My Vampire Harem Will Dominate Everything

"Are you sure it's safe to hand this over to him?" Anya asked, moving from where she was to stand in front of James.

James kept sitting, staring at the door Ezra had left through. "This is the only way, Anya. Stopping them from investigating would only make them much more curious. They would not be able to resist."

"But giving him free rein to investigate would still make sure the information gets to the Veilbreaker kit. She's his wife, in case you've forgotten."

"I haven't." James turned to look directly at Anya. "But Ezra is more likely to follow orders. We only need him to find the killer and stop the Veilbreaker from investigating directly."

"Alfred will also search from our end and clean up any trails that can lead back to us. If the Veilbreaker catches the trail, she won't stop digging."

"You're probably right." Anya sighed. "Damn it, Hyde. Do you think he revealed any information about 'it'?"

"We'd better hope he didn't or we're fucked. If the Council hears of it? We'll have to kiss our lives of freedom goodbye."

"Shit."

**********

Ezra walked out of the estate and into the streets. He stood there for a minute, staring at the statue that was in the middle of the roundabout. This area was called money street for the amount of multi-millionaires who called this area home. And the statue was called money king.

The statue was of a warrior sitting on a throne. He had a trident in one hand while the other rested on his knee. He was dressed in armor with a breastplate that was designed with concentric circles. On his head was a crown, hence the name, money king.

He sighed, staring at the man. Anytime he studied the man, he could recognize the facial similarities between the man and the progenitor but he knew this man was not the progenitor. Probably one of his descendants.

He'd done extensive research into the statue, trying to figure out if it had any connections to what had drawn him to Faewall. In the end, he hadn't been able to find anything concrete.

With a sigh, he turned away and began walking to the closest spot for teleportation. It was time to see what the hell had happened to Count Hyde.

It didn't take long for him to get to the teleportation spot and an instant later, he was across the city. All it took was a minute to get to the place he had passed through earlier tonight.

The sky was slowly lightning up, indicating that dawn was not far away. Most vampires would be wary of the coming day but Ezra didn't mind. Unlike most vampires, he could walk in the sun.

He walked to the Red Veil, taking note of the crowd outside and the tense atmosphere that hung over them. The journalists kept asking their questions and were ignored by the straight faced officers on guard. An infamous and wealthy socialite was dead. Questions had to be asked.

As soon as he passed through the crowd and got to the entrance, he flashed his badge and was let through.

He walked deeper inside, going to the second floor, where the private rooms were. When he got to the crime scene, he found Gen and Olivia there, overseeing the mortal forensics team. It was like an orchestra as the men in white gloves and sterile gear moved around the room.

It was standard procedure when there was a vampire matter made public like this. Keep an eye on the mortals and let them do their work. Later, you can manipulate their findings.

It was better to run damage control than to disrupt and cause panic on the spot. The cleanup would come later, erasing memories as needed. Humans had a way of getting too curious for their own good.

As he approached, Gen and Olivia noticed his presence, walking over to meet him.

"You send out the mortal police?" He asked, his voice low as he glanced around the bustling room.

"Yeah. They've been told to go back to the precinct. I came with them, so I made sure to handle it." Gen crossed her arms. "They'll just file the usual paperwork. Everything's under control."

Ezra gave her a curt nod before his eyes moved over to the scene.

It was a mess. Count Hyde's body was still sprawled on the floor where they'd found him, every orifice leaving a trail of dried blood leading to it.

Beside him was a broken glass and what he was sure was blood wine soaking into the carpet. The smell of the wine was faint but for a vampire, it was noticeable.

He crouched near the body, studying the scene. Blood, the red expected from humans, had pooled and dried around Hyde. Not quite what one would expect from a vampire death. There was usually more violence.

This one was… calculated. Whoever had done this had gone the extra mile to make sure it would be discovered and by humans but not break the Law of Secrecy and expose the supernatural world at the same time.

He looked up at Gen and Olivia. "What have we been able to gather so far?"

"No visible injuries and no sign of a struggle." Olivia said. "From what we can tell, Hyde was poisoned. There's nothing physical to suggest he fought back or tried to escape."

Ezra frowned at her words. It seems James Harlow's… suspicions were not without merit. "So, he was murdered?"

Gen nodded. "Everything points to it. We think he was drinking with someone he knew, someone close enough that Hyde didn't suspect a thing. Whoever killed him likely slipped something into his drink and the poison did the rest."

Ezra sighed, his gaze lingering on the spilled blood wine. This wouldn't be an easy case. Not with James' personal interest in the matter. He ran his hand through his hair and straightened.

"Let's follow protocol for now." He turned to his wives. "Contact the Custodians. Let them clean up the scene after we're done here. We'll collect the body from the police enroute and transfer it to our morgue. There, we'll have them do the autopsy. And get samples of any remaining wine for them to examine."

"Let the journalists report this as a disease. Something that fits the bill and won't draw too much attention. Make sure they lose interest the moment the reports and articles are out. I don't want anyone digging any deeper into this."

Gen and Olivia nodded and turned to leave.

"Oh! And one more thing." They turned back. "Once we're clear here, go back to your regular duties. I'll be handing the rest personally."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "The City Lord assigned it to you?"

"Yes." Ezra nodded. "He wants me to lead the investigation. No one else."

"Lucky you." Gen smirked, but there was no humor in her eyes.

Ezra didn't respond to her teasing, instead taking one last look at Hyde's body. "Let's wrap this up. Time waits for no man."

Harlow wanted answers, and he would have to find them.