The Future in My Veins

Chapter Nine

Unedited.

Chapter Nine

Ten o'clock. That's when I got to leave. Hours of processing the scene, talking to humans, discussing details with the coroner, and puzzling out if we'd missed anything. I personally didn't like not finding anything with the TV. The murderer left Roberts' eyes open, staring at it, for a reason. There was something there but I wasn't sure what.

Most of us were convinced this wouldn't be a one-time deal and I wasn't in the right head space to deal with another serial. I had my own shit to handle and not only was the timing inconvenient but my mojo for solving crimes was way off. By the end of the night, I considered kicking this case to someone who could devote all of their focus to it. But this crime fell into my wheelhouse, was a part of my SC duties, so I had to have a hand in it. The faster the Guild solved this, the better for everyone.

It didn't help that the Coven Representative hadn't responded despite both the Guild and Michael reaching out to them. I wasn't holding my breath but it would be nice if this would go smoothly for once.

Vampires and their inclinations for drama.

Whatever.

I was done for the day.

And I could probably eat the whole contents of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

"Geo."

"Nope. Nope, nope, I'm off the clock and my brain is drained," I said as I beat feet for the door. "You are not roping me into discussing one more detail about this. I'm done. Puzzle it out with David and Parker, the latter of which needs the practice. He's been on the job for years and shouldn't be getting queasy at the sight of this stuff."

"That's not what I was going to say," Gregori responded. I stopped trying to escape and he motioned towards the office. "We can talk in there."

"We can talk right here." We both stepped aside as a few of the guys walked by and out the stained-glass doors. "There's nothing so important that it can't wait until tomorrow."

"There's a lot that's important that can't wait until tomorrow." He took a step closer and because of years of instinct and personal training, I took one back and looked at him with wide, chastising eyes.

"This is not the place nor the time."

"We need to have this discussion."

"And I need to eat because I'm bordering on nausea and hangry emotions. I'm not afraid to tear into you right now in front of your men. So, I'm going to go find something to eat with Luke and you're going to go do—something else."

He didn't move, didn't stop looking at me like he was waiting for something else.

That just set me off though.

"What, Gregori? What the fuck do you want? Just spit it out."

"I want to go home."

"Is this the part where I remind you of everything you said to me in Montana? Hell, everything you said on the way toMontana? Do you really want to have this conversation here, now?"

His eyes darted all over my face, didn't even care where we stood, which he should've because people surrounded us and Slayers have great hearing. We were at a fucking crime scene for Christ's sake.

"I want to go home," he repeated. "Tell me what I have to do so I can come home."

Go back and unsay everything you said before you went to bed that night. Change your perception of me. Say something else. Tell me everything will be ok. See me instead of what's inside of me. Care.