Page 24 of From the Shadows
Borne leaned forward in his seat, his hands clasped. “Were any of them turned?”
“We’re not sure. As far as we can tell, there were fifty-fourpeople on the guest list, but we don’t know yet if all of them are accounted for. Some of the bodies have to be… reassembled before we can determine that.”
Diego ran his finger over the images, and his mind flashed back to that night in the hospital. The screams, the pleading, the soft sigh as someone succumbed to blood loss or their injuries and perished. Then, it had enflamed his senses, driven him deeper into the bloodlust that consumed him. Now, looking at the faces of the young children who’d never see another birthday, Diego was filled with rage.
“What do we know? Anything?”
Empatia lowered her gaze, and Diego knew the answer. They had not one damn thing to work with.
“The police, the coroner, even the forensics people found nothing beyond the bodies. They’re aware the victims were….” She choked a little, her face losing all its color. “Drained. Bite marks of differing sizes over most of the bodies, flesh ripped from the victims, showed the ferocity. It’s believed they’d shared the people. The human authorities have no idea what caused it, so they’re pursuing possible ties to cults or religious fanatics.”
“It was vampires,” Diego spat, his anger nearly a writhing, swirling thing that threatened to consume him. “Don’t even pretend it wasn’t.”
“No one is pretending otherwise,” Empatia insisted, her voice full of steel. “The families put together a fund, and they’re using it to hire us to find out who the killer or killers are, because they’ve heard we’re the best in the business at tracking down killers.”
“Give them back their money,” Diego snarled, his fists clenched so tight that his nails were gouging his palms. He desperately wanted to hit someone. To show them you didn’t fuck with the people under Diego’s protection.
The ones he’d now failed.
“So you don’t want the job?”
He snapped his head up, locking gazes with his crew, who stood there, their anger palpable. They were nodding at him, because after so many years together, they knew exactly what was on hismind. “Oh, we’re doing the job, but we’re not charging to bring these… things to justice. Their victims will, hopefully, find a bit of peace from our efforts.”
Empatia was gone for a moment, and then her voice rang out in the minds of Diego’s people. “Mr. Biggs asked me to pass along his thanks. You have carte blanche for this. Whatever you need, it’s yours.”
There was a joke to be made in there, but damned if Diego’s mind was working. He couldn’t take his eyes off the photographs. Memories assailed him of the night he’d been insane with hunger, the horrors he’d committed. He stared at the images before him and could practically hear the screams as the people… wait. Somethingwasdifferent.
“Pull up a toxicology report,” he barked at Borne. “With this many people, they had to have done something to keep them pliant. Everyone was found in the ballroom, and yeah, they’re scared, but no one was found outside the area. How could they bring in that many vampires and not one person ran?”
Borne’s fingers danced over the keyboard of his laptop, his eyes darting back and forth. When he looked up, they were filled with rage barely contained. “They all had high levels of a combination of sedatives. The CSI found the foods, wines, and even the kid’s drinks laced with it. No matter what they ate or imbibed, they ingested this shit.”
Diego stood, his gut on fire. “I need to go to the gym,” he announced a moment before he stormed out of the room, thoughts pinging back and forth, trying to come to an understanding. He didn’t know vampires well. After what they’d done to him, he tended to stay clear unless they were the target. However, he could count on one hand the number of bloodsuckers they’d had to take down.
“You do know that most vampires don’t prey on humans, right?”
Ranna loped up beside him, matching Diego’s stride. “Not now, Ranna.” It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate her attempt, but he wasn’t in the mood for company. When she reached out and gripped his arm, Diego snarled at her. “I said, not fucking now!”
“Use your head. Let go of those memories. You’re not that person anymore. You haven’t been in centuries. Vampires are a lot like my people. We’re maligned by authors looking to write horror stories, but the truth is, most are like anyone else. The only thing we want is to get by in the world. Like humans, we have some bad members, but we also have those who’d give the shirt off their backs to help someone in need, no matter what.”
Maybe it was the fact that their job put them against the worst of the worst. Since Diego didn’t mingle with anyone outside of the house, he really had no idea.
“Are you willing to bet your life on that?”
She nodded, her face grim. “I do that every time we go out on a mission. Each person here has my back, and I have never doubted that decision nor regretted making it.”
One vampire killed Diego. Left him on Death’s door, leaving him to plead with some deity to not let him die. To save him. He wasn’t aware it was the Devil that answered until it was too late.
“No. Vampires are demons that must be destroyed,” he snapped.
“Including you?” Ranna demanded, an edge to her voice that Diego hadn’t heard before.
“Yes!” he hissed. He was as bad as the monsters who’d committed this atrocity.
“So what about all the good you’ve done? All the lives you’ve saved? The people who’d be dead if it wasn’t for you? For us? What would have happened to Jeremy?”
Her words crept into Diego’s head. If he had died, he couldn’t help but wonder about Jeremy. Would anyone take care of him? Would he have died too? And Shay, who wasn’t afraid of Diego and had also given him absolution for his past transgressions?
“I’m a murderer,” Diego whispered, staring down at the imaginary blood that stained his hands. “For some things, no matter how badly one wishes it, there can be no forgiveness.”
