by Jana Denardo
“Humph.” Michael snorted, and then turned his attention back to the matter at hand. “If this bitch is stalking you, where else do you usually hang out? We should check those places.”
“I bounce around the casinos on the Strip, and there is a Crypt-Kicker bar on Fremont I go to. Everyone else thinks it’s a sports bar, Shifty’s, but most of the clientele who aren’t tourists are Supernaturals.” Arrigo shrugged. “They aren’t likely targets for the rogue. I hang out in Under the Covers bookstore. There’s the Scarlet Kiss, that wannabe vampire Goth club I mentioned, but it’s not open at this hour. There’s the Vinyl, a coffee shop and record store also on Fremont.”
“Record? As in actual vinyl?” Michael looked at him askance. “That’s so old-fashioned.”
“I am old.” Arrigo chuckled. “I like the pops and hisses, okay? I have a couple clerks I’m friendly with there.”
“Let’s go to the Scarlet Kiss so I can have a sniff around, and then we can check out the record shop. I want to see who still buys records.”
Arrigo hitched himself off Taabu’s table, offering Michael a quirked smile. “More people than you think.”
Michael shrugged and headed for the door. “Coming?”
Chapter Eleven
AFTER GIVING Taabu a day to settle in, Arrigo drove to her place to make sure she was okay. Shani had asked him to talk to her sister because Taabu insisted on returning to work. Arrigo agreed with Shani. Taabu was better off going on a vacation somewhere far away. He’d arrived at her house just in time for the teakettle to go off. Taabu had shooed him into the computer room while she dealt with whatever arcane rituals he had seen her perform around a teapot nearly every day in the office.
Arrigo lounged on the old futon she used for guided meditations, staring at the signed picture of Spike and Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Taabu had hanging in her computer room. Taabu wasn’t a vampire junkie—Jupiter, if she only knew—but she did have a love of good sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero shows. He’d love to be able to tell her there were more vampires like Angel than there were like Spike these days, and none of them were possessed by demons. Taabu was the only one outside of Siobhan who knew he loved the show too. He hadn’t even told Fadil how he and Siobhan would call each other on the phone and watch the show “together.”
He yawned, exhausted. Arrigo wished he’d been able to get some sleep. The sun was too high for coherent thought. He squirmed on the futon in a futile attempt to get comfortable. On her desk across from him, Taabu’s laptop’s computer screen displayed some sort of astrologic chart. Arrigo knew some of the signs, had known more back in the 1800s and again in the ’60s when it had been very popular. He didn’t have much of an interest in astrology. In both instances, he’d mostly used it as a way to hook up with partners and get laid. Arrigo wisely kept that to himself. Taabu might pour the tea she was currently fetching in his lap if she knew.
As if reading his mind, she came back with two cups of tea and handed one to him. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Taabu, I said I didn’t need any. I could have gotten the tea.” Arrigo sat up straighter on the futon.
“And I told you I’m not an invalid. I’m capable of carrying two cups of tea. The doctor said I could go back to work, and I am.” She plopped down on the task chair and then stabbed a finger at him. “And not another word out of you about it. It’s my business. I’m the boss. And I’m coming back tomorrow.”
He blew at a strand of long hair dangling into his view. “I’m worried about you. What if this person comes back for you?”
“Way I see it, I can either stay here like a whipped dog or go back out and show her you don’t mess with Taabu Carter.” Taabu drummed her manicured nails on the desk. Where had she found polish the color of venous blood?
“Shani said she couldn’t convince you either,” he said, making Taabu glare. “So I’ll give up now.” He stared into his teacup. It smelled like wine. How strange. He sipped it. Sort of tasted like it, too, and threw him back to a time when people routinely drank warm wine.
“Your friend, Siobhan, mentioned you’re seeing someone.” Taabu studied him as she changed the subject.
“Sort of.” He met her gaze.
She leaned back on the task chair, fatigue in her eyes. He wanted to mention it but knew she’d protest. He wasn’t going to win the argument about not coming to work. “So why haven’t you mentioned him or her other than in passing? I don’t need details but I’d like to know a little about whoever’s making you happy.”
