Page 8 of How to Stake a Vampire (Diary of a Reluctant Werewolf #2)

SUCKED DRY

Gregory’s eyes flashed crimson for a moment. “I see.”

“Virgil’s alibi checks out,” Gavin added hastily.

Constantia’s jawline was so stiff I was surprised we couldn’t hear her teeth grind.

“We also discovered a pattern of thefts at other blood banks throughout the town,” I continued. “Most of which have gone unreported.”

The air in the room grew so cold I was surprised my breath didn’t mist in front of my face. Gregory’s nails lengthened where he was gripping his arm rests, his eyes now a vivid scarlet.

Barney straightened in his chair.

The tension filtering through the mate bond had me glancing at Samuel.

His shoulders had bunched up, like he was ready to spring into action if Gregory tried anything stupid.

Constantia licked her lips nervously. “My dear, calm yourself.”

Gregory ignored his wife. “Unreported?” His voice had taken on a dangerous edge.

“The facility managers were concerned about retribution,” Didi said uncomfortably.

My pulse spiked when I felt power rise under Gregory’s skin. It bloomed around him in a thick cloud that choked the air, the taste and smell starker than that of his son’s.

Gavin and Didi flinched and shrank in their seats. Bo whimpered and dropped to the floor, his paws over his head.

I reached hastily for my inner wolf and urged her to do her nifty pacifier thing, my gaze focused unblinkingly on the vampire. My wolf let out a warning growl instead.

Gregory’s eyes snapped to me. His canines lengthened, his expression growing ugly.

Great. I was about to be skewered by a vampire in front of my boyfriend, my dog, and my coworkers.

“Enough!”

The command cracked the air like thunder and made my wolf’s ears flatten. My gaze snapped to Barney.

My mouth went dry.

The vampire’s head practically brushed the ceiling where he suddenly loomed over Gregory.

Shadows fluttered around him, forming a cape with a pointed collar that flickered in and out of view.

His pupils were bloodred and radiated a chill that made Gavin’s tail pop out and Bo whimper where he’d dived under my chair.

I swallowed. I hadn’t even seen the vampire move.

A tiny gurgling sound issued from Gregory’s throat. He made himself small in his chair.

Constantia was staring unblinkingly at Barney, her cheeks rosy and her eyes filled with undeniable hunger.

I had a sudden, stomach-churning suspicion about her history with Hawthorne & Associates’s Head of Finance and Investments. From Didi’s whole-body shudder, so did the witch.

“How about everyone relaxes before Gavin sets fire to the room?” Samuel ground out, amber lighting up his eyes where he’d risen to his feet.

Gavin’s horns were fully out and his nostrils were sparking wildly.

Didi hastily moved some paperwork out of the dragon newt’s range.

There was a knock at the door. Janet walked in without waiting for a reply, a tray of coffee and assorted pastries in hand.

“Refreshments, anyone?” the werewolf said with excessive brightness.

It was clear the HR Manager had been eavesdropping.

Samuel flashed a grateful look at her.

“Are there brain muffins?” Bo quavered.

Janet blinked, nonplussed. “No.”

“Good. Because what just happened cured my constipation and brain muffins would definitely give me diarrhea.”

The tension drained from the room like a deflated balloon.

My dog truly had a talent for cutting through supernatural drama.

Janet served the drinks and left. I could tell she was lurking outside.

Everyone now had a coffee except for a sulking Gavin, who was clutching a grape soda under Didi’s supervision.

“You said you interviewed Virgil?” Constantia said, holding her cup like a life preserver.

“Yes.” I could smell the concern in her scent despite her neutral tone.

“How is Virgil?” Gregory asked.

I narrowed my eyes a little at his supercilious expression.

Whereas Constantia seemed to want to know more about her estranged offspring, Gregory looked ready to condemn his son to burn at a fiery stake.

“He seems happy,” I said coolly.

“Really?” Gregory’s tone could have frozen Hell. “His career choice would suggest otherwise. Serving beverages to the masses sounds like my definition of purgatory.”

My wolf’s hackles rose. It was touch and go whether she was going to go for Gregory’s throat.

I sensed Samuel’s warning across our mate bond.

“Not everyone aspires to being a giant prick, Gregory,” I said silkily.

