by Amber Lynn
“Of course I did, but no I wasn't awake the entire time. After the person got done peeling my right arm off I think I passed out.”
“Do you mind if I take a look at your arm. I won't ask to see your whole body. Kent assures me that you have similar wounds to Betty.”
“Yeah. Sure,” she says taking out her arm. I see the marks I am expecting and I am trying to figure out why she is so confused about the knife that was used.
“Thanks. You have been a big help,” I say allowing her to put her arm back under the covers. “We don't want to keep you, so if you have nothing else to add, we will leave you for now.”
“I have told you all I can remember,” she says looking away.
My group heads out the front while Kent stays behind for a second to see if she needs anything. Either not caring who hears, or not realizing we can still hear her, Debra starts speaking.
“I cannot believe you brought her here,” she hisses at Kent.
“I couldn't let this happen to another one of us. Betty is for sure gone, you are here like this, and Sheila is only God knows where.”
“You don't even know if that guy is going to strike again.”
“And you think the guy should just get away with what he has already done?” Kent asks.
“Well, of course not, but we don't need an outsider here digging around.”
“I wasn't getting anywhere on my own. I needed to do something. This is supposed to be a sanctuary for people. How safe can they feel with someone like this madman running around?”
“I doubt she will be able to find anything. The people around here aren't going to tell her shit,” Debra seethes. It is pretty bad when even the victim doesn't want me looking into the crime.
“She is still going to be looking around to see if she can figure things out. With me by her side, maybe people will open up a little. Someone will remember seeing something and things will fall into place.”
“Well, good luck. Try not to bring her and her posse back here. I am not really in the mood for company these days.”
“I will see that they endeavor to stay away, but she may have more questions,” Kent says. “I will check in with you later. I need to go get the visitors settled.”
“See you later, Kent.” Debra says as Kent walks out the front door to join us.
“Sorry about that,” Kent says. “Let's head back to the office. I have things set up for you to stay in the rooms above the saloon. I didn't know there would be this many people, but they should have the room. I am not exactly sure what to do about all your dietary needs.” I pick up quickly that he is referring to our liquid dietary needs.
“Marcus?” I ask knowing he is the only one that may have an issue today.
“I am fine for a day or two. If we are around longer than that, I will need to leave and come back.”
“Just out of curiosity, what do the other vampires here in town do?” I ask Kent as we reach the Suburban. I don't think it would take more than a couple minutes to walk end to end in this town.
“Like the rest of the town they have paired off with someone to provide their needs,” he replies. “You can leave the vehicle here, if you want, and just carry your items across the street.”
“Seems reasonable,” I say opening the doors to get my bag. I guess it is actually mine and Sebastian’s. I watch as Kent wanders off down the road leaving us to fend for ourselves.
“I will get Clyde's stuff,” Sebastian says grabbing his bed and treats. “I wonder if we can actually get him to sleep in this tonight.”
“He did fine in the car, so we might be able to convince him it is a good idea,” I reply walking over to the saloon. “Do phones work around here?”
“Not if you are wanting to make calls to your outside world,” a deep voice says from inside the saloon. I push through the swinging doors to try to put a face to the voice. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Slaughter.”
The man with the voice is standing behind the bar. He has dark tanned skin, no hair, and is the size of a grizzly bear. “I have heard rumors that you may be the only person in this town that has that opinion.”
“Well now, people just don't know everything there is to know about you then,” the bear answers.
“I know they don't. Is there something you think you know that would make a difference in their mind?”
“Only the fact that you are the future of our kind, even if you are giving off a strong vamp vibe.” He has picked up a glass and is wiping it out.
“And why would you be believing something silly like that?” I ask slightly amused and mostly worried where this conversation is going.
“Why because I am friends with your daddy, of course,” the man smiles with a grin that shows he knows what he just said is going to bug me.
He would be right.
Chapter 18
The friendly bar where everyone knows your name
“Walt, I thought that was you I heard rumbling,” Jonas says entering the building.
“Me, rumble? Surely not. It is good to see you again Jonas. Even better that Nyx has you hanging out with her.” Walt makes his way around the bar to give Jonas a man hug.
If the town wasn’t wacky enough, now I know I have entered the Twilight Zone.
“I should be surprised to see you here, but with Aaron off in his hiding place it makes sense that you would need a place to chill for a while,” Jonas says stepping away from the mountain of a man.
“It has been a while. We will have to catch up later, but I am sure the girl has questions,” Walt says.
“Don’t worry about answering anything. She loves it when she feels she is missing a piece to a puzzle,” Jonas instructs him and receives dagger eyes from me.
“Now this is a little bit of a surprise,” Walt says leaning down to get a good look at Clyde. Clyde acts his normal growling self. “I had heard about the demon you have befriended, for lack of a better term, but I hadn’t heard he was giving you little gifts. He is a cute little bugger,” he says giving Clyde a pat on the head. Surprisingly, Clyde stops growling.
