“Merek said he had a feeling I might need it someday.” Alex snorted. “When Merek has a feeling, you listen and you program the number into your phone right then.”
“Good point.” One didn’t argue with the premonitions of the most powerful precog alive. “Sit tight. We’re not far. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Sooner is better. I’ll be waiting.” The line went dead as Alex hung up.
They pulled to a stoplight, and Jack braked and fastened his pants, while Selina clipped her seat belt into place. He had no memory of her taking it off, but considering what her mouth and hands had been doing to him, he wasn’t that surprised. “Looks like I’ll have to make it up to you later.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Her gaze flashed naked heat for a brief moment before she masked it. “Let’s go.”
“Put the light up, would you?”
She grabbed the portable blue strobe light, put it on his dashboard, and turned it on. Jack pressed his foot on the gas, speeding through the streets to get them there as quickly as possible. Selina stayed on the phone the whole way, calling people to let them know where to go and what they needed.
She hung up as he turned onto the correct street. “Peyton is going to be awhile. He’s out in Renton doing something for Cavalli that he can’t give specifics about.”
“With those kinds of assignments, it’s best not to ask questions.” The car fishtailed on the wet pavement a bit as he skidded to a stop at the curb.
Alex was already on the sidewalk waiting for them, his face far more composed than any teenager’s should be in the situation. “Hey.”
“Thanks for calling.” Jack offered him a hand to shake.
Selina nodded to him, tugging on a pair of latex gloves. She pulled another pair out of her bag and handed them to Jack. “We’re going to go in and check things out. Wait out on the porch for our backup, would you?”
“I already saw everything, Selina. Don’t worry about me having a meltdown.” The young werewolf cocked an eyebrow and followed them anyway. “I’m pretty sure the flashing light and messed-up park job will clue them in on which house it is.”
Instead of arguing, Jack loped up to the house. The front door was open. He glanced at Alex. “You went inside?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “The shield spells were down, and Merek showed me how to pick a lock. Other than checking for a pulse, I didn’t touch ... the body.”
“What’s his name?” Jack squeezed the kid’s shoulder.
“Jason Mathison.” The wolf put his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been going out with his stepdaughter for about a month. His wife is pregnant. She’s going to have a son in a couple of months. She’s Normal. He’s an elf.”
Jack frowned, stepping inside the house. It looked like a regular house, nothing strange, except he could already sense that creepy sense of stillness. Quiet where there should be noise and life. “Jason Mathison. I know that name.”
“Shield Security Consulting,” Selina murmured.
He blinked. “They installed my security system at home, using bespelled talismans because I have no magic.”
“Mine, too. The electronic system, that is. I do the shields myself.” Selina turned to Alex. “You said the shields were down when you got here?”
A bathroom off the hallway was where the carnage started. It looked like Mathison had been shot there and dragged to the bedroom, a thick blood trail pointing the way.
“Yeah, which has never happened before.” Puzzlement filled the teen’s voice. “Even when he knows I’m coming over, I have to wait on the porch for him to open the shield circle and let me in.”
The bedroom was the same as before. Only worse. The wreckage was just as bad, the splattered blood, the body draped facedown on the bed, the twin holes ripped into the neck, flesh festering from the application of iron.
But this time Jack recognized the face that went with those lifeless eyes. He’d known this man, had worked with him to secure his house even against powerful Magickal beings. It was bitterly ironic that someone who specialized in security would be killed after his house was broken into. Sickness coated his stomach, but he pushed aside personal reaction.
Sirens approached outside, growing louder by the second. Selina turned for the door. “I’ll meet them outside, get the perimeter sealed off. Tess should be here soon to start processing.”
People began trickling into the house. Uniformed officers, a couple of agents in FBI jackets. Jack directed them to various rooms. Alex faded into the background, wandering around the place, not saying much. He eased closer when Selina came back a few minutes later. “It looks like he entered and left through the back door.”
Approaching them, Alex pitched his voice low. “Look, I’ve been here before several times, and there’s a couple of differences I sense that you should know about.”
Selina arched her eyebrows. “What’s that?”
“Well, some of it might be the cops here, but maybe not.” He frowned, shook his head. “Two things. First, I sense a vampire male. One that I’ve ... met before, but I can’t place where.”
“The killer is a male vampire.” Jack’s heart thumped at the thought that Alex might know something they could work with, but how a sense could help them, he wasn’t sure. He’d have the teen walk the perimeter of the house and see if he could pick up the scent again. Considering vampires could fly if they half-shifted, Jack had his doubts the trail would lead anywhere but a dead end. This murderer had been too smart for something so easy to give him away. They couldn’t overlook the possibility, though. “And the second thing?”
“When we came through the house the second time ...” Alex lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. “I sense a Normal male came through the house.”
“I’m a Normal male.”
“Not you. I know your essence, and none of the other men here are Normals.” Alex shook his head. “That’s all I’ve got. Someone was here that I’ve never sensed before. I don’t know if it’ll help at all in your investigation, but ... I sense a Normal male.”
“And I see one.”
The drizzle splashed down on the glass of a sunroom at the end of the hall, but Selina still caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. A man stared at her through the glass for just a moment before he turned and fled.
“Don’t move! Stay right where you are.”
He didn’t, of course. He ran as if someone had lit his ass on fire.
“Laramie, cut him off!” She didn’t wait to see if he did as she said. He’d do his job, and she knew it. Her heart leapt into a gallop, and she charged down the hall toward the man. She pulled her weapon and slammed through the glass door on the sunroom, bursting through it so hard it crashed against the side of the house.
Sprinting around the detached garage, she saw the man hopping the back fence.
“Freeze! Seattle PD! Stop and put your hands up.”
Yeah, as if that ever really worked, but it was police protocol to give fair warning before you tackled someone’s ass to the ground and made him eat pavement.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she raced for the fence, grabbed the top, and used a small spell to propel herself over it. She hit the alley beyond at a dead run, sweat pouring down her skin. Rain plastered her clothes to her body, dripping down her face and clouding her vision. Muscles screeched a protest as she pushed for more speed, but she ignored the discomfort. If this son of a bitch turned out to be an innocent bystander who knew nothing, she’d kick his ass.
There. A flash of his dark coat as he went around the corner of a house.
“Freeze!” Jack bellowed as he came up a side street. No luck cutting anyone off.
“Take the north side. I’ll go south.” She spit out the words, her breathing ragged. They split in different directions, Selina following the suspect directly, Jack speeding around the opposite corner to try to cut the man off again.