In the Blood Read online

  “It’s a good bet that you’ve ingested the toxin too, and have been for a while. Your blood is probably contaminated,” he said. “The coffee on your desk tested positive. Mitch barely started the test before he got a reaction.”

  Ollie sucked in a harsh breath. “The amount of toxin that implies…”. His gaze swung back to the closed door. “Good lord.” He hurried back into the medical suite to let the staff know that it was likely worse than they already expected.

  Ollie carefully caught the blood dripping off Caroline’s thumb in his test tube until he nodded that he had enough of a sample and Greg handed her a bandaid. Ollie turned back to his desk and started his test.

  “So why would there be any vampire poison be in human food?” Caroline asked. The shock of the news that her own food was laced with the toxin had hit her hard, but once they got her into the lab to collect a test sample, she realized that the biggest emotion she had running through her was anger. She was absolutely livid.

  “Probably in case Darien tried to feed from you, which he very nearly did.” Greg said.

  “But how would they know to poison me?” Caroline asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. The only people who know it’s even remotely possible that a vampire would feed from me at all are you guys. The people here in this office who know what happened during the kidnaping.”

  “Well, I hate to say it, but we all know that just being a colleague here in the agency doesn’t mean being friendly towards Darien. We’re pretty sure we got all of Beckett’s anti-vampire cronies flushed out, but maybe we missed one?” Greg said. His eyes were frustrated and sad at the thought of one of their teammates could betray them so badly. “It’s not impossible to think that someone here talked to whoever is making this poison, and was lacing your food just in case.”

  “It might not have been about you— or about Darien— specifically,” Mack said. He was frowning at Ollie’s back. “Something about this makes me feel like it’s bigger than D.”

  “You mean, something besides all the supplies in town being contaminated? That would definitely be a pretty scattershot approach just to target Darien specifically.” Greg agreed. But they could be contaminating the blood supply and then also specific targets beyond that.”

  “Still, it seems… I don’t know. A bit convoluted somehow, I guess. Call it a gut feeling, man. I think we have a lot to figure out yet,” Mack said with a grimace and a shake of his head.

  “You may be right,” Caroline said, slowly turning the idea over in her mind. “It might not have been about D, in particular. And it may be scattershot like you said, but think about it. What better way is there to make sure you harm a vampire than to make the humans around them poisonous? It’s like leaving bits of poisoned cheese out for the mice.”

  Ollie turned and was about to speak when the door opened and Point came in. His footsteps were heavy and slow, and his broad shoulders sagged.

  “He’ll be okay. He woke up and was semi-lucid for a few minutes, which the doc says is a good sign. We got to him in plenty of time to pump out most of the toxin but we need some clean blood to feed him once his system is completely clean,” Point said. “Otherwise he’ll just keep weakening from starvation.”

  “Well, Caroline is off the menu. And to be safe, I’d honestly say that everyone in Stonehaven is off the menu for the foreseeable future,” Ollie said from his station. He reached back to grab something and held up a test tube for everyone to see. The liquid inside was a cloudy orange with a layer of silver at the bottom.

  “The silver is part of the carrier. It’s a known toxin for vampires and a number of other paranormals if it gets into their system above a certain level. There’s always some in the environment that is unavoidable, but…” Ollie trailed off with a grimace. “Most of the time it causes something like a contact allergy since the paranormals affected by silver know better than to ingest it, but weapons made of it do a fair amount of damage once it makes it past the skin barrier. I imagine that the silver was added to assist the action of the toxin and to magnify its effects. More subtle than a silver bullet or knife, and it would distribute through all the major biological systems far faster.”

  “That’s horrible,” Caroline said. “Also, you’ve completely put me off silver jewelry. I had no idea.” She tried to think back to everything she’d ever worn since meeting him and felt sick.

  Greg patted her shoulder. “If Darien had ever been bothered by anything you wore, he would have said something. Don’t sweat it, C.”

  “Back to the problem at hand, people,” Point grumbled.

