Her words smacked me with the force of a pool cue in a bar fight. How would a human like her know about vampires?
Within my belly, my kundalini noir-that black serpent of energy that animates the undead-thrashed in alarm. My fingertips buzzed to signal danger.
Katz Meow couldn't be allowed to live with this knowledge. I would hypnotize her to glean what she knew about vampires. Then I would kill her. I had no other choice.
I dropped my hands behind the desk to hide my extending talons. My growing fangs nudged against the inside of my lip.
"You look like you're coming unglued." Katz gave a short, nervous laugh. "I'm not crazy."
I let my fangs retract. "Then you don't believe in vampires?"
"Should I?"
"Why did you bring them up?"
"Because someone told me Roxy's murder is connected to a deal between people and vampires."
What kind of a deal? My kundalini noir writhed in distress. "Someone who?"
"A friend."
"Give me a name."
Katz crossed her arms. "I came here thinking I was going nuts for even pretending to believe in vampires. I mention the word, and you go ballistic."
She was right. I had lost my cool. My talons withdrew and I placed my hands on the desk. "You mention murder. Next you bring up vampires. I was about to throw you out."
"But you haven't," Katz replied.
"Then talk."
"Rebecca Dwelling," she said.
"Pardon?"
"That's my friend who told me about vampires."
"Why would Rebecca Dwelling think she's run into vampires?" I scribbled the name on my blotter.
"She works at a club where she claims vampires mingle with people," Katz said. "It's a secret place like an SM dungeon. Visitors offer gifts and their blood to vampires. Sounds sick, I know. The people hope that if the vampires find them worthy, they'll be transformed into vampires as a reward."
My senses went back into full alert. What Katz described were chalices, humans who willingly gave themselves to vampires in the perverse hope of becoming vampires themselves. Chalices were the only humans allowed to live with knowledge of the undead, a secret they only dared reveal under the penalty of a swift and gruesome death. Their vampire masters had the responsibility of enforcing this pact, and their failure to do so demanded an immediate execution of both chalice and vampire. Had the secrets of the supernatural world been compromised?
"Do you believe this?" I asked.
"Rebecca does."
"And you don't?"
"Believe in vampires?" Katz chuckled. "Give me a break, Felix. I quit believing in the supernatural, fairy tales, Bible stories, all that crap, after my Sunday school teacher molested me."
"Sorry to hear that."
"That I don't believe?"
"No, the other part. About your Sunday school teacher."
Katz shrugged. "It happened and I moved on. What concerns me are the people who murdered Roxy."
"Would these be the powerful enemies you mentioned?"
"Read for yourself." Katz produced a thick bundle of papers from her handbag. She laid the papers on my desk.
I took the bundle and removed the rubber band. The papers were copies of newspaper clippings and printouts from numerous Web sites. SMUT LADY WINS BATTLE AGAINST PORN COMPANY. QUEEN OF RAUNCH TESTIFIES AGAINST DEVELOPERS. PORN STAR FOUND DEAD IN ALLEY.
"Give me a rundown of these powerful enemies."
"Cragnow Vissoom is the president of the video company Roxy was contracted to."
"What was his problem with her?"
"Roxy had bought out her contract and wanted to start her own company. Cragnow was afraid she'd take his best people."
"Such as you?"
"Me and other girls."
"So?"
Katz rolled her eyes. "It would make Cragnow look like a real chump. What kind of a boss can't control his talent, especially in the skin trade? Plus Roxy made him rich. Before she hired on, Gomorrah Video was small potatoes. Thanks to her, Cragnow became number one in triple X sales and rentals."
People had been murdered for less. That was one suspect.
"And the rest of the enemies?"
"Project Eleven."
"Excuse me?"
"Project Eleven," she repeated. "That's the name of the effort to redevelop the area around the city of Pacoima." Katz raised an eyebrow. "Ever heard of Pacoima?"
Unfortunately. I had spent my childhood bouncing from southern New Mexico to Pacoima as my parents fought, made up, and fought some more. I lived for months at a time with my aunt and mother, until my dad came around and we pretended to be a family again. I had felt tiny and brittle. Nothing seemed mine. Not my emotions, thanks to my parents. And not the few belongings I had, thanks to the neighborhood thieves and drug dealers.
Yeah, I knew Pacoima.
I looked back at Katz. "I know where it is. But I don't know beans about Project Eleven."
"It was a huge public works boondoggle that Roxy worked to defeat."
Roxy.
Pacoima.
Now I remembered where I had seen Roxy before. "Let me see that DVD again."
Katz leaned away in surprise.
"Come on," I insisted.
She gave me the DVD. I studied Roxy's face, especially her dimpled cheeks and the radiance of her eyes.
During one of my stays in Pacoima, I had buried my troubles in an atlas and become my elementary school's champion in the geography bee. After winning the all-city contest, I was invited to get my award at the public library downtown. At the time I was as dark as a coffee bean and wore tight, high-water pants because my good trousers had been stolen off the clothesline. All the other kids were well-off and white. They and their parents arrived in fancy cars while I hitched a ride with my teacher in her old Datsun. Everybody gave me fake, polite smiles, as if to tolerate my presence. When I got handed my trophy-a desk globe from National Geographic-I felt like a trained monkey getting a prize for being especially clever.
