Levy left Aislinn standing on her steps, a shocked expression on her blushing face. He loved her dearly but he still chided himself for getting so carried away. He had waited years to make himself known to her and though he wanted he wanted to court her properly, he found himself struggling more and more to keep his desires under control.
Aislinn was still so unsure of his intentions. He feared that his sudden admission would make her completely withdraw from him. The tiny spark of fear that he was not an honest person still burned in the depths of her emerald eyes.
The logical part of her was still trying desperately to believe he was up to no good. Levy couldn't fault her for thinking like that though, not after she'd been surrounded by people like Verona for years now. He grimaced. Just the thought of that woman left a bitter taste in his mouth. He'd lost count of just how many times he really wanted to strangle her and put her out of everyone's misery.
Once he was well out of Aislinn's range of vision he pulled the car over. He sat for a long moment with his eyes closed trying to calm his mind. He'd thought his emotions would level out once he finally had Aislinn by his side but the reality was quite the opposite. They only thing he wanted to do anymore was to cuddle with her and forget the rest of the world. The world, however, was proving to be quite the attention whore.
Levy sighed. For now the world was on the winning end of things so he reached out to the only people he could trust with Aislinn's safety.
Kaia, Kayle, please protect Aislinn, under no circumstances are you to leave her side do you understand?
You know you don't have to leave her, Levy. We can handle things here,
Kayan interrupted.
No, I can't Kayan. I can't think straight around her and besides, I'm not too keen on thinking about what my father might do if he found out I'd shirked my responsibilities to be with a human even if she is my mate.
There was a collective sigh between them because they all knew what he'd do. He'd be absolutely furious and demand he turn her. Levy was certain that if he refused to turn her then Donovan would do it himself, something Levy simply wouldn't tolerate. It was his right as her mate to be the one to change her and he would do so without hesitation should the need arise, for now however, he was determined to let her remain human.
Ian, what do you know so far?
From what I can tell, it's only one vampire and by the looks of it, he's certainly not a newborn. He took out one of our two-man patrol groups and several humans who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. All clean kills with no attempts made to feed on any of the victims.
Wait, I thought you said none of our people had been caught up in it?
With so much blood in the air, we weren't entirely sure how many victims there were. Christian found them half hidden in one of the nearby alleys a few minutes ago.
Levy sighed, pounding the steering wheel lightly with his fist. This night was just getting better and better.
Only one vampire huh? That didn't make any sense. It was insane for any lone vampire to stir up trouble in Mercer territory and Levy knew of no rival clans in the world that would dare challenge them. No one wanted a repeat of the war two hundred years ago, least of all Levy, but there was also no way he would back down from any threat no matter how small it turned out to be.
Tell me if you learn anything new. I'm going to meet up with Kayan.
Yes sir, the preliminary report will be on your desk by this evening.
This was a very dangerous situation. To be able to take out one of the patrols employed by the Mercer clan was quite an astonishing feat. It was all the proof anyone needed to take this lone vampire seriously.
The thought of facing one so skilled in combat filled him with both fear and excitement. Levy sparred regularly but it had been decades since he'd been faced with a true kill-or-be-killed situation. He couldn't say with any certainty that his skills were still as good as they'd once been. Hopefully he wouldn't have to find out. He would only be required to step in should Kayan fail and no one could imagine that ever happening.
The city was in full lock down by the time Levy caught up to Kayan. Every vampire who served under the Mercer clan had been called into active duty to search the city for the rogue and take him down before he could claim any more victims. The search continued for a week, but in the end, no one had been able to find any leads.
Levy stood alone in his study sifting through the files that were splayed out all over his large mahogany desk. Not a damn thing that could solve their problem was in any of those files.
The man was a ghost. He had simply appeared, killed people for seemingly no reason and vanished into thin air like he'd never existed. The worst thing about him was that no one could say with any certainty what he actually looked like. Not a single new piece of evidence had been found even after searching through the city with a fine-toothed comb. Damn it. The longer they had nothing new, the longer he'd be forced to stay away from Aislinn.
"Ködalte!" Levy cursed loudly, swiping a majority of the files off his desk in a rage. The pages fluttered to the ground like falling leaves as silence descended upon the room again.