  “Right. So the regular food supply has been contaminated,” Greg said “Why?”

  “Well, all we know is that this food here is contaminated. We’ll have to wait till we get the leftovers from his fridge at home,” Caroline pointed out.

  “So he drank it not from a can of blood but from a cup of coffee? That’s what we’re saying?” Point asked.

  “It does look that way,” Ollie answered, nodding.

  “Well, where’d the coffee come from?” Point asked.

  “The Everyday Cup,” Caroline said. “I go there a lot, I got him coffee from there yesterday and it was fine.”

  “Greg, go with her and scope the place out, I don’t want her out there alone on this. Mack, I want you to hit a few other local restaurants and pick up some to-go orders for Ollie to test. Check Darien’s favorite places if you know them. I’m going to get another team to do the same at places near his cousin’s apartment, and someone to hit up the donation center that supplied the stores with the blood so we can keep hitting that avenue. Let’s get the son of a bitch. He went after one of us.”

  “Yes sir,” everyone chorused.

  8

  Caroline knew that Greg was following her down the sidewalk once they left the office. She couldn’t hear him, his footsteps had become silent and he moved with a merciless deliberation like he was stalking prey, but she could tell he was still there from the anger that was rolling off him. They were both pissed off about the entire situation, and each of them had to work through their thoughts on the matter before trying to be good company.

  Before heading out they had stopped in the room where Darien was still lying silent, unmoving, and almost grey. His whole body seemed to be sunken and it looked like he hadn’t fed in weeks rather than days. Caroline thought back to when she’d first met him.

  They had both been kidnapped by an elf supremacy terrorist group, and she she woke up in the little basement cell confused and disoriented. Darien had been there, a clear victim of a severe beating. He’d sat there, bruised and bleeding, telling her that he probably had a few broken ribs and a concussion, but it would be okay. They’d be fine, he’d said.

  And the crazy part is that they had been. Darien’s confidence and calm explanations of everything paranormal had helped Caroline focus on getting out of there. Sure, he’d been badly injured, but thanks to the kidnappers manhandling of her, Caroline’s own bleeding injury had fed Darien and healed him. But today, seeing him in that hospital bed, unable to feed from anyone in town or even any of the packaged supplies, had scared her. The memory of that image half blocked out the view of the sidewalk that she was walking down now.

  “It’s my fault, Greg,” she said. Her steps faltered and she almost stumbled. A large hand landed on her back and she couldn’t completely prevent the flinch. She had known he was behind her, but hadn’t noticed him moving so close. She glanced up and there was a short flicker of faint amusement at her reaction.

  “It is not your fault, C.” He said, all the humor gone from his face like it was never there, and she heard nothing but sincerity in his voice. “In the first place, when you offered Darien blood you were being kind, and generous, and trying to care for your friend. He knows that, even when he’s not awake to think about it deliberately. We all know that you would never do anything to hurt Darien. Secondly, you didn’t put the poison in the food, and you certainly didn’t willingly in
gest it yourself. Someone else did that. They did that to you, not just to Darien, and you can’t take responsibility for any of their actions.”

  “I should have been more careful. I knew that someone was poisoning food supplies!” Caroline knew that Greg was only telling her the truth, but she wasn’t quite ready to let go of her guilt yet. Darien was basically in a coma, and she is the one who brought him the coffee that did it, and apparently the pastries were full of the toxin as well.

  “Hey. Stop.” Greg’s hand on her shoulder tugged her to a standstill there on the sidewalk. He gently pulled her around to face him and hunched down a bit to bring himself to her eye level.

  “You knew that there was poison in the blood supplies, not in the regular food. You can’t internalize this. I understand that guilt, deserved or not, can hit you hard. So, if you can’t handle this investigation we need to know now. It’s not something to be ashamed of to be angry that D is down, but you have no reason to feel responsible. Thinking that way will make you crazy before you’ve worked here six months.” Greg’s voice was gentle, but deadly serious. He meant every word he was saying.

