In the Blood Read online

  “Oh no! Oh, poor Darien. Oh! Her poor mother!” Mom said. “How is he? How are they all, is there anything your dad and I can do from here?” The mild condemnation was instantly turned into concern. It was actually kind of nice to hear.

  “No, Mom. Right now he’s pretty upset, and I don’t think he’s slept since he heard last night,” Caroline said. “But mostly it’s still sinking in. She was just a little older than me and he’s sort of in shock.”

  “Oh, that won’t do at all! Oh, the poor man. Do you know what happened? Was she sick? Was it… was it drugs?” The last part was almost whispered, as if Darien was standing there listening to their call.

  “No, Mom. It was not…” Caroline grimaced and took a deep breath. “She was poisoned. Something got into her food. Greg is looking into it while I stay with D.”

  “Oh no!” Mom gasped. “Are you being careful? Who else could get sick? Should I start shipping you meals?”

  Caroline laughed. “No, Mom. I’m perfectly safe. You remember how Darien mentioned he has a special medical condition that requires a supplement? Well, it’s genetic. Hannah had the same thing. It was the supplement that was tainted. Darien was at risk for a bit, but we’ve looked through his supplies and he’s okay. I just wanted you to know that I’m not going to be leaving him alone for a while.”

  “That’s my girl. You take care of that boy, and let him know that we’re saying prayers for him and his family. If there’s anything we can do from here, let us know, okay? And we’ll see you both next week for the big move-in day! Unless he’s with his own family, which your father and I will understand.”

  “Thanks, Mom. I’ll tell him.” After she hung up the call she glanced around and shook her head. The office buzz was slightly more urgent than usual, but otherwise the wheels of paranormal justice and regulation were rolling along as usual. It was reassuring, both that life kept going and that so many of them were worried about Darien.

  Darien himself had wandered into the lab finally, and as she’d walked by the door he was deep in conversation with Felix. A smug know-it-all who was convinced that just because he was French (and happened to be an elf, like that made a difference) it was a matter of time before Caroline swooned into his arms and his bed. The fact that she’d known him for a month and a half now and still thought he was a greasy jerk was irrelevant. He was, however, very knowledgable about recent European history, and what with the Nazi connection and all, it made sense that he’d be involved with the investigation.

  Caroline sighed and sat back in her chair, biting into the flaky pastry she’d just discovered in her bag. There’d been a note taped to the box it was in saying that the staff saw her in there all the time, and since she was such a good customer, they threw in an extra, have a great day and see her soon! It was nice to have somewhere that she was a ‘regular.’ The apple filing was sweet and gooey and spiced just right, even though it was cold.

  As she finished her pastry, she glanced over at the door to the lab. It stood slightly open as people had been in and out all day, but Ollie preferred to keep it shut mostly and as she watched someone inside nudged it closed. It wasn’t often that the lab was the center of activity, and the door had definitely been getting a workout.

  Caroline sighed and turned back to her paperwork.

  6

  Greg and Mack had gotten back a bit late, lugging boxes of samples behind them. Ollie took one look and started grumbling in some language Caroline couldn’t even identify and just shooed everyone out of his lab so he could start testing it all. It seemed that the two shops in the area both got their supplies from a private blood bank here in town, and the donation center wasn’t too far away, but everyone wanted more information on them before shutting them down for a thorough search. The two shops put in new orders from a center two cities away, but wouldn’t be able to get their shipments for a few days at least, so the local vampires were out of luck.

  A press release had been issued regarding ‘tainted tomato juice’ and everyone hoped like hell that any local vampires would see the news story before they ingested the poison, and hopefully none of them went blood mad. That was a new idea for Caroline, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

  Apparently, there had been a few cases in history, and it was like a measles outbreak but smaller and much more violent. It happened when a vampire fed from a human who was a carrier for some sort of illness that didn’t affect them, but would hit the vampire’s system like an eighteen wheeler and drive them insane. It was what happened to a number of the soldiers Ollie had told her about.

