Back To Square One

All the conversations around me stopped the moment I volunteered to be bait.

I knew it wasn't the best idea; after all, we didn't actually know how the killer was finding his victims, but right now, it was the only thing we had to go on.

"You know," said Mike, leaning back in his chair as he looked at me. "It is starting to disturb me how much you play bait."

I shrugged. It was an easier and faster option in most cases. I couldn't die, so even if I were taken to a secondary location, I would be able to survive. Plus, after spending so much time with Mother, anything that the humans managed to do to me was nothing more than child's play.

"I don't remember you doing it at all when you were working for the NYPD, so is this a new thing or what?"

I winced a bit, not sure how I would go about answering that question. Because of what I was, I couldn't tell a lie, but admitting the truth was also not an option.

"Natalia, tell me that you did not create a situation where you were taken by a killer simply to be able to capture him afterward," stressed Mike, and I could see the vein in his temple starting to throb.

"I mean, it wasn't my first line of thought," I admitted. It wasn't easy to play bait when you had a partner and the rest of the police force looking after you, but when I wasn't on shift.

"Natalia," hissed Mike, clearly no longer amused. "You could have been seriously hurt."

"Actually, no… immortal, remember? I was normally completely healed by the time I clocked in for work," I said, sinking down into my chair, ignoring the bone corset of my ballgown digging into my breasts and hips.

"That time with the Butcher. He managed to shoot you, didn't he?" yelled Mike, coming to his feet. The man was giving me a look somewhere between anger and disappointment, and it made my stomach churn.

Mike had been like my second father since I first met him, and I really hated disappointing him.

"No," I told him honestly. "His shot did hit my mic," I continued as I picked up the red ribbon on my massive skirt and started playing with the ends. "But he did manage to cut my arm off, which was pretty much back together by the time I walked into your office, so it was all good! And at least we got a location out of the whole thing. That was a plus, right?"

"I know how you feel," grunted Greyson as he came up to where Mike, Mathew, Dom, and I were sitting around. "I got to see her shot point blank in the head in this very room."

Both Mike and Greyson shuddered at that image.

"And I still remember the time we had to dig her up out of the ground when one of the wolves decided she needed to be taught a lesson," came a new voice from the door of my office.

Everyone's attention turned and looked at the newcomer. "That was a result of the Central Park case, remember that?"

"Honestly?" I cringed. It seemed like eons ago that that happened. And at least that time, I wasn't covered in cement first. That one was a lot harder to get out of than the fresh grave. "I don't really remember that."

"And just how many times has something like that happened to you?" asked Nicholas, nodding to Viktor as he took a seat, closing the door behind him.

If this was going to be a thing, I was going to need a much bigger office or something.

"Are we taking being buried, used as bait, or kidnapped and tortured?" I asked, once again cringing as the guys were once again focused on me. "Because between Mother, her minions, and just general bad guys… I really have no idea."

"More or less than fifty," snapped Nicholas, clearly not impressed with my attempt at humor.

"Are we talking in the past year or so?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. "If it's the last year, less than 50," I confirmed with a nod of satisfaction. It was actually a slow year.

"She won't be bait," snapped Nicholas and Viktor at the same time. Great, I could see just how well that friendship survived the last 200 years. It was like they were never a part of it at all.

And they were teaming up on me. So not impressed.

"Unless we can find one commonality in the profiles of all these victims, there is no point in worrying about that," interrupted Mathew as he and Dom continued to go through the files.

"I'm sure that this is horrible timing, but I think I found one," murmured Dom as he looked at me. "Every last one of the victims has either been to or had a relative go to Mount Sinai."

All of us fell silent at his words, but Mike was surprisingly happy. "That's what we were missing before!" he murmured happily. However, when he saw the expression on the rest of our faces he stopped. "What am I missing?"

"A monster wouldn't step foot in Mount Sinai or any other hospital," explained Mathew as he closed the folder in front of him. "There would be too dangerous."

"Dangerous to the humans or the monsters?" asked Mike, sitting back in his chair with a sigh.

"Both. A vamp couldn't step foot in it without risking blood lust," said Nicholas as he crossed his legs in front of him and looked at Viktor.

"A wolf couldn't take the chance of someone getting hold of our blood. We have our own doctors at the pack houses, or we go to one of the private clinics reserved for members of the six Houses," continued Mathew.

"So we are back to the killer being human then," grunted Mike, not happy to be back at square one.