Viper (Sons of Sangue) Read online

  “When are you releasing the body?” she asked the ME, still hanging on the other end of the line.

  He cleared his throat. “Not until the Forensic Service Division says they’re done with it.”

  Cara groaned. “You called them?”

  “Sorry, Cara. I didn’t have to. Mister Perkins did and they called me. Seems he’s been reading about these cases and watching the news. Now that his daughter was just added to the growing list of numbers, he’s fighting mad. He called the State and demanded they come to the Lane County’s Sheriff Office and take this case over.”

  Cara let out a long sigh. Great. “Thanks for the heads up,” she said and disconnected the call. Just as she ran both hands down her face and sighed again, Joe entered the office.

  “What’s up, Brahnam? Looks like you’re having a day from hell.”

  “Something like that,” Cara responded as she motioned for her partner to take a seat. “That was the ME on the phone. They’ve ID’d the vic.”

  The corners of Joe’s eyes turned up with his smile. “I don’t see how that could be deemed bad news. Let’s see who we can tie her to.”

  Cara nodded slowly. “Let’s find her known friends, who she’d been hanging with, acquaintances … anyone she had been seen with in the last few months. Now that we have a name, we can match her friends and acquaintances with those of our past vics. We do have a problem, though.”

  Joe’s grin faded as he leaned forward. “What’s that?”

  “Our vic … Tabitha Perkins. Ring a bell?” When he shook his head, she continued, “Her daddy is the CEO of National One. Seems he’s already called the State for us. Forensic Service Divisions is no doubt on the way here to take a look at our evidence, and we look like we’ve been chasing our tails. They’ll think we’re a bunch of buffoons and inadequate at our jobs.”

  “Have we done everything we possibly can to find this suspect?”

  “You know I have.”

  Cara wasn’t about to mention her personal business and how she knew one the troupers. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be assigned anywhere near the case.

  “Then stop worrying, Brahnam. We could very well use their help at this point. I don’t know about you, but other than retracing our footsteps, looking at friends, family, and acquaintances, I’m just about out of ideas. We could certainly use a fresh pair of eyes on this case. Not to mention someone broke into your house last night. That could very well be related to the case.”

  Her gaze shot up to his. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because, face it, you fit the perp’s MO. And there was a threat made on your life on your bathroom mirror, Brahnam. We have to consider the possibility. We didn’t get a latent, no blood from the broken glass. The perp likely wore gloves. At this point we don’t know he’s the same perp, but we have to consider the possibility. We need to make sure you’re protected from this fuck.”

  Cara slumped in her chair. “It could have been just a random break in.”

  “Anything missing from your home?”

  “No.”

  Joe tipped his head and leveled his gaze. “You’re a better detective than that. A thief that doesn’t take anything?”

  “Maybe it was someone I arrested in the past. You think of that? There are a lot of possibilities that don’t point to these unsolved murder cases.”

  “Of course, I thought of that, Brahnam. I have Deputy Higgins going through your past arrests and checking to see if anyone has been released recently. But I still think it’s going to be a dead end. Call it a hunch. I think we need to get you some protection.”

  “Now you sound like Kane.”

  Joe stood and crossed his arms across his chest. “What does Kane Tepes have to do with any of this?”

  Cara hadn’t meant to bring him up. But now that she had… “He was at my house last night.”

  “When?”

  “Before I called you.”

  “Was he there when you arrived home? Do you think he had anything to do with this?”

  “No,” Cara said so quickly it must have looked as if she were defending the man when clearly she wasn’t sure if she should be. “What I mean is, I doubt he was the one who broke in. He was worried about my safety, too.”

  “How did he know where you lived?”

  Cara rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know. We ran into each other after I left the bar. Maybe he followed me home. He had been with Suzi at Blood ‘n’ Rave.”

  “Suzi?”

  “Stevens. An old friend of mine. Back in our school days. I’m sure she’d more than willingly be his alibi.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why he followed you.”

