by HELEN HARDT
Not a bad feeling actually, just not a warm one. Goose bumps still scattered over my arms.
“I’m Joseph, the proprietor of this fine shop. Blessed day to you. What may I help you with?” The man lowered his glasses and looked straight at me.
Erin smiled. “I need some basil and calendula.”
“May I ask what for?”
“Does it matter?” I answered.
“Of course it does. I won’t know how much to give you or in what ratio if I don’t know what you need it for.”
“To mask an odor,” Erin said.
I didn’t like her use of the word “odor.” It sounded bad, though I knew that wasn’t the actual meaning. Still, it grated on me.
“What kind of odor?”
“Well…my odor,” she said.
He inhaled. “Beg your pardon, miss, but you don’t seem to have an odor. And my olfactory sense is quite refined.”
“Certain…people can smell me, apparently,” she said.
Okay. Enough was enough. I bared my fangs.
Joseph nearly jumped out of his seat. “Please. Don’t hurt me.”
“Dante…”
“I’ll take care of this,” I said. “I won’t hurt you. But there’s a gang of vampires after my woman because of her enticing scent. I want it stopped. A voodoo priestess told us calendula and basil might be the answer. Point us in that direction, and we’ll be out of your hair.”
“You’re a…a…”
“A vampire. Yes. A vampire who is rapidly losing patience.” I showed him my teeth once more.
“No. You don’t… You don’t…”
“I do. And if you’re smart, you’ll keep that knowledge to yourself. Now mix up a potion or infusion or whatever to keep those trashy vamps away from my woman.”
“Dante, please. Don’t scare him.”
“Too late for that, miss. Let me be honest with you.” He cleared his throat as he grasped the edges of his desk, his knuckles whitening. “I’m a fraud. I don’t know shit about magick or voodoo or anything. Damn. I should have closed up shop when that dead body turned up in the alley out back.”
An ice pick lodged into my neck. “What?”
“A body. A man. In fact…”
I was this close to grabbing him by the collar. Erin must have felt it too, because she caressed my forearm.
Her touch calmed me. But only a little.
“In fact what?” Erin said.
“In fact, he could be your twin. Although he was probably older. And he had a nasty scar across his entire face, right over his eye.”
“Julian,” Erin whispered.
A wave of something foreign whipped through my body, heating my blood. “Did you make something? Leave a bottle outside a while back?”
“No. Not that I re…”
“What? Finish your damned sentence.”
“I had a dream, though. A dream that I concocted some poison and left it outside the back door, in the alleyway. I swear to God it was only a dream. But the next morning…”
“The next morning what?”
“The next morning, I found the dead body out there. But I swear there was no bottle with him. Nothing. It was a dream. I swear to God it was a dream!”
“What did you do when you found the body?”
“I called the police, of course, but by the time they arrived, the body had disappeared.”
“You didn’t move it?”
“Of course not. Why would I call the police and then move it? I didn’t want to touch a dead body.”
“That’s my father you’re talking about,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Dante.” Erin’s touch heated my arm. “It wasn’t. He’s not his body.”
“You poisoned my father,” I spat.
“I swear I didn’t. It was a dream. A beautiful woman came to me in a dream. She was wearing a…gown of some sort. But not an evening gown. More like a—”
I finished for him. “A hospital gown.”
Chapter Seven
Erin
“My mother,” Dante said softly.
I caressed his arm again, trying to soothe him.
“This man poisoned my father.”
“No, I didn’t! I swear to God it was a dream. Wouldn’t there be evidence if I poisoned him?”
“Dante, he doesn’t remember any of this,” I said.
“Look. I can’t help you with masking your smell. I told you. I’m a fraud. Here”—he handed me a card—“this shop can help you. They’re for real. Tell them I sent you and that I’m closing down. They’ll be glad to hear it. They hate fakes.”
“I need to see the place where you found the body,” Dante said, baring his teeth again. “Now.”
“Of course,” Joseph said, his voice shaking.
He led us through the small shop to a wooden door in the back. He opened it—this one creaked even more than the front—and led us into the alley. Though it was daylight, the alley was dark with shadows.
“He was here,” Dante said. “I can feel it.”
“Dante,” I said as soothingly as I could. “If he has no connection with his body, how can you?”
“Because I’m still a body myself. He no longer is. Maybe it doesn’t make sense to you. But this is where my father died.” He edged away.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to find it.”
I hurried after him. “Find what?”
“The place where….” He turned to face me, his eyes dark and kind of scary. “The place where I escaped from is near here, Erin. River asked me to find it, and I didn’t think I could. I didn’t pay much attention that night. I was starving and scared out of my mind. But it’s close.”
“All right. We’ll find it. We’ll find it together.”
“No. I can’t put you in danger. I’ll come back with River and my dad.”
“Dante…”
“No argument, Erin. I’ll do it later. Right now, we’ll go to the shop the man recommended and see if they can help you.” He sighed. “I know it’s for the best. But not being able to smell you…” He inhaled.