“Him, and it’s complicated. He comes from a family of assholes, and he’s so deep in the closet, he’s finding where his mom hid the Christmas gifts.”
Taabu snorted her tea. She held a hand to her nose as if to stem tea from dripping out. She coughed a bit. “Damn it, Arri.”
“You’re the one who brought it up.” He held up a hand. “Leave it at he needs to get away from his relatives before I can show him around to my friends. They are the type who might beat him to death and go bury him in the desert.”
“That’s horrible.” She tapped her computer screen, putting it to sleep before pushing it aside. Taking a velvet pouch from the corner of the desk, Taabu pulled out a set of tarot cards with Mucha style art on them. “What’s your boy’s hair and eye color?”
“Blue-eyed blond.” He didn’t have to ask why. He knew she was digging in the deck to find a significator card for Luc. “Doesn’t he have to be here for a reading?”
She nodded, putting the Knight of Wands on the desk. “For a full reading, but we can do a little something and see how you and he will fare. Come over here and shuffle the deck.”
Arrigo obeyed. He was not sure he had ever believed in the cards. He thought Taabu’s psychic abilities were real and not tied to the cards in any way. He wasn’t sure what she believed. Arrigo supposed it didn’t matter. He shuffled the deck, then cut it into thirds upon her instruction. Taabu pulled the Ten of Swords.
Arrigo scowled. “That is not a happy-looking card, Taabu.”
“It’s not. It’s a humbling experience, a potentially awful one, but here.” Taabu tapped the sunrise in the background of the picture of a prone man with all the swords sticking out of him. “There is a new day and there is hope.”
“I’m not liking this future.” Arrigo flopped back down on the futon, grunting. Thin futon pads weren’t made for flopping. He hated futons.
“I’m not exactly thrilled myself.” She tucked her cards away. “Can I tell you something odd?”
“I thought that was your forte.” He smirked.
Taabu rolled her eyes at him. “I told Detectives Washington and Daughtery, but they weren’t impressed. I’m not sure how closely they are working with Shani and Jesus, Shani’s partner. I think you’ve met him at one of our parties.”
“Yeah. If she won’t tell you, you know she’s said nothing to me. You know how Shani is.”
“I can’t talk about an open case.” Taabu did a passable imitation of her sister. “Anyhow, a day or two before the attack, I had this new client, never saw him before.”
Arrigo shrugged. “Not particularly unusual. A lot of tourists roll in.”
Taabu gave him a look. “I know, but this guy was a little off. He took a selfie with me, which isn’t usual. I didn’t think much of it. He seemed more interested in my office than me. Usually people don’t take their eyes off me; either hoping to make better connections so I can read them or watching to see if I’m a fraud, I’m never sure which it is. I thought it was odd he seemed interested in the room. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought much about it, but with what happened next….” She threw her hands up. “Guess the detectives don’t think it’s much.”
He thought about it for a moment. Trusting a psychic’s instinct wouldn’t be a bad thing. “You might be right. My friend Siobhan is a pretty good artist. Think you can describe him to her? I know you can’t really remember the attack, but I trust your gut, Taabu. That strange client might mean something.”
“I could, but what are you thinking?” Taabu patted his hand. “You’re a ghost investigator, sweetie, not a cop.”
“No, but I have friends who are in danger. Let’s get that picture and err on the side of caution.”
Taabu nodded, her eyes getting a faraway look. “Damn… blue eyes and blonde hair.”
“What about them?”
Taabu didn’t answer, scrambling in her cards until she came up with the Queen of Wands. She slapped the card on the table. “My attacker! Oh sweet spirits, I remember, Arrigo! I remember her. Maybe it was going through the cards or talking about that guy, but suddenly I can picture her face, blue eyes and blonde hair.” She flew from the desk and tossed her arms around his neck. “Baby boy, she said she was your friend and that this was all about you, making you hurt.”
