I dove across the room to where I had tossed one of the stakes. My hands closed on it and I rolled to my feet.
The vampire was starting to rise. I sprang, drawing back then shoving forward with the stake. Into the stomach, just below the breastbone, in and up. I hit the heart.
The vampire went down. I sagged to my knees, watching it lay, immobile. My breath came in deep gasps.
"Is it...is it dead?"
I looked up. The girl peeked from behind the couch, staring at the body on the floor. She was alive and mobile. Thank God.
I licked my lips tasting the salt of blood. "Not yet."
I scooped up the remains of the knife. About two inches of blade remained protruding from the hilt. I sat next to the vampire and began to saw. Already by the time I'd gotten the stake into the vampire its cut throat had healed to a red weal.
A few minutes later I managed to finish sawing through the spine. The head fell away from the body.
I sat back with a sigh and looked up at the girl. "I don't suppose you have any garlic?"
The girl stared at me then shrugged. "That's a vampire, isn't it? They're real."
I sighed again. I looked down at the vampire, then at the girl. I could have Pushed. Made her forget, or at least prevent her from saying anything to anybody but...
If this was Ware's daughter, he would never forgive me. And for some strange reason I did not want to do anything unforgivable to him. I shook my head and set that thought aside for a later time.
"Yes," I said. "They're real."
"They're not...not like in the books."
I squeezed my eyes tight.
"Which books would those be?" My voice sounded flat and tired even to me.
"Oh, you know..."
"Yes, I suppose I do. No. They're not like in the books. They're monsters, all of them. There's not a romantic hero or tragic "lonely one" in the lot. They are predators. They see you as food, nothing more."
She nodded, her eyes wide as she stared at the vampire corpse...or almost corpse.
"So...garlic?"
"Mom might have some in the kitchen."
"Could you check?" I waved at the body. "I don't think I should leave our friend here alone."
"Uh...okay."
She stood. I was able to get a closer look at her. Closer to twelve was my guess. She edged around the widening pool of red on the floor and scurried into the back of the house.
I looked down at myself. I was a mess. I had managed to avoid most of the blood spray, but blood dripped from the hem of my skirt and soaked my arms halfway to my elbows. More spatters dotted me here and there.
I stood and collected my gun and the other stake. Vampires bleed a lot when you behead them. A lot.
The hotel staff would throw a fit if they saw me walk in like this. And what would the girl's mother say when she got home? That carpet would never come clean. They'd need to pull and replace it.
The girl returned holding a large head of garlic in her hand. "This what you need?"
She stood just outside the pool of blood and leaned over to hold out the garlic.
I took it. "Perfect. Sewing supplies?"
"Sewing? I don't understand?"
"Needle and thread. Do you have some?"
"I've got a needlepoint kit back in my room. Dad gave it to me for my birthday."
"That would be perfect." I sat next to the vampire's head and began to break the head of garlic into individual cloves, stuffing the cloves into the vampire's mouth. "Could you bring it to me?"
I watched as she again scurried into the back of the house. She seemed to be handling this well.
I only hoped Ware would handle it as well.
The girl watched while I sewed the vampire's lips shut around the mouthful of garlic. She did not seem horrified. More...fascinated.
"What's your name?"
"Elizabeth," she said. "Elizabeth Ware. My friend's call me Liz. What's yours?"
"Dani. Dani Herzeg."
"Why are you doing that?" She waved a hand at the vampire's head. "Sewing the mouth shut?"
"Vampires are harder to kill that some people think. A stake doesn't do it. That just immobilizes them. Even cutting off the head doesn't do it." I finished the last stitch and set the head down.
"Now, with his mouth sewn shut and his mouth full of garlic, with the rising of the sun he will be truly dead."
I looked at Liz and wondered again what to do about her. "Pushing" was still out of the question.
"Where's your mother?" I asked.
"She's at work. She'll be back in a couple hours. Are you a cop?"
