Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1) Read online

  So focused on doing a good job that even a regular kid would be getting top marks in short order.

  Denise brushed her short black hair from her eyes. There was just a bit of salt to go with the pepper up top, since she had to be pushing fifty. Troy hadn’t asked. It wasn’t really his business, after all. Plus, it was only the first day they’d worked together. Starting out with him questioning her about what kind of shampoo she used seemed a bit invasive. Plus, he already knew. It was Vanity Vanilla. He could smell it. She also used men’s deodorant, or at least had that day.

  Her voice was a bit clipped as she turned to the older man.

  “We might need to be in and out of here for a bit. We’ll try to keep things quiet, if we are. We don’t want to interfere with the students getting their education. If you could keep this part to yourself, for the time being? It isn’t illegal, but the fewer people that know we set up a deal like this, the better.”

  Troy nodded, as if it was true, when it really wasn’t.

  The educator bought it anyway.

  “I can do that. Thank you for… All your help.” That part seemed a bit off, as if he didn't think they were really doing all that much. Then, unless Troy was mistaken, the man was about to have a half dozen kids from his school end up being arrested. Possibly more than that, if any of them had nifty things to talk about. Plus, they had the one that did the graffiti. At least they had a name for him.

  Morgan Bauer.

  Also, Vic the local drug dealer. That needed to be passed up the food chain, he didn't doubt. They weren’t vice, after all. None of what they were doing had anything to do with their actual job description, but that had been nearly certain from the start. They were the Special Supernatural Task Force. That meant they were supposed to handle the truly strange things. Except that, in the main, nothing like that took place, day to day.

  Chief Benson had mentioned that to him when he’d made the new assignment. Troy’s real job was to be there to help out if anything truly powerful showed up that the regular police couldn’t handle. Nationally, there were about ten cases like that per year. The supernatural community was fairly small, after all. That meant they tended not to get in that much trouble. When they did, well, he knew that one first hand. They tended to either handle it themselves, or not leave witnesses.

  The overlap between those life and death things and petty disputes were handled by the Coalition of Nations, as often as not. In a way, it kind of meant that Troy Lopez was wasting his time. On the great side, the Vampire Council was right behind him on it. All of them had agreed that playing police officer for a decade or so would allow them to have a positive seeming presence in the world. They had a bit of a tarnished reputation to move past, after all. It was mainly that they drank blood.

  That could throw the regular peeps off, he didn’t doubt.

  Tran got the man to leave first, then, a bit stiffly, waved for Troy to follow her. She wasn’t fat, but tended to bustle a little bit. Her behind was nicely rounded in her green off the rack slacks, he noticed. He was in a very nice, tailored, charcoal gray suit himself. It was the kind of thing that an honest officer couldn’t have afforded, for the most part. He had a closet filled with things like it.

  Even then, he hadn’t paid for them. His friend Avery had made them all for him. She’d even made the shiny black shoes on his feet. The girl had mad skills that way. So far no one had noticed that part of things, however. Not enough to question him on it. Then, it was the first day that he’d worn anything other than his uniform to work. He had a nine-millimeter under his left arm in a shoulder holster, since it was needed for the job.

  Not that he was going to use it. He could, since he’d actually bothered to practice. They needed to qualify each year, after all, and he didn’t need to sleep. That meant there was no real excuse not to spend a few hours a week making sure he could hit the broad side of a barn. Given everything he could hit a penny from about fifty meters, about half the time. That wasn’t horrible, really.

  When they got out to the car, Tran turned to him, her face a bit wicked seeming again.

  “Fucking brilliant, Lopez. If you weren’t gay, I’d kiss you.”

  Blinking, he nodded a bit, then played back.

  “Bi and even that is way toward the girl side of things most days, so you know, kiss away. Not that I get anything out of it. There’s a new treatment for that, to return sex drive, but I haven’t earned it yet. There’s a waiting list.”

  Which was all true, though he could have demanded it. Or just asked. If Eve wouldn’t do it, then there was a guy in a different reality that would have. Probably for free. The trick there was that Troy was hiding part of himself from the world for the time being. He was a line walker, meaning he’d learned to travel to other realities using his own power. The government didn’t really know about that kind of thing though, and the Council had decided they didn’t need to.

  More to the point, they knew it existed, but not that the Vampires had three people who could pull it off without killing hundreds of their own to make it happen. That meant that several of them had taken him aside before he’d started on the force and suggested that he stop doing things like that, for about ten years. At least in public.

  Interestingly, when no one was asking you to take them places, it was a lot easier to resist going to other worlds than it would seem like to most.

  His last statement got a slow nod from the woman, who hit a different part of things than he would have thought.

  “Really? I mean, I was just yanking your chain on the gay thing. You do guys, too? Hot. Well, good to know. I can set you up with all my relatives then, not just my daughter. You’re looking to get married, right?” She grinned then, as if the answer was simply going to be no.

  “Meh. Maybe, someday? It isn’t against the rules or anything, but it’s kind of hard. My last real relationship…” He shook his head. “See, I nearly started talking about the ex on the first day. That will get me in good with the new partner, won’t it? So, you have a kid?”

