by Amy Boyles
Yes, I answered. Princess, is that you?
A pause. Then, How do you know my name?
We’ve been looking for you. We want to help free you from the curse, but we need you.
She paused again. I’m ashamed.
Why?
I let my family down. I wanted a stupid bat as a pet, but I ended up being suckered by him, seduced into believing that it needed help and I was the only one who could save him.
It’s not your fault, Princess. Believe me, it wasn’t at all. Like I said, we want to help you. But you have to come to us.
A flutter of wings filled my vision. Bathed in moonlight, the tiny bat was only about the size of an apple.
“Princess?” I said.
That’s me. Though I don’t look like a princess anymore. Now I’m a rat with wings.
“Those are pigeons,” I said.
“That’s not a pigeon,” Amelia added.
“I’m not talking to you,” I whispered.
“Princess, we want to help break the curse put on you, but we need your help. We need you to identify the vampire who did this. Can you do that?”
Will I get three meals a day?
Strange request, but whatever. “Sure. You can have whatever you want.”
The small brown bat fluttered up and down for a second. How do I know you won’t harm me?
I shrugged. “We’re here to help. Obviously we’re a bunch of strangers, but my Uncle Donovan, do you remember him?”
The one who sold the bat to Johnny.
“Right. He’s here. He’s the one who told us about you. He wants to free you. We all do. You never should’ve been cursed like this.”
Princess bobbed one more time and then fluttered down until she was only inches from my face. Her brown eyes sparkled with intelligence, and her small body looked so fragile I was amazed that she was unharmed.
“We’ve got a cage. Just so we can keep you safe.”
I pointed to it, and Axel opened the door. Princess floated right on in. He snapped the door shut, and we all exhaled a deep sigh of relief.
“All right, Princess,” I said. “Let’s get you home and start finding out what we need to about the vampire.”
A crash sounded from behind us. I gasped. Amelia screamed, and Betty held up her dukes, ready to punch out the lights of the first person who showed.
A shriek came from the bushes.
“Everybody back,” Axel said. With his chest puffed up and his head down, he looked like he was about to launch into the foliage. Turned out, he didn’t have to.
A moment later a body fell from the hedge. It was a woman with a torn dress, smeared lipstick and twigs stuck in her hair.
I immediately recognized Eva. I threw myself past Axel and grabbed her by the arms. Her eyes opened wide with fright. She clawed at me.
“Eva! Eva, calm down. We’re here to help.”
She blinked a few more times and then settled back. “Oh my goodness. I’m so scared, y’all.”
“What happened?” I said.
Betty pushed me aside. “She was obviously attacked.”
Eva nodded. Tears swelled in her eyes. She clutched my arms. “A man I’d never seen before attacked me. I fought him off, but he kept reaching for me. He kept trying to get at one specific place on my body.”
“What was that?” Amelia said.
Eva dragged her gaze over all of us. “My neck.”
FIFTEEN
Axel and I escorted a visibly shaken Eva back to the inn where she was staying with Johnny Utah. Axel tried to get her to go to the police, but Eva refused. She said she’d feel better if Johnny dealt with the situation. Well, he was mafia. What else can I say?
We knocked on the door, and Johnny opened it. He wore a silk smoking jacket, velvet slippers and sipped brown liquid from a rocks glass.
“Eva, what in the name of God happened to you?” he said, opening his arms.
“Oh, Johnny, I was so scared,” she said, falling into him. “It was horrible.”
He shot us an accusing look. “What happened?”
“Sit down and we’ll tell you everything,” Axel said.
Johnny motioned for his werewolf bodyguards to leave the room. They rose and exited.
Eva sniffled a few times. “I’m going to wash up, okay?”
He pressed his nose to hers and gave Eva a solid Eskimo kiss before saying, “You go right ahead.” He nodded to me. “You want company?”
She shook her head. “No, I just need a shower.”
