The Lion's Den Read online

  ***

  Barry finished getting all of the information he could from the officers who called in the body. He thanked them for their help and made his way to his partner who was speaking with Janet and Victor from Marshall’s team. He stood beside his partner, taking in the rest of the information they were giving.

  “So, you’ll be able to tell me more later on, right?” Gabriel asked.

  “After we perform our autopsy, we’ll see what else we can come up with and let you know,” Janet said before turning to leave, her partner following.

  Gabriel looked at Barry. “Five victims in twenty-four hours. What the hell is this, some kind of game for these sons of bitches?!”

  Barry shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. Are you happy you’re on this case now?”

  “Yes and no. If we don’t catch these bastards, we’ll be held accountable if they continue to kill. And if we do … correction, when we do, I’m looking forward to the credit we’ll greatly deserve. Is that so wrong? To get a little recognition for what we contribute. I’m tired of Davis and Eric getting all of the high-profile cases, the media attention, the awards and accolades. It’s not fair, like we can’t do any better,” Gabriel said, with a hint of agitation.

  “Well, got that off your chest?” Barry smiled. “Don’t hold back, let it all out.”

  “Man, fuck you. You get what I’m saying and you know I’m right.”

  “Yeah. Frankly, I just want to catch these bastards, I don’t care what happens after that as far as accolades go.”

  “Call me greedy, but I want have my cake and eat it, too.” Gabriel looked at the approaching sun. “I guess it’s about five o’clock. We should head back to the precinct, catch up on the files, see what Davis and Eric figured out.”

  “Finally something productive besides bitching.” Barry walked off in the direction of their car.

  “I wasn’t bitching,” Gabriel protested, following behind him. The two climbed inside their squad car and drove to the precinct to go over all the files. They ordered breakfast, ate while they worked their case, bouncing ideas off each other. A few minutes later, they got another call. They looked at each other over their desks, then rose, heading to yet another crime scene.

  Chapter Eight

  Warren flopped over Matthew’s body, slapping the “off” button on the alarm clock. He slid off his lover, face first into the pillow.

  “What time it is?” Matthew asked, stirring under the covers.

  “Too damn early. What time did you set the alarm clock?” Warren asked, voice muffled by the soft cloth of the pillow.

  “Seven.”

  “Like I said, too damn early. Set it again for ten.”

  “Warren, we should get started on this case.”

  “Matt, set it for ten,” Warren wasn’t giving his lover an option. He still felt exhausted, having had barely four hours of sleep. He didn’t think another three hours would hurt, it would only help. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to be taken back into a deep slumber.

  Matthew looked at him, rolling his eyes. Tossing his legs over the side, he rose and collapsed back onto the bed. His willpower not strong enough to claim victory over his exhausted mind and body. Doing as his lover suggested, he set the clock for ten and went back to sleep.

  Three hours later, Matthew turned off the annoying buzzer. “All right, It’s ten now, we need to get up.” Feeling much more energized, he climbed out of bed, heading into the bathroom.

  Warren remained in bed, snoozing.

  Matthew stuck his head out of the bathroom doorway. “Warren, get your ass up!” he shouted, jarring the other shifter out of sleep.

  “Okay Matt, I fucking heard you the first time. Take your shower,” Warren said, hoping he could buy himself at least another fifteen minutes while Matthew bathed.

  Matthew smirked. “And here I thought you’d want to join me in the shower, you know, to wash my back.” He stepped back into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

  Warren’s eyes shot open, understanding the full meaning of Matthew’s words. “You fucking tease,” he mumbled as he climbed out of bed, heading into the bathroom, pushing open the unlocked door. Matthew was in the shower, head thrown back as the water rushed over his muscular physique. Warren could feel himself hardening as he watched the water cascading over Matthew’s skin. He climbed into the shower, purposely poking the other man with his hardened flesh.

  Matthew tossed him a glance over his shoulder. “Do you have a permit to carry that thing?” He smiled.

  “Nope. It’s way past the regulation size,” Warren flirted.

  Matthew’s breathing began to quicken as his arousal grew. “So that’s an unconcealed weapon you’ve got there. You know attacking an officer of the law is a serious offense.”

  “Arrest me.” Warren pressed himself against Matthew, running his hands over his lover’s torso, reaching down to stroke his fully erect member.

  Matthew moaned as he pushed back against Warren. “We don’t have time for foreplay … ,” he panted, unable to contain his lust any longer.

  Warren understood what he meant. He agreed. Slicking himself up with the lubricant they kept stored in the shower, he slid himself deeply into Matthew, causing them both to shudder with indescribable pleasure. He loved having sex with Matthew now even more than before because he no longer had to hold back. With short quick thrusts, he pounded into his lover. Matthew braced himself, hands pressed firmly against the tiled walls. He moaned louder and louder as he felt his orgasm building. Warren followed suit, picking up the pace with a force that pressed Matthew completely against the tiled wall. Warren stroked Matthew skillfully with one hand, caressing his lover’s sensitive areas as his other hand held firmly onto his left shoulder. Finally, their moment had come with a fierce intensity that caused t>ry out in sheer ecstasy. Their eyes were closed tightly as their bodies rocked with their unified climaxes until neither man could give no more.

