Chapter 1 - The Fifth

Detective Julian Anderson stepped out of his car, looking up and down the street. Flashing red and blue lights illuminated the dark Friday night, and the din of voices prickled at his ears. The sharp metallic scent of blood filled his nose too, so thick it felt like he was choking on it. That was nothing new though, it came with the territory of a superior sense of smell and a job that brought him far too close to the smell of blood on the regular.

He shut the car door and strode towards the flashing lights, nodding at the patrol officer standing at the perimeter of the scene. Julian passed by the man without issue, though his bodyspray made Julian's nose twitch. He made his way through the cops clustered around the body, pushing through with a grumble. It took a second for him to actually get a look at the body, but once he did, it just confirmed his suspicions. A young man lay sprawled on the pavement, a deep thin cut across his neck. He was likely in his early 20s, light brown skin, a curly head of hair, with blood all over the T-shirt he wore.

"Another garrote." said a familiar voice, and Julian turned to see his fellow detective standing there, Detective Abigail Richards. She was somebody he worked with often, and he never had much of an issue with collaborating on cases with her. She was quite pretty, for one, a gorgeous blonde woman with a lean body and a firm, round ass that she liked to accentuate. She was 27, a year Julian's junior, and quite a tall woman as well, maybe 5'8 or 5'9.

Julian looked back to the body, noting the unfortunately familiar wound across the neck, and the equally familiar symbols on his palms, the ones that Abigail and the other police officers couldn't see. They were ugly runes, thick slashes of glowing blood that thrummed with magical energy that they couldn't sense, and they matched the ones that had been on the other bodies. Not everything supernatural was hidden, everybody would fully be able to see if Julian started transforming in front of their eyes, letting the ever present animal at the edge of his mind take over, but when it came to magical runes, it was quite easy to hide those from prying human eyes.

The LAPD was already convinced that the recent spree of garrote victims was the work of a serial killer, they'd be even more on edge if they saw blood runes. They'd instantly jump to Satanic rituals and that would be that. Julian didn't know too much about the ritualistic magic side of things, but he did know enough to know that not everything was about the devil. Julian didn't want to be noticed staring at the hands, in case someone was watching, so he did a quick glance over the body, then looked back up into Abigail's green eyes. She looked a bit nauseated, as she always did around bodies. He wouldn't have expected that of a homicide detective, but he'd never seen it slow Abigail down. She was a fucking demon when it came to running down leads, and she had never quite heard of 'work-life balance'.

"Looks like it." Julian shook his head. At a glance, he'd guess the kid was a changeling of some kind, the fey tricksters who could change their faces and bodies at will. There wasn't much in terms of visual cues to confirm that, but he smelled strongly of the fey, and without any oddities to his appearance that Julian could see, it made it likely that he was a changeling. The other fey usually had something weird about them to spot, something in the eyes or the skin or the veins. This kid looked plain normal, other than him smelling of the Land of the Young. Julian had never been there before, thankfully.

"That makes five." Abigail sighed, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's definitely looking like a serial killer." Julian agreed. Over the past three weeks, five bodies had been discovered in the exact same way. Dumped at seemingly random spots, all of them killed by garrote or something similar, all of them with blood runes on their palms. It was getting bad, Julian thought. Two of the bodies had been a werewolf couple, dumped on sequential nights completely across the city from each other. They'd only later realized they'd been a couple, and that had been thought to be the point of the killings for a few days, until they found the third body. This one had been a nixie, another fey. She'd had blue coloration around the eyes, often mistaken by humans as eye-shadow, and some hidden gills at her neck. Fourth body had been a witch girl in her late teens, and despite smelling strongly of protection herbs, they didn't seem to have done much.

And then of course, this fifth body.

"Do we have a name?" Julian asked, casting his gaze across the officers at the scene.

