Chapter 5 THE INVESTIGATION BEGINS

The Crimson Rose looked exactly like what it was: a mid-tier blood bar trying to appear classier than its location warranted. Red velvet curtains, dim lighting, and furniture that was expensive five years ago. It sat on the border between the Grey District and vampire territory, catering to the kind of clientele who wanted discretion more than luxury.

Sera pushed through the door just after sunset, alone despite Daemon's insistence on security. Marcus-Daemon's Marcus, not the Council one-was watching from across the street, far enough away to maintain her cover but close enough to intervene if things went sideways.

The bar was moderately busy. A few vampires occupied the private booths along the walls, sipping blood from crystal glasses while human servers moved between tables with practiced efficiency. The bartender was human too, a middle-aged man with tired eyes and the kind of blank expression that came from seeing too much and learning to say nothing.

Sera approached the bar and slid onto a stool.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked without much interest.

"Information," Sera said quietly, sliding a credit chip across the bar-worth a hundred credits, enough to buy cooperation but not so much it raised suspicions.

The bartender's eyes flicked to the chip, then to Sera's face. "Don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do." Sera kept her voice low. "I used to run courier routes through this area. I know The Crimson Rose does more than just serve legal blood. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just need to know about your suppliers."

"Why?" The bartender still hadn't touched the chip.

"Because three vampires are dead, and I think your supplier might be involved." Sera met his eyes. "I'm not law enforcement. I'm not going to shut you down. I just need a name."

The bartender was quiet for a long moment, weighing options. Finally, he palmed the chip. "There's a guy. Calls himself Kieran. He runs an operation out of the old textile district-unregistered blood donations, no testing, no questions. Cheap prices, fast delivery."

Kieran. Sera knew that name. He'd been a low-level courier when she first started, ambitious and willing to take risks most wouldn't. If he'd moved up to running his own operation, he'd either gotten very good or very dangerous.

"Where in the textile district?"

"Warehouse on Seventh and Morrison. But listen-" The bartender leaned closer. "You didn't hear this from me. Kieran's connected. He's got protection from someone high up, someone who makes sure authorities look the other way. You go poking around his operation, you might not come back."

"I'll take my chances. Thanks."

Sera left before the bartender could change his mind about talking. She found Marcus waiting in the shadows of an alley across the street.

"Get anything useful?" he asked.

"A name and a location. Kieran, textile district warehouse." Sera started walking, and Marcus fell into step beside her. "The bartender said he's got protection from someone high up. Any idea who?"

Marcus's expression darkened. "Kieran Reeves. Yeah, I know him. Used to work for the Northern Court as a blood courier about five years ago. Got fired for skimming product. If he's running his own operation now, he's definitely got backing from another court."

"Which one?"

"Eastern, if I had to guess. Lady Vivienne's been expanding her influence in the Grey District for years. A black market blood operation would be exactly the kind of asset she'd cultivate."

That fit with what Sera had observed at the Council meeting-Vivienne positioning herself as opposition to Daemon, building power bases in neutral territories.

"We need to check out that warehouse," Sera said.

"Not tonight. Not without preparation." Marcus steered her toward a black car parked at the curb. "We report back to Lord Ashford, plan this properly. Going in blind is how humans get killed."

Sera wanted to argue, but Marcus was right. Recklessness had gotten her into this mess with Daemon in the first place. She needed to be smarter.

The drive back to the Obsidian Tower was quiet. Sera stared out the window, watching the city slide past-human districts giving way to vampire territory, the architecture shifting from cramped and practical to sprawling and elegant. Two different worlds existing in the same space, separated by money and power and species.

Her mother had wanted to bridge that gap. Sera was starting to understand why it had gotten her killed.

Daemon was in his study when they arrived, surrounded by papers and screens, his ice-blue eyes scanning data with inhuman speed. He looked up when Sera entered, and something in his expression shifted-concern, maybe, though it was gone too quickly to be sure.

"You're back. Any trouble?"