  “Whoever is out there with this poison and this plot is a criminal and a murderer,” he continued. “You are not either. You’re on the FPAA criminal investigations team. I know that technically you’re not a full agent, and you’re human to boot, but not a single one of us gives a rat’s ass about technicalities or details of species. You’re one of us. You’re a teammate. You’re Darien’s partner and friend, and I would love to have you with us when we gut this bastard.”

  Caroline swallowed and nodded. Then, when Greg started to straighten, she couldn’t stop herself. She leaped up and hugged him. He hugged her back and stood up fully, leaving her toes dangling above the sidewalk and swung her side to side like a pendulum, which made her laugh.

  “Thanks. I needed to hear that,” she said.

  “I know. We all need to hear something like that sometimes. We all risk it, that dark spiral down into self-recrimination,” he said, grinning.

  “Wow. Big words from the big kitty.” Caroline pushed back against his shoulder and hopped lightly back onto her feet.

  “I do read sometimes, you know,” he sniffed, turning his face away and pretending to be insulted.

  “Awww, don’t be all fickle now— What’s wrong, what are you looking at?” Caroline followed the direction of Greg’s startled gaze. Across the street was a modern, lightly fancy looking medical clinic. The mirrored glass windows in the front gave no indication of the interior, but the front of the building and the stylish sign over the door made it seem like the sort of place that offered therapy massage and rehab, as well as boutique medical services for more upscale clients. There was a smaller sign to the side of the door that seemed to indicate that there was a walk in clinic run by the same company a block away. The whole building promised professional competence and discretion.

  “What’s up, Greg?” she asked. His eyes narrowed and his posture shifted slightly.

  “That’s the place that sells the canned supplies to the shops we searched yesterday,” he said. “That’s the main office and the fancy clinic end of the operation.”

  “Really?” Caroline tipped her head and stared at the building. The door opened and a woman in an expensive suit with her arm in a sling stepped out onto the sidewalk and strode briskly away.

  “What are you two doing here?” A sweet voice behind them made Caroline jump and they both turned to see Felix and Zanna standing behind them.

  “We were on our way to the coffee shop when we noticed the clinic. You guys on the supply trail?” Greg said.

  “Yeah. The chief wanted us to canvass a bit first, but we were about to head in when we saw you two.” Felix said. His accent wasn’t very pronounced— he hadn’t actually lived in France since he was a young child— but he played it up every time he looked at Caroline. She tried not to roll her eyes too hard.

  “Most of the donations are taken at the walk-in clinic around the corner, but the whole thing is run from here,” Zanna said. She glanced at the building and a flash of anger crossed her face. Nobody liked this case. Random poisonings were just filthy, and one of their own had been caught in it.

  “Good luck. I’m glad he sent you two,” Caroline said. The woman looked startled and raised an eyebrow. Caroline grinned. “Nobody in there will stand a chance with you two. You know you’re too pretty for anyone’s good, Zanna, and if Felix ever tries to be charming, he might find someone willing to look past his terrible personality. They don’t stand a chance.” Caroline winked and the woman laughed out loud. Felix just raised his eyebrow at her.

  “Perhaps you should spend more time around me. I think you simply don’t have enough experience with my personality to see it clearly,” he smiled and leaned closer to her, and Caroline wondered if it actually worked on other women.

  “I’m good, thanks. I’ve got Greg to hang out with today,” she answered. She smiled up at Greg and batted her eyelashes wildly.

  “You should be careful, Greg. I could start to take it as a challenge.” Felix grinned, then turned to leer at Caroline. She wondered if he thought he was being subtle.

  “I’m curious. Do you actually think you’re being charming or are you hamming it up to make people laugh? Your voice is giving me no clues about that,” Caroline asked.

  Zanna smacked Felix’ arm when he started to answer. “Come on, tall, dark, and failing completely. Let’s go. We’ll give you a call when we leave here,” she said to Greg, stepping away to cross the street.

