Recovering the Siren Read online

  I wasn’t the only one who smacked him then. I just hit him the hardest as I was fine with joking, but there was a level of crude I didn’t like in a group. He apologized, looking repentant for sure, and even said he’d go pick up breakfast with the other car and meet us at the scene.

  Half went with him and half with us, and Emilio glanced over at me when we were stopped at a light. “He makes nervous jokes. It’s always been his way to cope. He did not handle you being taken well. Yes, you have sex now and again, but you’re like the closest friend he’s ever had not us, and it really hurts him worse knowing you were abused.”

  “I don’t remember it, and I’d hope people move past it,” I admitted. “I’m touched you guys cared, I would too and I get it, but I’m working so hard to move past it, and I need everyone around me to as well.”

  “I’ll tell him. Guilt is hard though. It’s why Nina can’t even talk to you. I heard she got the belongings from the German government though. She blew on them and finally threatened to come meet them in person if they didn’t hand over what was hers. She’s planning on a protection charm so no one can ever knock us out like that again.”

  I nodded, not wanting to talk about it. I knew Nina needed time, but it made me feel like shit. It wasn’t my fault, and I was scared about the magical whatever was inside of me now. That was undoubtedly something we couldn’t only put a cork in for so long.

  I let Eugene get out and check the area before he opened the door for me, putting on his professional hat, as it was all business as he scanned the area. I headed over to the police line, thanking them as they raised the tape for me. Nikos came in with me but kept a safe distance from the crime scene while the others fanned out around the area.

  “Wow, they are not taking any chances that some other psycho tries for her,” one of the patrol officers muttered to his partner as he took in the group with me. “Good. She gets too much done to risk losing her again.”

  “Yeah, vice needed its ass kicked and shaken up. I hated getting called to anything of theirs, as it was always a cluster fuck and too many people chewing on us like we had any part of it,” his partner replied.

  I shook my head as I accepted crime scene gloves from Annis. It seemed like ages since that crap had gone down on Valentine’s Day. I’d gotten caught up on the fallout, and it all seemed to be going well, but yeah, so much had happened since it was hard to keep up with it all.

  “We have four different bites,” Shaw told me confidently.

  “And you know this from more than bite radius?”

  She nodded. “Yes, because that’s great for sharks and some animal bites to determine size, but it’s only in books and movies that fangs work that way, as most bites are not on flat surfaces, and like at the neck the skin can pull or pinch, which completely distorts the radius.”

  “Good. So what do we really judge?”

  “We do judge the space between fangs but also the puncture sizes and force of bruising from the bite,” she answered. I knew Annis would know this as a vampire, and Rodriquez too as a shifter, but Shaw was a fairy and it was important we all knew these things when solving murders. “It is highly unlikely that someone feeds with a nip and then attacks like a shark. In general, people tend to bite with the same amount of force when feeding.”

  “Unless it’s a huge burger and I’m starving,” I muttered, smiling when she did. I looked at the bites and checked the sizes. “Yeah, there’s enough difference here that I would say four different people confidently. Why else would I say that?”

  “Because they’re spread out,” Shaw answered after a moment. “Right side of neck, right wrist, left upper arm, and right thigh. It would be one thing if it was different sides of the neck like they took a break or checked if they heard something and went for fresh skin, but four at this spread suggests four different vampires.”

  “Good. Also, they took all the blood so we know at least more than one for sure unless they were ancient, and I don’t smell any of our ancients, and those are the only ones in town,” I added. I looked over the man before reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. “Walter Riggles, local. Let’s get a full profile on Mr. Riggles, and we’ll make the notifications. You know how to do that, yes?”

  “Yeah, we’ve all done it,” Annis promised. “Are we still of the thought that I shouldn’t do it as a vampire when it was a vampire kill?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I hate to make it seem like it’s a thing, but people grieving aren’t rational. I hate to take note of species like that, but let’s just keep playing it that way since it seems to help. We don’t want misfocused anger and rage when trying to solve a murder.” I looked over at him. “I want you on looking for patterns or anywhere else reporting this sort of multi-vamp murder or attack in the past six months.”

  “Got it.” He waved over the medical examiner’s people when I nodded I was done and so were they.

  My phone rang, and I connected the call without looking. “Thomas.”

  “Hey you,” Jason murmured in my ear. “How are you?”

  I swallowed a sigh. I’d been ducking his calls besides one quick discussion when I’d gotten back because he’d demanded to hear my voice and confirm with me I was okay. I would have done the same, but even if I sent gifts to mend the bridges he’d burned looking for me, I wasn’t open to reconnecting with him. “First day back and just finished with a murder scene. You?”

  “I’m calling for work actually, so thanks for taking my call instead of ducking them,” he answered. I didn’t even try to deny it, as he knew me well enough that I wouldn’t lie. “President Nuri asked me to check if you really want him to attend this thing next week, or if anyone was pressuring you to play nice and it would make things worse for you. I told him you don’t let anyone bully you, but you are recovering so maybe you felt you had to.”

  I moved out of the crime scene and away from the media and ears. “Bijan is going with ‘president?’”

