‘Lord Horvath.’
Oh yeah. That rang a faint bell, although the man could walk past me in the street and I wouldn’t know him from Adam. Few pictures of him existed, and I’d never been interested enough in supes to look him up. I imagined he was a crusty old bloke – someone with yellowing fangs and thin white hair.
‘What’s he like?’ I asked.
Tony’s lips pursed. ‘Annoying. What else can you tell me about the vamps?’
I tried to think of anything else that I knew for sure. ‘They drink blood for sustenance…’
‘Pffffft!’
‘They’re also considerably faster and stronger than humans.’ I sneaked a side look at him. ‘And they’re immortal.’
Tony tutted. ‘Unbelievable. What do they teach you kids nowadays?’
I bristled. I wasn’t a kid. But I didn’t know very much about vampires and, from Tony’s reactions, it was clear that what I did know was wrong.
‘The majority of vamps are only slightly stronger than us. They tend to use their physical attributes in other ways. Most of them rely on the fact that they become more attractive after they’re turned into vamps. A pretty face and a flash of sex appeal encourages foolish humans to offer themselves up as food.’
I grimaced at the thought that, as a species, we humans were that shallow. I promised myself that I wouldn’t be blinded by anyone’s good looks.
‘What about the wolves?’ Tony asked. ‘What do you think you know about them?’
‘There are four groups,’ I started.
‘Clans,’ he said. ‘But alright.’
‘They’re all based in Lisson Grove, not far from St James’s Park. During the full moon, all the wolves head there. The park is closed off to the general public so there’s no chance of us humans getting eaten accidentally. Each werewolf has its own level of dominance, from wholly subservient to group – I mean, clan – alpha. Then there are the Others, the supes that live in between both groups. Their numbers are less significant, but they include the likes of ghouls, gremlins and pixies, each of which possesses different genetics and abilities.’
‘And?’
And that was it; that was the extent of my knowledge. I shrugged. There was no point pretending otherwise.
Somewhat surprisingly, Tony looked pleased. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘You know absolutely fuck all and that means you’re not a groupie. There’s been a few of those in the department. It’s hard enough to do our jobs as it is, but when you’ve got police officers who go weak at the knees at the first glimpse of a fang or a patch of fur, it can become nigh on impossible.’
Tony had unwittingly given me the opening I needed. ‘What is your job exactly?’ I asked.
He slammed on the brakes, bringing Tallulah to a screeching halt. I was jolted forward, my forehead smacking against the windscreen despite my seatbelt. I rubbed it and winced. Tony frowned and reached across, using his shirt cuff to wipe away the tiny smear I’d left on the glass, as if it somehow damaged the aesthetic effect of the car.
‘Welcome to Supernatural Squad,’ he declared.
I glanced out of the window, noting the narrow grey building wedged between a small Waitrose and an expensive-looking hotel with a liveried bellman standing outside. ‘Perfectly equidistant between – and within walking distance of – the vamps and the wolves, and close to all the others at the same time.’
Unable to stop myself, I let out a low whistle. In terms of postcode, it didn’t get much more expensive than this.
Tony seemed to know what I was thinking. ‘Yeah,’ he said, turning off the engine. ‘Don’t think that the other departments haven’t tried to take this away from us. They can’t. Since the Supernatural Act of 1798,’ he doffed an imaginary cap, ‘Supernatural Squad has been entitled to this building. By law, it’s funded in large part by the supes themselves – though they’re not happy about having to pay for our existence.’
‘Isn’t that a conflict of interest?’
He just winked and got out of the car. I followed suit, casting a quick glance at the posh bellman outside the hotel. I half-expected a loud complaint that Tallulah was bringing down the tone of the neighbourhood, but instead he bowed at us.
‘Good morning, Detective Constable Brown.’
Tony grinned. ‘Good morning, Jeeves.’ He joined me on the pavement and nudged me. ‘Not his real name.’
No kidding. I smiled at Jeeves – or whoever he was – and glanced at the Mini. ‘Aren’t you going to lock the car?’
‘Nobody touches Tallulah.’ He walked up to the unmarked door and entered, leaving me to follow.
I stared after him for a moment, wondering what on earth I’d got myself into. I had the feeling it was going to be a very long two weeks. And Tony still hadn’t answered my question about what his job at Supernatural Squad was.
