Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1) Read online

  Lopez Time: Book One

  Troy Ounce

  Phillip S. Power

  Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright 2017

  Chapter one

  The rather tiny hand, which looked a bit delicate for the job of the moment, was holding the throat of a teen boy firmly. With just the right amount of pressure to make the point of the moment, in fact. The woman at the end of the arm was a bit round through the face and wasn’t going to win a fist fight with the kid, even on her best day. That didn’t keep her from growling like she had a moral right to do what she was at the moment.

  “Fucking talk, or my friend here will take his pretty polished shoe and stick it firmly up your ass. I’m the nice one, fuckwit. You don’t want to see what the angry guy is going to do if you don’t make him happy!”

  Troy had to fight a smile as he stood back. True, not too hard, since they were there at the school for an important reason. One that was no doubt world breaking, at least to the people involved at the moment. There had been graffiti on the gym wall. Outside. It said something rather unpleasant about the Principal and his main secretary. It probably wasn’t true that Mrs. Johansen liked to do the man with a strapon, but they were both adults, so if it was, Troy Lopez couldn’t really care.

  The trick was that their new division, the Special Supernatural Task Force, had been given their first job. Detective Tran was really into the idea of getting to the heart of the matter quick. As in before lunch. That was down to the fact that she knew that coming out of the gate in a way that showed they weren’t useless was going to be pretty important.

  The price of failure wasn’t death for them, since the unit itself was a test. No, the risk was that, if they didn’t come out of the gate strong, they’d be doing this kind of work forever. The useless things that nearly weren’t crimes at all. Normally they’d just send in a uniform to write things down and file a report, but they’d been around, so the Chief had sent them instead. Probably not as an insult.

  Looking about thirty, the age he’d been when he died, Troy rolled his eyes a bit. Mainly because the scared kid, who was acting like he was being tolerant, instead of freaked the fudge out about the prospect of going away for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, smelled delicious. Like his tasty blood really would have been a great snack idea.

  It was a concept that had to be put aside. Quickly and with a bit of ruthlessness that would have surprised anyone that knew what being undead was really like. Troy Lopez was a police officer after all. Consuming the life essence of teens, even the bad ones, wasn’t going to make him look good. If he got caught at it. True, the division was new, but he’d put in six months in uniform before being placed on the special unit with Denise. She was the one human on the force that the Chief figured would be able to keep up with him. At least that was how they were taking the idea at the moment.

  Tran had also allowed that it might also have to do with her having a mouth like a sailor, horrible manners with the public and a willingness to believe that things like vampires could actually be real. Cops ran hot and cold that way. Even when they met some of them.

  Pulling her hand back, the woman started to hit the kid. It was a bit over the top, but it was clear she wanted to make sure she, and they, did a good job, right from the start.

  Sighing, Troy snagged the thing in flight. There wasn’t a lot of power in it. That probably meant his new partner wasn’t actually half as psycho as she was acting at the moment. Even she was stronger than the slap would have hit with, human and little or not.

  “Wait. Give the man a chance to answer, before we start on the next section here. Do you know who did this, Clem? I really don’t want to ruin the shine I have on these shoes. They’re new.” It felt weird, calling the boy that. Like it was an insult, instead of being what his mother had foolishly named him. He was a bit seedy, on the edges, but seemed more like a stoner pretending to be a regular student than a hardened thug or even a good old country boy, like the name suggested.

  It truly was just what his parents had named him though. It was, Troy figured, a bit like someone naming their little girl Bambi. It was a name that either forced a kid toward being a stripper or a doctor. In this case the guy was probably doomed to be an auto mechanic. That, or a farmer.

  Both were fine occupations, of course. So far it didn’t seem to be taking though, if the scent of pot coming off of the kid was any indication. He didn’t seem high at the moment, which was at least something. Shaking his head, he waited for the guy to speak. Hopefully in a useful fashion.

  “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t do it! I don’t even know why you’re talking to me. This is police brutality. I’m so going to sue you for this!” Behind them, the Principal, who shouldn’t have been there in the room, winced.

  The man hadn’t when Tran was going to slap the kid around, but the mention of going to court seemed to get the bald fellow going for sure.

  Shaking his head, not giving the boy a chance to say anything that would force Tran to beat him for real, he heaved a huge sigh. Then he growled like he meant it. That part was a thing he’d gotten good at, for some reason. It had happened about the time he’d opened his eyes to find that he was starving and nothing he did was going to make it any better. Worse, he wanted blood. Constantly. It was a feeling that could be controlled, but it never went away. Not even after drinking as much as he could hold.

  “Don’t pull that. I can smell the pot on you. Call it leverage? Either you tell us who put the paint up on the wall, or we go to the station and you do a couple of years for carrying.” He smiled then. It wasn’t pleasant. “Or you can deny that you have it, and we can add all sorts of charges. Are you dealing here, Clem? That smells like a lot. Left front pocket of your jeans there. Wrapped in plastic. Probably a baggy… So, what do you say? Work with us here and we don’t have to be jerks about that?”