"No," I said. "Private investigator."
"And vampire hunter too, I'll bet."
I shrugged. "I'm working with your father on a case."
"Yeah, yeah, I know how that goes. Can't talk about it, right? Dad would never tell me about the interesting stuff."
"Well, he works homicide so he probably thinks..."
"Yeah, yeah. Too gruesome for the little girl." She rolled her eyes. "After Freddy and Jason, what's he got that's going to freak me out?"
I shook my head. "Your father lets you watch that kind of stuff?"
"No, but once they split, Mom didn't care. Are you staying here?"
I shrugged. "I think I'd better." I nodded down at the dead vampire. "There could be more of these. And I think your father will be coming as soon as he can."
"If you're staying, wanna watch a movie?"
I quirked a half smile. "Freddy or Jason?"
"Nah. Something better."
Moving around the red stains, Liz put a disk in the player under the TV and I groaned inwardly as the film started. A cheesy, but violent, vampire movie.
Well, if this was the kind of thing she watched at least she wasn't totally enamored of the romantic vampire nonsense so popular in modern fiction.
Liz sat on the couch. I sat on the floor, just outside the sodden carpet. No point in spreading the mess any farther than I had to.
We were well into the movie when I heard footsteps on the porch. I rose to my feet, pivoting to face the door, hand on the grip of the gun.
I relaxed when I saw Ware in the doorway, his own gun out and extended in a low ready position.
I held up my hands in front of me. "We're clear."
His eyes flicked down to the body on the floor. "Dead?"
"As dead as they get," I said.
He nodded and put his gun away. "That's one then."
He stepped into the room, his eyes lit on Liz. "Baby doll?"
Almost before I saw him move he had crossed the room and wrapped Liz in his arms.
"Thank God." He buried his face in her shoulder. "Thank God you're all right."
"Daddy?" Liz pushed at him but he held tighter. "Daddy, you should have seen. The vampire had me and she came in and the vampire threw me aside to try to get to her and she beat him up and then she cut his head off. It was so cool!"
Ware released his grip and held her at arms length. "She...beat...him...up?"
"And then cut his head off."
Ware looked up at me, his eyes moist. "The vampire had her? Did he?"
He stood, letting go of Liz.
I shook my head. "He didn't bite her. It was a close thing. I wish I could have gotten here sooner."
I found myself wrapped in his arms. "Thank you. God, if anything had happened to Lizzie I... Thank you."
For some reason I hesitated to push myself away. His arms, there across my back, just seemed right. His arms tightened, heedless of the half-dried blood that still covered me.
I looked up. He was close, so close that his breath caressed my lips.
"Detective Ware." I licked my lips. "James."
"Well, isn't this a sight."
I froze at that strange female voice. Ware stiffened. His head swiveled in the direction of the front door. I turned my head in the same direction.
A middle-aged woman, still handsome despite the hint of crows feet stood in the ope
n doorway. She wore a cream blouse and jacket and skirt in dark gray. Her hair, just longer than shoulder length and a red that I was sure came from a bottle, fell in coifed waves. She had hands on her hips as she stared at Ware.
She looked me up and down. I could only imagine what she thought.
She tilted her head. "I didn't realize this was what you were into."
"Hello, Belinda," Ware said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Detective Ware stepped back so fast he almost jumped. I looked down at my hand in his. I had not even noticed his taking it. He dropped it.
I looked at the woman he'd addressed as Belinda expecting to see raging jealousy on her face but saw only...confusion.
"James? What are you doing here, and who is...?"
As I watched, here eyes drifted downward then widened. Her face went pale.
"What in God's creation is that?" She pointed at the vampire corpse on the floor.
"It's a vampire!" Liz said.
I winced. This was getting too complicated.
"I see what it is! It's a dead body. Why is there a dead body in my living room? And why is its head cut off!" The last came out as a shriek.
I looked at Ware. He was not going to like this, but I had no choice.
