Page 10 of Veiled Justice
The human side of the Other realm has to go to the Common realm to re-charge their magical batteries and, whilst they do so, they pass through a portal and temporarily lose access to their magic. Most usually use one of the portal halls run by the fire elementals.
The creature side never need to venture into the Common realm if they don’t want to because they are made of magic itself; they can live forever in the Other realm if they so wish. That power disparity is at the heart of every conflict within the Other realm. To balance the magical power that the creatures possess, the wizards have clawed significant amounts of political power for themselves – including many of us serving the Connection, me included. Not that I served for power, only for justice.
The vampires in Common realm fiction drink blood and can’t go out in daylight, but thevampyrsin the Other realm are a mirror reflection of those whispered half-truths; they are similar but distorted. Yes, they drink blood but they walk amongst us day or night.
When they turn into vampyrs something erases their physical imperfections and, as a group, they are insanely beautiful. As a result, they’re popular at events like Quintos’s, like some weird exotic decorations. That, and the fact that vampyrs live forever, gives them ample opportunity to hoard wealth and power.
Five of the guests at the masquerade ball had been vampyrs from Lord Volderiss’s clan. I’d interviewed three of them; they had been elusive and difficult to question, but my gut said that was because they were here without Volderiss’s approval, not because they’d murdered Helga. For starters, vampyrs like to utilise their teeth rather than knives when they kill; additionally, leaving all that blood pouring into the earth would have been seen as a dreadful waste.
I had 120 addresses and telephone numbers and very few suspects. I hoped Channing had been more fortunate. ‘All right?’ I asked as I approached him.
‘Flagging a little,’ he admitted.
‘Understandable. Anyone on your list sending up red flags?’
He grimaced. ‘A lot of assholes, but most didn’t even see our victim, let alone know her and have a grudge against her. I’m not finding any motive to kill her, not from this lot.’
‘Give me your notes,’ I instructed. ‘I’ll type them up. You can clock off. Grab a few hours’ sleep then meet me at the office at noon.’ Channing hesitated for a moment. ‘That’s an order,’ I added firmly.
‘Yes, ma’am.’ He passed me his PNB. ‘If I thought I was talking to an asshole, I put a code A++ in my notes.’
I nodded though I cautioned him, ‘It’s not just arseholes that kill.’
‘To my mind, only an asshole would kill.’ With that parting shot, he walked away, his shoulders rounded and tired.
‘There are lots of reasons to kill,’ Krieg said from behind me, making me jump. ‘Hardly any of them are arseholery.’
‘I agree.’ I’d seen a lot of murders in my time and sometimes they were committed over the most insignificant thing like a parking spot – though admittedly, that definitely fell into Channing’s scale of arseholedom.
‘I’ll drive you home,’ Krieg offered.
‘Thank you for the offer but I have to pass the death message to Helga’s parents.’
‘That falls to me,’ he said tightly.
My jaw tightened. I couldn’t really argue with the King of Ogres but I was truly shit at walking on eggshells, political or otherwise. ‘I’ll come with you,’ I said instead.
Krieg slid me a sidelong glance but, to my surprise, he nodded. ‘Fine. I’m driving.’
I gave a sharp trill and Loki flew to me. ‘I’m going to be working a while longer. Go home. I’ll meet you there.’
‘Home.’ For once in his smart-mouthed life, Loki just obeyed and flittered away without a word of complaint. A frisson of unease thrummed through me: thatreallywasn’t like Loki. Dammit, I should have checked the damned bird was okay before ordering him home, not to mention checking that he hadn’t heard something useful.
I was bone-tired; I’d not long crawled into bed when Rupert’s panicked call had summoned me out of it. I’d been awake for twenty-four hours and I was making mistakes. Still, it was done now so there was no point beating myself up about it.
Krieg led me to his black Range Rover and opened the passenger door for me. A shade nonplussed, I slid in with my briefcase. Who holds doors for anyone these days? Women had fought tooth and nail for equal rights and a lot of old-fashioned manners had slid away as we’d invaded the workplace – like treating women respectfully. I worked in a male-dominated field where the most successful female Inspectors did their best to walk and talk like a man, complete with crude humour and swearing like a sailor. My vernacular wasn’t prudish but I preferred not to drop the ‘C’ word to make myself look tough. I had nothing to prove.
Frankly, now that I was in the Connection, I could see why my dad hadn’t wanted me to follow in his footsteps – but then he’d got himself murdered and everything had changed. I’d had no choice but to follow him or how would I find his killer? And I would, if it took every spare moment of my time from now until the day I died.
The ride to Helga’s parents’ house was silent, both Krieg and I lost in our own thoughts. Finally he turned onto a driveaway towards what looked like a huge barn conversion. ‘Helga was my goddaughter,’ he said abruptly.
I blinked. ‘You don’t look old enough to have a goddaughter.’ I winced as soon as the words left my lips. Many, many things in the Other did not look their age: for example, a vampyr could choose to look any age, from child to crone.
I thought for a moment that Krieg wasn’t going to reply but then he said, ‘I was eighteen when she was born.’
According to her driving licence, Helga had been eighteen when she’d died so that made Krieg thirty-six. I was surprised he’d shared even that little titbit of personal information.
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ I said, hating how trite the phrase sounded. As a teenager, I’d wanted to rip out my hair when people uttered it to me over and over again after my father’s death.
