Chapter Ten
JULIAN
“Does someone want to share the artist they picked?” I ask as I sit down on top of my desk.
A few students raise their hands. I’d asked them to pick an artist who was outside of their preferred style and create a piece in their art style, hoping to push them out of their comfort zone.
“Ben?”
“I’d love to show you guys mine so we can all see what not to do,” he says, and the class laughs a moment before the door slams inward, making multiple students jump in their seats.
With my superior hearing, I hadn’t heard anyone outside the door until it was moving, telling me that it’s a vampire and an older one at that.
Sure enough, there’s Casimir waltzing into the room. “We need to go.”
“How did you find me?” I ask, confused.
“I followed your scent because you wouldn’t answer your phone,” he responds, like that’s not weird in the slightest.
“I can’t go with you to buy more vacuums no matter how tempting it sounds. I have class right now, but I’ll be done in fifteen minutes.”
“It’s an emergency,” he says, making me hesitate.
“Oh. Like… a real emergency.”
“Like a dead emergency,” he clarifies.
That sure snags everyone’s attention. So much for subtlety with this guy.
“Okay…” I turn to the class. “I’m going to cut class short today. I’m sure most of you won’t mind leaving a little early.”
“Did someone you know die?” Brandy asks.
“No, nothing like that. Sorry to worry you. Casimir’s… helping… out with… something and I’m helping him… it’s fine, I promise.”
“That was the most convincing excuse I’ve ever seen,” Casimir says.
Even though they don’t seem overly convinced, they grab their stuff and eagerly head for home. As soon as the last student’s out, I hurry after Casimir.
“Maybe being a bit more subtle would be ideal so I don’t lose my job?” I suggest.
“I was being extremely subtle. If I wasn’t, I’d have walked in and gone, ‘Hey, Lassie, a vampire leapt off the top of a high-rise and splatted on the ground. I want you to come with me so it looks like we’re working together on this.”
“How… why? They jumped off?”
“I don’t know. I just got the call,” he says as he rushes out to where his car is running outside the door.
What’s concerning is that there’s no road out this back door, just student walkways, which he’s chosen to drive on to reach the door.
I get into the car while hoping I’m not going to lose my job, and he takes off.
Thankfully, there aren’t many students out at this time of night as he jumps the curb out onto the street.
I hear a weird thump in the back and slowly look toward the rear of the car. “Is there… I’m not even sure I should ask, but… is there someone in the trunk?”
“It’s just Ezio.”
“You say it like that should be less concerning.”
“I was called by Detective Torres, who despises Ezio,” Casimir explains.
“Despises is such a strong word!” Ezio calls from the trunk. “It’s more accurate to say that he’s struggling to let me bust my way into his luscious heart. His heart is like a maze filled with thorns and prickers, but at the end is a beautiful rose.”
“I can see why he doesn’t want Ezio near him,” I say.
Casimir nods. “Right? And you thought I didn’t know how to be romantic.”
The back seat drops down, and I look back at Ezio who is crammed in the trunk. Since he’s around six feet tall, I’m not even sure how he fit. Nothing I’ve heard so far explains why he’s in there.
“I heard the funniest thing. That you two were caught… holding hands. Hilarious, right?” Ezio cackles.
“We are in love. We have slathered each other in love,” Casimir says. It’s the least heartfelt confession I’ve ever heard.
Ezio gasps. “That’s adorable!”
And he believed it. Of course he did.
“I mean… once we get past the manwolf thing, it’s super cute!” Ezio adds.
“Man… wolf?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“Ezio doesn’t like werewolves after one called him ugly like two hundred years ago,” Casimir says, like that explains everything.
“Ah… that makes no sense at all,” I realize.
Ezio’s just beaming at us. “You two are just adorbs.”
“We’re pulling in, get your ass back in the trunk,” Casimir orders.
“I love the idea that you’re going to make all the vampires and weres lose their mind with this Romeo and Juliet thing you have going on.
God, it’s going to be miserable for you two and delightful for me,” Ezio says before sinking back into the trunk while laughing, like the idea of our misery amuses him.
When we drive up to the location of the incident, a human man walks over and looks into our car before motioning for Casimir to roll his window down. “I’m going to have you pull in behind my car there,” he says with a soft Spanish accent, so Casimir gives him a nod before parking the car.
“Ohhh, I heard him! His voice sounds like a million lovebirds singing, his face is like a million beautiful roses,” Ezio says from inside the trunk.
“That’s the man Ezio is harassing?” I ask.
