Dangerous Influence (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 5) Read online

  “Not sure if it’s rape, but she had some downtime with a man at some point. He left evidence.”

  Tommy glanced at the inside of her thighs, and his partner was right. This woman definitely had been having sex before she had been killed.

  Now there was another pressing question.

  Who had taken her to the deserted plantation and dumped her body?

  “She didn’t die of blood loss and there appears to be no sign of blunt force trauma. It’s a bad time for the ME to get backed up. We could use some answers,” Flynn stated.

  Tommy agreed.

  Unless they knew how she died, there were going to be too many avenues to pursue.

  “Check her eyes,” Flynn stated. “Do we have any hemorrhaging?”

  “Nope. Nada.”

  “Well, the only thing I can think of is drugs or suffocation. We’ll have to wait on the official COD.”

  “She looks peaceful,” Tommy stated.

  Flynn glanced over. “What?”

  “If we found her in her bed, I’d swear it was organ failure or she just went peacefully into the night. Well, minus the ligature marks on her wrists.”

  Flynn stood and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What about her back? Let’s roll her.”

  Tommy did what he asked, and there they found the same evidence that tied this to the two other victims they had in the morgue.

  “It’s the same. She was beat before she bought it.”

  Beat didn't cover it.

  Both men stared down at the raw red lashes that were laid out across her back. She was most definitely tortured.

  Then he felt it.

  In the breeze, he picked up that subtle scent of the undead. The predator in him clawed its way to the surface.

  His fangs actually ached to slide his mouth, and it took everything Flynn had to keep it from happening.

  Flynn’s whole body rippled with awareness as he scanned the area before focusing on some trees in the distance. Squinting his eyes in the bright sun, he tried to see what was there. One of the other gifts was his much sharper sight.

  Despite his gift, he couldn’t focus.

  It looked like he was shit out of luck. In the sun, and at this time of day, it wasn’t happening. In fact, Flynn wanted to get inside, and soon. Despite the clouds, he was feeling the drain.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Tommy looking around in alarm. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I just felt like we were being watched.” He didn't tell his partner it was more than that. Tommy wasn’t good with vampyres, even though he lived among them. They freaked him out, and he couldn’t blame the man.

  All he had to hear was that they were being tracked by a vampyre. Tommy would flip his shit.

  He’d been a snack for one screwed up vampyre.

  His partner laughed. “Uh, we are being watched, Flynn, There have to be twenty people here and they are all thinking you are acting weird. Make that twenty one—including me.”

  Brogan glanced over at his partner, and quickly smiled, flashing his fangs so only Tommy could see them.

  “Ohhh…that kind of feeling,” he said, checking out the technicians and other cops surrounding them.

  Nothing seemed out of place.

  In fact, this was like every other run of the mill crime scene. They had a body and cops all over the place.

  ‘Vampyre,’ Flynn whispered into his mind.

  Thankfully, his partner stayed calm.

  Now, he just needed to figure out if they were in danger. Truth be told, not many vamps would come at him in the daylight. Jolie’s mate had a reputation, and they knew he was packing silver bullets.

  Well, that and he was protected by a ruthless killer. If they only knew what he did to Dena Callahan when she tried to hurt his woman. Yeah, he went all vampy on her, and Flynn didn't regret it for a second.

  Flynn felt the familiar touches to his mind, and immediately, opened up for his mate. It had to be tough for her to reach for him in the middle of the day.

  Hell!

  It was odd that she was awake.

  ‘Jolie, are you okay?’ he asked.

  Her laughter flooded her mind. ‘Yes, my love. Are you safe, Flynn? I got this sick feeling all of a sudden, and I had to reach for you.’

  While he crouched by the victim, he was talking to the love of his life. No one was the wiser. This was why he really liked being the undead.

  ‘I’m okay, baby. I’m just at the crime scene and something feels off.’

  Jolie paused. ‘What is it, my sexy detective?’

