Chapter 5 - Law of Blood

When Julian and Ellen emerged back out into the main area of Wavelength, leaving the bathroom and the hallway down to it, it thankfully seemed like Abigail hadn't thought much of their disappearance. She was frowning at her phone as Julian and Ellen walked up, wearing a facial expression Julian knew well. That was her 'Detective Abigail got bad news' face.

"Everything alright?" Julian asked, and Abigail glanced up at them.

"Oh, hey you two." Abigail said, still frowning.

"Not a sixth body, right?" Julian asked quickly, and Abigail shook her head.

"Well, it's not another body from our serial killer, at least. There is a body though." Abigail frowned. "They want us to come to the scene."

"What? On his birthday?" Ellen demanded, putting her hands on her hips. Julian glanced at her, realizing she had never put her hair back up and it was still a bit messy. Hopefully Abigail just saw that as a symptom of Ellen's dancing.

"It's fine, Ellie." Julian said, shaking his head. "It's part of the job."

"Not having either of our cars sucks though." Abigail scowled. "I guess we're taking a taxi to the crime scene."

"So I'm being ditched, huh?" Ellen said with a sigh.

"Sorry, it's not in our control." Abigail apologized, but Ellen waved her off.

"Don't worry. I've been ditched by Jules plenty of times due to his job. Makes sense you're the same way." Ellen shrugged. It made her tits bounce in a rather distracting way, and despite having just taken out some pent up frustration on Ellen, he felt a little stirring down south.

"Thanks for everything, Ellen. This was a great birthday." Julian smiled, and Ellen grinned at him as she threw her arms around him for a tight hug.

"Nice to know my company is preferable to sitting alone at home staring at the wall." Ellen said cheerfully.

"I don't stare at the wall." Julian protested as Ellen let go of the hug, but she waggled an admonishing finger at him.

"I went to your house and the TV remote was covered in dust. The remote!" Ellen exclaimed. "Ridiculous."

Abigail snorted at that, and Julian kissed Ellen's forehead. "Your judgement of my lifestyle aside, I do appreciate you dragging me out of my apartment every now and then."

"Someone's got to." Ellen winked. "Bye, you guys! I'm gonna go find something with a lot of alcohol in it. Takes me forever to get drunk."

Yeah, downsides of a werewolf metabolism. It was hard to bring them down, even with lots of alcohol. It was why he knew Ellen preferred the Glade, they had special drinks that were designed to overpower even supernatural constitutions. She'd be slumming it tonight, taking lots of shots the old-fashioned way.

Julian gestured to the front door, and Abigail nodded at him, walking towards it. Julian fell into step with her, and as they pressed through the crowd and emerged out into the cool night air, he glanced at her. "Any information about this you didn't wanna share in front of Ellen?"

"Yeah, there was something." Abigail admitted. "I figured it would probably put a hamper on her party mood."

"That bad?" Julian asked in surprise, before he remembered Abigail didn't really know who she was talking about.

"It's pretty bad. They found the body out near Long Beach, and get this, fully exsanguinated." Abigail shook her head. "Some people are freaks."

Julian had to fight to keep his expression neutral, and he forced a wince across his face, though internally, he was reeling. Exsanguination? That really couldn't mean anything but a rogue vampire. Vampiric activities were one of the most likely to draw unwanted attention to supernaturals, and these days, the heavily enforced Law of Blood was in place to prevent that. None of the supernaturals wanted to be found out, and most any vampire would turn in another who broke the Law of Blood. Any non-vampire supernatural wouldn't hesitate.

"Yeah..." Julian agreed, trailing off.

"Forensics is on the scene already, so hopefully they'll have something for us by time we get there." Abigail huffed. "Oh, speaking of."

She raised her hand and hailed a passing cab, and as the cab pulled over to them, Julian wondered idly if he would have had as much luck as Abigail did just then. Something about a beautiful woman seemed to make taxi drivers much more amenable to taking on passengers. And Abigail did indeed look beautiful in that white dress with her blonde hair loose.