“It sure is.”
“You don’t feel guilty smuggling Ezio in the trunk if the detective doesn’t like him?”
“No,” Casimir says as he gets out, so I get out with him.
The human is waiting for us. He’s a man in his thirties with an athletic build and a handsome face with an expression that seems a bit too serious. He looks tired and worn down, but he gives Casimir a polite nod. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course. Ezio’s in the trunk just in case you have your taser on you.”
The human hesitates before looking down at the taser at his side, clearly considering it.
“How disappointing that people are around,” he says before lowering his hand. “And you are Julian Evans.”
“I am…” I confirm, surprised he knows my name.
“Cyrus Torres,” he says as he holds a hand out for me to shake. “I’m a detective who also knows a bit about vampires and werewolves. I’m surprised to see you here.”
“With the tension between the vampires and werewolves, I thought it’d be best for us to show our community that we can get along,” Casimir announces.
“That’s a good idea. Now come along,” Cyrus says as he leads us after him.
“You’re allowed back here?” I ask Casimir. “The police don’t care?”
“I can allure them into thinking it’s fine that I’m here,” Casimir explains. “And if that doesn’t work, I just give them money.”
Ah, Casimir with the misconstrued idea that money fixes everything.
“Now this is pretty… gruesome. Are you sure you’re okay seeing it?” Cyrus asks me.
I’m not positive about it, but I feel like as long as I don’t stare right at the body, I’ll be doing my job of being involved. Really, I’m just here to look the part, right? “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”
“Good,” Cyrus says as he leads us down an alley when I notice Ezio creeping after us. Cyrus tosses a glower back at him, surprising me that the human even noticed him since it seemed like he was being very quiet.
“Oh! Cyrus… so strange just running across you here. I was going for an evening stroll, and I must have been drawn to you like a sunflower to the sun.”
“I guess I should have invested in weedkiller, then,” he mutters as he walks a little faster, like he thinks he can outwalk the vampire.
Ezio just laughs, overly pleased with himself.
When we reach the area where the body is, there are several police officers positioned around it as some examine it. Right in the middle is the body, and while I’d planned to not look at it, my eyes are immediately drawn there.
A man is lying on his front, blood sprayed out around him, a wooden stake driven into his back and through his heart. It must have been done immediately after impact, or I feel like the vampire would have tried to heal himself.
“Any signs of a struggle?” Casimir asks.
Cyrus shakes his head. “No. He jumped.”
“Willingly?”
“Yes. We have a video. The building had been dealing with some vandals on the roof, so they put a camera up. The guy is completely alone as he walks to the edge and just jumps off.”
“Yet someone was waiting at the bottom to stake him?” Casimir asks, clearly confused.
“If it was a suicide, why not just wait for sunlight?” I ask.
“Because someone wanted to make a statement, and right in the middle of the fucking city,” Casimir says. “Fucking hell, this is ridiculous.”
“Did he have an apartment here?” I ask.
“No. Come on,” Cyrus says as he leads us through the front door before trying his hardest to slam the door shut in Ezio’s face.
Ezio catches the door before it crushes his foot and has to use his strength to open it wide enough to slip inside, which makes Cyrus tsk. “Cy, I feel like you didn’t see my beautiful face there as you shut the door. You are looking mighty fine this evening. You make life surge through my veins.”
Cyrus looks disgusted as he hurries away from him before turning to Casimir. “I thought I told you that I’d stop involving you if you brought him?”
Casimir shrugs because I’m fully confident he’s enjoying this. “He is our detective.”
“He could barely find his way out of your trunk, and if there’d been a mirror in there, he’d have stayed in there all night,” Cyrus says.
That makes Casimir and me both grin, telling me that maybe we have more in common than we thought, even though Ezio doesn’t strike me as being particularly vain.
“Well, let’s hope the killer doesn’t carry any mirrors around, then,” Casimir says as he follows Cyrus into a room where a man is sitting in front of several monitors.
“Or let’s hope they do,” Cyrus mutters before turning to the man. “Could we see the video?”
“Of course!” the human says as he plays a video of the vampire entering the rooftop. He walks straight across it and without hesitation, he climbs up onto the fence that is meant to keep people from doing just this and leaps off.
“We’ve IDed him as a man named Grady Johnson, but that’s probably not his true name. Do you recognize the man?” Cyrus asks Casimir as the security guard replays the tape.
“I’m going to be real honest… I don’t remember the faces of most of my people who live here,” he says. “Ezio?”