Rushing down the stairs from the second floor, I jumped into my black Kia that sat in front of the building. It wouldn’t take too long to get to work. Ethan rented office space above LaRee’s Voodoo Shop on North Peter’s Street. He claimed he liked the atmosphere in the Quarter. It helped him think.
Parking in a nearby parking lot, I ran across the street to the brown brick building that housed our office. We had a separate entrance from the Voodoo shop, which was a good thing for Ethan’s business. I wasn’t sure how serious anyone would take him if he were connected to Voodoo dolls and black magic.
I found the small, cramped office exactly how I’d left it. After turning on my computer, I plopped down in my desk chair and waited for it to load. There wasn’t a lot I could do until I could contact Alec again. In the meantime, I could do some research and find out as much as I could about vampires.
I started searching for information on the undead. Tons of zombie listings came up so I changed the search term to just vampires.
Most of what I found was really out there, though I did find a couple of sites that were downright chilling. There were actually people who claimed to be vampires and they were placing ads for feeders. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these vampires were of the immortal variety.
After an hour of searching, I still hadn’t found anything of significance. There was a lot of nonsense about garlic and burying vampires face down, but nothing that would help me find Ethan.
Sighing, I leaned back in my chair and wondered why I was doing anything at all.
I mean, a vampire is a vampire, right? They were killers.
But Ethan was my friend. Besides, it wasn’t like it was his fault that he’d turned, and he was trying to do something about it.
Turning on him now would be something like turning on a friend just because you found out they had a disease. That wouldn’t be cool.
Ethan was a vampire because of Alec. But then again, Alec had only been trying to save Ethan’s life.
What a mess!
I couldn’t help but wonder why Alec had even bothered to save Ethan. The knight in shining armor thing didn’t seem to fit with the vampire image, especially Alec’s.
Finally, one of the listings caught my attention.
Vampires in the Light.
When the page opened, I knew I’d found something real. Unlike so many of the vampire sites on the internet, this one seemed to be someone’s story.
Many years ago, I was cursed and doomed to eternal darkness. It is a curse that is colder and lonelier than the grave could ever be. I believed this would be my existence for all time, but then I discovered there could be a way for the vampire to live in the light. It is not of this world, but at the same time, it is.
It couldn’t be a coincidence.
I spent several minutes looking around the site for some kind of contact information, but there wasn’t any. Still, I had to find this person or vampire. I had to find out what he knew about Omar.
Maybe it was time to call in a favor from one of Ethan’s police buddies. The police should be able to trace the site to its owner. At least I hoped they could.
Chapter Twelve
Nicole
I glanced down at the address that I’d scribbled in my notebook and then back up at the sign in the window of the little white building.
Déjà vu Tattoo Body Art
The address I’d been given was in a seedy area, near the riverfront. When I’d first seen the address, I’d been doubtful. Now I was even more skeptical. Ethan’s cop friend couldn’t have it right.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Hunting down a vampire was bad enough, but in this part of the city, I’d also have to watch for muggers and only God knew what else.
The building was dark and there was a closed sign in the window.
Well, this totally sucked.
Frustrated, I tried the door. Sure enough, it was locked.
Stepping up to the window, I peered inside but it was too dark to see much of anything. Although the sun was nearly down, there was still some light. If this guy really was a vampire, it only made sense that he might not be out and about quite yet.
When I stepped away from the window, I backed right into someone that had been standing behind me.
Letting out a startled yelp, I swung around.
“Looking for something?”
The man was completely bald and covered in tattoos. He was wearing a black tank top so that a lot of his body art was visible. Most of the images were just the regular tattoos of hearts and ship anchors, but there were also macabre images of skulls and women bleeding from torn throats. On one of his shoulders, there was a tattoo of something that looked half human and half beast.
Icy fear twisted around my heart but I was determined. “Are you Dash?”
His lips spread into a sinister smile. “Who wants to know?” He spoke with a thick British accent.
If this guy were a vampire, there probably wouldn’t be any turning back, so I decided to go for it. “My name is Nicole and if you’re Dash, I know you’re a vampire.”
Pulling back his lips in a snarl, he flew at me.
I had to think fast, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I belong to Alec Norwood!”
He stopped abruptly, but his eyes were still glowing with deadly hunger. “You’re lying! You don’t smell like a feeder.”
“I’ve come here to ask about your website, Vampires in the Light.” I rushed to get my words out before he figured out I was lying about Alec.
Suddenly, he backed off completely.
I had the advantage, at least at the moment. It wouldn’t last long. That was okay. It would only take a minute to say what I had to say. “I saw your website and I need to ask you about it.”
As soon as I felt the pain blossom behind my eyes, I knew he was trying to get into my head. It lasted only a minute before he appeared to give up.
“What would be your interest?” he asked, his voice back to normal.
“Do you want to stand out here and talk or can we go inside? I assume this is your place?” I smiled, hoping to bring some sanity to the situation, if possible.