  Chapter 7

  “We got problems,” Kane said as he walked into the motorcycle shop he owned with Kaleb.

  His twin was the first to look up as he laid his wrench on the cement flooring and stood, wiping the grease from his hands on his red work rag. “What’s up?”

  “Primordial vampires.”

  “What about them?” Kaleb narrowed his gaze, the word primordial no doubt piquing his interest as well as that of any other vampires within hearing distance.

  “You hear from any of them?”

  Kaleb chuckled. “Why the hell would I hear from them?”

  “Because I think there’s one here in Pleasant.”

  Grayson hung up the phone and headed in their direction, his sun glasses perched on top of his head. Some of their kind frequently wore them during sunlight hours, their eyes being sensitive to UV light. Grayson’s seemed a natural part of the top of his head. “Why would you think a primordial would come here? I’m not aware that one’s left Italy in more than a decade.”

  Hearing the conversation and the word primordial got most of the other brothers’ attention as well, those that worked in the shop next to Kane and Kaleb. Nicolas, Alexander, Anton and Joseph quickly dropped what they were doing and filed around to hear what Kane had to say about the originals. That one simple word had a way of instilling fear in any vampire.

  Nicolas “Wheezer” Bazil crossed his beefy arms over his massive chest, a small wheeze leaving his lungs, hence his nickname. Even though the big man topped the scales at easily three-sixty, the breathing sound had always been a part of him. Kane couldn’t remember him without the tell-tale wheeze.

  “So what makes you think a primordial is here?” he asked, his voice deep and just above a whisper.

  “I smelled him last night, Wheezer,” Kane said, propping one black-booted foot on the round of a stool. The vinyl seat was emblazoned with their motorcycle shop logo: K & K, which stood for Kane and Kaleb since the two brothers were the ones to open the shop some twenty years back when the Sons of Sangue first landed in Pleasant.

  “You’re sure?” Nicolas asked. Not that he doubted the President of the Sons. No one did. Nicolas more than likely fished for details.

  “We all know the Sheriff’s Office has been on our back about these peculiar deaths. We suspected that a vampire was behind them.” Kane paced. He wasn’t sure how the brothers would take the news he had been keeping an eye on the detective … well, maybe not so much an eye on her as much as a keen interest. For now he’d downplay the last part. “I saw Detective Brahnam outside of the Blood ‘n’ Rave last night and followed her home.”

  “What was that detective bitch doing at the Rave?” Alexander “Xander” Dumitru asked. “She’s a hot little number, but she don’t watch out, she’s going to get her own throat sliced.”

  The hairs on the back of Kane’s nape stood on end. “What the hell is that supposed to mean, Xander? You know something about these murders?”

  The man didn’t even look affronted. “Fuck, no. I was just meaning she’s got that look. You know, the same kind you seem to be hot after and the same one that’s getting these bitches killed.”

  Alexander wasn’t far from the mark and Kane was sure the rest of his brothers thought along the same lines. He ignored the comparison.

&nbs
p; “She wasn’t at the Rave. She was coming out of Murphy’s Bar. I quickly got rid of my donor and followed the detective. Best to know where our enemies live,” he added as an afterthought. “When I got to her place, it had been broken into. I decided to check it out.

  “That’s when I caught the scent, the primordial’s. No mistaking it. He had been there, ransacked the place, and wrote a threat on the mirror to take her out next.”

  Kaleb slowly nodded. “Makes sense. She’s the one trying to put him away and she matches his MO. Sucks to be her.”

  “Exactly what I was thinking, Hawk,” Kane agreed, then his gaze scanned the rest of the brothers present. “And that’s why the Sons are going to keep an eye on her.”

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Xander growled. “She’s trying to pin these murders on one of us and you want to save her hide? I say let this primordial have her. Good riddance!”

  “Sorry, Xander. That’s not going to happen. If I say we keep an eye out for the detective, then that’s what we do.” Kane then added, “Without question. Until these murders, the Sheriff’s Office has always stayed out of our business. Let us live in peace. We need to show them our allegiance as well.”

