UNCONTROLLED BURN (5 page)

Just as well, he and Josh needed time to figure out what had triggered the professor’s murder. His body had been found and transported to the mortuary. No one expected the autopsy to turn up any new information. There was no doubt Paul Morgan had died from smoke inhalation and been burned. But he’d been working with the tribunal for several years, so why eliminate Paul
now
?

The only thing clear was the fact that the number of fires and executions of humans and vamps in the area was increasing exponentially. If they could discover how the web of clues connected all the fires, no doubt the information would lead them to solving who was behind the heinous crimes. But at this point they couldn’t seem to get ahead of the hell that had descended on the sleepy town.

Reese slid open the file cabinet drawer at his feet, finding only ash. The papers had combusted in the high heat. Though he hadn’t expected anything more, frustration lashed out in the form of boot to metal. The singed cabinet flew several feet before settling next to the melted bed mattress.

“Not a smart move, Colton.”

Josh stood at what was left of the doorway, peering into the room, his half-smile further irritating Reese.

“Fuck you, Burkett.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I prefer Hope’s soft curves to your ugly mug.” Josh stepped into the space and looked around. “Find anything up here?”

“Nothing obvious. You?”

“You saw the artifacts downstairs, but nothing that screamed,
‘I’m your answer’
. I suspect if it was our suspect, they took whatever they were looking for or simply burned any evidence in the office.”

It had been the vampire currently sifting through the remnants of the charred bedroom who’d recruited Reese five decades ago into the underground vampire military operation. The
Rogue Investigative Seizure and Elimination Network
, better known as
RISEN
, had been formed in the United States by the vampire tribunal during prohibition. Their classified operations were highly secretive and few vamps outside the RISEN ranks even knew of its existence.

RISEN kept a presence everywhere vampires congregated. The acronym was tongue and cheek, but their mission was dead serious. RISEN worked to help vampires blend in with the human population and when necessary, control rogues who broke the unwritten codes set forth by the vampire tribunal. Not the least of which was learning to live on animal blood or feeding without killing or turning mortals into bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Reese himself hadn’t touched human blood since joining the RISEN ranks.

It was Glenn Karr who had alerted the tribunal a little over a year ago to the number of vampire deaths occurring in the California mountains. Their bodies had been burned beyond recognition, in fires that had all been ruled accidental. There weren’t many ways to kill an immortal, but searing the flesh from their bones certainly guaranteed a final end. The tribunal had acted immediately, planting Josh and Reese in the local fire department in hopes of getting closer to any evidence that would bring down the murderer.

Reese had been happy to answer the call. Glenn Karr was a hero to many. Well known throughout the vampire population as a kind and gentle mentor, he’d been there for Reese in the late eighteenth century. Pulled into a swamp and gorged on by several vampires, Reese had been near death when Glenn fought them off and took him back to his cabin. It had been Glenn’s own blood that pulled Reese from the arms of death into immortality. And though the years had been dragging recently, Reese was mostly satisfied with his life now that he was doing something worthwhile for RISEN.

But Josh and Reese hadn’t discovered any new information and RISEN had thrown Ronan Nason, a new recruit, into the mix six months ago. With his chemistry background, it had only made sense to put him undercover at the university working with the professor and Alex.

Alex.
No doubt the woman would be devastated by the professor’s death. The two of them had been working for years to perfect the blood wine vampires in town had come to depend upon. Derived from the blood of pigs that Glenn raised, the three of them were close to mass producing the product. The tribunal had great hopes it would be the answer to human blood consumption for the entire vampire population.

“Fire marshal come to any conclusions?” Reese asked.

Josh finished searching the desk, apparently coming up empty. “Accidental, like the others. Coroner’s got the body now. Preliminary findings indicate the professor stumbled and hit his head. The fire definitely ignited from the fireplace in the office either before or after the man passed out. They suspect he may have been trying to extinguish it when he either fell or something dropped on him.”

