Blood Dark (19 page)

K
ane leaned
on the bonnet of his car, his arms folded. He cast a wary glance outside as Caleb pulled into the abandoned garage alongside him. As much as he trusted the gentleman’s agreement between them, he wasn’t stupid enough to let his guard down any more than Caleb was.

He stood to face Caleb as he stepped out onto the concrete floor of the warehouse. Heading around to the boot of the car, Caleb opened it up to confirm the bags of herbs and spices nestled within.

Kane looked into his eyes – into the eyes of the possible pending Tryan who should have already been dead by his hands.

Either the prophecy was wrong, had thrown a curveball, or there was something unrevealed about Caleb’s background, about his lineage. In any other circumstances, Kane would have got the truth out of him, but this required tact more than anything. His issues with Caleb could be revisited –
when
he knew precisely what was going on.

Kane handed him a piece of paper he had handwritten himself, having copied it from Caitlin’s original list.

Caleb examined it briefly.

‘Now that Jask isn’t present to hear, I want you to know if there is anything underhand in this and I find out, the issue will be purely between us,’ Kane warned him.

‘When I give my word, I keep to it, Kane,’ Caleb declared, assuredly meeting his gaze. ‘And you know it or you wouldn’t be here now.’

‘He’s not going to give you Phia, Caleb. You must know that. You’re holding the remainder of those supplies back for another reason. What is it?’

‘We all have to keep our secrets, Kane. You know that better than anyone.’ He tucked the paper into his back pocket and folded his arms as he leaned back against the boot. ‘Do you want to load your car or not?’

Kane dropped his cigarette to the floor, extinguishing it beneath his boot before meeting Caleb’s gaze again. He stepped up to him, Caleb not even flinching.

‘Just between us,’ Kane said. ‘Take some friendly advice on damage limitation. If or when Caitlin comes for you, behave yourself. I might be done with her, but she still came good for Jask and for me. You so much as touch her, and I’ll know. And I’ll fucking kill you – do you understand me?’

Caleb stood upright, his steady gaze not leaving Kane’s. ‘The advice works both ways, Kane. I want that serryn alive. She may be with Jask, but she’s vampire business and, for that, I’m holding you accountable for her well-being. Me and her have unfinished business that I need to see through. I’m relying on you to make sure she stays in one piece.’

Phone vibrating in his pocket, Kane lifted it to his ear as he backed up a little out of Caleb’s sensitive earshot. ‘Yeah.’

‘Kane, it’s Corbin.’

‘I’m collecting the supplies as we speak,’ Kane said, just as Caleb dropped the two holdalls on the concrete floor.

‘Pleased to hear it because Jask called. Kane, Leila wasn’t there.’

Kane’s attention snapped back to Caleb as he slammed the boot of his car before heading back around to the driver’s side.

Caleb cast a swift glance in his direction, his green eyes glinting in the muted light.

‘They don’t know where she is,’ Corbin added.

C
aitlin looked
through the two-way mirror at the woman sat at the interview room table. She was clutching a plastic cup, taking tentative sips. She was maybe in her mid-thirties, broad-set. Her chin-length fine brown hair partially masking her face.

Morgan stepped up to the monitor poised on the workbench that ran the length of the mirror. He pressed one of the keys and indicated for Caitlin to join him as he played back the initial interview.

‘You claim you know who is responsible for the recent spate of murders,’ Morgan said.

Abby nodded. ‘Caleb. It’s Caleb Dehain.’

Caitlin’s heart skipped a beat. She sent a sideways glance at Morgan’s grave expression, before she returned her full attention to the screen.

‘And you believe this because … ?’

Abby pressed her lips together as she lowered her gaze. ‘Because we tried to kill him.’ She looked sheepishly up at Morgan. ‘Him and his brother.’

‘Who is “we”, Miss Sommes?’

‘The Alliance.’

‘Tell me about The Alliance.’

‘We are –’ She swallowed hard. ‘Sorry, we
were
a collective of people who believed the law weren’t doing enough to protect humans in Blackthorn. We… we decided to take out the key players responsible for corruption in Blackthorn.’

‘You deemed Caleb Dehain as one of those key players.’

‘There’s no “deem” about it. He’s as poisonous as –’

Caitlin knew exactly what she was going to say, but the woman didn’t finish.

‘Miss Sommes, you have secured protection for coming forward. You
will
be moved out of the area locale to an undisclosed district. You know you have nothing to worry about.’

‘I wouldn’t exactly say that.’

‘You claim you tried to kill him.’

‘Assassinate – for the good of Blackthorn, for the good of this locale. Doing what your lot should have been doing.’

‘But you failed.’

‘We came up against a problem.’

‘Which was?’

‘The plan was to get them both to feed to death. Jake took the bait but Caleb didn’t.’

‘Jake Dehain is still alive.’

‘He wasn’t.’

‘You’re telling me that Jake Dehain attempted to drink someone to death?’

‘There was no “attempt” about it. I’m telling you he killed her. Which is why you need to bring him in.’

Feeling light-headed, Caitlin rested her hip against the counter as she cast another glance at Abby before trying to refocus on the interview playback.

