Carlo watched Steve pass out from the Rohypnol laced beer. When he no longer moved, Carlo dressed him in his work clothes. Carlo wanted to do more, but did not want to incur Molly's wrath again. It took two days to recover from her last punishment. When Steve was ready, Carlo carried him to a waiting car, which took them to a park on university property. Carlo carried Steve to a tree and gently put him leaning on the base asleep. Carlo walked slowly back to the car and left the area.

Molly entered her pub from the back door. A few bar maids loitered at the bar chatting with the bartender. When Molly approached, the banter subsided. The women were afraid of Molly because of her temper and swift personality changes. Molly walked to the bar and talked to the group. She wanted to make clear how to act if the police arrived in force.

Even though Carlo took care of Steve, Sean was still in the cell. Molly would take care of him. She planned to move him upstairs over the pub into her apartment. She had a room there, which had soundproofing, chains and handcuffs. Sean would spend a few days there drugged and quiet. The police wanted to search the pub, not her residence.

"When the police arrive, be courteous and helpful, but not overly so. Show them around and answer their questions. I will be gone for the night." Molly told the assembled group. "Pass the word along to the other bar maids as they start their shift. Any questions?" There was a brief pause. "Get back to work and have fun."

Molly left the pub and went down to Sean's cell. Sean sat on his bed with his head hanging down. He missed Steve and wondered where he went. When Molly approached, Sean perked up. Part of the change in him came from Molly and her seductive prowess. The rest came from Sean, as he hid his sullen mood. He stood unashamed of his nudity. He knew Molly lusted for him. He did not know what she would do with him.

As she approached his cell, Molly changed to her true succubus form. Sean still saw her as the fiery red haired Irish woman. His desire for her showed, the closer she got. His heart beat faster and his desire for her grew. He lowered his head and looked at the floor of his cell. He became her submissive slave. He desired to please her in any way she wanted him.

She opened his cell and stepped inside. She put her hand softly under his chin and raised his head to look into his eyes. His eyes reflected her true appearance, but looked at her dreamily. She moved her head closer to him and he shuddered with anticipation. He closed his eyes, as her lips softly touched his. She felt a pang in her heart because she did not want to take any of his life force. Every time she took some life force from a man, his life became shorter. If she did it often enough, she would take his whole life and he would die.

Sean felt her lips brush his. His eyes closed and he felt strange but swooned in her arms. He felt euphoric as she carried him to the elevator. He watched through hooded eyes as she held him and the elevator rose to her living area. She carried him into her special room for her pleasure. She put him in the big bed where he lay hardly moving.

She took each of his hands and put them in cuffs attached to each bedpost. She took shackles and attached his ankles to chains on the foot of the bed. She took a silk sheet and covered him and left his head exposed. She stopped, as she left the room, turned and blew him a kiss. In her mind, she felt a pang of guilt because in order to live she had to take his life. If only she could be human again to live and love with no consequences.

When Molly entered the elevator, the transition to her human appearance happened. A glow grew around her hinting that she just fed. She thought as she went to the pub, "I hope no vampires come with the police, when they return. They would see me, as I really am because I fed recently."

Molly walked to the bar and called the bartender over, "Can you get one of the bar maids to deliver and feed my captive upstairs in my special room? She also needs to feed him some Rohypnol. I want him out and not remembering anything for a day or two." The bartender nodded.

Molly wandered around the pub greeting the guys who were regulars and making sure everything was good. She found nothing out of place and felt confident that the police would find nothing. She went back to her table and sat drinking her sparkling apple juice. The crowd in the pub was not as large as other nights, but it was still busy.

One of the bar maids came over to her. She carried a meal of bangers and mash with a pint of dark ale. She took the meal up to the special room and fed Sean. He ate the meal quickly to regain his strength. After he drank the ale, he fell to sleep. The bar maid left and locked the door. Sounds of raucous laughter and loud music drifted up to the apartment.

********

Maria sat at the table, despair covered her face and her body slouched. She cried for a long time, but tears stopped flowing long ago. She still had hope of finding Steve. Finding his truck made her hopeful. She waited for Slade and Leona's return. Hope was all she had.

Slade and Leona came back and sat huddled by Eran's computer. They sent a message to Gustaf and he responded with a search warrant for Molly's pub. They felt Steve would not be there when they went back. It was a very long shot at best. They also suspected that if he were alive they would move him away. When they moved him, it would not be good to murder him because of the police. Waiting overnight was the best thing to do.

Slade walked to Maria, "We did not see Steve but several people remember him. That was a good sign. We will find him, don't worry."

