"I'm sorry to hear that," Lester said. "My condolences."
I nodded. "I know this might not be appropriate. This is your retirement party, and we came to pass along Alice's well wishes. But since Devin's dad died so suddenly, we were trying to do a little digging into his family background. You don't happen to have a bulletin from his sister's funeral or something like that, do you?"
"The program should be saved on your computer, Kevin," Lester said, pulling a pen from his pocket. "Mind if I borrow your invitation?"
"Certainly," I said, handing it to Lester.
He wrote the name Heather Morgan on the back of the card then handed it along with his pen to Devin. "We don't have any paper copies. We recycle all the leftovers. But we can certainly e-mail you the digital file."
Devin smiled and wrote his e-mail address down on the card, and handed it back to Lester. Lester handed the card to Kevin. "Make sure to send this to them as soon as possible, Kevin."
"Thank you, sir," I said.
"We really appreciate it," Devin added. "It will be nice, you know, to make contact with my extended family. I don't have any family left, you know, since my dad died."
Lester smiled and nodded. "It's my pleasure. Don't forget, Kevin."
Kevin snorted. "I'll send it to you tomorrow. Funny, really. You're the second person this week to request that bulletin."
I bit my lip. "Really? That is a strange coincidence."
Kevin nodded. "What was her name. It was an older lady. Stopped by shortly after you two did the other day."
I snorted. "Was her name Mina, by chance?"
"That was it!" Kevin said. "Odd you'd know her if you don't know the rest of the family."
Devin grunted. "I, uh..."
"We came up with her name trying to research the family," I said. "What a funny coincidence."
"Yeah," Kevin said. "Funny."
"Lighten up, Kev," Lester said. "Excuse my son. He has a lot to learn about customer courtesy."
Kevin snorted. "They aren't our customers."
Lester shook his head. "Son, everyone is a potential customer. You know, eventually."
I chuckled. "Well, hopefully, we won't be your customers for several more years."
Lester laughed. "I could drink to that! Come on in. Help yourself to some barbecue!"
I smiled. "Thank you. Since you insist."
"I do!" Lester said. "Like I said, since you're friends with Alice, I couldn't possibly turn you away."
Chapter Nineteen
"Did you get the e-mail yet?" I asked, shining my flashlight on the various grave markers in the Lakeview cemetery.
Devin scrolled through his phone. "Not yet. But he said he'd send it tomorrow."
"Well, we can't wait. If Mina is on the trail, we might be too late already."
"Just look at the newer stones. We know this Heather Morgan wasn't buried long ago, so we can rule out a lot of them."
"Good thinking," I said, shining my light on another tombstone. "This could take all night. A lot of graves to search."
Devin was still scrolling through his phone. "One second."
"Come on, Devin. We don't have all night. This will go a lot faster if we are both looking."
Devin snorted. "One second. I have an idea."
I cocked my head and took a deep breath. Lester gave us enough information to confirm the grimoire was, in fact, buried with someone named Heather Morgan. Locating the grave was step one. Retrieving the grimoire was another matter. Digging up a grave probably wasn't something I could do quickly, even with my enhanced elemental speed. Not to mention, I was pretty sure it was illegal. Not like I needed any police attention, given the fact my club was already under investigation. But I had a plan. If, of course, I could convince Brucie to go along with it.
"Here we go," Devin said, staring at his phone. "Her gravesite is this way."
I followed Devin as he used his phone light to illuminate the path in front of him. "How do you know that?"
Devin chuckled. "The cemetery has a directory and map online. Convenient, right?"
I scratched my head. "I hadn't thought of that. Good thinking."
"I know, right?" Devin kept walking, turned down a path between two rows of graves, then down another. He looked around to get his bearings then started counting the gravestones as we walked past. "Should be the twelfth grave in this row."
We counted our way to the plot. It was a good thing Devin found the map online because the twelfth spot in the row didn't have a permanent grave marker. A tiny, temporary, plastic plaque stuck into the ground. I shone my light on it. "Sure enough. Heather Morgan."
