by Lily Webb
“Thanks,” I said. Praise coming from Mueller was more than a little weird, but I’d take it.
“You’ll walk her home, Mr. Duncan?” Mueller asked. Beau nodded.
“Sure will, though I don’t think she needs my help,” Beau said.
“Yeah, I took down a vampire alone tonight. I think I can handle myself,” I said, smiling at them both.
“Exactly. Why do you think I’m walking with you?” Beau asked, and I burst out laughing as we walked out of the cemetery hand-in-hand.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Are you gonna sleep all day?” Luna asked from my lap, her electric blue eyes fluttering. I reached for my phone on the bedside table and groaned when I saw the time. It was almost 1 PM.
“That's rich coming from you,” I said.
“Yeah, but I'm a cat. I was born to sleep,” Luna said.
“And a vampire tried to murder me last night, so I think I have an excuse.”
“Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the broom,” Luna grumbled as she hopped down from my bed to the floor and trotted out into the living room.
I sat up and swung my legs out of bed, my brain still shrouded in fog from my confrontation with Valentine. My feet met the cold hardwood floor, and I smiled at the sensation, happy to be alive. Things could've gone much worse.
No matter how many times I thought about it, it never stopped surprising me: I'd thwarted a murderous vampire all on my own and brought justice to two families. Grandma Elle told me to go and make a name for myself when I moved to Moon Grove, but I bet she never would've guessed it'd be for something like that.
Which reminded me, I needed to call home. It'd been almost two weeks since I last talked to Grandma, and we had a lot of ground to cover — but I wasn't sure how much I could tell her.
I dialed her number from memory and waited while it rang.
“Hello?” Grandma answered, and I beamed at the sound of her voice. It was familiar and comforting like a fresh cup of coffee in the morning. I hadn't realized how much I missed her until then.
“Hey Gram, it's Zoe,” I said.
“Well, I'll be darned, she ain't forgotten about me, after all,” Grandma said. Despite her words, I pictured her smiling on the other end of the line.
“I could never. You're a living legend,” I said.
“Did you get a new number? I almost didn't answer because I didn't recognize it.”
“Yeah. I've been swamped since I got here. Sorry for not calling sooner,” I said.
“Bullfeathers,” Grandma said. “I'm sure you had all kinds of things to take care of while you got settled. So, how's the new gig?”
“It's great. Never a dull moment around here,” I said.
“Lots of excitement, huh?” Grandma asked.
She had no idea.
“Definitely. I solved two murder cases this week,” I said.
“You did what now?” Grandma asked. “I thought they hired you to do the news, not be a detective.”
“Sometimes this job is a bit of both. It's a long story,” I sighed. I wanted to tell her everything, but I didn’t know where to start — and I wasn't sure her poor heart could handle all the magical details.
“Well, I ain't got nothing but time,” Grandma said.
“There are a lot of politics at work here, I'll leave it at that. I don't want to depress you,” I said. Somehow, I didn’t think passing along the knowledge that murderous vampires existed would do her any good.
“Fair enough. See, I told you you was meant for big things, Zoe,” Grandma said.
“You sure did. I miss you, Gram,” I said.
“Aww, I miss you too, sugar,” she said. “Maybe I could come visit you sometime after you get good and comfortable?”
My throat dried. Though I'd love to see her, I didn't think Moon Grove at large would be okay with a human paying me a visit — and that was assuming Grandma could even see the town in the first place.
If what Beau told me was right, a person had to have magical blood to be able to enter Moon Grove. But based on what I’d learned about my heritage, it was possible Grandma did have latent magic in her blood.
I desperately wanted to ask her about it, but now wasn’t the right time.
“We’ll see. Maybe I could just visit you on the farm instead,” I said. Grandma chuckled.
“What’s the matter? Ain’t you got your own place?”
“I'm rooming with a co-worker. Her name’s Flora,” I said.
“Ah, a roomie makes having visitors over tricky, I reckon. Flora’s a good name, I bet she’s a nice,” Grandma said. “How's Luna adjusting to that arrangement?”
“Oh, just peachy. She loves it here, and she loves Flora more than she loves me. I've never seen that cat so, well, vocal,” I said — and I didn’t mean meowing.
“She was bored on the farm. Can’t say I blame her. Chasing mice gets old after a while, even for a cat,” Grandma said.
“She wasn’t the only one bored,” I said, and Grandma laughed.
“I don’t doubt it. You sound happy there, I can hear it in your voice. I’m glad for you,” Grandma said.
“Yeah, all things considered, I made the right choice,” I said.
“And to think you wasn’t gonna answer your phone when that man called,” Grandma scoffed. “Thank the Lord above you had me to talk some sense into you.”
“I give thanks for that every day,” I said.
“You better, little missy,” Grandma said.
“How have things been there?”
“Oh, you know. Same manure, different day,” Grandma said. She was never one to talk much about her feelings, but I wouldn’t have her any other way. “I’m glad you called, sugar.”
“Me too. I promise I’ll do a better job of keeping in touch going forward.”
“Now don’t let your mouth go writing checks your habits can’t cash,” Grandma said.
“I mean it.”
