Black Magic Rose

by Jordan K. Rose

  “She has secured the house.” Dragomir was pleased with this. In spite of the fact that she refused to allow him access, he admired her efforts to keep herself safe. “She’s locked every door and made other adjustments.” He laughed to himself and glanced toward the window.

  “You know her locks won’t keep me out,” Osgar called over his shoulder.

  “You would break in?” Dragomir’s eye twitched. His jaw tensed. Though Osgar was bound to him, Dragomir would not hesitate to deal with him should he become a threat to Sofia.

  “No, of course not. No need.” Osgar turned around and jangled a key as he walked backward toward the porch. “She likes me.” He winked. “The whole living thing, you know.”

  Dragomir felt it, the twist of the proverbial knife in his gut.

  “I leave. Safe day,” he said, and with vampire speed he returned to Cader, hearing the lock turn and Osgar laugh as he stepped over the threshold.

  Chapter Three

  Sofia’s nose twitched. She rubbed it. Something tickled. She rubbed her nose again. This time whatever touched her moved up her cheek.

  Spider!

  Her eyes flew open. She swiped at her cheeks and bolted upright, shaking her hair to get rid of the critter.

  It scooted along her neck.

  She screamed and jumped out of bed, batting at her neck, raking her hands through her hair, and jumping up and down. From the corner of her eye, she saw the truck parked in the driveway.

  “Oh, no,” she said aloud. “He’s still here?”

  Where? Where could he be? Not in the house. She’d told him he wasn’t welcome. Outside? The bright sunlight made that seem impossible. According to Osgar, vampires really did burn in sunlight. Was he under the truck?

  She bent to the windowsill to peer under the behemoth vehicle, but couldn’t see a thing. She stared out the window, searching for upturned ground or leaves or something to indicate he was hiding in a hole.

  Stupid vampire.

  The bed creaked.

  In the house? How?

  She spun around.

  “Your…your…” Osgar couldn’t get the words out. He lay on the bed, clutching his stomach and laughing. Tears streamed down his face. He barely made a sound, he was laughing so hard. “Your face.”

  Sofia glared at him. His sandy-blond hair was a wild mess, as usual. His typically tanned face was bright red. He looked as though his face might pop if he kept laughing.

  “You thought it was a bug.” He held up a neon green pipe cleaner.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, reaching to snatch it from his hand and missing. “Get your feet off the bed.” She swatted at his work boots.

  He jerked away, still laughing. “It’s eleven in the morning. You need to get up and go to work.”

  “Eleven! Why’d you let me sleep so late?” Sofia ran around the bed, leaving Osgar reclined, waving the pipe cleaner at her.

  “I think I’ll keep this.” He tucked it into the pocket of his flannel shirt. “Your face was priceless. I’ve never seen anyone freak out like that. The jumping and arm flailing, I loved it.” He bounced around on the bed doing a ridiculous imitation of her.

  “Why’d you let me sleep so late? You know I need to go to work,” she called from the bathroom. And why hadn’t she set her alarm? Because she was too focused on Dragomir hanging around her property to remember to set it. She couldn’t let him get to her this way.

  If she’d been able to fall asleep at a decent hour, she’d never have slept so late. But knowing that damn vampire was outside her house kept her awake, wondering what the hell he was doing and if he’d try to come in while she slept.

  “You can just go in for noon,” he answered. “We have plenty of time.”

  “I don’t have plenty of time,” she said before shoving the toothbrush into her mouth and lamenting the fact that now she’d be stuck at Cader until eight. Somehow, she needed to find a way out of the hospital before he rose.

  “I’ll take the back road. We’ll be right on time. Your reaction to that pipe cleaner…” He snorted. “I thought you were going to knock yourself out.” He laughed again. Sofia heard him blow his nose.

  “I’ll drive myself.” She pulled her clothes into the bathroom and shut the door. “How’d you get here?” she called. “No motorcycle?”

  He shook his head. “I walked. Cader’s not that far when you cut through the woods, which we could do.”

