Darkened (9 page)

“I don’t see another one. Since I will be staying here with you, I will need a comfortable place to sleep. I’m sure I will be comfortable enough spooning with you.”

“You’re too funny. You will be sleeping on the couch.”

“Sorry, can’t do. Bad back and all that.”

“Sure. Well then
, I suppose I could make you a pallet on the floor.”

“That is supposed to be better on my back?”

“I’m sure you will sleep a lot better in your own bed at your house. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Come on Avery. You know I can’t do
that. The choices are: we sleep here in your bed together, which I am totally fine with, we go back to my house where there is a perfectly good guest room for you, or I can call Mayor Goodwyn and tell him how uncooperative you are being and that you need to be removed from the case for your own protection. I will still protect you though regardless of which choice you make. If I have to sleep outside your door, then I will.”

He rose from the bed and faced me.

“I’m sure that will feel great on your back,” I said.

“Look, I don’t want you off this case. I actually would like
to help you in any way I can, but I won’t jeopardize your safety.”

“This might have escaped your attention
, but I am perfectly capable of protecting myself. I’m a trained police officer not to mention an Other. I don’t need you.”

“I understand you are trained
, but this is a full blooded Angel we are talking about. Not some half breed. You would not stand a chance against him.”

“You know nothing about my heritage or my power level so you have no way of knowing how much of a chance I would stand against an Angel.”

It took less than a second, and I was laying on the bed with Jared on top of me. He raised a brow at me.

“I knew I would like having you in the bed with me,” he said with a smirk.

“Get off of me now.”

He waited a beat then slowly started to get up. I’m really starting to hate this guy. Before he could get off of me completely
, I kneed him in the groin and threw him off the bed. He hit the wall then fell to the floor.

“If you ever attack me again, I will kill you,” I said as he was holding himself on the floor.

It doesn’t matter what species you are. If you’re male, getting kneed in the nuts hurts. I started packing my bag. I really didn’t want to be trapped at his house but if he had a guest room then I could get away from him. Plus, I don’t doubt he will tell on me to the Mayor if I don’t do what he wants, especially now that I hurt his manhood.

By the time I had my bag packed and some tennies on, he had picked himself up from the floor.

“Ready?” I asked him sweetly.

“That was a cheap shot.”

“A, you shouldn’t have forced me onto the bed. That alone earned you the nut shot. B, you should always expect a woman to fight dirty. I know I always do.”

I blinked innocently several times.

“I’ll make sure to keep that in mind the next time I’m in bed with you,” he said.

“There will be no next time. I will agree to stay at your place if you will promise to stop hitting on me and respect my privacy.”

“I will promise to respect your privacy if possible
, but I will not promise to stop hitting on you. I like it too much, and I think deep down you do too.”

“Well, you can think again. Let’s go. I’m tired
, and I need to get up and get started early in the morning.”

I’m sure with his schedule he normally sleeps in
, but if he’s going to play guard, he’ll adhere to my schedule.

“Then let us be gone from this place. Are you sure you have everything?”

I chose to ignore him again, and started out of the apartment. I locked the door behind me before riding the elevator back to the garage. Then we got in his car and started for his bachelor pad. I really hope I’m not making a mistake.

The next morning I took my time getting out of bed when my alarm went off. I went into the attached bathroom, did my business, and brushed my hair and teeth. I left the bedroom and found Jared in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

“Hungry, Caru?” he asked.

“It’s Avery in case you forgot.”

He gave me a flat look. “I know your name.”

Guess he’s not too happy with me. Last night, when he showed me the guest room, I promptly shut the door in his face and locked it.

“What are you cooking?” I asked him.

It smelled amazing.

“Blueberry pancakes. Would you like some?”

“Absolutely.”

He handed me a plate then slid two pancakes out of the pan onto it. There was syrup on the bar across from the stove. I slid into a barstool and a cup appeared in front of me with coffee. He really could move fast.

“Would you like creamer or milk?”