Maria desperately looked at him, "I know you will find him. I want him back alive. He is my rock. He took me out of being a prostitute and gave me the dignity to finish college on my own. I love him so much." She sobbed a little and Slade put his hand on her shoulder to give comfort and reassurance.

Slade heard a cell phone ring. It was Eran's, which rarely rang at night. Eran ran to it and answered it quickly. She nodded as she spoke. In a few minutes, she hung up and turned to everyone with a smile that spread from her lips up to her eyes.

"That was the university police. They found Steve. He was against a tree passed out in one of the busiest parking lots. They have video of him and the man who dumped him there. They called an ambulance because he was out. They took him to the university hospital."

Maria perked up and stood, "Let's go get him." She reached up, grabbed strands of her hair and twirled them around her finger absentmindedly. It was a telling sign of her anxiety.

"He is at the university hospital and they are monitoring him closely. He looks drugged and is in a deep sleep. They suspect he ingested Rohypnol. It has to work its way through his system. They will call in a few hours with an update."

Maria sat down but continued to swirl her hair around her finger. She shook with fear and concern. Steve was alive, but not conscious. Her mind whirled and speculated about him. She wanted to run to him, but Eran felt that it was too soon. The police wanted to wait for him to come to and question him. She would only be in the way.

Leona watched Maria and saw the range of emotions that passed through her. Leona wondered how she would feel, if anything happened to Slade. He was the closest thing to her of a boyfriend she ever had. She felt things for him, but they were things she thought she should do. She liked being with him. She spent every waking hour near or with him. She wanted that and she made sure it happened.

Connie walked out of her sleep chamber. She saw all the people around and wondered what happened. She went to the kitchen and got a mug of tea. She looked, saw Maria and remembered her from the last case. She sat at the table drinking her tea listening to the banter. She saw Maria was upset and Eran tried to calm her down. When she looked at Leona, she saw her trying to evaluate the range of feelings displayed.

Connie understood Leona's curiosity because she was a new vampire trying to adjust. Vampires had a limited range of emotions. Being dead killed many human feelings. Connie had not lost all of hers yet, but she had trouble dealing with her death. She was angry and bitter and felt lost. Leona was a good teacher, but learning to cope was not on the curriculum. Her emotions of fear, dread, apprehension were gone. Love, happiness, satisfaction and pleasure slowly faded. Anger, revenge and violence increased. One thing still stayed, she was still a detective but with a greater tenacity for swift justice.

Connie loved her new position. She was the liaison between the Vampire Justice System and the local police. She worked with her old partner Detective Slade. They were ranking members of the Preternatural Police Squad. Her job was to work with local police solving crimes involving supernatural beings and humans. It was a job she wanted and executed well.

Connie took her cup of tea and sat with Maria and Eran. "How is the search going? I see the truck and sense Steve is somewhere safe."

"Yes, he is in the university hospital under the control of drugs. They are watching him closely." Eran added. "We need to go there to the security office and get a copy of the video of Steve being placed on the property."

"I see our shape shifter friend is back. What is her problem?"

"She returned the clothes I let her borrow. She also encountered an unusual creature while on her pack run last night. She came to ask about it. She is not a bad friend to have, plus she knows Maria and Steve."

Connie sat with them but felt out of place. She knew it was the correct human behavior, but the vampire within told her to move away. Her human and vampire personalities struggled with the proper thing to do. Her human personality won and she stayed on the couch drinking her tea. However, the urge to comfort Maria disappeared from her mind.

Slade talked to Kevin, "Set up the search team we go out tonight."

Kevin moved to the couch and told Eran and Connie to be ready. He saw Leona move to Slade and stand at the ready. He took his phone and marshaled the Vampire Justice Security squad. Everything was set. They got into the black SUV for the ride to Molly's pub. Every one's mind focused on the search of the pub. The level of excitement ratcheted up as they drove.

Outside the pub, a large Step Van parked behind the SUV and several black clad police poured out on the sidewalk. They quickly surrounded the pub preventing anyone from leaving. They held the patrons inside and checked their identities. Slade presented the search warrant to the bartender and proceeded to look around the pub. The bartender cooperated and did not protest the intrusion. She picked up the phone, called Molly and told her they were there to search.

Slade, Leona, Eran and Connie went into the back rooms. Nothing there showed any one held under duress. They searched the supply rooms. They climbed in the elevator and descended to the lower floor. More supplies filled several areas and the kegs of draught ale and beer filled a refrigerator with plumbing snaking to the bar. Things looked normal so far.