“I know, I’m just giving you a hard time. Anyway, I better let you go. This farm ain’t gonna run itself,” Grandma said.
“Okay. We’ll have to catch up soon, I have so much to tell you,” I said.
“I can’t wait to hear all about it. If your past is any indication, it oughta be outside the box,” Grandma said.
“You’ve got that right,” I said.
“Out there solving murder cases, Lord have mercy,” Grandma sighed. “There truly ain’t nothing normal about you, child. You be careful, you hear?”
“I’ll do my best,” I said. “I love you, Gram.”
“I love you too, sugar. Talk soon,” she said.
“Bye,” I said and hung up with watering eyes. How on Earth would I ever be able to reconcile my old life with this new magical one? Was it even possible?
A knock on the front door kept me from thinking about it too much. Flora’s feet pattered across the floor, and Mitch’s gruff voice carried through the door into my room. What was he doing here?
I dashed into the clothes I’d worn the night before and hurried into the living room, my phone in hand.
“Yeah, she’s still sleeping,” Flora said as I skidded across the hardwood in my socks.
“Like the dead,” Luna chimed in from the couch. Mitch looked confused by my talking cat — I couldn’t blame him.
“No, I’m not,” I said. Flora jumped and turned with a hand over her heart.
“You scared me,” she laughed.
“Sorry. What’s up, Mitch?”
“Nothing, I… I just wanted to see how you were doing. I heard about what happened last night,” Mitch said.
“Come in, I’ll tell you all about it,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Why not? Everyone’s already talking about me anyway, right?” I asked. Something told me I was going be repeating the story for a while, so I needed to get used to it. “Really, I don’t mind.”
Flora shrugged and waved Mitch inside. I sat on the couch next to Luna and pointed fo
r him to sit down in the plush chair across from me. Flora flopped down next to Luna and started petting her.
“Is it true?” Mitch asked before he’d finished sitting. “Was it really Councilwoman Magnus?”
“Yes and no,” I said. He furrowed his brows at me.
“What does that mean?”
“Have you ever heard of glamouring?” I asked, and Flora sat bolt upright.
“No way!” she said.
“Yes, way.”
“I’m not following,” Mitch said.
“Some vampires can hypnotize others,” I said. Mitch’s eyes went wide. “Evidently, Councilwoman Magnus was fighting a tough addiction to vampire blood, and Valentine Delacroix used that to exploit her.”
“So that’s why she was sick all the time,” Mitch said. “Wow. It’s so obvious now that you say it, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on with her for the life of me. No one could.”
“Neither could I at first,” I said.
“How did you work that out?” Mitch asked.
“It’s a long story, but the short version is that I spoke to Grace during Opal’s funeral. Opal’s sisters accused her of having something to do with the Councilwoman’s death, but Grace swore there was only one thing that could’ve killed Opal: vampire’s blood,” I said.
“But that’s impossible. Vampire’s blood isn’t lethal on its own,” Flora said.
“Right, exactly, but I didn’t know that at the time. I tracked down Harper’s source for the story she was after about Opal’s link to the vampires—”
“You did what?” Mitch interrupted. “How? I couldn’t even find them.”
“Him. His name’s Deryn Houghton, you’ve probably heard of him,” I said. Mitch’s eyes opened further.
“The old Chief of Police? Are you serious?”
“Totally. He wasn’t happy with the way Opal treated him,” I said.
“So the discriminatory hiring practice story Harper was after was true?” Flora asked.
“I don’t know that for sure, but it’s possible. Then again, it’s also possible Opal made an example out of Deryn just to flex her political power before an election she must've known was coming,” I said.
“Which is exactly why Deryn went to Harper with whatever info he had. He wanted to get back at her,” Mitch said. “Wow. This is nuts.”
“Yes and no. Deryn was the one who told me that vampire’s blood can’t kill on its own and that it actually boosts magical folks’ powers as well as ingredients in potions. That was when I realized Grace must’ve been involved because she was the only one around here who could’ve made an advanced poison like the one that killed Opal — and because she’d outright lied to me to throw me off the trail,” I said.
“So it really was poison then?” Flora asked.
“Yeah, a mixture of a plant called Bloodflower and vampire’s blood. I guess it’s called—”
“Vampire’s Kiss. The ingredients combine to stop the heart,” Flora interrupted. “It makes perfect sense. A silent killer. But why would Valentine want to kill Opal?”
“Opal had a connection to him,” Mitch answered for me.
“Wait, you knew about that?” I asked. Mitch squirmed in his chair.
“Not really. Harper was convinced Opal had made some sort of deal with one of the vampires, but she didn’t know which one and she never found any concrete proof. All she had to go on was the hearsay she’d gotten from her source, which is part of why I kept telling her to leave it alone. But you’re saying that was true too?” Mitch said.
“It sure was, and it wasn’t just one of the vampires. Opal made deals with both Valentine and Lucien Bellerose,” I said.
“What kind of deals are we talking about here?” Mitch asked.
“As far as I understand it, she worked with Valentine first. He promised her the support of the vampires in exchange for a seat on the Council, which Valentine claimed Opal planned to expand to include representation for other species if she won,” I said.