  Warren collapsed against Matthew, pinning him to the wall as they both struggled to regain strength lost during their vigorous romp. It was a while before either man could move. Finally, Warren pulled away first, allowing Matthew to straighten himself.

  “We really need to wash up now,” Warren said, smiling boyishly.

  “Yeah, I was trying to do that when you assaulted me!” Matthew joked as he began soaping his washcloth.

  “Assaulted? That’s not what I’d call it. Come here.” Warren reached out, taking his lover into his arms, kissing him passionately. They broke the kiss several seconds later and began bathing quickly. Once they were finished, they began dressing.

  “I don’t know about you, but I feel very energetic,” Warren declared as he tied the laces of his sneakers.

  “I guess we really needed that,” Matthew agreed. “Come on, we need to grab something to eat before heading in.”

  ***

  “Two more fucking victims?!” Warren exclaimed upon hearing the news that two bodies were found earlier that morning.

  Detective Gabriel Johnson planted himself on the edge of his desk. “That’s not the worst part,” he said, pausing for dramatics.

  Warren and Matthew looked at him, waiting.

  “You gonna tell us or what?” Warren asked.

  “It was an infant and a small child,” Barry Weinstein answered.

  Warren moved forward. “What the fuck did you just say?” He couldn’t believe his ears.

  “A five month old infant and a six year old child. They didn’t just drain their blood either, They were flayed as well,” Gabriel said, shaking his head in disgust.

  “Oh my God!” Matthew gasped. “I’ve been a cop for a long time, I’ve never ran into anything like this.”

  “Same here,” Barry said, slouching dejectedly into his seat. “We’ve been up for at least thirty hours. You two are fresh and ready to take over. This is what we’ve gathered so far.” He handed Matthew a manila file containing several papers. “I think you’ll find that inte
resting.” He rose from his chair, grabbing his blazer at the same time.

  His partner, Gabriel followed suit. “We’ll be back in a few hours.”

  “Sure, get some rest, it’s cool,” Matthew said, somewhat distracted as he shifted through the papers.

  “All right,” Barry said and the two detectives left.

  Warren and Matthew returned to their own desk, sitting down at the same time.

  “A baby, Matt. A fucking infant. And this second child was younger than the first one.” Warren ran his hands over his face, still horrified by the information. “We need to see the bodies.”

  Matthew’s eyes scanned over the documents. “Yeah, I know,” he said, without looking up. “Barry and Gabe might be onto something here. Apparently, a city in England has had the same string of occurrences that we’re experiencing now. Yeah, see … ” He passed the file and papers over to Warren, pointing to a spot on one of the sheets. “ … About a year ago, seventeen bodies were found, some mutilated, some sexually assaulted, some drained, some all three. There was no pattern then, either.”

  Warren’s eyes scanned the file. “These are still open cases.”

  “Yeah, I read that part, too. You know, this is just a thought, but do you think this could be the work of a copy-cat coven?”

  Warren looked at Matthew as if to say, “give me a break”.

  “Hey, I’m just tossing out ideas, let’s not close any doors, okay?”

  “Matt, I seriously doubt that this is a copy-cat coven. Nor do I want to waste any time following dead end trails.”

  “Don’t knock it, Warren. For all we know, some crazy-ass coven could be looking at these other guys as role models. I’m just saying keep your mind open to the possibility.” Matthew turned on his computer. “You’d be surprised by what inspires people sometimes.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Warren asked, looking at him from over the papers he was reading.

  “I’m going to search for more cases that match ours, I don’t think that file is all there is, but it’s something. If we can establish a point of origin when these murders first started happening, we might be able to locate the coven,” Matthew said, fingers typing furiously over the keyboard.

  “Okay, hold up, you lost me … somewhat.”

  Matthew looked up at him. “I’m just trying something here, there’s no telling if it’s going to work. I’m figuring the killings had to start somewhere, right?”

  Warren nodded slowly.

  “Exactly, so maybe they started in the coven’s own backyard, so to speak. Maybe they got bored killing in their hometown and started killing in other vampires’ territories. The ultimate slap in the face for vampires, right?”

  Warren nodded again, this time perking up at bit. “That makes a lot of sense, Matt. Shit, I’m sure Darian is quite pissed. It’s a possibility, but we also need to take into account that they might not have started in their own backyard.”

  “Yeah, tha too. But we need to start somewhere.”

  “That’s true.”

  Matthew went back to typing information into the computer looking up similar cases worldwide.

  Warren rose from his seat. “I’m going to check with Marshall, if he’s in. See what he’s found out.” Without waiting for a response from Matthew, he walked away, heading toward the morgue. Opening without knocking, he noticed that Marshall was there, with Janet. For a split second he was disappointed that he couldn’t be himself, then felt sudden relief as Janet pulled off her gloves, apron and mask.

