Blood Slave: A Realm Walker Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

indicators of a blood slave. Vampires always healed their bites unless they were punishing or marking their property. Depending on the magic they fed into it, they could even ensure it scarred. Then their slave would carry the mark forever.
    “I don’t see what the problem is,” Nathaniel said, leaning forward to peer at the file. “Just find out who the vamp is and pick him up. If he’s leaving his bite on them it won’t be hard to match up.”
    Handing him the file, she snorted a laugh. “You really think it would be that easy? They’ve all got bites from at least five different vamps on them. Looks like they weren’t very discerning.” All the victims had been drained dry. They also showed signs of recent sexual activity though no fluids had been found, so the perp had most likely worn a condom. Screwed, drained dry then dumped in the Dead Zone. The killer probably figured no one would go looking there, but they obviously hadn’t considered the idea that their victims might come back.
    “I suppose that could explain the unusual behavior of the zombies. A history of vampire voodoo then the Dead Zone got to play its tricks on them. We should count ourselves lucky we got them to go down at all.”
    Nathaniel flipped the file closed and tossed it back on Ben’s desk to get lost in the myriad of paperwork. “Do you really think anything could have survived us?”
    She gave him a half smile, but said nothing. Lots of things could have survived them, hell, lots of things could have killed them, but she’d let him maintain his delusions for the time being. Everyone needs a fairytale to believe in. “Okay, so why are we here? I get that the Agency is trying to appease the senator but those girls weren’t found anywhere near here. And as far as I know, there’s nothing spectacular about a vamp draining his food.”
    “Headquarters wants you undercover.”
    “Undercover where? Do they just want us to wander around the Midwest and hope we get lucky?”
    Ben smiled. On most people the gesture would have been innocuous, friendly even, if you stretched your imagination. On her disheveled, half-feral boss, it spoke of evil intentions. He handed another file to Nathaniel. When the wolf started to chuckle, she turned and looked at him, arching her brows in question. He handed her the new file which was littered with mugshots. Looked like the senator’s daughter wasn’t the only one in the database. KCPD was emblazoned across the bottom of the photos. A quick scan of the accompanying information told her all the victims were from Kansas City. And they’d all frequented the area known as the River Market.
    Everyone knew about the River Market even if they didn’t live anywhere near the city. At one time there had been grand plans for the development of the area. After the Rending, former gangster Charles Morgan had quickly seized power in Kansas City. He’d done it the old fashioned way with pretty words and greased palms. He’d quietly bought up the land then started rallying for legislation that legalized prostitution and gambling. When he succeeded, he started opening his businesses—casinos, strip clubs, feeding clubs, amongst other things. Drug dealers, prostitutes and blood slaves made the area their home.
    Once people realized they could find everything they needed in one handy area, they started referring to it as the Market. Morgan seized onto the name and added River to the front to make it sound more upscale. Why he bothered, she had no idea.  He wasn’t fooling anyone. And, on top of everything else, Charles Morgan was a vampire, and master of the Kansas City area. Thomas was going to be furious she was entering another vampire’s territory without him.
    She decided to turn her attention to the more immediate problem. “When they say undercover, what exactly do they mean?” She was willing to do a lot for her job, had done a lot for her job in the past, but she wasn’t about to become a prostitute.