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Trinity
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We were just about to eat dinner at Dietrich's castle when all hell broke loose. Me, Reece, Vincent, Gabriel and David all got calls at the same time. I believe that it was a coordinated effort, or a terrible twist of fate, that all the calls came in at once.
I took the call from Jackson about the fact that five more murders had happened last night. And they had all happened along the California coast. That was not good. These people were expanding their territory, and they were heading to the center of our population. Not only that, but they were closer to where my children were.
Also, I had a feeling that now that these people had reached the United States, they were going to focus their efforts there. They were going to seek victims there for the foreseeable future.
“Dietrich.” I called out to him, my heart heavy with anger and fear.
.....
“Yes, Trinity?” I think he knew what I was going to say. He wasn't stupid, and he could already guess what was happening.
“We need to leave. We need to investigate these murders. And, apparently, there was something new at one of them.” I remembered the tone that was in Jackson's voice. There was something about it that had sent shivers down my spine. Something had happened that was bad, really bad.
“I understand. However, I must stay here.” That was also something that I expected. Dietrich and I were probably thinking about the same thing right now.
“I know. You and Shawn stay here. The two of you can investigate here. Come back when you are done, and do not forget to contact me when you know what is going on there. Anything that seems relevant, contact me right away.”
“Understood.” He nodded at me to let me know that he was in agreement. “However, I do suggest that you eat before you leave.” He gestured toward the food that was being carried in. “You will need your strength to check out these murders. Wendall and Rella will gather your things for you while you eat.”
“Yes, King Dietrich, we will do so right away.” The man, Wendall, nodded and agreed. The woman just nodded at his words.
“That would probably be best.” I sat back down. “Who knows how long our night will be now. I mean, it is still late morning in Colorado, and an hour earlier in California. We were about to relive most of this day. Getting something to eat now would be the smartest decision that we could make right now.
We sat together then, eating the meal that Dietrich's staff prepared for us. It was good, but once again different than what I was used to. I think that I was just getting homesick for the food that I was used to having on a regular basis. The last time that I was away for this long I had been in France. Well, there was also the time that I was in the underworld, but I didn't eat any food while I was there. I didn't even know how long I had been gone until I made it home.
Once we had eaten and our things were packed, it was time for us to get ready. No one was really talking about what was going on. I think we were all just in a state of shock at the moment. These murders were so close to home. We were already devastated by what had been happening, but now there were more murders that were happening in our own backyard. What the hell was going on here.
We were preparing to head to the first murder. It took place in Waterton, California. It was a smaller city that was on the coast about an hour or so from Los Angeles. There had also been murders in Crescent City, Shelter Cover, Elk and Davenport. Those were also cities that were along the California coast. All the murders had, apparently, taken place on the beach and the bodies were left on the sand. They had found the bodies this morning, all except for the one that we were going to first. That one, apparently, they had found the body last night. Someone had seen the victim moments after they had been killed. Maybe, just maybe, they had seen the killer as well.
We were going to open the door into the office of the local vampire clan's leader. Her name was Veronica and she was about thirty minutes away from Waterton. It was the closest that we could get to the scene though, unless we wanted to be seen by a lot of other people.
The door was ready, thanks to an image that Jackson had made sure that I had. And once it was opened, we said our goodbyes to Shawn and Dietrich before walking through. Reece first then me, and of course we were followed by the others.
Veronica's office was old fashioned but also sleek. That was hard to pull off in my opinion. It was also done in all pure whites and dark blacks. They completely contrasted with each other as I looked around. It was difficult on my eyes, but I managed it.
“Welcome, Queen Trinity. I am happy to welcome you.” Veronica smiled as she bowed to me.
“Thank you, Veronica.” I nodded at her. “I am sorry that you cannot meet Dietrich. He had some business to attend to in Germany. Perhaps he will come along at a later time.”
“That is quite alright. I have met my King already.” She seemed nice enough, but I didn't really get the feeling that she was happy to have a room full of wolves in front of her. “Mr. Jackson is waiting outside. He will guide you all to the crime scene. My people are offering as much assistance as we can.”
“Thank you.”
With that, we left her office and found Jackson and Rawlynne waiting for us outside.
“Trinity!” Jackson came running up to meet me and Reece. “I am glad that you are here. We need to get a move on soon. If we can, I would like to visit all of the scenes today. I have not met with any of the other local leaders, but I did bring the helicopter here. I hope you do not mind. With that, we can fly from scene to scene without the doors. And without stepping on any toes.”
“That is fine, Jackson.” I nodded at him. “Thank you for thinking of the things that needed to be done.”
“David.” Rawlynne, who clearly missed her husband, saw him finally coming out of the office. He was near the back and only just made it to her line of sight.
“Rawlynne, sweetheart.” He hugged her as he caught her in his arms.
“I am glad that you are safe. That you all are. It has been quite stressful for everyone involved. We need to end this as soon as we can. If we don't, they will break more than a hundred with their victim count.”
“I know.” David pressed his forehead against his wife's as he spoke. “We are working on it. Shawn and Dietrich are investigating a mysterious mansion in Germany tomorrow morning. Well, tonight for us now. And when that happens, we are hoping that we will find some more information.”
“Good. Because this is getting to be ridiculous.” Rawlynne shook as if the anger, frustration, and heartache was getting to be too much for her. It wasn't a shiver or anything. It actually looked more like she was trying to shake off the feelings that were bothering her.
“We don't have a lot of time to waste. Let's get going.” I changed the subject back to the topic at hand.
“Yes. Come now. We need to hurry.” Rawlynne agreed.
“You will know why we called you here first. There is something that happened here that didn't happen at the other scenes.” Jackson seemed angry about something. That was off. I didn't know what was up with him, but I knew that he, like the rest of us, was not having a good time with all of this.
“Go on, lead the way.” I nodded at him.
We followed the two of them out of the house and to the waiting vehicles. We didn't have a place to leave Talia and her guards right now, and we were heading straight to the crime scene, so she was coming with us. I guess it wasn't that bad, all things considered. She had been to crime scenes before. It was just investigating that house that Dietrich was taking us to that I was worried about. I had a bad feeling about that place.
“Out of curiosity, is there a place that we will be able to sleep tonight?” Shane asked from the back of the car that we were riding in.
“Well, if we were staying here, there might be an option.” Reece answered. “Some council members have a house in Waterton, but I don't know if they are home right now. However, there was a murder in Crescent City. We know the Alpha there. In fact, we are related to him. We will ask to stay at his place. That is assuming that he and his kids aren't filling every room that they have.” Reece laughed as he thought about something.
“Hmm.” I tried to think about who he was talking about. “Oh, yeah!” It finally hit me. “Star and Artem are from there aren't they. I guess we will finally be able to see them again. It's been a long time. And we've all been so busy with our own lives. We haven't seen any of their kids in so long. How many do they have now, seventeen, eighteen.” I thought about how large their family was.
“Eighteen. Thirteen adopted boys, two biological sons then triplet girls. They will take a while to beat if we keep having more.” Reece laughed at me, and I wanted to smack him.
“I can cut that thing off, Reece.” I glared at him. “I am not saying that I won't have anymore kids ever. I am just saying that we do not need to be rushing this.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Now, behave yourself, Horndog. I am going to send a message to Star. I want to let her know that we will be there later today to investigate and that we will need accommodations for eleven people.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I will be quiet.” Thankfully, he kept his word and I was able to make the preparations that I needed to. It was all set and the rooms that we needed would be ready before we got there to investigate tonight. It pays to have connections.