  ‘I just had company off in the distance. Someone is stalking me.’

  Jolie didn't like the sound of that. She had to hope that her mate didn't mean what she thought he meant.

  ‘Flynn…’

  ‘Why don’t you take one guess what has me worried, Jolie?’

  She didn't have to guess.

  They both knew it.

  Vampyres.

  Flynn had been wrong. This wasn’t going to be a case free from the undead. The opposite was true. They had a mess, and of course, they were smack dab in the middle of it.

  It was just his luck.

  ∞ Chapter One ∞

  Thursday Afternoon

  Police Squad Room

  He was grateful to be back inside. Once there, he was out of the sun’s rays, and he could cruise through the day. While the sun wouldn’t kill him, it hurt like a bitch.

  His eyes burned.

  Flynn’s skin tingled, and not in a good way.

  It was uncomfortable and difficult to ignore the pain. He likened it to a really horrible sunburn.

  He could live without that.

  In the last couple weeks, he’d noticed that he had to begin applying sunblock more and more. Jolie found it amusing, since he was the only one in their house that actually had a tan. His flesh had been kissed by the sun prior to being bonded to the two vampyres.

  And it would never change.

  Jacques envied it.

  Jolie was crazy about it.

  Unfortunately, for Flynn, he didn’t have any say about it. It was hard standing out in a house full of the undead.

  Oh well, he needed to adjust to it.

  Being inside wasn’t a total pleasure cruise. There was the slow ache of being awake at this time of the day. What he wanted was to head home, strip down, and curl up in bed with the two mates he loved with all his heart.

  Instead, he was trapped at work for a few more hours.

  For the time being, Flynn was sitting at his desk, flipping through the crime scene photos from the three killings.

  None of them added up.

  Toss in that a vamp had been watching the scene, and it only added more confusion to the mix. In fact, Flynn dreaded this case. He was already getting that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  What wouldn’t he give to have a straightforward homicide? Where had all the good killings gone? It was funny even to be thinking that, but he was a man on the edge.

  As he scanned the information in front of him, all the crimes seemed to be the same. Every human victim had been abused and then left for dead. The only thing that irritated him more was that the coroner couldn’t tell what exactly had caused the deaths. For all intents and purposes, they should all be alive and healthy.

  There was no strangulation.

  There was no blunt force trauma.

  Nothing.

  All they had was sex and some beatings. None of which added up to death. To add to it, the tox on the first two victims had come back clean. They were still waiting on the last one, but he didn't have much hope.

  This was a puzzle.

  When things didn't add up, that generally meant one thing.

  Vampyres.

  Well, shit!

  He was frustrated.

  “Hell,” he muttered as his partner put down his mug of herbal tea.

  “Is there anything at all from the doctor?”

  “Not a single thing and the M
E sent all the completed reports. You’ll be happy to know there’s no DNA on the women, and the semen…it’s just fluid. The ME can’t even call it semen, since there are no swimmers or any genetics present. There weren’t even epithelial cells.”

  “So it’s basically just goo?”

  “In a sense, yes.”

  Tommy lowered his voice. “I don’t understand.”

  Flynn knew his partner was new to this, so he figured it was best to fill him in. “Male vamps shoot blanks, and they don’t have DNA. That’s semen, but to a non-vamp, it’s going to look like…goo,” he said, for a lack of a better word.

  Tommy lifted a brow. “Wait. If males are sterile, how did Jacques get Jolie pregnant?”

  Oh, that was a very long story, but it could be summed up with only one word.

  “Death.”

  “Oh.”

  Tommy looked freaked out.

  Well, it was time to tell him all the bad news. Flynn broke down his suspicions, telling his partner what he felt out at the scene.

  The man didn't look happy.

  “How about a warning next time?” he whispered. “I can swap out my bullets and be ready to put a few in the nasty-ass vamps.”

  Flynn lifted his brow. “Uh, I’m included in that category, as is the woman I’m in love with and Jacques.”