“Creamer.”

He sat it in front of me.

“Thanks.”

I prepared my coffee and took a sip. It was good coffee. After covering my pancakes in syrup, I dug in.

“These are good,” I said after swallowing my second mouthful.

“What’s that? A compliment? Be still my heart.”

“Sarcasm is so unbecoming.”

“Ha! Says the woman whose very essence screams sarcasm.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s part of my very essence.”

“No, not your very essence but close.”

“If you say so.”

“So, what’s on our agenda today?”

That reminded me. I jumped off the bar stool, and went back into the room I was staying in. A moment later I returned with a sketch pad.

“You recognize him?”

I showed him the sketch I had drawn of the delivery guy. Jared looked at it for a couple of moments.

“You are a very good artist. This picture looks just like him. His name is Jael
, and he isn’t a Fallen.”

“He’s not? So you’re saying he’s probably back in t
he Kingdom by now? Doesn’t the First Lord know when one of his kills a Human?”

“He is not in the Kingdom
, and hasn’t been for a very long time. He left by choice.”

“Why would he want to do that? I thought all of you Angels thought the Kingdom was paradise compared to the Human realm.”

“All of us Angels do. It is paradise compared to here. Jael left because I killed his only son.”

“What?! Why did you kill his son?”

“He was killing Humans. He had been banished to the Human realm, and still he continued to brutally murder the Humans. I was sent to extinguish him. His father didn’t take his death very well. Instead of blaming the son for his actions, he blamed the First Lord and, more directly, me.”

“That explains why he’s killing people you know. Stephen anyway. Are you sure you didn’t know Amber Lambert?”

“We’ve been over this, Caru. I did not sleep with that woman. He must have killed her for her resemblance to you.”

“She didn’t really look like me
, though. Other than the same hair and eye color and being around the same size there weren’t any other similarities.”

“He shows up at your door with flowers then turns around and abducts a woman a few hours later that happens to resemble you. You think that’s a coincidence?”

“We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I don’t know why he brought me flowers, but I don’t see why he would be after me in order to get to you.”

He just looked at me like I was dense then changed the subject.

“Would you like more pancakes, Caru?”

“The name’s Avery. Yes, please.”

I was just finishing my breakfast when Zach walked in wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

“Lovely to see you again, Avery,” he said with a leer.

Jared cleared his throat.

“Zach,” I said as a reply.

“I apologize for coming on to you yesterday. I have seen the error of my ways
, and will keep our relationship completely platonic. Unless you wish otherwise, of course,” Zach said the first while glancing at Jared and the last while looking at me from head to toe.

“She won’t
so you have nothing to worry about,” Jared said.

“Just thought
I would offer,” Zach told him.

“She doesn’t like Fallen. Apparently, we’re all psychotic murderers,” Jared said.

“I didn’t say you were psychotic,” I said defensively.

“I’m sorry. Just murderers,” Jared replied.

I shrugged. Hey, if the shoe fit. To my surprise, Zach shrugged too. I guess he doesn’t really care what I think.

Luke came down the stairs and headed for the fridge.

“Hey, Luke. How’s it going?” I asked him.

I think out of the three I like him the best.

“Good Avery. How are you? Did you sleep well?”

“I did thanks. Are you guys usually up this early?”

“Yeah, we don’t sleep very long,” he said with a shrug.

“Too busy playing video games?”

“Hey, don’t jank on the gaming.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. What’re you playing today?”

“COD Ghosts. It’s righteous.”

“Cool. I liked playing Nazi zombies in the old one but I’m more of a Mario fan.”

He shook his head. “You’re such a girl.”

“Guilty.”

He laughed. “Well, I’m back to the game. If you feel like playing later, I’ll dig out the old one
, and we can play zombies. I’m not even going to think about Mario though.”

“Fair enough.”

He walked back up the stairs.

“Guess I’ll go back to my room too. All alone,” Zach said while eyeballing me.