The pair of them got into the back row of the taxi, with Abigail climbing in first and Julian sliding in behind her, shutting the door. Abigail gave the cab driver the address off her phone, and she leaned back in the seat, exhaling heavily.

"Tough night?" Julian grinned, but Abigail just shook her head.

"This whole business with the..." she eyed the driver, then gave Julian a meaningful look. "All of it is just weighing on me heavily. Feels like we're not making a difference, you know? We just show up to clean up this guy's messes."

"Trust me, I get it." Julian said with a scowl. "I hate how useless I feel about that."

"It's the worst." she agreed.

"But hey, this one has nothing to do with that. This one, we can solve." Julian said, and Abigail closed her eyes, nodding.

"I hope you're right, Julian." Abigail sighed. "I really, really do."

Julian reached over and squeezed her knee, and she gave him a small smile, though she didn't seem particularly cheered up by his words. Julian retracted his hand, and, struck by a sudden thought, reached into his pocket for his phone. He drew it out, holding it as naturally as he could at an angle that Abigail couldn't see the screen, and he made a quick group chat.

Julian slid his phone into his pocket, trying not to grimace. He'd been hoping for them to know something about it, especially when he remembered that they belonged to a Long Beach vampire clan, but seems like he was out of luck.

"Everything alright?" Abigail asked him, and Julian glanced at her, nodding.

"Yeah, why?"

"Dunno, you just looked disappointed." Abigail shrugged.

Julian shrugged back, and settled back in the seat for the ride to their murder scene.

———

Julian and Abigail climbed out of the taxi after paying an annoyingly high fare. He should have just brought the Cutlass to Wavelength, he only wound up having one shot anyway, which was nothing for a werewolf.

The pair of them crossed the street over to where the cops had cordoned off the scene. Red and blue lights illuminated the night, and Julian was reminded of a similar night last week, when he'd arrived to find 'Miguel Ortiz' dead. As they approached, Julian spotted Sergeant Rhodes on duty, who gave them a nod, and then a strange glance when he saw the taxi they'd arrived in drive off.

"Were you two together?" Rhodes asked, wiggling his finger back and forth between them. Julian also spotted him eyeing up Abigail in her snug white dress, which shouldn't bother him as much as it did.

"Yes, we were." Abigail sighed. "It's Jules' birthday, but can we focus?"

"Happy birthday, Detective." Rhodes said grimly. "As for our body... 41 year old woman named Denise Banks. We're not sure what happened yet, but the CSI team agree pretty unanimously she was attacked and drained of blood."

"Jesus." Abigail shook her head. "Any family?"

"Husband and two kids. We found her license on her with an address, I've got a squad car headed that way already." the police sergeant said with a nod.

"Any signs of a struggle?" Abigail wondered as Rhodes led them over to the body.

"Doesn't look like it." Rhodes said. It wouldn't, Julian thought to himself. Vampires had an ability they called enchantment that was more like hypnosis, it could leave humans in a dazed, almost empty state, perfect for feeding on. Odds were, Denise Banks never even realized she was in danger before she was dead. And she shouldn't have been in real danger at all, that was the whole point of the Law of Blood.

Rhodes led them over to the grass beside a sidewalk, where a woman was laying there, deathly pale and bloodless, eyes closed. She had short brown hair and looked like an average middle-aged woman. Probably had a husband and kids wondering where she was at. He glanced at her neck, but he already knew what he'd see. Two thin holes, spaced just wide enough to be fangs.

"Wounds on the neck?" Abigail noted as well.

"Much as it looks like the work of a vampire," Rhodes said with a morbid chuckle. "the leading theory is some kind of double-barrel syringe, or whatever the technical term is for that. CSI was saying the killer knew their stuff, went right for the carotid."

Abigail crouched down, peering intently at Denise Banks. "What do you think, Julian?"

Julian glanced up and down the street. It was a residential area, a bunch of apartment buildings and some small stores like convenience stores or little grocery stores. A pretty common looking street, unfortunately.

