"You know, our murderess seems to be targeting those women as much as the men."
"Which is why I've sent Kade on to the murder scene, and I want you to go talk to Dia. Maybe she can shed some light on what is going on."
It was a big maybe. I liked Dia - a lot - but the information she saw generally tended to be vague, at best. She was far more accurate when it came to personal stuff - which is why I tended to avoid too much hand-to-hand contact whenever we went to coffee or lunch. My life so far had not gone the way I'd planned, and I didn't want to know that the future would go to shit, as well. Not knowing meant I could still hope. Still dream.
But even if she couldn't give us any direct psychic help, she was a part of the Toorak set, so she could at least give me information about the Trollops, as James's secretary had so charmingly called them.
"I've already rung her," Jack continued. "She's not home, but she said she'd meet you at the usual place in half an hour."
The usual place was an out-of-the-way nook in Brunswick that had some of the best coffee I'd ever tasted, and that didn't mind kids running around making noise. Which meant Dia had her daughter, Risa, with her. "I'll drive over as soon as I pick up my car. Did Benson pass on my question about invisible vampires?"
"Yeah, but I haven't had time to research the database yet. Personally, I never heard of that particular skill in vamps, but it's not like I've been around long enough to meet all the different types."
"But you've been around long enough to be fairly high up the vampire ladder." And considering he'd been a vamp for over eight hundred years, you'd think he would have heard something in that time.
"Yeah, but that ladder is composed mainly of blood vamps, with a few emos scattered here and there. We generally don't get other types of vamps joining."
I raised my eyebrows. "Joining? I was under the impression the hierarchy system was a natural part of being turned." Meaning, young suckers started at the bottom of the ladder, and rose through the ranks as they got older and stronger.
"It is for blood vamps. And it was - is - a good method of keeping track of all blood vamps, and ensuring there is no war between the different bloodlines."
I wondered what bloodline Jack had come from - and whether he'd ever created his own fledglings.
Wondered whether Quinn ever had.
He didn't seem the type, but then, what did I really know about either him or his history?
"I still can't see how that works, you know. Vamps are just as hungry for power as everyone else." Probably more so. "What's to stop someone down the ladder bumping off those ahead?"
"The threat that his or her whole line would be erased."
"So it's not so much a matter of honor and respect, as Quinn said, but rather fear?"
"It often works better than respect." Jack shrugged. "Anyway, there's a database kept of our history - a record, if you like, of the vamps who have lived and died since the hierarchy came into place. I'll check it for any mention of a line of vamps immune to sunlight. But don't hold out too much hope. I'd imagine such immunity would have been greatly studied had it existed."
Or kept very secret indeed. After all, they wouldn't want humanity knowing there were some branches of vampires who could move around in daylight. Humans had enough trouble dealing with the nighttime versions.
"Once I talk to Dia, I might head over to Vinny's and see what she can tell me." After all, she'd kissed the sucker. Maybe she'd tasted what he was.
"Be careful," Jack said, and hung up.
"Bad news?" Liander asked.
"Yeah, looks like I'm going to miss lunch." I shoved my phone back into my pocket. "If you see Rhoan tonight, could you give him the photos? I want to check if there are any other links to that school and Young's disappearance."
"Will do." He paused, turning right into traffic, then said, "So, how badly are Collingwood going to defeat Carlton in this week's match?"
I snorted softly, and we got into yet another argument about the pros and cons of our favorite football teams. It filled the time.
He dropped me off at my car then continued on. I got my keys out of my pocket, but didn't immediately climb into my car. I walked back down the street and checked whether Young had crept home.
He hadn't - at least, not that I could smell, anyway. Which mightn't have meant anything considering how little I'd caught his scent the first time.
Brunswick was only a ten-minute drive from Glenroy, but by the time I found parking and got to the restaurant, I was a good twenty minutes late. I couldn't see Dia sitting in her usual spot on one of the outside tables, but as I neared the door, little Risa came bounding out of the restaurant and flung herself at my legs.
"'iley!" she yelled, wrapping her tiny arms around my left leg and hanging on with the grip of a boa. "Coke!"
I laughed and picked her up, ignoring the twinge in my shoulder as I spun her around lightly before holding her close. She smelled of soap and powder and warmth, and made me wish again for a child of my own.
"Hey, monkey," I said. "What does your mommy say about you getting Coke?"
Her amazingly bright, violet eyes twinkled with mischief. "Mommy said yes!"
I grinned as I entered the cafe. Dia was in the far corner, sitting in a booth near the large play area the owners had provided for the kids. She was, as usual, both immaculate and stunning. Her hair was a pure whitish-silver that shone with an almost unnatural brilliance, and when combined with the luminous blue of her eyes and the white business suit she wore, she was hard to miss.
Of course, the blue of her eyes wasn't natural, same as her silver hair. Her true hair color was a mix of silver and brown, and her eyes were also naturally brown, ringed by blue.
Dia wasn't only a psychic, but a clone with Helki shapeshifting genes who was able to subtly alter her appearance as easily as I could become a wolf. The silver and blue suited her psychic business better - and enabled her to use her true form when she didn't want to be noticed. Little Risa had obviously picked up her father's coloring, although Dia never talked about him nor was there mention of him on Risa's birth certificate.
Few would have guessed Dia was blind. The sight she did have came through the presence of a creature known as a Fravardin - an unseen guardian spirit who'd been assigned protection duties by her clone brother, Misha. They'd failed in their duty to protect him, but only after a bloody battle that had taken many of their lives. After his death, they'd honored his wishes and continued to protect Dia. When she was outside the house, one of the Fravardin kept close - and by linking lightly to the creature's mind, Dia was able to move with a serenity and grace that denied her handicap. I had no idea where the creature was right now, but given she was looking directly at me, it had to be somewhere close.
