Chapter 2

Jesse turned his back to the sight, his light coming on again. He surveyed the room for several seconds before murmuring, “It was an actual party, Gideon. This isn’t the work of some sicko on his own. She was the entertainment for the night.”

“I know.” Leaving him to examine the rest of the room, Gideon stepped up to the body, memorizing every detail so Jess wouldn’t have to do it later. It was difficult to tell, but the few distinguishing characteristics they hadn’t destroyed—the fall of black hair, blue eyes wired open to watch the debauchery taking place in front of her—matched those of Rina’s friend. Bite marks savaged her bared breasts, but the skin was clean. He could almost see the tongues licking the precious blood away.

“There were at least five vampires,” he said. “There’s five distinct sets of fangs marking her.”

“Not just vampires, unless they’re the sort of vamps with a taste for champagne, caviar and…” He paused and sniffed. “Oh, something very foul smelling. I don’t think it’s actually food. Hey, look at this. I think somebody dropped their invitation.”

Gideon glanced back in time to see Jesse pick up a piece of black card from the heavy coffee table in the middle of the room. The flashlight shining across its surface illuminated careful white script, the reflection from which cast silver shards along the walls.

“Is that engraved?” Gideon returned to Jesse’s side, taking the invitation to peer at it more closely. “This isn’t some home office job. The paper’s too expensive, and there’s a watermark imprinted in the weft.”

“Everything’s too expensive. The only thing that doesn’t fit is the location. Why a tiny apartment above a sporting goods store?” He took out a pen and a small notepad. Gideon didn’t miss the slight tremor in Jesse’s fingers. “Got to follow up and find out who has the lease.”

Gideon reached and closed his hand around Jesse’s, stopping the scratching across the paper. “We can do that back at the office.”

Jess looked up. “I don’t want to forget anything.” He nodded at the remnants of the party. “This all could be a clue to…my God, who would do something like this?”

“Someone very bored and very rich.” His gaze trailed back to the wall. “And more than a little unhinged.”

“I have my camera, if you want to take some pictures of the…room. And we should probably turn on the light and see if there’s anything else,” Jess said, trying to sound normal, like this was any other case. But he refused to look to the end of the room, and he didn’t seem thrilled about turning on the lights.

“Give it to me.” He held out his hand and waited while Jesse slipped the camera strap from around his shoulder and passed it over. “Why don’t you go sit on the stairs and write out what you can? I’ll get the pictures so we can get out of here as soon as possible. We need to call the police and report the scene anyway.”

Jess nodded and turned to the door. Gideon waited until he was gone before he turned on the light for the photographs. The body was thrown into sharp contrast, each thin line of blood standing out like rubies against its white skin. There was blood on the wall behind her, on the floor, and signs of a struggle. They had threaded the wire through her skin after they hung her to the wall, but before she finally died. Her screams would have echoed through the small apartment for hours.

Gideon snapped pictures of every inch of the room, not shying away from a single detail. When he took the entire roll of film, he ducked out of the room and found Jess sitting on the bottom step, furiously scrawling over a page already covered in notes.

“Solved our case already?” he tried to joke.

“They didn’t make any real effort to hide anything. Vampires normally don’t care what the authorities are doing, but there weren’t just vampires in that room. When the police discover her, it’s going to be a media circus. It’ll probably attract national attention. Her high school photo plastered across four twenty-four hour news channels. I doubt…well, I doubt she’s the first victim. Why flaunt her?”

“Maybe they were interrupted.” But even as Gideon said it, he knew it wasn’t the case. There were no signs of a rushed exit, and though the scents were still strong, the blood had already started to cool. “But we should get out of here. The sooner the cops arrive, the sooner they can start gathering evidence that might lead them to the human half of this little bash.”

Jess took Gideon’s hand and pulled himself to his feet, then carefully packed everything away and took his camera back. “What’s your plan for the rest of the night? I’m going to start some research, see if what we found is ritualistic.”

“Find Rina. See what else she heard, if she knows anything about humans being invited to the party. Hell, to find out how she knew anything at all if there’s as much money behind this as I suspect there is.” They headed down the stairs, the whipping winds outside growing louder with every step. “I’ll call Derek and give him the tip-off about the scene. Then we don’t have to worry about being kept in the loop on what they find.”

Jess pulled his coat tightly around his thin frame as they neared the door. He didn’t hesitate to step out into the driving wind, keeping his head down as he hurried back to the car. As they drove back to the office, Jess looked like he wanted to speak several times, even opening his mouth to let the words escape, but then he’d shake his head and shift his attention back to the window.