  The trick was a bit dangerous. Not that the little twerp wasn’t carrying. Probably enough to actually go away for it for long enough to ruin his prom, if he didn't get lucky. No, the odds were that he was about to try lying, in order to save himself. It was written all over his face.

  Closing his eyes, Lopez was just about to try and compel the kid to tell the truth. It was a vampire power and not all of his kind had it in equal measure. For some reason, he’d come out being strong that way. Really, in all the ways that counted for his new people. It was enough so that Bey, his maker, had hinted that he needed to pretend not to be half as powerful as he was. For his own protection.

  Instead of him doing a nifty Jedi mind control trick, the little punk was pushed physically by Tran, who dove her tiny hand into his front pocket like she wanted to date him. By force. There was squirming and a bit of pushing back by reflex, but not enough to have him taken in for assaulting an officer. Not unless they wanted to fudge the paperwork a bit.

  That part had been interesting, since at the academy they’d actually had lessons in how to do that. To make even casual contact or people squirming in pain out to be a direct attack. He could, without even technically lying, make three things that Clemance had just done into something that could be used against him in court.

  Still, the two ounces of drugs that came out of his pocket would do more than that by far.

  It was time for a second eye roll.

  “See, I was going to leave that there. It looks like you have pills too… What’s that? Oxy?” It looked right, but short of sniffing them, he couldn’t tell. “Damn. Look… We can… Possibly help you out here. That’s enough for real prison. The kind where you’re going to have to suck off half the cell block so they’ll be too tired for more adventurous things. Though really, a nice kid lik
e you will need a protector, so you’ll need to get used to anal. I don’t…” It was actually a bit of a problem. The real kind that would mess a life up, if they weren’t careful.

  Denise saw it, tightening up, holding the baggy of green with the second one of pills off to the side.

  “I can’t fucking believe this. On our first day, too. This is great! I would have totally missed that, if not for the new guy. He’s right, you know, Clem. You’re a bit too skinny and pretty for ass rape prison. I don’t really think that just giving us a graffiti artist is enough for that. I mean, we’ll have them by the end of the day anyway. The school has cameras, after all. It’s how we knew you were there, watching it at the time. Waiting to make a sale, no doubt. How about you give us your supplier? We might be able to make a deal for that. It’s up to the prosecutor. Well, unless this evidence gets lost…” She looked wicked then, and shook her head. “That sounds unlikely though, doesn’t it, Lopez?”

  It really did. It was one thing to leave some pot in his jeans, another to actually engage in a cover up. Worse, the kid was actually guilty. Putting him in the system would trash his life though. On the good side getting his supplier that day would be a nice start to things for their new division. The find had been legal, too. His nose had led him to it, which was legal, even for regular officers.

  That he could give a bloodhound a run for its money that way wasn’t his fault.

  So, he shrugged.

  “Well, you know, being a vampire has taught me a few things about life. Maybe we can help you out, Clem. If you play ball. If not, well, look… If we do this, we’ll be risking our jobs. I mean that, too. For real. Possibly even risking prison. For you. If you want us to do that, you’re going to have to make it worth our while.” He smiled and shook his head a bit, a tinge of blood red coming into his eyes. That part was on purpose, to show that, yes, he really was the vampire officer on the force. There was only one in the whole country, that anyone knew about, so people could be forgiven not knowing it was him when they met.

  The kid swallowed, but nodded.

  “We could, you know, make a deal? I’m just holding this for a guy. I could tell you his name, but… um, don’t drink my blood? Or kill me? Please?” There was a smile from the boy, though it was weak and filled with false bravado.

  Looking away, Troy shook his head.

  “I can’t really do that. Not just for one name. Tell you what… You help out Principal Butler here, with that bit of slander on the wall, and tell us who your supplier is… Then I’ll help make sure you become a model citizen. You’ve heard of compulsion? You always wanted to be a straight A student, right? Spend your time doing volunteer work at the animal shelter and all that?”

  He was actually kidding. It wasn’t illegal to compel someone, thanks to the law simply not having caught up with things like that yet. Hiding a major felony was, of course. Then, he didn't really have to hide anything. It just felt a bit wrong, setting the kid up with hope, when the real plan was going to be sending him away. That was what the law required. He could say anything to the boy to get him to go along with them, however. Even make promises that they wouldn’t be allowed to keep.

  The boy seemed relieved, as did the Principal.

  “Sure. I’m not that smart. I mean, if I could get good grades, I would. I… The paint was put up by Morgan. Morgan Bauer. The drugs… That… If I tell you who, I’m going down. I mean, they will mess me up, big time. Like, kill me?”

  From the sweating and swallowing going on, it was clear that the kid actually believed that.

  Denise snorted.

  “No, they really won’t. What they’ll be doing is going off to prison. Give the names over. Now. You made a deal with us. Either you give us that or…” She didn't even hint at anything, just leaving the one-word hanging in the air.

  Butler, who was dressed in a suit jacket, even if the day was going to be near ninety outside, nodded.

  “That seems reasonable, Mr. Foley. I don’t see that you have much choice. I’m certain that these nice people won’t let anything happen to you. If you cooperate.”