As soon as she was gone, Axel spoke. “We weren’t sure if you wanted us to go to the police. Eva convinced us you wouldn’t want that, so we came here.”
He chewed a piece of ice. “No cops. I got enough trouble being stuck here while they investigate this Carl Yahoo’s murder. I don’t need no more grief.” He shot a worried glance to the door Eva had disappeared behind. “What happened?”
“She was attacked.”
Johnny swung a punch into his open palm. “I’ll kill whatever son of a tramp did that to her. I’ll kill him. Who was it? Did you see? Did she see?”
“She didn’t get a good look at him,” I chimed. “That much we know for sure.”
“There’s something else,” Axel said.
Johnny dragged his gaze from his meaty fist to Axel. “What’s that?”
“The attacker tried to get to her neck.”
“Her neck? What the heck for?”
“To bite it, I assume,” Axel said.
It took a moment, but when Johnny’s mouth sagged and his eyes peeled wide, I knew he’d figured out what Axel was saying.
“You telling me that creature is here? The one who got my Princess?”
Axel folded his massive arms and spoke carefully. “We can’t say one hundred percent, but it seems likely.”
“Oh, just wait till I get my hands on that creature. I will ring his neck so hard you won’t believe. I will crush him.”
I grimaced. “We need him alive.”
“He won’t be alive when I’m through with him.”
Axel and I exchanged a glance. “We need you to help us find him. Use your men, but you’ve got to keep the vampire alive if you do spot him.”
Johnny stared at Axel as if hearing him for the first time. “Why?”
Axel raked his fingers through his silky dark hair. “Because we’ve got Princess.”
“What?” Johnny bellowed. “What’re you saying, you got Princess?”
Axel crossed his arms. “I’m saying we’ve got the bat. The vampire bat you purchased transferred the curse and put it onto Princess.”
Johnny’s mouth hung open so far he would’ve caught a world of flies if we’d been outside. “You mean Princess became a bat?”
“That’s right. And to return your niece to her true form, we need to find that vampire and we need him alive.”
“Is she okay?” Johnny said, his face shining with hope.
“She’s fine,” I said. “She’s at my house, but I need her to remain there. Axel knows the magic that will free her and I can communicate with animals, so she needs to stay with me so that Princess can point out the vampire.”
“I’m just so glad she’s okay.” Johnny opened his arms. “Come here, give us a hug.”
Wait. What?
Before I had a chance to argue, the mobster had wrapped Axel and me in a monstrous embrace that lifted me off my feet.
When he settled us down, I rocked back. Axel’s arms steadied me. “Gotcha,” he whispered huskily in my ear.
I shivered as his breath washed over my skin. I cleared my throat to push aside thoughts about Axel and glanced at Johnny. “We need you, Mr. Utah.”
“Right,” Axel said. “We need your men to help us look for the vampire. Princess gave a description of him. Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, beard, husky build. The main thing—if you see anyone suspicious hanging around, call me. I have reason to think that the vampire will stay near Princess until the transformation is comple
te. Until then, the vampire is at risk of turning back into a bat.”
Johnny nodded. “Okay. I’ll send my boys to your house tomorrow, and you can catch them up to speed. Now, I want to make sure that Eva is all right. She was attacked by that creature, you say?”
“We believe so,” I said. “He’s nearby. We only need to catch him.”
Johnny led us to the door. “I’ll keep an eye out. And thank you, once again. I owe you both for helping Eva and Princess.”
We left the inn and walked back toward the car in silence. Axel opened my door for me and then crossed around the nose of the Mustang and slid inside.
“At least he didn’t kill us,” he said, threading his fingers through his hair.
I laughed. “Did you really think that was a possibility?”
Axel tipped his head toward me. “He is werewolf mafia.”
“He’s also a big kitten.”
“That bites the heads off rats.”
I shrugged. “Nobody’s perfect.”
He barked a laugh. “You think Princess is okay at your house for a few more minutes?”