"How long ago was the time of death?" Julian finally said, and Rhodes pulled out his notebook.

"They said can't be more than two hours, probably less." Rhodes read, and Julian nodded slowly with a scowl.

"No witnesses?" Abigail wondered as she stood up.

"None." Rhodes confirmed. "None we know about anyway."

"What's this address?" Julian asked, and Rhodes gave it to him.

He pulled out his phone quickly and sent it over to the Parker twins, asking if they knew which clan the address fell under. While he waited for a response, he tucked his phone back away and paced impatiently.

"Alright, I'm going to get with forensics and see what evidence they've got, and you are...?" Abigail asked, looking intently at Julian.

"I am...?" Julian trailed off, unsure where she was going with this.

"You," Abigail said, poking his chest with her index finger. "are going to go absolutely nowhere without me. I don't know who you keep texting about this, but under no circumstances are you going to go running off without me tonight. I don't care what lead you get from your mysterious contacts, you're waiting for me. Got that, Jules?"

Julian sighed, and nodded slowly. "I got it."

"Good." she said, and walked off to go find the lead CSI.

"Trouble in paradise?" Rhodes asked, clearing his throat.

"Go secure the perimeter, Rhodes." Julian said, glaring.

"Yeah, you got it, boss." he said, and walked off with a chuckle.

"I'm gonna find who did this, Denise." Julian told the victim quietly. "Don't worry."

Julian's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out quickly.

There was a long pause before either twin replied to him, but a message finally came through after a minute or so.

Julian tucked his phone away just as Abigail came walking up.

"So what now? Any new mystery leads?" Abigail asked, brushing blonde hair out of her face.

Julian tipped his head back and forth. "No, I don't have anything."

She stepped closer to him, close enough that all he could smell was her vanilla perfume. "One of these days, you're going to tell me how you find these mystery leads."

"I just told you I don't have any." Julian sighed.

"But you will." Abigail said, her green eyes firm. "I don't know how you do it, but somehow you always know where to go to find what you need."

"If that was the case, we wouldn't be dealing with a serial killer, alright?" Julian snapped.

"No, but you were taking guesses at who the next victim was, something that nobody else could do." Abigail recounted. "How is that possible, Julian? Out of everyone in the city, how could you point to that one random missing persons case and think it was her?"

"Abigail, I can't do this tonight." Julian shook his head. "We have this dead body to deal with, and I don't have any super special information to help me out on this one, alright? I haven't got anything to help me arrest someone."

Abigail studied his face for a long while, her eyes searching for something, and apparently she didn't like whatever she saw. "I see a lot more than you think I do, Julian. Whether that's Ellen's messy hair and flushed skin, or you getting calls or texts and vanishing to go chasing after something... I'm not an idiot. And I can't keep being your partner if you treat me like I am."

Julian recoiled like he'd been smacked, and Abigail stalked off, over in the direction of Sergeant Rhodes to take control of the scene from him. Julian pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how his night had fallen apart this quickly, when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out to see a text from Corinne with an address, followed up by another text that was a single word.

'Now'

Julian looked in Abigail's direction, seeing her back was to him as she spoke with Rhodes and one of his officers.

"Sorry, Abby. You're not coming with me on this one." Julian muttered, and he stepped away from the flashing police lights, cutting down an alleyway leading to the next street over.

Corinne's address was five minutes away on foot, and he picked up the pace.

———

The address turned out to be a cafe, and he walked in to see Corinne sitting at one of the tables in the corner, warming her hands on a tall coffee cup.

"Can you even drink coffee?" Julian asked by way of greeting, sliding into the booth opposite her. She smiled at him as he sat down.

"Yup." she said happily. "No food for me, but I can drink whatever I want, it just obviously doesn't do anything. Heavier drinks mess me up sometimes though, like milkshakes or smoothies. Coffee's fine though, and energy drinks."

"Huh, learn something new every day." Julian said. "Now, what's this meeting about?"