“I’m sorry. But—”
“I know. I understand. Your safety is the most important thing.”
“Your safety too,” I said. “Not just mine. Dante, I don’t want you coming back here.”
“I know, baby. But I have to. For River. It might be the key to finding his father. My father died for this. I don’t have a choice.”
I nodded. He was right, of course. “I know. It’s just—”
Dante turned abruptly and went back into the small shop. I followed quickly.
“Hey!” Dante yelled. “I need to talk to you some more.”
Joseph squinted. “Not again. Please. I don’t know anything.”
“You said the body disappeared while you were calling the police. Can you tell me anything else? Did you see anyone? Who might have taken the body?”
He shook his head. “I’ve already told you everything I know.”
“Think.” His fangs were apparent. “Think hard.”
“I can’t—” The man went rigid.
“What is it?” I asked.
“They’ll kill me.” His voice was a hoarse whisper.
“Who?” Dante demanded. “Who will kill you?”
“The men. They’re like you. I didn’t realize until now. I’ve seen them before. The vampires.”
“The ones who are after me,” I said more to myself than anyone else.
“Vampires aren’t killers,” Dante said.
“These vampires are.”
“And you’re suddenly just remembering all of this? You’re a fucking liar.” Dante stalked forward, his hands balled into fists.
I couldn’t let him do this. I had to do something. But what?
“They said they’d kill me. Said they’d…”
It was all making sense. Of course. The vampires had taken Julian’s body and buried it at St. Louis Cemetery. They were able to gl
amour the guards. No one else could have gotten in.
But why?
“Dante, please. He won’t be able to help us if you beat the crap out of him.”
Dante’s stance softened. Slightly. “You’re lucky I love this woman. You’re lucky I listen to her.”
“Thank you, miss.”
“Don’t thank me.” I rubbed my forehead. “I’m a nurse. I can’t stand to see suffering. Besides, you’re no use to us if you’re messed up. We’re going to need your help.”
He shook his head. “No. They’ll kill me.”
“Do I look like I care?” Dante said.
“Dante.” I touched his hand. “He doesn’t remember anything. If he poisoned your father, it was because your mother told him to. Then she told your father to drink it. It brought him to you. He can’t help us if he’s afraid of us.”
He softened once more, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Tell me everything,” he said. “Every fucking thing. If I have a tiny inkling that you’re not being completely honest with me, I’ll break every bone in your body.”
Chapter Eight
Dante
My blood was finally calming, thanks to Erin.
I regarded the spectacled proprietor of the fraudulent magick shop. He was easily manipulated, clearly.
“Start at the beginning,” I said.
“The beginning is when I had the dream. The beautiful woman in the hospital gown. She made me feel…peaceful. I told her I’d do anything she asked. She gave me a recipe. Told me to combine the ingredients and put it in a brown glass bottle on the stoop outside in back. In the alleyway. I swear to you I don’t remember doing it. I don’t—” He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut.
“What?” Erin said.
“I thought it was part of the dream.”
“What? That what was part of the dream?” I demanded.
“The potion. Mixing the poison. But maybe…maybe it wasn’t.”
“I think it’s obvious that it wasn’t,” I said. “Keep going. What was in the poison?”
“Hemlock. Belladonna. And…rattlesnake venom.”
“Where the hell did you get rattlesnake venom?” I raked my fingers through my hair.
“I don’t know. I can’t afford it. It’s like two thousand dollars an ounce. But it was here in my shop. At least it was in the dream. If it was a dream. No, wait…”
“What?”
“I…I milked the snake myself. In my dream.”
“Where is it now? The venom? Let me see it.”
“I used it all. Threw away the bottle. In my dream.”
“And I suppose the trash has been hauled away since then.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Rattlesnake venom is extremely dangerous,” Erin said. “You’re lucky you didn’t harm yourself just from contact.”
“I was very careful. It was almost like I wasn’t doing it. Like someone was doing it through me.”
“Can vampires do stuff like that?” Erin asked me. “Inhabit a person and make them do things?”
I shook my head. Vampires couldn’t. But according to my father, ghosts could.
Ghosts could, if the person was a medium. Was Joseph a medium? Bea apparently was. Even if Joseph was a medium, the ghost inhabiting him would have had to know how to milk venom from a snake. Certainly not my mother.
That I knew of, anyway.
I knew very little about my mother.
Another question for my father.
“It wasn’t the vampires. They didn’t come until later. After I’d called the cops.”
“They took the body?” I said, ire rising. Vampires. My own kind. Whoever they were, they had removed my father’s clothes before they buried him.
They had wanted me to see his condition.
Fuckers. My fangs itched in anger.
Joseph nodded. “I’m sorry I lied. They said they’d kill me.”
“Describe the vampires who took the body,” I said. “Don’t leave out a single detail.”
“I… I can’t.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Dante.” Erin grabbed my hand.