"Miss," I said, my voice sharp. "Belinda!"
She turned to face me, fury raging across her face, her mouth open to shout. My eyes met hers. I Pushed.
"Please, have a seat." I pushed through my words. Confusion replaced fury on her face. I pointed to a chair. "Please. You've had a shock. This can be explained but it will take some time."
She lurched like a sleepwalker to the chair and sat.
Ware stared at me. "What did you just do?"
"Something I inherited from my parents," I said. "I can sometimes...influence people." I rubbed my temples. "I'm going to have a beaut' of a headache. It's been too soon since... well, it doesn't matter."
"Influence," Ware said. He looked at Liz. "And did you?"
I sighed. "I didn't. I promise. If I had, do you think she'd be jumping up and down talking about vampires? No. I can't do it often and I don't unless I absolutely have to."
"And you had to here?" He waved at his wife who still sat calmly in the chair.
"I'm sorry, Detective, really I am, but you saw that she was about to have a full meltdown. I just...calmed things down a bit. No harm has been done. I'm just buying some time to figure out what to tell her."
"But..." Liz waved her hands at the corpse. "Vampire."
I looked at Ware and tilted my head to the side, my lips pressed thin. He sighed.
"Liz, sweetie, you can't tell anybody about the vampire."
"But..."
"No 'buts' Liz. You can't tell anyone. Police business."
"But...vampires. They're real."
I sighed. "Yes, they're real. And they're secret. And they want to keep it that way."
She started to speak, and I held up a hand.
"A few times in the past, people became aware of the vampires. When that happened, the vampires started to kill. Not just feed but kill and kill and kill. By the time they were done, a large portion of the population was dead, including anybody willing to admit to the existence of vampires. A generation later, vampires were reduced to legends and the deaths attributed to a plague."
I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. I had seen Matei's records of the event. He had never admitted it, but I did not doubt that he had been part of that slaughter. Whatever his behavior currently, I could never forget that he was a monster. I hated myself for allowing myself to like the creature, knowing what I know about him.
"There are never many vampires. There are something like a hundred thousand humans for every one of them. They cannot fight you openly so if they cannot prey on you in secret, they turn to terror. You cannot talk about this. Nobody would believe you, but it would be worse if they did. Other vampires would come, and they would kill your mother, your father, your friends, you, everyone you know."
The throbbing in my head grew to the point of creating sparkles in my vision. I squeezed my eyes tight for a moment, then looked at Belinda. The confusion on her face had transformed into shock. She had heard and processed my words to Liz.
"What should I do with your wife?" I asked Ware.
"Ex," he said absently then shook his head. "You need to release her. You know how many rights you're..."
I held up a hand. "Fine."
I eased up on the push, pausing a moment to implant a suggestion that sitting and waiting were her own ideas. Shock, I thought. Yes, shock at seeing the dead body and the blood. Close enough to the surface that only a slight nudge presented it as a reason to obey my earlier instructions.
I released the rest of the Push and sighed. I still needed a handful of Tylenol but at least the sparkles had started to fade.
"What are you talking about?" Belinda rose to her feet like a wrathful deity and pointed a finger at me. "Vampires? In my house? Are you insane?"
"It's real, Mom," Liz said. "I saw the fangs and everything."
Belinda turned the finger at Liz. "You stay silent, little girl"
"But Mo-o-o-o-m."
"Silent. This is between me, your father, and his..."
I watched her search for the word she wanted to use.
"Consultant," Ware said. "Ms. Herzeg is up from Nashville, consultant on the recent cult murders."
"Is that what you were doing when I came in? Consulting?"
"Belinda, I..."
"Detective Ware got word that there was a possible threat against your family related to the cult. He called me about it and I was in a position to get here quicker. As it happened, I was just in time to stop the attack on your daughter." I compressed the time. No need to tell her about my handling of the body or sitting and watching a movie. "Ware arrived soon thereafter and saw how close you had come to losing your daughter. I guess it was an emotional moment."