"No trouble. Got a lead." Sera filled him in on the conversation with the bartender, the name Kieran, the warehouse location. "Marcus thinks he's connected to the Eastern Court."

"Marcus is probably right." Daemon stood and moved to a large map of Nocturna pinned to the wall. He marked the warehouse location with a red pin. "Vivienne has been building influence in neutral territories for years. A black market blood operation would give her leverage-vampires who buy from her can't report her without implicating themselves."

"So she's creating a network of compromised vampires," Sera said, understanding dawning. "People who owe her loyalty because she has dirt on them."

"Exactly. And if those vampires start dying from poisoned blood..." Daemon's jaw tightened. "It gives her the perfect excuse to accuse the Northern Court of negligence, to call for my removal, to position herself as the solution to a crisis she may have created."

"You think she's behind the poisonings?" Marcus asked.

"I think she's the most likely suspect. The deaths serve her interests-they destabilize my court, turn vampires against humans, create the chaos she needs to seize power." Daemon turned back to the map. "But I need proof. Suspicion isn't enough to move against a Council member."

"Then we get proof," Sera said. "We investigate the warehouse, find evidence linking the poisoned blood to Vivienne."

"We?" Daemon's eyebrow arched. "I don't recall making you a detective."

"You made me your attendant and told me to investigate. That's exactly what I'm doing." Sera crossed her arms. "Besides, I'm the only one who can walk into that warehouse without immediately being flagged as Northern Court. I'm human. I'm a former courier. I'm exactly the kind of person Kieran would expect to come looking for cheap blood."

"She has a point," Marcus admitted reluctantly. "Send me or any vampire obviously affiliated with you, and Kieran will know something's wrong. But a human courier looking to make a deal? That's normal."

Daemon looked between them, clearly unhappy with the direction this was going. "It's too dangerous."

"Everything about this situation is dangerous," Sera countered. "But sitting here doing nothing while vampires die and Vivienne builds her case for war? That's more dangerous."

For a long moment, Daemon said nothing. Then he sighed, the sound almost human. "Fine. But we do this carefully. Sera goes in as a potential buyer, wears a wire so we can monitor, and Marcus stays close enough to intervene if needed. At the first sign of trouble, you get out. Understood?"

"Understood."

"I mean it, Sera." Daemon's voice dropped, became something darker, more dangerous. "You're bound to me by blood debt, which means your safety is my responsibility. If something happens to you because I sent you into danger, that debt becomes mine. I won't carry that burden."

There was something raw in his voice, something that made Sera think he wasn't just talking about blood debts and vampire law. He was talking about guilt, about the weight of past mistakes.

He was talking about her mother.

"I'll be careful," Sera said quietly.

Daemon nodded once, then turned to Marcus. "Set it up for tomorrow night. Give Sera time to prepare her cover story, get the equipment ready. I want full surveillance-audio, video if possible. And I want a backup team on standby."

"Already on it." Marcus headed for the door, then paused. "Sera? For what it's worth, you're handling this well. Most humans would be paralyzed with fear by now."

"Most humans aren't me."

Marcus smiled slightly and left.

Alone with Daemon, Sera felt the atmosphere in the room shift. Without Marcus as a buffer, the connection between them felt stronger, the blood debt more present.

"Are you afraid?" Daemon asked quietly.

"Terrified," Sera admitted. "But fear doesn't change what needs to be done."

"Your mother used to say something similar. She'd be proud of you."

"Don't." Sera's voice was sharp. "Don't talk about her like you knew her. You killed her."

"I did. And I live with that every day." Daemon moved closer, and Sera forced herself not to step back. "But that doesn't mean I didn't know her, didn't recognize her courage even as I condemned her for breaking laws I was too much of a coward to question."

"You're not a coward. Cowards don't rule vampire courts."

"Cowards come in many forms. Some hide from physical danger. Others hide from moral complexity." Daemon's ice-blue eyes were intense. "I hid for a century, Sera. I enforced laws without questioning them, maintained order without asking if that order was just. Your mother forced me to see what I'd become. Her death broke something in me that needed breaking."

"And that's supposed to make me forgive you?"