  “I’ll drive myself,” she said again and pulled on her skirt. After tucking in her blouse she opened the door. “Where is he?” She motioned toward the window as she brushed her hair, pulling it up into a bun.

  “Back at Cader, I’m sure. Why?” He smiled.

  “Why’s his truck still here?” She frowned. “I don’t want him leaving his stuff at my house, not even in the yard.”

  “Why don’t you like him?” He rolled onto his right side to face her, resting his head on his hand. His blue eyes sparkled, still wet from laughing.

  “He’s dead. That’s why.” She went back into the bathroom to apply her makeup. And he does that thing to me.

  “So what? Jankin’s dead, and you seem to like him just fine,” he called. “And Noelle, too.”

  The truth was she did like Dr. MacDuff, and Noelle was nice enough. She couldn’t explain it, but she never felt nervous or like she was part of a walking menu when she was near them. Plus, her arms and legs remained intact and capable of normal use when she was with them. As overbearing as Dr. MacDuff was, and he could be very overbearing, she liked him, trusted him. She felt the same way about Noelle. She genuinely cared for both of them. Why, she didn’t understand.

  “Dr. MacDuff is my boss. I have to like him,” she said.

  “No. Actually, Fergus is your boss,” Osgar said.

  She stuck her head out of the bathroom and frowned.

  “Fergus is the president, and you report to the president.” Osgar nodded.

  “Ultimately, everyone reports to Dr. MacDuff as he is the founder of Cader House and the head of the American branch of The Alliance. That makes him everyone’s boss, including mine.”

  He shook his head. “Whatever. Why don’t you call him Jankin? It’s ridiculous that you call him Dr. MacDuff. That would be like me calling Fergus, Mr. McFie.”

  It was a good question. And Sofia believed she had a good reason.

  “I do not like to mix my business life with my personal life,” she answered from the bathroom.

  “Well, you might as well get over that, girl. Your business life is your personal life.” He appeared in the doorway.

  “Not if I can help it. You’re a mess.” His hair needed a comb. His face needed a shave. His clothes needed an iron. His boots were unlaced. He looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. “How can you possibly go to work looking like that? Don’t you think patients will notice?”

  He grinned. “I think you like me.”

  “What?” She pushed past him. “Let’s go. I just need to pack my lunch and grab something for breakfast.”

  “You think I’m cute, don’t you?” he asked as he followed her down the stairs, boots clomping the entire way.

  “You’re all right. You’re a slob, but you’re okay,” she answered, tossing a container with a salad into her lunch box and grabbing a yogurt and a handful of strawberries.

  “You like me. You like me.” He rocked back and forth, heel to toe. “I knew it. I’m irresistible.”

  Sofia didn’t bother to look at him. He’d been flirting and taunting her for two of the three weeks she’d known him. It took him the first week of semiprofessional behavior to wear down her defenses enough to speak with him about anything other than work. According to Dr. MacDuff, that week was a record length of time for Osgar to behave in such a professional manner.

  “Get out.” She held open the door, sighing at him as he walked by, grinning.

  “You think I’m hot,” he whispered.

  She shook her head, locked the door, and wa
lked to her car. Though he was handsome, and Sofia had watched many a nurse flirt with him at work, she had grown to think of him more as a brother than anything else. Even that idea disturbed her.

  “So again I ask, why is his truck still here?” she asked, unwilling to hide her annoyance.

  “His truck? Are you kidding? This is my truck.” Osgar opened the door and climbed into the cab. “He would never own anything this cool.” He revved the engine and cranked the radio. Lights came on above the windshield.

  “What happened to your motorcycle?” She was used to him riding on one of those bikes with giant handlebars and an engine much louder than it needed to be.

  “The chopper’s at Cader. I’m getting it ready for winter.” He nodded toward her Camry. “Let’s go. Since you insist on traveling the regular roads you’re going to be late.”

  *****

  Emails continued to pop up in Sofia’s inbox, and although she was tempted to open each one, she forced herself to face Charlie and try to remain focused on his long and drawn out story. But some ten minutes into the conversation, he’d lost her and now she sat in her office staring blankly at him, waiting for his lips to stop moving.