Dash shook his head. “You are either very stupid, or very daring.”
“I’m neither of those things,” I assured him. “It’s just very important.”
After pulling some keys from his pocket, he stepped over to the door and unlocked it. Standing aside, he held the door open so I could enter. Dash followed me in. A moment later, the lights came on.
“I don’t need the light,” he said. “But I guess you do. Oh, and sorry about frightening you. I thought you might be one of them pesky vampire slayers.”
“What did you mean about vampires living in the light?” I asked, getting straight to the point.
“It was a figment of my imagination,” he laughed.
“I don’t believe you.”
He shrugged. “What would be your interest anyway?”
I’d already discovered that showing fear with this vampire wasn’t a good idea, so I decided to do the opposite. For the sake of appearance, I was going to pretend that he didn’t make me the least bit nervous.
The black reclining tattoo chair looked comfortable, so I sat in it. “What do you know about the Light Seekers?”
“Oh please, why don’t you just make yourself at home?” he said sarcastically while waving his hand at the tattoo chair.
I gave him a sweet smile. “Well thank you. I think I will.”
“I know nothing,” he stated, flatly.
“My friend is in trouble. Omar has him, so I need to find out as much as I can about this secret of the light.”
“Well, if Omar has him then he is no more,” Dash said, a cryptic note to his voice.
I was still convinced Dash knew more than what he was letting on, so I pushed. “Maybe there is a way to let others know about this secret and Omar will not have such a hold over your kind.”
Shak
ing his head, Dash folded his arms across his chest. “Most of my kind, as you call them, are very comfortable with the darkness. They don’t care. Those of us that want more, are few. At any rate, no one will believe.”
“I’ll believe you,” I told him.
One instant, Dash was standing a few feet away and the next he had my arm in his grasp, my wrist just inches from his mouth. He’d moved so fast that it was as if he could materialize and disappear at will.
Startled, my heart jumped into my throat and I tried to pull away.
“Do you mind if I have just a little taste?” he asked, his fangs fully visible.
“Yes, I mind,” I told him, swallowing the fear that had lodged in my throat. “And Alec will too.”
He dropped my arm.
“Seriously? You’re still using that story?” he laughed.
I put a scowl on my face and glared at him. “I really do know him.”
“So, you’re one of his groupies.” Dash obviously found my situation amusing.
“No, he’s just a friend.” It was a total exaggeration.
The truth was that I’d only met him a few times, but dropping his name seemed to keep the vamps from trying to feed on me. At least it worked with this one.
“Do you make a habit of having vampires for friends?” he asked as he made his way to a mini refrigerator at the back of the shop.
It seemed that he’d already lost interest and didn’t really expect an answer. He was busy rummaging around in the fridge. A moment later, he pulled out a clear bottle filled with red liquid.
“You don’t mind do you?” he asked, though he didn’t bother waiting for an answer before lifting the bottle above his head and letting some of the liquid drain into his mouth.
Disgust twisted at my face. It had to be blood. Just the thought had my stomach churning.
“What?” he asked, arching his brows. “It is mixed with other proteins you know. It’s my own creation.”
Whatever it was, he was obviously proud of the concoction.
“So, this secret of light. Tell me about it,’ I prodded. It was time to change the subject before I really did get sick.
“Now you may not believe this, but you see, I hang out with this biker gang sometimes. They call themselves the Light Seekers. That’s where I first heard about this secret. They believe there is something more to us than just a cursed existence,” he explained.
“Yeah, I gathered that much.” Leaning further back in the chair, I got comfortable. I had a feeling this would be a long story.
Leaning against a wooden counter full of tattoo equipment, Dash continued. “Well we were out for a ride one night and we found this little midget dude walking along the highway.”
He was telling the story with so much animation that I couldn’t help but smile.
“Well, if you knew me, you’d know I have a bit of a tendency to overeat. That little man seemed like he could be a nice morsel to hold me over. I let the others go ahead and I stopped to talk to him.”
There was no way of telling how much of what he was saying was real, and how much of it was made up, but I continued to listen.
“It was a funny thing. That little guy knew exactly what I was as soon as he saw me.” Dash shook his head. “It was really strange. That midget told me that I didn’t have to do what I was doing. Then he handed me a crystal rock and said that if I closed my eyes, I would see that there were many layers to reality and that the reality we live in is only one. He told me the vampire is not cursed, they just have a different biology.”
Dash stopped his story and opened the fridge. “Sorry. I need a bit more.”
“Isn’t that stuff awful?” I asked, turning my head so I wouldn’t have to see him drink it.
“Not at all. With my recipe, it tastes just fine refrigerated. I’ve been trying to get the others to catch on to it.”
“Anyway, you were saying,” I reminded him of his story as I glanced at the time. It was getting late and I wanted to catch up to Alec when I was finished talking with Dash.