"No. I don't expect forgiveness. I don't deserve it." Daemon's expression was bleak. "But I hope, eventually, you might understand why I'm trying to be better. Why I'm willing to risk everything to prevent the kind of blind obedience that led me to execute an innocent woman."

Sera didn't know what to say to that. Part of her wanted to rage at him, to make him hurt the way she'd hurt for ten years. But another part-the part that could feel his genuine regret through the blood debt, that could see the weight of centuries in his eyes-that part almost sympathized.

Almost.

"I need to prepare for tomorrow," she said instead, deflecting. "Research Kieran, work on my cover story."

"Use my library. Everything you need should be there." Daemon gestured to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. "And Sera? Thank you. For doing this. I know I'm asking a lot."

"You're not asking. The blood debt is compelling me."

"Is it?" Daemon's gaze was searching. "Or are you choosing this because you want to prevent the war as much as I do?"

Sera didn't answer. She couldn't, because she wasn't sure herself anymore where the blood debt ended and her own choices began.

She spent the next several hours in Daemon's library, researching everything she could find about Kieran Reeves and the black market blood trade. Daemon worked at his desk, occasionally answering questions or providing context, but mostly leaving her to her research.

It felt almost domestic, this quiet collaboration. Two people working toward a common goal in comfortable silence. Sera hated how easily she was adapting to it, how natural it felt to be in Daemon's space, using his resources, accepting his protection.

She was supposed to hate him. Was supposed to see him as nothing but her mother's killer. But the reality was more complicated than the hatred she'd nurtured for ten years.

Around midnight, Daemon's phone buzzed. He answered, listened, and his expression darkened.

"Another death," he said, ending the call. "Fourth victim. Different court this time-Western. Same symptoms."

"It's spreading," Sera said, standing. "Whoever's behind this is accelerating."

"Which means we're running out of time." Daemon pulled up news feeds on his screens. "The vampire community is starting to panic. Social media is full of rumors, conspiracy theories. Some are blaming humans. Others are blaming the Council for not acting fast enough."

Sera read over his shoulder. The rhetoric was getting violent-calls for suspending the Blood Accord, for restricting human movement, for retaliation. One particularly extreme post suggested rounding up all human blood donors for testing.

"This is exactly what Vivienne wants," Sera said. "Fear. Chaos. An excuse to seize power."

"Then we need to move faster." Daemon turned to face her. "Tomorrow night, you investigate the warehouse. But I'm changing the parameters. I'm coming with you."

"That defeats the purpose. Kieran will recognize you-"

"Not if I'm disguised." Daemon's smile was sharp. "Vampires can alter our appearance to some degree-not enough to fool another vampire, but enough to pass as a different person to humans. I can pose as your business partner, another courier looking to expand operations."

"That's risky."

"Everything about this is risky. But I'm not sending you into danger alone, blood debt or not." Daemon's voice was firm. "This is not negotiable, Sera."

Part of her wanted to argue. But truthfully, having Daemon there was reassuring in a way she didn't want to examine too closely. He was dangerous, yes, but he was dangerous in a way that protected rather than threatened her.

"Fine," she conceded. "But if this goes wrong, I'm blaming you."

"Fair enough."

They worked for another hour, refining their plan, building their cover story. By the time Sera returned to her quarters, the sun was rising and exhaustion pulled at her bones.

She collapsed into bed and immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.

When she woke in the late afternoon, she found a message from Ivy on her phone: *Got the records. You need to see this.*

Sera called her back immediately. "What did you find?"

"A lot, and none of it good." Sera heard papers rustling. "So I pulled business registrations for blood trade operations in the past year like you asked. Most are legitimate-proper licensing, regular inspections, the works. But there's one that stands out. A company called Crimson Solutions, registered six months ago, listed as a blood logistics and distribution company."

"And?"

"And it's a shell company. No physical address, no listed employees, no actual business operations. But it's been moving massive amounts of money-hundreds of thousands of credits per month."

Sera's pulse quickened. "Where's the money going?"

