the serious relationship stuff. There was a woman who I spent a lot of time with and loved but only as a friend. We’d have sex but there was nothing more to it. She wasn’t a human, though.”
“Do I need to fuck her up?” I ask.
He snorts. “I haven’t seen her for seventy years, so no, probably not.”
“Well, I’ll fuck her up if you ever need me to.”
“She’d meet you and think you were adorable.”
I scowl. “Wonderful. Why don’t people meet me and think I’m badass or rough and rugged?”
Marcus looks at me and scratches his chin. “Hmm… that is a good question.” Then he holds his hand up to his head before stretching it out above my head and lowering it until it smacks the top of my head like he’s measuring me. “I don’t get it either, honestly.”
“You’re so annoying!” I cry as I stab his gut with my finger. Of course he has abs of steel that nearly break my finger. “Ow, dammit!”
“I even braced for that.”
“I’m going for the balls next time. Can you brace your balls?”
“I can. I’m just amazing, Finn, it’s not my fault.”
“God, you look amazing with that little dog you’re parading around.”
He grimaces as I step back and whip out my phone. I set my hand on the bridge and push back to get a good picture of him scowling with a dancing, excited puppy at his feet.
My hand smacks something and I look back to see that my glove, which I wear over my prosthesis to keep people from questioning it, has gotten snagged on a nail.
“Why is this…” I lean in and look at the nail hammered into the railing. Because it’s a bike path, the railing is wide and wooden. So it’s not unusual for there to be nails in it. What is unusual is that there are two nails, about a body’s width apart.
“Hold on,” Marcus says as he rushes over to me. “Well… shit. I think we stumbled upon where the body was.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The body went quite far, then. I mean, we searched up and down the river, but this far away?” I ask as I pull my glove off in case there’s any evidence on it.
“It was really windy and stormy those past few nights, remember? The river was moving at a pretty good clip and it’s mostly straight, so the body could have continued moving until it got hung up on something where those teens found it. I’m calling it in.”
“Alright, here’s my glove, I’ll run the dogs back.”
“Great.”
I grab Hela’s leash and take off at a jog as the dogs prance and dance, excited for the increase of speed. Once home, I stuff them inside and grab another pair of gloves. Probably everyone in the department already knows about my arm, but I do like to wear them when dealing with the public so I have fewer questions. Then I head back to where some of the team is starting to arrive. I walk over to where Marcus is talking to Officer Miller and Officer Perez, the two who were the first to show up after the teens’ call.
“If her body was brought here, there’s a possibility she was killed around here. This bike trail leads straight to the university she was attending and, most likely, isn’t far from her dorm. Can we get the K9 unit here?” Marcus asks.
“I’m on it,” Perez says.
Karsyn is the next to arrive with his kit. Since he’s an older vampire, it’s not uncommon for him to be pulled into our team when making arrests, but he does excel more in the forensic or analysis work. The biggest issue with the VRC is that there aren’t enough of us for a full team, so a lot of the members are stuck doing the work of multiple people. Even so, Marcus and I are involved in more fieldwork than the others, and he’s the oldest, so he’s automatically in charge of most of the cases. Since I’m his partner, I’m given a top position, even though I’ve technically been with the VRC the shortest. It helps that I have a background as a homicide detective.
I leave Marcus to his work and head over to Karsyn.
“DeGray and Briar are right behind me,” he says.
“Great. I hit the nail with my hand, but Marcus has the glove,” I explain as I lead him over to the spot. “I’m going to reach out to her roommate