  “Thank you for not saying, ‘in love with’ in reference to Jacques. Honestly, it weirds me out.”

  “I am in love with them both.”

  “Flynn!”

  He laughed. “Okay, point taken. All I know is I felt one at the scene, but it was after dawn, so I’m not at my best then,” he admitted, sipping from his vampyre coffee mug. He honestly didn't know how that one got there. Jolie liked to lurk around, and she seemed to have purchased every single one in New Orleans.

  They randomly swapped out at his desk.

  She was tricky and liked to remind him of what they were. It was their little joke.

  Just the fact that she cared enough to do it always melted his heart. It had been over six months since she had walked into his commissioner’s office, and they had seen each other for the first time.

  It was immediate.

  Yes, he fought it but fate had a plan. Flynn was her chosen human mate, and they were meant to be.

  If someone had told him then that he would be madly in love, bonded, and nearly a full vamp in less than a year, he would have told them they were crazy.

  Oh, and that he was going to be a father.

  Just thinking about it made his heart soar.

  “What did Jolie say when you told her?” Tommy asked, knowing his partner had spoken to her.

  “I filled her in but nothing extensive. Jolie’s in session all day today, and I didn't get a chance to discuss it with her. If she communicates in our heads, it drains her. I don’t want her out there unprotected,” he said.

  That’s why Flynn hated working.

  What he really wanted was to be with the woman, and man, he loved.

  He longed to be by their sides.

  Flynn couldn’t help it.

  “When are you going to tell her? I’m sure she’ll want to know about it.”

  Oh, Flynn didn't doubt it.

  She was the Harbinger, and more often than not, she was called out to take care of the vamps behaving badly. It was the cross that their family had to bear.

  “I’ll talk to her and Jacques tonight. I’m sure they’ll help walk me through this if I ask. Three human victims with no fingerprints, no DNA, and signs of sex are going to pique their interest.”

  They got silent.

  Flynn continued working as Tommy sat there nervously tapping his pen until it was driving his partner absolutely crazy.

  “What?” Flynn asked.

  “I’m taking Camille out tonight,” he said, as if he was trying to slide it by his partner.

  Flynn was amused. He could feel Tommy’s trepidation, and most of that was because the man was worried his partner would object. Little did he know that Jolie was playing matchmaker, and she had her sexy hands in this pot.

  “Oh, are you? You guys are going to have fun. Are you taking Cari or is this a date-date?”

  Tommy tugged at his tie. “No, Clariel said she’d watch her for us,” he replied, hoping that was the right thing. Truthfully, he was scared shitless. He wasn’t a big dater. Sex, yes. Relationships…yeah, no. “She likes Cari.”

  Flynn watched him. “Everyone likes the little imp. She’s a really great kid.”

  Then he dropped the bomb.

  “I’m bringing them both home to meet my mom for the holidays.”

  Flynn wanted to smile, but he wasn’t quite sure that his partner would appreciate it. Apparently, Jolie made her love match. His partner looked like a lovesick puppy.

  “Wait!”

  He lifted a brow. “What?” Flynn asked.

  “Unless you think it’s a bad idea. Is it?” he really looked panicked. “I mean…”

  It was time to intervene. As much as Flynn knew Tommy wanted to do this, he had to be aware of the cold hard facts.

  “You can’t tell your mom what she is, you realize that don’t you? If it ever got out, and there was mass chaos, it would mean the hunters would be on our doorsteps and all of our deaths,” he said calmly, trying not to picture Jolie and Jacques staked in the yard.

  His stomach knotted at the mere thought.

  Then his fangs slid into his mouth.

  “Seriously,” he lisped. “You can’t say shit. Our lives depend on it.”

  Tommy stared at him. “Did you just go vampy on me?” he whispered.

  Flynn struggled to retract them. “I can’t help it. When I’m hungry, horny, or ready to kill, they pop out. I’m working on it, but during the daylight, it’s a bitch.”