***
The building that housed Supe Squad might have boasted a grand address, but it wasn’t particularly grand inside. It wasn’t one of those buildings that was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside, either. The walls were a dirty yellow colour, presumably from the days when it was considered normal to smoke indoors. The corridor was narrow. I caught a definite whiff of stale coffee from deep within the bowels of the building, along with the same heavy, deep scent I’d noticed in the car.
‘What’s that smell?’ I asked, as much to myself as to Tony who was striding ahead.
He stopped in his tracks and turned around. ‘You got wolf in your family?’ he enquired.
I was taken aback. ‘No. Of course not.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘You can smell the herbs, though.’
‘They’re not exactly subtle. And when you say herbs—’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t get your panties in a twist. They’re nothing illegal. It’s verbena blended with wolfsbane.’
‘To ward off the supes?’ I guessed.
‘Yep.’ He started walking again.
‘Does it work?’
‘No.’
‘Then why—’ Too late. He’d already vanished into a room at the far end of the corridor. I muttered a curse and went after him.
The room wasn’t exactly a hive of police activity. There were four desks arranged haphazardly along one side. The nearest one was occupied by a woman not much older than me, with bright red hair shorn into a pixie cut, and pale skin that was accentuated by her blacker-than-black clothes. She seemed wholly intent on the crossword in front of her. A younger man in uniform was sprawled on a small sofa watching daytime television on the opposite side of the room. Neither of them looked up when I entered.
‘Morning all,’ Tony said. ‘This is…’ He glanced at me.
‘Emma,’ I supplied helpfully.
‘Oh yes.’ He pointed at the redhead. ‘Moneypenny. She’s our operations officer.’ Then he switched to the policeman. ‘Plod. He’s our bog-standard police officer.’
‘Liza,’ the redhead said.
The man raised his hand. ‘Fred.’
‘Nice to meet you.’ I looked around. ‘Is the rest of the department upstairs?’
Liza snorted.
Tony smiled. ‘This is it,’ he said proudly.
I scratched my head. ‘The … morning shift?’
‘No.’ He gave me a patient nod. ‘The entire department. As you can see, we’re not exactly rushed off our feet.’
‘This is it? There’s only three of you?’
Tony ambled over to the corner to flick on the kettle. ‘As I said, there have been others. They’ve come and gone – most people don’t stick it here for long. There was a second detective for a while, but he retired in December.’
Oh. I relaxed slightly. It was only February. ‘So you’re waiting on his replacement?’
‘He means December 2016,’ Liza said.
I stared at her. That was almost five years ago.
She put down her pen and stood up, offering me a tired smile. ‘Hi, Emma. Welcome to Supe Squad.’
I tried to smile back, I really did, but I couldn’t manage it. The horror seeping through me was preventing so much as the tiniest twitch at the corners of my mouth. All I could think about was Lucinda Barnes confidently telling me that this was my perfect department. I sat down on the nearest chair, my shoulders sagging.
Liza slid open a drawer, drew out a small object and tossed it at me. I narrowly caught it before it smacked me in the face. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘A key for this place.’
‘Uh…’ I turned it over in my hands. ‘I’m only here for two weeks. I won’t be staying.’
She shrugged. ‘You never know.’
I did know. Once my rotation here was over, I wouldn’t even look back.
Chapter Three
‘No, I’m not in Cyber Crime.’
‘But I thought that was going to be your next rotation?’ Jeremy sounded about as unhappy as I was
‘So did I. DSI Barnes pulled a fast one on me.’
There was a beat of silence. ‘So where are you?’
‘Supernatural Squad.’
‘What?’
‘I’ve been placed in Supernatural Squad,’ I repeated.
‘Shit, Emma. Won’t that be dangerous?’
As far as I could tell, the only danger was that I might die of boredom. ‘No. Definitely not dangerous,’ I reassured him. ‘In fact…’
‘Hey!’ Tony interrupted. ‘D’Artagnan! Let’s go!’
Crap. ‘I have to go,’ I said into the phone. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’
‘Love you.’
‘Bye.’ I hastily ended the call and stuffed the phone into my pocket. ‘D’Artagnan?’ I said to Tony.
His brow furrowed, making the deep wrinkles in his face more pronounced. ‘I can’t possibly remember everyone’s names. You’re a trainee. I’ll remember D’Artagnan.’