Jared narrowed his eyes at him. He didn’t need to worry about me freaking out because Zach was coming on to me. I think that’s just the way he is. Some people are natural born flirts.

“I’m going to get ready. I’ve got to go to the office and see if Al found out anything else,” I told Jared.

“Just remember, I’ve got a show tonight.”

“I’d like to show Amber’s picture around and see if anybody remembers seeing her Sunday.”

“We can make copies and post them around the club
, but you’re going to be in VIP while I’m performing.”

“Why do I need to be stuck in VIP? It’s not like I’m going to go outside to ask people. I’ll stay where your security guard can babysit me.”

“You will remain in VIP. The Humans in the club can be controlled by Jael. If he wants to, he could control several Humans at once. Would you kill them if they were trying to abduct you?”

“Not if I could help it. I’m sure I could just knock them out without permanently damaging them.”

“You won’t have to worry about that because you will be in the VIP section, guarded.”

“You
’re an ass. You know that?”

He shrugged. “I will do what I must, Caru.”

“Would you stop calling me that? I don’t even know what it means.”

“It just means love. Kind of like how the British call everyone ‘love’.”

He doesn’t sound British.

“I would still prefer my name. I’m sure it’s hard to remember with so many other women’s floating around but try.”

I didn’t wait for his response. I just walked back into my room and closed the door.

I walked into HQ an hour later, went straight to Cop’s office, and shut the door. Then locked it just to make sure Jared didn’t make a guest appearance.

“You’ve got to help me out Cop. This guy does nothing but hit on me nonstop. He is unprofessional
, at best. A complete loser, at worst. Please Cop. I can’t take it anymore.”

The fact that I found Jared extremely attractive only worked to make me madder.

“Jared Damascus is a respected person in this city and he would not jeopardize his reputation by bringing unwanted attentions to an officer of the law.”

WTF?? In all the time I’ve known Cop I have never heard him use that many words in a single sentence.

“Are you alright? I don’t see what kind of reputation Jared has to jeopardize. He’s a local rock star. Aren’t they known for being players?”

“Not this rock star.”

“He’s delusional. He thinks this killer is after me just because I know him. If that is the case, then he should be after the other million and a half women Jared’s bedded.”

“I think you have grossly overestimated the amount of his bed partners.”

Something was wrong with the way Cop was talking. It didn’t sound like him at all. He would have just told me tough shit and to get out of his office. He would never defend someone he didn’t actually know like that. Wait a minute. Cop is Human. He has some abilities though I’m not sure exactly what they are, but he’s still Human. Wasn’t Jared just telling me earlier how easy it was for Angels to manipulate Humans’ brains? That bastard is fucking with my boss. I’m going to kick his...hold on. This could be fun. He’s messing with me. It’s time to mess back.

I plopped down in a seat, and put my head in my hands for a moment before looking up at him.

“Cop, I don’t know what to do. I’m so scared. I know Jared’s right. This Fallen is coming after me just because I was making out with him at the club the other night
, and I have no way of defending myself against him. I mean, I’ve never even been around Angels before let alone fought one. What am I supposed to do?”

Cop got up and walked around the desk and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Avery. Jared will take care of you. The best advice I can give you is to tell Jared how you feel. He’ll understand, and be able to help you.”

“The only problem with that is this overcoming desire I have. It’s practically debilitating.” I got up and looked Cop in the eyes. “I mean, every time I get close to the guy I have this overwhelming desire to...” I looked away as if I was embarrassed.

“What is it Avery?”

I bit my lip like I rea
lly didn’t want to say anything then looked him in the eyes and just came out with it.

“I have this overwhelming desire to...to...stick my katana up his ass
, and if you don’t stop controlling my boss, I’m going to do just that in about two seconds.”

Cop smiled for a moment then his expression went blank for a second before it was his usual grimace.

“What do ya need Tywella?” he asked me like I had just walked in.

