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Chapter 3

“Y ou got a broadsword,” Gordon said when he came back from taking the ashes out of the oven.

The dead vamp offender had burned up nicely and now fit in a plastic bag which fit inside a cardboard box Gordon had labeled with Sharpie. Yes, professionally speaking, Gordon should have printed a label, but for the life of him he couldn’t make the damn printer work, and Corinne was already gone.

I could have let Corinne do the label tomorrow if Maxim hadn’t stopped by. The ashes of a vampire offender really aren’t that important, but then these ashes don’t really deserve Corinne’s time or printer expertise. She can have a weed cookie instead.

“You smell of ash,” Maxim said, barely looking up from his button smashing.

They had been playing Dragon Labyrinth for just a little under two hours, and Maxim was already frightfully good at it. Getting another Kawaii Demon Hunter out of this pastime clearly wasn’t going to happen for Gordon. Worse, Maxim’s quick mastery made Gordon, who had been playing this particular game for several hundred hours, slightly jealous.

If only speed and acute reactions came with vampirism automatically . The only special talent I ever got out of becoming a vampire is this super resilient hair I can dye whenever I please and how often I feel like it. Gordon tucked a newly eggplant purple strand back behind his ear and smiled at the black-blue highlights. Okay, this hair thing is pretty great.

Gordon put the box with the ashes on his desk and sat next to Maxim where he stretched his wrists, preparing for another round against the hunter.

“You know, this broadsword is really pretty advanced, so—”

Someone knocked on Gordon’s still open office door and cleared his throat. Gordon turned, and when he saw Adler standing there, all thoughts that had been ordered and lined up to be turned into speech became a mishmash of confusion. Confusion, embarrassment, and fear, which all distilled themselves down to: he smells like dark chocolate.

Maxim whistled low. “I hope you don’t mind, Gordon. I asked Detective Adler to drop by here with some information he considered important. You two have met, haven’t you?”

Gordon managed a nod.

“We have,” Adler said. His voice sounded even, not angry, and Gordon wasn’t sure whether he would have preferred anger.

This is embarrassing. Too many alive people in the morgue . I don’t have as much practice in talking to alive people.

Maxim managed to clear a level by the sound coming over the speakers, and he was barely paying any attention to the game anymore. “What was that thing about a hate crime that you were going on about, Adler?”

Adler walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He was a tall man, and with those shoulders he seemed to fill the space even though Gordon’s office was big. The scent of cocoa and, well, man wolf intensified, and it seemed to Gordon as if Adler’s velvety brown eyes came to rest longer on him than they did on Maxim.

Adler cleared his throat. “Yes. For one thing, the way we found the crime scene, for another, our victim was part fae from what we know. Jack the Ripper, that ring a bell?”

Maxim paused the game and turned. “Oh, it certainly does. The unsolved fae murders. I wasn’t in London at the time, but I followed the case, of course. People were scared and angry, and the Forum at the time had trouble managing. It could have ended badly, but then he stopped killing. I take it you have someone emulating that vile creature, whoever he may have been?”

Adler pulled something up on his phone, handed the device to Maxim. “Crime scene photos. You tell me.”

Maxim scanned through the photos slowly as if he were committing all the details to memory. Then he handed the device to Gordon. “Your opinion, doctor?”

“Uhm,” Gordon said. “I’m not really familiar with Jack the Ripper, other than where pop culture picked him up and turned him into a crime podcast regular.”

Maxim shrugged. “There’s a corpse. You know about corpses. Don’t be shy and have a look.”

Adler crossed his arms and lowered his head. “I would appreciate your consult, Dr. Morris.”

“Oh, silly Adler,” Maxim said, waving his controller. “It’s a possible hate crime against supernaturals, which means I get first pick as to whether or not to get involved in the case. And I think I’d best get involved. Because getting involved can be a good thing.” Maxim waited expectantly like a teacher having asked a question, then waved the controller at Gordon. “I get to make the Forum’s nerdy medical experts help out with the investigation, if I deem that a good decision. And Gordon here happens to be an excellent decision , wouldn’t you agree, Adler?”

Gordon tensed. Nerdy. Yes, I guess I am that . He hadn’t even thought about it, but his office was, well, every collector’s wet dream, and it was really just a small slice of his entire collection, and of course Adler could probably smell the weed cookies in the Lord Helmet cookie jar. What was he going to think about Gordon now? That he was from a time well before vaping had become cool?

Adler nodded. “Of course. Whatever you think is best, Maxim.”