"Miguel Ortiz." one of them volunteered, and Julian gave a small nod. He didn't recognize the name, but he knew fey he could ask. So far, he'd found out that the werewolf couple had been from the Westside Pack, and it had taken quite a bit of work to stop them from trying to dole out vigilante justice on the mysterious killer. The nixie had been hardest to track down, as she'd been something of a hermit apparently, but he'd found a couple nixies in Santa Monica who had known her. The witch he'd tracked down with Abigail, actually, that one was as easy as going to her parents' house. They'd both wound up being witches, something Abigail of course hadn't picked up on.

The victims had no connection, no mutual friends, nothing like that. Their only thing in common was being supernatural, a lead that, of course, only Julian could follow up on. Made for quite a bit of work for him, having to keep an eye on every murder case the LAPD dealt with. There was just nobody else at the precinct who could see what Julian could, though. No other options.

"You want this one too?" Abigail asked. "Or is this one I can have, finally?"

"Hey, we looked into Jenna Downey together." Julian protested.

"One of four." Abigail scoffed. "Let me take this one, Jules. Come on."

Julian looked back down at the dead fey, and slowly nodded his head. "Fine. This one's yours. Just keep me posted, alright?"

"You're really into this serial killer, aren't you?" Abigail asked knowingly. "You've been acting like... well, like me with these cases."

"These ones motivate me more." Julian shrugged. "It's not often that you know for a fact there will be more killings if you don't get this guy."

"True." Abigail said somberly, looking back down at Miguel Ortiz. "Don't worry, Miguel. We'll get this bastard."

"Damn right we will." Julian scowled.

"Anything come back from forensics for the others?" Abigail wondered, but Julian shook his head.

"Nope. This guy's too neat, apparently. He does the dirty work in an environment he can control, then dumps the bodies without a trace." Julian growled. He felt anger boiling in his veins, a sure mark of the Wolf wanting out, but he squashed it. Full moon wasn't until next week, he could wait.

"Makes you think though. He wants the bodies to be found." Abigail said thoughtfully. "With how little information we have on these kills, I feel like he could hide the bodies pretty well if he put his mind to it."

"You think he's showing off?" Julian asked, his eyes widening as he realized the truth of Abigail's words.

"It's a theory." Abigail shrugged. "My other theory is that he just doesn't care if we know."

"I could see both." Julian nodded, looking down at the vile runes. If these were ritual killings for some kind of magical purpose, it'd make sense that the killer didn't give a shit about what happened to the body afterwards. They'd served their purpose already.

"Alright, I'm going to start pulling files about Miguel back at the precinct. You coming, Jules?" Abigail asked, looking to Julian. He shook his head.

"No, no. I'm headed out to track down a lead." he said, and Abigail rolled her eyes.

"You and your mysterious leads." she scoffed, but she gave him a smile as she walked off into the night. Julian took the opportunity to get away from the all-consuming scent of blood and fey magic, almost rushing back to his car. He rolled down his windows as he drove away from the crime scene, and drank in the clear night air.

There were several people he knew of who might be a help about these killings, but unfortunately, he'd been to most of them already and not gotten a whole lot back. He'd gone straight to his warlock contacts about the runes, but they'd never seen them before. Not a single warlock he knew could answer his questions, so he'd gone to his backup sources. The witches.

Pop culture tended to muddle up the differences between the different magical groups, but in simple terms, a warlock dealt in rituals and dark powers. Not necessarily evil powers, just dark powers. Witches drew their power from nature, leaning into herbs and charms and nature for their power. Both could be downright lethal if they were trying to kill you, Julian knew all too well, but the absolute worst type of magical was the sorcerer. They were rarest, but also had the most destructive powers. They were also all radically different, he'd never seen two sorcerers who did the same thing.

Sorcerers didn't know much about anything when it came to questions about magic blood rituals, because they never had to do rituals. They were born with their gift and just stuck to whatever they got.

The warlocks and witches that Julian was friends with didn't know anything about these mystery symbols, and he didn't even know any sorcerers to ask, so that didn't leave him with a whole lot of options. A seer, maybe? They were very unlikely to have an answer, unless he got lucky and found one who had been dreaming about his mystery serial killer. Who else did Julian have to ask?