  And it was.

  He was weaker now, and Flynn didn't like it at all.

  “I won’t let that slip, Flynn,” Tommy promised. He knew what was at risk. “I know that we’re having Christmas dinner there, and I figured we could tell her we’re eating at one of her relative’s homes during the day, so that will explain her lack of appetite.”

  “That should work.” He didn't mention that they were taking a precocious four year old. That was going to throw all his well thought out plans in the air.

  Cari was a little hurricane.

  “I have to go. After the last case, where I was abducted, Jacques planted some things in my mother’s head. If I don’t show up, she’s going to figure things out. Moms have that skill.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I recall.”

  “So, I have to do this. I don’t want to be away from Camille and Cari. I don’t have many choices. I can’t invite my mother and sister here. That’s going to be hard to explain. I live in a giant plantation and it’s full of dead people.”

  Flynn snorted. “Yeah, but it would be fun to listen to you try.”

  “Thanks.”

  He eased up on his friend.

  He needed reassurance. “Well, it sounds like you’ve thought this out, so why the look of panic?” he asked, sipping his tea. Flynn was pretty sure he already knew what his partner was going to say. If anything, Tommy Gress was an open book.

  It didn't take a genius.

  “Well, no offense Flynn, but…well, she’s the undead. I’m bringing a vamp woman, and kid, home to meet my mother. That’s insanity if I ever heard it.”

  “You’re lucky. I wish I could bring Jolie and Jacques home to meet my parents. You should be doing cartwheels.”

  Tommy looked uncomfortable as he squirmed in his chair. Flynn already knew what he was thinking.

  He was in his head.

  “Jolie and Jacques have been nothing but kind to me, and I’ll always appreciate it, but I am uncomfortable with the ‘sex with the dead’ thing.”

  “You shouldn’t knock it until you’ve rocked it.”

  Tommy stared.

  “I know. Jolie would kick my ass for even thinking that, let alone saying
it out loud.”

  “Where do I even begin with what’s wrong with what you just said?” Tommy asked.

  Flynn ignored it.

  “So, I’m assuming you haven’t rounded the bases with Camille.”

  “No, I haven’t. I just...I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about it, but she’s dead and then she isn’t. I don’t know what category to put her in, and I’m confused.”

  “Have you slept with her yet? You know, as in just go to sleep next to her, not sex.”

  “No.”

  Flynn smiled. “If I were you, I’d start there. I know I slept in their bed for weeks before I could rationalize sex with the undead. It’s actually amazing if you let her drink from you,” he said softly.

  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Gress muttered. “Do you realize how very wrong that sounds?” he asked.

  Flynn grinned. “It may sound wrong, but it feels oh so right. Once you go vamp, you don’t go…”

  “Shut up. Just please stop talking. My head is going to explode. My freaking eye is already twitching.”

  He was right.

  Tommy was flushed red. This was obviously bothering the hell out of him. Flynn wanted to be mad, but he got it. This wasn’t easy to accept.

  “Okay, let’s rationalize this for a second. You have to try something before you know you’ll like it.”

  “I know I wouldn’t like having sex with two people, so that makes your statement false.”

  Flynn leaned forward. “Tommy, stop judging my relationship. It wouldn’t work for everyone, but it works for me. You’re judging me.”

  He took a deep breath.

  “Sorry. I’m struggling with it.”

  Flynn let it go. “Trust me on this one, Tommy. Give it a try before you start praying and freaking out. You let Jolie feed from you that one time and wasn’t it amazing?”

  He thought back to it.

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “Well, it’s a million times better if it’s your true mate. With each time you do it, you’re going to get closer and closer. That’s why with the vamps, they can’t cheat on each other if they are perfectly matched.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “I can’t touch another woman. I physically get repulsed when I do. Once a woman gets too close, her scent makes me ill. The same is for Jolie when it comes to us.”