Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,104
but then it was likely that I’d be dead now if I hadn’t. Or more people would be dead now if I hadn’t.
Looking back solved nothing.
“But being a cop in Low Town is always dangerous. My old partner was killed by an ogre high on fix. I had a friend in college killed by a vampire she was dating. It was an accident. He took too much one night. I had some neighbors killed a couple years ago by some trolls during a turf war on the west side.”
“Tough city,” I murmured.
“That’s just it, Gage,” she said, drawing my gaze back to her face when I had looked down at my hands. “The Towers have taken the blame for a lot of our problems, and they’ve earned a good chunk of it, but the Ivory Towers aren’t the only thing that’s wrong with this city. You’ve got to stop thinking that you’re to blame for everything that goes wrong.”
“You think that’s what I’m doing?”
“Yeah, I think you’re beating yourself up when things go wrong and most of the time it has nothing to do with you or the Towers.”
The speech was starting to sound far too similar to something that I’d already heard from Gideon. If I was a smart man, I’d pay attention to their words.
“Well, this time the goblins beat up on me.”
Serah frowned at me and started to open her mouth to say something about my glib response, but the door swung open behind her, forcing her farther into my room as a tall vampire glided inside. For my first hospital visit, this was turning into a party, though the presence of the vampire wasn’t what I’d call a good thing.
He pinned me with a dark look as he pressed his lips into a hard, thin line. If he kept it up, he was going to pierce the interior of his mouth with his fangs. “Powell, you’re recovering,” he softly drawled. His words were supposed to be a question, but they certainly didn’t come out sounding as such.
When he spoke, it finally dawned on me why he looked so damn familiar. The asshole worked for TAPSS and had stopped by Asylum to put the so-called fear of God in me when I opened my parlor to the public years ago. It had taken more than a little arguing and hoop-jumping to finally get my license for the parlor. The whispers had already started about me in the upper levels of TAPSS and I was forced to spill my secret in an effort to get my license. This schmuck knew the truth.
“Hello, Harvey. It’s nice of you to visit me in the hospital, but it’s really unnecessary,” I said with a wide grin. I know, Harvey. A vampire named Harvey! A name like that really ruined your ability to be afraid of the man despite the fact that he was over six feet and was as wide as a lineman.
“It’s Weston,” he hissed, his fangs flashing at me as he clenched his teeth. “I’m sure it is unnecessary, considering, but I didn’t come to see you.” He turned his dark glare on Serah, who took a nervous step backward toward my bed.
“Mr. Weston,” she said firmly. She was trying to sound as if she wasn’t intimidated, but I don’t think anyone in that room was convinced. Other than his name, he was a frightening creature and we could only hope he’d eaten before visiting the hospital. The scent of blood hung in the air and I had no desire to see his more predatory instincts triggered.
“What’s going on with this investigation, Ms. Moynahan? I was expecting much better results by now.”
“We’re getting closer, sir. I was involved in a sting operation this evening to try to catch the killer now that we’ve identified a link between the victims,” Serah eagerly explained.
“You were involved in a police operation. Not a TAPSS operation. I shouldn’t have to remind you that you are no longer a police officer, but a TAPSS investigator. This inquiry that you are pursuing is outside of our jurisdiction.”
“But this woman killed a tattoo artist. She’s become a danger to the people of Low Town because of a tattoo.”
“All of which should have been clearly documented and turned in to your superiors and the Low Town police, as needed,” he snapped, his sharp voice like a whip cracking across her skin. “Hunting down this killer is not your responsibility. It is a job for the police.”