Save the Last Vamp for Me (Discord Jones Book 3)

by Gayla Drummond

  “Wow, I just realized how much you,” Terra poked Logan in the side, “sound like a parent.”

  “Um,” he glanced at my mom. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “Good plan,” Mom said, her eyes twinkling. “Now, I’m going to switch to boss mode. Let’s step up production, people, or we won’t finish today.”

  We stepped up production.

  By lunchtime, we’d managed to fill up both cars. Mom called a break. “We’ll eat, then Tonya and I will do a delivery run while you three get back to work.”

  “Aye aye, Captain.” I saluted her. “What’s for lunch?”

  “Chicken and dumplings with sweet cornbread.”

  “Ooh!” Tonya tied off another bag and stretched. “My favorite.”

  “Mine too.” I hurried to finish the bag I was working on. “Terra, if you and Logan like them, I’ll teach you how to make them.”

  “Cool.” Her bright smile caused a flash of guilt. I hadn’t exactly kept up with my promise of cooking lessons.

  “Maybe next Sunday? Would that work?”

  “I know you’re busy....”

  “I’ll come over at four, and we’ll make dinner,” I promised, trying to remember if they had a DVD player. “I can bring some movies too.”

  “Awesome.” She practically bounced out of the room, a gleeful smile on her face. They were keeping her under wraps big time, if she felt so pleased over my planned visit. I wasn’t that exciting of a guest.

  Maybe now that I had some time off from house hunting—I hoped, permanently—I could spend more time with her. Maybe take her places. Nothing like teleportation to keep a future Queen’s shopping itinerary secret.

  Listening to her chatter with Tonya as they served themselves, I decided to include her too, at least as often as possible. The chestnut-haired teen didn’t do much beyond helping Mom, working at the Blue Orb, and studying magic with David and Jo.

  I noticed Logan looking at me, and grinned. He automatically smiled back, but curiosity surrounded him like a cloud of too-strong cologne.

  Time enough later to run the idea past him, and see if he’d agree. Right now, there was food, fun company, and good work to finish.

  I even put aside my relationship woes to enjoy the rest of the day.

  Nine

  On Monday, I picked up Soames before heading to the office. We arrived at three, and there was a new face at the reception desk. A pretty new face topped with burgundy hair. “Welcome to Arcane Solutions. How may I help you?”

  “Is Cordi,” Percy informed the woman behind the desk. The fact the parrot spoke to her, and nicely, meant that he liked her. “Cordi, this Tabitha.”

  “Hi.” Holy cow, we finally had a new receptionist. Kate had to be overjoyed. “Nice to meet you, Tabitha. This is Soames.”

  “Oh, hi. Nice to meet you too.” She had an infectious grin and twinkly blue eyes. “Nick and Mr. Whitehaven are in the War Room.”

  “Thanks and welcome aboard.”

  “Thank you.”

  I glanced down the hall as we walked past her desk, and saw that Kate’s office door was shut. She was either with a client, or on the phone with Alleryn. I’d be planning a night out in celebration if I were her, after months of pulling double duty.

  When we went into the War Room, Mr. Whitehaven was studying my list of possible suspects. “Afternoon, guys. Oh good, you remembered the sword.”

  “I did.” Nick smiled, and I pecked him on the cheek while dropping my purse in a chair. I still hadn’t decided how to broach the subject of his dad.

  “Thanks. I met our new receptionist. She’s nice.”

  Mr. Whitehaven nodded, before indicating my list. “It appears you don’t believe the murders are politically motivated.”

  Crap. My mood plummeted at the idea of having to justify my thoughts on the case. “I want to be certain we consider all possibilities.”

  “Commendable.” With that one word, my spirits were restored. “Have you had any insights?”

  He meant psychic ones. “Not yet. I’m going to handle the other two items before we go check out the rest of the scenes.”

  “Excellent. I’ll leave you three to it.” With a faint smile, the boss vacated the room. It felt much bigger once he had. The man had presence, not just eight feet of height.

  “Okay, let’s get busy. Either of you have any thoughts or suggestions?”

  “Why did you put shifters on that list?” Nick asked. Soames walked over to read it.

  “I listed everyone capable of killing vampires. You did see that I have psychics on there too, right?” So much for not having to justify my thinking.

  “If we were after a vampire, we’d wait until they came out. The Barrows is their stronghold, Cordi. No one enters without being noticed.” He looked perfectly serious.

  “Tourists go down there all the time.”

  “Yeah, and you can bet half the council knows just how many and what species every single day,” he said. I saw Soames nod in agreement from the corner of my eye as he turned away from the white board.