  Anton “Blondy” Balan rubbed the back of his neck, looking nervous. Kane figured whatever he had to say, he probably didn’t want to hear it. Anton spoke up anyway. “Maybe we ought to take it to a vote, Viper. Most of us, we don’t like that bitch anyway. She’s always coming here, treating us like dog shit. All high and mighty. Blaming us for shit we didn’t do. I say we call a meeting to church. Put it to a vote.”

  Anton, Secretary of the Sons, had always been the one to push for church meetings and putting decisions to a vote. Personally, Kane didn’t feel this needed a vote, nor did he think he’d get the majority of those present behind him on this one. The three missing Sons weren’t likely to side with him either, as they had their own reasons for hating the law.

  “Unless everyone here vetoes me on this, Blondy, I’m calling this one as club Pres. There isn’t going to be a vote. Keeping a close eye on the detective means we have a better chance at finding the primordial. Then maybe we can find out why this fuck is trying to pin these murders on the club … more specifically me.”

  Kaleb nodded. “I agree with Viper. Our first order of business needs to be finding this primordial, see what the hell he’s doing in Pleasant and why the fuck he seems bent on the Sons being blamed for his shit.”

  Joseph “Kinky” Sala, usually the quiet one of the bunch, spoke up. He ran his hand through his large curled ‘fro, hence his nickname. “I agree with Viper and Hawk. We just might have a chance at finding the original if we keep a close eye on the detective. Really ain’t no reason to vote. If this primordial doesn’t want to be found … we ain’t finding him. I say this bitch detective is our best bet. We need to find out what the fuck this vampire wants in Pleasant, and what he wants with the Sons.”

  * * *

  “Cara, you aren’t going to believe this,” Joe said as he entered their shared office, a child-like grin reaching his deep brown eyes.

  His khakis rode low on slim hips with a blue dress shirt tucked into them, left unbuttoned at the collar. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, revealing lightly hair-dusted forearms, while his tie had been left abandoned over the back of his office chair. Cara knew he hated the constraint of a tie, being a bit claustrophobic, but the sheriff had insisted he wear them. So, Joe followed the rules … any time he had to leave the office while on duty. But at the S.O., he left them hanging on the chair, the desk, the coat rack, or whatever he happened to be near the moment he walked through the office door and unhooked the clip-on.

  Cara sighed, closing the files in front of her, feeling the frustration of not being anywhere closer to solving this thing and knowing the State would arrive sooner than later. She hoped Joe came bearing something that might help break the case.

  “What do you have, Joe? Good news, I hope.”

  “Our vic?” he asked, his white teeth standing out in contrast against his dark skin. Cara nearly chuckled as Joe was clearly unable to contain his excitement. He tapped his forefinger on the solid desk surface. “Tabitha Perkins dated Kane Tepes. Seems that they were an item for a few years.”

  What? Cara sat up straighter, pushing the files to the corner of her desk. She stood and met Joe’s gaze. “Kane and our vic were an item? Incredible.”

  “Seems Kane’s choice of women runs along the same line as the appearance of our dead victims.” Joe rubbed his hands together, oblivious to her unease. “I think we may have our first viable suspect.”

  “You think Kane is responsible?” Cara gave Joe her back and glanced out the window. The gray clouds hung heavy with the threat of more rain in the forecast. The same guy she allowed to kiss her the night before, could he be responsible for three dead women? Vampire, flitted through her thoughts. She hadn’t been imagining things and she certainly wasn’t certifiable. Kane had shown her what he could become, even if she wanted to deny it with the deepest part of her being.

  “Could he possibly be responsible?” she asked as she turned on her heel and faced her partner again, arms now crossed over her chest to ward off the sudden chill of the room.

  Joe’s face went from pleased to perplexed. “For real? His last known girlfriend winds up dead. His previous known girlfriends even match the perp’s MO for victims. Not to mention Kane was the first person at your house following the break in.”