Gordon tried to focus on the pictures, which had all the many shades of red and darkness, blended and combined to fill a canvas of a disturbed mind’s imagination. Gordon wasn’t used to seeing the crime like this, where it had been committed. Oh, he had the training and had done the field work years ago, the photographing and the evidence collection. He was good at it, but he preferred to do his part in an investigation down here, in his morgue, where the dead were safe in a way.

When they come here, the worst is over. I respect them and take care of them. This is just so cruel.

Gordon pushed it all away and forced his mind to work with the facts behind the human tragedy. “Strong attacker, right-handed. I could give you a height range if I were there to take measurements, but not from photographs alone. The bruising does look a bit fainter than I would expect, so that lines up with her being part fae.”

Maxim beamed. “See? Gordon and his corpses.”

Adler grunted and nodded at Gordon. “You can oversee the autopsy, but I can’t have the victim brought here. I don’t want the press to get wind of this, not yet at any rate.” Adler blushed. “I mean, that is if you want to, Dr. Morris. You have other things to do, but I would appreciate another set of eyes on the crime scene. For the investigation’s sake.” After a pause he added, “You too, Maxim. Should have a look. At the scene.”

Maxim made a moue. “Well, if it’s for the investigation’s sake, how could I refuse? Ah, here I was, just getting fond of the old broadsword and hoping that dragon knight would bite his thumb so I could offer him challenge. Nothing for it now. The game is done, the battle neither lost nor won.”

Gordon sighed. “I don’t think you really get video games, Maxim. I was playing the dragon knight. We’re playing together. As a team.”

Maxim’s green eyes twinkled. “Don’t you like a challenge, Gordon? Or advancements to the configurations of your… team? ”

Gordon handed the phone back to Adler. “Well, I didn’t know you’d be that good at gaming. It’s no wonder they have an extra vampire segment during the big competitions, but I don’t think even if we signed up with a team that has you in it we’d be able to place. They are all freakishly good, and the Dragon Labyrinth competitions are always international.”

The blond vampire snorted. “You talking about not getting things is a right hilarity, doctor. Now let’s go have a look at a corpse, shall we?”

Riding to a crime scene in the back of a police car after a gaming session with Maxim was not how Gordon had imagined he would be spending the evening, but it was better than sitting in the passenger seat next to Adler and his delicious werewolf musk and that jaw which was so absolutely perfect for nibbling.

No, there isn’t going to be any nibbling. That’s where madness lies. Or sexual frustration. Both. Fuck, what am I even thinking? I can’t be starting something with a werewolf who happens to be a detective and doesn’t look like I’m his type.

“How’s Willa, Adler? Any pack gossip you want to share?” Maxim turned. “Adler’s Willa’s second-in-command, I’m not sure I mentioned that. He is bound to always have the best gossip.”

Adler sighed, and unless Gordon was mistaken, his grip on the wheel tightened. “I do not gossip about my alpha.”

Maxim clicked his tongue. “Are you sure? That seems very un-wolfy of you. But if you won’t tell me and Gordon about Willa, tell us what you’ve been up to. Apart from nostalgic murder scenes. Any long walks on the beach, any time-consuming hobbies?”

Adler growled, and it made the hairs on Gordon’s neck prick up. Hell, that’s sexy.

Gordon cleared his throat before Adler could speak. “What else can you tell us about the murder? And the victim? Not that psychology is my forte.”

Maxim began to giggle, and Adler’s eyes briefly found Gordon’s in the rearview mirror, those light brown wolf eyes that had looked at Gordon with such hunger not too long ago. Quicker than Gordon liked, Adler looked away again. I’m just the nerd in the back seat who ran away from him back before he even knew I was a nerd.

“Just that no one heard anything or saw anything. And there is a graffito.”

“Oh, like the one in London?” Maxim asked.

“Yes, except this one is ‘ The Fae, the Vamps, the Wolves are the monsters that will not be blamed for nothing.’ The original only targeted Fae.”

Gordon had heard about the original graffito, had seen some of the crime scene photographs as well, preserved horrors in black and white. He shuddered. “How was your victim found?”

Adler gave him another brief look in the mirror. “Door was left open and a neighbor walked in to check on her. They found her on her bed in her apartment, just like you saw in the photos, and given that, they called us in immediately. I texted the techs to leave her so you can have a look. Scene’s really not pretty.”

“Murder very rarely is,” Maxim said, and Gordon, who had worked in morgues on and off since even before he became a vampire, had to agree.