“Fine.” The less time in face to faces with him, the better. “Thanks for the info.”
“You’re welcome, Miss Jones. Gentlemen.” With a nod, Lord Derrick vacated the library.
Five
Lady Esme had been a petite, blue-eyed blonde turned when she was sixteen. Arriving at her “home” I thought she may have been overcompensating for her attractive appearance. It wasn’t a castle with turrets, but what looked like a fort of some sort with a lot of really ugly gargoyles lining its stone walls, as well as the outer wall. Gargoyles littered the gardens, and two that somewhat resembled lions stood guard at the huge front doors.
“Spooky.”
“They live, mistress,” Leglin said, and I shivered, edging away from the one to the left of the door that I’d been looking at. We were waiting for someone to answer Stone’s knock.
“They’re real? That’s just creepy.”
“Lady Esme had a talent for taming gargoyles.” Stone smiled, and I noticed his fangs didn’t show. “One of the reasons her family is few in number. She didn’t need to turn many, with such a large number of gargoyles under her command.”
Vamps called their groups families? I turned, craning my neck to look up and around. “How many are there?”
“Possibly as many as two hundred. There are more inside.”
“So she had all these gargoyle guards, and someone still managed to kill her in her own home.” That seemed to point to magic, but all the suspects were vampires and it was generally accepted that vampires couldn’t do magic. Either some could, or the killer had the ability to teleport. That was the best psychic ability for getting in and out anywhere fast. “Hm.”
“It’s dark. They should be awake,” Soames said. “Why aren’t they?”
“Perhaps they’re mourning the death of their mistress.” Stone grasped the metal ring of the knocker and banged it a few more times. I glanced back at the open gate. There hadn’t been any vamps on guard.
“Derrick said she’d turned Lira and Dawson about three months ago. Was she replacing, or growing her family?” I scratched Leglin’s neck, trying to decide if it was the gargoyles or something else causing my uneasiness.
“As I said, she kept her family quite small. With those two, she had five fledglings.”
Growing then, and there should be three vampires inside. I closed my eyes and scanned with my telepathy, picking up nothing but a low, grinding hum. “I don’t think anyone’s home.”
The big vampire glanced at me before shoving one of the doors open. A pile of ashes lay ten feet beyond it, ruining the dark green carpet runner lining the main hall. He took two steps toward the ashes before I said, “Wait. Let me take pictures first.”
“Of course. I’ll inform my master of our discovery while you do so.”
We both pulled out our cell phones, and I tapped the camera icon to turn it on. First, I took still shots, beginning with the view of the grand hall from the doorway. Once I’d finished taking all the shots I wanted, I took a few minutes of video for good measure.
By the time I’d finished, Lord Derrick himself arrived, with a passel of vampires behind him. I hurried toward the door before he stepped inside. “You hired us to do the investigating.”
“Of course, but we can locate the others more quickly if they’re here.”
“Yeah, and mess with the evidence if it doesn’t support the ‘politically motivated’ theory.”
He glared, squaring his shoulders. “Excuse me?”
“This,” I waved a hand toward the ashes. “Might be something else entirely, and I don’t feel like going off on a wild goose chase if it’s not related to the case you hired us to handle.”
“Are you suggesting....”
“I’m not suggesting anything. Let us do our job, and once we’re finished scoping things out, you and your people can do yours.” I jerked my chin toward Stone. “He can go with us. I’m done with this scene, so your people can do their thing here.”
We had a stare off, but Derrick finally agreed.
The guys, Leglin, Stone, and I walked past the ash pile to the foot of the stairs. There were two gargoyles perched on the newel caps, not twenty feet away from the pile of ashes. They looked like misshapen dogs with wings and smushed Pekinese faces. “Those two just stood there and watched?”
“Gargoyles are stone during the day.” Soames sniffed the air. “They’re supposed to come alive at nightfall.”
“Okay. But can they see during the day, or are they completely unconscious?” Neither he nor Stone knew. I pulled out my cell phone and called my boss.
“Arcane Solutions, how may I help you?”