Constantia’s jaw sagged open. Samuel swallowed his coffee down the wrong pipe and began coughing violently. Didi and Gavin stared at me in wide-eyed admiration.

Or abject pity. It was hard to tell sometimes.

I knew I was taking my chances insulting a prominent member of the Amberford Alliance, but I’d had enough of the vampire’s high-and-mighty attitude.

“You are correct, Abigail,” Barney said coldly.

He was back to his normal self, to the point where I almost believed I’d dreamed up his scary Lord of the Night performance.

“There are indeed many pricks in the vampire world. Big pricks. Ugly pricks.” He shot a steady look at Gregory. “Small pricks.”

“Is that a ding-dong joke?” Bo intoned in a dramatic whisper that could probably be heard at the other end of the building. “Because I have a few of those.”

“How about you keep those to yourself,” Samuel said darkly, dabbing at his chin with a napkin. He looked around the room. “We should focus on the case.”

“You mentioned you had a couple of leads,” Gregory said frostily in the awkward silence. “What was the second one?”

“According to the ghouls at Eternal Reserves, the thief was humming Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,” I replied more civilly.

Constantia paled. “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony?”

Gregory looked like he’d swallowed something sour.

Samuel furrowed his brow, his gaze swinging between the power couple. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”

Constantia and Gregory traded a guarded look.

“Three prominent vampires were attacked last night,” Gregory admitted reluctantly. “That’s part of the reason for our visit. They’re all in Springhill General.”

Samuel’s shoulders knotted. Barney’s eyes flashed crimson.

“Attacked?” Gavin swallowed convulsively. “Attacked how?” he quavered.

“Someone drained them almost to the bone,” Gregory said flatly.

My stomach sank.

“They were barely alive when they were found,” Constantia added in a small voice.

“What does that have to do with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony?” Didi asked, confused.

A sudden intuition blasted through me.

Gregory confirmed my hunch with his next words. “The victims all reported hearing classical music before the attack. It was Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.”

A muscle twitched in Barney’s jawline. The tension radiating off the Head of Finance and Investments was almost palpable. Somehow, I had a sneaky suspicion he knew more about this case than he was letting on.

Samuel steepled his hands under his chin and watched Gregory and Constantia closely.

“We need to interview the victims.”

“Of course,” Gregory said with a stiff nod. “I’ll arrange it for tomorrow morning.” He looked at his wife. “You might as well show it to them, dear.”

“Show us what?” I asked warily.

Constantia opened her purse, withdrew a folded piece of paper, and passed it to Samuel, her knuckles white.

“We received this yesterday.”

Samuel took the paper and unfolded it. His expression darkened.

“What is it?” I asked unenthusiastically.

“It’s a blood purity manifesto.”

Somehow, that didn’t sound like a cocktail recipe.

Samuel handed me the paper stiffly. The others gathered around me.

Didi’s eyes shrank to slits as she perused the letter. “Someone wants to cleanse the vampire community of inferior bloodlines?”

I studied the handwriting scrawled across the paper. It was elegant, old-fashioned, and completely unhinged.

“‘The vampire race has been corrupted by centuries of mingling with lesser bloodlines,’” I read out loud. “‘Only through purification can we return to our former glory. The weak must be culled so the strong may flourish. Look forward to a revival, my brethren!’”

It went on like this for three more paragraphs.

Bo emerged from under my chair, ears perking up and expression bright. “So I was right?!”

I grimaced at Gregory and Constantia’s puzzled looks. “We were playing twenty guesses as to the culprit’s motives. Bo came up with the ‘wiping out inferior bloodlines’ theory.”

Gregory studied my dog with an inscrutable expression. I had the distinct feeling the Husky was either being measured for a coffin or a pedestal.

Bo withdrew quietly under my chair.

“I should warn you,” Gregory said. “The vampires who were attacked are not quite themselves at the moment. They may not be very cooperative.”

Uncooperative vampires was right up there on the list of things I didn’t want to have to deal with.

“What do you mean, exactly?” I asked carefully.

“Blood loss affects vampires differently than humans,” Constantia explained. “They can become somewhat—theatrical. Sometimes, they even fall back on poetry and foreign languages.”

Barney groaned. Gavin’s nostrils issued a smoking signal of distress. Didi made a face.

I had a feeling this was going to be interesting for all the wrong reasons.