"I think it takes a while, sometimes, to get the stones in place. But this is definitely it."
I touched the ground. The grass hadn't totally regrown over the rectangular space where the grave had been dug. The dirt was a little loose. "I can't tell if this has been disturbed recently or if the grass still hasn't grown here yet."
"Only one way to find out," Devin said. "We need some shovels."
I chuckled. "Hopefully, we won't. You might have the skills navigating the interwebs..."
"Interwebs? It's called the Internet, Nicky."
"Whatever," I said. "But I have connections."
Devin cocked his head. "What do you mean?"
"Here, Brucie, Brucie, Brucie!" I said with a sing-songy tenor to my voice.
Brucie appeared. "Dang, Nyxie! What is it, you needy bitch?"
I chuckled. "Wondered if I could get another favor from you."
Brucie stared at the grave. "You can't be serious."
"We think the grimoire is in there. Can't you, you know, do your teleportation thing and go get it for us?"
Brucie sighed. "You still owe me a stack of romance novels. When are you going to pay up?"
I shrugged. "Next time I'm at the store."
"Why don't you get a Kindle?" Devin asked.
Brucie snorted. "They don't do well in water."
"Not true," Devin said. "They make a waterproof one, now."
"Seriously?" I asked. "Who reads books in the water anyway?"
Devin shrugged. "Sitting on the beach. By the public pool. Whatever. I'm sure people do."
Brucie shook his head. "But I want my covers! That's the best part of most of the books!"
"You can see the covers on the device," Devin said.
"Fine!" Brucie said. "Get me one of those, load it up with as many steamy novels as you can find. And I'll get you your grimoire."
Devin tapped on his phone a few times. "Done. It'll be at our place in a couple days."
"Sweet!" Brucie said. "Give me a second. I'll be back in a jiffy."
Brucie disappeared and, in a cloud of mist, settled into the ground beneath our feet.
I felt the dirt start to unsettle beneath where I was standing. My heels sinking into the soil. I stepped aside to firmer ground just in time for the dirt all around us to collapse in.
The next thing I knew, a whole vault was sitting on the ground in front of us. Brucie was perched on the top of it as he put a cigar to his lips.
"Hey, warlock. How about a light?"
Devin rolled his eyes, snapped his fingers, and a small flame appeared on the tip of his thumb. He held the flame next to Brucie's cigar as the sprite took a puff.
"I only wanted the grimoire, Brucie. Not the whole casket!"
Brucie took a draw on his cigar and exhaled a puff of smoke. I didn't think you were supposed to inhale cigars—but Brucie didn't do anything by moderation. "These things are waterproof. I couldn't get inside. So, I figured, I'd bring it to you."
"How in the world are we going to get this thing back in the grave?" Devin asked. "All the dirt is caved in."
Brucie shrugged. "Not my problem. You going to take a look or not?"
I shoved the lid off of the vault. I opened the coffin, holding my breath, expecting the worst.
"Shit," I said.
"What is it?" Devin asked, leaning over. "Oh. Yea
h. Shit. Where is the body?"
"Or the grimoire," I said, shaking my head as I directed my light to the inside of the empty casket. "Wait, what is this? Does that look like burn marks?"
Devin reached in and touched some of the singed fabric. "It does. Almost as if the body was set on fire."
"Or just the heart," I said. "But these aren't black burns, not like you'd make if you used actual fire. It's the kind of burn that might result from celestial light."
"Like what Alice's crucifix used to be able to cast. I know from my experience with the Order, a lot of hunters have objects like that."
I nodded. "It seems Miss Morgan wasn't a random body. She was a vampire. And Mina staked her and killed her already."
"Which means she already has the grimoire," Devin said, sighing.
"Welp," Brucie said. "That sucks a fatty. Don't forget, I want my Kindle loaded up with books!"
I sighed. "Steamy romances. I won't forget. Can you at least help us get this coffin back in the grave?"
Brucie tossed his half-burned cigar butt onto the sinkhole of the grave. "You'll need a shovel for that. Ta-ta, Nyxie!"
