Page 45 of Livewire Witch

Fabian continues scouring the sight as though he’s looking for clues and I just stand aside with my fireball in my hands, feeling vaguely useless.

“Did you see these three before, uh, when they were still alive, I mean?” I ask Ember.

He nods, rubbing at the furrow between his brows. “Yeah, they popped in for a bit. Didn’t seem all that aware of where they were and seemed to be off their tits on something. That was anhour, maybe an hour and a half ago. This one tried feeling me up while I was clearing tables, so I couldn’t really miss them.”

“And did you happen to listen to what they were thinking?”

“Their thoughts weren’t exactly coherent.” He shrugs. “Like I said, I’m pretty sure they were on something.”

I call on my blood magic and try to do a scan of the three bodies, searching for any weird substances that would explain their behavior, or how they wound up like this.

Fabian’s right, though. There’s so little blood left in their bodies, it’s impossible to detect drugs or anything else unusual.

“So, are we all ignoring the fact that none of them have blood left in their systems? Like they’ve been... drained?” Zeph rumbles. “I wonder what kind of person might have done that.”

“You think some vamps drained them too far and then dumped them?”

He shrugs his big shoulders. “Seems likely. I bet it’s not unusual for vamps to prey on people that are off their faces on the magically infused drugs that are crazy popular in the city right now. They probably wouldn’t know they were being drained too much until it was too late.”

“Do we think it’s a coincidence that they’ve been dumped outside one of our places of business when things are such a shitshow in the district right now?” Fabian asks. “Something tells me the judiciary enforcers are gonna rock up any minute if someone’s tipped them off.”

I cock my head to one side. “Don’t you have them in your back pockets?” I would have thought with all the semi-legal and entirely illegal stuff that goes on in the district, the judiciary turning a blind eye.

“Only if it’s made worth their while. We have deals in place with the other areas of the city. But people turning up dead in the street is generally something that gets noticed,” Zeph explains. “They won’t ignore shit that’s rubbed right in their faces.”

Fabian runs a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated huff. “Fuck, this is all we need.”

I’m so used to seeing him keeping his cool. It’s weird to see him agitated. It’s understandable though, with things a mess in the district, plus Felix’s strange business habits, plus this new job info-gathering on the vampires when Fabian barely seems to have time to do his day job, it’s a lot on his plate. Not to mention the truce with Dante, and Fabian’s curse-giver still being on the loose, and the way he takes responsibility for Seb’s health.

Anyone would be bowing under the pressure.

He’s only been back to anything like full health for the past few days, too.

I just want to hug him.

Dammit.

I nudge Roscoe in the ribs and mentally speak to him so Fabian can’t overhear. “Can you give him a cuddle, please? He looks like he needs one, and I’ll just freak him out if I try.”

Fuck, my heart hurts.

Roscoe shoots me a flirty look. “Talking inside my head, honey? This is a new one. I think we could have a lot of fun with this.”

“Bleugh, can you keep your fuck thoughts to yourselves?”Ember says.

“Keep your inside voice and inside ears where they’re supposed to be,”I snip back, sounding like a child. I then snort and shake my head at Roscoe. “Maybe we can save the sexy thoughts forafterFabian has a breakdown?”

That causes Roscoe’s smirk to slip.

“So we should keep an eye on this place, right? See if anyone turns up to claim the bodies or dispose of them?” Roscoe says, wrapping an arm around Fabian’s shoulders.

Fabian snorts, looking only slightly weirded out by Roscoe’s unexpected affection. “And we just wait around to be arrested?”

That causes Roscoe to hum thoughtfully. “Okay, new plan. I’ll stay here and distract anyone that comes by. If the judiciary enforcers come, there’ll be nothing for them to find. We can keep an eye out and see if anyone else comes by to claim the bodies. Then, Silver can pick apart their brain and see what they’re doing here.” He waves in Zeph and Fabian’s direction. “You guys can be on body disposal duty.”

“That sounds good to me,” I say.

Roscoe grins proudly at me and folds his arms over his chest, preening like a peacock at my positive reaction.

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