Page 94 of Wounded Soul
Ian followed him out the door with Peter behind him. It felt as though he was being led to the gallows. Except it wasn’t his neck on the line.
JESSE SAT IN the interview room, shackled to the table by his cuffs and with two VLCD officers stood pointing guns at him. One of whom was Blake, and Jesse could feel the hatred pouring off him.
They’d had him waiting in the room for around half an hour as far as he could tell. Neither of the two officers present had said a word to him or much to each other, for that matter. Jesse admired their focus, but all this silence set him on edge.
When the door opened, he startled in his seat.
DI Harper walked in, folder in hand, and took the seat across the table. He opened the folder and glanced down at the papers within. “Jesse Sykes. Born 1930, turned vampire in 1955.”
Jesse waited for Harper to look up. “You know all this.”
“It’s protocol, Jesse. You know how this goes, right?”
“Not really, no.” Jesse had managed to stay clear of the VLCD since the unit had been formed. He sorely wished it’d remained that way.
“You’re being charged with the murder of Ian Moreton and turning him into a vampire without his consent.”
“It was an acc—”
“You’ll get your chance to give a full statement.” He clasped his hands together and set them on the table. “Raph is on his way. You don’t have to say anything until he gets here, but you can choose to respond to the charges now if you’d prefer.”
Fuck it, he’d already admitted changing Ian, and that photo was enough to convince anyone. “I didn’t kill Ian. I am, however, the reason he turned into a vampire, but it wasn’t intentional.” At least not at first.
Silence filled the room, and Jesse felt Blake’s eyes on him. He resisted looking over.
Harper pointed to a microphone in the middle of the table. “Were recording this interview. If you want to tell us what happened now, go ahead.”
Jesse was tempted. Wanted to get it all out in the open, but Raph would kill him if he said any more than he had already. “I’ll wait for Raph.”
Harper rolled his eyes like he’d expected nothing else. “Suit yourself.” He tapped the papers in front of him. “The penalty for murdering a human is anything from twenty to fifty years in one of our underground cells. But committing a murder with the intent to turn the victim into a vampire? The punishment for that includes the death penalty.”
Jesse curled his hands into fists to stop them shaking. He knew all this. He’d read the agreement plenty of times, but hearing it spelled out to him like that felt different. It brought it home that this was actually happening in a way that nothing else had so far.
They could kill him for this.
“I understand.” He hesitated, wondering whether to ask the question on the tip of his tongue. “What’s the penalty for accidentally turning someone?”
Harper stared at him, as though checking he was serious. “There isn’t one. You don’t make someone a vampire by accident.”
“I did.” Jesse hated how desperate he sounded. He hadn’t meant to turn Ian, surely that had to count for something?
Harper shook his head. “Good luck getting anyone to believe that.”
He stood, took his papers with him, and left. The door clanged shut behind him and the oppressive silence returned. Jesse leant back against his seat and glanced up at the ceiling, any hope of getting out of this alive fading with each minute that passed.
He wished he got his one phone call, like humans did when they were arrested.
Who would he call though?
Ian had apparently sold him out to the police, Raph was already on his way, and Lys hadn’t been answering her phone.
The only thing he could do now was wait.
RAPH BEING escorted into the interviewing room was the most welcome sight Jesse had seen in a long while. Even with the frown and the look of sheer disappointment when his gaze fell on Jesse.
“Jesse.” Raph ran a cursory glance over him, what he could see of him anyway. “You all right?”
Jesse shrugged. “I’ve been better.”