Arrigo’s mouth went dry, tasting like rust. A parade of blonde vampires who wished him harm marched across his mind. He embraced her with shaking hands, his worst fears realized. On the other hand, he’d hoped for this breakthrough. Vampires could erase short-term memories. Witches and werewolves were more immune. Psychics weren’t as reliable as the others when it came to immunity, but the lock seemed broken now.
“What? God, we have to call the detectives, Taabu. Can you describe her?” He didn’t really want to get them involved, because it wouldn’t be safe, but Taabu knew police procedure. She’d call her sister about this no matter what he said.
“I think so.”
“Tell me!”
She threw up her hands. “Don’t make me remember it twice.”
“Of course, sorry. That was stupid.” He hated waiting, but he couldn’t make her suffer.
They put in the call, and the detectives promised to bring a sketch artist with them after Arrigo protested Taabu still tired easily, not physically or emotionally up to coming down to the station. He figured Taabu being Shani’s sister helped paved the road for that allowance. They waited in near silence. Arrigo told her to concentrate on her memories, not wanting her to have to voice the happenings of that terrible night to him and then again to the detectives. He made her a second pot of tea while they waited.
Taabu answered the door when the bell rang. She ushered Detective Washington, Shani, and a young man Arrigo hadn’t met before into the living room.
Washington raised her eyebrows at him. “Mr. Giancarlo, I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Just making sure Taabu is all right and trying to talk her into staying with Shani,” Arrigo gestured at Shani, “or me until we know she’s safe.”
Shani rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, she’s being stubborn.”
“You know your sister well.”
“Ms. Carter, this is Jacob Hopper, a sketch artist. Do you remember him from the hospital? You were still fairly out of it then.” Washington turned to Arrigo. “You might want to head on home, Mr. Giancarlo. This could take some time.”
“If you don’t mind, could I stay? This person could have been looking for me and found Taabu instead.”
Shani glowered at him. “How so?”
“Earlier you said you didn’t know who this could be,” Washington added.
“I don’t, but I was thinking I have had a few crazy exes. I should have thought of that when you were interviewing me, Detective, but I was thinking more about Taabu and if she’d be all right. Now that I know she is, I’m clearer headed.” Arrigo hadn’t given the crazy ex lie much thought, but it made sense. The police would never get close enough to a rogue vampire and live to interview her. “I thought I might be able to recognize something, but I didn’t want to make Taabu live through more than necessary. I can sit over in the corner, out of your way.”
Arrigo stared at her, but Washington didn’t acquiesce immediately. After some consideration, she nodded and indicated for Hopper to get started. Shani sat next to her sister on the couch, and as promised Arrigo sat on the old rocking chair that had belonged to the sisters’ grandmother. He didn’t miss the way Washington used her body to shield Taabu from his view, as if afraid he was sticking around to bully her into describing what he wanted her to.
Arrigo listened to the artist and the detectives pulling information out of Taabu. Petite, blonde, that could be hundreds of rogues he’d known.
He sat up a bit straighter when Taabu said, “Hey, Arrigo, she had an accent that might have been eastern European. Did your ex have one? She was richly dressed, too, enough so it caught my eye.”
His brain churned. Arrigo had tried to capture a group from Transylvania who had decided to embrace Stoker’s depiction of vampires and make a harem of Renfields. There had been a few from that region with a particular hate of him.
“Arri, you know something.” Shani roused him out of his musings.
He shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll look at the picture when it’s done. I’m not sure just by listening.” Arrigo took out his phone and texted Siobhan to see if she knew where Yelizaveta was these days. Hades, he should have thought of her straight away, but he hadn’t seen her since the debacle in that field in New York. She was good at avoiding capture, but there could have been sightings of her. He sent the same message to Fadil. No one pinged him back immediately.
“Mr. Giancarlo, it’s done. Come have a look,” Washington said.
“I never saw her before I was attacked,” Taabu said as he rose.