A guy from the newspaper took pictures of the rich kids and their parents. Some high school girls herded the students from a Glendale elementary together for a group shot. One of those pretty girls saw me alone with my globe. She invited me over and stood beside me in front of the group. She gave me the only genuine smile I got from anyone that afternoon.
After all these years, that girl had a name.
Roxy Bronze.
Now someone wanted me to find her killer.
How did that young woman with her privileged life and beautiful personality wind up doing porn? And then get murdered?
I returned the DVD to Katz.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"I might want to buy a copy. Where were we?"
Katz tapped the papers she had given me. "Look into these people. Councilwoman Petale Venin. She hated Roxy for undermining Project Eleven. And there's developer Lucky Rosario. He liked to hang around Cragnow and score with the actresses."
"That include Roxy?"
"If he had the chance, but that never happened. If Lucky was ever alone with Roxy he would've strangled her."
I wrote Lucky Rosario on my blotter and underlined it. "Why?"
"Roxy helped the local community fight Project Eleven. She not only humiliated Venin and Rosario, but the attention also forced the city council to withdraw the plan. Cost both Venin and Rosario a fortune."
Interesting cast of villains. "How do vampires tie in?"
"That's the connection between Cragnow, Venin, and Rosario."
"What? That they're vampires?"
"They might be."
"Might be?" I asked.
Her tone made it seem as though being a vampire was a casual diversion. She had no idea of the burden we carried because of the sorrow from the loss of our souls. I had lost mine during my service as a sergeant in the Iraq war. I was overcome with grief after mistakenly slaughtering an innocent family when an ancient Iraqi vampire-an ekimmu-lured me close and turned me into one of the undead. I never thanked him for it-the smelly bastard.
"Look, I feel stupid mentioning it, but I have to," said Katz. "That's what Rebecca Dwelling told me."
"Where is Rebecca?"
Sweat beaded on Katz's temples. "Back in Los Angeles."
I thumbed the papers. Discounting the vampire angle, there was enough evidence and motive to persuade even the most skeptical of cops that Cragnow, Venin, and Rosario had something to gain by Roxy's murder. Obviously the police knew and didn't act. Katz had good reason to be paranoid.
One big question remained.
"Katz, why me?"
"Rebecca said Coyote passed your name along."
My fingers tingled again. I didn't know a Coyote in Los Angeles or anywhere else. "Who's Coyote?"
Katz wiped the sweat collecting on her brow. "Someone she met at the club."
"He's a vampire?"
"Go ask Rebecca." Katz pulled a small amber bottle of pills from her purse. She glanced at the watercooler. "Could I have a drink?"
I got up and approached the cooler. Now to find the truth. With my back to Katz, I removed my contacts and put them into their plastic case. I turned about and offered her a paper cup filled with water. She reached for it and looked up to my face to say thanks.
Our gazes locked. Her pupils dilated. Her red aura blazed like I had hooked her up to an electrical socket. Her jaw relaxed, and those delicious lips parted. The amber bottle fell from her hand and rattled onto the floor. Her aura swirled like glowing syrup.
I set the cup on my desk. I picked up the bottle-prescription Xanax-and placed it next to the cup.
Taking both of her hands, I kneaded the tender webs of flesh between her thumbs and index fingers to deepen my hypnotic control. I couldn't risk fanging her. If she found marks on her neck, however faint, that would certainly confirm what she suspected about the existence of vampires.
I massaged her hands. "Katz. Ms. Meow, close your eyes."
With her eyes closed, she appeared angelic, a creature far removed from the licentious wench on the DVD.
Hypnosis dulled a human's mind, and I had to prod Katz's consciousness for every answer. What she couldn't do was lie. I questioned her for ten minutes and asked her to repeat every detail concerning Roxy.
My fingers trembling, I struggled to replace my contacts. I ordered Katz to wake up.
Katz's bosom heaved. Her eyelids fluttered. She gripped the armrests with a start.
"Are you okay?" I asked, feigning concern.
She blinked, tapping her chest as she took deep breaths. "I feel light-headed."
"You passed out for a second," I said, presenting the cup of water. "Happens. It's the altitude."
Katz read her gold wristwatch. "A second? Feels more like minutes." She opened the bottle and shook out two pills. "So there's no misunderstanding: Felix, you are taking this case?"
"I am. Give me time to clean up business on my end."
"A few days, no longer." Katz downed the pills and chased them with a gulp of water.
Her breathing relaxed. The Xanax hadn't yet taken effect, but the ritual of downing them soothed her.
She picked up one of my business cards from the plastic holder and wrote on the back of the card. "My plane leaves this afternoon. Here's my number. Call when you get to L.A."
Katz collected her handbag and fluffed her tresses. I walked her to the door and wished her a safe trip.
I returned to my desk and studied the papers Katz had left for me. My thoughts turned black with worry. This case was a tangle of murder, revenge, big money, and vampires. And the worst part? My hypnosis of Katz Meow confirmed that it was all true.