“What about the vampire leaders? What are they doing? I saw you on TV in the Prince’s party. He didn’t seem too worried.”

Ari bit back an angry retort. “All a front. We hoped to calm community fears by acting as normal as possible. We’re all taking this seriously.” Ari was tempted to hang up. She didn’t like his implications, and his reference to the TV coverage had renewed her discomfort with how public her private life had become. “I’ll call you when we learn more,” she said. Disconnecting, Ari shook off her irritation. She realized his clients were under a cloud of uncertainty. Maybe Shale had reason to be pushy, but she didn’t have to like it.

Patrol that evening was quiet. Goshen Park was empty of human intruders and the Otherworld nightlife district exuded its usual exotic, edgy but controlled energy. After completing her rounds, she stopped by the club. Andreas met her there, and they took the hidden passage to his home, where they spent much of the night in front of a wide screen TV in the first floor family room. It still amused her he did ordinary things, like watch television. He played with the remote too. Just like every other guy. His tastes ran to crime shows, sci-fi, history, and comedy. It was the horror channel, however, that often was their biggest source of laughter.

Ari woke about 6:00 a.m. on Andreas’s couch, covered with a light blanket. Light from the window told her dawn was breaking, and she assumed Andreas’s departure for his own quarters had woken her. The last thing she remembered was some disaster movie. She glanced at the TV, but the screen was dark. She stretched, headed for the kitchen seeking caffeine, but the familiar sound of her phone sent her running back to the family room to snatch it from the coffee table.

“This better be good,” she growled. “I haven’t had coffee or food yet.”

“Better than good,” Ryan responded. “We’ve got a headless alien.”

“A what? It’s too early for jokes.”

“Just repeating what the caller said. There’s a dead alien in Goshen Park with its head cut off. This one has to be down your alley, Ari.”

“Uh, probably. OK. Twenty minutes.”

“I’m already on the way. Meet you by the west fountain, and I’ll pick up coffee.”

“Bless you.”

She dashed up the stairs to the Chantilly Suite and jumped in the shower. While hot water cascaded over her body and the delicate smell of richly perfumed soap from the dispenser filled her nose, she tried to make sense of Ryan’s words. Goshen Park had been quiet enough last evening. What happened in the intervening hours? And what kind of a creature would be mistaken for an alien? Of course, maybe it was an alien. Given the strange things that already inhabited her world, why not aliens? But why headless?

Chapter Eleven

Lt. Foster and his crime scene techs were clustered around an area to the right of the swan-shaped west fountain. Water stood in puddles around the edges. Since the Goshen Park fountains were turned off at night, it must have automatically switched on at 6:00 and been shut down again by the PD. She stepped over the areas of standing water. The police huddle opened as she approached, and Ryan handed her a Styrofoam cup before pointing toward a skeleton on the wet cement.

“Bones,” he said. “That’s all I found when I got here, but the anonymous caller reported a headless alien.”

“Anonymous?”

“Public phone at the park entrance.”

She squatted beside the bones. “Vampire.” She scrutinized the area. The skull had rolled about three feet away. “I suppose it could have looked like an alien during the decay process.” She glanced up at Ryan. “Remember when we found Marcus?”

Ryan grimaced. It had been a horrific sight. The young vampire had been starved until his body had shriveled and resembled an ancient mummy. Fortunately they’d found him before it was too late.

Not this time. Nobody could help the latest victim. She—the pelvic structure looked female to Ari—had been dead more than an hour. Her body had already returned to its natural state. The dry, brittleness of the skeleton placed her original birth at least several decades ago, maybe even in excess of a hundred years. The older ones decayed faster, more completely. The Magic Council lab and the local Medical Examiner might give a better estimate, but neither could tell them what she looked like two hours ago or who she was. Facial reconstruction would take days or even weeks, and they’d need help from the state or feds for that kind of expertise.

Ari lifted her head and took a quick glance around. No evidence of clothes. The body must have been naked. That was a new twist. If this was the same killer, he’d switched his behavior. She hoped forensics could tell them whether the severing of the head had been the cause of death or post-mortem. In either case, it also was a significant departure.

Ari got to her feet as the ME strode toward them. In his late fifties, Doc Onway was lean and energetic, with an acerbic tongue and a somewhat jaded view of human nature. Went with the death business.

