Page 4 of Princess
“Looks like we got a serial killer on our hands,” Coopermuttered.
Fuck!Just what they needed, a serial killer on the loose. The media was going to have a field day with this. Four deaths in one month, all John Does, and all dead ends; just what weneeded.
An hour later, they were finally able to leave. They had to split up and speak to everyone who was at the scene and to the other officers gathering information. Not much more they could do tonight, but wait for the autopsy. Sam drove Cooper back to his apartmentbuilding.
“See you in a few hours,” Cooper said with a large sigh, closing the door. Sam saluted before pulling off. Cooper walked into the lobby, slowly ambling up to the elevator. There was no way he would be taking the stairs this morning to the third floor. Glancing at his watch, he groaned, seeing that it was almost seven in themorning.
He quickly made it into his small apartment, stripping his clothes off once in the bedroom. He set his alarm, seeing how he would only be able to grab a two-hour nap before needing to be at the station by ten. He crawled into his large king-sized bed, his thoughts drifting to the petite brunette with the ice blue eyes from the diner, before exhaustionconsumedhim.
* * *
~Nadira~
“Nadira,are you going hunting with us tonight?” Teague, her older brother asked from the doorway. He was the youngest son, but older than her by twoyears.
Her brothers were members of the Dark Shadows, which was led by her oldest brother Nicu. The Dark Shadows were an elite group of vampires that hunted down and destroyed rogue vampires. They policed the streets to keep humans and vampires safe and ultimately guard the secrets of vampirism. The world was not ready to know that there wereotherson the planet. Vampires were not truly immortal. They could live for centuries but there were ways they could bekilled.
The human folklore had it right when they showed vampires dying by a wood stake to the heart. Sunlight could not kill a vampire and garlic was just a plain myth. Starving a vampire from blood would take a long time, but eventually the vampirewoulddie.
Looking up from the current romance novel that she was engrossed in, she smiled at Teague. Even though they were two years apart, people always thought that they were twins. They both had the same blue eyes and dark brown hair with blond highlights they inherited from their mother. He was much taller than she was, at six foot two, while she topped out at five feet twoinches.
“Um, yeah. When are you allleaving?”
“Twenty minutes, imp!” he said before disappearing out the door. She glanced down quickly, not realizing that two hours had passed since she sat down in the window seat of thestudy.
Her brothers never let her hunt for a fresh donor on her own. They trained her over the years in self-defense, but they still believed that at least one of them should be around. With her being the only daughter, her family believed that she would be a target for any enemy. Sometimes she felt as if she was a liability. Teague was the only one that had taken her training further, but neither their siblings, nor her parents knew of it. She could handle herself with no problem, but it was pointless to argue Nicu’sdecision.
She could have just gone to the fridge and picked out her favorite bagged blood type, but there was nothing like fresh blood directly from the source. They kept their own supply of bagged blood on hand in the house for times when hunting was not feasible. Or she could just call herslujitor sânge,blood servant and feed from him. Vampires had used blood servants forcenturies.
It’ll be fun to go out withtheguys.
She quickly ran up to her quarters in the large mansion that her family had lived in for centuries. She threw on her favorite pair of skinny jeans, an off the shoulder shirt, and a pair of her most comfortable heels. When her brothers took her hunting for a donor, they usually went out late to a club, where it was easier to find a guy willing to go off into a dark corner with a beautiful young lady. Once they all finished with their donors, they usually dropped her off at home while they policed the city for roguevampires.
After putting the finishing touches on her makeup, she headed downstairs to find Teague and Adrian waitingforher.
“Just us three tonight?” she asked as they walked through the kitchen and out the door to the attachedgarage.
“Yes, little bit,” Adrian joked, opening the back door to the black Tahoe truck. “Everyone else has planstonight.”
Just because she was the tiniest of the siblings, they had always teased her. Just another thing for older brothers to pick on their babysister.
“Cool. Can I stay with you guys all night tonight? You guys get to have all of the fun!” Adrian was the second oldest and she knew that he held a soft spot for her. The minute their eyes met, she fluttered her eyelashes dramatically; his eyes softened and she knew shehadhim.
“Don’t tell Nicu that we let you patrol with us. He’ll string me up if he thinks that you were in danger!” Adriangroaned.
“My lips are sealed,” she made the motion of zipping her lips. “So where are wegoing?”
“We thought we’d try that new club Treasure,”Teaguesaid.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the club. Adrian had the truck valet parked. The Olaru family was known as one of wealth and power. The line to the club was almost around the block. They walked up to the door, ignoring the long line. The bouncer at the door was a vampire and immediately let them in the door. Protests could be heard from the patrons intheline.
“Don’t go far,” Teague warned once they were intheclub.
She had the guys agree to let her go pick her own donors whenever they took her hunting. It was hard for a guy to approach her if she had four overbearing guys standing around her. All of them agreed to stay away from her once in the club to let herpursuea donor onherown.
She went to the bar and ordered a Paloma, a mixture of tequila and grapefruit soda, one of her favorite drinks. She could already feel eyes on her. The bartender brought her drink, but before she could pay for it, he held uphishand.
“Complements of the gentleman over there,” he said, pointing down to the end ofthebar.