  “And then he had us jumping from the top of the building. He actually had us up on the roof of the hospital, jumping to the ground. I didn’t think I could do it. Three stories up, you know. I thought I’d break my leg. I didn’t want to do it, but I did. He said we didn’t have a choice. If we didn’t jump, he was going to push us. I jumped. And look, I’m fine. You know, he did push Louis. He just walked right up to him and pushed him. Didn’t even give Louis a chance to change his mind. Just pushed him. He fell, you know.”

  At the word pushed Sofia perked up, yanking herself from the near comatose state Charlie’s blathering had induced. Her mouth dropped open.

  “Pushed? Did you say that Osgar pushed Louis off the roof?” she asked, the Human Resources professional taking control.

  “Not Osgar. Rick. It was incredible. I mean, he’s fast. Louis couldn’t have stopped him, if he’d tried. The guy’s like…fast.” Charlie’s head bobbed up and down. “It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. He came up behind him…” Charlie stood up, turned the chair around, and stepped back. “…like this.” He crouched and then pounced on the chair, shoving it forward to fall on its side.

  “Louis shot off the roof like a ball coming out of a cannon.” He picked up the chair. “It was so cool.”

  Sofia scribbled her notes as quickly as she could. “Is he all right? Louis, that is.”

  “Oh, yeah. He’s fine. Well, now he’s fine. He did break both his ankles landing like that. I mean, Rick told us what to do and how to twist and maneuver so that our bodies absorbed the shock and we didn’t break anything.” Charlie sprung into the air, twisted, and landed on the opposite side of the room. “But Louis wasn’t ready when Rick pushed him.”

  She gasped. “Both ankles! Has he been admitted to Cader?”

  Worker’s Comp. Lawsuits. Abuse. Hostile work environment. What the hell is wrong with Rick? I have to speak to Fergus.

  “He was sleeping down below when I came to work this morning,” Charlie said.

  His walkie-talkie crackled. “Charlie? Where are you? We need you to bring Mrs. Jackson down to x-ray.”

  “I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, Sofia.” He jumped up and ran toward the door, pulling the two-way radio from his pocket. “I’m coming.”

  Rick worked for Osgar. Sofia dialed Osgar’s pager number, well aware he was somewhere in the hospital. She had managed to argue her way out of spending each day with Osgar glued to her hip by promising not to leave the building, which meant he couldn’t leave either.

  The phone rang and the caller ID listed, “Security.”

  “Osgar, do you know what Rick did last night?” she asked, picking up the phone.

  “No ‘hello, how’s your day going?’” he asked.

  Sofia heard him moving and mumbling directions to someone.

  “No. Did you hear my question?”

  “Yes. I do know what Rick did last night,” he answered, and then said something to someone else.

  “So you know he shoved Louis off the roof?” she asked.

  “Well, I’m not sure ‘shoved’ is the correct word. But I do know he was teaching the new recruits jumping and landing skills last night.”

  “It has been reported that he pushed, and ‘pushed’ is the correct word, Louis off the roof.”

  “Who reported that?” Sofia heard something brush against the phone and then Osgar came back. “Well? Who?”

  “I want to speak with Louis,” she said.

  “Do you? You’re sure about that?” he asked.

  “Yes. I’m sure. It’s my job to investigate claims of this nature,” she answered. This was the first actual investigation she’d performed at Cader.

  It wasn’t, however, the first investigation she’d ever performed. She’d conducted plenty of them at her other jobs. She’d get a statement from Louis, then speak to Rick. She may need to suspend Rick pending completion of the investigation. She knew that wouldn’t go over well. But she’d discuss it with Fergus and Dr. MacDuff.

  “Come on down,” Osgar said.

  “Is Louis still at Cader?” she asked.

  “Yep. He’s just finished eating. If I were you, I’d hurry,” he said.

  Sofia heard the laughter in his voice and glanced toward the window. To the west the horizon was lit with a peachy pink glow. To the east darkness blanketed the sky. Soon, they would rise.

