* * *

When she arrived at Shale & Associates, Ryan and Shale were locked in a heated conversation and most of the paint had been removed. Ari saw the upper tips of the H and M. The two-man crew stood by their ladders and cleaning supplies, waiting for the outcome of the men’s dispute. Ari joined the discussion in time to hear Shale say it was nothing more than racial graffiti. He’d called his insurance carrier, and they’d told him to take pictures and clean it up. He hadn’t thought to tell the police. Ryan was steamed. He’d heard about the vandalism when TV Channel 12 called for a statement. He stalked off in disgust, and Ari returned to work. There was nothing left to see, but Channel 12 could expect a warrant for their film.

The incident warranted only a 30-second spot on the evening news, but the next morning The Clarion broke the expanded story on page one. Local Agency Dubbed HOUSE OF MONSTERS. It wasn’t the main headline, but the drama was bound to capture community attention. Ari worried about public reaction. The article stopped short of stating Riverdale had a serial killer or rogue vampire hunter, but it laid out, and by inference connected, the four incidents: the murders, the drive-by, and the vandalism. Ari wanted to strangle Eddie. As promised, he hadn’t printed anything that wasn’t public information, but she doubted Ryan would find any comfort in that. She found very little herself.

* * *

After reading the article, she checked her overnight phone messages and found a long message from Ryan about irresponsible reporters and keeping them in jail where they belonged. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ari suppressed a chuckle. Ryan’s second message, left ten minutes after the first, said, “Never mind. I’ve had my coffee now,” and she laughed out loud.

By 10:15 that night, however, none of them were laughing. The three local TV channels led the news with the vampire story, including interviews with many of the witnesses. Cameras spotlighted the parking lot at the Woodland Inn, the shelter in Goshen Park, even the exterior of Club Dintero. Channel 12 ended their piece with a display of the spray-painted agency in full living color. The clear message in every report was Riverdale had a serial killer eliminating vampires.

Late into the night and early the next morning, Ari’s phone rang several times. Ryan was called to the station, and the public was in full outcry. She had called Eddie right away, and when she quit berating him for an instant, he denied sharing information with anyone.

“Look at my article,” he said. “Do you see the names in there? Do you think I want them hounding my sister?” He’d been indignant that Ari’d thought he would even consider leaking the details. “My story was scooped.”

When Ryan reached the news desk at Channel 12, the station that filmed most of the witnesses, he was told they’d received an anonymous email detailing the crime scenes and listing names or possible locations of witnesses. Realizing this information could only have come from a few sources, including the killer, the PD tech department jumped on the task of backtracking the email through cyberspace. Ari and Ryan weren’t optimistic they’d find the killer this way. He’d been too careful in everything else.

“If this was our suspect,” Ryan asked, in a late afternoon phone call with Ari, “why the sudden craving for publicity? Why now? What’s he want?”

“Could be a psycho who’s escalating,” she said. “Wants the world to know how smart he is. I wasn’t convinced the vandalism was connected, until it was included in the email. Maybe your PD shrink or the state profilers can use the email for a profile, give us a hand with a possible motive? Even figure out the link to Shale’s agency.”

“But the agency isn’t connected to Andreas.”

Ari frowned. “So maybe he was targeted for a different reason, or someone saw him there the night of our interview. We can’t ignore the fact that two of the victims were clients at the center. Our killer has been there. Maybe using the agency as his stalking grounds, selecting potential victims.” She paused, as a thought occurred to her. “Maybe he’s there now, using the agency for camouflage. Hiding under our noses.”

* * *

Despite Ari’s fears the killer was escalating, the rest of the week was uneventful. The public gradually calmed with nothing new to stir the press’s imagination.

Unfortunately, the investigation didn’t make any big leaps either. Gillian’s report on the second crime scene came in. Similar patterns to the first scene: numerous readings, both human and Otherworld. Since she’d detected the demon trace again, stronger this time, Ari asked her to take the testing to the next level, identification of subtypes. Ari was grabbing at straws, searching less likely avenues now, but even negative information was better than none. She re-interviewed witnesses, family members, and friends, seeking new links between the victims, something they missed the first time. She didn’t find them.

The email was tracked to a computer at the public library. Since the computer was available for general use, stayed busy most of the day, and users weren’t recorded, it was another dead end.

