The sun was at its peak when Aaron received the call.

He'd had a hard time getting himself to sleep, plagued by aftershocks of adrenaline and the look on the werewolf's face when he'd seen Nikolai. He hadn't had a chance to mention it to Bill; between getting the suspect logged into the station and heading out to sort a minor scuffle about a shattered bathtub between a landlocked Syren and the human occupants of the flats below, there'd been no time. When his phone rang four hours earlier than he'd set his alarm, he was expecting an equally incongruous problem had cropped up in his short absence.

"Bill," he grumbled, sitting up in bed and scowling at the grey light filtering through the blinds. He could hear his father's day-nurse clattering about getting lunch in the kitchen, and an irritable glare at the clock confirmed his suspicions about the poor timing. "Something happened?"

His supervisor sounded like he'd also been dragged from bed. "A bloody catastrophe, Evans," the man grunted. "That's what's happened. Can you get here in the next hour? I wouldn't ask, but..."

Aaron blinked hard, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes and make sense of the man's tone. "How bad?"

"Another Nocturne death," Bill said. Aaron had never heard him sound so weary. "Right inside one of their strongholds this time. I reckon we've got until dusk before they're kicking our door down."

It took Aaron's mind a moment to wrap his head around the enormity of it; catastrophe was a sore understatement. Bill seemed to sense the struggle, waiting on the other end and somehow making his own disbelief felt in the silence.

"I could do with your help here, Evans," he finally sighed. "I'll pay double for your extra hours. Something like this'll get it cleared pretty sharp." A weak chuckle. "Hell, I think I could get us all triple."

Aaron stared at the sheets for a moment, processing, before kicking them off into a sad pile on the floor. "Any point trying to get hold of Meier?"

Bill cleared his throat. "He's already here."

"What?"

"I don't know how he's managed it either, Aaron," Bill said. "But I'm not going to complain when it's something like this."

"Right." Aaron tucked away the mystery of his investigation partner somehow being up and about in daylight and rolled himself out of bed like every muscle weighed a tonne. "Okay. I'm on my way."

An hour later, he felt no more alert for the nightmare tube trip over. He was used to getting late night transport; a midday journey swiftly reminded him to be grateful for at least some aspects of working nights. He staggered into the station with one empty takeaway coffee already in hand, making a beeline straight for the coffee machine in the staff room to make another one.

"The meeting isn't in the break room."

He'd half-expected it, but he still jumped. "I'm well aware, Meier." He turned on his heel and found the vampire lounging against the doorframe, sunglasses in place and almost every inch of skin covered save for a small part of his face. Even so, it was a shock that the vamp was out in daylight at all. "How the hell are you even here?"

"I would have thought it fairly apparent." A small shrug. "With the help of some rather expensive SPF, too."

"I heard that stuff was barely affordable." He hadn't even been sure such a thing had existed.

"It is," Nikolai drawled. "Hence the impression that I've covered myself in glue and thrown myself into a clothes basket. Needs must."

Aaron looked the man up and down. He'd never seen the vampire looking less than immaculate; the addition of a few extra scarves had hardly ruined the impression. But he had a very strong hunch that Nikolai's standards were higher than his, considering Aaron as a whole seemed to fall short of them.

He grabbed the coffee from the machine with a sigh. "Second one's the charm. Where's the meeting, then?" He paused. "And why aren't you in it?"

"Heard tell a brain-rotted zombie had just stumbled into the station by accident and came to investigate," the man replied, deadpan. "I did suspect it was you."

"You know what, get f­—"

"Evans?" Bill appeared at Nikolai's shoulder. "I thought I heard you bickering out here. Get in here." His supervisor paused, sighed. Rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. Thank you for coming. I think I've had about three hours sleep in the past week."

"It's fine." Aaron stalked past Nikolai, restraining himself from throwing a childish glare his way. He heard a soft snort of amusement and ignored that too. "Is it the same kind of scene as last time?"

"No," Bill muttered. "Either our killer's changed methods to throw us off, or we're dealing with two of them."

"Which means our current suspect is off the hook."

"Pretty much. But I'd like to keep him in for now, in case his Kennel is involved. I haven't had a chance to ask him anything."

Aaron glanced sidelong at Nikolai, who only returned the look with smooth blankness. "His fur was at the scene, Evans. That makes him a suspect. I never said he did it for certain."

Aaron scowled into his coffee. "You went haring after him like you did."

"Our definitions of urgency are relative."

Bill glanced back at them both, eyebrows drawn low. "Do you bicker this much on the job?"