“As I was in the middle of saying … when I closed my eyes it was like I was somewhere else. I was in the light. It was a place like here, but where there were creatures of all types. But no vampires.”
Dash paused a moment before continuing. “He was there with me, in a way. It was like real magic. I asked where all the vampires were and he said that vampires couldn’t be there because they had been banished thousands of years ago.
“I wanted to know where we were and he said we were in the same place, but another dimension that occupies the same space as our own world, but on a different level. The next thing I knew, I was back and the little dude was gone. He slipped right away from me.”
“Dash, do vampires use drugs?” I asked. It was a fantastic story, maybe a little too fantastic.
Dash threw his hands in the air. “You see! That’s why I don’t tell anyone.”
“Well, you have to admit, it sounds a little far-fetched,” I told him, getting to my feet.
“That’s my story. Take it or leave it.” He shrugged.
“Where can I find Omar?” I asked, getting to the second thing I wanted to know.
Laughter bubbled up from his throat. He was laughing so hard that he was doubled over.
Folding my arms, I waited for him to stop laughing. “Does that mean you know where he’s at?”
“Oh please, tell me you are not thinking of going into Omar’s nest. A little bit of a girl like you.” He started laughing again.
“You know, you could help me if you wanted,” I said, offering him a half smile.
Finally, his giggling fit subsided but he was still wearing a smirk. “Well now, I have a lot of work to do around here.” He motioned to the chair I’d just vacated.
“Dash, can I ask you a question?”
“Guess that would depend on what it was.”
“When did you turn?” I found Dash fascinating and wanted to know more about him.
“I can’t remember a lot from before I turned,” he confessed. “But it was in the 80s.”
I got the feeling that I’d wandered into an area he wasn’t too comfortable talking about, so I asked a different question. “What’s it like to be a vampire?”
His mood turned somber. “She wants to know what it’s like,” he muttered as he stared off into nothing. It was if he was seeing something that was invisible to me.
This time, his laughter was dark, with just a hint of danger in it. “You are cold … always so cold. And there is the constant hunger. For those of us that crave the light, it is eternal hell.”
“I’m sorry. You seem like you could have been a nice guy … before you turned,” I added.
“What do you mean before I turned?” He tossed me a sour look. “Lots of people think I’m a nice guy now.”
“Of course, I just figured since you feed on blood, that might be a bad mark.” I tried to lighten the mood.
“Well there is that,” he admitted, his face twisting into a harsh grimace.
“Thank you for your story. It really was interesting,” I told him.
I started for the door but the sound of his voice stopped me.
“What’s your name, girl?”
“Nicole.”
“Nicole, do yourself a favor and don’t go looking for Omar. He will kill you without a second thought. Your friend is a lot better at taking care of himself than you are.”
No doubt he was probably right, but I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Not helping out a friend in need went against my nature.
Even if that friend was a vampire.
Chapter Thirteen
Nicole
Talking with Alec was a good idea but to do that I’d actually have to find him. I spent over an hour searching the streets of New Orleans, starting with the Dark Wind. Although the other members of Necro were there, Alec wasn’t. Next, I found my way back to the house he’d taken me to in the Garden District. It appeared to be comple
tely deserted.
I should have been waiting for him outside his house when the sun went down.
There was nothing left to do but go back to Ethan’s office or home. Calling the police wasn’t an option. They’d think I was crazy.
Knowing Ethan was in danger, I was too agitated to go home so I headed back to the office.
When I got there, LaRee’s Voodoo Shop was crowded. LaRee’s drew all kinds of people, from tourists to those serious voodoo practitioners. This time of year was especially bad for crowds in the Quarter.
I was happy that we had a separate entrance.
As I made my way around the people that were standing in front of the store, I felt a prickly sensation run up my back. Stopping, I examined the crowd a little closer. No one seemed to be watching me.
Although I tried to shrug it off, the feeling persisted all the way up the stairs. Drawing in a deep breath, I turned to look down the staircase at St. Peter’s Street.
There were too many people on the street to know for sure if one of them was watching me. I could make out the muffled sound of jazz in the distance, but nothing really seemed out of place.
Dismissing the feeling as my overactive imagination, I decided that as long as I was in the office, I should probably look through Ethan’s files. Maybe there would be a clue to who Omar was and where I could find his nest.
If the vampire was as dangerous as everyone thought, I had no doubt Ethan would have been tracking him.
As soon as I turned to face the door, I stopped. A dim glow from the emergency lights crept from the cracked door.
I was positive I’d closed it when I left.
Could Alec be wrong?
Maybe Ethan had already been in and forgot to close the door completely.
Drawing in a deep breath, I pushed the door open a few more inches and peered inside. At first, all I could make out were long legs and a black pair of boots propped on my desk.
Just as I was ready to scramble down the stairs, a voice stopped me. “Don’t leave without saying hello.”
Dark Melody: A Vampire Romance (Immortal Legacy Book 1) Page 6
