Bound to Shadows Page 0,2

a pair of slip-on shoe protectors. "Apparently he finished locking up at one, and was heading to Dante's for a little top-up feeding."

"There were no witnesses?" I slipped on the shoe protectors then stepped forward, avoiding the thickening pools of blood as I studied the severed flesh. It wasn't a clean wound. In fact, the edges were all ragged, as if the killer had used some sort of serrated blade.

"No witnesses have come forward," Cole said. "But there's a whole club of people just waiting to be interviewed."

"You're fucking kidding me." I glanced at him. His blue eyes were filled with amusement and a smile twitched at the corners of his lips. My long night had just stretched into an interminable morning. "You're a bastard."

"Those were Jack's orders, not mine."

Then Jack was a bastard. God, he knew I hated interviewing these idiots. "We'll never get anything sensible out of them. They'll all be high."

Although, truth be told, the high from a vamp bite didn't last all that long - just like the pleasure received from sex, really. And like sex, most humans could only stand several hits before it weakened them to point of sleep.

I guess we were lucky non-humans didn't get addicted, because I very much doubted there'd be enough vampires in Melbourne to cater to a werewolf's hunger.

"If it helps any, there aren't many customers. Tuesday is apparently their slow night."

Well, thank God for small mercies. I nodded down at the victim. "Who called it in?"

He motioned towards Dante's. "The caller was anonymous, but we traced the line and location. The cell phone belonged to a Mandy Jones, and the call came from inside Dante's."

Meaning she was likely still there. "She obviously doesn't know a lot about Directorate practices if she thought she could remain anonymous."

Cole smiled. "I don't think the Directorate actually advertises the fact they trace every single call coming in, or out."

That was true. I'd only discovered it because I'd been horribly nosy during my time as Jack's assistant, and I'd often gone trawling through the computer system to see what I could find. "Do we know who owns Dante's?"

"Unsurprisingly enough, a vamp named Dante Starke."

"What do we know about him?"

Cole shrugged. "He has a rep for preferring to handle his own problems. Other than that, you'll have to check the system."

'Preferring to handle his own problems' probably meant he hated cops. And guardians. Great. "What was used on the victim's neck?"

"Rough tooth saw. Dusty found it discarded in one of the bins behind the club. But it's been wiped clean of anything useful."

I glanced around and saw the shifter in question hunkering down over what looked like an oil stain. Cole's other assistant, Dobbs, was nowhere in sight - but given the three of them usually traveled together, I knew he'd be around somewhere. "Was it a new or old saw?"

"Brand new. It still had the Bunnings price tag on it."

"Any chance of tracking down which store it was purchased at?"

"Maybe. But even if we found the right hardware store, I don't think they'd be much help. They probably sell hundreds of the things each week."

"Still, it's worth a shot." I frowned down at the vamp's unmarked body. "He doesn't appear to have put up a fight of any kind."

"None at all, which leads me to suspect that he's probably been drugged. We'll run the full toxicology when we get him back to the lab."

"So there's no indication so far of who our murderer might be?"

"Well, sawing through a person's neck takes strength, so we're probably looking for either a large male, or a non-human . "

"Gee, that really narrows down the field."

"Best I've got for the moment," Cole said, snapping on a new set of gloves. "Now, if that's all you've got, I've really got to get back to work. I have a bed and a lover waiting."

I raised my eyebrows. For as long as I'd known him he'd been relationship free, so the woman who'd finally caught his interest had to be someone pretty special.

"She has to be new, because anyone familiar with our line of work wouldn't bother waiting." Hell, Quinn hadn't. He'd mumbled something about bundling up against the cold, and had promptly gone back to sleep. Anyone would think I'd worn the old vampire out. "So, is it anyone I know?"

"No." His smile bloomed bright. Man, he had the love-bug bad. "And no, I will not share details. Now go do some work."

"You do realize that I am now