  It’s also where a lot of violent demonic possession myths came from, as the vampire in question went insane for a time and tried to attack those around them. The only time in recorded history where more than one or maybe two vampires were affected in any single area? When the Nazis contaminated the British blood supply. It was a terrible thing to say, but Hannah was lucky she died so fast. She could be remembered as the sweet girl she had been, not someone who ‘had been so sweet till she snapped and went on a rampage.’

  Unfortunately the press release wasn’t a solution, and a call came in about an hour before their shift ended, Greg and Mack went out to investigate the body of another dead vampire and begin collecting information to add to the file.

  Darien did go home finally, with Caroline to Julia’s place where Julia fussed over him like he was her own kid and she was a responsible adult. It was the first time Caroline had ever seen her behave like one, really, so it was a bit of a revelation.

  Her parents called him, too, to express their condolences. They didn’t know about the paranormal world, and they certainly didn’t know that Darien was a vampire. All they knew is that he was the man who’d kept their little girl safe through a kidnapping, and got a stab wound to show for it, and that Caroline spoke highly of him as a dedicated coworker. That was enough for both her parents to stay friendly when they saw him, and a death in the family seemed to make her mother extra solicitous.

  Between Julia and Caroline, they’d finally gotten him to get some sleep in Caroline’s room, after practically wrestling him down. It took an hour of arguing that she’d be fine on the sofa before she finally threatened to call Darien’s mother about the whole thing. It was pretty impressive considering the fact that he was running on nothing but fumes and stubbornness by then. He’d been gone by the time she woke up, and she was seriously considering asking Point if putting him in a holding cell to keep him in a room with a bed was an option.

  Caroline was turning all this over in her mind when she stopped into the cafe to pick up her coffee. She chatted a bit with the barista, who talked about the bad traffic that morning and rang her up without having to ask her order, then moved over to the pickup area. It was still pretty early, but this case was not only important in terms of public safety, but it was hitting very close to home. She wanted to get into the office and start working as soon as she could. Also she assumed that was where she’d find Darien so she could yell at him.

  “Morning! You’re in early today.” The Mrs. Claus baker was behind the glass pastries case again and gave her a huge smile. She was neat in her white chef’s coat and her grey hair pulled back in a tidy bun at the top of her neck.

  “Good morning. There’s a big case we’re working on. It’s all hands on deck right now.” Good manners were always important, especially before coffee.

  “You’ve come in here a time or two lately. You work nearby?” She carefully slid another tray into the case, the croissants looking buttery and soft.

  “I do. I’m an intern at one of the law offices.” Caroline was so used to the cover now that she didn’t even think of it as a lie. Besides, there were law offices there. She just went through the plain, uninteresting door at Jeanie’s right and into the FPAA bullpen, rather than down the nicely appointed, carpeted hallway to the lawyer’s offices.

  “Oh, how exciting! I’ve seen you in here so many mornings, and then yesterday for lunch, too! You
can call me nosy, but I wondered.” The woman’s eyes sparkled. “Was that gentleman with you yesterday a coworker or maybe you were just meeting him for lunch? Handsome fellow. I hope you had a lovely afternoon. I wouldn’t mind an afternoon out with a good looking gentleman like that, I’ll tell you.” She winked and patted her grey hair over her ear. Caroline felt her ears heat up.

  “He’s a coworker. I wanted to get him out of the office and into the sunshine a little bit, that’s all. He had some bad news yesterday morning.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame.” She slid another tray of pastries into the glass case and shut the door. “Hope it wasn’t too bad.”

  “Death in the family.” Caroline grimaced, her mind racing ahead to what she hoped to do today. She wondered if Ollie had finished his analysis of all the samples yet. She had no idea how fast the tests were. Must be pretty fast if they’d gone through Darien’s whole pantry by mid-afternoon.