"No," Aaron muttered.

"Evans has some very singular opinions on my methods, that's all."

"And it's nothing to do with the fact that you're constantly trying to wind me up."

Nikolai gave him a look of unconvincing innocence. "Apologies, Evans. I didn't realise it upset you so much."

Aaron opened his mouth; caught the look on Bill's face and closed it again.

"Let's just get this over with."

-

They arrived, as Bill had predicted, minutes after the sun sank below the horizon. There was little warning; they might not even have noticed, while holed up inside the meeting room with the blinds drawn, if Bill hadn't set someone to watch the CCTV from the moment the light started fading.

The officer who had been watching the screens stumbled into the room at 4:15pm on the dot, gasping for breath. "They're in the lobby."

Aaron shut the lid of his laptop, gathered up the still images of the second crime scene they'd managed to get hold of. They hadn't been able to send human forensics in to get photos, so they were relying so far on the footage sent over by the Nocturnes' own camera systems. It was a puzzle and no mistake; Aaron had watched it several times over and still couldn't make head or tail of what he was looking at.

But that was irrelevant, for now, because the Nocturnes were at the damn door.

Nikolai sat up straighter beside him. As the sun sank, he'd slowly peeled off his many layers of extra cover, seeming out of place in the yellow-washed meeting room, surrounded by humans.

"You stink of fear," the vampire said with a sidelong glance, glittering violet.

"It's the bloody Nocturnes," Aaron hissed, straightening his uniform and combing his hair into some semblance of order. "The sky's also blue, Meier. And people tend to find it creepy when you say stuff like that, just so you know."

Bill was already striding for the door. "Make sure all the security systems are on, lad. Try and find out how many they've stationed outside."

The young officer was white as a sheet, but seemed glad of something to do with himself as he hurried off again.

"Go with him," Aaron snapped, as Bill shouldered the door open and Nikolai watched him go with something approximating mild interest. "He hired you for this stuff, didn't he?"

"It would be better if I didn't," Nikolai murmured. "Never show the entire hand at once, Evans. They'll be off guard when they come in here if they think you're relying on cameras and guns."

He was right, of course. But Aaron wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of saying so. He had a feeling he didn't need to; had to suppress an urge to do something childish and petty when he caught the vampire smirking to himself out of his peripheral.

There were no raised voices, but he hadn't expected any. Bill was collected when he returned to the room, but the strain in his face was apparent. Aaron stood from his chair, trying to steady his pounding heart. Nikolai flowed to his feet in a much more leisurely fashion, unsurprising for the only being in the entire building not in imminent danger of being eaten.

The woman who stalked through the door after Bill looked like she was in her thirties, though like Nikolai, it was apparent at a glance that she was far, far older than that. Her gait was so smooth she nearly glided, skin marble-pale and gleaming. Her blonde hair was styled so immaculately, her green dress and peacoat so neat, she looked as though she'd just walked off the set of a fashion magazine shoot. It was her eyes that gave her away; black as pitch, unfeeling, unblinking. When they met Aaron's gaze, he felt no connection with her as a fellow being. He'd felt more warmth from statues.

Two other vampires walked behind her; a man decked out like a reject from the 80s rock scene – which Aaron thought he may well have been – and another woman, dark skin just as smooth, but with all the warmth leached from it. The woman's braids rattled with what looked uncomfortably like fangs.

There was no startle, no visible surprise when the trio saw Nikolai, but the leader did stop in her tracks, black eyes trailing him head to foot.

"Nikolai Meier," she said, slowly. Her voice was like warm honey, but the lack of emotion in it sent a chill down Aaron's spine. She flicked a glance at Bill. "We were not informed."

"I...I didn't know you two knew each other," Bill said, clearly thrown off, as he glared at Nikolai.

"We've not had direct dealings," Nikolai said, as he met the woman's empty stare. "Get to our age, the world becomes very small indeed."

"Indeed," the woman echoed. Then, so suddenly Aaron was left reeling, she was sitting in one of the chairs around the meeting table, poring over the stills they'd printed from the CCTV footage. "We have lost two now."

Aaron glanced at Bill; Bill silently warned him to keep his mouth shut. As if he'd needed prompting.

"We have held off in our retaliations," she continued, setting each still from the pile out in a line, the photo paper snapping crisply in the silence. "Under the condition that you solve this quickly."

"We are working as hard as we can—"

"We are patient," the woman continued, as if Bill hadn't spoken. "But this cannot be allowed to continue. Our reputation is under threat, as are our lives, and we will not wait for human ineptitude to leave us more vulnerable than this." Her black gaze flicked up, to Bill, to Nikolai, and finally to Aaron, where it seemed to snag. "Even if the humans are pretty."