Vampires didn't deal in magic, they dealt in enchantments and bloodsucking. Werewolves were a little too similar to a supernatural college party sometimes, and they didn't have a magical bone in their bodies. Fey didn't do ritualistic magic either, but maybe he could find a super old fey who'd seen something like this at some point? Hell, he could even combine stops and try and find someone who knew Miguel Ortiz, too. Not that Miguel was likely to be recognized if he was a changeling, they tended to change names and faces like normal people changed their underwear.

Well, if he was looking for some fey, there was really no better place than the Glade. Ancient fey might be in short supply there, but he didn't know where to find them anyways. Worth a shot, at least. Julian made the decision quick and pulled over into the turn lane, heading north into central LA.

———

Julian stopped his car two streets over, and got out to head over on foot. Already, his ears prickled at the thumping of club music. He wasn't sure how audible it would be for a normal human, but his ears were far keener. As were his eyes, both of which made detective work a little bit easier, he had to admit. He glanced for cars, then headed across the street. He rounded a corner and the Glade came into view. It was veiled from human eyes, likely a result of some benevolent witch or warlock, but despite that, it was absolutely bursting with clubgoers.

He wasn't sure what it must look like on the other side, but surely the humans would be confused by the long line of people trying to get into... whatever building sat there from a human's perspective. Julian glanced once at the lengthy line and shook his head, aiming instead towards the front doors. The two bouncers sized him up as he walked, and he knew that he'd be instantly identified as a werewolf. Bouncers like this would be well-trained to identify what their clientele were. Didn't hurt either that one of the bouncers was a werewolf as well. The other was a burly red-skinned devil, the lesser brethren of demons. Well, if one chose to believe that demons existed. The devil had short, stubby horns, and a bit of a scowl on his face. No pitchfork, alas.

Devils were one of the Veiled, the kind of supernaturals who couldn't pass for human. They needed some help from magic to go out in public, or they'd stick to veiled places like the Glade. Julian was glad he was an Unveiled, he'd hate to be stuck hiding from humans.

"There's a line, pal." the werewolf bouncer scowled at Julian, arms crossed.

"I'm not here to party." Julian sighed, holding up his police badge. "I'm here on business."

"What kind of business?" the devil bouncer squinted.

"C'mon, guys." Julian said, tucking his badge back away. "I've got five dead supernaturals and I'm trying to figure out who's doing it."

They exchanged a look, then the devil reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a phone.

"I'll phone the boss." he grunted, and Julian scowled.

The werewolf bouncer kept the line moving while the devil bouncer stepped away to take his call somewhere he could hear the voice on the other line. Julian looked down the line, his eyes flicking idly across the people waiting in line. All manner of supernaturals occupied the line, both Veiled and Unveiled, so maybe the line was obscured by magic, too.

"Boss says you're good." the devil bouncer said, coming back to his post. "Just don't cause any problems."

"Unless the guy I'm looking for happens to be here, I'll be on my best behavior." Julian promised, and the devil bouncer waved him through.

The hallway into the club was dark and crowded with people. Julian hated clubs, the throngs of people, the absolute lack of personal space... it was just a terrible time all around. He muscled through the crowd, pushing out of the entry hallway and into the wide open first floor club area, a huge open room with pulsing green lights and the riotous sounds of supernaturals partying hard. Upstairs was the secondary club area and the third floor was the VIP area, Julian knew, but he had only been here once before, for his friend Ellen's birthday maybe a year and a half ago. Ellen was a werewolf from Julian's old pack, and she was stubbornly friendly. Julian had distanced himself from most everyone, other than her. She just wouldn't let him.

Julian scanned the room and spotted a slightly raised seating area that he made his way towards. The seats were all occupied, but Julian had no intention of sitting down, he was just looking to see if he happened to know anyone here. That would make things a lot easier, but Julian was very rarely that lucky.