“Hi, it’s me. What can you tell me about gargoyles? Specifically, do they know what’s going on while they’re stone?”
Mr. Whitehaven said, “The young have less patience with being constrained by daylight. They often do not sleep as deeply as their elders do.”
“Okay.” Maybe there was a gargoyle kid or teen I could talk to. If they were able to talk. “Any tips on figuring out which are young and how to talk to them?”
“The smaller the gargoyle, the younger it is. I wouldn’t recommend attempting telepathic contact with an elder, Discordia, unless one approaches you.”
“They’re all still rocks.”
“Interesting.” He was quiet for a moment. “Look for one near the size of your smaller four-legged houseguests, and speak to it out loud so that the others will realize you have no intentions of harming it before you attempt telepathic communication. Don’t touch it unless it invites you to. Gargoyles can be quite protective of their young.”
“Right. Thanks, boss.” I ended the call and put my phone away. “Mr. Whitehaven said not to touch the gargoyles, and I need to find a Chihuahua-sized one to try and talk to. Upstairs or down first?”
“The safest rooms would be downstairs, and if they were aware they were under attack, they should’ve gone to them,” Stone replied.
“Then down we go.”
“This way.” He led us down the grand hall to an archway. Inside was an open wooden door, and a table holding oil lamps. The big vamp lit two, offering one to Soames. Beyond the wooden door were stone steps leading down into darkness.
“I thought vampires could see in the dark.”
“Some habits are difficult to break,” Stone said as he started down the steps. Nick scuttled a step ahead, to put himself between the vamp and me. I rolled my eyes before following him, Leglin beside me, and Soames brought up the rear, holding his oil lamp high. At the foot of the steps, we found a second pile of vampire remains.
“Great. Let me through, I need to get pictures.” It took a minute to slide past the two in front. After snapping one shot, I checked the result. “Soames, will you pass that lamp to Nick? I need more light.”
“Turn the flash on,” Nick said.
“It’s on, but the picture sucks. More light.”
He took the lamp from Soames and held it out. I took as many shots as I could, and noticed a faint glint of something in the pile when shooting from one angle. “Found something. Hang on.”
After digging a pen out of my purse, I crouched down and used it to fish out a gold signet ring. Holding it up for Stone to look at, I asked, “Know who this belongs to?”
“Ramon. He was Esme’s heir apparent to her council seat.”
“Okay. Did anyone grab....” Stone whipped out a plastic baggie from his pocket and opened it. I let the ring drop into it. “Thanks. Keep it for now.”
The men and Leglin edged around the late Ramon, and Stone retook the lead. We followed him down a low-ceilinged stone hallway, turning right to take a second flight of stairs down. “Esme’s chambers are at the end of this passage.”
One of Esme’s family had met his or her end in the same room, and hadn’t been old enough to turn to dust. A brownish skeleton lay sprawled through the doorway, its skull detached. I looked at what I could see of the room. The skull, not a foot away from the lar
ge bed dominating the chamber, was facing the door as if it had watched its body turn to bone. A pair of emerald and diamond earrings lay to either side of the skull, signaling the vamp leftovers were female. “Ugh.”
“Gia,” Stone murmured. “You should’ve listened to me.”
“What did you tell her?”
The big vamp glanced at me. “That she should request sanctuary with my master.”
“Oh. And you think he’s safe with all of this going on?” I peered into the room. “Are you sure it’s her?”
“I gave her those earrings.”
“Oh. Um, my sympathies.” Sympathy wasn’t what I felt. Irritation over more complications in the case? Oh, yeah, I was totally feeling that. “Why would she run in here? It’s a dead end.”
Nearly the instant I finished speaking, a flash illuminated my mind and a pale gray thread appeared, leading into the room. I groaned and felt Nick touch my back. “What’s wrong?”
“Another new color.”
“Excuse me?” Stone said.
“Psychic thing. Can we get some light in there?” The light from the hallway fell in a rectangle from door to bed. The rest of the room was dark, thanks to the lack of windows.