Corinne cleared her throat, and Julian glanced at the buxom blonde vampire girl. She was like a decade younger than him, but he couldn't deny that she was looking very good tonight in her red tank top. It showed off quite a bit of cleavage from her generous breasts, and Julian had to use some mental willpower to avoid looking down at it.

"So, Colin went to Highs- er, Ms. Blackwood about the information you gave us." Corinne said with a hasty glance over at the uninterested barista who was on her phone. She'd looked up when Julian had walked in, but when it became clear he wasn't ordering anything, she'd gone back to looking down at the screen.

"And?" Julian prompted.

"She was pretty pissed off. Not at Colin, of course, but she flew into a bit of a rage about finding who did this." Corinne explained. "She recruited Colin into her little team, and they and a bunch of other... um, members went looking for who did this. That's why I'm here, because Colin's busy with the search."

"Thanks for the update." Julian said, looking at Corinne curiously. She seemed to be deliberating on something, tilting her head back and forth.

"Something to say?" Julian asked, and Corinne blushed. He hadn't thought vampires could blush.

"I was thinking about going out and searching myself." Corinne admitted. "And I was hoping you could help. Colin's kind of nuts about me leaving the nest these days, I haven't been out by myself since you saved me."

"Ah, I see." Julian said with a chuckle. "You snuck out to meet me when Colin got dragged out on the search."

"Well... yes." the pretty blonde admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "It's just- I'm not made of glass, you know?"

"I know that." Julian said, gesturing with his wrist, and Corinne's eyes widened.

"I'm so sorry about that." Corinne exclaimed. "I-"

"I was kidding, don't worry." Julian cut her off. "It was the fastest way to help you."

"And I appreciate it." Corinne said sincerely, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Well, look, I'm definitely down to help you search, but I don't have my car with me tonight, and I'm definitely not as fast as you would be. Do you have any idea where to start?" Julian asked.

"I do." Corinne admitted. "I only thought about it after Colin and the others left to go look, but there's a hotel not far from here that I heard a lot of us hang out at when they don't wanna be around the nest."

"And the others searching wouldn't think to go there?" Julian wondered.

"I don't think so. It's not something Highsire Blackwood knows about, and Colin's too much of a stickler for the rules to pay much attention to it. The others out searching are all the stuffy elite, the highsire's lieutenants and the like. None of them are sneaking out to this hotel." Corinne explained.

"And you'd rather go yourself than call them and tell them?" Julian raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe doing this would make Colin realize that being kidnapped doesn't mean I'm useless." Corinne sighed. "I hate being monitored every second of every day."

"Well, I'm down to go check out this hotel." Julian shrugged.

"Great." Corinne said in relief. "You wanna go now?"

"Let's do it. I just need to..." Julian said, peering out the window until his gaze landed on what he needed. "Perfect."

———

Werewolves and vampires had had a lot of disputes throughout the centuries. They were almost always at odds, and they were both relatively common races of supernaturals, meaning there was lots of them and tensions tended to sprout up.

As a result of that, every werewolf worth their salt knew how to fashion a quick and dirty stake, and Julian was no exception. He'd spotted a tree from the cafe window, and while Corinne stood in the grass and watched, he'd snapped off a branch and pulled out his pocket knife to start whittling a point onto it.

"It's a little scary how ready you were to make that." Corinne had commented as he finished up and tucked his new stake into the inner pocket of his leather jacket.

"It's a werewolf thing." Julian had replied with a shrug.

With that taken care of, Corinne had led him about a twenty minute walk to a hotel. To his surprise, it was just a standard, four star hotel. It was even a name brand one that he recognized instantly.

"Huh, seems normal." Julian frowned as him and Corinne walked into the lobby.

"What'd you expect? Cobwebs on every surface and boards on the windows?" she asked wryly, and Julian shrugged.

"Not necessarily, but I dunno, something... weirder. Like the Cecil Hotel, I know that was a big spot for supernaturals for decades." Julian pointed out.

"Wait, that spooky hotel where all those people died?" Corinne asked in awe.

