Read 03 - You Only Live Nine Times for Free Online Page A

fast.”  She took a long sniff at the air and tried not to gag at the dead body.  “I’m not getting any scents other than the dead bodies.  So, if I had to guess, it was a vampire.”
    “V… vampire?” gulped Collins, who had chosen that moment to return leading a team of crime scene technicians who immediately started setting up lights.
    Isis had a brief panic about her appearance.  After being drenched earlier, she’d reapplied her makeup before she arrived at the cemetery, applying waterproof mascara and a much more hardy lipstick while pulling her hair back into a braid.  She just hoped it stood up to the blinding lights.  Three… two… one… boom.
    An infectious smile burst over Raf’s face on seeing her – truly seeing her – for the first time.  And yeah, well, her pride certainly didn’t mind that.  Okay, so her pride was pretty overinflated like a helium balloon before she met him, but it just seemed important that he, above any other man, find her attractive.  Tons of other men did, and told her so on a regular basis, but she could care less what any of those half-wits thought.
    “Uh, vampire?” repeated Collins.  “Do we need to get out of here?”
    Isis knit her brows together.  “Why?”
    “In case the vampire’s hanging around,” he said slowly as if she were a two-year-old.  “In case he’s hungry.”
    “If a vampire was hanging around,” she said in a matching patronizing voice, “and they decided they wanted you for their late night snack, you’d be dead, on the ground with a chunk of your neck and all your blood missing.”
    Collins paled, and Raf shot her a look of disapproval that, fuck it, actually made her feel bad and had Ms. Kitty hanging her head in shame.  Damnit, why did she have to care how he felt?  He was just a random human, just a totally ordinary, random human.  Mate.  Shut up!
    “Look, honey,” said Isis in her sweetest tone, which she’d been told was akin to a serial killer but she couldn’t help it at that moment.  “In spite of TV and movies, the majority of vampires don’t just go around killing people at random.  They’re just like humans.  To simplify it, some are bad, but most aren’t.  I don’t know why one was hanging around here, but if they wanted to hurt us, they could have, but clearly they didn’t.”  Isis then gave the officer the full effect of her fluttering eyelashes, almost blowing him away in the process, and he softened under her charms.  Sucker .
    Collins seemed mollified, and a little in love with her.  Raf, with a slight grimace that her tiger happily believed was down to jealousy, sent the young officer away to help the technicians.  “Happy?” she asked him.
    Raf gave her a puzzled look.  “What do you mean?”
    “See, I’m not a total bitch.  I can be nice when I try.”
    “I never expected anything less.”
    Well, he’d be the first .  “Okay then, Raf, what’s your next step?”
    “I doubt whoever did this – whether they are the vampire you suspect was here or not – is coming back.  So, for now, I’m going to let the techs do their work while I take the official statement of the groundskeeper.”
    Isis nodded.  “What can I do?”
    He hesitated slightly before replying.  “Forget the fact that you believe a vampire pushed you into that grave.  Do you think a supernatural creature could have stolen our dead guy’s body parts?”
    “I’m positive it was a vampire, but unless they’re working for some nefarious schemer…”
    Raf’s lips quirked in amusement.  “Nefarious schemer?”
    “Nefarious schemer, yes, then I can’t see a vampire stealing spare parts.  Corpses are no good to them.  However, corpses could possibly be used for spells and incantations.  So a witch or a warlock isn’t out of the realm of possibility.”
    He rubbed the back of his head and Isis bit back a smile.  He did that when he was nervous.  “What do you think the odds are of the SEA