I whisked it away. “Baby, I need answers. We need answers.”
“You’re right. We do.” She turned to Joseph. “Answer his question, please.”
“I can’t.”
“Bullshit,” I said.
“No, I really can’t. They were masked. I didn’t see them.”
“What kind of masks?”
“Black Mardi Gras masks. Ornate…and oddly beautiful, actually. I was mesmerized by them.”
“You weren’t mesmerized. You were glamoured.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” I turned to Erin. “Do you have any more questions for him?”
She shook her head. “Let’s just go to the other shop and get the herbs I need. Then we can try to figure the rest of this stuff out.”
“I need to talk to my dad.”
In an instant, he appeared before us. I nearly jumped out of my skin. He held two fingers to his lips.
Of course. Joseph couldn’t see him.
“Go to the alley behind the shop. We’ll talk there,” my father said.
“Thanks for everything,” Erin said. “We’ll be back if we have more questions.”
“Please, don’t—”
“We’ll be back if we have more questions,” I repeated. “Don’t try to hide. I will find you.”
In the alley, my father’s ghost was waiting.
“This is where you died,” I said. “I can feel it.”
“You feel the residual energy from my body because your body came from mine.”
“Semantics, Dad. Whatever. I feel it.”
“I know, son.”
“Rattlesnake venom, Dad. You were killed by rattlesnake venom.”
“Was I? It was quick. That’s all I know. Not a lot of pain.”
At least that was a little settling. “Did Mom know how to milk venom from snakes?”
“Not that I know of,” he said.
“Then I’m stumped. That guy, Joseph, said he had a dream that he milked a rattlesnake and made the bottle of poison that killed you. He said a beautiful woman came to him in a dream and told him how to do it. When he described her, she sounded an awful lot like Mom.”
“It probably was. If she could come to me, she could come to others. The need was dire.”
“But how the hell did she know how to make poison?”
“I don’t know, Dante.”
“I want answers, damn it!”
“I know you do. Sometimes there aren’t any. It’s possible another ghost helped Joseph make the poison. Or it’s possible your mother got the information elsewhere. I’m new to the ghostly realm. I don’t know all the avenues of information.”
“Question after question after question.” I sighed. “When are we going to find answers?”
“I don’t know. But we will. The probate hearing on my estate is tomorrow. After that, you’ll have access to my funds.” He smiled. “Correction. Your funds. Well, yours and your sister’s. It would be good if you both appear in court.”
I hadn’t talked to Em in a few days. “I’ll call her.”
“Good.”
“Dad, the vampires who are after Erin—at least we’re assuming they’re the same ones—took your body and buried it in the cemetery. According to the nutjob who owns this shop, anyway.”
“You know for sure they are the same vamps?”
“Not for sure, but who else would it be? Most vampires are nice people, right?”
“That’s not what I mean. How did he know they were vampires?”
“He says he just knows.”
My father began to roll his eyes but then stopped. “How does he know?”
“I don’t have a clue. We got all the information out of him that we could. I figured I’d send River down here to get anything we couldn’t.”
“Good idea. Can he get the time o
ff?”
“He’s taking care of it. He and Erin are both on leave until we solve all these mysteries.”
My father looked at Erin. “Everything worked out?”
“Yeah. With Dante’s help. Apparently he can glamour after all.”
He looked back to me, his brows raised.
“I’m not sure how I did it. I just knew Erin needed the time off, and she was having trouble.”
“Good. You’re showing good instincts. You’ll be a quick study, son. You’ve always learned quickly.”
“When can I learn more? You need to teach me, Dad.”
“I know. Maybe tonight we can begin.”
“Maybe? Why maybe?”
“Because I’m on constant watch. Why do you think I’m not always around? I have other things to attend to.”
“What’s more important than figuring this all out? We have to get Lucy back. And we have to find Uncle Brae.”
“Nothing. Trust me. I’m working outside of the corporeal plane as much as I can, searching for answers.”
I sighed. Always something enigmatic. If it wasn’t that crackpot Bea, it was my own father. “We need to hit another shop to get the herbs for Erin.”
“Good. I’ll be in touch.” My father vanished.
I caught Erin before her legs crumpled beneath her. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. You’d think I’d be used to your father’s disappearing act by now.”
“If it helps, I’m not sure I’m used to it yet either.” I pulled her to me in a tight hug. “I love you. Let’s go to the other shop.”
I inhaled.
Thank God!
I could still smell the luscious fragrance that was Erin. The Wiccan priestess who owned the shop had mixed up a potion for Erin, and she had placed a drop behind each ear and on each wrist.
Her scent was still thick.
As selfish as it was, I was happy her scent hadn’t disappeared.
“I guess it isn’t working. I can still smell you.”
“That doesn’t mean it hasn’t disappeared to the other vampires,” she said. “You might still smell me because of our bond.”
“I hope so, baby. We can check with River tomorrow. If he can’t smell you, we’ll know it worked.”