"Yeah, that wasn't just happenstance." Julian said wryly.

"Learn something new every day." Corinne shook her head, echoing his earlier words.

In the lobby, Julian looked around for deathly pale goths, but saw nothing. He supposed that was a bit stereotypical considering he had a gorgeous not-goth blonde vampire beside him, but some stereotypes did tend to be true. Too many idiots trying to be the next Dracula, or even worse, the next Edward Cullen.

Corinne walked up to the front desk, and Julian grudgingly followed. He would have hoped she had more idea of what to do here than asking the front desk, but he didn't wanna interrupt her.

"Good evening, ma'am." Corinne cleared her throat. "Have you got a room available for tonight?"

The hotel clerk looked between Julian and Corinne with a knowing look, and Julian wanted to groan.

"We do have a couple, yes." the clerk said.

"Great! Oh, do you have anything close to room 222? I think a friend of mine is staying there." Corinne said.

The clerk furrowed his brow, but he checked his system.

"Nothing close, no." the clerk said. "You can just go down a floor and knock on their door though if you want."

"I guess that'll work." Corinne agreed, and she looked to Julian like she wanted advice.

"Maybe we go visit them first before we book a room." Julian said, knowing that if they went ahead with that, it would absolutely be him who paid for the hotel room that didn't get used.

"Oh, yeah, let's do that." Corinne said with a look of realization.

"Thanks for all your help." Julian told the man behind the counter, and he quickly steered Corinne away from the desk.

"Next time we come to a hotel hunting vampires, let's not go straight to the front desk." Julian hissed.

"Well, at least we know the room's occupied!" Corinne protested as Julian led her to the elevator.

"Yeah, about that, room 222? There's an assigned vampire hangout room?" Julian asked skeptically.

"Yeah, that way all of us know where to go here." Corinne shrugged.

"It's probably smarter to not have all of the weird vaguely supernatural teens who never come out at daytime going in and out of the same room, don't you think?" Julian asked, poking the up button.

"Well... maybe." Corinne admitted.

"Now, how occupied is this room generally?" Julian asked as the elevator doors slid open. "Are we going to be facing down one guy or a killer vamp with a bunch of his friends?"

Julian and Corinne stepped into the elevator and Corinne gave him an uncertain look. "Er... it's hard to say. The population of that room varies pretty wildly. Some nights it's a chill space where there's no one to bother you, other nights it's a party spot."

"Great." Julian scowled. "And how confident are you that the person in this room will be our Lawbreaker?"

"I'm not sure. I know this is where I would go if I was in trouble, but trouble with other vampires? I dunno. What I do know though is that statistically, most vampires who break the Law of Blood are young and stupid and get too blood-drunk to stop." Corinne said, the last part sounding like she was quoting something.

"You study the Law of Blood or something?" Julian asked, and Corinne shook her head.

"Nope. Highsire Blackwood drilled it into all of our heads when we first turned. Sure, killer vampires exist, but most feeding deaths are the result of inexperience or carelessness." Corinne said.

"Yeah, the throat wasn't ripped out." Julian agreed. "Just two clean puncture wounds. Forensics even thinks it was two syringes."

"Yup, sounds like a feeding death." Corinne bobbed her head. "I don't know much about being a vampire, but Highsire Blackwood made sure we know this."

"If this does turn violent, and it's not just some apologetic kid in there... I'll need your speed, alright?" Julian asked. "I can go toe for toe in strength, but your guys' speed is just unfair."

Corinne looked hesitant, but she nodded slowly. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just if he charges at me, try and block him." Julian said. "Vampires are very good at rushing their problems and striking before anyone can react."

"And then you'll try and... stake him?" Corinne asked, whispering the last two words. The elevator bell dinged, but Julian just looked at the short and stacked blonde girl.

"If he makes me." was all Julian said, and he strode out of the elevator. Corinne fell into step alongside him, and they marched down the hallway to 222. It was late at night, but they passed a family of four walking down the hallway. Julian gave the family a nod, and after they passed, Corinne shot him a worried look.