  Troy was getting ready to add his own assurance, since the vampire letting you know that there would be no blowback had to be helpful, when the boy started blurting things out.

  “There’s this house, on Granite? The big old yellow and brown one, right on the corner. The guy in charge, Vic, he’s the supplier. Not just for me, but for the whole area. I don’t know all the other names. I mean, a few, but they’re just people like me. Even at that I don’t really know who’s selling and who just buys from there for themselves. Is that enough? You take them money and they give you… Really almost anything you want. I got some guys ruffies, last month. Those are tough to get.” He went wide eyed then and winced. “I know, it sounds creepy but it was what they wanted. It isn’t up to me to pick what people do, right?”

  Interestingly, Tran started to write things down, instead of answering him. There wasn’t even a scolding to go with it.

  Troy knew what was needed, then. Oddly, from television, not from on the job training or the schooling he’d had on police work. He’d learned how to shoot and the basics of the law, in order to make arrests at need. There had been a section on how to write tickets and fill out reports. Nothing in particular about getting at drug kingpins. That, or would-be rapists.

  The odd thing was that this bit of information triggered something in Troy. It wasn’t even anger, which was odd. It was a sense that something was really out of place at the moment. Also, that Clem here could fix it. That he, this kid had to be the one to do it, or things would end up going very wrong.

  It was off though. He couldn’t tell the future, he didn’t think. It wasn’t one of his vampire powers, anyway. Something from deep inside of him still poked at him anyway, pushing him into action.

  “We need names on the Rhohypnol as well, Clem. The buyers. All of them. You don’t want some cheerleader to be drugged and raped, right? More to the point, you don’t want her to stop breathing because the little assholes that slipped things into her drink were too stupid to know that can suppress respiratory function if you give a small person too much. We couldn’t protect you from the fall out of that, if it happened. No one could.”

  The kid nodded, as if that part just made sense and wasn’t him simply providing part of a list of clients. They moved to allow him to sit down, and worked over the course of half an hour to get every name in his head. Including the gym teacher, who’d gotten him to get some steroids for the football team.

  That one was a thing that Troy understood right off the bat. Their team sucked. It was a long-standing tradition, as far as he knew. So much so that he’d heard about it nearly ten years before, while living in a different state.

  The Principal was not pleased to hear about that part. Still, he kept his mouth shut on the idea. Not that it was going to save the man. Then, an accusation wasn’t proof of anything. They were pressing Clem Foley into providing names, or else, which means the guy might just make some things up, in order to get himself off the hook.

  Looking at the list, which was a good twenty names long, Detective Tran made a sound, deep in her throat.

  “Okay, Foley. If this all checks out, we’ll make what you were carrying, and doing, go away. Lopez, do your thing. I want to see our little friend on the local news doing good works inside a month.”

  He nearly balked at the idea, since it was incredibly illegal. The cover up was at least. Then again, they could pass that up the food chain and let the Chief deal with it. That, or the prosecutor. It wasn’t their job, after all.

  Making himself feel large inside, which was part of the mind control trick, he locked eyes with the boy, and let his fangs pop. His own eyes would be a true and solid blood red then, he knew. The taste of fear, from both the boy and the man in charge, Butler, filled the air. Interestingly, Detective Tran just watched. She wasn’t upset or scared at all.

  That probably meant she was a bad
ass, regardless of what the packaging looked like on the outside.

  “Pay attention, Clem. Can you do that for me now? This is very important.” He waited, giving the kid a chance to show he was locked into the right state.

  He was still scared, but nodded.

  “Um, yeah. Yes, sir.” His voice was far away and a little faint. Which was nearly perfect. There was a buzzing sense, between them. A connection that felt solid and almost physical.

  “Good. You don’t sell drugs anymore. You love to study, and will do your very best job at it, every single day. Even after finishing your homework, you constantly want to do more learning. You also love to work out now. You think that doing illegal drugs is stupid. In fact, you don’t want to have anything to do with people that take them now. You avoid people like that, and prefer to make friends with good people, that try their best in life.” Troy was concentrating hard on the boy, but realized there was more to be done. It had nearly slipped his mind, though it had been part of the deal.

  He didn’t let his focus slip at all. That part wasn’t an issue for him though. Not now. Not after having lived in the void between worlds for hundreds of years. Possibly longer than that.

  “You also love to volunteer to help people. Every Saturday you will spend at least part of your time doing that. Do you understand? You’re a good person, by my standards. If you have any problems, you’ll get with Principal Butler, here. Now, I want you to go back to class and do the best you can there, constantly. Then, after school, you’re going to get with janitorial and start stripping the graffiti off of the building.”

  Inside he screamed at the child.

  It was clear that, even being nearly six-foot, the kid was young. Vulnerable. Good eats, if ever he’d seen them. Not that Troy ate people. Not as a rule.

  Instead he used his mind and will, to tell the kid one simple thing. To do it.

  It meant that, half a minute later, the Principal was able to send the guy back to class. Without the drugs.