"Hey, you!" a woman exclaimed with a purr in her voice, and Julian turned in surprise when he realized she was talking to him. She was quite the attractive young woman who looked maybe 25, but someone's appearance meant practically nothing in terms of how old they were when in a place like this. The woman had flawless dark skin, ample breasts that were practically spilling out of her shimmery silver top, and she wore seashell earrings and a huge assortment of rings. On her lower half, she wore tight black shorts that showed off all of her smooth legs and flat toned stomach.

"Um, hello?" Julian arched an eyebrow. He was unused to being approached like this, he worked very hard to cultivate a 'don't talk to me' vibe.

"What's your name?" the buxom young woman grinned. Her long flowing waves of dark brown hair were streaming down her shoulders, and she was beaming at him while batting pretty silvery-blue eyes. It was hard to tell surrounded by other people, but he thought she smelled like saltwater.

"It's Julian!" he said loudly so he could be heard over the music blaring in the background. He knew clubs were loud for normal people too, but they drove his hearing absolutely nuts. He didn't know how Ellen went clubbing so often without going deaf.

"I'm Asha!" she shouted back. "I'm a jengu!"

"A what?" Julian exclaimed, cupping his ear.

"Jengu!" she called again. "African mermaid!"

"Oh, uh, cool!" Julian said. "I'm a werewolf!"

"I know." Asha grinned, and Julian felt like she was maybe expecting this conversation to go somewhere he definitely had not planned on this going.

"Look, I'm, uh, I'm not here to party. I'm on business." Julian told Asha, and she gave him a pouty face. She put her hands on her hips, bountiful dark tits bouncing wildly.

"Just a little fun?" she pleaded, but Julian shook his head.

"Not tonight, sorry." he shrugged, and Asha threw up her hands before walking off back into the crowd.

"Sorry, random girl." Julian muttered to himself. "I've got people to stop from being murdered. Hopefully, anyway."

Without Asha's two big distractions interfering, Julian went back to scanning the room, using his keen eyes to try and identify some fey. He spotted plenty of them, but he didn't just want any old fey, he wanted somebody who looked like they might know something, or at the very least, wasn't absolutely plastered or high on some kind of witch powders. Witches, it turned out, were absolutely fantastic at making new and exciting drugs. Some of them even managed to not be cripplingly addictive.

Finally, he spotted someone he thought might be able to help, a dryad bartender with some green to her skin and a crown made of branches and leaves atop her head. Julian began the slog of a walk towards the bar, pushing through where he had to and asking people to move when he could. The bartender looked up as he came up to her at the bar, and she gave him a smile, albeit a customer service-type smile.

"Something to drink?" the dryad called over the music, arching an eyebrow.

"No, actually, I had some questions for you." Julian said, and he pulled out his police badge again.

The dryad's eyebrows instantly furrowed, and she looked at him warily.

"I just need to know if you've seen anything." Julian said loudly. "Can we talk somewhere quieter?"

The dryad looked at him with a frown, but she nodded slowly.

———

"Alright, you've got maybe five minutes." the dryad said, dropping down onto the couch and folding her arms beneath her modestly sized bosom. The dryad wore a loose linen tank top with cotton shorts, and her loose brown hair had tinges of red to it. She had led him into a backroom for employees, and while the music thumped against the walls, Julian could actually hear himself think in here.

"I'll be quick." Julian sighed. "I'm Detective Julian Anderson, and I'm investigating a recent string of supernatural murders."

"I don't know anybody who's killing humans." the dryad scowled.

"Oh, no, not murders done by a supernatural. I've now found five dead supernaturals, all killed in the same way, and I figured that a bartender in the biggest supernatural nightclub in Los Angeles might have seen something." Julian said, and the dryad looked startled by that news.

"I... I hadn't heard about this." the dryad said, looking troubled.

Julian groaned, running a hand through his admittedly unkempt dark brown hair. "That's not great to hear. You know a Miguel Ortiz?"

"Never heard of him. What was he?"

"Changeling, so that name could easily be bullshit." Julian scowled. "He was young though, early 20s, I'd guess."