“Of course.” The big vamp stepped over his late girlfriend and began lighting candles. I followed, Nick behind me, but not before handing Soames my phone and indicating the skeleton with a jerk of my chin. He began taking pictures, and I tried not to make a face when I realized they’d left Lady Esme’s ashes on her bed. The gray line led around the bed and to the far corner of the room, where a wardrobe sat against the wall.
“Maybe it’s a door to Narnia,” I muttered, and Nick gave me a blank look. “You only read paranormal romances, right?”
“No.”
I was beginning to suspect he didn’t read at all, or at least not for fun. The wardrobe’s doors were cracked open. Waving Nick back, I used my telekinesis to open them all the way. It was full of evening dresses and shoeboxes. “Lady Esme, fashionista.”
Nick surveyed the contents with narrowed eyes. “I don’t see anything useful.”
“Well, it’s still showing, so something in there is a clue or leads to a clue.” I stepped forward and began looking through the dresses. “Ooh, this one’s nice. Wonder where she bought it?”
A soft screech was my only warning before something shot out from under the dresses and began flapping around my head. We both ducked, but whatever it was grabbed hold of some of my hair and started burrowing. Tiny claws scratched my neck and scalp. “Eww, get it off, get it off!”
Nick planted his hands on my shoulders, but the thing kept tangling itself in my hair. “Be still and I’ll uh...You said not to touch them.”
I had a gargoyle in my hair. A baby gargoyle. Fantastic. “It’s not going to pee on me, is it?”
“Like I’d know. Quit moving.” He released my shoulders and parted my hair to look at it. “It’s hiding its face. I think it’s scared.”
“Great.” He let my hair fall and I slowly turned around. “How do I get it to let go?”
“Talk to it?”
The boss had said to do that before trying telepathy. “Right. Um, little gargoyle, it’s okay. You don’t have to be scared. No one here’s going to hurt you.”
No movement from the lump attached to the back of my head. “Come on, baby G. Get out of my hair.” Nothing. I looked around the end of the bed at Stone. “A little help here?”
“Perhaps if you took it upstairs to one of the larger gargoyles?”
“Okay.” I glanced at the wardrobe, and noticed the gray tracking line had disappeared. Which had to mean it had appeared to point me at the baby gargoyle, and thus, the critter tangled in my hair could offer up a clue. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Come on, Nick.”
We rejoined Soames and Leglin after stepping over the late Gia. Stone didn’t follow us, probably wanting a few minutes alone to either mourn or reclaim those expensive earrings. I waited until we cleared the stairs leading up to the main floor before trying to talk to the little gargoyle again, using my telepathy this time. Hi, my name’s Cordi. What’s yours?
It shivered.
It’s really all right. I won’t let anyone hurt you.
The gargoyle moved, pulling my hair. I gritted my teeth to keep from saying “Ow” and maybe scaring it more. Do you want your mommy? If you do, you’ll have to tell me where she is.
Its tiny claws scratched as it slipped down, moving from my hair to my shoulder. Soames noticed and started to say something, but closed his mouth when I put my finger to my lips. The gargoyle huddled against the side of my neck, pulling my hair over itself to hide. It felt like warm suede. That’s more comfy. Thank you.
Welcome. It was the tiniest whisper of thought, but clear. Yay, I’d established contact with the alien life form. Thank goodness it wasn’t a face hugger.
What’s your name?
Tase. It shivered again, something sliding around the back of my neck.
Though I hadn’t meant to, I was already touching it—well, it was touching me—so I reached up to pat it. Did we scare you? We didn’t mean to.
Invisible, invisible, invisible. Tase shivered while chanting the words as though they were a spell. I dropped my hand, worried I’d freaked him out by touching him.
“I think he’s too little and scared to be any help. Let’s see if we can find his parents.” We made the turn from the top of the stairs, walking down the short hallway that led to the grand entry hall. Derrick was still by Ramon’s ashes, speaking to a pair of his vampires.
I stopped as we passed the foot of the stairs because the gargoyle closest to us woke up, half-extending its wings. One second, it was a statue, the next moving. It turned its smushed-looking face toward me. “Uh oh.”