I batted my eyelashes at him, thinking Axel wanted some alone time. “Sure. Why?”
“Because there’s one more place we need to go.”
Well, darn. Just when I thought he wanted a kiss, the man was being all business. “Where?”
“Garrick’s house. We’ve got to tell him there’s a vampire in town.”
I groaned. “Do we have to? ’Cause I have the feeling he’s going to be super ticked about that.”
“It’s called public safety, Pepper.”
“How about it’s called survival of the fittest and I don’t want to be in deep doo-doo with the sheriff.”
The corner of Axel’s mouth curled. “You’re not the person that has anything to worry about.”
“Oh? Who does?”
“The vampire. They’re illegal in Magnolia Cove except for Halloween. That’s the one day we make an exception.”
“And why are they illegal?”
“Because they drink blood.”
I laughed at my own stupidity. “Right. Well then, let’s go.”
“There’s a vampire on the loose in Magnolia Cove.”
Axel and I stood on Garrick Young’s front porch. It was near midnight, and Garrick had greeted us in a pair of striped pajama pants and a T-shirt. His brown hair was spiked up on top of his head, and though he looked a mess, his eyes popped wide when he heard the news.
“Come inside,” he said gruffly.
I followed, but by the bite in his tone, all I wanted to do was turn around and scatter like a cat.
Garrick flipped on a light. It was an older home, but the paint was fresh and the furnishings, though simple, were clean and sparse.
Garrick rustled in the kitchen. I heard him open the refrigerator. “Anybody want a water?”
“No thanks,” I said.
“None for me,” Axel seconded.
Garrick padded into the room barefoot. He sank onto a leather recliner that held a place of honor in front of his man-cave-sized television.
“I’m hoping I heard you wrong at the door,” Garrick said.
“Wish it was so,” Axel said. “But I have reason to suspect there’s a vampire in Magnolia Cove.”
Garrick took a long pull from his water. He set the bottle on a side table. “What makes you think that?”
So Axel relayed the story. Garrick listened quietly, sipping his bottle. By the end he was scowling.
“So I’ve got a murder and an assault by a possible vampire on my hands,” he said.
Axel nodded. “That’s what it looks like. I don’t know if the two are related, but there’s a strong possibility.”
Garrick didn’t say anything, which made my chest tighten. “You can’t possibly believe that Uncle Donovan killed that Carl guy. Have you spent any time with Donovan? He’s an absentminded professor.”
Garrick’s eyes narrowed. “I won’t discuss this case with y’all, but I wouldn’t have called him in if there wasn’t a reason.”
“We know about the cobalt,” I said.
Garrick really scowled this time, and Axel shot me a scathing look.
“Oh? Was I not supposed to say anything?”
Garrick turned his ire on Axel. “I don’t know how you find out police business, Reign.”
“It’s my super werewolf hearing,” Axel said.
Garrick’s jaw tightened. “I encourage you to stay out of it. I know you’re a PI, but my cases do not concern you.”
Axel flicked a speck of dirt out from under his fingernail. “I help you, you help me; that’s how it’s always been, Young.”
“You’re too close to this one,” Garrick said. “And before you start to say you were close to Betty Craple when we brought her in, I know you have a special bond with Donovan that’s nothing like what you share with Betty.”
Axel’s gaze settled on the floor. “We’re close, I’m not going to lie.”
“That’s why I want you out of it.”
A few seconds ticked by before Axel spoke. “Rock Ford.”
Garrick sighed. “I checked him out. There’s nothing that makes me think he killed Carl.”
One corner of Axel’s mouth curved upward. “What if I told you there was?”
Garrick dropped his head to rest on the recliner. “Like I said, stay out of it.”
“Okay,” Axel said flippantly, “but I think there’s something you should know about him. Something that might change your mind about his involvement.”
“Now what could that be?”
“Cobalt.”
Garrick’s head shot up from the chair. “Tell me.”