"I haven't heard anything about any murders, but I do know about a missing girl." the dryad offered, and Julian looked towards her, surprised.

"Who? When did she go missing?"

"Vampire girl named Corinne. She's only 19, turned just a few months ago." the dryad recalled. "A couple of vamps were in here tonight asking everyone if they'd seen her. She disappeared last night apparently, was supposed to meet her brother."

"You know which vamps they were?"

"Yeah, they were one of the Long Beach clans." the dryad nodded. "Don't remember which one."

"Did they say where she went missing from?" Julian asked hopefully, but the dryad shrugged.

"I didn't get that much information. Oh, they gave me a flyer though, I think I... yeah, here. Corinne's brother was desperate, I could tell."

The dryad fished it out of the pocket of her shorts and handed it over. It was a simple flyer, an iPhone photo of a sultry looking blonde girl grinning at the camera. The photo was taken during the day, so it must have been from before she turned. The flyer read MISSING: CORINNE PARKER at the top, and had some more details about her disappearance below. Last heard from last night at 11, no location she vanished from, but there was a phone number to call with any information.

"Well, it's more than I had before I came, so I appreciate it." Julian sighed, standing up. He took a quick picture of the flyer and then handed it back to the dryad.

"No problem." she said, sighing. "If I hear anything about any murders or missing supernaturals, you have a way to reach you?"

Julian fished out one of his cards, and he handed it over. "You have a name?"

"Willow." the dryad answered, which he supposed made sense.

"Give me a call if you hear anything." Julian said firmly, and then he glanced to the door labeled exit. "Can I leave out through there?"

"Go for it." Willow waved a hand, and Julian headed back out into the night. It was nearing 2AM at this point, a glance at his phone confirmed, and he needed to get sleep at some point. Unlike vampires, he wasn't nocturnal, though sometimes it felt like it. As he began walking back towards his car, Julian dialed the number from the flyer. It rang only once before someone picked up.

"Hello?" an urgent voice asked, and Julian felt bad he didn't have any answers for the guy. He sounded beside himself.

"This is Detective Julian Anderson, I saw one of your flyers about Corinne's disappearance. I think I have some information about it, but none of it's good." Julian said warningly.

He heard a groan of fear from the other end, before the voice spoke again. "Did you find her?"

"No, no. I didn't find her, but I'm worried her disappearance might have something to do with a string of homicides I'm investigating." Julian winced. "Is there anything you can tell me about her disappearance?"

"Homicides?" the voice asked, now sounding a little skeptical. "Corinne's... hard to kill."

"Because she's a vampire?" Julian asked, and he heard a surprised intake of breath. "Yeah, I'm a werewolf. The homicides I'm investigating are dead supernaturals, and I'm very worried that Corinne might become our sixth. I don't have any proof Corinne's disappearance has anything to do with it, but the timing is weird, so I figured I'd reach out."

"Can we meet, Detective?" the voice asked, and Julian wanted to groan. Looks like sleep was going to have to wait.

"Let's meet. Where are you at?" Julian asked. "I'm at the Glade right now."

"There's an old cemetery, the Angelus Rosedale, you know it?"

"No, but I can find it." Julian answered.

"It's not far from the Glade, I'll meet you there in twenty minutes." the voice replied.

"Alright, see you then." Julian said, and hung up the phone, stuffing it into his pocket. It buzzed mere seconds later, and Julian fished it back out to see a text from Abigail.

Well, makes sense for a changeling. Hell, Julian was surprised the guy didn't wear a new face for every single crime.

Yet again, the way victims were being chosen seemed to be solely based on them being supernatural. Was there a reason behind why it was specifically these five, or were they just targets of convenience? Julian couldn't even report Corinne's disappearance, as he'd have no explanation why he suspected she was involved with the serial killings. A teenage witch, a werewolf couple, a nosy nixie, and a changeling thief. No connections between any of them so far... it all felt too random. Though the ritual runes on the palms... maybe who it was didn't matter, just what they were.

