“You’re welcome.” We said polite good-byes and hung up, which left me staring at the walls. What the heck had I gotten myself into? And how long before the local cops paid me a nasty visit and threatened to lock me up? Knowing I needed to get a handle on this investigation, I took Big H’s kill list to bed with me.
• • •
A little after two a.m. the doorbell rang and I jerked up in bed, shoved the paperwork I’d fallen asleep reading to the floor, and yanked on clothes, seeing flashing lights in the front yard. At least three official cars and no one trying to hide who they were, which could mean a lot of things, none of them good. So much for my question about when I’d receive a visit from the local law. Downstairs, I threw my hair over my shoulder, deactivated the security system, and opened the front door to see a very unhappy member of county law enforcement. “Sheriff Turpin,” I said, stopping myself from saying more when she glared at me from my bare feet to the top of my head.
Sylvia Turpin, whose family had a generations-long tradition of law enforcement in Adams County, took her job very seriously, and despite the fact that Leo had contributed a hefty sum to her election campaign, she didn’t like me. I sorta understood her feelings, because the last time I was in her town, I kept her people and the city cops awfully busy at various crime scenes. “Yellowrock. I should have known.” She didn’t ask to come inside, but pushed past me, which I thought was against the law unless she had a warrant or probable cause. But, then, in her mind, I was likely probable cause. “Where’s Gordon?”
“I’m here, Sylvia.”
I looked down the hallway and saw Esmee’s son, his robe floating behind him, his slippers making small
“I thought I’d be notified if she came back to town.”
“I wasn’t notified myself until this evening.” He paused and blinked, as if still waking up. “This past evening, now. She didn’t go through the agency. She called Mother directly.” He slanted his eyes at me. Like he was blaming me.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t call anyone. I have”—I chuffed at what I was about to say—“people for that.”
Eli stepped in through the front door. He wasn’t carrying his toys, but he’d been on watch. I needed to get him some backup or he’d never sleep. “Everything okay here, Miz Yellowrock?”
“Eli, meet the sheriff. Not sure you had the chance last time we were in town.”
He glanced down at the petite, pretty, redheaded woman, and his eyes widened slightly. A more-than-half smile drew his lips up on both sides and exposed his teeth, an expression I was sure I’d never seen. It transformed his face. “Ma’am.”
Honest to god, the lady sheriff blushed. She squared her shoulders as if she could feel the heat on her face. “I remember you. You work for Yellowrock.”
“With,” I said. “My company has expanded, Sheriff Turpin. He works
“Partners of a sort,” Eli clarified, his eyes holding to the sheriff’s with near-predatory intensity. “Though we’re still working out the kinks. And I only saw you from a distance when we were here before, ma’am.” He stepped closer, his black camo muted in the dull light. “At the time I wasn’t worthy of being introduced, being the hired help.” He smiled down at her, his face developing a look I could only call weird. Or stupid. Or maybe insipid. Yeah. That was a good word for it.
Turpin’s breath caught and heart faltered before catching a harder, faster rhythm, the kind of thing I can hear when Beast is paying close attention. She raised a hand and pushed her hair back behind an ear, the gesture out of place and puzzling. “I see. I hope you manage to keep her from causing too much trouble in my county this time.”
“It’s a hard job, ma’am, but someone has to do it. You have any suggestions on how I can . . . do it better?”
And then the pheromones hit it. Mating pheromones. They liked each other. A lot. That hair thing had been all girly and coy. And Eli was making goo-goo eyes back at her. Beast panted with amusement in the back of my mind, and I rolled my eyes. “Good grief,” I muttered. Louder, I said, “Leo Pellissier sanctioned my presence in the county, ma’am. I should have had his primo or the Natchez MOC’s primo, Clark, send a notice of my arrival. I apologize for any inconvenience I’ve caused.”
She glanced at me, and I noted her eyes were an amazing shade of blue, brilliant against her fair skin and dark red hair, and her pupils were dilated with desire as much as with the dim light. “Have him send me notification. I understand there were some problems tonight Under the Hill. I guess you didn’t think to inform local law enforcement,” the sheriff said, more a statement of irritation than a question.
“Oops,” I said. “Um. My bad. Sorry.”
“I also got a call from Homeland Security about problems across the state line, and word that an agent is on the way. I am not happy, folks.”
My heart did a fast three-beat trip before it fell. Homeland Security meant PsyLED. Which could mean Rick. Or not.
“I’ll need to start the necessary paperwork for PsyLED, so who wants to give me a report about the DBs in my county?”
As part of the new ruling affecting vamp hunters—unless the courts tossed it out on appeal—paperwork was required wherever there was a hunt for rogues or Naturaleza. Because it was an expense most money-strapped states could ill afford, few places had instituted it yet, but it seemed that Mississippi and Turpin had. It made my job harder, but, then, government always made things harder.
“I’ll drive into town and give a report later on today, ma’am,” Eli said.
“And I’ll inform the PsyLED agent we’ve checked in, belatedly,” I said, “and get the local MOC to send you notification. Thank you, ma’am.”
Grudgingly, Sylvia said to the pajamaed man who had been listening as we jockeyed for position, “While I hate to say anything nice about a bounty hunter in my county, we’ve received reports that Yellowrock saved your mother and two other citizens from a vampire attack. We might both want to think about that, Gordon.”
To me she said, “I’d appreciate it if you warned my people when you go hunting. We have a small number of good ol’ boys who think killing vampires is a nifty way to make some extra cash, and not all of them understand the difference between sane and legal vamps and the new, crazy kind. Add in a little illegal substance before they start shooting, and it’s been a problem. I have four locals in lockup now with charges pending for attacking Hieronymus’ people instead of the crazy ones he’s licensed for bounty. Hopefully that’s all of the dumb-asses, but you never know, so that warning, and open lines of communication, are paramount.”
“Yes, ma’am. Hunting vamps for bounties is dangerous,” I agreed. I mean, what else could I say? And the bounty was mine. I’d won the contract, so the good ol’ boys needed to take a backseat. I couldn’t figure out a way to say that so I kept my mouth shut. Go me.
“We’ve just instituted a mandatory curfew to keep the citizens safe, from sundown to dawn, but I’ll add you to the list of exceptions, along with law enforcement, fire, and hospital employees. We have enough problems in this county with missing-persons reports without adding in outsiders and hunting parties.”
“How many missing people?” Eli asked.
“If I count the homeless and transients, which I do, I’m looking at a little less than one-hundred twenty missing people. Missing
I had been hoping the numbers were skewed, but Turpin was right in line with Clark. Not good. Somewhere there was an unofficial graveyard full of dead people, and maybe some devoveo and revenants who might rise. More not good. Worse, somewhere else there were likely kidnapped, penned, and tortured humans who were being drained.
“We’ll call you with everything we learn, ma’am,” Eli said.
Turning to him, Turpin said, “Pleasure to meet you,” and handed Eli her card before she stepped down toward her car. Eli tucked it into his pocket with that odd look still on his face. The closest I could come to describing it was wonderment.