“And just where in this little town are you getting news about my life?” I ask very curious. The sheriff didn’t seem to know any current events and this guy knows what is going on in my life up to the last few days.
“Your father, of course. He gets bored and we end up having a nice chat every other day or so.”
“In a town that doesn’t have a phone line to the outside world, you are able to talk to him that often?” That makes a whole lot of zero sense.
“We cannot call into your world. That doesn’t mean we cannot converse with others, but enough about me and your dad. We should get you guys settled in. Nice to see you again as well, Sebastian and Marcus.”
Great he knows them too. I am starting to get a little testy that this all-knowing person has not been mentioned to me before.
“Maybe you could answer some questions before we go to our rooms,” I say not wanting to budge without figuring this guy out.
“You will have plenty of time to hear all of my stories. Right now, you need to stow your things so you can get on with your investigation.” He takes off leading us up a set of stairs.
“Fine,” I mutter dragging Clyde along. I shouldn’t say dragging because Clyde is eagerly trying to catch up with Walt. Turncoat.
Walt takes us down a hallway with a bunch of doors. “These three are for you,” he says indicating a set of doors. “Get settled and come back down, so you can get to interrogating me. About the skinnings,” he adds so I don’t get confused on my purpose.
Before I leave, I am tying him to a chair to question him about my father, but for now I will focus on finding me a murderer.
The room Sebastian chooses is standard affair for a Wild West hotel room. It has a cute little wooden dresser with a water pitcher and bowl sitting on it. The bed is a bit on the small size, but since Sebastian has become a second skin, we should be able to make do.
Sebby puts Clyde
’s bed down next to the human bed. Clyde waddles over to it, sniffs it, and glares back at me. What? He has been lying in it for hours in the car. How is it any different here in a bedroom?
“That is what I expected to happen. Maybe you should give him your blood like Ben suggested so you can hear just what he thinks of you,” Sebastian says and I know the last part of it is a joke.
“What is wrong with the bed? It is the deluxe model with lots of extra cushion.”
“Oh, it is a fine bed. I am sure Clyde just doesn’t think he can protect you as efficiently from the floor. I might go crazy and attack you during the night,” Sebastian suggests. Clyde, understanding English perfectly well, growls letting us know he isn’t going to stand for it.
“We will have to deal with it later. I need to find out if there are any people missing and whether anyone in this crazy town can be considered a witness,” I say throwing our bag on the bed and heading back for the stairs. Jonas is standing outside our door waiting. “And you mister are going to have some explaining to do if I read the cards right.”
“I figure I got a little time before my inquisition. By then, I should have a great story to tell and all my alibis in place.”
We make our way back downstairs and I get a chance to inventory the place. A customary bar set up is what I find. There is a long bar that has a wall of liquor and glasses behind it. Judging by the smell of gun oil coming from the bar area, I would guess there are two weapons hidden underneath the bar. I deduce Walt likes a little extra firepower, not that he would probably need it with his size.
Scattered around the room are tables and chairs. There is a little platform with a piano on it and one lone pool table to complete the room. No fancy beer signs or cool lighting, just a place to come have a drink.
“It ain’t much, but it keeps me busy, for now,” Walt says drawing my attention back to the bar.
“It’s cute. Do you get a lot of customers?” I ask.
“I reckon I get enough. Not everyone in town stops by, but most do. I am told I am easy to talk to and my stories keep their minds away from the reasons they are here.”
“No one has happened to mention any secret skinning fetishes, have they?”
“Sadly no. We wouldn’t have had to call you in if it were that simple.”
“So, I am guessing you aren’t going to confess to doing them yourself,” I say finally deciding to take a seat on one of the barstools. It actually makes me a little taller, which is what I was hoping.
“Nope. No luck there. Anyone I have killed over the years, for one, deserved it and for two, died a lot quicker, less torturous death.”
“You knew the victims, right? Anything you know that connects them? The sheriff said they were physically different and didn’t spend much time together.”
“They have all been known to come in here for a drink or two. Other than the sheriff himself, I cannot think of a connection. He is right that they don’t look anything alike. They were all wolves, but in this town that isn’t exactly a revelation,” he says.
“What do you mean they were all connected to the sheriff? He didn’t say anything about that.”
“He probably wouldn’t have thought much about it. We are kind of a small, self-sufficient town here and we all have natural needs that arise. A lot of the folks have found someone particular for those times. The sheriff hasn’t exactly settled down and it is well-known that each of those girls has spent a bit of time easing his needs,” Walt says with a look that says “know what I mean”. Yes, I get it loud and clear. Sheriff Newhouse is a player.
This gives me ideas, but it leads to a woman being behind the mutilations. “So, was there anyone upset about not hooking up with him?”
“Not that I can think of. If a woman isn’t already claimed by another man, she has just as much chance of hooking up with the sheriff as any other woman. The town has about seventy women. Of those women, about twenty of them haven’t paired with someone to scratch their itch. The rest just kind of share the sheriff and from what I hear they are getting their own needs met at least once a week.”
