what Olivia says, you cried like a baby, and that was only like twenty years ago.”
“Tasted like battery acid.” Sadie grimaced and shivered. “I only grazed the damn thing with my tongue, and it hurt like a bitch. Silver sucks.”
“See? It’s all good, Maya.” Trixie tugged Maya’s long hair playfully. “Olivia’s right. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Olivia winked at Trixie.
“What about you, Pete?” Maya said as she swiped at her tearstained eyes. “What dumb things have you done?”
“Too many to mention, kid.”
“Like I was saying,” Olivia continued. “We still have a problem. Maya was the last person seen with this guy before he died, which makes her the prime suspect. The humans will be easy enough to deal with—we can glamour them if we need to—but the Presidium is another problem entirely. I’ve got to get down to the city morgue, so I can have a look at the body and take a DNA sample from the wounds. Czar Augustus will eventually hear about this, and I want to stay a step ahead of the investigation. I’ll check the sample against the records at the Presidium, and if it was a vamp killing, it will be easy enough to prove that you didn’t do it.”
She looked at Maya and softened her tone. Olivia knew she’d been hard on Maya, maybe too hard on her, but she had to learn somehow. Her behavior put the entire coven at risk.
“If you didn’t kill him, then we shouldn’t find your DNA in the wounds, and you have nothing to worry about.”
“Boss lady,” Pete interrupted. “Why don’t you let me take care of that stuff?”
“No. I appreciate the offer, but you’ve got a personal life outside of this shit, and the last thing you need is an angry, pregnant wife, especially one that can turn into a bear,” she added with a wry grin.
“At least let me give Millicent a heads-up,” he added. “She’ll have your back.”
Millicent was the records keeper for the New York branch of the Presidium and almost as old as the czar. As a former sentry herself, she had a soft spot for Olivia and would do the DNA test without making a stink.
“Agreed.” Olivia nodded and glanced at the clock. “Sunrise is in about an hour. Damn it.” She rubbed her eyes and let out an exhausted sigh. “Pete, let Millicent know I’m coming but give her as little information as possible. I don’t want to make her complicit in case this goes the wrong way. If the laws have been broken and a human was killed, the Presidium won’t take it lying down—especially Augustus,” she said under her breath. “He’s still got the mind-set of a Roman senator. Arrogant and absolute in his beliefs. If he thinks Maya made this mess, then he’ll report her to Emperor Zhao and have her executed.”
Maya blanched and nibbled her lip but said nothing.
“I got your back, kid,” Pete said with a wink to Maya. “They’re not that bad. Just a bunch of old windbags.”
Olivia folded her arms across her chest and turned her attention back to the rest of the coven. She knew they would be unhappy with her next request and braced for their resistance. “In the meantime, I’d like the rest of you to refrain from live feeds as well, until this is resolved. Damien has another shipment of blood coming in, so there’ll be plenty for everyone.”
“No problem,” Damien added in his smooth baritone.
“Very funny,” Sadie said. “As the only human in the room, it’s certainly not a problem for you.”
“Like I said”—he shrugged his massive shoulders—“no problem.”
Sadie flipped him the bird.
Olivia shook her head and laughed at the banter.
“Damien, do some research online later today, and find out anything you can about Ronald Davis. Maybe his death has more to do with him than it does with us. As of right now, all we know is that he’s dead and that Maya didn’t do it.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Oh,” Olivia said through a weak laugh. “I should warn you all that Vincent is coming to town for a visit.” A collective groan rose from the group, but Olivia held one hand up, which silenced them. “I know he’s a stodgy pain in the ass, but he is my maker and an elder, so give a girl a break, and be nice. And I think it goes without saying that we don’t need to discuss this whole mess with him. Correct?”
They all nodded in agreement.
“One more thing,” Pete interjected. “If it’s alright with you, I think we should let Shane in on this.”
“The other sentry?” Olivia put her hands on her hips and let out a long breath. She stared at the vaulted ceiling as she spoke. “I’d really rather keep this between us for now. Besides, I haven’t even met him yet.” She looked at Pete through narrowed eyes. “Do you trust him?”
“Yes.” Pete raised his hands to prevent her from arguing. “Listen. The guy has been a sentry for four hundred years, and he is Mr. By-the-Book. I’m worried that if we don’t clue him in, and he gets wind of it some other way, it will only make matters worse.”
“Fine.” She leaned back against the shelves of booze and looked at the faces of her diverse coven. “Keep it to a minimum. Let him know there was a suspected vamp killing near the club, and that you’re looking into it. Leave Maya’s name out of it until we get that DNA sample checked out.”
“Not a problem.” Pete gave Maya a brotherly wink. “Don’t worry, kid. We’ll get it all straightened out.”
“Are you sure?” Maya sniffled and looked at Olivia.
“Absolutely.” Olivia mustered a weary smile. “Hey, we don’t even know for sure if it’s a vamp killing. Let’s take it one step at a time.”
That was bullshit. She knew deep in her gut that it was a vamp killing. Olivia prayed Maya was telling the truth. If she wasn’t, if she did indeed kill Ronald Davis, then there would be no saving her from the Presidium’s justice.
Chapter 3
Doug leaned back in the chair at his desk, laced his fingers behind his head, and stared at the computer screen without really seeing it. They had questioned several witnesses, but none yielded solid leads. In true, late- night New York City fashion, no one saw anything, or if they did, they weren’t talking. The Hollingsworth woman provided an alibi for the bartender, so for the moment, the little blond was bumped from the top of his list.
They reached a series of dead-end leads far too quickly for his liking.
One thing bothered him more than anything else. He couldn’t get his mind off Olivia and the striking resemblance she bore to the woman from his dreams. How in the hell was he supposed to keep his mind on this case when he couldn’t keep it off her?
“Shit, you got it bad, kid.” Tom’s gravelly laugh pulled him from his thoughts.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Doug said with as much disinterest as he could muster.
His chair squeaked in protest as he leaned both elbows on the desk and flipped through pictures of the crime scene and Ronald’s mutilated body. He had to get his head back in the game. Running his hands over his face, he turned his attention to the file on his desk, unwilling to look at Tom.
They’d only been partners for about two years, but the guy knew him better than almost anyone on the planet—the only one who knew him better was his former partner, Pete.
He could feel Tom staring at him.
“What?” Doug asked without looking up.
Tom’s desk butted up against his, and their computers were back-to-back, which normally worked out great, but right now it felt too close for comfort. Doug never told a soul about the sexy dreams he had of the mysterious redhead, and he would be damned if he was going to start now. If he was going to tell anyone, it would be Tom, but the middle of a murder investigation was not the time to talk about dreams.
He would have told Pete, but he had barely spoken to the guy in months. He had gotten really reclusive ever since he got married, and there was something else different about him too. Doug could not pinpoint what it was, and that nagged at him. He hated not being able to figure it out, but it was more than that. He missed his