  “Min. She’s a doll. Very hard working and passably cute. Currently dating some deadbeat that can’t hold down a job and lives off of her. I notice that you’re gainfully employed though… A girl could do worse.”

  The words were dry and she moved to get into the vehicle, taking the driver’s seat. It was signed out in her name, so that made sense. Not that he couldn’t drive. It wasn’t even as if he didn't know the city of Lincoln, Arizona like the back of his hand. He’d literally been up and down every single street thousands of times now, over the last half year. It had been the job, after all.

  He snorted anyway.

  “I’m nearly certain that a vampire is worse than a nice human guy, on the mom scale. Almost always. I mean, I had to get special training for this, so I won’t run around acting like a raging idiot and trying to drink all our best Clems. This is nearly the worst part of the day, and I’m not even screaming or killing people for no reason.”

  “Um, sorry? I mean, I get the point with not riding you on the dating thing, but worst part of the day?”

  He nodded, since that had been in there, at least in his head. The part where he didn't want to be the butt of all the jokes, forever, even if he was the new kid to her way of thinking. Not even a detective. Just Officer Lopez, put on the special two-person team because he was particularly qualified.

  “Right. Vampires normally die during the day. Close enough that you couldn’t tell the difference if you found one. I can, since there are energies in the body that I can see, but even a doctor wouldn’t get it. The very strong, which normally means very old, can stay up. It’s like being in a blast furnace, though. I mean that for real. The sun isn’t just a bit warm, I feel like I’m on fire right now. Every day. It lasts until night, too. This, around noon, is when it hurts most.”

  It wasn’t a joke, or a game. Also, not something that he thought people could understand. The very fact that he could sit there in the car, as Denise dr
ove off, without babbling incomprehensibly, proved he was a total bad ass. The vampires would get it, which was why they called those who could pull it off masters. That and the fact that they could move around during the day, while all the other vamps were dead to the world. It was hard to fight someone who could kill you in your sleep, that you didn’t have the same power over.

  His new partner just drove for a bit, then nodded.

  “That has to suck. Not in a good way, either. Okay, so I drive during the day. We need to get with some people now on what we picked up. That was… not bad. Will that stuff hold do you think? With Clem, back there?”

  That got him to nod, since he was actually good at compulsion. Bey, his maker, had been impressed at least. So had Gene from the Council. It was nearly enough to be a special skill, or so he’d been told.

  “Probably, for about a year. Maybe more than that. If we don’t have him locked up. Then it will have to be undone, so he doesn’t go crazy, not being able to study enough. In that case I’ll probably have to teach him how to fight, so that he doesn’t really end up being someone’s bitch.”

  The words got a nod, which was subdued, but also a soft snort.

  “Nah. We won’t really send him up. He’s a kid. A moron, but we tend not to really hit the children all that hard here. We’ll probably get patted on the back for breaking open the important graffiti case, to be honest. We…” She shrugged then, her medium sized shoulders making her jacket move and wrinkle a bit near her neck. “You know that we aren’t really expected to do much, right? I’m pretty much being put out to pasture here. You’re just some rookie I was stuck with, so that we can look P.C. in the press. I’ve got a few years left, but I keep missing my weight goals, for my size. That and the fact that my heart is going. Not enough to get me a full retirement, so Roy is giving me a desk to ride. Or I thought he was. First day and we’re already breaking important cases, so things aren’t that bad.” She stopped then, as if she’d told him some big news.

  Which would be about her health. That and her age. She was probably older than he’d thought, if she had just a few years before she needed to retire.

  “Yep. I was locked onto the idea that this was mainly about P.R. from the start. I even get that Roy is Chief Benson. Here I bet you figured I’d miss that one, didn’t you?” He grinned, looking out the window. Not that there was much to see. There was a bit of green in places, but a lot of that had turned a sickly brown, thanks to the early heat wave they’d been having.

  He hadn’t felt it at all, himself. The air temperature didn’t matter to him. Just the power of the sun. Even through walls, it burned. Like acid, seeping into his soul.

  She snorted again. Like it was her go-to sound effect. His was making a little hmph sound. The only real difference was that he was faking it on purpose and he didn't know if Denise Tran was or not. That kind of little thing was a lot easier for humans to pull off. He remembered what it was like, reacting and responding to the world like that with anything except rage.

  That and the weird sense he had at times that he somehow knew what had to happen to make the world work right. Then, he’d always had that going on. Even when he’d been alive. It had never been helpful, really. He hadn’t gotten the lotto numbers or anything, just what puzzle piece was going to fit.

  That rage was his main feeling now, though he’d mastered it pretty well. Oddly, he’d had lessons in dealing with it, before dying at all. It had really helped.

  Nodding, the small woman, who was only about five-two, looked straight ahead. Driving like a pro.

  “That really isn’t bad. Did you read the name off his door or see it in the paper?”

  He got that one. The new people dealt with the Chief when they first walked in, on the first day, then not at all until they got in trouble. Most of them didn’t, most of the time, so it probably took years to get all the names down for most of the rookies

  “I did. I knew about him before that though. The woman who taught me all my secret vampire skills, Eve? She’s his daughter.”