"That's where it gets interesting. Most of it flows through several intermediary accounts-standard money laundering tactics-but I was able to trace some of it back to a warehouse property in the textile district. Seventh and Morrison."

Kieran's warehouse.

"So Crimson Solutions is funding the black market operation," Sera said slowly.

"It gets better. Or worse, depending on your perspective." Ivy paused. "I cross-referenced the company registration with court records. Crimson Solutions' registered agent is listed as Marcus Crane."

The vampire from the Council meeting. Vivienne's lover.

"Ivy, you're amazing."

"I know. This is also highly illegal, so please don't get caught and implicate me." Ivy's voice turned serious. "Sera, if Lady Vivienne is funding a black market blood operation and that operation is connected to the poisonings... she's not just committing murder. She's orchestrating a false flag attack to start a war."

"I know. Which is why we need to stop her before anyone else dies." Sera glanced at the clock. Sunset in two hours. "Listen, I'm going to the warehouse tonight to gather evidence. If you don't hear from me by midnight-"

"Don't do that. Don't do the 'if I don't make it' speech."

"Ivy-"

"No. You're going to be fine because you're careful and smart and you have a vampire lord protecting you." Ivy's voice was firm. "But Sera? Please be careful anyway. I can't lose you too."

Too. Ivy was thinking about her own family, lost in a vampire raid five years ago. The event that had shaped her views on vampire-human relations, that had made her cautious and careful and determined to survive in a world that didn't value human life.

"I'll be careful," Sera promised. "I'll call you when it's done."

After hanging up, Sera forwarded Ivy's findings to Daemon. His response was immediate: *This changes everything. Meet me in the study at sunset.*

Sera spent the remaining time preparing. She dressed in her old courier clothes-practical, forgettable, exactly what someone in her supposed position would wear. She pulled her hair back in a simple ponytail and deliberately didn't wear the expensive jewelry Daemon had provided. She needed to look like what she was pretending to be: a human courier looking to make a deal, not a vampire lord's attendant.

When she arrived at Daemon's study, she found him transformed.

Gone was the aristocratic vampire lord in expensive suits. Instead, he wore jeans and a leather jacket, his dark hair was styled differently, and somehow his features were slightly altered-cheekbones less prominent, jaw less sharp. He looked like a mid-level vampire enforcer, dangerous but not notable.

"Impressive," Sera said.

"Glamour magic. Limited and temporary, but effective." Daemon handed her a small device that looked like a button. "Communication device. Pin it inside your jacket. It'll transmit audio to Marcus, who'll be monitoring from a van nearby. If you need extraction, say 'the deal's off' and we get you out immediately."

Sera pinned the device carefully. "What about you? How do we communicate?"

"Blood debt. I can feel your emotional state through it-fear, pain, distress. If something goes wrong, I'll know." Daemon's expression was serious. "But that also means you need to control your emotions. If you get too scared, I'll react, and that could blow our cover."

"No pressure then."

"You can do this." Daemon's hand touched her shoulder briefly. "You've survived worse."

Had she? Sera wasn't sure anymore. But she nodded anyway, because what choice did she have?

Marcus arrived with a van full of surveillance equipment. He briefed them on the plan-Sera and Daemon would go in as potential buyers, ask questions, look for evidence of the poisoned blood. Marcus would monitor from outside with a backup team ready to intervene.

"Remember," Marcus said, looking directly at Sera. "You're not a hero. You're a courier looking to make money. Stay in character, don't push too hard, and get out if things feel wrong."

"Got it."

The drive to the textile district was tense. This area had been abandoned years ago when manufacturing moved to automated facilities outside the city. Now it was a maze of empty warehouses and forgotten buildings, the perfect place for illegal operations.

Kieran's warehouse was unremarkable from the outside-just another abandoned building slowly crumbling into decay. But there were signs of activity if you knew what to look for. Fresh tire tracks in the dirt. Security cameras hidden in the shadows. The faint hum of generators providing power.

Sera and Daemon approached the main entrance. She knocked-three sharp raps, the signal she'd learned from her courier days.

