I pulled into the parking lot, taking one-and-a-half spaces, then strode into the station. Vasquez’s door was closed. I paused in front of it. Barging into his office not once, but twice in one day? I steeled myself. I didn’t have time for knocking.
I swung open the door and stepped inside. Vasquez sat across from a man who looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.
“Thanks for knocking,” Vasquez said, but his voice lacked anger.
“No one has seen Elaine or her friend since last night.
I’m going to pull contact information for Wendy—the friend she was with. But we need to file a missing person’s report on Elaine now, Vasquez.”
The lieutenant’s eye twitched at my lack of proper address, but he didn’t call me out for it. I guessed that having a missing sister helped my latitude with him.
“Already done, Marisol.” He gestured to the man across from him. “This is Agent Valerio Costa. He’s from the OWEA. I’ve already briefed him on your sister’s case.”
The Otherworlder Enforcement Agency was a federal investigative force similar to the FBI, but they mainly investigated crimes that involved otherworlder victims and criminals. Why would an OWEA agent be interested in Elaine?
I nodded at Costa. Even sitting, he looked tall and deceptively slender because of his height. I could make out the muscles under his dark gray button-up shirt. He wasn’t built like a meathead, but he definitely visited the gym regularly. His nose was hawk-like and a touch imperfect, like he’d broken it a few times. Black hair topped his head and waved around his face, softening his otherwise sharp features, and I had the sudden desire to brush a lock of hair away from his face with my fingertips. Dark brown eyes met mine—not angry, but hard and closed-off.
Costa reached out and I met his hand with my own.
He shook it, his fingers firm and almost cold against mine.
I frowned and examined him more closely.
“Vampire?” The question was rude, but propriety was the least of my worries. I needed to know who I was dealing with. He didn’t have the slight paleness that vampires were known for, but then he may have fed recently. No fear emanated from him, but that didn’t disqualify the vampire angle altogether, since some vampires exuded more fear than others.
A grimace touched Costa’s features, gone so quickly I wasn’t even certain I saw it. “Salamander.”
“Ah.” Salamanders were essentially a type of elemental. They could control fire and were resistant to its effects. I didn’t know any personally, but they weren’t the rarest of otherworlders, and most were only slightly more powerful than a match.
“Agent Costa is investigating the disappearance of succubi around the country.”
My heart skipped, and I dropped Costa’s hand as if the cold had suddenly been replaced with fire.
“Tell me.” My voice was firm and void of the emotion that boiled just below the surface.
“Nearly twenty succubi have disappeared from various locations around the country over the last two years. Most young, under thirty.” Costa’s voice was deep and smooth, with a hint of an Italian accent.
“None…recovered?” I asked, fearing his response.
“They are still considered missing, not presumed deceased.”
I dragged out the chair next to Costa’s and sat down heavily. “Why do you think they’re still alive?”
“We’ve picked up rumors of a man who is selling succubi to the highest bidders.” He paused and took a deep breath, eyes on mine as if assessing my ability to take whatever news he was about to give me. I met his stare with a hard expression that seemed to reassure him that I could take it, but he glanced at the lieutenant and waited for his slight nod before continuing. “It seems he’s selling them as sex slaves.”
My stomach dropped and the room spun. I gripped the arms of my chair and tried to grasp my thoughts. God.
With everything Elaine had already been through, it just wasn’t fair. Couldn’t be real. “That doesn’t make any sense.
Succubi can kill with their powers. It can be suppressed with drugs or magic, but then they wouldn’t be any more interesting than normal human women. Why target succubi?”
“We’re not sure. The bit of information we’ve been able to glean is unreliable, and it varies depending on who we talk to. The one consistent rumor is that they’re still alive. And that’s what you should focus on.”
I opened my mouth to tell him not to tell me what to focus on, but then snapped it shut. My strength was in my ability to deal with people, even bossy, know-it-all OWEA people. I’d get more info from him playing nice than playing hardball. “All right. What else do we know?
I’ll need some specifics.”
“I’ll get you files on the victims and the case summary I’ve put together so far. We need to figure out where they took your sister and how. This is the quickest a disappearance has been reported, so we might be able to get them while they’re in the area.”
“Wait—when exactly did you get into town?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Did you know there was a danger and not warn us?”
