Passion of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 5) by Bella Klaus (read novels website txt) 📕

A spasm of anger quickened through my insides, and every instinct in my body wanted to take over from Captain Zella and brutalize the smug git. Shaking off those thoughts, I tried to focus on saving Coral from having her blood drawn by that alchemist. I turned my gaze to the older woman, who nodded.

“Bring us everything that belonged to Coral,” I said.

He nodded and walked to the corner of the room, reached beneath the sofa strewn with blankets, and pulled out a battered suitcase. He flipped open its metallic locks, rummaged inside a mass of clothes, and extracted a paddle brush filled with hair.

The captain stepped forward, holding an evidence bag.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“How about this?” He held up a toothbrush with splayed bristles. “It’s a good thing I kept all her stuff when I chucked her out. I knew one day it would come in handy.”

I clenched my teeth. “You’re the reason she ended up living in the tunnels?”

He tilted his head to the side and frowned. “Is that where she’s hiding? When you catch up with Coral, remind her she still owes me a month’s rent.”

Captain Zella stepped between the two of us and placed her hands on her hips. “How do we know these items belong to Coral and not you?”

“Use your thingamajigs to test it if you want.” He turned back to the suitcase and pulled out a filthy washcloth.

For the next few minutes, he extracted every item he thought might contain Coral’s DNA. After placing an old stocking into the captain’s forensic bag he stood. “Right then.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s talk price.”

“Danai Mirrin, by the power of the Seven Monarchs of the Supernatural Council, you are hereby detained for the attempted murder of three enforcers and the fiancée of a monarch. Do you understand the charges?”

His eyes bulged, and his mouth flapped open and closed. “What? I didn’t mean to—”

Captain Zella shot him in the chest with her device, making him fall to the ground with a hard thud. “It’s customary to render our most dangerous suspects unconscious.”

The other two enforcers arrived to float him out of the apartment, while the captain examined the full evidence bag. “Do you think this will make a difference?”

“Thanks.” I turned to the door and sighed. “They’ll have to, otherwise we’re all in trouble.”

While the enforcers returned to the center, where they assured me that they would hand the items over to the Demon King before processing the arrest of Coral’s brother, I remained at the roadside. Hades didn’t need me to tell the Council about Kresnik’s zombies when a group of reapers had already found them first.

Besides, Kain wasn’t so far away, and I needed to explain to him in person why it might take a bit longer for Valentine to return to Lamia. If I could get the young vampire to come with me, I could hide him away until Valentine could swoop in and save him from becoming the next Vampire King.

By now, a thin covering of clouds hovered over the sky, casting the cobbled streets in gloom. I turned in a circle, looking for signs of invisible demons.

One of the narrow doors on the rookery’s ground floor opened, and an old wizard stuck his head out. “Are you reaping me today, missus?”

I paused and swept my gaze down a navy-blue cloak that dwarfed his five-foot-four frame. Beneath it, he wore long underwear that looked like it had once been white.

“Reaper.” He shook his fist. “I’m talking to you.”

“I’m waiting for a friend,” I murmured.

He gave me a sharp nod. “Bugger off my doorstep. You’re putting me off my cuppa.”

“Sorry.” I stepped away from in front of his entrance, cringing at the thought of landing on one of the twins’ flattened bodies.

“Nut?” I whispered. “Geb?”

I skulked around the rookery for a few more minutes, failing to calculate the trajectory of two fallen bodies dropped from a great height. Giving up, I trudged down the road to the nearest bus stop. This part of Striga was a little more unkempt than where I lived, and consisted mostly of high-rise buildings crammed with single-dwelling homes.

After turning the corner, I found a bus stop down the road, its neon light shining red to indicate that the next bus was seconds away, and jogged past another few rookery-type buildings just in time for a single-decker vehicle to rumble past and pull into the roadside.

I boarded and sat close to the driver’s seat. The witch operating the controls cast me a nervous glance before pulling out.

Logris’s public transport was free for everyone to use and was part of the services the Supernatural Council provided to its citizens. While witches and the other races who dwelled here paid taxes, the Royal House of Sargon made contributions on behalf of the residents of Lamia.

I turned around in my seat, staring at the smoke rising from the distance. Vampires didn’t know how lucky they were to have Valentine as their king. They dwelled in spacious homes and got to keep everything they earned for themselves.

Most of the passengers boarding and disembarking only remained on the bus for a few stops. This bus was taking a scenic route through Striga, and even passed where I lived. The plants climbing up our building were now brown stalks devoid of leaves. A tremor shook my muscles, and I reached into my sleeves to rub my arms. I really needed Valentine.

“We don’t usually see your kind on public transport.” The driver turned to me and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you normally fly about invisible so no one can see you cut people down?”

“It’s my coffee break,” I mumbled.

“And you’re spending it here and not in Heaven?” She stopped the bus at a road that led to the side of the palace and flicked a wand that made the doors hiss open.

There was no point in waiting around for this busybody