  “Yes, it was decided—though not announced officially—and there will be a prime minister for each species to give an equal voice even if intermingled. Those will be elected and soon. The humans just won’t have military power and so on. So do you really want him to come?”

  “Yeah, I do because it’s actually shaping up to be something awesome and I hope other countries would do the same, and right now as crazy as it is to say this, Iran has a good chance of making something like this work in their favor. Plus, I know there’s some back and forth of who should visit whom first for all that political posturing shit I hate, so don’t visit the US president, come visit me and mine and maybe work on some more fun.”

  “For someone who hates politics, you play the game pretty well.”

  “I’m fairly good at stepping around the bullshit. It’s what the FBI does all the time. If I have to walk through it, I tend to stomp the whole way and piss people off. That doesn’t work well.” I cleared my throat and got into my SUV when Nikos unlocked it. “We will have at least one vampire council member visiting, as there’s been a change in some leadership, so we’re throwing that ceremony in while we’ve got friends in town or whatever.”

  He didn’t reply at first. “Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?”

  “Call Havers on his FBI line. No one’s monitoring that, but we’re assuming I’ve got eyes and ears on me at all times until the event or at least people know I’m recovered enough to fuck people up if they try to invade. Again.”

  “You in trouble?”

  “No, the opposite honestly, but there will be some dancing, and anything paranormal always involves some combo of sex, violence, or biting, so I want Bijan to have that warning given he’s now also head of Iran. But yes, I truly hope he attends. We’ve a couple of guest apartments in the pack’s building he can use for the stay so he’s not dealing with hotel crazy, even if the hotels are owned by the coven, with all the strangers we’ll have here.”

  “I’ll let him know.”

  “Y
eah, we can go,” I told Nikos, realizing they were waiting for word from me. “I gotta get back to the office. Let me know if he’s coming.”

  “Sure, yeah, he’ll be there. He was happy for the invite.” Jason cleared his throat. “I’ll be there too as his liaison.”

  “I’m shocked you’re still his liaison,” I muttered as I put on my seatbelt.

  “Me too, but there was a lot of work to do here, and we work well together, so he requested I stay longer. Our people are happy for that because there is a lot still to do in the region, and they’re thrilled President Nuri wants to keep working with us on it.”

  “I’m glad it worked out well for you, Jas.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. He’d used me to get that spot. Or more he’d used his connection with me to get involved when the shit had gone down in Iran and the door had opened for him.

  “I would have given up everything this did for my career for you to have come home even a day earlier than you did, baby,” he whispered, sounding upset. “I did everything I could, I swear I did.”

  “I know. Everyone made sure I knew that for real, not just you did what you should, but you really went all out and risked your friendships and connections to get information and even if most ended up dead ends. I believe you truly wanted to bring me home, and it had nothing to do with getting something from it.”

  “You are maybe the only person I would have done that for. I know it doesn’t make up for the shit I’ve also gotten you involved in, but I never meant for that. Yes, I’m an idiot, but I really do care about you, Sera. I always have.”

  “Yeah, we were the broken idiots who maybe found someone to finally connect to, but things are different now.” I cleared my throat, knowing something he probably didn’t think I did. “I heard your dad’s cancer is in remission. You okay?”

  “Only our families can fuck with us so much, right?” he chuckled darkly. “Yeah, he still pretends I don’t exist. Even now, with this gig and now I’m looking at a promotion and maybe an award for all the work I’ve done here to help our people—US citizens no matter the species—and still I’m just a bastard in his eyes.” He cleared his throat. “Could I get an apartment in your building for when I’m on leave?”

  “That’s a mistake, Jas,” I whispered, rubbing my forehead. “I appreciate all you did to try and bring me home, but that would be the only reason I agreed to it. Do you want it still then?”

  “Yes, but I’ll wait until that’s not your answer,” he said after a moment. “Hold one for me when I deserve it at least?”

  “At this rate I might need to buy a second building,” I drawled.

  “Don’t you mean at least a third? Isn’t that one in New York almost done?”

  “Can we not talk about New York please?”

  “You’re safe now, Sera. Let them protect you and you’ll be okay.” He muttered to someone he’d be off in a minute. “Are you at least feeling better?”

  “I’m filling in and able to do more, but I still feel so weak,” I admitted, knowing he wouldn’t judge me for saying that. “I feel human, and shit, that does not feel good after how strong I was. I get why vampires I know say they have nightmares of being human again. It’s like once you know there are people out there so strong or whatever, you are so the guppy and it’s terrifying. You guys just can’t get it until you’re one of us.”

  “Yeah, I believe that. Living around such old vamps makes it hard to not get grumpy sometimes that I have an aching knee now that I’m a whole thirty from a Navy injury. Or my hair is a bit thinner than it used to be. It’s like they all stopped the clock and I’m getting a bit jealous of that.”

  “You’d make a good blood sucker,” I teased him. “You’d be so far down on the ladder though that it would be hysterical to see your ego take the hit of becoming a fledgling.”

  “I think that is the only reason more people don’t ask for it, plus, that whole blood drinking thing sounds gross.”