Arrigo took a look. The hard but classically sculpted features of the face Hopper had sketched definitely bore a resemblance to Yelizaveta. “Taabu, did she have a beauty mark here?” He tapped the crease of his right eye.
She pinched her lips tight. He could almost hear her thinking. Taabu slowly nodded. “She might have.”
“You do know who this is.” Washington crossed her arms, leaning toward him.
“Arri?” Shani’s gaze could have knifed through cinder block.
“Definitely could be one of my exes.”
“Her name,” Washington prompted.
Arrigo had no idea what last name she was using now, so he went with the last surname he had known her by. “Vaduva.” Not every vampire stayed on the grid like he did. Arrigo had carefully forged documents. He tried to be as modern as he could. He had a job. He blogged and Facebooked but didn’t see the purpose of Twitter. That didn’t mean Yelizaveta did the same, and he had no idea what the detectives might find on a search. He needed a little reassurance this wouldn’t be back to bite him in the ass. “Yelizaveta Vaduva. I haven’t seen her in a while. I thought she had given up.” He could hardly explain the real feud between him and her. “She was from Budapest, or so she told me, and frankly I had hoped she’d gone back there. I’m not sure anything she told me was the truth. When I moved to Vegas, I thought I had seen the last of her.”
“Where was the last place you saw her?” Washington took out a notepad from her purse.
“New York, but it’s been years,” Arrigo said. Technically it had been decades since he’d run into her at Woodstock.
Washington eyed him as if to say how many years could it be? Arrigo was painfully aware he didn’t look old enough to have an ex from centuries ago, or even ten years ago. “What can you tell me about her?”
“Probably not much. We went out a couple times. She was possessive and stalkerlike. I had no idea she was in Vegas.”
“Was she violent?” Washington asked.
As much as he wanted to give them a resounding yes, Arrigo knew if they did a check, they wouldn’t find any police reports on it. “I thought she could be, so I tried to make sure our paths stayed far apart.”
“Do you have any idea why she would hurt my sister and say she was a friend while doing it?” Shani’s dark eyes were hard as obsidian.
Arrigo shrugged. He knew the answer. This was to get his attention and prove to him his friends were at risk and there was nothing he could do about it. “She was a little nuts. That’s why I took off on her. Taabu and I share a business. Yelizaveta was crazy jealous. She could have thought Taabu and I were lovers.
” He sighed. “We’re not, but I doubt Yelizaveta would believe that. She’s never been reasonable around me.”
“Do you have any idea where we would find her?” Washington asked.
He shook his head again. “Not at all. When I saw her in New York, I was actually living in New Orleans at the time.” That was a lie, but if they checked him out, it was the last place he had lived. Luc was probably just a kid back then. Damn, he was so old. “Sorry, I can’t help you. I would if I could. I have other friends in town, and if this is what she’s planning to do to them, I want her caught.”
“Could you write up a few more details on the when and where?”
“I’m terrible with the when, but I could probably handle the where.” He made a show of checking his watch. He still wasn’t used to telling time on his phone. “I have to meet my friend from Boston. Can I work on that and give it to you another time, Detective? I’ll make it as quick as I can.”
Washington nodded. “That would work. If you don’t mind, I have a few more questions for Ms. Carter.”
“All right. May I take a photo of this?” He pointed to the drawing. “I’ll see if any of my friends have seen her around.”
“Go ahead,” Washington replied. “It’ll be on TV tonight anyhow.”
“Thanks.” He took a couple quick pictures of the drawing, then put his hand on Taabu’s shoulder. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt worse. Call me if you need anything. Shani, try to convince her to go with you or with me. I have a second bedroom in a secure building.”
“I’ll try, but you know how she is.” Shani narrowed her eyes at her sister.
Taabu glared back. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for coming, Arrigo.”
“I’ll get you the list of details as soon as I can,” he promised.
“Thanks.” Taabu waved as he left.
Arrigo nodded, wondering what his chances were of finding a vampire who had slipped past the Chiaroscuro so many times, before she hurt another of his friends. The odds, as so often in Vegas, were not in his favor.