"They'll be fine." Julian assured his companion in a low voice, wishing he felt more confident about this. He had no idea how many vampires might be in this room, but hopefully if there was more than one, they wouldn't try and defend a vamp who broke the Law of Blood, even if he was one of their own.

When they reached the door, Julian looked to Corinne. She nodded resolutely, and stepped up to the door, knocking five times in quick succession. Julian glanced up and down the hallway impatiently, and as he looked down the hallway, he spotted a tall, pale young man walking out of a room down the hall, looking furtive. He stopped when he saw Julian and Corinne, and Julian tensed. The pair of them stood between the pale boy and the elevator behind them. If he wanted out, he'd have to go through them.

"Eli?" Corinne asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"I knew I should have picked a different hotel." the boy moaned.

"Detective Julian Anderson." Julian said, holding up a steadying hand. He also let his werewolf eyes flare, so that the boy knew what he was dealing with. "How's your night gone, Eli?"

"It was an accident!" Eli exclaimed, backing up. He looked over his shoulder and clutched at his hair, looking fearful.

"I'm afraid that doesn't matter." Julian said, and Corinne smacked his arm.

"Eli, just come tell the Highsire that." she implored him. "This doesn't have to be a big deal. If you try and run, the Highsire will be even angrier."

"She tears apart those of us who do this, Rinn!" Eli protested, shaking his head furiously. "I need to get out of the city."

"That is a bad idea." Corinne warned.

"It's the only choice I have!" Eli threw up his arms.

"I'll tell you now, Eli, that's not a choice you've got anymore." Julian said fiercely. "If you're gonna try and run, you're not making it out of this hallway, much less Los Angeles."

Eli looked at Julian in horror, and Julian reached into his jacket to pull out his crudely carved stake. It wasn't pretty, but it would do the job. Eli's eyes fixed on the stake, and they went wide. He took a step back, hesitant, and Corinne tried again to smooth things over.

"Look, just come back to the nest." Corinne said in a soft, soothing voice. "It's the best thing for you."

She was a sweetheart, Julian could tell. Not even the fact she drank blood to stay alive seemed to have dulled that. Listening to her now, he would never guess she was a recent kidnapping victim, she seemed too put together and comforting.

Eli groaned softly to himself, and Julian saw, just for a second, the boy's muscles tensed, like a snake about to strike. Julian's grip tightened on the stake as the vampire exploded forwards. Julian felt a whoosh of wind as beside him, Corinne lunged forwards to. In an instant, Corinne had Eli pinned against the wall.

"Eli, just listen to me!" she almost begged. "Don't do this!"

"Let me go!" Eli roared, and he shoved Corinne off him. Julian was there, though, and he grabbed Eli by the collar of his shirt and yanked him forwards, slamming his knee into the kid's gut as hard as he could. Too late, Julian realized that Eli had no breath to knock out of him, and the vampire reacted quicker than Julian had expected, catching Julian in the face with a powerful punch. Julian was knocked backwards against the other wall.

"Fuck." Julian grunted as Eli took off like a shot. Corinne was right on his heels, though, and Eli made it maybe twenty feet before he was tackled to the ground. Julian grabbed the stake he had dropped and ran after the vampires, getting quickly to where Corinne had the other vampire pinned. She was ready for him this time, and his struggles were in vain. Julian squatted beside them, and he held up the stake warningly.

"Two options, kid." Julian said, waggling the stake.

"Don't stake me!" Eli begged, wriggling harder against Corinne's vise-like grip.

"Then you'll come quietly?" Corinne asked hopefully, and Eli nodded desperately.

"Just don't stake me." Eli said, sobbing quietly.

"Alright, get him up." Julian said, reaching into his leather jacket for a pair of handcuffs.

———

He wasn't sure the handcuffs really did much, but Julian thought they were better than nothing.

It was maybe twenty minutes later, and Julian and Corinne were standing in a parking lot, a fully empty one at this time of night. It was tucked behind a closed convenience store, safely out of the way of most foot traffic. Eli was sitting on the ground in front of them, head resting on his knees. His cuffed hands were behind his back, and he looked miserable.