A panel in the door slid open, revealing a pair of eyes. "Password?"

"Crimson runs deep," Sera said, repeating the phrase the bartender had whispered to her before she left The Crimson Rose.

The door opened.

Inside was organized chaos. The warehouse had been converted into a blood processing facility-donation chairs along one wall where humans sat with IVs in their arms, processing equipment in the center, storage units filled with blood bags. At least a dozen humans worked as technicians, and twice that many sat in the donation chairs, some looking willing, others looking desperate.

This wasn't just a black market operation. This was industrial-scale blood farming.

A man approached them-late thirties, brown hair, sharp eyes that missed nothing. Kieran Reeves, Sera assumed.

"New customers?" he asked, his voice friendly but his posture wary.

"Potential partners," Sera corrected. "We run courier operations in the Grey District. Looking to expand our supply chain."

"Always happy to meet enterprising colleagues." Kieran's smile didn't reach his eyes. "What kind of volume are you looking for?"

"Depends on price and quality." Daemon's voice was different, rougher, less cultured. "We've heard you can provide both."

"We can provide whatever you need. Clean blood, tested and certified. Well, certified by our standards." Kieran gestured to the operation. "As you can see, we run a quality operation. All donors are screened, all blood is processed under sterile conditions."

Sera looked around, cataloging details. The donors in the chairs-were they here willingly? Some looked fine, sipping juice and chatting with technicians. Others looked pale, weak, like they'd been drained too much too often.

"What about special requests?" Sera asked carefully. "We have clients with specific needs. Rare blood types, particular qualities."

"We can accommodate most requests." Kieran led them deeper into the warehouse. "We have an extensive donor network. If you need something specific, we can source it."

They passed a storage room, and Sera glimpsed something that made her blood run cold-rows of blood bags marked with red labels. The same red labels that had been mentioned in the reports about the deceased vampires' last known blood purchases.

"What about those?" She pointed to the red-labeled bags.

Kieran's expression flickered-just for a moment, but it was enough. "Premium stock. Special processing. Not for general sale."

"We're willing to pay for premium." Daemon moved closer to the storage room. "What makes it special?"

"Enhanced nutrients, optimized preservation. Makes the blood more potent, last longer." Kieran stepped between them and the storage room. "But like I said, it's not for general sale. Reserved for specific clients."

"Let me guess," Sera said quietly. "Clients referred by Marcus Crane?"

The warehouse went silent.

Kieran's friendly demeanor evaporated. "I don't know who you think you are, but you need to leave. Now."

"We're people looking for the truth," Daemon said, dropping the glamour. His features shifted back to their normal aristocratic configuration, and power radiated from him like heat. "I'm Daemon Ashford, Lord of the Northern Court. And you, Kieran Reeves, are running a poisoning operation that's killed four vampires and threatens to start a war."

Kieran backed up, his hand reaching for something at his waist-a weapon, probably. But Daemon moved with vampire speed, pinning Kieran against the wall before he could draw it.

"The red-labeled blood," Daemon said, his voice deadly soft. "What's in it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

Daemon's hand tightened around Kieran's throat. "I can smell the lie. Try again."

The humans in the warehouse were scattering, running for exits. Sera moved to the storage room and started pulling red-labeled bags, looking for anything that would prove they were contaminated.

She found it-a clipboard with processing notes. Different chemical compounds added to the blood, supposedly to enhance potency. But Sera recognized some of the chemicals from her research. They were toxic to vampires. Lethal in sufficient doses.

"Daemon!" She held up the clipboard. "I've got proof."

An alarm blared.

"Time to go," Daemon said, releasing Kieran and moving toward Sera. "Marcus, we need extraction now-"

The warehouse doors burst open. Vampires flooded in-at least a dozen, all wearing the colors of the Eastern Court.

They'd walked into a trap.

At the front of the group was Marcus Crane, Vivienne's lover, wearing a smile that promised violence.

"Lord Ashford," he said pleasantly. "Lady Vivienne sends her regards. She's been hoping you'd take the bait."

To be continued....