  “Detective Davis.” She nodded a greeting at him, that he returned as she walked past, exiting the morgue.

  Warren looked at Marshall. “I heard the news, two children were drained and flayed.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s not the worst part,” Marshall said.

  “I’m starting to think the worst part is hearing that fucking line. I’ve heard it more than I’ve wanted to in the past forty-eight hours,” Warren replied with his characteristic dry sarcasm.

  Unaffected, Marshall continued. “Well, you may want to brace yourself. Last night, I instructed Janet to go over the bodies; I wanted her to look for any special markings or for sexual assault. I haven’t been able to perform thorough autopsies on the victims as I would have liked because I haven’t been able to focus on one before another comes into my morgue.”

  “Is this you apologizing for giving me important, need-to-know information a day late and a dollar short?” Warren wasn’t angry, but he was annoyed. However, he understood. Everyone involved in this case was pushed to their limits.

  “As much as a flawless person such as myself can apologize; yes.” Marshall managed to crack a closed-mouth smile.

  Warren smiled in return in spite of himself. “Okay, give me all that you havethat I don’t already know,” he added, as he looked at the tiny mounds now covered with white sheets on the stainless steel tables. He didn’t want to get closer, but he did. Immediately he caught a very distinctive scent and it made him want to flee the room.

  Marshall went on to explain. “Okay, all but one of the victims had been sex”

  Warren held his hand up, silencing the medical examiner. “I can already smell what happened to this poor child. What kind of a monster could do this? I …” his voice trailed off as he continued looking at the tiny body under the white sheet, knowing that a once innocent, vibrant and happy six-year old child now lay there lifeless.

  Marshall nodded grimly. “A monster indeed. I took a look at his anus; there were several fissures in his rectum. The wounds also indicates it was done to him before they killed him. I can’t imagine the horror and pain this child suffered.”

  Warren’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. He walked away, his back to Marshall as he leaned forward against the sik. He felt sick to his stomach and thought he’d spew his breakfast if he didn’t regain control over his emotions, and soon.

  Marshall watched the detective struggle with himself. He had an idea of what Warren was thinking, because he was thinking it as well. Upon looking at the savagely molested and brutally murdered remains of the six-year old child and five-month old infant, he had almost felt at a loss. He allowed Warren time to recover from the horrendous news.

  Several minutes later, Warren turned around. “I don’t understand why I couldn’t sense this on the victims. I should have known,” he said, his voice low, somber.

  “They must have done something to the bodies to mask or remove the sexual scent from their victims to throw you off, whatever that might be. Although, I’m sure they knew I’d find out during my examination. The infant was the only victim who wasn’t molested. I don’t know if our killers had a spark of humanity or whatever the case. Maybe molesting the infant was too much, even for them, who knows. But that’s where their morals ended, the infant was killed at least five hours ago, around five this morning.”

  Warren walked over to the infant, pulling the sheet back to examine the body himself. The infant was a tiny mound of pale flesh, with dark veins running along its body. There was no blood or skin to be found, much like the first victim. He did catch a few scents that he was able to match to the other victims, but nothing more. “Anything else?” he asked Marshall.

  “Nothing that you don’t already know. Same fang marks, no fibers, prints, or skin particles.”

  Warren nodded. He left the morgue, heading back to Matthew.

  “What did you find out?” Matthew asked, eyes still on the monitor. When Warren didn’t answer him, he looked up, seeing his lover and partner’s horrified expression. “Warren? What’s wrong?”

  Warren released a long, shuddering breath. He looked at Matthew. “The … .” He paused, struggling to find a less horrific way to deliver the news. “There was a sexual assault on every victim except the infant.”

  “So the six-year old … was it post-mortem?” Matthew asked.

  Warren shook his head.

  Matthew was suddenly realizing why Warren was wearing his emo
tions on his face. Finding out that all but one of the victims had been raped was emotionally damaging, even for a couple of hard-asses such as themselves. He was somewhat relieved to know that the infant wasn’t molested, not that the baby faired any better than the other victims. Matthew really hated this coven more than he hated anything or anyone in his life.

  “Matt, what are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to do whatever we can. Why don’t you finish looking through that report? I’m still making a list of places with cases like ours.”

  “They raped another child, Matt.” Warren fumed. “This one younger than the first. Who’s to say this isn’t their pattern? That the next child will be younger than the one before? What if their other victims are just killed to hrow us off that particular pattern?”

  “God, I hope not. Lord knows we can’t protect all of the children in this city. Not even their parents can … ” Matthew paused, giving real thought to what Warren was saying. “But they didn’t molest the infant. That puts a wrench in your theory, don’t you think?”

  Warren sat back, thinking. “No, they didn’t.” He sighed, rubbing his temple. “Shit, Matt, I don’t know. Maybe they killed the infant to prove that they’ll do worse. Just when we think they’ve done the most depraved crime ever, they’ve got another one ten times as bad up their sleeves.”