Page 5 of High Stakes and Soulmates (Fanged Mistakes #3)

“Are you still sending my father threat chocolates?” Julian asks in disbelief.

I guess after Casimir got stuck with multiple chocolate bars, he started sending one a day to Terrance with a threat included.

Julian explained that Casimir finds delight in the simplest things that add to Terrance’s irritation.

“I will never run out. I made sure of it,” Casimir says.

Julian sighs. “I’m going to lock you two in a room together… like an escape room or something. That could be fun, watching you two working together.”

“You would torture me like that?” Casimir asks, as if he doesn’t realize how feisty his wolf is.

“Gladly.”

The next car that pulls in is Cyrus’s, and I perk up before realizing that I need to not perk up. I’m sure he’s already agreed to marry Zach and have little human babies with him.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Cyrus asks as he walks up.

He… he noticed me? He noticed I was displeased? He must care about me!

His face scrunches up. “Why are you so excited about that question?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

“Anyway. So, I guess the blood didn’t belong to either of the victims,” Cyrus says.

“Interesting,” I respond. “I should have licked it to see.”

“Please do not ever lick the blood,” Cyrus says, looking only minorly concerned.

“Think of how much sooner you’d have gotten results!”

“Just… no. We’re running it through the vampire and werewolf database now to see if we find anything. Like… did the killer use their own blood? Did they bring some blood?”

“If it’s a vampire, it could have been blood they were planning on consuming and not even related to the case at all,” I say.

“That’s true. It would be easier than running over and dipping their fingers repeatedly in her blood.

I’ll let you know what I find out. Casimir, could you speak to the vampires in the territories near us, and see if they’d be willing to run the blood in their databases just in case there’s a match? ”

Many territories try to keep a register of the vampires and werewolves in their area and require blood and fingerprints from them.

This cuts down significantly on vampires seeking out blood from unwilling sources and weres getting away with attacking innocents on a full moon.

But it’s kept separate from the police database, at least in our territory.

Casimir nods. “Yeah, I’ll see what I can find.”

“Thanks,” Cyrus says. “At this point, we’re unsure how many people were involved.

Ezio mentioned the possibility of the two victims handling a body before they were killed.

Upon searching the drains, there were traces of blood found in the bathroom connected to their bedroom.

It looks like they’d used some type of cleaning product in the sink but had not properly washed it down.

So far, no match for that blood either.”

“So… did the two humans kill someone, hide the body, and then a vampire came and killed them?” Casimir asks.

“I really don’t know. The whole thing is quite strange,” Cyrus says as he looks over at the council hall. “Looks like quite a few people are here. You guys ready to go in?”

“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Casimir grumbles, looking like we’re about to drag him off to the guillotine where Steve awaits him…

although if he was allowed to pull the rope on Steve at the guillotine, I think he’d have a bit of a pep to his step.

“Can’t I go even a week without seeing their faces? ”

“Casimir, you sweet and kind creature, why are you the territory boss if you hate them all so much?” Julian asks. “See if Ezio will take over.”

“Hell no,” I object. “Every part of that sounds dreadful. I don’t mind helping Casimir run it, but running it myself sounds atrocious.”

“I don’t mind terrifying people back into place; I very much enjoy that part.

I just don’t like… their bickering. But you’re so good at dealing with them.

I really don’t think there’s anyone better than you,” Casimir says, buttering Julian up.

“It does help now that your father stopped being the main annoyance. Now I only have to be annoyed when I look at him and not when he talks as well.”

Terrance growls, obviously not pleased to hear any of this while he holds the door open for us. There is clear pain and suffering as he keeps it open for Casimir, and I feel like Casimir even slows down his steps so Terrance has to suffer longer.

“Now I just have Steve,” Casimir snarls before seeking out Steve in the crowd. “Hey, Steve.”

Steve looks over and grimaces the moment he sees Casimir’s face.

“Fuck you, Steve.”

“Fuck you too,” he snaps.

“What if you got to know Steve, and he was actually this like… really nice guy and you guys became fri?—”

Casimir clamps a hand over Julian’s mouth.

“Julian, please… I don’t even know if I can vomit as a vampire, but I feel sickeningly nauseous,” Casimir complains. “Ezio, can you control this wolf for me?”