‘The girl wishing to kill herself? Trudy Lawrence?’

‘She wasn’t going to live more than a few months. I’m sure you’re more than aware of the medical support for Lowtown residents in this place. She wanted to go out with a purpose.’

‘Taking down the corruption.’

‘That’s right.’

‘You have proof of this night?’

‘I did have,’ Abby said. ‘I made a recording, but I lost it. I watched from the van outside. I saw it happen. Me and two others.’

Caitlin’s heart skipped another beat, the churning in her stomach impossible to ignore.

‘This footage might show your assassination attempt, Miss Sommes, but that only implicates you in attempted murder. And it only implicates Jake Dehain. It doesn’t implicate Caleb Dehain in a retaliation.’

‘He found out about us. I’m telling you he did. I got around as many of the members as I could to warn them. I arrived at one of the places …’ She hesitated again and took another large sip of coffee, her hand trembling. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Take your time.’

‘I found one of my colleagues. He was barely alive. He told me it was him. That Caleb had been there. That Caleb had been the one to do it to him. Andy tried to warn me so I could warn the others.’

Caitlin wasn’t fully aware she was doing it but she reached for the nearest seat and sat down. Abby spoke so vehemently; looked so convincing. But if it was true …

‘Your colleague didn’t make it?’

‘He died within minutes of me getting there. Agent Morgan, I think Caleb wanted us to know he was coming for us.’

‘I’m afraid that’s speculation.’

‘I know what Andy told me,’ she snapped. ‘I am willing to swear to it on oath if I have to. And if you find Phia and the others, they’ll tell you what they witnessed that night too. She was there in the van with me as was Dan. They’ll corroborate what I saw. Jake died that night and Caleb is coming after us, I swear.’

As the room closed in on her, as Caitlin could hear only a distant thrum in her ears, Morgan pressed pause before folding his arms, his attention still on the screen.

‘She claims The Alliance was her brainchild,’ Morgan said. ‘She’s been in hiding but, as you can see, now she’s running scared.’

Caitlin looked back at Abby through the one-way glass. ‘Are there other survivors? Anyone who can corroborate that she is who she says she is?’

‘We can confirm that Trudy Lawrence was terminally ill and had been missing for several months. She gave me a full list of names of Alliance members. They all work under nicknames and pseudonyms. She was the only one with access to their true identities. We cross-referenced those names with our missing persons’ unit and they confirmed that they were all registered months ago. She has named Daniel West, Rachel Cordell and Sophia McKay, the one she referred to as Phia, as still missing. As far as we know, none of them have reappeared at home. If she’s lying or is fabricating the truth, then she’s done her research – and has accessed things no one else has.’

‘But placing Caleb at the scene is a second-hand eyewitness testimony. If this is all we have it’ll never stand up in court.’

‘That’s why we need to turn the attention to that night. If we can prove the assassination attempt happened, it gives weight to a motivation for Caleb. Even if it doesn’t, we have a potential murder and cover up for a murder to work with. We need to find those other witnesses she mentioned. Abby has named The Alliance hideouts. I want you to check them out.’ He handed the list across to her. ‘I want you to –’

She looked down at the list of addresses. ‘Did you ask who funded them?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Accommodation, let alone all that equipment she was referring to … who’s paying for it all? Did you ask that?’

‘Where are you going with this?’

She knew exactly where she was going with it, but she wasn’t going to let on to Morgan.

‘I need to talk to her about it,’ Caitlin said.

‘Why?’

‘That kind of operation isn’t cheap, Matt. Can I have a few minutes with her?’

He sighed heavily before looking back at her. ‘I did the interview not just because I couldn’t get hold of you, but because she specifically asked that you went nowhere near her. She’d caught glimpses of the news reports – that you were seen at one of the scenes of the crimes. She wasn’t willing to talk to you because of your history with Kane. She was worried about word getting back to him. It put me in a difficult situation, Caitlin.’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘I’ve already sent in a team to get the Dehains. They’re on their way back now.’

Caitlin’s pulse raced to the point of flatlining. ‘
What
?’

‘I had no choice. Now was the best time if this is to stay low-key. I can’t do it in front of a club full of people. If those murders are down to Caleb, we’re going to face a lot of questions – questions that are going to ask why we stalled. I’m going to have a hard time enough explaining why we didn’t bring him in twenty-four hours ago.’

‘But he’s alive: Jake is alive. This charge is going to sound ludicrous.’

‘Which is why we’re keeping the focus on The Alliance murders. They clearly think they’re going to walk in forty-eight hours and we need to keep it that way.’

And Caleb certainly would believe that now he was armed with alibis
she
had allowed him to prepare.

‘In the meantime, we need to ascertain how the hell they did it,’ Morgan added. ‘We need to gather as much evidence as we can before I’m forced to let them go. You’re the best investigative agent I have,’ he added. ‘Go out there and work it out.’

She stepped outside, the sick feeling returning as she closed the door behind her.

What she needed was for Sommes to be proved a liar. Instead, she had the gut-wrenching feeling her world was about to come tumbling down.