Her smile was a chill, unfeeling thing, and his pulse seemed to throb harder in his neck as if to tempt her gaze to it. He drew on every minute of the training he'd done in his years of service to keep his face blank.

Her gaze dropped to his throat, cherry-red lips widening.

"We haven't had long enough," Bill interrupted. The woman's smile faded as she turned her attention back to Aaron's supervisor. The 80s reject continued to stare at him, though, fiddling with something on a chain around his neck.

"But you insist we do not move," the woman said, almost petulantly. "Why? We could solve this ourselves."

"With all due respect," Bill said, and despite his years with the service, there was a sheen of sweat on his brow, "Your methods are...violent. A significant risk to human life."

Her face remained unmoved.

"We could cause considerable to damage to the Secrecy Agreements with the human government if this isn't handled delicately," Bill continued. Aaron had no idea how he kept talking with the woman looking at him like that, as if an ant had unexpectedly developed the power of speech.

"We work delicately," the woman replied, offhand. "I can remove skin so fast they only have to scream once."

Her smile then was an awful, haunting thing. Aaron had to look away from it, staring determinedly at the wall and running through his plans for Saturday with his father instead. He'd booked the table before going to bed this morning, and he could make sure there would be a taxi...

"I will give you more time," the Nocturne said. He wasn't sure what made him aware she was watching him, but when he dragged his thoughts from neurotically repeating the steps of his weekend plan, he found that black-hole gaze on him again. "If I can have one night with him."

"Evans is one of the main officers on this case," Bill said, face flushing with anger, "and our best chance of solving it. We need more time regardless. Without distractions."

Aaron was used to being threatened by the supernatural; he'd held his own in plenty of hairy situations. But he'd never seen anyone like her; never met any but the lowest-ranking of the Nocturnes. It felt like his heart was trying to climb out of his mouth.

"One night," the woman said. "In exchange for more time."

"He's not on offer."

Aaron blinked, pulled from the thoughts of his father, waiting at home for him, that he was repeating in his head like a mantra to keep his face straight and his knees locked. Nikolai stepped forward, partially shielding him from view, and it was an effort to keep his jaw from swinging open.

"By all accounts, you break the things you play with, Tana," the vampire said flatly. "And considering how long you have lived, two days to solve a homicide of this magnitude is not exercising much patience at all."

Tana's smile didn't waver an inch. If he could've been certain he'd read any emotion at all on a canvas that smooth, Aaron might have thought she was delighted to have an adversary.

"Looking to have him for yourself, then, Meier?" she asked, honey tones shifting to something darker. "By all accounts, your tastes are...unconventional." She trailed a lacquered fingertip along the desk. "I'll be gentle. We can share."

"No one is having any of my officers," Bill growled. "We need more time than this. We only just received news of your second loss. Please know that we understand the urgency and we'll be working on it as hard as we can."

The vampire flicked a glossy strand of blonde out of her eyes without moving them from Nikolai. "A week. We will give you a week."

"A week isn't—"

"You know how to get more." A secret smile, aimed over Nikolai's shoulder at Aaron.

"That won't be necessary," Aaron said, with more bravado than he felt. There was no way he could solve this in a week, unless the answer fell into his lap. There was also no way he was going anywhere with a senior Nocturne. "Thank you for the generous offer."

She readjusted her coat. "You have no idea, Mr Evans." Her smile dropped, and he glimpsed the dark thing lurking underneath. When she spoke again, her voice had returned to its emotionless hum. "One week. Or there will be war. One way or another, blood will be taken for blood owed."

She glided from the room. The two vampires behind her glared around at them all, and with a swift motion, the man sent all the stills and the papers scattered on the table fluttering into the air like so many paper birds.

The three of them stood there as the documents fluttered back down again, silent and still.

Then the young officer burst back into the room. "They're setting our car fleet on fire, sir."

"Shit," Bill growled, and dashed from the room as the fire alarms began blaring overhead.

"Wait a moment," Nikolai said, as Aaron made to follow. Though the touch seemed light, his hand on Aaron's shoulder effectively prevented him from going a step further. "She'll be hoping for a chance to take you anyway."

Despite the alarms wailing, every word was clear enough that Aaron felt it like cold fingers over the back of his neck. "She'll forget, though. Eventually. Right?"

Nikolai's eyes, for once, weren't glittering. "No, Evans. They never forget."

WC: 2719

Total: 11,164