“Whoa,” Flora said. “That’s explosive on its own.”
“I know, but it goes deeper than that. After Harper caught wind of the deal Valentine and Opal had, and after rumors started leaking out about Opal not being a Cromwell, Opal got scared. She hired Lucien to help her make those rumors go away, and she promised him the seat on the Council over Valentine for his service,” I said.
“So Valentine killed Opal for staking him in the back,” Mitch said.
“Exactly.”
“But wait, where does Grace come into all this? I’m lost,” Flora said.
“Deryn didn’t go to Harper because it was the right thing to do, and he didn’t just ‘overhear’ what he knew about Opal and the vampires. Grace hired Deryn to dig up dirt on Opal, personal and professional, and spread it to the press,” I said.
“And Harper played right into her hands,” Mitch said before cursing under his breath.
“She couldn’t have known. She was just doing what any reporter worth their salt would do,” I said.
“But why kill her then? If she didn’t have any hard info, what risk did she pose to Valentine?” Mitch asked.
“Probably the fact that she was looking into it at all. From what I’ve heard about her, Harper was tenacious. She wouldn’t have given up on the story, no matter how many dead ends or ornery editors she had telling her to drop it,” I said. Mitch smirked.
“You two are alike in that regard,” he said.
“And it’s a good thing we are. Otherwise, we wouldn’t know any of this,” I said.
“How did he do it? How did he… How did he kill her?” Mitch asked.
“Are you sure you want to know?” I asked.
“I’m going to find out one way or another. Might as well rip the wound open now,” Mitch said. I took a deep breath.
“He didn’t, or at least not directly. He used Grace to do it for him with Opal’s stolen broomstick,” I said. Mitch cringed.
“Why?”
“To frame Opal. But he also said he wanted to send Opal a message to stay the course with him and honor their deal, despite the nasty rumors that were coming out,” I said.
“He actually told you that?” Flora asked.
“He almost seemed to revel in telling me,” I said. Flora shivered and rubbed her arms.
“How did you stop him? What happened in the cemetery?” she asked. “I didn’t want to ask when you got home last night.”
“It’s hard to explain, but I guess it turns out I have a lot more witchcraft in me than I realized,” I said.
“I knew it!” Flora said, bouncing on the couch. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I don’t understand it, honestly. Valentine tried to do something to Grace, probably deepen his glamour over her, and I pushed him away with my mind,” I said.
“Wow, that’s advanced magic,” Flora said, her eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, and then he tried to attack me while I was helping Grace, and just before he got me, I panicked and the next thing I knew, there was this weird magic purple shield around us that knocked him out when he hit it,” I said.
“Fear can unlock powerful magic like that,” Flora said. “Still, that’s impressive. Wait until you tell Raina about it, she’s going to have a field day.”
“Wow. I really had no idea what I was getting into when I hired you,” Mitch said, smiling at me.
“Are you saying you regret it?” I asked. Mitch laughed and shook his head.
“Are you kidding? Not at all. I’d prefer you listen to what I tell you to do, but in this case, it’s obviously better you didn’t,” Mitch said.
“You're welcome,” I said, smiling. “Have either of you heard anything about Grace?
Is she okay? She had a lot of Valentine’s blood.”
“The staff at Willowvale told me she’s going to be fine, but they wouldn’t give me details,” Mitch said. “Patient privacy and all that.”
“Well, that’s good enough, I guess,” I sighe
d.
My lap vibrated, and I jolted before I realized it was just my phone ringing. “Beau Duncan” showed on the screen, and I flushed at the sight of his name.
“Hey, sorry, I need to take this. It’s Beau,” I said, nodding down at my phone. Flora smirked and gave me a devilish grin.
“By all means. I should get going anyway,” Mitch said.
I hopped up and hurried to my room, Luna at my heels.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed at her.
“Your relationship is more salacious than the ones on As the Moon Turns,” Luna said. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
“Whatever,” I said and flopped on the bed while I swiped to answer Beau’s call. Luna jumped up and sat down beside my head.
“Hey, Beau,” I said.
“Hey, Zoe. How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I’m all right. A little groggy, but fine otherwise. What about you?”
“I’m just glad to hear your voice,” Beau said. My cheeks flared. “Even though I knew you were safe, I didn’t want to leave you last night.”
“A true southern gentleman,” I said. Beau chuckled.
“Well, I dunno about all that, but I try,” he said. “Listen, I called because I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me tonight. I mean, since our last date wasn’t a date so much as a reconnaissance mission. You know, just to help take your mind off everything.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do sometimes,” I said.
“Don’t apologize. That’s part of what I like about you,” Beau said. Luna rolled her eyes at me. “So, what do you say?”
“I’d love that,” I said. The less I had to think about everything I’d been through, the better. “I’ll leave the venue up to you since I’m clearly not capable of picking good ones.”
“I’ve got just the place in mind. Can I come over around seven so we can walk together?”
“Sure,” I said, my stomach fluttering.
“I can’t wait,” Beau said.
“Neither can I. See you soon,” I said and tapped to end the call. Luna let out a retching noise, fell on the bed, and rolled around like she was dying.