  “On the other hand, the Barrows are different from other pocket realms. It’s not one single realm, but several stuck together.”

  I blinked at Soames. There was my new thing learned for the day. Yay. “How does that even...never mind. Okay, so who could get in without being noticed?”

  “Vampires, elves, and maybe psychics if they can teleport like you do. Or have some other ability to keep from being noticed.” Soames glanced at Nick. “Right?”

  “Yes. Probably little folk too, but only to scrounge or steal. Not to murder. Vamps don’t prey on them. Not enough blood.”

  Ugh. I shivered. “Right. Go ahead and edit the list.”

  Soames did, and I sighed. My possible suspect list was down to four types, and fifty percent were vampires. Oh, well. I sat down and snagged the baggie holding Ramon’s ring. The instant it landed in the palm of my hand, a hunger for blood hit me like an impatient mugger. My heart pounded, and I quickly dropped the ring on the table. “I hate that.”

  “Hate what?” Soames sat down, Nick following suit.

  “Vampire belongings, like this stupid ring, have a tendency to soak up their owners’ blood thirst.” I scrubbed my hand on my jeans. “It’s disgusting.”

  Nick eyed me. “You’re not going to try and bite us, are you?”

  “I might. The ring has it bad. He must’ve worn it all the damn time.” I scowled at the ring. “Crap. Going in for a second time.”

  This time, I only touched it with the tip of one finger, not that it helped. Ramon’s blood lust raged up my arm, filling my chest with heat, and my mouth with drool. Swallowing, I couldn’t help turning my head to look at Soames.

  He prudently retreated from his chair, quickly enough to tip it over. The dull thump of it hitting the carpeted floor sounded like a panicked heartbeat. “Um, her eyes.”

  I could hear both their hearts beating, and a soft rushing sound. Blood.

  Nick grabbed my wrist, yanking my hand away from the ring. My neck popped as I quickly turned my head toward him, hissing and baring fangs I didn’t have. He hastily let go, backing away with his hands in the air. “Yeah, that’s not good.”

  Muscles tensed, I was a breath away from leaping on him when the realization they were both scared broke through and made me giggle. Nick relaxed, dropping his arms to his sides. “You okay now?”

  “Yeah, I think so. Except really thirsty. I’m gonna grab a soda. Please put that damn ring back in the bag. Do either of you want anything?” They didn’t, and I left for the break room, muffling giggles the whole way. I managed to stop before returning, but Soames’ wary expression nearly set me off again. I took a deep breath. “Did you say something about my eyes?”

  “Yeah. They turned red, like a vampire’s does when it’s hungry.”

  “Seriously?” I was so going to take the ring to the restroom for a third try, just to see if that would happen again. With Percy as my
chaperone. He’d nip if necessary, to shock me out of the blood lust before I went looking for someone to eat.

  “Seriously,” Nick confirmed. “Guessing the ring’s useless?”

  “Eh. Something else may have transferred. I’ll just have to wait and see.” I sat back down and reached for the baggie with the earrings. After taking a sip of my soda, I opened it.

  “Ah, should you touch those right now?” Soames had put the table between us.

  “Might as well. I doubt she wore them all the time. It shouldn’t be as bad.”

  “Okay, but I’m staying over here.”

  “What if I go after Nick?”

  “I’ll pull you off. Carefully. I haven’t tussled with many humans. Don’t want to accidentally break your arm or something.”

  Suddenly glad I hadn’t teased him with a “Fraidy cat”, I nodded. “Right. I forget you guys are stronger. Okay, here we go.”

  All I needed was one earring. Holding one back, I let the other fall into my hand.

  Fear slammed into my head as though someone had slugged me with a baseball bat. I heard a scream, followed by a shout: “Run!”

  Darkness and a cool breeze. Burning pain then...nothing.

  Shuddering, I dropped the earring back in the baggie. “It remembers her death, but I didn’t see who was chasing her. She was terrified.”

  There were goose bumps on my arms. I rubbed them away. Terror was another emotion I hadn’t thought vampires felt.

  We had dinner before driving to the Barrows, and I waited to call for Leglin until just before we went down. My hound buddy appeared with a wide grin and wagging tail.

  He was obviously enjoying being a part of our investigative team. I suddenly wondered if he’d spent most of his time in a kennel, back when Thorandryll had him.

  Stone met us at the foot of the stone steps, with transportation no less: An open air carriage pulled by two solid-black horses. A second vampire sat in the driver’s seat. “Nice wheels.”

  “Lord Derrick’s compliments, to lessen the traveling time. Do you wish to view the scenes in order, or begin with the one furthest away from here?”

  “Which one is that?”

  “Where Lira died.”

