Bathe In Fire - Shadows of the Night 2

Chapter 21

Hi!

I just finished this one and wanted to post as fast as possible. So here it is: chapter 21!! Hope you like it. Please let me know what you think! Read, vote, listen to the music - but most importantly enjoy. Thank you so much for reading!

Lara

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Chapter 21

I did what I do best: I compartmentalized. I shut my eyes to what had happened in Ryon Club and stuffed it into a dark place somewhere deep inside of my mind. Whatever monsters and personal demons I had faced in there, I decided they would and had to stay in the Blue Room – together with the master vampire who clearly had the time of his undead life watching my discomposure.

And really, there were more important matters to attend to. There had to be some sort of connection between the victims in the vamp killer case. We simply hadn't found it yet. The body of Natalie Reynolds was discovered about two weeks ago. While she was a victim that hadn't been a member of the bleeder or drug scene, our most recent victim, Dexter Colston, had been an ardent worshipper of the undead and their ways – i.e. a walking blood bag. According to the coroner's report, which had finally made it into the hands of the TF3, Dexter had been bitten repeatedly in the few days before he died. Although this had been the case with some other victims, none of them had shown signs of that much abuse so shortly before death.

I went into the new TF3 headquarters quite early, which in other words meant afternoon. When the metallic doors slid open I spotted Debbie sitting behind the reception in the big outer office. She looked up, smiling at me. Following her very own fashion mantra, she wore her blond hair in a slick bun, her outfit a completed set of perfection. With Debbie everything was in place.

"Anna, what on earth are you doing here? It's barely-"

"Three pm, and hello to you too," I said. I wasn't paid to be friendly (or to pretend being someone else), so why bother? "I know. I was nearby, so I figured I might as well drop in early. I wanted go over the files once again anyway."

"The case with the young drug victims?" she offered.

I nodded vaguely.

"You're already familiar with the databank and the system?" she asked off-handedly, this time not bothering to look up from the paperwork on her desk.

I had the instant urge to roll with my eyes. No, I was not born yesterday. Yes, I could boot a computer. Instead I gave a wave with my hand.

Belatedly realizing that she couldn't see it, I said, "Yeah, no problems there. You don't happen to have some coffee?"

"Sure, honey. Help yourself."

She pointed to the first room on the left, which I knew to contain a small kitchen.

Five minutes later I was seated in front of one of the computers. The thing still had this brand new smell on it and was damned fast. Looked like the heads of the three races had been able to draw up quite a lot financial resources for the new TF3's headquarters. Where did the bigger part of the money actually come from? The government? The Circle? Or the notoriously rich vamps? I shrugged, trying to finally get into work-mode.

When I took a break about an hour later, I found Blaze sitting in the kitchen.

"Yo, what's up Anna?" he said, a can of lemon soda in his hand.

"Hi Blaze. Just trying to do some research on the case," I said, scrubbing a hand over my face. "Holy witch, I need more coffee."

I moved to the kitchen counter to pour myself some more of the black soup. Debbie might have been a fashion goddess, but making coffee? Forget it.