Kate Daniels 01 - Magic Bites by authors_sort Read Free Book Online

and became handsome.
    I smiled back, trying to radiate integrity and decency of character. That’s right, I’ll be very nice to you, sir, just please don’t bar me from the morgue.
    “Interesting,” he said. “I’ve never seen one concealed in this way.”
    “Neither have I.”
    “You see a lot of vampires in your line of work?”
    “Unfortunately.”
    I caught him glancing at me and he lowered his gaze back to the body.
    “Dr. Crest?”
    He blinked. “Yes?”
    “Do I need to let Julianne know about the brand?” It was the least I could do.
    “No. I can tell her myself if you have to run.”
    A little warning bell went off in my head. The good doctor was a little too accommodating. I would have to make sure that Julianne got my message.
    Crest was frowning at the corpse. “A devious place to put a brand.”
    Ghastek was a devious fellow. “Indeed.”
    Another pause issued. “Let me walk you upstairs,” he said.
    How charming. He was trying to make sure that I didn’t go on a mutilating rampage. I gave him my knockout smile. “Sure.”
    He didn’t look dazzled. Damn it, that’s the second time today my smile had misfired.
    We left, walking side by side. I waited while he locked the grate behind us. “So what do you do here, Dr. Crest?”
    He grimaced. “I suppose one can call it charity work.”
    I made the appropriate noise, “Charity?”
    “Yes. I perform reconstructive surgery.” He glanced at me as if afraid I would demand a nose job. “I make corpses presentable. Not everyone can afford it, so twice a week I do it here pro bono.”
    I nodded.
    “It’s kids mostly,” he said. “Torn up and mauled. Not a pretty sight. Such a waste.”
    We reached the upper floor. He waited while I checked out with the clerk and wrote down Julianne’s number, and then walked me to the door.
    “So I’ll see you again sometime?” he said.
    “Hopefully not on the operating table,” I said and left the building. As I walked away to where Karmelion waited for me, I could feel Crest watching my back.
    A man was leaning against my truck. He wore a dark gray shirt, black jeans, tucked in soft boots, and a black cloak that wanted very much to be a cape. While I was in the morgue, the sun had broken through the clouds, flooding the streets with sunshine. He seemed to shrug off the sun’s rays—not a man, but a rectangle of darkness cut in the shroud of sunlight.
    The human current streaming up the street bent away from him. People didn’t eye him; in fact, they concentrated so hard on ignoring his presence, one could have dropped a twenty dollar bill on the ground and it might have gone unnoticed.
    The man’s eyes tracked my movement. I stopped a few feet away and looked at him.
    He reached into an inside pocket of his cloak and flicked what looked like a long yellow ribbon at me. I caught it in midflight. The smooth, cold body coiled about my wrist, and the serpentine head reared to strike at my face. I clamped its neck with fingers of my left hand and stopped it three inches from my cheek. The snake’s tongue danced between the scaly lips. Blood red membranes tinged with brilliant purple flared on both sides of the head, spreading like the wings of an enormous butterfly. The baby winged snake shuddered, trying to take flight, but I held it in check.
    “I’m sorry, Jim.”
    He held up his arms, indicating something about three feet wide. The cloak parted enough to show muscle roll across his chest under the fabric of his shirt. “The nest was this big, Kate.” His voice had the smooth, almost melodious tone of a less dangerous, much prettier man. It clashed badly with his bulldog-ugly mug. “You owe me and you stood me up. I had to do the gig single-handed.”
    The snake twisted in a feeble attempt to sink its fangs into my arm. The long triangular teeth contained no poison but the bite hurt like hell.
    “Greg’s dead,” I said.
    There was a tiny pause before he asked, “When?”
    “Two days ago.