T
he basement door opened
. Shiver’s guardian stooped to look through a doorway that was too low for someone of a five-and-a-half-foot frame, let alone the seven-foot that Duke was.

His grey eyes squinted down at Kane from under white tufts that constituted eyebrows beneath a mop of silvery hair.

Kane had never quite worked out what rare third species Duke was in the three times he had been there over those past forty years. And it seemed it was going to stay that way as, unvocal as ever, Duke silently stepped back to allow Kane inside. Very few got through that door, but Kane’s master vampire status granted him automatic access.

Duke’s lanky and stooped frame led Kane down the maze of corridors, through various doors of warped shapes and sizes, down declines and up inclines, before reaching the depths of the terrace of adjoining subterranean basements.

When the final door was opened to him, Kane stepped into the poorly lit room, a musty, damp smell overwhelming his nostrils amidst the scent of paper from the library extending in rows beyond view.

In the centre of the room, the small female worked busily at her desk, a quill in her hand, books laying open around her. Her white-blonde hair cascaded down her child-like body onto the chair and desk. Her small face looked up with almond eyes almost too big for her elfin face.

‘Hey, Shiver,’ Kane said.

She blinked – one that was slower than the blink of any other species he knew. But then, like Duke, no one truly knew what her origins were, only that she had been there from the beginning, the very beginning, having remained hidden during the regulations and since.

‘Kane Malloy,’ she said, her shrill voice childlike but overlaid with the softer tones of something ancient. ‘It’s been a long time.’

‘There’s something I need to know.’

She placed down her quill. And held out her hand.

Kane wandered over to her desk and dropped the four marbles into her tiny palm.

Shiver’s eyes widened in delight, enraptured by the small, glass spheres, the bright colours that lay trapped within like injections of paint. After her eyes darted hungrily over the contents of each, she coiled her lengthy, thin fingers around them before hurriedly stashing them away from view in the drawer of her desk.

‘Speak,’ she directed.

‘There’s a fragmentation between this dimension and the fourth.’

‘I know. There’s been a change. I can feel it.’

‘I hear the prophecy has been messed with. The fragmentation is the result. I need to know how to reclose the fourth dimension.’

She lowered herself from her creaky wooden chair, and disappeared behind a row of books.

Kane followed behind her, his height dominating hers.

At least it did at first.

As she weaved her way through the rows, he saw a tail disappear ahead, before hearing the footsteps of a much larger creature beyond. It was soon followed by a scampering of feet, before evolving into the sliding of something heavy and svelte. Between each transformation, he could feel the subtle vibration in the air as she shifted shape.

By the time he met her around the bookcase where she had come to a standstill, she matched him in height, her slender frame draped in a sheer, black mesh dress. Her now-wavy dark hair fell to the backs of her thighs, her pointed ears exposed, her long fingers flicking through the pages of a large book that she balanced on her finger tips as if it were a single sheet of weightless paper.

What he saw was a blank book. It was what anyone would see if they flicked through any of the books in that place. What she saw with eyes that now glowed white in the darkness were secrets few had access to.

Secrets that were fiercely protected as they always had been, always would be.

‘Possible,’ she said. ‘But unlikely.’

‘Go on.’

She slammed the book shut with one hand, slotting it back into place before swaying ahead past the books, the train of her dress trailing behind.

By the time she was back at her desk, she was the large-eyed, white-haired, child-like nymph again.

‘There
is
a way,’ she said. ‘Find those responsible.’

It was nothing he didn’t already know. ‘If I can’t?’

‘Only those who caused the damage can mend it.’

‘That’s it?’ Kane asked. ‘That’s my only option?’

Shiver turned back to her paperwork. ‘The only option.’

She never had been one for small talk.

Kane turned and stepped away.

‘She’s not going to make it.’

Kane stopped. Every part of him told him not to turn back around, not to ask more. Instead, he turned as if his feet were in quick-drying cement. ‘Who?’

‘The one you love.’ Shiver looked up at him, the honesty in her eyes chilling him. ‘She’s not going to make it to the end. Grieve now because the others will need you at the time. Your role is to protect, not to love. Remember that.’

His heart pounded at an uncharacteristically human rate. A rare perspiration lingered in his palms. Something deep inside him felt cold.

Dangerously cold.

One request. One request was the rule. One visit to Shiver meant one request only. He’d already pushed his luck.

Regardless, his lips parted to ask her how to stop it.

She held up her hand, her eyes flaring in warning.

He was getting nothing more – not without putting his life on the line to achieve nothing. He begrudgingly turned away.

Guided by Duke, he made his way back through the basement rooms, barely able to feel his own feet.

He stepped back outside. The door closed behind him. He didn’t know which way to turn. He wasn’t even sure where to go.

His eyes shouldn’t have been blurring. The prospect of being without her shouldn’t have made his chest ache.

He marched around the corner out of sight, kicking three bins and several crates out of the way in the process.

Finding a dark recess, he leaned back against the wall, his thumb and forefinger clutching the bridge of his nose as he fought back the glossiness that masked his eyes, the sky above now a glistening, misty mass.

Chest heavy, legs weak beneath him, he sank down the wall.