Acting upon the theory the killer held a particular hatred for, or a grudge against, vampires, Ryan’s officers researched anti-vamp organizations and located five groups that had registered members in Riverdale. The only acts of violence by four of the groups were spontaneous confrontations: heated tempers erupting into bar fights and public harassment of individuals. Not cold-blooded executions. Despite this history, Ryan and Ari interviewed local chapter leaders. Due to the obvious animosity his presence would stir, Andreas watched the interviews by hidden camera. None of the four exhibited the necessary level of fanaticism to commit multiple murders. The investigative team crossed them off the suspect list.

The fifth group was a possibility. The international organization of Human Supremacy had a bloody history and a well-earned reputation for outspoken bigotry. Ari took an instant dislike to the local leader. Bob Blair, a short, flabby guy with a bird-size brain, was an ex-con. Two counts of aggravated assault, a half-page of misdemeanors. He wore an armband with the group’s chosen symbol, a swastika with a wooden stake through the middle. So imaginative. Like the Pure Blood vampire gang, these guys didn’t bother with subtle. It occurred to Ari that putting the two groups together in one room might solve a lot of problems.

“You better bet I hate vamps,” Blair told them. “They’re killers. Vicious from the second they’re transformed. Only way to keep humans safe is to kill every bloodsucker—the sooner, the better. We’ve a duty to protect ourselves. ’Course, we keep it legal,” he added, with a surprisingly high-pitched chuckle. “Self-defense.” He showed Ryan his leather belt with five carved X’s. “Them’s my vamp kills.”

Ari thinned her lips in disgust. His blatant bragging rang false. The vampires wouldn’t sit around and allow known vamp killers to go unpunished. The fact he was still alive was evidence of his inflated claims. She wondered what Andreas was thinking in the other room. Whatever else happened, the local vampires would be keeping tabs on Blair’s little group from now on.

When Ryan asked Blair about the specific murders of Jules and Patricia, the suspect grew evasive, raising their suspicions. He shrugged. “Okay, I admit we can’t take credit for those two. Some new player in town. I can only admire his work.”

When they were convinced Blair had no information on the ‘new player,’ he was dismissed. He could be lying, of course, but it seemed unlikely. Blair wasn’t nearly clever enough to be the guy they were looking for.

Andreas and his staff didn’t have any better luck in finding leads on the murders or the drive-by within the vampire community. No one had a strong enough grudge against him or the club, and they didn’t find any indication of recent interference from Toronto. If Sebastian had new spies in town, they were well undercover.

Ari even contacted Rita, her vamp informant. The only theories Rita had heard were directed at the humans and fears of a vampire hunter.

“What about this group that calls itself the Pure Bloods? Could they be behind this?” Ari asked.

“Oh, those guys. They brag a lot. Beat up somebody when they can, but that’s about it. Haven’t seen them for days. I heard Andreas ordered them to leave town.” Rita paused. “Trouble ain’t coming from us. Something real snerky is going on.”

Ari’s unease went up another notch. Her witch senses had been sending a similar warning, constant, annoying pinpricks along the spine. Weird, creepy, snerky. Whatever term you chose, something was off. Her frustration grew as she realized her suspect list had dwindled to nothing.

Then Gillian called with the sub-typing report. It complicated and confused everything, sending Ari in a new direction.

“Full demon energy?” Ari exclaimed, her pulse surging from excitement or fear, maybe both. “Are you positive? How high was the level?”

“High, but we’re not certain yet. It’s still within the very top range that a high-level halfling might generate. The sample could have been contaminated, considering all the activity that night. We talked it over here at the lab. If a full blood was in town, wouldn’t it have been obvious before now? They like things bloody, scattering terror and bodies around. Besides, how often does anyone see a full blooded demon?”

“Not often.” Ari remembered her only contact in St. Louis, almost eight years ago. The local witch had detected the demon presence immediately. “What about Riverdale history?”

“Last sighting was 1853. Burned buildings, murdered dozens of people on the streets. Not the delicate type. We think you’re dealing with a high level halfling.”

“Then find me the names of every halfling in town.”

“Done. The list is on its way to your phone. One more thing. The wounds we couldn’t explain? Maybe our halfling has demon fire. The explosions sound similar to gunfire and leave irregular, round wounds.”

“Duh!” Ari tapped herself on the forehead. “I, of all people, should have thought of that.” Her witch fire could cause similar damage, except the victims would then burst into flames if she used crimson fire. Her stuns left round black singes but no penetration. If demon fire was used like a laser, carefully focused and directed, it might well leave wounds looking like bullet holes. Hard to detect with the added damage caused by the rapid decay of vampire corpses.

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