“Come, come,” I say as I reach for him so I can cuddle him. Before I can, the door is slammed open so hard I hear something break, but Yorick pretends not to notice as he struts into the building.

“Don’t fret, I am here, fashionably late and fashionably beautiful,” Yorick announces when he walks in.

“Why the fuck is he still around?” Terrance asks.

“Because he’s irritatingly resilient,” Casimir says. “Don’t worry. I’m only keeping him around as protection for Julian. Yorick has sworn to give up his life to protect him. If Julian is put in danger, he is to throw his entire body before the attacker.”

“I have? I am?” Yorick asks, looking a little uncertain.

“Yes.”

Yorick grimaces and turns to me. “Hey, Ezio, we could date, yeah? And then maybe he’d like me more? Or I’d be less expendable. You’re not really my type. You’re quite handsome but I don’t want your handsomeness to outweigh mine, you know?”

“So you’d date me if I was uglier?” I ask, quite confused about this.

“No, it’s not your level of looks. I just… you’re an attention seeker and I’m an attention seeker and… we might seek too much attention. Like who would dote on who?”

I gape at him before snorting. “Uh… thanks, I think? I’m not quite sure.” I turn and look at Cyrus, who is staring at us. Is that a jealous stare? Or is that a “What the fuck is wrong with these people” stare? And now he’s giving me a “Why the fuck are you staring at me” stare.

Really, it’s too much to follow for my already confused brain. And instead, all I can think are things like, “Are you dating Zach? Did he sweep you off your feet and into his bed? Am I just like a pebble on the sidewalk you’d like to kick into next year?”

“You two a thing now?” Cyrus asks.

“Would you be jealous if we were?”

“No. Stay focused.”

What the hell does that mean? “What? You’re the one who asked me! And now you want me to stay focused? I’m focused on the teeny-tiny knife you’ve acquired, and you’ve taken that knife and are over here shredding my heart with it.”

“Sounds quite concerning. Looks like Yorick is willing to pick up the pieces.” His look is challenging for some reason. What the hell are these mixed signals?

“Ew,” Yorick says, as though there are literal pieces for him to pick up. “I really don’t like to get dirty, you know?”

“Julian, please let me hold you,” I whine as I make my way toward him. Apparently, everyone dislikes me.

Julian cocks his head. “I’m… about to talk to everyone here; I can’t be your support wolf at this moment. Get up here.”

Dejected, I head up with Cyrus as Julian talks while everyone listens.

“Of course the wolve—” Weston starts, clearly wanting to start up with bitching, but the moment Casimir turns his eyes on him, he shuts up.

“This arrangement obviously works out much better,” Cyrus whispers. “Julian talks, Casimir glares, everyone gets along.”

“It sure does,” I agree as Julian passes everything off to Cyrus. I know Cyrus hates speaking to the large group, so I turn to him. “Want me to talk?”

“Go for it,” he says. I go over what he’s told me and then ask everyone to line up for a mini interview. A few people get fussy, but most give us details of what they’d been doing that night and are decently helpful.

When we’re finishing up, I start toward my car before seeing Cyrus rubbing his head.

“You alright? You have a headache?” I ask.

“Oh, my sleep schedule is just fucked because of dealing with you vampires. I’m trying to sleep like a few hours here and a few there. Why can’t you all just like wear full-body suits and trample around in the daylight so I can get some decent sleep?”

“I could make it fashionable,” Yorick decides.

“Could you?” Julian asks. “Looking like you’re just… wrapped up in a condom, you could make that fashionable?”

He tips up Julian’s chin with a finger and purrs, “I sure could.”

“Do you want to keep that finger?” Casimir asks.

Yorick’s finger quickly retreats in the hope of keeping all ten of them. “Ah… ha ha… I do.”

I find myself trailing Cyrus to his car.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“Let me know if you hear anything tomorrow, okay? I want to help.”

“Yeah, I will. I always do.”

“What… did Zach want?”

He hesitates before tossing a fake smile on his face. “Oh, something dealing with a different case we’re working on.” Evidently, he doesn’t want me to know, but I’m not quite sure why. He’s made it clear he doesn’t want to date me, so isn’t this the perfect chance to shoot me down?

“I see,” I say as the sky rumbles. It’s not raining yet, but the rain is obviously coming.