Reese looked at Josh knowingly. This fire had been set deliberately, but without evidence of an accelerant, the fire marshal would believe it was nothing more than an accidental death like all the others that were still considered suspect and under investigation by RISEN.

“Is there a computer?” Reese asked.

“Melted. I’m sure there’s no way to recover the hard drive. No doubt the Fire Marshall’s office will be back to collect it, regardless. You know, make sure it’s totally hopeless.”

“Another big, fat nothing.” Reese stepped over the debris littering the floor. “Looks like we’re finished here.” He stole a look at the eastern horizon. “I’m not really interested in getting caught here when the sun comes up. Not good for my complexion.” He slapped Josh on the back as they made their way down the stairs and back to the station.

Besides, he had a sexy redhead he needed to check up on.

Chapter Three

Alex led Ronan down the backstairs of O’Malley’s Tavern into the private wine cellars. Her legs trembled with exhaustion, her head fuzzy from the restless night that had passed. Normally her mornings off from the university were spent reconciling the night’s receipts and restocking the bar, perfect activities for a woman on the brink of collapsing. But when Glenn called before dawn saying something had come up unexpectedly, it left Alex responsible for this morning’s appointments. Just as well. She needed to stay busy to keep her mind off her new reality.

A fire. The death of a colleague. Research gone forever.

Alex had no doubt her payment for keeping secrets was coming due and collection had already begun.

“Aye, I’m pleased I get to see your operation.” The heavy brogue of Ronan’s native land pulled Alex from her depressing thoughts. “I didn’t know until recently the wine you brought to work was made and bottled here at the tavern.” The lilting tone of the vampire’s speech was in total conflict with his twitchy movements and instead of relaxing into comfortable chatter with a colleague, Ronan’s incessant prattle was unraveling the last threads of her frayed nerves. “I had no idea it was you and Glenn fermenting the blood wine here at O’Malleys.”

For most people, the statement would have come across as a casual remark, but from Ronan it sounded like a condescending insult as if they weren’t capable of coming up with a blood mixture that vampires could actually drink to survive. Whatever. Despite the fact that she worked side-by-side at the university with this man, there was something about Ronan that always left her agitated.
Get in
.
Get the wine. Send him on his merry way.
She repeated the mantra over and over as she unlocked the heavy wooden door and entered her office, wishing Glenn were here to deal with this vampire.

“The blood wine has only been available to the general population for the last few years. It’s a closely guarded secret,” she said. “There are few who actually know the blood base comes from Glenn’s pigs. It wasn’t until the tribunal caught wind of it that we really needed to step up production.” The metallic smell of rusted metal and damp wood replaced the cloying odor of Ronan’s spicy cologne. Alex took a great gulp and refocused. “Glenn and I worked on it for decades before we even thought of offering it to the vampires in the area.”

“So, you let all your customers pick up their product here?”

She laughed. “Hardly. There are only a few vampires we trust with the location.” She pulled the chain on the low-wattage bulb hanging naked from the ceiling. Its weak light chased away the darkness but not the shadows. Normally, Alex enjoyed the damp quiet of the cellar, but this vampire’s presence made the space feel small and uncomfortable. “We have trusted couriers who pick it up weekly and distribute the wine out to the community. I shudder to think what could happen if everyone knew we made and bottled it here in the cellars of O’Malleys.”

“Then I feel quite privileged.” Ronan peeked into the adjoining cask room. “Quite a setup you have here.”

Ronan stepped close to her, his butterscotch hair spiking erratically around his face, accenting his arched brow. “You are a fascinating woman, Alexandra. I am bewitched by your beauty.” With a graceful wave of his wrist, his finger swept a short lock of hair behind her ear. “You don’t worry about the locals wondering how a lassie stays so young?”

His gaze roamed her face, lingering on her mouth before taking a leisurely glide back to her eyes. Something oddly familiar and completely dangerous crawled just beneath the man’s polished veneer and though she had no desire to set it free, she couldn’t seem to look away from his hypnotic gaze.