  “It won’t taste like blood does to you now,” Nikos told him, more than able to hear the conversation. “It won’t taste like wine or other red liquids, but it certainly won’t taste the same. It would be more like rare meat instead of sucking a paper cut.”

  “Well, I’m out,” I joked, everyone knowing that even becoming a wolf didn’t change my feelings on rare meat.

  “Yeah, I’ve told a few people I know a werewolf that won’t hunt in wolf form or eat anything beyond medium well, and they all think I’m teasing them,” Jason told me with a chuckle. “I swear they think it’s either an American thing or just some really weird wolf.”

  “I’ve been called worse. Stay safe, Jas, and make sure to work out the travel details when you get them.”

  “Yup, all over it. Take care, baby.”

  I stared at the phone when he hung up. “No matter how many times I tell him to stop calling me that, he just has to fucking do it.”

  “Because he’s the only one you let get away with it,” Eugene muttered. “It’s the one part of you he has that we don’t and he knows it.” He shrugged when I looked at him. “That’s fine. He can have your past. I plan on being part of your future.”

  “Well, dayumn,” Emilio chuckled, shaking his head. “That was good, man.”

  Yeah it was, but I wouldn’t ever admit it and encourage any of them. Honestly, I really didn’t get why any of them put up with me.

  10

  I made it through my first full week back to have the full moon on Friday. Since it landed on then, we didn’t do the group event on the first day of the full moon, but the last so it landed on a Saturday. But there was a bunch of confusion when I arrived, and I couldn’t even blame anyone else since it was my evil plotting that had made it happen.

  “They won’t let us past the parking lot,” someone complained. “And they don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Nope, they don’t,” I chuckled, knowing the Betas weren’t happy that I’d given them orders but not explaining what I was up to. “It’s good, I promise.” It was hard not to wonder or laugh when there were huge closed tents right at the start of the pack lands that blocked the rest of everything and you couldn’t tell what was going on.

  It wasn’t only the pack and shifters we normally invited this time, which seemed to be throwing people as well. I’d invited all of Brian’s office and their families along with the coven, fae, my office, and everyone at the training center. Hell, I’d gone so far as to fly Davis, Cooper, and Harris in for the weekend at my own cost because I didn’t want them to miss it.

  The witches were also there, and I was glad to see Nina hanging out in back with them. Good, we needed the united front.

  I’d also told everyone to come much earlier than normal, and people got a bit excited when they realized something was going on and whispering about smelling food. After a bit longer and the parking lot completely full with people waiting, I decided to climb up on my SUV so everyone could see me and me them.

  “You all went through something horrible when I was gone, and for that I’m sorry,” I started, clearing my throat nervously, hating to be the center of attention. “It didn’t just happen to me, I know that. People had to step up and help out all over the place, and I thank you for everything you all did to make sure everyone was safe. I’m also touched how much you all did to try and find me. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”

  “Sera,” Brian whispered, shaking his head. I knew that look. He was ready to strangle me that I was taking that all on myself.

  How could I not?

  “I know a lot of you didn’t go to the second annual cook-off when Vlad had it again because I wasn’t there and you were focused on finding me. I know some of you had to but didn’t want to. I know the new Alpha house was built but no one had the heart to do a ribbon cutting when the Alpha was missing.” I wiped under my eyes when I got choked up. “And I’m sorry I messed up so much, but it really meant a lot to me you thought of stuff like that.

  “For a woman who was to
ssed out of so many foster homes and never had a family, it meant a lot to me that my now very large family—pack, FBI, and more—didn’t want to celebrate that without me. So, I know we all deserve a few months’ vacation, but I can’t give you that. I know this next week is going to be crazy and even more chaos, but it’s for a good reason. Before we get there, I thought we needed some fun.”

  I turned and nodded to Barbara, the event planner I’d hired, and she opened the flaps for the first tent which was now the party entrance.

  “Everyone have fun, take the break and day they deserve, but there is booze so you gotta watch your own kids,” I finished before sliding off the roof. I went right for the boys and hurried them to the entrance, smiling when they were practically bouncing with excitement.

  Inside the main tents were tables and chairs but not like wedding level, more corporate picnic. The others opened the tent flaps, and everyone started coming in to set down bags or whatever.

  We kept going, and I burst out laughing when the boys took off to the first of several huge tubs of water balloons. I beat them there and actually launched the first balloon at Axel.

  He took off his sunglasses and dried them on his shirt. “Oh, so it’s like that, huh?”

  “It wasn’t me,” I lied, lots of people laughing when I did. I grabbed a few more and hit Hagan and Brian when they stepped out of the tents. Both had matching looks to Axel’s and glanced at each other. I took off for the huge inflatable water slides that were set up on the slope on the far side. Brian had no chance of catching me, but I dodged Axel and ended up almost right in Hagan’s arms.

  Another week of working out and stuffing myself with healthy calories might have helped me fill out a bit more, but I was not up to my norms. I dodged Hagan, and then Eugene was there, so I ducked him, and that was when Hagan snagged me.

  “Hey, I didn’t throw one at you,” I reminded Eugene from over Hagan’s shoulder.

  “I just wanted the chance to get you naked and wet,” he said with a shrug.