"Mommy didn't say yes," she said dryly. "But Riley rarely takes notice of a no, anyway."
"It's only once a week." I slid into the U-shaped booth then placed Risa on the seat beside me. The little girl clambered to her feet and ran around the booth, white pigtails flying as she threw her arms around Dia's neck.
"Love Mommy," she said.
"That child has the world worked out already," I said, swallowing a laugh. "She's going to do just fine when she grows up."
"Oh, yeah." Dia picked her daughter up and swung her over the table. "Go play until the drinks get here."
Risa ran off happily. Dia shook her head, amusement and love evident in her expression. "I've already ordered the coffee and cake. What's the problem?"
"I need to know about the Toorak Trollops."
She lifted a pale eyebrow. "How have the Trollops come under Directorate scrutiny? They're basically harmless."
"Yeah, but someone is bumping them off and stealing their identities to kill their lovers."
The amusement fell from her features. "God, there's been nothing along the gossip lines suggesting anything like that."
"We've managed to keep the press relatively quiet." They were still concentrating on the dead politician, and I think Jack was hoping to keep it that way. "What can you tell me about them?"
She wrinkled her nose. "They're actually not very nice people."
"Not nice how?"
"It's their attitude. Not only do they treat men as dumb playthings, but they go into relationships simply to see how much they can get out of it. It's become something of a game between them."
I smiled a thanks at the waitress as she brought over three plates of thick banana cake, then said, "I take it you mean gifts and money?"
"But also position. They try to outdo each other when it comes to bed partners."
"So a politician would be prized more than a shoe store owner?"
"Depends on who the politician and the shoe store owner are, but yes." She paused, looking at me steadily for a moment. "So the murder of Gerard James was not political, as the press have been saying?"
"Nope. Bad choice of a bed partner, we think."
She picked up a spoon and scooped up a piece of banana cake, munching on it for several seconds before saying, "I know both Cherry Barnes and Alana Burns were going out with him. Can't say I'd be sorry to see either of them dead and gone."
I raised my eyebrows. "And here I was thinking you got along with everybody."
She snorted softly. "In my line of work, I have to try. Doesn't mean I always succeed. Though if Alana has been murdered, it's odd that I didn't see her death coming."
"So she was a client?"
Dia nodded. "So was Cherry. Neither of them were pleasant customers, so I was thankful the others stayed away."
"What do they come to you for?"
She shrugged. "Usual shit. Am I going to find wealth and happiness in my life, that sort of stuff."
The waitress brought over our coffees and a small glass of Coke. A squeal of happiness erupted from the play area, and a white-headed blur was suddenly scrambling over her mother to get to the soda.
"See what you've done?" Dia said, shaking her head in amusement. "She'll be hyper for hours now."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." I grinned as the little girl grabbed the straw and began drinking, a look of pure bliss on her face.
"It is when I have several clients to look after this afternoon." She shook her head. "I saw Alana two weeks ago. She seemed her normal, aggravating self then."
I hadn't yet read the cleanup team report, but the state of decay suggested Alana had been dead for at least a week - meaning Dia had probably seen her just before she'd died. "So you didn't sense anything odd about her?"
"No." She frowned. "Though with Alana, it was difficult to tell. The self-centered are often hard to read."
"Do you know of anyone who might want to kill her?"
She smiled. "She was certainly never on Cherry's Christmas list."
Dia's tone was dry, and I raised my eyebrows. "So the two of them didn't get along?"
"Cherry was more a wannabe Trollop than an official member. I'm afraid Alana delighted in proving to Cherry that she would never be one of them, simply because she wasn't good enough to keep her men."
"Meaning Alana deliberately seduced Gerard James just to prove a point to Cherry?"
"Oh, Alana wasn't the only Trollop to seduce away Cherry's conquests. It's something of a game for them all."
"Then why would Cherry want to be one of them?"
"Because they were the 'in' crowd, and Cherry is desperate to be seen with the right people."
"Even if she hates them?"
"Even if." Dia shrugged. "She is attracted to the power she thinks they hold. She wants that, even if the personal cost is high."
And that personal cost might just give her a motive for murder. "I don't suppose Cherry is a shifter?"
"No, as human as they come."
Damn. Though I should have known better than to hope things would fall into place that neatly. "Have you seen Cherry recently?"
"No, not for at least a month." She frowned. "In fact, she left in something of a hurry after our last meeting. She smelled frightened."
"What did you say to her?"
"That an event from her past was not as buried as she thought, and that she needed to be careful about who she let in her door."
I smiled. "That's a warning as clear as mud. As usual."
She shrugged. "Cherry was never very open when it came to readings. It makes it hard to get details."
I raised my eyebrows. "I'm not very open, either, and yet you've been able to read me."
"That's because you're not unresponsive to psychic intrusion. You're just very well shielded against it."
"Oh."
She smiled and waved her spoon at my hand. "You want me to do a reading today?"
I snatched my hand out of her way. "No, thanks. I've had enough bad news to last me a lifetime."
She laughed softly. "One of these days I'm going to do another reading, and you're going to love me forever."
I raised my eyebrows. "Only if you see true love and kids in my future."
"And what did I say last time? You will gain what you want, Riley. It just won't be in the form you have dreamed of."
I rolled my eyes. "How can babies not be in the form I dream of?"