Chapter Twenty
If Mina had the grimoire, there was no telling how long it would take her to figure out how to use it. Most spells require some preparation. Very few work on incantation alone. Something like commanding a legion of angels, I presumed, would take time to prepare. How much time? That, I didn't know. I kicked off my heels. "Go get some shovels. I'm going to try and get started."
"I think Walmart is open twenty-four hours. I'll go get a couple. Be careful, Nicky. You sure you don't want to come along?"
I shook my head. "I know it's not efficient. But I don't want to waste any time. I'll get started doing what I can do."
Devin nodded. "Alright. But be careful."
I chuckled. "Honey, as Nyx, I've faced a lot worse at night than a graveyard."
"Don't be reckless. If the police think you're a suspect for those deaths, the last thing you want to be caught doing is digging in graveyards."
I smiled. "I understand. If anyone shows up, I'll run. I'm fast enough no one will be able to identify me. Just hurry, okay? If I break a nail digging in the dirt, it could be the end of me."
Devin chuckled. "One of the inscrutable signs of the impending apocalypse."
I chuckled. "And you know, if I really need to flee, I always have bat form."
Devin nodded. "Enjoy playing in the dirt."
I rolled my eyes. "Wish we had some rain. At least we could have a little fun in the mud."
"Oink, oink, baby," Devin said, snickering.
"Piggy style?" I asked, dropping to my knees and tossing a hunk of dirt out of the grave.
"If that's what you're into," Devin said with a wink. "But mud wrestling in grave dirt would be a little macabre, don't you think?"
"Go get the damn shovels," I said, laughing under my breath as I continued digging with my hands. "I can already tell. This is going to suck."
I could move fast. But I could only grab so much dirt at a time. The soil was so loose, having been obviously disturbed both when Heather Morgan was buried and again when Mina came and stole the body it was hard to get more than a handful at a time.
This didn't make sense. Or did it? The whole idea of burying the grimoire with a vampire. Since Devin's dad was under Wolfgang's thrall at the time, I supposed it might have made sense he'd have the scroll placed under a vampire's protection. That wasn't the confusing part. If that's what happened, why was this vampire still in her grave when Mina found her? Only youngling vampires lay in their graves. It's supposed to help with the transition, to ease some of those initial and insatiable blood cravings. But if Heather Morgan was a youngling vampire, why would Wolfgang command Tom to bury it with her? Younglings were reckless. Most didn't make it past their first few months. Other vampires, or hunters, usually took them out if they didn't get a handle on their cravings. Hunters did so for obvious reasons. Other vampires, though, who weren't keen on drawing attention to their kind had their equally compelling reasons for staking out-of-control newbie vamps.
Still more, I could only assume Mina had slain the vampire during the day. That's the only reason I could imagine a vampire, even a youngling, would be in her coffin.
I also didn't know if the grimoire was there. Sure, I had reason to believe it was buried with the body based on what Lester said. But if Heather Morgan was a vampire, it was just as likely she moved the grimoire somewhere else as it was that she had it with her.
The only thing I did know was the grave was empty. No body. No grimoire.
I cupped my hands together to try and get a bigger scoop of dirt and tossed it aside.
A warm summer breeze struck me in the face. I inhaled. I gagged. The scent of a vampire.
I sprung to my feet, grabbing each of my nine-inch stiletto heels as I surveyed my surroundings.
There was a bloodsucker nearby. At least one. Maybe more. Hard to tell how many based on scent alone.
I sniffed at the air like a bloodhound. Vampires were predators. But when Nyx was on the prowl, they were my prey.
I tip-toed through the grass, moving closer to the source, the smell, the vampire.
The breeze stilled, but I could still smell it. I turned around, checking my right and my left. The smell wasn't coming from only one direction. The vamps had me surrounded. It wouldn't be the first time. I knew how to handle it. I had to move first. I couldn't wait until they closed in on me.
I took off toward the first one I smelled. I moved like lightning. I'd be on the vamp before the thing knew what hit it.