He sighed. The situation fucking sucked and for a moment he cursed Aislinn's mortality. If she was a vampire then she could have been there with him instead of being forced to stay at arms length.
He was beginning to desperately want to tell her truth but he had no idea how she would react even though she was already on the brink of figuring out everything for herself.
He stalked to window to gaze out at the darkening sky. He had learned long ago that he simply couldn't make good decisions when he was so wound up. He HAD to take a break and clear his head.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come."
It was Arthur with the autopsy reports and he had Ian in two. Like a light bulb being switched on Levy realized exactly what they'd have to do to push the investigation forward. Ian wouldn't like it, but they didn't have a choice. Levy had to rely on Ian's ability.
"So far there is nothing but bad news. At this point in time, our search is in vain because we don't even know who we're looking for. I hate to ask this of you, Ian, but I need your particular skills to track this bastard down," Levy informed, walking back to take his seat.
"I knew you'd ask, so I took the liberty of compiling these for you," Ian replied, handing Levy a manila folder.
Levy hesitated. He didn't want to open the folder for fear that it would reveal the culprit as someone under his command, possibly even someone he knew firsthand.
Ian's ability was that of Psychometry, the ability to see the past, present, and possible future of an object or person through touch. For situations like this one, it was an invaluable asset, but to Ian, it had been a curse for a majority of his life. Had he not found Kayle when he did, he might have been driven completely insane by it. Kayle acted like a shield for him, blocking the psychic waves of objects and people from reaching him, which allowed him to finally be able to live the mostly normal life he'd always wanted. Still though, he hadn't yet been able to overcome his aversion to touching things.
After a moment he sighed and finally opened the folder. He spread the pictures contained within out on top of the other files that had managed to remain on his desk. He sat there in shock.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" He asked, studying the pictures Ian had drawn very closely.
"I wish it were. The man responsible for these murders looks nearly identical to you except for the fact that he has blonde hair and silver eyes. He could be your twin," Ian replied grimly.
"A twin? That's impossible. I'm an only child and my mother died when I was very young."
"The one thing I've learned about my visions is that they never lie, so there must be some explanation or some ability this guy has that can trick me into seeing what he wants me to see."
What the hell was He supposed to do now? How could he show those pictures to his men and not have every single one of them questioning him? The ability to project an image into the mind of another was a common ability among vampires but to have an ability that could possibly trick Ian's was unheard of.
"Should I give these to the men?" Ian asked, breaking Levy out of his thoughts.
"It's the only lead we have so far so we don't really have a choice. Make sure they're all fully aware that he may have some psychic abilities that allows him to blend into plain sight. Make sure that if anyone runs into him that they take him alive. I need to know just what the fuck is going on here," Levy commanded gathering the pictures up and handing them back to him.
"Yes, sir," Ian said, bowing slightly before leaving the room.
"You know it's always a possibility that he could be related to you. There was a lot more vampire activity going on back then as well," Arthur pointed out after Ian was gone.
"The chances of that are so slim, it's damn near impossible. Anyway, what have you learned from the autopsies?"
"Elemental abilities such as yours are extremely rare which is why I suggested that he may be related to you because this fellow has some means of using biological electricity to burn his victims from the inside out," Arthur explained, handing Levy the folder with his findings in it. He was no stranger to violence but the pictures contained within the folder made him stomach turn a little.
"That is a rare and dangerous gift indeed. Now I can see how he took out that patrol so easily. All he needed was the element of surprise and a lucky placement of his hands," Levy murmured, studying the pictures. All the victims had one hole in the center of their chests; he'd gone straight after their hearts, burning them to cinders to make sure they were all definitely dead.
So now they knew the who, and the how, but the biggest question, the why, still remained a complete mystery. What could one lone vampire hope to gain by pissing of the second largest coven in the United States?
Levy ran a tight coven. Those who worked hard were always rewarded and those who fucked up were taken care of swiftly. This had earned him the reputation of being a hard-ass but it had also made the Mercer clan the second largest and strongest coven in North America. It came as no surprise that they'd have enemies, but it struck him as odd and out of place that a lone vampire would act out on his own, knowing this particular city was basically their house.
Levy hadn't realized he was nodding off in his chair until Arthur rested his hand on his shoulder, making him jump.