  “Is he on the second floor?” she asked, voice filled with hope.

  “No. He’s still in the Lower Level. I don’t want you to be surprised when you get down here,” Osgar said.

  “Surprised by what? Is Louis all right?”

  “Louis is fine, aren’t you?”

  Sofia heard a voice say, “Yes, sir. Ready to have another go at it.”

  “Osgar, surprised by what?” Sofia asked. “And don’t get him worked up. I want to speak to him without your interference.”

  “I will not interfere in the least. I’ll meet you at the stairwell. I don’t think you know the code, do you?” Osgar asked, referring to the security access code.

  “No. I don’t have one. Surprised by what?” she asked again.

  “Hey there, Drag. How’d you sleep?” Osgar said.

  Sofia’s heart thumped when she heard his voice.

  “Same as always.”

  “So, like The Dead, you mean?” Osgar chuckled.

  Chapter Four

  Fluorescent lights flickered overhead as Sofia followed Osgar down the stairs, through the corridor, and into the security office. A bank of TV screens lined one wall. Lights flickered across a panel below them. Osgar stopped in front of a computer and tapped a few keys on the keyboard before turning back to Sofia.

  “This is where the action is monitored,” he said. “There are cameras at all the access points, outside the building, and on all the units within the building. We see all.” He wagged his eyebrows.

  Sofia looked around. Three men she’d never met before sat behind computers, and although not one of them looked up, she had the very distinct feeling they were watching her.

  “Marvin, Jefferson, and Bart,” Osgar said, pointing to each of them.

  Bart nodded, Marvin waved, and Jefferson’s eyes met hers for a brief second before his glance moved across her like freezing rain. And she knew immediately he was the vampire.

  “This is Sofia,” Osgar said.

  Two nods and another ice-cold glance, only this time it lingered. She shivered.

  “They’re studying the Rhode Island crime reports. There’s been an uptick in attacks at the malls, carjackings, muggings, and the like. A number of the victims were knocked unconscious and don’t remember what happened. Most likely they were fed from or wolf bitten. We’ll track them for changes in behavior or disappearances,” Osgar explained.

  Sofia nodded. “The malls
? Why the malls?”

  “Lots of people gathered in one spot and parking garages where women walk alone. Bas Dubh can hide easily enough between cars, attack, and escape virtually unnoticed. It’s a perfect place for new vampires to practice honing their skills,” Osgar explained. “And with the holidays coming, it’s bound to get worse.”

  Sofia remembered the news report from the night before. A man had jumped from the top of the four-story parking garage, killing himself. It had been the third suicide at the mall in as many months.

  “What about the jumpers?” she asked.

  “We think they might have been attacked by wolves and the shock or horror of the experience sent them over the edge.” Osgar scratched his chin. “Literally.”

  “The paper said the man from the other night had long-standing financial problems. His family believed he jumped because he was going to lose his house,” Sofia said.

  “It helps to have the right people in the right places.” He smiled.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Alliance has members embedded in the police force, at the local papers, and now with the medical examiner’s office. We’ll know the real story about the guy who jumped yesterday when The Board convenes tonight,” Osgar answered.

  “So, the paper guy made up the story? How did you get the family to agree to it?”

  Before Osgar could answer, Jefferson was across the room, standing between him and Sofia.

  “I’d be happy to answer that question for you,” he said. Deep within his brown eyes something glowed, lighting his eyes like crystals.

  Sofia gasped as she felt him. His presence closed in around her, trying to force her compliance. “Stop that!” She turned away from him, lost her balance, and landed on the floor.

  Osgar grabbed Jefferson, and hooking his arm beneath the vampire’s chin, trapped him in a headlock. The vampire choked and clawed at Osgar’s arm.

  From her position on the floor, Sofia saw the door fly open, and the room was suddenly cramped. Dr. MacDuff came to Sofia. Fergus and Meg stood in front of them like a barrier between Sofia and Jefferson. Sofia leaned to the right and saw Osgar and Jefferson dangling in the air, held off the floor by Dragomir.