Bonds of Blood (Blood and Satin 2)

By Amanda McCarter

Adelaide heals after her deadly encounter with Thomas Kent, but she barely has time to take a breath before more gruesome murders come to light and everyone suspects her. She comes under investigation not only from the police, but also the mysterious vampire council.

Detective Dirk Gregory wants to give her the benefit of the doubt. He certainly can't deny his feelings for her. His partner, Detective Jennie Lin, has other ideas.

But there are far more important things than Adelaide's innocence. Assuming either of them can live long enough to find out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amanda McCarter
• Release date: Jul 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301858873

Amanda McCarter

Amanda lives in Tulsa, OK with her boyfriend. They share their living space with a cat and two snakes. When not dreaming of distant futures and far away lands, Amanda spends her time knitting, reading, and playing video games.

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Blood and Satin: Bonds of Blood

by

Amanda McCarter

Published by Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Amanda McCarter

Cover image courtesy and copyright of Keith Draws.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer or with written permission of the publisher

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Electronic edition, 2013

Blood and Satin

You’re fired, said Mrs. Devais, her hands flat on the desk and her face set in a deep frown.

What? said Adelaide. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was cleared of all charges.

Mrs. Devais nodded, still frowning. Be that as it may, a client died under your care. It sets a bad precedent and I don’t want to scare off clients.

Adelaide narrowed her eyes. Judy Devais was an aging woman, in her early sixties, at least, with yellow teeth and thinning hair. Whatever beauty she’d once known had melted away with poor living. Too much stress, booze, and cigarettes.

The first time she ever set eyes on the woman, Adelaide swore to herself she’d never let herself go like that.

Though, now that she was a vampire, or becoming one, she didn’t have to worry about her looks. Just her sanity.

Fine, said Adelaide, but don’t pretend any of this is about the clients. You’re afraid I’ll bring the police sniffing closer and you’ll be out of business.

Adelaide, said Mrs. Devais, clutching a withered hand to her chest, a simpering smile on her face, this breaks my heart. You really are one of my best girls. It won’t be the same without you. I think of you like I would a daughter. I had hoped you could take over for me one day.

Adelaide rolled her eyes. Spare me your bullshit. You’re scared I’ll bring the cops down on this place and that’s that. You don’t feel any better or worse than you would firing the cleaning lady.

Camilla is a wonderful woman, said Mrs. Devais.

Her name is Cherise, said Adelaide, crossing her arms. All you care about is the bottom line and you know what? I’m glad you fired me. Now I don’t have to worry about it or you anymore.

Mrs. Devais’ face tightened and she rushed to Adelaide. A wave of her noxious perfume hit Adelaide full in the face, making her eyes water.

Now, Adelaide, said Mrs. Devais, I hope you won’t do anything rash.

I’m not gonna rat you out, said Adelaide. I already told you. I would say if you’re so worried about it, just don’t fire me, but I really don’t care. It’s your business, run it however you want. It’s been working fine for you so far.

Mrs. Devais stiffened and frowned. Well, I appreciate you being so reasonable and understanding.

It’s fine, said Adelaide. Do you have my last check? She held out a hand and Mrs. Devais shrank away.

I’m afraid you violated our contract, said Mrs. Devais. You effectively forfeited your pay once Mr. Madison died.

Adelaide felt all the blood drain from her face. Her fingers twitched. I beg your pardon?

Mrs. Devais backed away another step. It was in the contract you signed when I hired you. Should any harm befall a client while they are under your care, all pay is subsequently forfeited. Mr. Madison died, therefore, you don’t get paid.

Adelaide swallowed and took a step towards Mrs. Devais. I want to see this contract. I don’t remember anything of the sort. It was everything she could do to keep from strangling the old bat.

I’ll have to pull it from filing, said Mrs. Devais. I don’t keep such important documents on site. She backed away another step, and then another.

Adelaide found herself following the woman.

See that you find it, said Adelaide. I’ll be back to get it and God help you if you don’t have proof.

Judy Devais, a normally no nonsense, stubborn, business savvy woman, stared at Adelaide in absolute fear, nodded mutely, frozen like a terrified animal.

And Adelaide realized it wasn’t what she said or her anger.

It was her.

Mrs. Devais was absolutely terrified of Adelaide.

There was a lot of power in that realization, but she also remembered what Joshua Carpenter had said to her the week before. She wasn’t supposed to be a vampire. Her maker, whoever that was, didn’t have permission to make her one.

So the council, whoever they were, wanted her dead.

Maybe.

There was a chance she could survive. If she proved to them she could handle herself.

So, instead of beating her former employer to a bloody pulp and ripping Mrs. Devais’ head off like she had done to Bruce Madison, she backed away and all but ran out of the building.

~~~~~

Detective Dirk Gregory rubbed his eyes and blinked at the second most disturbing murder scene he’d ever seen.

The winner in that category was just a week ago, when he and his partner came across the body of a wealthy businessman named Bruce Madison. Madison’s body had been eviscerated and his head ripped off.

They believed that Madison’s partner, Thomas Kent, killed him using a trained dog.

His partner, Detective Jennie Lin didn’t really buy the story. Too neat, she called it.

And now Dirk had to agree.

He called this only the second most disturbing because this victim still had his head and there was a great deal less blood than the first scene.

They found Bruce Madison’s head just a few days ago. Four blocks away in a dumpster with massive cranial impact damage. Well, they found what was left of it. In addition to the severe damage, rats had eaten away a good portion of it.

Still think Miss Hunter is innocent? said Lin, peeling off a pair of blood sodden gloves.

Dirk wrinkled his nose and frowned. She was cleared of the first one.

Lin gave him a sarcastic smile. And yet, here we are at a second crime scene with the same MO. Kent is in jail and Miss Hunter is still free.

It could be a copycat, said Dirk.

Lin glared at him. Quit making excuses for her. I’ve already sent uniforms to pick her up. If she has a good alibi, we’ll talk about it.

Hey, he said, even you thought she wasn’t too bad.

His partner sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know. And I