Vasquez turned a suspicious glare to Costa, but the OWEA agent didn’t look the slightest bit uncomfortable under our scrutiny.
“I got into town last night. There was another kidnapping here several months ago, and then two weeks ago a succubus disappeared in Phoenix. The one here took a while to get reported, since she was estranged from her family. My partner is in Phoenix right now. I didn’t expect them to hit the same city more than once in such close succession.” He met my gaze. “I got lucky.”
I flew from my seat and Costa grabbed my wrists to protect himself from the blows I was trying to level at his face.
“Get off him, Marisol!” Vasquez barked.
“I’m sorry,” Costa said. “That was…a poor choice of words.”
Poor choice of words. Yeah, sure. I yanked my wrists out of his cool hands and sat back in my chair.
“I really am sorry,” he murmured.
I looked up at him. His mask had fallen just enough for me to see that he meant his words. Or that he wanted me to think he did, anyway. I gave him a short nod, not trusting myself to speak.
Costa cleared his throat. “I would like your help on the case, if you don’t mind. My partner is in Phoenix for a few more days, at least. I could use another investigator.”
“Of course!”
“Now wait just a damn minute,” Vasquez said. “This is personal. No way am I putting her on this. Her judgment is impaired.”
“My judgment is fine,” I snapped, pushing myself up from the chair to tower over the seated lieutenant.
“Normally I’d agree with you, Lieutenant,” Costa said, voice back to smooth and confident. “But Whitman is the only succubus you have at the detective level in your squad, and I think a succubus could be helpful in this case. Perhaps you will allow me to consult with her, if not involve her directly in the investigation?”
Vasquez looked like he wanted to argue, but finally he said, “Fine. Though if I think your investigation is in any way harming my officer, I’ll have your badge, Costa.” He turned his gaze to me. “And don’t forget you’re not off the hook with helping Astrid. Claude will be back in a couple of days, but she may need some backup in the meantime.
If nothing else, the murder investigation should keep you out of trouble.”
Chapter Three
“Where are we going first?” Costa asked after Vasquez’s office door shut safely behind us.
I blinked at him.
“Come on,” he said, one eyebrow raised. “I’m not an idiot. I didn’t really believe your lieutenant’s orders were going to faze you.”
I cleared my throat. “I need to look up some info on Elaine’s friend Wendy. She’s a siren, and I haven’t been able to track her down. She was the last person to see Elaine as far as I’ve been able to tell. I’m afraid something has happened to her, too.”
Costa nodded and gestured for me to lead the way. The man was cool under pressure. Most people— otherworlder or no—would have pressed for more info or shown more emotion when I mentioned Wendy’s species.
Sirens were relatively rare and almost always stayed away from humans as much as possible. Their abilities were very powerful, and that made normals and otherworlders very suspicious of them—more so than succubi, even, which was quite an accomplishment.
I walked to my desk, unusually self-conscious with Costa behind me, and far too aware of him. When we reached my computer, I sat and logged into the national police database.
Costa placed his hands on the back of my chair, and I was careful not to lean back and touch him. I needed to stay focused on Elaine. He leaned forward and his scent swirled around me. Aftershave and something spicy that could only be him. I closed my eyes for a second before I snapped them back open. Priorities much?
“So tell me what you’ve learned so far.”
I pursed my lips. “I talked to her friend Teresa. Normal, twenty years old. She spent the afternoon and early evening with Elaine and Wendy at the library. Nothing unusual. Studying, girl-talk.”
“Nothing at all unusual? Are you sure?” Costa cut in.
“Yes, I’m sure. I know how to question a witness.”
Costa didn’t comment, so I continued. “At the end of the night, Teresa left for the train station. Elaine and Wendy headed the opposite direction, toward the lot where Wendy’s car was parked.” I typed Wendy’s name and address into the police database.
“Did you get any other info?”
“No. There wasn’t any other info to get.” I suppressed a sigh when the screen came up with little more information than what I already had. I’d figured Wendy wouldn’t have a police record, but I’d hoped she might. It would have made our jobs just a hair easier. “We’ll need to go to the college to get contact info for Wendy’s family. She’s not in the system. Given the situation, hopefully they won’t give us a hard time about a warrant.”