Emberclaw Protocol

Chapter 1: The Blood Moon Suspect

The metal edges of the dissecting table coagulated with beads of blood, and the shadowless light suddenly flickered twice as Erin picked up the seventh piece of skin tissue with her tweezers.

"Here we go again." She muttered to herself into the empty morgue, the blood on her rubber gloves glowing an eerie blue in the cold light. The bodies had one creepy thing in common - the chest cavities were cut open in their entirety and the hearts were missing.

Erin finally dropped the pen when the laser scanner reported an error at the teeth marks for the third time. The electronic screen pulsed "biometrics not recognized" as if mocking human forensic science, and she ripped off her protective mask, the tip of her nose almost pressing against the victim's festering wounds.

"Crescent-shaped notch, depth 2.3 millimeters." As the cell phone lens focused on the incision, she noticed the subtle spiral pattern on the inside of the dentition, "This is not a canine tooth structure at all."

Alarms exploded suddenly, and Erin reflexively felt for the inside of her white coat. The silver letter opener was her last line of defense-all sharp objects had become her talisman since she'd run into the one-eyed giant wolf on the interstate three years ago.

The door to the morgue was ajar.

She eased her footsteps and heard the subtle scraping of the cooler slides. The new detective, Cole Black, had his back to her, his shoulder blades taut under his black shirt like some kind of beast poised to strike. Moonlight leaked in through the gas window, turning his hand, which held the scalpel, pale.

"Three years for tampering with evidence, Mr. Detective." The tip of Erin's knife rested against the back of his waist.

There was an unwiped blood stain at the corner of Cole's mouth as he turned, his gray-green pupils glowing gilt and dark in the shadows, "I'm taking a biopsy sample." He held up the evidence bag, half a broken canine tooth was sinking in the embalming fluid, "Any idea how much werewolf clan fangs go for on the black market?"

Erin's temples jutted. The man smelled of cedar mixed with rust, the same as the one-eyed giant wolf that had saved her on the night of the storm three years ago.

"Surveillance from last week shows you at every crime scene." She pressed forward, the scalpel making indentations in the knot of his throat, "Explain why your DNA..."

The questioning was interrupted by the sound of glass bursting. Cole suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled toward the corner, three bone arrows grazing his hair and nailing into the stainless steel dissecting table. The moonlight suddenly turned scarlet, and wolf howls rose and fell outside the window.

"Believe it now?" Cole's voice took on a sandpaper texture as his canines grazed her earlobe, "My people feel that human forensics know too much that shouldn't-"

"Bang!"

The bullet grazed Cole's shoulder and missed the wall. Erin's silver knife had been pressed against the sneak attacker's throat, but froze as she took in her visitor-Kayden Ross leaning against the doorframe, FBI badge dangling from his open collar, a miniature crossbow smoking from the cuffs of his sleeve.

"Honey, it's time to pick a safe one when looking for a new toy." Kayden shook the silver bullet, his gaze sweeping over Cole's bleeding shoulder, "Especially when your date is a wanted wolf."

A low growl rolled from Cole's throat, his nails skyrocketing to scratch the tiles. Erin suddenly took a step across the room to stand between the two, her white coat stained with Cole's blood, spreading a snow-colored barrier in front of Kayden's crossbow bolt.

"Since when does the FBI use medieval witch hunt gear?" She kicked the arrows away from her feet, "And you," turning her head to stare at Cole, "explain why the database shows that the saliva of your father, the former Wolf King, matches all the victims' wounds?"

The alarm suddenly buzzed shrilly. Cole yanked his shirt away violently, blood was seeping from the hideous claw marks at his heart, "Because he should have died three years ago." He grabbed Erin's hand and pressed it to the wound, "Feel it, it's the mark of the Patricide."

Kayden's sneer was cut off by the sound of a broken window. Dark shadows poured into the morgue like a tidal wave as Cole pushed Erin into the cooler and twisted the wrist of the nearest assailant with his backhand. In the melee, Erin saw Kayden's silver bullet graze Cole's temple, and a bead of blood splattered right on her trembling recorder as Cole ripped out his foe's throat.

"Catch!" Kayden suddenly tossed some metal object. Erin instinctively raised her hand, and her wedding ring arced harshly in the cold light - the same one she'd thrown back in Kayden's face three years ago.

In a moment of distraction, sharp claws were in front of her. Cole used his back to block the attack for her, hot blood splattered all over her chest plate. In the confusion, someone whispered in her ear, "East side security tunnel, the code is your birthday." Then there was a stinging pain on her lip, Cole had actually used his fangs to bite through her bottom lip.

"The blood contract can temporarily confuse them." He licked away the beads of blood from her lips, his eyes glowing with gold, "Run!"

Erin sprinted for the exit in the midst of the bloodshed, the touch of Cole's wounds lingering in her fingertips. Underneath all that festering flesh was the distinct outline of a metallic object - identical to the tracker chips extracted from all the victims.

The moment the security door closed, she heard Kayden's snort, "You think she'd really pick a monster?" And Cole's beastly hiss, "At least I don't have to put a cursed ring on my lover!"