“Just letting you know that I have no new info on our case
, but I did draw a composite of the killer. I’ll make copies and spread it around.”

He grunted acknowledgment. “Then get back to work.”

I nodded and left the room.

I walked back to my office to find Jared sitting in my chair with his feet propped up on my desk.

“So you know I’m right, huh,” he said.

“I knew you were messing with me so I messed back. None of that was true. Well, other than an overwhelming desire. That desire is especially strong right now.”

“Real
ly? Well, we are alone.”

“That’s right
, we are. The only problem is, where do I put your dead body when I’m done?”

“Ha ha. I was thinking of fulfilling another desire of yours.”

I pretended to be thinking.

“Nope, can’t think of any other desire
you
could help me with. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have some work to do. Make yourself scarce.”

“Alright, b
ut just for the record, did it ever occur to you that I possibly don’t have a long line of ex’s? That perhaps it’s my lack of attention to those of the opposite sex that made you stand out, and that is why Jael is after you?”

“I highly doubt
it. I think it is more of me being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong guy.”

“Oh, I am definitely the right guy.”

“Like I said, I’m busy so please leave.”

He walked out, and I started going over the information I had gathered on Amber Lambert. I still haven’t talked to the other two band members, but this seems more like the killer has issue with Jared than the other members or the band. I tried to find out any information on Jael himself, and couldn’t find anything. It doesn’t surprise me. There isn’t much info on Angels unless they are Fallen.

I decided I would look up Jared to see what I could find. There wasn’t too much on him either. Just that he had been on earth for the last seventy five years or so. He started in Europe spending time in Romania and Syria before meeting up with Luke. The two of them traveled to the US where they met up with, first, Zach then the other two band members Samael and Hashiel, or Sam and Hash. Not sure why, but they kinda sound like they should be in a Dr. Seuss book.

At about noon Kansas popped his head in the door.

“Your beau’s bought lunch. Let’s eat, chica.”

“He’s definitely not my beau. What’d he get?”

“Thai.”

I was heading toward the door before he was finished saying the word.

“Ooh, chica likes Thai food. Goth boy did right, yeah?”

“For once.”

He laughed. “He ain’t been able t
o crack that tough exterior yet? I’d think a smooth guy like him would have had you on your back by now.”

“Do you want to be on your back? Perhaps with a blade to your throat?”

“Think I’ll pass this time. I’m not into all that kinky stuff you are.”

He said the last as we entered the break room and Jared raised his brows.

“I didn’t know you were into kink, Caru.”

“I didn’t know my name was Caru.”

He just smiled at me.

“Hey, hot mama. How’s your case going? I see you picked up a straggler,” Davis said as he walked in.

“Grandmother always warned me not to feed stray animals.”

He laughed.

“I believe it is I who is feeding you, Caru.”

“Don’t worry, Jared. I have no problem with leaving you.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

They laughed and I couldn’t help but join them.

We ate mostly in silence except the occasional odd thought. Cassidy and Levon joined us. They were another set of partners who worked for the task force. There were eleven of us all together.

“So how’s your Demon hunt going?” I asked Davis and Kansas.

“He’s an allusive fucker. Can’t find him anywhere. I hate when they jump back to Hell,” Kansas said.

“It would be nice if we had some kind of liaison there,” Davis added.

I laughed. “Who would want to live in Hell just so they could help us catch Demon? Certainly not me.”

“It still sucks that he can just hang out at home and we can’t do anything about it,” Davis replied.

“I’m sure I could get a spell that would portal you to Hell. You could have a little vacation and catch your Demon while there,” I said.

He started to shake his head as Kansas said, “You’ll be going alone. This partner doesn’t want anything to do with Hell.”

“Yeah, he figures he’ll be spending enough time there once he’s dead,” I added.

“Ha ha. You speak for yourself Demon girl. I’m a born again
Christian,” Kansas said.

“A drunken pervert on Saturday night and a
Christian Sunday morning. That’s gotta get you into the Kingdom.”

