City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

well be some. Her body is all sunken and,’ I swallowed, ‘there are puncture wounds on her neck. There’s no other indication of trauma.’

He blinked at me slowly then he threw back his head and laughed. ‘So of course you thought it was a vampire who did it? Puncture wounds? How terribly trite! Even a young vampire wouldn’t kill a human simply by drinking from them.’ He continued to chuckle to himself while I stared at him.

Felicity growled. ‘Maybe she had a heart attack when one of your bastards sank his fangs in.’

If only. ‘Maybe she did but the way her body was … shrivelled into itself suggests all her blood was drained.’ I sharpened my voice and addressed the vampire again. ‘My source indicates that it looks like a vampire was responsible.’

He wiped the tears from his eyes. ‘Your source? You mean the actress?’

I responded stiffly. ‘Yes.’

‘She knows nothing. She’s a troublemaker who lies for a living. Nothing she says can be trusted.’ As he spoke, his nostrils flared slightly. Ah ha. That was his tell, then. Whether Julie was a liar or not, so was he.

I stilled and kept talking, hoping to draw him out further. Suddenly I felt on surer ground. ‘All the same,’ I said, ‘if we could see all the vampires here for ourselves and check them out for scratch marks, we can eliminate them from our enquiries.’

He bared his white teeth in a supposed smile. ‘They’re sleeping right now. You’re welcome to come back when the sun falls.’

Several of the werewolves hissed in annoyance. I kept my cool. ‘By which time, any such superficial injuries will have healed.’

The vampire waved towards the rows upon rows of terraced houses. ‘There are almost a thousand of us here. How exactly do you propose to wake everyone up? It’ll only antagonise us. We’re obviously being fingered for the crime. Terrible as murder is, you are jumping to conclusions.’ His voice hardened. ‘And no one is being woken up so you can check them over. What happened to presumption of innocence?’

‘Look, you undead piece of shit—’ Felicity began.

I put a hand on her arm. ‘I’ve got this,’ I told her. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘You can’t deal sensibly with these bastards. They’re tricksy and slippery and always up to no good. They—’

‘Enough.’ I turned and faced her and the others. ‘Thank you so much for your help. I will take things from here.’

‘Wait a minute,’ she protested. ‘Julian told us to help you. We can’t just walk away. You can’t deal with this lot on your own.’

‘You can just walk away,’ I replied firmly. ‘And you will.’ I forced a smile. ‘Bye now.’

She wanted to refuse, it was there in every quivering muscle. I forestalled her. ‘I’m the enchantress,’ I reminded her. ‘I will take things from here.’

She drew in a deep breath as if counting to ten. ‘Very well,’ she snapped. ‘On your own head be it.’ She whirled round and stalked through the broken barricade, the other wolves following her with narrowed eyes and closed expressions. I wouldn’t hear the last of this but it was for the best.

Once the wolves had gone, the vampire opened his mouth and ran his very red tongue over his teeth. Those fangs looked decidedly sharp and lethal and I suppressed a shudder. ‘Nicely done,’ he said. ‘Werewolves are so prone to violence. It’s much easier when they’re out of the way.’ His eyes gleamed and there was the definite suggestion of a predatory leer as he looked me over. ‘I’m still not waking anyone up.’

‘Perhaps you’d be prepared to answer a few questions yourself,’ I said, maintaining a light tone. I was tempted to shoot off some magic to make my will and power known, but I’d hold off until it was necessary. There were other ways to skin a cat. ‘How long have you been posted out here?’ I asked. ‘By which I mean, when did your post begin?’

‘Midnight.’ He watched me, both amused and wary about where I was going with this line of questioning.

‘Is this the main entrance to your area?’

‘You mean are vampires likely to enter or leave via another route?’

I nodded.

He frowned. ‘Anything is possible but, as far as I know, everyone uses this way.’ He pointed behind me to a small desk with a clipboard on top. ‘We keep a tally of who comes in and out. After all,’ he added with a tight grin, ‘one never knows what the werewolves – or the enchantress herself – might accuse us of.’

‘Has anyone come in with any visible wounds in the last twelve hours? Any scratch marks? Anything at all?’

He leaned forward, pausing long enough to build up anticipation. It worked for me – it meant I could get a clearer view of his flaring nostrils. ‘No.’

Damn it. He was telling the truth. ‘Can I have a look at your tally?’

He gestured at it again. ‘Be my guest.’

I walked over, picked it up and scanned down the list. A lot of vampires had left and a lot had returned but, as far as I could tell, nine men and women who had gone out the previous night still hadn’t returned. I yanked off the sheet of paper. ‘I’m going to take this.’

The vampire folded his arms. ‘I can’t let you do that.’

I faced him. ‘If I hadn’t stepped in when I did, those werewolves would have broken down every bloodsucking door here, whether you liked it or not. If any of your lot fought back, you and I both know what could have happened next. I think you’ll agree that my way is definitely the best way. Unless you want me to call the wolves back.’

He didn’t move for a long moment other than tapping his foot. Another nervous twitch, I supposed. ‘Fine,’ he said eventually. ‘You may take the sheet.’ He said it as if were granting me a great, personal boon rather than yielding to my lupine threat. Whatever. As long as I got what