  “Oh that’s terrible! Poor man. Here.” The woman bustled around behind the counter and came back with both her drink and an extra coffee. She handed them over with a small paper pastries bag.

  “There’s for your work friend. It’s not much, but sometimes a hot cuppa can solve a world of problems.” She practically quivered with her offer, and Caroline heard an odd note in her voice. She couldn’t quite place it since it wasn’t familiar like the big emotions, so she shrugged mentally, thanked the woman, and headed out.

  It wasn’t completely unheard of for Caroline to find a voice hard to read— sometimes an emotion or an intention she’d never come across before threw her off, or the person speaking had some strongly conflicting feelings about something. She had been working with Mitch on understanding her gift and refining it, and she was getting better. Still, it always made her feel uncomfortable when she couldn’t place the intent behind a voice. She tried to shrug it off. Lord only knew what the woman’s deal was. Maybe she was excited to be able to comp someone a pastry. She was new to the shop, after all, and Caroline had no idea where she’d come from.

  She nodded to Jeanie when she got off the elevator.

  “Hey. I should warn you that D is looking pretty rough this morning.” Jeanie actually looked worried.

  “This whole case is hitting him hard.” Caroline shook her head and moved to the door.

  “On a number of levels, I bet. If there’s anything I can do, let me know?” Jeanie’s concern shone through her voice and was clear in her eyes. Caroline gave her a small smile and thanked fate for landing her in such an emotionally healthy workplace. The office rumbled with voices and she made her way to Darien’s desk.

  “Here’s a coffee for you, courtesy of Mrs. Claus down at the cafe. And she gave us some pastries, too.” Caroline plunked the goodies down in front of Darien, and took the chance to look him over. Jeanie had been right. Dark circles made his skin look extra pale and it was clear that he hadn’t shaved.

  “Did you sleep at all last night?” she asked. “You were gone when we got up this morning.”

  “I did. Not well, but I got a few hours. I didn’t want to wake you guys with my pacing around your room.” He nodded slowly and reached for the coffee. “And I’m getting hungry. Greg remembered my emergency desk stash and took it for testing. Came up positive, along with everything they brought in from the stores.”

  “Oh man. Oh god, Darien. Good thing you didn’t drink it then.” Caroline felt fear creeping through her. It was cold and heavy and made her chest feel tight. She didn’t like it.

  “Yeah.” His skin looked a little ashen, and his movements were careful, like he was compensating slightly for something. “Thanks for the coffee.”

  “My offer stands, you know,” she said. “I’m pretty sure Point won’t throw regs at you considering the circumstances.”

  “She’s right, D.” The chief himself stumped up to their desks, his slate-colored skin looking extra blue today against his crisp white shirt, his tie loose and his jacket already nowhere to be seen. A sure sign of his worry over the whole situation. As soon as he’d been promoted into his current position he’d started dressing like he thought a chief ought to look. Caroline and Darien privately thought it was more than a little funny to see a troll in a suit.

  “In fact,” Point glared at Darien, “I will offer the privacy of my office for the purpose of your meal. Pull the shades and lock the door.”

  “I can’t do that, Point, there’s too many rules against that sort of thing,” Darien answered, taking a deliberately casual gulp from his cup. “The hunger’s not too bad. Not yet, anyway. I can definitely go a few more days at least. And it’s not like I’m going to be sent out on a case anytime soon, I’d guess. I’ll just hold out till the fresh supplies come in, I’ll be fine.”

  “You weren’t so worried about the rules back in that dungeon cell couple of months back,” Point growled. “I don’t want you passing out from starvation in the middle of the day. Your continued health and wellbeing is important to this office, and what you do with a consenting, adult blood donor is none of my business. Take your break and go use my office.”

  “That was an entirely different situation, and you know it. I was dying, and she was already bleeding and lord only knows what those jerks would have done to her if she’d been left unprotected.” Darien took a long sip of the coffee and stared at the surface of his desk. Caroline thought she saw him shiver slightly and wondered if he was okay. Well, not okay exactly because clearly he wasn’t. But…

  “Darien, you’re looking worse by the minute. I mean you’re practically turning grey in front of us,” Caroline said.