Wow. Totally didn’t get that vibe off Kent. He has to be some kind of beast because that is like three times a day. I can conjure up a good idea of where he was off to in such a hurry. Sounds like I am going to have to ask him for a list of the women in his harem.
“I will look into those women as a starting point. Can you think of any of the men in the town that might be upset about the sheriff’s habits?”
“Not that I can think of. Best I can tell, the rest of the men are fine with their chosen and I haven’t heard any issues being talked about.”
“At least you have given me something. As I meet people, I might have more questions for you. Oh, one more thing, does the scent of cloves mean anything to you?”
“Not specifically. I may have smelled it around here before, but I couldn’t say what or whom it was tied to. For scents around the town, I would ask the local vamps. They probably have them all chronicled. Look for one named Roger. He likes to spend his free time doing silly things like that. You can find him on the south side of town. The house with a blue door.”
“Thanks. Do you happen to know if any of the witches have a grudge against the wolves in question? We talked about Kent sleeping around and I am assuming that is with just wolves. Is that right?”
“We stick to our kind. The witches have a shop in the middle of town where they hang out. They don’t really associate much with the rest of us and they tend to come and go as they want. I doubt they had anything to do with this, but if you want to check them out, they are in the apothecary shop on Main Street.
“Thanks. We might wander over to ask them some questions,” I reply gathering Clyde. It is time to start solving the who done it part of this investigation. I have quite a few ideas on the why they done it part.
“I should probably let you get on with your business. Jonas, you want to stick around and have dinner with me?” he asks the other man. “We can do a little catching up and discuss some issues that may need to be brought up with Alex. You can also leave the Hellhound. I will make sure he gets his dinner.” It would be easier to do interviews without him and he does seem to like Walt. I think we have a winner, so I hand the leash over.
“Sounds like a plan, Walt. Sebastian, you okay with just you and Marcus on Princess?”
“We can handle things. I don’t know how long we will take, but we will meet back here and have a little debriefing before we hit the hay tonight,” Sebby replies. “Love, you okay food-wise?”
I think about it for a second and can still feel the beginnings of the hunger, but not enough to actually do anything about it. “I think I will be good another day.”
I hope that during the debriefing that is planned, I can find out how the guys know Walt and maybe a clue as to how he knows my father. Everyone has heard of Daddy, but to actually meet someone that has met the man has been pretty rare in my life.
Granted, I have met Aaron Gentry, but the five minutes we discussed why it was a good idea for him to get out of town doesn’t count. From the sound of things, my earlier suspicions that Jonas has been hiding a little something concerning his relationship with my dad are also growing.
Priorities. Right. Time to work on the important stuff.
Chapter 19
Good witch of the North
We leave the bar and start walking across the street. “Do you figure he has had a chance to zip up his pants and make it back to his office?” I ask.
“It has been almost an hour, so I would hope so. If he does the women back to back, we may have a little wait,” Sebastian replies.
“Does anyone think it's funny that we cannot hear a mess of conversations going on in a town this small?” Marcus asks. I had noticed that earlier and just thought people were being quiet.
“We were able to hear Kent and Debra’s conversation from outside earlier,” I point out.
“But the door was open. I am g
uessing the houses and businesses in this town have noise dampeners. I know all of our ears didn’t just go bad,” Sebastian claims.
Creepy town.
We enter the jail without knocking. I figure it isn’t his personal house, so there isn’t a need to be that civil. “Sheriff, you in here?”
“What?” the sheriff replies jumping back from the red head he was locking lips with. His shirt is unbuttoned and I don’t think it would have been long before we would have walked in on a full on porn movie in progress.
Gross.
“Sorry. I have a few questions and things I needed from you before we started making our way around town,” I say trying to erase the images in my mind.
“Oh sure,” he says trying to button up his shirt. Red doesn’t look very happy about being interrupted and is giving me the evil eye.
“Just who do you think you are?” she asks with a silky, but menacing voice.
“I am Nyx Slaughter, and you are?” I ask in return.
“Claudia,” she says shortly gathering herself. She glances at the guys I have behind me and decides it is time to make her exit.
“I will probably stop by your place for a chat later, Claudia, so make sure to put the tea on,” I shout after her. Some people are just so rude.
“Sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting her to stop by,” Kent says. Yeah, but he sure as heck wasn’t trying to hurry her on home either.
“I believe she is part of the reason I stopped by,” I tell him. His puzzled expression lets me know he doesn’t know what I am talking about. “You didn’t think it was important to mention that the three victims all warmed your bed at night?”
“I just thought that might be a coincidence,” he says sheepishly. Thank God he doesn’t do police work in real life.
“So, none of the girls have been disgruntled lately?”
“Of course not. They all know how this thing works. They know I have an appetite too big for any one of them so they are happy to let me spread my love around,” he explains.
He did not just say that. What a typical male point of view on things. If I were one of the girls, I would be taking out my frustration on him, not the other girls.
