was a natural death?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe it was a death she went to willingly." Souls didn't seem to hang about in that case, either.
I opened up her purse and went through it. There were over one hundred dollars sitting in it, as well as several credit cards. There were also half a dozen business cards, all of them for vampire clubs - the higher end ones, not clubs like Dante's. I plucked one out and showed it to Kade.
He raised an eyebrow. "The police report didn't mention that she was a blood whore."
"Maybe daddy hushed it up." It certainly wouldn't be the first time that had happened. "There's been enough press about them lately to make it an unpalatable connection for anyone in power."
Kade snorted. "Yeah, but he also wants her death solved, and that's hard to do if we haven't got all the facts."
"So there was no mention of vampire bite marks in the report?"
"None. If she was a whore, she hadn't gone to the clubs for a while."
"From what I've heard, it's as hard for a whore to give the clubs up as it is for a drug addict to give up substance abuse."
"We don't know she was an addict."
"She's got six business cards in her purse. That suggests a more than casual interest." I put the purse back on the bedside table. "Maybe whoever she was with found out about the addiction and found a sneaky way to get rid of her. "
"Maybe." His voice was lazy, but his expression was intent as he walked around the bed. I didn't say anything, just watched him. After a moment, he added, "There is something else here."
I raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"I don't know. It's very faint." He hesitated, then walked across to the dresser mirror. "It came through here."
"Through the mirror?"
He glanced at me. "The sensation is strongest here."
I walked across and stopped beside him, flaring my nostrils and tasting the flavors in the air. I couldn't find anything that triggered either my mental or psychic alarms.
"Nothing," I murmured. "Whatever it is you're feeling, I'm not catching it."
"It's not really anything I can define."
He shifted the mirror to look behind it. I peeked under his arm, but there was nothing more than dust.
"Jack's going to ask you to, so you'd better try."
"It's a wisp of power, a sensation of age." His frown deepened. "What the hell sort of creature can come through mirrors and attack a person? And why wouldn't Renatta have been terrified?"
"Two good questions I can't possibly answer."
He grinned suddenly. "And here I was thinking you had an answer for everything."
"You're confusing me with Jack."
"Ah," he said, a devilish twinkle in his warm brown eyes. "But you're Jack's little protege."
I snorted and swiped at his arm. The blow had enough power in it to rock him back on his heels. "Watch your mouth or I won't go vamp hunting with you."
"Yeah you will, because you want my help more than I want yours."
He had a point. I trailed after him as he walked from the bedroom and checked out the other rooms. The rest of the house was also done in neutral colors, with easy comfortable furniture. I couldn't feel anything out of place, and nothing seemed to have been touched or broken into.
"I don't think there's anything else to find," I commented, after the last room. "What about you?"
"The only room that has the other scent is her bedroom. I'll snag one of the liaisons to do some research on mirror creatures." He glanced at me, a grin of anticipation twitching his lips. "In the meantime, let's go hunt us a vampire."
* * *
The screams and giggles of children on rides mingled with the blare of music and the scent of fried food and humanity, creating an ambience that was both intriguing and oddly nauseating.
I slammed the car door and stared up at the huge face with its open mouth that was the entrance to the park. Though the face was supposed to be laughing, I'd always thought it had a slightly maniacal edge. But maybe that was just an adult werewolf's natural distaste for anything that involved being confined in a somewhat small area with too many people.
Yet humans certainly didn't seem to have that problem. Despite the fact that it was nearly nine, the park was packed with people. And most of them seemed to be having a good time - if you ignored the high-pitched screams of the little ones who