“Ari. Lieutenant,” he grunted at them. “Why was I deprived of my morning jog? Some ridiculous story about aliens?” He spotted the bones. “Ah. One of yours, Ari. A vampire.”

“That’s my guess,” she said.

“Either that, or someone dug up a very old grave,” he said, already beginning to assess the situation. “Female, undetermined age. Did someone move the skull?”

“Not since I’ve been here,” Ryan said. “The witness who called it in referred to a headless alien. So the head must have been detached at that point. Ari thinks the witness saw the shrunken stage of vampire decomposition.”

“Yes, that would fit. Decapitated,” Doc muttered, as he carefully poked at the neck bones. “Look here, see the marks? On the C5 and C6 vertebrae. Could be the cause of death.”

“Could be? C’mon, Doc. Can’t you do better than that?”

“With what? No flesh, no blood. I can only tell you what I see, Lieutenant. If I don’t find conflicting evidence on the bones, I’ll list severing of the spinal cord as the probable cause of death. But it will only be my best guess. The head could have been removed after death.” Doc remained unruffled.

“Okay, we’ll call it the presumed cause of death. Tell me about the weapon.”

“Smooth blade. Not a saw. Poor thing. Even the undead can’t withstand such an assault.”

“Are we talking knife, axe, what?” Ryan prompted.

“Patience, Lieutenant. All in good time. Why don’t you busy yourself and search the area?”

“It would be helpful to know what I’m searching for,” Ryan groused.

Ari motioned to one of Ryan’s cops, asking if someone could scare up more coffee for the lieutenant. She thought Ryan could use a refill.

Doc looked up and gave Ari a brief wink. “Wouldn’t mind some of that coffee myself. Any idea who she is?”

“No, and I don’t see anything here to help me figure it out,” Ryan said. “Did she die here? Was she sexually assaulted?” Ryan wanted answers.

Doc gave him a sympathetic look this time. “The remains are too far gone. I’d guess she didn’t die here. No discarded clothes. No signs of scuffle that I can see. The Otherworld Lab might find something, although I don’t know what. Identification will be tough on this one. There are few dental records this old.” Doc shook his head. “Don’t hold your breath for help from me.”

“Any more good news, Doc?” Ryan asked, sarcasm matching his frustration.

“Not for now.” Unfazed, Doc went back to work.

“I’ll have Gillian process the scene,” Ari said. “Andreas can probably help with the identification. If she belongs to a vampire nest, they’ll know she’s missing.”

Ryan murmured his thanks as a cop handed him a new cup of coffee. At Ari’s direction, the second cup went to the doc.

Ryan discarded the lid and blew on the steaming liquid. “Same killer?” he asked her. He scuffed his shoe on the pathway. Not a happy man.

“What do you think? Either we’ve got a serial killer or an epidemic. I want to know if Gillian finds demon energy again. I’ll see if all the halflings were under surveillance last night. I don’t know what to make of the beheading, unless it was done to throw us off.”

“Stop!” Ryan said, throwing up a hand. “I can’t stand another theory. We’re already stumbling around in the dark.” He let out a breath and flashed her an apologetic look. “Don’t mind me. Let’s see if we can find a lead. I’ll process the scene, but I think Doc’s right. Looks like a dump site.” He turned to call to the evidence techs. “Grid search. All the way to and including the parking lot and the road.”

There wasn’t much for Ari to do at the scene, so after a brief look around the immediate vicinity, which yielded nothing new, she headed for her office. Andreas wouldn’t be up for hours, but at least she could make a couple of calls to start searches and notify the Council of the latest murder.

In the last year, she’d become quite comfortable working in her office. Its biggest assets were the privacy and the coffee pot. She didn’t make nearly as good a brew as Club Dintero, but Andreas had provided her with a bag of his special blend. She sat back now, feet on her desk, savoring her second cup of the day, and considered the latest development. Identifying the victim was the first hurdle.

She placed her first call. Ms. Binderman answered promptly and passed her through to Shale’s office.

“You have news, Ms. Calin?” He sounded eager.

“Not the kind of news you’re hoping for. There’s been another vampire killing.”

Brief silence. “Not another of my clients?”

“We don’t know. That’s why I’m calling. All we recovered are bones. Female vamp, true age probably 50 to 100. Death occurred in the last couple hours before dawn.”

“Only bones? Then how do you know it’s a vampire?”