. We ever need to get someone off our scent I know what to use now. “
Tristan crouched down beside me to sniff at the pile. He turned towards me and his knee brushed mine. I stood up as he asked “Is that smell coming from him?”
“The scorched flesh smell is. The other foul odors are coming from the dumpsters.” I pointed to the blue dumpsters on either side of us. Jeez, you would think the wolf could use his nose better than that by now. He’d been off the wolfs bane for a month now. His senses should have returned to normal. Guess there was a possibility that being taught to ignore his heighten senses could be the problem. But that’s what happens when you are raised by parents that join a sect that lives as humans and represses their supernatural side. “But now that you mention it, do you smell something metallic? I’d say along the lines of overheated copper.”
“Really couldn’t say what overheated copper smells like. But I do smell some kind of metal. I think it’s coming from there.” He pointed a finger towards the vamp dust.
“You dusted him; you stick your hand in there. Might be a clue as to who he was.” I pointed at Conner. Who just shook his head at me. He had taken off his jacket and was trying to wrap his wounds with the bandages from the first aid kit I’d brought with me. “I’m not going to do it. I might have known this guy. I can’t go rooting around in his ashes. That’s just disrespectful. “
Conner looked up from his bandages with his eyebrows raised. “Aren’t you Cole Pearson? Big bad vampire sorceress extraordinaire? I’ve seen you put your hands in dead bodies before.”
I glared up at him. Our eyes met. Speaking our special eye language, we decided how we were going to decide who dug around in the pile. We both brought up our hands, formed fists and banged them into our hands three times. Ugh. We both threw out paper. Beside me Tristan sighed and plunged his hand into the ashes. Yay. I don’t have to reach into a potential friend’s remains.
“Um guys?” Tristan asked. Conner and I turned to see the pup holding a copper coin up. Oh shit. I closed my eyes and let my head drop to my chest. Please don’t let that be what I thought it was. Please! Please! I took it out of the wolf’s hand to examine it. There was what appeared to be a Trojan etched on one side and some words on the other. The etchings were faded but I was sure they were ancient Greek. Conner took it and looked it over. He chuckled before handing it back to me.
“So, can you translate it? Looks like ancient Greek to me.” Conner asked while barely containing his glee. The bastard. Sadly, I was going to make his day.
“No it’s too faded. You’re right it appears to be ancient Greek. Probably Spartan.” I didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see his smug grin. I pulled out my phone to make a call I so didn’t want to make. Turning my back to my entourage, I waited for my call to be answered.
“Hello love.”
“Any chance you can pop over to my place?” I asked without responding to his greeting. I kept the phone close to my ear hoping the pup wouldn’t be able to hear.
“As you wish. I can call around presently.” I hung up and turned to my partner and the pup. Tristan was looking at me with confusion. Conner was grinning ear to ear. Ignoring them, I walked over to the ashes and magiced them into a bag from the first aid kit. I carefully folded Conner’s suit jacket and shirt sleeve and tucked them into the kit. Good thing I’d grabbed the big one. Crawling on my knees I looked under the dumpsters to see if anything from the vamp had missed being dusted. Everything smelled human and nasty. I so wasn’t going to touch anything.
“See anything that could help us?” Tristan asked from beside me, his shoulder brushing against mine. Ok, why in the hell did he keep brushing body parts against me? Did he not understand that I had yet to forgive him for the incident last month? Thankfully he seemed to understand the look I gave him. He stood up and got out of my personal space while looking a little sheepish.
“Nope. Nothing. Let’s go find out about the coin.” After glancing around to make sure there were no cameras or witnesses, I reached up and ripped a portal to my place.
We stepped out in my driveway. I handed the first aid kit to Tristan and headed over to the mail box. Couldn’t remember the last time I checked the stupid thing. So, as usual, it was full of junk. Shaking my head I headed towards my cabin. I loved this place. It was surrounded by trees, with no neighbors anywhere close. The locals thought it was haunted so I got it for a steal. Of course they weren’t totally wrong. It came on the market after I killed the coven that was using it as their base of operations. Several ghosts had to be relocated before I moved in. As well as several cleansings had to be performed. Hearing Tristan’s sudden intake of breath I quickly stepped through the screen door to see what had caught his attention.