They walked past beer kegs and storage. The cell stood open in front of them. Slade looked at the bed and the floor of the cell. Nothing seemed out of place, but he thought, "Why did they have a cell?" That was a question best asked of the bartender. There was a large leather couch, which looked well used. Nothing indicated any one was there. It was clean and kept neat.

The group started to leave the area. Leona stopped them and pointed to a stain on the bed in the cell. "That cell smells of fey and very recently. There is also the sense of a succubus having fed here recently. Something is amiss here, but I have no concrete proof. Let's go talk to the bartender."

The group rode up in the elevator and noticed it went to the floors above, but required a key. Slade felt that was odd. It was another thing to ask the bartender. They arrived at the bar level and walked to the bar. The rest of the police finished checking all the patrons and bar maids. Everything was legal and totally within legal limits. The remaining police left the pub and returned to their regular tasks. The five Preternatural Police Squad members called the bartender to join them on the owner's couch. She complied and sat calmly with them.

"What is the cell used for downstairs?" Slade took the lead.

"If a patron has too much to drink, we hold him there until he sobers. We have held some unruly and abusive patrons there too. No one has ever complained or filed a suit about their treatment."

"How do we get to the upper floors? We have no key to operate the elevator."

"The upper floors are not part of the pub. They do not fall in the scope of the warrant. I cannot let you up there."

"We will leave it at that for now. We are leaving, but may come back at anytime. We may have an amended warrant for the upper floors too."

Slade stood followed by the rest of the group. "Thank you for your attention. Have a good night."

They walked out and drove back to the squad area. The car was quiet as the level of disappointment rose. Eran spoke first. "What are we going to do? There was nothing there."

"I sensed that there were a number of fey present in the bar and near the cell recently. There were faint traces of a succubus too. I noticed signs of recent sexual activity, but can't tell much more than that." Leona added.

"We will have to stake out the pub for any unusual activity. Kevin, can you make those arrangements tonight?" Slade requested. "That is about all we can do. I will check on expanding the warrant to include the upper floors."

Kevin picked up his phone and called Vampire Justice Headquarters. Within ten minutes, two groups of agents watched the pub. They were ready to move should anything suspicious happen. They filmed both entrances and sent live feeds back to Eran for archive purposes. Kevin assumed command of the two groups.

When they arrived back at the warehouse, Maria looked anxiously to Eran. She wanted to visit Steve badly. Eran assured her that he was safe. The doctors would call if there were any changes. Maria lay back down on the couch and rested longer. Gwen sat with her comforting and talking with her, as she fell asleep.

Gwen stood and walked to the kitchen. She poured a cup of coffee and hunted for something sweet to eat. Slade walked over and showed her the leftover rolls from brunch. Gratefully she took them and carried them to the table to share. Everyone grabbed what they wanted and continued working.

Eran sat at her computer and watched as the data she copied earlier passed through comparison software. She searched for similarities of earlier crimes matched their crime. The search for unknown bodies and strange deaths in the city ended. Four more bodies turned up with descriptions similar to the current one. The dates corresponded with the timeline established for all the deaths. These bodies, she tentatively identified as other victims.

Eran requested photos of the bodies and medical reports. As they arrived, she stored them with the others in the search. With the large volume of photographs, the search would take at least another day. Eran was not surprised, but Slade and Leona wanted results. They wanted to arrest Molly and disperse the fey from the city.

Gwen walked to Eran and sat with her. She watched as Eran deftly moved her fingers across the keyboard. Gwen envied her ability to use the computer so easily. Eran stopped typing as she waited for the next set of results.

"I have not forgotten your questions from earlier," she told Gwen. "I have been thinking, how best to approach a search like yours. It would involve several people, but they need skills that humans don't possess."

Gwen sat mystified that Eran remembered her questions. She assumed that hunting for a unicorn in the dead of night was an extremely low priority task. She felt relaxed and wanted to jump for joy because Eran remembered. "It is not important that we go out immediately and search. I can wait."

When Slade and his group left Molly's pub, the bartender waited a few minutes and placed a call to Molly. "The police did not find anything or anybody. They searched around the cell area and asked what it was. I told them we used it for unruly drunks. They seemed satisfied with that."

"That sounds good but I sense a bit of fear in your voice. What else did they want?"

"They asked about the upper floors and wanted to search them too. I stalled them by citing the warrant covered only the pub. They capitulated, but threatened to return with an amended warrant."

"You did well. I will take it from here. They had vampires with them, so they know about the fey and my abilities. It will be resolved soon and the man in my quarters will be gone. Just do your job and watch for any strangers and strange things."