"Emotional. Right."
Ware sighed. "Belinda. There's no reason for you to be..."
"Jealous? Of course not. We're not married any more, are we?"
"No, but..." He pressed a hand to his face and bowed his head.
"Um, Detective?" I touched his arm. "We have more important things to deal with right now."
He looked at me, a strange expression on his face. Frustration? Maybe regret?
"They're still out there," I said. "We've got to get your family safe."
His face cleared immediately. All business once more. "Both of you need to pack up an overnight bag. I'll have the department take you to a safe house."
"I'm not going with your cop buddies." Belinda set her hands on her hips. "It's clear I can't stay here. Do you know how much it's going to cost to get this carpet cleaned? And the walls. God, how did you get blood on the walls? No, I'll take Elizabeth to my mother's."
Ware looked at me, a question in his eyes. "Her mother lives in Fort Wayne."
I nodded. "Should be okay. I haven't heard of any activity there."
"All right," Ware said to his ex. "But you can't tell anyone where you went, not even..."
"I know the drill," Belinda snapped. I tried not to use the term 'harpy' even in my own mind, but it was a challenge. "I was married to a cop for ten years. Don't talk to anybody. We vanish until it's safe to come back."
"Three can keep a secret," Liz said.
Ware chuckled. "If two are dead."
"I'll go pack, Dad." She held out her arms. "Hugs."
Ware started to open his arms, then glanced down at the blood he'd picked up from hugging me. He raised a finger. "Rain check."
Liz grinned, then dashed into the back of the house.
I suppressed the urge to smile. Divorced or not, Ware seemed to have a close relationship with his daughter.
As the mother followed the daughter into the back of the house. I touched Ware on the arm again. "You okay?"
"How are we going to explain this to the force?" He shook his head at
the carnage. "God, if you'd just shot him or stabbed him, we could make a clear case of self-defense but. Cutting his head off? The prosecutor will be after your scalp. Hell, he'll be after mine too."
I held up a hand. "We don't—explain anything that is. This isn't the first vampire I've taken down by a long shot. The body? Well, while the beheading and garlic sewn into the mouth will have it permanently dead at sunrise, I'd feel much better with the body burned to ash. As for the blood, I'll see if Matei can set up a discreet cleaning crew." I suppressed a giggle. "Do you think your ex would appreciate some new carpet? I don't think anything is going to get this clean."
"Are you shitting me?" Ware stared at me. "This is a crime scene. We can't..."
I held up a hand and spoke softly. "This is a vampire. As far as the public, the force, and the prosecutor are concerned it never happened. It has to be that way."
Ware let his head fall into his hands. "Disturbing crime scenes, moving and concealing bodies, what else are you going to have me doing before this is over?"
I frowned. Ware had been far too easy to convince. My frown deepened with suspicion. Matei, I thought, what did you do? Aloud, I offered an oblique answer to Ware's question.
"Frankly, Detective, I don't think you want to know."
I hoped this would be the worst we would have to do. I feared it was the least.
While Belinda and Liz packed, I found a package of large garbage bags in the kitchen. I put the head of the vampire in one and pulled another over the shoulder and chest of the corpse. Those would keep it from tracking more blood when I moved it.
We soon saw Belinda and Liz off with an admonition to call when they reached Belinda's mother's house.
With the civilians gone, I slipped past James and over to the vampire corpse. I stooped next to the body. I shoved my left arm under the body and hefted it to my shoulder. I then picked up the bag containing the head and transferred it to my left hand. With my left arm wrapped around the body, head dangling from the same hand, I could carry it while still leaving my right hand and arm free.
I stood. "Do you know where the door to the garage is in this place?"
Ware stared at me nonplussed. I had told him I was strong, but I guess it had not registered what that meant.
"Yeah, this way." Ware led the way through the house.
The Unmasking (Dhampyre the Hunter Book 1) Page 9