I jumped over a gravestone as I closed in on the first vampire. As he saw me, he turned to run. He was dressed in black—a long, black cloak. This wasn't just a vampire. It was a nightwalker. One of the vampires created by and working for the Order of the Morning Dawn. And this one wasn't particularly adept. Did he actually think he could outrun me?
I caught up to him, grabbing him by the hood on the back of his cloak.
He whipped his body around, flashing his fangs. I couldn't be turned. I didn't have blood. But a bite would spring a leak. And it didn't take me long to drain out if the would was deep enough. The only way to heal the wound? Sew it shut with a strand of my hair—it retained my elemental properties, it would heal the would instantly. But I couldn't afford to risk that while at least two other vampires were closing in on me.
I jumped back. The vampire shook free of my grip.
Then he tried to run. Big mistake.
I ran at full speed. It only took a few paces. This time, I grabbed him by the hood and reached around him at the same time, plunging my nine-inch heel into his heart.
The first vampire collapsed to the ground. The problem? There were more vampires than I had shoes. I only had one "stake" left.
I turned. There were two more vampires. But they weren't coming after me. They were accompanied by someone in a radiant, gold cloak.
Like the one Mina wore. It protected her against most magical attacks. We'd only found one way to overcome her defenses before. Her cloak was enchanted with celestial power. It took massive doses of infernal power to counteract. I didn't have access to that.
The two vampires, one on either side of her, looked at me, snarling through their exposed fangs. They were about to charge my position. I couldn't take them both. But I could evade their attacks.
I was about to shift. My only escape was to fly away. Then Mina raised her hand. The two nightwalkers stopped. Mina glanced into Heather Morgan's open coffin. She shook her head and laughed. Then, lifting her hand, she summoned a flash of celestial light. When it faded, she and her two bloodsucking lackeys were gone.
At least I got one of them. But why did they leave like that? It wasn't like I could take them. I certainly couldn't take down Mina. Of course, they weren't going to take me out either. They knew I could fly away. Opportunism, I assumed, was the best explanation. They were hoping to take me by surprise.
Now that I saw them, they had to regroup. If it hadn't been for that gust of wind that alerted me to the vampires' presence, they might have succeeded.
I picked up the stiletto-staked vampire's feet and dragged him across the grass back to the grave I was digging. Well, re-digging, technically.
I figured I'd wait to start digging again. Mina and her nightwalkers knew I was there. It wouldn't take much for them to come back at me if I was distracted. I suspected, if they had the chance, they'd try to rescue their fallen comrade. I wasn't going to let that happen. If Mina did have the grimoire, this staked nightwalker might have information we could use. He probably wouldn't talk right away. But I had my methods. I could make him talk.
I saw Devin's headlights as he pulled back into the cemetery. He parked about a hundred feet or so from Heather Morgan's gravesite. I watched intently. I didn't want to leave the staked vamp behind. But I needed to make sure the coast was clear, that Devin would be safe.
He got out of his car, retrieved two shovels from his trunk, and started walking toward me.
So far, so good. No sign of any more nightwalkers.
"What the hell?" Devin said, seeing the staked body at my feet.
"Mina showed up. Along with three nightwalkers. I took down one of them."
Devin leaned over and got a closer look a the vampire. "Holy crap."
"What is it?" I asked.
"I know him. At least, I used to."
"You know vampires?" I asked.
Devin shook his head. "Back when I knew him, he wasn't a vampire. His parents were a part of the Order, like mine. We grew up together."
Chapter Twenty-One
"Those bastards," Devin said, shaking his head. "I can't believe they turned Nicholas into a friggin' nightwalker!"
I sighed as I tapped down the last bit of dirt, covering up what used to be Heather Morgan's grave. "Not uncommon. If an Order hunter gets bitten, they do that pretty frequently."
Devin grunted. "Maybe that's what happened. One of the catacomb vamps, more than likely."
No Shift, Sherlock: A Vampire Hunter Urban Fantasy Mystery (The Legend of Nyx Book 3) Page 11
