It would be a huge issue in the community and could cause panic among the other races.
Not counting the renewed panic in the human cities, if it leaked out that a vampire was on the loose killing people. The city was well guarded, behind the facade of a military base, but humans were a jumpy lot. It didn’t take much for them to start a worldwide panic, especially when most of humanity had no idea that the undead city of Necropolis even existed.
“It looks like we have a problem,” Mahina said.
“It’s worse than that.”
Everyone looked over at Lyra, who was still standing over the body, big brown eyes wide with wonder. She had a small clear vial in her hand. The liquid inside was blue, a bright sapphire-blue.
A color Caine recognized instantly as a huge warning and a problem he thought he’d never see in Necropolis. One he hoped he’d never see.
“The vic’s human.”
Chapter 2
“N othing yet from DNA or trace,” Jace commented the moment he stepped through the swinging metal door of the autopsy room, intense brown eyes smoldering above the blue paper face mask he wore.
Caine glanced up briefly as his second in command came swaggering up to stand next to him at the metal table. “You can take the mask off, Jace. She’s dead.”
“Yeah, but humans carry diseases. I don’t want to catch anything.”
Caine sighed and shook his head.
Jace rubbed his gloved hands together eagerly. “Are we ready, Sil?”
Givon stared at Jace, his steely gray eyes narrowing in question. “Eager are we, young man?”
“Hey, when do we ever get a chance to autopsy a human?”
Caine shook his head at his protégé’s enthusiasm. “This is one time too many. When the human populace catches wind of this, there’s going to be hell to pay. As if we don’t have enough problems just trying to exist peacefully with each other. A confrontation is one problem we can’t afford.”
“I don’t suppose we have an ID yet?” Jace asked.
“We don’t have access to the human AFIS, so no, we don’t have an ID yet.”
Caine looked down at the young woman on the table. Even tinged gray, he could tell that she had been very pretty once. Well-groomed, fingernails and toes manicured, legs and pubic area freshly waxed. This girl was no criminal. She had been wearing designer clothing and expensive shoes when they found her. Likely, she was a girl from the right side of town, looking for a thrill, something shocking to stick it to her parents and show off to her equally well-bred friends.
She found it all right. The shock of a lifetime. Death by vampire.
“Was there evidence of rape?” Jace inquired.
“I did a kit and sent it into the lab.” Givon’s eyes narrowed. “She had sex, but there’s no evidence that it was forced. No bruising or damage to her cervix.” He picked up one of her dainty hands. “There was no evidence of skin under her nails, and no defensive wounds.”
“So she willingly had sex with a vampire,” Jace stated.
Givon shook his head. “Maybe not. I sent her blood to tox for drugs.”
“Maybe she wanted to make a statement, piss off her parents. Who knows?” Caine offered. “We won’t know anything until we can identify her and speak to her family and friends.”
Jace snorted. “Oh, like the San Antonio Police Department will let that happen. We won’t get within two miles of the city before human cops will be all over us.”
Caine nodded, knowing Jace was right. The human populace on a whole wasn’t aware of the existence of any Otherworld community, let alone a city built just for them fifty miles outside of San Antonio, Texas, behind the chain-link fence of a supposed military installation.
Fondly, Caine could still remember when heartthrob and two-time Oscar nominee Liam Wolf revealed on David Letterman that he was indeed his namesake—a wolf. In front of millions, Liam shifted into his animal form. Then he went on to explain about the pros and cons of lycanthropy. It wasn’t long before it became cool to be a werewolf, and like magic, others stepped out of the shadows and declared that they too had the condition.
The government quickly contained the situation before anyone else could admit to being
“different.” News reports went out with scientific evidence of such a disorder, and cautioned people not to panic, as it was rare and not something from their nightmares and horror movies.