  “Hey,” Felix said, his voice serious for once. “Be careful, both of you. I would not like to visit another colleague in hospital.” He nodded a farewell and followed his own partner.

  “Well, that was weird.” Caroline said finally as the pair disappeared through the mirrored glass door. “I’ve ever heard him actually be serious, and not just a smarmy jerk.”

  “He’s actually not too terrible when he’s not trying to be charming. I think you bring out the smarmiest in him,” Greg shrugged. “Come on, we have our own work to do. Let’s go check out that cafe.”

  9

  They walked into the cafe and glanced around. The lunch rush was long over, and Caroline’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t even realized how many hours had passed since Darien’s collapse and her abandoned breakfast. She hadn’t even managed to eat anything. Greg grinned at her.

  “Well, we might as well eat since we’re here,” he said.

  She glanced at him with a question in her eyes, but didn’t say anything as he stepped up to the counter. He hadn’t mentioned any particular plan of action once they got here, and Caroline had been so wrapped up in feeling responsible for Darien’s poisoning the she hadn’t asked. She was flying blind now, and Greg couldn’t let her in on his scheme. They hadn’t worked together like this very often, but he clearly had something like a plan. Time to improvise, apparently.

  “So what’s good here?” he asked.

  “Besides the coffee? I like the sandwiches, usually. Sometimes I get a hankering for their chicken hand pie. It’s pretty tasty,” she said, matching his breezy, unworried tone. “Oh, the new pastries are pretty good, too.”

  “Oooh, that does sound good, I’ll have two of the chicken hand pies and some coffee. What’ll you have, C? My treat today,” he said. She gave her order and they swung over to a table near the pickup area. He smiled and leaned lazily back with a stretch, and Caroline stifled a grin. He was very much on the hunt now, his sharp eyes taking in everything going on in the whole room from under half closed eyelids.

  Humanity liked to pride itself on being the most dangerous creature around, but Caroline hadn’t thought that for some time. It’s a little difficult to stay convinced of mankind’s top-of-the-food-chain attitude once you know your coworker can turn from handsome, goofy, blonde flirt to a nearly-ten-foot-tall manticore able to rip the leg off an ogre and poison an entire herd of elephants before needing to slow
down. She was just glad that Greg was one of the good guys, and more often than not he was just a big old pussycat.

  “Oh, my dear! You came back to us for lunch, did you? How’s your boyfriend doing? I’ve been worrying about you two since you came in this morning.” Mrs. Claus hustled out of the kitchen area with a tray of cake slices and slid them into the glass case before coming around to chat.

  “Darien? He’s just a friend,” she corrected. “And, you know how it goes. It’s never easy when you’re grieving.” Caroline picked up the glimmer in Greg’s eye.

  “Poor D. I’m not sure why he just doesn’t go home. His mom and his aunt would feel better having him around, I’m sure. Has he said when the funeral is?”

  “No.” Caroline shook her head. “I think he’s still in shock, you know? I mean how often do you hear that your cousin was murdered?”

  Mrs. Claus gasped. “Murdered? Oh the poor dear!”

  “I know. Shocking.” Greg nodded and leaned forward in a classic gossip pose. “She was poisoned, apparently. The police interviewed our colleague, but he couldn’t really help them, I understand. He was mostly okay until he had to go identify the body, since the rest of their family is out of state. It was pretty bad, I guess. He came back looking sick himself.” His eyes were wide and if Caroline hadn’t known him she would have thought he was slightly ghoulish, finding entertainment in his co-worker’s tragedy.

  Caroline nodded solemnly when the woman glanced her way. With a start, she realized that the twinkly baker was fishing for information, and the penny dropped. It was all Caroline could do to not lunge at the woman who Greg suspected had poisoned Darien. Greg put a gentle hand over where hers clenched on the table.

  “He actually made himself pretty sick, too, this morning,” Greg said. Caroline could hear the hint of warning in his voice and she knew that he was perfectly aware of her thoughts and needed her to keep her cool.