Axel waited a good five seconds before he started speaking. I almost laughed. He and Garrick went way back, I don’t know how far, but they knew each other before Garrick took the job as sheriff of Magnolia Cove.
“Rock Ford comes from out West, specifically Idaho.”
“Where they grow potatoes?” I blurted out.
“More than that,” Axel said.
Garrick studied him. I could tell he wanted to ask where Axel was going, but at the same time he didn’t want to.
“Why would Rock Ford have wanted to kill Carl?” Garrick said.
“I don’t know. I’m not the investigator of that murder. But I do know you need to check into him carefully.”
Garrick’s chest deflated as if he’d run out of steam. “Okay. Why should I put this guy under the microscope?”
“Because the guy comes from a town near Blackbird Mine,” Axel said.
“What’s that?” Garrick said. “And before you answer, I know I’m going to regret ever asking.”
Axel shook his head. “You’re not going to regret it because Blackbird Mine is the only mine in the entire country that digs up one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Cobalt.”
Silence settled in the room, thick and full like a humid night in July. I was surprised a cicada didn’t start singing in the corner, that’s how heavy the air suddenly became.
“Cobalt?” Garrick finally said.
Axel nodded. “That’s exactly right. The same metal used to kill Carl is within easy reach for Rock Ford.”
Garrick drummed his fingers on the armrests. “But why would he kill him?”
Axel shook out his head of dark hair. “That part I don’t know.” He leaned forward and stared Garrick down. “That’s what you’ve got to find out.”
SIXTEEN
When Axel dropped me off at the house, I was so tired I was seeing double.
I wobbled up the steps onto the porch. He steadied me in his firm grasp. “You okay?”
I nodded feebly. “Just tired.”
He brushed a strand of crimson and honey hair from my lips. “Get some rest. You’ll need it for tomorrow.”
I yawned. “Why?”
“Because you’ve got to get Princess to figure out who the vampire is.”
“Right,” I said, sighing. “Just once I’d like things to be easy in Magnolia Cove.”
He leaned in, and I tipped my face toward him, waiting for the kiss. When it came, Axel did not disappoint. My toes curled, my heart quickened and a throb pulsed in my core.
I sighed when it was over.
“That bad?” he said.
“That good,” I replied, smiling.
We said our good nights. I patted Jennie the guard-vine and headed inside. The house was quiet. Shocker. It was so late I wasn’t surprised.
I went upstairs and was about to go into my room when I heard giggling coming from behind Amelia’s door.
I knocked quietly.
“Come in,” came Amelia’s voice.
I found Amelia and Cordelia on the bed, the bat cage on the desk. The door was wide open, and Princess sat on the bedpost, one wing outstretched.
“So that’s when I said, ‘If you curl one more hair on me, I’m going to dip your head in Crisco and show you how to really curl a girl’s hair.’”
Amelia and Cordelia broke into a thousand giggles. Amelia laughed so hard she knuckled tears from her eyes.
“You can speak out loud?” I said to Princess.
“Oh yeah, I only talked to you in your head because I realized you weren’t using your mouth. But yeah, I can talk.”
“Can she ever,” Cordelia said, stifling a laugh.
“What’s going on?” I said, sidling up to the bed.
“Princess is telling stories,” Amelia said. “She is hilarious.”
I stared at the small brown bat. Princess wiggled her rear. “What? You never seen a bat tell stories before? I might be stuck in this body, but I still got my mind.”
For now. “You’re the first bat I’ve ever spoken to.”
“Well, come on and sit down. I’ve missed girls’ night. I’ve been stuck without anyone to talk to except a bunch of bats, and they only cover the basics—eat, sleep, poop. Not any of the fun stuff. And boy, do I miss it.”
Cordelia yawned and stretched. “I’m pretty tired. Pepper, you can have my spot on the bed. I’m gonna hit the hay.”
Cordelia gave Princess’s wing a little shake. “I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for the laughs.”
“Anytime,” Princess said.
