Where’s my body?
The minutes ticked by. More stupid stories about the humans.
Nothing about him. Nothing about his kill.
Fury burned in his blood.
And claws broke from his fingertips.
***
Jane glanced at her watch. “Could we get on with this? I have a case waiting.”
Annette’s brows rose. “Jane, you and I both deal with the dead. You’re a homicide detective—any case you have can just keep waiting. Not like the guy will get any deader.”
“But the trail can get colder.” Jane leaned forward and pointed toward the black scrying mirror that sat on Annette’s table. “So do what you need to do and let’s get the show on the road.”
The temperature in the room seemed to instantly drop a good five degrees.
Wrong word choice.
“I’m sorry,” Jane said, and she meant it. “You’re not a show. I’m just…I’m being a bitch.”
Annette smiled at her. “Nothing wrong with being a bitch. Men like to use that word because they think it makes us seem weaker. I don’t think so—I’m a strong bitch and proud of it.”
It was so easy to like the woman. Even though Jane was pretty sure Annette had a serious dark side…Jane strongly suspected Annette had been behind the mysterious death of the voodoo queen’s ex-lover…But in Annette’s defense, the guy was a homicidal maniac. And Annette hadn’t killed him outright. She’d used her magic to do the job. That’s why I can only suspect that she took him out. Suspicions didn’t hold up in court, so Jane hadn’t pursued the case. And…
And Annette had saved my ass. Because Annette’s ex-lover had been hell-bent on killing Jane, too.
Jane huffed out a breath. “There’s a new vampire in town.”
“I know.”
Jane’s brows rose. “Has he been to see you?”
“No, I saw him. Here. In my glass.” Annette’s fingers slid over the dark scrying mirror. “I knew he was coming.”
“Um…yeah, and you didn’t think to warn anyone that a killer was coming to town?”
Her fingers kept sliding over the mirror. “You think he’s the bad guy,” Annette murmured.
“He is the one who drinks blood. Vamps don’t exactly have a good track record.”
“Yet…you’re a vampire.”
Her heart drummed too fast. “I’m not.”
Annette just gave a little smile. “I’ll need a few drops of blood, if you want a strong reading.”
She’d feared as much. Jane offered her hand to the other woman. “Don’t cut me deep. I’m not really a fan of blood and bleeding and pain.”
Annette pulled out a long, wickedly sharp knife.
“What the hell?” Jane blurted. “You just keep that thing under your table all the time?”
Annette curled her fingers around Jane’s wrist.
“Tell me that it’s super sanitized,” Jane spoke quickly. “That it has never been used on anyone else before—”
Rolling her eyes, Annette pricked Jane’s finger. Then she squeezed three small blood drops onto the mirror.
And just…stared at it.
Jane leaned forward a bit more, now sitting on the edge of her chair. She saw absolutely nothing in that mirror. Though the heavy piece was not even a mirror, not really. More like a big chunk of black glass.
But Annette had gone statue still and the woman barely seemed to breathe. “Your father…”
Jane didn’t need to relive that particular torment again.
“He can’t wait…” Annette said, her voice husky, “for you to be just like him.”
“What?”
“She hid you…but he told them where you were. He knew you’d do…great things. Terrible things. Beautiful things…”
Jane shivered.
“He…regretted it, though…tried to help.” Sadness flickered over Annette’s face. “Too little…too late.”
Jane glanced back down. The mirror still looked like black glass to her. “I’m going to have to say that I’m a little confused here.” A lot confused. “Could we maybe focus on the new vamp in town?”
“No.” Annette’s voice had gone gravel rough. She seemed to stare straight at Jane only...her eyes look just like the black glass. The light brown color was gone. Only darkness remained in Annette’s eyes.
“You still want to be the hero.” Annette’s words were curiously flat. “Even though that’s not what you’re meant to be.”
“What am I meant to be?”
“The end.”
Jane shot to her feet. “You’re wrong.”
“He will kill you.”
“Who? Who’s going to kill me? The vampire—Vincent?”
“Kill, then you rise.”
“I have to die violently for that to happen, right? So tell me when and where and I can change this fate. I can change everything.” She was sweating and shaking and desperate.
“There is no changing what will be.” Annette’s cold voice and her soulless eyes were sinister. “You are the end.”
“I won’t be,” Jane vowed. The mark on her right side seemed to burn and she realized that her fingers were pressed hard to it. “Tell me when and where.”