The case

I closed the folder with the information about the candidates for caporegimes' positions and started massaging my temples. My head hurts as if Rick is near and trying to read my mind again, so I looked around. I'm still on Markus's private floor, and there's no one except me in this rich living room. It was quite large and could easily accommodate all those vampires, who were at yesterday's business meeting, and it seems like even more.

The walls were of a comfortable and relaxing for eyes light-green color, white carpet on the floor, and all the furniture in the room was of a redwood, again. Seems someone is keen on redwood.

I looked around all the furniture in the room, and I'm pretty sure that even if the living room is pretty large, there is not so much furniture, so Markus might prefer a minimalistic style. In the center of the living room were two black sofas standing in front of each other, a coffee table between them, and a fireplace near the sofas. The big windows were covered with black curtains, which were put aside to fill the room with the sunlight. There was also a floor lamp near the sofas, a bookshelf on the other side of the wall, and a lot of paintings of different artists on the free-from furniture walls.

Suddenly, I heard a movement behind my back, which made me turn my head and face a handsome young man with pale skin and golden eyes. He was dressed in a black fitted suit and was standing behind me with a tray in his hands. He came across the sofa and put the tray on the coffee table, near my knees. There was a large cup of coffee and a plate of freshly made pancakes with honey on the tray. I looked up at the man, and he smiled friendly at me.

"Mr. Malone asked to serve you breakfast when you'll awake…" he straightened up and looked at me, slightly smiling.

"Uh… Thank you, but I'm not hungry… Please, leave only a cup of coffee here…" I asked with a slight smile on my lips, then looked back at the two folders on my knees. My heart started beating faster when I saw the second folder full of documents of the psycho-maniac case. I suddenly found out I don't want to investigate it because… It means when that psycho will be in jail, I'll return to the police and will forget about Markus forever. Do I want this? Certainly not, but what about those killed people?

I'm having too many questions in my head recently that make my head hurt, so I should either stop thinking or get some answers at least.

"I'm sorry, Miss Aurora, but if you will not have breakfast, I'll be fired. Please, don't make me lose my job… And I'm not sure that you want me to feed you…" he made a pleading grimace on his face. I rolled my eyes at him.

"What?" I put the folders aside and started massaging my temples again. Everything around makes my head hurt, and it's getting annoying.

"That's one of Mr. Malone's warnings to me if you'll not have your breakfast…" a man said, then looked down at the tray, "So shall I take it away or leave it right here?"

"Leave it here. You can be free, thanks." I didn't even care whether he left or not, I just bent down, took the cup of coffee, and sat straight, then opened the folder with police documents, and started looking through it once again. Something, in this case, makes me doubt, but I don't know what makes me feel like that, and I don't know in what part of the case I have doubts. Everything is too complicated.

"You haven't touched the breakfast?" The cold voice behind my back made me flinch, and almost spill the coffee. I closed the folder, put the cup of coffee back on the table, and turned around to see Marcus. He was in back classic pants, a white shirt and a black tie, and his favorite black leather Bottomline oxford shoes. I looked at his face, then turned back and sighed.

"I'm not hungry, and your chef or waiter isn't guilty. I'm sure they are tasty, so no need to fire him…" I said and took a cup of coffee back into my hands.

"I hear the irritation in your voice…" he sat near me, and took the folder with the police case in his hands, observing it.

"It's not because of you. Those headaches are getting annoying…" I took a sip of coffee, then looked at Markus. I felt an inner feeling I can expose my feelings to him. Furthermore, I felt the need to tell him everything I have in my heart and soul, so I put the cup of coffee back on the table, turned to Markus, and looked into his eyes. He felt my thoroughly look and turned his head in my direction.

"You might have too many questions in your head…" he suddenly said, stroking my chin as if asking me to tell him everything I have on my soul.

"You're right. I don't understand my reactions to the latest news. Two or three days ago, I was thinking I'm a normal human girl working as a police officer. Today I'm a dhampir working as a mafia Underboss undercover. Also, I might have some ability to block others' attempts to read my mind. Ah, and I had sex with a vampire, drank his blood, and felt under his charm and spell…" I stopped for a moment, looking at Markus and waiting for any explanations or answers, but he was silent, so I opened my mouth to continue when he put his thumb on my lips.

"It's a bit of an unusual reaction, yes, but it can only prove that deep in your mind you already had thoughts about being unusual… Or about the supernatural world that might exist for real. So now when it is revealed, your reaction is calm, because you were prepared…" he leaned closer and lightly kissed my lips, "And about the vampire and falling into his charms… I want to hear more…"

I started breathing deeply, feeling my heart go on a race and blood boil in my veins. Likewise, I put my hand on Markus's cheek and started caressing it gently. He liked it.

"Markus…" I whispered, then wrapped his neck and kissed his lips, feeling my heartbeat fasten even more. He hugged my waist and pulled me closer to himself.

"Continue…" he was looking straight into my eyes as if waiting for something and demanding me to continue. I tried to calm down my breath to not have a breathy voice, and he was just waiting patiently with a serious expression on his pretty pale face.

"It's hard to explain, but I definitely fell under your charm…" I blushed, then turned away, being embarrassed, took a cup of coffee and started making slow sips, covering my face under it. He chuckled, then stood up and went closer to the window, looking at the outside, and hiding from the sunlight under the curtain.

"You have time. No need to be in a hurry…" he put his hands in his pockets, looking to the outside and probably thinking about something, while I was drinking coffee and thinking about other questions, I have in my head. He interrupted my flow of mental tortures with his low velvet voice, "If you have any other questions in your head, tell them now…"

"…or remain silent forever?" I giggled, then cleared my throat, "Actually, I have some doubts in that psycho case, but I can't explain which ones. It's just… Strange…"

"Any details?" he turned to me, and I put the cup aside, put the folder on the coffee table, and asked him to come closer. He sat near me looking at the folder, so I opened it and took out all the photos of the victims. It was twelve of them, six female kids and six female adults. Markus took them from my hands and started looking at them closely.

"All the females, either kids or adults, look a bit of like… Me?" I asked, looking at Markus. He frowned, looking over all of them, then put the photos back on the table.

"I see." He was short in words, as always, but he might have had deep thoughts due to his facial expression.

"Even, if to take it as a coincidence, and to sign it to one of the maniac's inverted desires, there are other strange things I was saying to the boss, but he kept silent. All the criminal places where the victims were killed and raped, were too clear, and the blood was poured on the floor like someone prepared the murder scene for a movie. And all the pieces of evidence from all bodies were the same unknown fingerprints on the neck and thighs, cigarettes near all the victims' feet, and marks on their necks from sucking their blood. The picture is exactly the same in all twelve murders…" I stopped for a moment, looking at the mess I created on the table by showing the pieces of evidence and proving my words. He was looking carefully at all the mess and thinking thoroughly, then his phone vibrated, he took it, turned on the loudspeaker, so I could hear it too, and continued looking at shreds of evidence on the table.

"Mr. Malone, you asked to remember about the meeting with the mafia bosses in the nightclub, that will start in half an hour…" I heard the voice on the other side, and it reminded me of the same man who could read minds, Rick.

"Thanks, Rick. I'll drive on my own, ask the guard to be ready in five minutes…" he said, then looked at me, while turning off the call, "Take that folder with you, and get ready, there's not so much time left".

He looked over me, then stood up and started helping me to bring the folder to the previous ordered position, then took it in his hands and looked at his watch.

"I'll be quick!" I promised and ran to my bedroom.

"I'm waiting outside, in a car…" were the last words I heard before running out of the room.