“Give me the child.” Its voice sounded like pebbles being poured out of a bag. Mr. Whitehaven hadn’t said they could speak verbally.
“Are you its mom? Because I think Tase wants its mom.” The grinding sound I’d heard earlier, while scanning the place, filled my mind again. It was a lot louder this time, and ended as something large thumped down at the main doors. I kind of didn’t want to look away from Smush, but did and discovered the other vampires scattering at the approach of a tiger-sized gargoyle.
This one was black, and actually did have a feline body, with a long tail ending in a spade point. Its wings were folded, and its lionish face was surrounded by a mane of curls. It tramped right over the late Ramon’s ashes, heading directly for me.
“I think that’s Mommy,” Nick said. “Same tail.”
“Give me my child, human.” Mama Gargoyle’s voice sounded nearly human, with just a touch of a grinding tone.
“That was my plan. Um, Tase?” The baby gargoyle didn’t move. “Your mom’s here. Time to go home.”
“What did you do to him?” Mama Gargoyle bared a set of jagged teeth. So Tase was a boy. Good to know. I heard Nick take a deep breath before moving a step ahead of me. Soames slipped between me and Smush, the one at the foot of the stairs.
“Nothing. He was hiding, and he came out and crawled into my hair.”
Leglin suddenly stepped in front of all three of us, and growled at Mama Gargoyle. “My mistress stated her intentions. She wishes to return the child to you. She does not harm the young or helpless.”
Mama Gargoyle’s tail lashed from side to side, narrowly missing the stomach of one of the vampires as he plastered himself against the wall. She’d understood the hound. “Then surrender him to me.”
“I’m trying to. He’s scared and won’t let go.” I lifted my hair so that she could see him. Tase, you have to go to your mommy. She’s getting really mad.
“Did you touch him?”
“Uh, yeah, but he touched me first. I told you he crawled into my hair, and you can see he’s on my neck.”
Mama Gargoyle hissed, her too-large eyes becoming slits. Leglin lowered his head and flattened his ears, the fur down his back rising as he bared his t
eeth in a silent snarl. Crap, we were going to have a fight if we couldn’t calm her down.
“Look, I only touched him because he was already touching me, and he’s scared. If I’d hurt him, do you think he’d be clinging to my neck like this?” Her eyes became a bit less slitty. “I brought him up here to find you. I don’t know why he won’t let go. Maybe he thinks he’s in trouble.”
Her tail slowed its lashing, and she opened her eyes more. Leglin lifted his head an inch, his lips dropping and ears relaxing. All of which seemed good signs. “Maybe if I get closer to you, he’ll let go?”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Cordi. She could flatten you with one swipe.”
“She wants her baby back, and I want to give him back to her. Nobody has to get hurt, right, Mrs...um, ma’am?” A little courtesy couldn’t hurt, considering Mama Gargoyle could take off my head with one bite.
She cocked her head, and to my surprise, sat down. “You may approach. I will not harm you.”
“Thank you.” I stepped to the clear side of Leglin to avoid going around Nick. My hound walked forward with me, halting in front of Mama Gargoyle. Once close, I wasn’t sure what to do next. After a second, I pushed my hair over my shoulder and leaned toward her. “Your mommy’s right here, Tase.”
She cooed wordlessly, startling me. I felt Tase move, his head turning, and winced as he took off. I had a good look as he paused and glanced back, before burying himself in her mane, and he did look like a tiny, cute version of his mom. Backing away, I said, “There you go. Safe and sound.”
“We will speak in the future,” Mama Gargoyle said as she stood. She turned and tramped back out, mashing vampire ashes deeper into the runner, and took flight just beyond the doors.
“Whew.” I turned, noticing Smush had turned to stone again. “That was interesting.”
“Yeah, because now you have a gargoyle pissed off at you.” Nick frowned, watching the doorway.
“She said ‘speak’, not ‘I’ll be back to rip you to shreds’.” Soames rotated his head, popping his neck. A grin spread across his face. “That was pretty cool.”
Save the Last Vamp for Me (Discord Jones Book 3) Page 4