Corinne kept shooting a couple of sympathetic looks his way, but Julian didn't have any sympathy for him. He'd seen Denise Banks' body, and it was very hard to feel bad about someone's fate when you'd seen the person they killed.

"Thank you again for doing this." Corinne said quietly to Julian.

"I didn't do much, all I did was get punched in the face while you ran him down." Julian said wryly.

"Don't be obtuse." Corinne sighed. "I meant just coming with me. I don't know, I... maybe I didn't feel comfortable being alone."

There was a pause, and then she looked at him with the closest thing to a glare he'd ever seen on her sweet face. "But don't you dare tell Colin that."

Julian chuckled. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. And I appreciate your help too. Don't know what I'm gonna tell my coworkers, but I'm very grateful you helped me get a killer off the street."

"He's not a killer, it was an accident." Corinne complained.

"Denise Banks would disagree." Julian said, glaring at Eli.

The handcuffed vampire fidgeted, then looked up at Julian. "That was her name?"

"It was." Julian nodded. "And she can't go home to her kids tonight because of you. If by some miracle, you don't get killed tonight, I want you to remember her."

Eli sniffled. "I will."

Julian's ears prickled at the sound of footsteps, and he looked up from Eli to see seven figures emerging from the shadows. Only one was familiar to Julian, and that was the blonde teenager who stood in the back and looked quite unhappy with Corinne. As for the rest, well, age wasn't an indicator of anything in the vampire world, really. Their age froze at the age they became a vampire, which meant he'd seen fresh-faced teenagers leading clans, and he'd seen wizened old men. The average age of the five vampires other than Colin and the young woman who must be the Highsire was probably around late twenties or early thirties. The six lesser vampires lurked at the edge of the parking lot while the Highsire walked forwards.

She looked like a Hollywood vampire seductress, Julian had to admit. Perfect pale skin, ruby red lips, a long curtain of straight black hair, and piercing blue eyes. She looked to be maybe 20, but by the fact she was a Highsire, her actual age probably had three digits. She wore a tight red dress exposing a deep cleavage so pale it may as well be a ghost's. She was strikingly beautiful, but in the manner of old aristocracy. Nothing about her seemed attainable, she may as well be a statue for all the emotion she showed.

"Corinne." she greeted the blonde vampire with a slight musical hint of a French accent. "What a surprise to find you out of the nest."

"My Lady." Corinne did a little curtsy. "After you left, I had a thought about where Eli might be hiding."

"So your message said." the highsire said with a cold, fanged smile. "I was quite curious why you did not inform your brother of your theory. He was, after all, already on the team searching for him."

Corinne looked terrified, and she seemed to almost reflexively look to Julian for help. This drew the Highsire's gaze, and Julian was suddenly the target of those frosty blue eyes.

"And you went to someone outside of our clan for aid." the Highsire wrinkled her nose, a look of distaste spreading across her face. "And a mutt, at that."

Julian had been called a mutt plenty of times. It was a pretty common insult for werewolves, he'd heard it plenty of times, and sometimes he wasn't even that bothered by it, like when Inara called him it. Never in his life had he heard the term used in such a tone that it sounded synonymous with garbage. He had to actively fight the urge to snarl at the rude aristocrat vampire.

"Detective Anderson is the werewolf who rescued me when I was taken." Corinne said fiercely, to Julian's amazement. "I called him because I knew I could rely on his help."

All her fear had evaporated from her voice, and despite facing a probably ancient vampire who towered over her, there was a cute, stubborn look on Corinne's face. The Highsire seemed similarly surprised to how Julian felt, and she gave Corinne a little smirk.

"Well, I suppose you are owed a thank you then, Detective." the Highsire said, her lip curling unhappily. "What can Alexandra Blackwood do for you?"

"I don't need anything from you." Julian shook his head. "I'm just bringing in your murderer."