  “Oh, for goodness sake, Joe. I told you he had an alibi. He was at the Rave with Suzi while my house was being tossed.”

  “Not good enough. I want someone else besides his date to corroborate how long he was there. If he showed up at the night club later than you did at Murphy’s, he could have easily ransacked your house.”

  “Even if you’re correct, no one will give him up. It’s the Sons’ regular haunt.”

  “Then we’ll subpoena the Rave’s security videos. He’s bound to be on them. We’ll be able to see what time he walked through the door.”

  She slowly nodded, hands on hips. Cara couldn’t very well continue to defend Kane without implicating herself and her mixed emotions where he was concerned. “I’ll call the Florence PD and see if we can get them to subpoena the video feed. Keep a lid on this, Joe, I don’t want those videos erased before I get a chance to look at them.”

  Seeing those videos might just put her own mind at ease and prove to herself that Kane hadn’t been the one to write that threat on her mirror. Affirm that it was nothing more than a coincidence that he had arrived at her house shortly after finding the damage.

  “While you’re contacting the Florence PD, I’m going to pay K & K a visit and see what the Sons have been up to.”

  Cara didn’t want Joe to confront Kane on his own. Truth be told, she wanted to see Kane’s reaction first hand. How would he respond to the fact his girlfriend had been the one lying in a shallow grave, not far from where he had been out joyriding? Not to mention, she wanted to see if those damned butterflies still existed in the light of the day.

  “I’m going with you,” Joe said.

  “What about the phone call to Florence?”

  “I’ll put Higgins on it. I want to see the look on Kane’s face when we tell him the vic was his fuck buddy.”

  * * *

  “Here comes that detective bitch,” Anton said as he returned from the front of the motorcycle shop and stopped at the opened door of Kane’s office. “What the fuck you think she wants this time?”

  Kane looked up from the paperwork. He knew Anton referred to Cara Brahnam. Just the mention of the detective started his blood humming through his veins. Hell, he didn’t have to be a psychic to know that he’d be fucking her someday. No doubt about it. Kane was used to getting what he wanted. And right now he wanted the detective in the worst way. The memory of their kiss had him standing and heading for the front counter of the shop. He definitely wanted to see her no matter what brought her
to K & K, which he was pretty sure was official business. Cara wouldn’t likely seek him out on her own, at least not yet.

  The front glass doors swung open, sounding the bell in the backroom, announcing someone’s arrival. Kane stepped through the swinging doors separating the backroom from the showroom, bringing him face to face with the object of his obsession, and there was no doubt she had become one. Lord, she was hotter today than she’d been the night before, if that were even possible.

  “What can I get for you, Detective?” Kane asked as the outside door swung open a second time and her partner graced them with his presence as well. Her gaze stayed fixated on his as Kane approached them both, stopping just short of running into her. She no doubt prayed he wouldn’t mention everything that occurred the previous evening. The thought of making her squirm put a smile on his face. Kaleb entered the showroom behind him. Kane didn’t need to turn around to know he was there.

  Cara produced her shiny deputy badge in a small leather wallet. As if he needed to see it. “Official business, Kane. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you,” she said, then hooked the leather wallet on the waistband of her tan trousers.

  “What sort of questions, Detective? I don’t believe I have any more information for you than when you stopped by the clubhouse last night.”

  Kane leaned his backside against the counter. His gaze traveled to her tasty lips, her pulse picking up its beat in the base of her throat as a result. Kane had no doubt she detected where his thoughts centered.

  Cara cleared her throat, flipping his gaze back to hers. “Do you know Tabitha Perkins?” she asked.

  Shit. He knew sooner or later the Sheriff’s Office would figure out the connection. Kane shrugged. “What about her?”

  “Miss Perkins is dead.” She paused. Her gaze narrowed, no doubt trying to gage his reaction. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. “She’s the vic we questioned you about last night. Seen her around lately?”