Julian might need to go hunting down more witches or warlocks, try and find someone who knew what these fucking runes meant. But for now... he had a very stereotypical cemetery meetup with a vampire to get to.

———

The cemetery, as one might expect, was unsettling at night.

Julian came through the iron gate at the south of the cemetery, and he was surprised by how big the place was. The gate was locked, of course, but it was very little effort for Julian to scramble up and over it. Werewolf athleticism and all that. He headed into the dark cemetery, moving across the grass rather than along the roads that wove through and around the perimeter of the cemetery. His boots crunched noisily on the grass, and he kept his head on a swivel, eyes peeled for an incoming vampire. Vampires, to the lament of werewolves everywhere throughout time, didn't smell like anything. Scents seemed to refuse to stick to them, meaning it was damn hard to figure out when one was nearby lurking.

He had pretty good vision in the dark, though his eyes did glow like a wolf's did, meaning he had to be a little careful when going around at night. He typically kept his gaze averted from humans until he entered into somewhere lit up, but other times it was unavoidable. His eyes didn't glow too badly, but if he was straining to see in the dark, they'd glow brighter as he drew on his wolf abilities. Right now, he imagined they were glowing pretty noticeably.

"You're the detective?" a voice asked out of nowhere, and Julian swiveled sharply, unable to smother the reflexive growl that crawled out of his throat. The vampire boy snorted, and Julian narrowed his eyes as he took in the boy's appearance. He looked to be maybe 20 or 21, but who knew with him being a vampire? He couldn't be too old, Julian guessed, as Willow had told him that Corinne Parker was freshly turned. This vampire couldn't have been turned more than a couple years ago, at the maximum.

"That's me." Julian nodded. "Detective Julian Anderson."

"My name's Colin Parker." the vampire said, sticking his hands in his pockets. Colin had short blonde hair, deathly pale skin, and big dark eyes, a deep shade of blue.

"Nice to meet you in person. Now, what can you tell me about Corinne?" Julian asked urgently.

"You first, Detective." Colin snapped. "What do you mean you think Corinne is going to be killed?"

"Over the past three weeks, the LAPD has turned up five corpses, all killed in the exact same way. Of course, they have no idea what the connection between the victims is, none of them can identify a supernatural. I can, though, and I've been trying to figure out who's targeting us." Julian explained. "This could be nothing, but your sister disappearing makes me worried she's soon to be the sixth."

Colin exhaled a bit shakily. Definitely a newer vampire, the older ones didn't do things like exhale breath anymore, they'd gotten used to not having air in their lungs. "What's died so far?"

"There was a werewolf couple, a nixie, a witch, and earlier tonight we found a changeling." Julian sighed. "All the bodies were dropped off, we don't know where they died."

"Could you figure out what killed them?" Colin asked, beginning to pace, his shoes crunching the dried grass.

"Our best guess is some kind of garrote or strangulation." Julian said. "They also have all had these runes on their hands, blood runes the humans can't see."

"Oh, G-" Colin started, then gagged. Very new vampire, Julian thought to himself.

"Look, is there anything you can tell me about Corinne's disappearance? Anything at all?" Julian implored.

"I... I don't know. She was supposed to meet me for, er... dinner last night, but she never showed. She hasn't answered her phone since, and I've torn through all the places I know she goes to." Colin said despairingly. "She's just gone."

"Right. Where were you two going to meet up?" Julian asked.

"Rinn was hanging out with some vamps over at the Orpheum, that old theater. We were supposed to meet a few blocks from there at this cafe that stays open until like 2AM, but she never showed." Colin explained.

"And you checked the theater, I'm guessing?" Julian asked.

"Yeah, they let me in and I searched that whole building. Corinne's not there." Colin said firmly, and Julian nodded.

"So if this is a part of my investigation, then Corinne got grabbed somewhere between the theater and that cafe." Julian mused aloud.

"Do you know how she got grabbed?" Colin wondered, and Julian scowled.

"No, we've never known about one of the victims until we found the body. This is the first time that we might actually be ahead of the bastard, if this really is what's happening. Corinne's not prone to disappearing or anything, is she?" Julian checked.