“Hello,” a male voice called from upstairs.

Like a switch, the heavy footfalls coming down the stairs broke their odd connection. Alex cleared her throat and stepped away. “I know you’ve been talking with Glenn about the progression of your orders.” Alex rifled through the stacks of papers on the heavy oak desk in the corner until she found the clipboard with the orders. Flipping a couple of pages, she worked to focus on the task at hand and not the heartbeat pounding in her ears. “Ah yes, you’re at two bottles.”

“Alex, you down here?” called the voice again.

“In the wine cellars,” she hollered back. Alex didn’t need to consult the appointment calendar to know who was thumping down her stairs.

“Glenn called and asked me …” Reese Colton strode around the corner, coming to a dead stop at the threshold as if he’d hit a wall. Questions ricocheted over the vampire’s face. Time hung suspended as the two men seemed to be sizing up their competition.

Reese had done nothing more than spend time at her bar with the rest of the off-duty firefighters. Perhaps he was a bit more flirtatious, even shared several toe-curling kisses with her on several occasions, and though she’d wanted more, Reese had taken it no further. Despite all of that, Alex felt as if she’d just been caught cheating on the man—and didn’t that just piss her off. She didn’t owe the vampire crowding the doorway any explanations. Then why did she feel like the proverbial kid with her hand in the cookie jar?

“Reese. You know Ronan Nason?” she asked, pleased it sounded as cavalier as she’d intended. “He’s here to pick up his order.”

“Um … yeah, we met a couple of months ago at the university.” Reese removed his sunglasses with such deliberate precision, Alex was sure they would slice the heavy tension in the air.

“Reese was one of the firefighters who responded to that horrible fire in my chemistry lab,” she said, working to fill the uncomfortable silence. “The one where my grad student was killed?” The young woman had only recently settled in South Kenton as a doctoral student of Alex’s. The lab and all its contents had been burned so badly, the university wasn’t sure the insurance would be enough to replace everything. Fortunately, the grant money from the tribunal would guarantee a complete refurbishment and extra funding for Alex’s research. “The family still has no answers.”

“The death was ruled accidental.” Both men spoke at the same time.

Her gaze flew between them. “Yes,” the word dragged slowly out of her mouth. “Still, it’s hard for me to understand how a grad student in chemistry could’ve been so careless.”

“No doubt the poor woman let the Bunsen burner from one of her experiments get out of control,” Ronan said. “Thank goodness no one else was caught in the blaze.” He looked to Reese for corroboration.

“Any life lost in a senseless fire is one too many.” Reese’s words were as hard as the look he shot Ronan. “It’s a code to live by.”

“Aye, ‘tis true for sure. Still, we have to be grateful it wasn’t worse. Perhaps more safety education needs to be done. I’m all for keeping students safe.”

“So I hear.” The half-smile Reese flashed held a challenge—not humor.

Alex couldn’t believe her ears. Ronan’s reputation of hitting on underclassmen was well known at the university. Apparently, his notoriety had also seeped into the town rumor mill and it was enough to raise Reese’s hackles. If Alex didn’t do something soon, the testosterone flying through the air would likely wound them all. She cleared her throat to draw their attention back to her.

“Yes, well, okay then. Back to the task at hand.” Checking the scheduled appointments, Alex was surprised. Reese wasn’t expected for another hour. “You’re early, Reese. If you’re in a hurry, I’d be happy to—”

“No, I’m good.” Casually leaning against the door jamb, Reese crossed his booted feet at the ankles, tucked his sunglasses into his chamois shirt and folded his arms over his chest. His contentious stare never left Ronan’s annoyed expression. “In light of all the recent fires, Glenn wasn’t comfortable leaving you here on your own. When he called and asked me to give you a hand this morning, I told him I was happy to help with the appointments.”