"Turning down an offer from a Highsire?" Alexandra Blackwood raised a perfect eyebrow. "Stupid decision, even for a werewolf."

"We'll call it an IOU." Julian shrugged, trying to keep his anger tempered. "I'm just here to help Corinne."

"I can wait, then." Alexandra said amusedly. "Now, Elijah... somebody's been naughty."

She clicked her tongue sarcastically, and Eli whimpered.

"Highsire, please. It was an accident." Eli pleaded.

"Oh, darling. I know that, of course." Alexandra purred, her voice distinctly unnerving. "But even accidents have consequences. I cannot simply let you live to kill again."

"I won't!" Eli begged. "I swear to you, I won't kill anybody again, I swear to G-"

Eli choked on the name of God, and Alexandra's tinkling laugh filled the parking lot hauntingly. Julian sighed to himself. This kid was brand new, he couldn't have been a vampire for more than a few months. He'd told himself he didn't feel any sympathy for Eli, but having now met Eli's pale and deadly judge, jury, and executioner, he wasn't so sure of that.

"You swore a similar oath when you became a vampire in my clan, Elijah." Alexandra said coldly. "Vampires talk, and if you are not dead by time the sun rises, as is both tradition and Law, then they will be talking about me. And I cannot have that."

Eli hung his head. He knew as well as Julian did that pleading and begging would do nothing for him now. There was a look in Alexandra Blackwood's eyes, a look vampires got after decades or centuries as something other than human. The cold, merciless look of a predator. Alexandra may look like a stunning, buxom princess, but it was the eyes that gave her away. She was a monster.

Julian had seen plenty of death in his life, from wild animals growing up to the bodies he saw non-stop as his job. But even he cringed when Alexandra struck like a snake. She moved faster than his eye could track, and when she was visible again, her chin was stained with blood. Her fangs dripped scarlet, and Eli laid sideways on the asphalt, his throat a savaged, bloody mess. Corinne let out a little sob, and Alexandra turned back towards Julian and Corinne.

"I thank you, for finding this little rascal for me." Alexandra said with a haunting sort of glee. "We'll take care of this mess, Detective, do not worry. I would not to create more work for you."

"Thanks." Julian said warily, but the Highsire just smiled and turned, walking back to her group of vampires. She clicked her fingers together, and one of the five strangers came forwards and lifted Eli's body. Five of the vampires were gone within seconds, and then it was just Julian, Corinne, and Colin left in the parking lot. Corinne turned and buried her face in Julian's chest, openly sobbing now.

Colin had clearly come stalking up to berate his sister, but he stopped when he saw her current emotional state. Julian wrapped his arms around Corinne, squeezing her.

"We should have let him run." she sobbed, and Julian gave her a squeeze, keeping to himself how much he disagreed. He knew the Law of Blood just as Corinne did, and without some kind of shockingly merciful Highsire, it had been clear they were damning Eli. And they definitely did not have a merciful Highsire.

"Corinne, what were you doing out here?" Colin sighed, and Corinne shook her head, pulling away from Julian slightly.

"I just wanted to prove that I didn't need to be locked up." Corinne sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I've felt like a prisoner ever since I got back."

Colin glanced at Julian, betrayed. "I would have thought you'd understand my side."

"Seems pointless to save her from being locked up just to lock her up yourself." Julian shrugged. "She wasn't in any danger."

"She could have been!" Colin protested. "Someone out there captured a vampire! My sister! Have you found out who yet, Detective?"

"No, I haven't. I've been trying to catch a fucking serial killer." Julian snapped. "Don't think you can lecture me, kid. You wouldn't even have a sister to lock up without me."

"Whatever." Colin shook his head. "Don't text us for help again, alright? We're through, Detective."

"You don't speak for me, Colin." Corinne glared.

"I do now." Colin snapped. He took Corinne's arm, and in a whoosh, the Parker twins were gone into the night.

What a fucking night. Julian rubbed his face, groaning as he realized he'd need to call another taxi to get back home.

Happy birthday to him, huh?