"Never." Colin said at once. "Our parents died when we were 6, we've looked out for each other ever since. She would never up and run."

"Well, that probably means something happened to her then." Julian sighed. "If she got grabbed last night, though, that doesn't do us a ton of good. We have no idea where to find this guy or where he operates out of."

"You don't know much, do you, Detective?" Colin snapped.

"No, I don't." Julian admitted. "This guy's good, he hasn't left us a single clue. Just a string of bodies and a lot of questions."

"You said there were runes on the other victims, what do they mean?" Colin asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I've brought those runes to every witch and warlock I know, none of them recognized them." Julian said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper, where he'd done his best recreation of the runes. A camera couldn't pick them up, and so he'd needed some way to show his contacts the runes. The paper was well-worn by now, it'd been folded and unfolded about a million times each, Julian had been poring over it since the first body dropped three weeks back. He'd drawn new pictures for the second and third bodies, but when it became apparent it was always the same runes, he'd stopped.

Colin studied the paper, but Julian could tell the kid didn't have a clue what he was looking at.

"I don't recognize them either." Colin admitted. "But I do know someone who might."

"Who?" Julian asked, ears perking.

"A guy named Romero Scott." Colin told Julian, who typed it into his phone quickly. "Him and his wife are both something magical, but they're the ones who helped me and Rinn when we first transformed. They had a whole bunch of books out in their shop when we were there, and a bunch of them had these weird runes on them too. I don't think it was exactly those ones, but maybe they're rune experts or something."

"Worth looking into." Julian mused. "You have an address?"

"Uh, yeah, give me a second." Colin said, looking through his phone. Julian gave him his phone number, and Colin sent over the address.

"Thanks. What did they help you two out with?" Julian wondered.

"When you first become a vampire, the hunger... it's almost enough to kill you. We were both so hungry that blood wasn't enough to sate it. Our clan sent us to the Scotts, and they gave us some temporary charms that calmed the hunger of the initial transformation. By time they wore off, our bodies had adjusted to being undead." Colin explained.

"And were you... a willing transformation?" Julian inquired. He knew several vampires who had chosen to transform because they were fascinated with vampires. Some wound up regretting it, others loved every minute of it.

"Corinne was." Colin admitted. "I only did it because she did."

"And now she's missing." Julian said grimly. "Look, I'll check in with the Scotts about the runes tomorrow morning, but right now, I need to go get some sleep before I pass out."

"I can't do much to help during the day." Colin warned. "It's hard enough just trying to stay awake."

"Don't worry about it, I know you and the sun don't mix. Just keep trying to call other vampire clans, see if anyone's seen your sister." Julian suggested, and Colin nodded weakly.

"My clan's highsire is pretty upset about Corinne vanishing, she's reaching out to a bunch of other vampires already." Colin said. "I'll let her know that you're helping though, maybe she'll have something for you."

"And who's this highsire of yours?" Julian squinted warily.

"Alexandra Blackwood." Colin said, and Julian winced. "What is it?"

"Lady Blackwood has something of a reputation. She's not a fan of werewolves." Julian explained. "Tell her about me if you want, but I'd prefer you omit my name."

"If she asks for it, I can't say no." Colin cautioned. "Highsires... they can control their underlings."

"Just don't volunteer my name unless she asks." Julian sighed. "I'll also look at the precinct and see if I can find any security footage of your sister from last night. Maybe a camera caught what happened to her."

"Seriously? That would be awesome!" Colin exclaimed. "Thank you, Detective, seriously."

"Thank me when I find her." Julian waved him off.

"Call me if you find anything out, even if the sun's up." Colin asked, and Julian nodded.

"Will do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get home." Julian yawned, and the vampire nodded.

"Good luck." Colin said, and then he was gone in a whoosh of vampiric speed.

Julian, lacking superspeed of his own, began to trudge back towards the gate of the cemetery, and to his car parked out on the street beyond it.