“Well, at least I know I won’t be alone in Hell.”

“That’s right. You’ll have your best girl friend with ya,” I said with a wink.

“Why would you think Avery would ever end up in Hell? If anyone is worthy of the Kingdom, it would be her,” Jared said.

“He obviously doesn’t know you very well, chica,” Kansas said.

“I’m going to
try to keep it that way,” I replied.

“Well, I guess we should get back to our hunt. What do you two have planned for the afternoon?” Davis asked.

“I’m going to go see if Chris can tell me anything new then ta
lk to Amber’s friend, Sarah, while Jared is checking her for mind manipulation,” I said.

“I am?” Jared asked.

I ignored the question and asked my own. “Can you remove the manipulation so we can find out what she really saw?”

“How do you know she saw anything?”

“I called her yesterday and she told me they were supposed to go to the club together Sunday, but she couldn’t make it. I asked her why, and she couldn’t remember. That sounds like manipulation to me.”

“I see. I’m not sure if I will be able to remove the manipulation
, but I might be able to manipulate her into telling me what really happened. Unfortunately, you have a problem with me messing with people’s minds.”

“I think I can make an exception. Let’s go find out what she knows.”

“As you wish, Caru.”

First we headed over to the medical examiners’ in my car. I’m somewhat of a control freak therefore I like to drive when possible. Plus, I love my car. I saved up for quite a while before buying my Camaro ZL1, and I like to drive it whenever possible. Jared didn’t seem to mind riding shotgun. Not that I cared either way.

When we walked in, I asked to see Chris and was sent on back. I’m here often enough that everyone knows who I am without having me flash them my badge. We walked in on him preforming an autopsy on Amber Lambert.

“I would have thought you’d have finished yesterday,” I said.

“Hey there, peach. I knew you missed me.” He looked up and smiled before giving Jared a brief glimps.

Chris was an overweight and balding middle age man. I’m sure when he’s home he spends most of his time online in chat rooms or watching porn. Or, thinking of new ways to turn every conversation we have into something about sex. Ever noticed how it’s the guys who never get any that are always talking about anything to do with getting some?

“Yes, I love the morgue. It’s just so peaceful. Anyway, enough about me. What can you tell me about my vic, and why are you just now doing the autopsy?”

“Pileup on the interstate during rush hour yesterday. She got pushed aside. TOD was between ten pm and midnight. She was stabbed multiple times with what appears to be a six inch blade. The knife that was brought in with her matches the size of the wounds so it’s probable i
t was the murder weapon. She had intercourse within an hour of death and from the tearing present it was pretty rough. Do you need any more information, peach?”

“No other injuries? Defensive wounds? Restraint marks?”

“No, apparently she liked the rough sex.” He looked me up and down. “What about you, my peach, you like it rough?” He looked like he was in pain for a second before he said, “I’m sorry. That was unprofessional and rude. I will not speak to you in such a manner again.”

“Jared, release him,” I said.

“If you ever speak to her that way again, you will answer to me. Understand?” Jared said to Chris.

Chris looked both scared and confused. “I, uh, I understand.”

“Good. Let’s go, Caru, before you are down one less medical examiner.”

We walked out
, and Chris didn’t say a word.

When we reached the parking lot I turned to face him.

“What is your problem? He was just messing around. That’s just the way he is.”

“You did not see what was going on in his head. I will have you know that he was picturing you on that table.”

Okay, that’s seriously gross. Gods, I hope I don’t die for a long time. Because the thought of Chris Smith performing my autopsy is truly sickening.

“You didn’t have the right to invade his thoughts to begin with. If you wouldn’t have, you wouldn’t know what he was thinking.”

“Oh, I didn’t have to invade his thoughts to know what he was thinking. I just didn’t realize he was as sick as he is. I will be speaking with the mayor about removing him from his position.”

“And what makes you have so much pull with the mayor?”

Jared just smiled. “You ready, Caru?”