  “I don’t feel great, I admit.” He really did look grey now, and his voice was strained. “This whole mess is just… I don’t…” Darien slid off his chair and landed heavily on the floor, his body twitching and his eyes rolling.

  “OLIVER!” Point’s shout made all the loose objects in the room rattle and everyone jumped, some crouching, ready to repel an attack. “Someone get the medics up here RIGHT NOW!!”

  7

  “He’ll be okay, right?” Caroline shivered in spite of the heat radiating off of Greg who leaned over her from the next chair and had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. They’d been sitting like that for twenty minutes while Niha, Ollie, and another healer that she didn’t know worked behind closed doors. Greg rubbed his big hand up and down her arm and didn’t answer. There was no trace of his usual playful demeanor, but the dangerous predator she’d seen once or twice before wasn’t quite out either. Caroline didn’t know what to make of Greg being… grimly comforting.

  “I’ve swept his desk, his trash, everything. There’s a team heading to his apartment now to sweep again there, but so far we can’t find any evidence that he hid supplies from us.” Mack walked up and sat heavily in the chair across the hall from them.

  “He stayed with us at Julia’s apartment last night. I’ll call her and let her know that there’ll be a team heading that way. He said he hasn’t had any blood for days, and he’s not going to lie to us about this. Not with Hannah and everything. Point was just about to order him to take me up on my offer to feed him directly,” Caroline said. Her throat was tight and her voice came out strained, but she was clear enough.

  “Well, I doubt that he’d hide any blood from us, especially after his emergency supply came up contaminated.” Greg said. “So how did he ingest the toxin?”

  “He was fine when he left our apartment this morning. Julia sent leftovers home with him, though, so if it was in there somehow…” Caroline trailed off to a whisper and Greg gave her a squeeze.

  “I can’t see Julia poisoning Darien,” he said.

  “Still,” she said. “You should test everything he’s eaten. Oh, the coffee from this morning is still on his desk, and the pastries are in the bag on mine even though he didn’t eat one.” She sat up and frowned.

  “Not sure why regular food would be contaminated. It’s kind of a scattershot, hope you hit something sort of method. There’s
no reason to put the stuff out there willy-nilly, right? I mean, it’s not like it’ll affect a human, after all,” Greg said.

  “True, but still, you’re right. If that’s all he’s eaten lately, that’s all we have to go on,” Caroline said. She sniffled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

  After a moment, he pulled out his phone and called Mack to relay the suggestion. Caroline was curled close enough that she could hear both sides of the call.

  “Good thinking. I’ll take their breakfast to the lab for them to start on and have the techs collect his leftovers. And I’ll call the lab team at his place and remind them to test all the regular food.” Mack said. “I don’t have Julia’s contact information, though. If you text it to me, I’ll get a team to her place, too.”

  The whole atmosphere of the office was tense. Nobody there liked that one of their own had become a victim, and the fact that it had happened here in their own office was insult added to injury. Caroline thought back to the moment when he pitched forward, his skin turning almost the same shade of blue-grey as Point’s. The look of pain that had twisted his face before he passed out would haunt her forever. When the door opened and Ollie somehow squeezed himself through it, she leaped at him.

  “Well?”

  “He’ll live,” Ollie said, his face unhappy and his shoulders sagging. “We pumped his stomach and did the best we could to flush his system without using any of the stored blood supplies we have on hand since I don’t trust any of them. He’s not awake yet though, and we don’t know when that’ll happen. He needs blood.”

  “Take whatever he needs.” Caroline started rolling up her sleeve. Footsteps pounded down the hall and they all turned.

  “Stop! Bad news on the donation front, Caroline.” Mack came running up, a scowl carved deep into his face.

  “What do you mean?” Caroline asked as they all swiveled to look at him.