  That one got a blink.

  “He has a kid? I did not know that. Is she… Um… What’s the polite way to ask if she’s an undead blood sucking fiend? I don’t want to step on toes or anything.”

  There wasn’t even a hint of teasing to go along with the words, as if she were honestly just asking, not getting how it might sound. Then, she was either playing at being slightly autistic, or was for real. Troy kind of figured it to be a trick. He was good at figuring things like that out. Not perfect at it, but he had a good sense of things like that, most of the time.

  “Is she a vampire? That’s the polite way to ask that. Yes, by the way. She’s important in the community, too, so you’ll need to know that. Eve Benson. The Snowflake. Most of us don’t have nifty nicknames like that, just the important ones. So if you hear of a vamp with one, be polite. Though really, we should be nice to people anyway. Peace and love, man. Eve is…” He stopped, wondering how much he was supposed to share with the woman.

  She needed to be up on things, given her job, but it wasn’t all that real of a thing. For a moment he was torn, then he looked out the window and went on. Either she was on his side, or not. If he was her new partner, then they needed to do more than just ride around together and bust kids.

  “She’s the apprentice to The Bey. The Killer of the Council. That makes her one of the top twenty or so most dangerous Vamps in the world right now. She’s nice. We used to date.”

  They were stopped at a light, so the smallish lady turned to look at him.

  “You used to date the Chief’s daughter? What did he say about that?”

  Troy laughed.

  “You know, it hasn’t come up yet? We can run it past him, if you want? I was totally boning her when she was under age. I bet that goes over well.”

  That, finally, got an honest sounding laugh.

  Then they drove into the station parking lot. Lincoln just wasn’t that big, after all. It meant the place was centrally located to a lot of things.

  Chapter two

  The Chief’s office was nicer than Troy would have figured a law enforcement official as having. A bit like the clothing that the older fellow was wearing at the moment. Troy had a great reason for having what amounted to a thousand dollar suit on at the moment. It had been free. He could prove that, if it came up. On the other hand, Roy Benson didn’t directly have a line to anything like that as far as anyone should be able to tell.

  It wasn’t an Avery Rome original, even though she lived with his daughter. That made the young woman, who was decently famous, if for non-clothing related reasons, basically the man’s grand kid. That one might have made sense, getting free stuff from her, but there it was, anyway. The guy was in clothing too rich for his job and drove a hundred-thousand-dollar car. It didn't take a genius to work out that he was dirty.

  Tran didn't seem to notice those things. It wasn’t like Troy was going to bring it up, either. After all, given the whole situation in the area, it was nearly certain that the guy was the slave to a greater demon. The Technician, probably. It was her territory after all, and anyone else trying to horn in on that was going to find themselves regretting it in pretty short order.

  That part was a little weird for him. After all, Darla, which was what he’d known that demoness as, had literally been in his old house more often than half the women he’d dated over the years. His roommate, Zack had her as his mentor. For greater demon stuff. So, it wasn’t like Troy didn’t know the woman at all. In fact, he’d gotten with her to clear getting a job there in the first place.

  That had been freaky, to say the least.

  The woman was incredibly hot, blonde and had been willing to set him up with his own piece of the graft and corruption right off the bat. Just so he’d be on her side if it were ever needed. He’d resisted that, but had to allow that he wasn’t going to go up against her either. In the end, he’d gotten her to agree to back him up on the legal side of things,
and that he’d take on some light duties for her, if needed.

  The reason he was thinking about it at all was that Roy Benson, their boss, actually winced when Tran told him about the drug house. Then, he had when the ruffies had been mentioned, as well. Finally, the man, who was lean and in shape looking, made a face.

  “Not bad for a first day. Okay, we need to pass the drug tip over to vice. At least on the house. Can you two handle the kids? I really don’t want someone complaining that their daughter was raped at a party if that’s at all possible. If it’s already happened… Well, then we make sure that someone is going away for a long time. Also, on the coach… We need to keep that one on the Q.T.” The man seemed ready to fight them on that last bit, as if that were the important part of things.

  Steroids weren’t an issue to Troy, to be honest. It was cheating, but also in high school sports. Sure, it would hurt the kids a bit, but so would a lot of things. Life was hard and keeping them from having the little bit of glory their sad lives might allow them seemed mean.

  Tran was staring at him, so he took that as an excuse to talk.

  “We can handle the kids. The graffiti artist as well? Probably an in-school detention for that… Plus a little scared straight tossed in? We already have our dealer friend Foley scrubbing that up later. We can, possibly, get this other guy to help out with that?” He was willing to make sure they had two new straight A students if it came down to it.

  Benson actually relaxed visibly then.

  “That sound about right. Thanks. I know that this might seem to be the junior leagues, but this drug house find sounds like it might be fairly big. You’ll get part of the credit for that.”

  There was a clearing of the throat from Tran then.

  “As if that matters? Neither of us is going anywhere all that fast. This isn’t exactly Miami or New York. We’re on a dead-end task force, playing with high school students. Stop blowing smoke up our asses, Roy. We know the score here.”