  “Yes, let’s start there and then go to where Dalton died.”

  “As you wish, Miss Jones.” Stone offered me his hand, and I realized he had on gloves. The carriage steps looked frail, so I accepted his offer of help getting in.

  Nick hopped right up, and we took the front seat, which meant we were facing the back of the carriage. Soames sat across from me, and Stone settled next to him. The four of us took up most of the available leg room, not leaving much for Leglin.

  My hound stuck his head in the side of the carriage to look up at me. “I will run alongside.”

  “Okay.” He probably needed the exercise. Mom’s backyard wasn’t all that big. Tonya took the big dogs down to the closest park every morning, but the park wasn’t exactly huge. If I got the house I wanted, space for the dogs to run wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

  The carriage lurched into motion. Having never ridden in one before, I mentally added it to my bucket list and crossed it right off. My job had added stuff to that list I had no idea I wanted to experience, until the opportunity to do so appeared. Like riding a flying horse. That had been pretty freakin’ cool. I looked at Stone. “My associates tell me that no one enters the Barrows unobserved.”

  “They are correct.”

  “Then you guys should be able to help close a lot of missing person cases.”

  He didn’t miss a beat. “Their exits aren’t as closely observed.”

  “Right.” I drawled the word out. Some “exits” weren’t of the voluntarily leaving kind. Even vampires seldom wanted witnesses when they killed. “But there’s probably some who could get in without being seen, right?”

  “Do you have a point to these questions?”

  “Why doesn’t anyone ever want to play Twenty Questions with me?” My complaint went unanswered. I huffed. “Yes, I think it may be possible someone other than a vampire could’ve killed them.”

  “The evidence indicates otherwise.”

  “So you’re telling me there’s no way an elf or psychic could’ve done it?”

  Stone opened his mouth then closed it. I continued. “Wiping out an entire blood line sounds kind of personal to me.”

  He frowned. “Esme has a surviving child. They didn’t part on amiable terms.”

  Bingo, maybe. “You didn’t mention that Friday night. I’ll want to question....”

  “He’s difficult to locate. They parted ways several centuries ago.”

  My snort raised Stone’s eyebrows. “Difficult doesn’t mean impossible. But he’s not a surviving child, because he’s a master, right?”

  “He’s...not a vampire.”

  Well, that didn’t exactly compute. He was her child, and centuries old, but not a vampire. Wait. “Dhampyr?”

  “Yes.”

  Holy crap, an actual, day-walking bloodsucker. Logan had told me they were for real, but sheesh. “You kind of sidestepped a minute ago. Can dhampyrs not be masters?”

  “Not exactly, Miss Jones.” Stone looked past me. “We’ve arrived.”

  “Good. What do you mean by not exactly?”

  “Dhampyrs don’t necessarily have all the same attributes or powers as vampires. There’s a tradeoff for being able to walk in the sun.”

  “Little or no psychic abilities?”

  Stone nodded, which sort of answered a question I’d never asked: How did vampires become masters? The psychic ability bit looked to play a big part there. “If he’s not a master, and not grudgy enough to plot murder, he could be in danger.”

  The big vamp chuckled. “He could also be in Alaska, for all I know of his current whereabouts.”

  “Noted. Try and find him anyway, okay?”

  “Of course.”

  With that, we exited the carriage and I looked around. “This isn’t an area I’ve been in before.”

  No mansions or castles on this street. The buildings were crammed together, and the area highly resembled certain parts of the Palisades. Minus all the graffiti. “I didn’t realize vampires would stoop to being slum lords.”

  Stone’s upper lip curled as he looked around. “This is where the masterless and bite junkies live.”

  Bite junkies were humans addicted to feeding vamps. I hadn’t known any actually lived in the Barrows. “Isn’t it a bad idea to have those two types living in close quarters?”

  “Yes. Cleaning up this area is on the council’s agenda. Too high of a PR risk.”

  “I bet. What was Lira doing here?”

  All three of the men stared at me. Nick decided to answer. “Bite junkies are also called blood whores, Cordi.”

  Trust vampires to pervert the oldest profession in the world. “Oh, but again: What was Lira doing here? She was part of a wealthy family. Why would she be slumming?”

  No one had an actual answer. Some suggestions that turned my stomach, yeah, but not firm answers. I threw up my hands to stop their speculation. “Enough. Time’s a wastin’.”

  Lira had died in an alley behind a three-story building. The ground floor was a grocery store, but the top two floors were apartments. Metal stairs led up to walkways that ran the length of the building for each floor. Some of the residents hung out of their windows, or stood on the walkways, watching us.

  While Nick and Soames poked around, I used my telepathy to scan for any loud, potentially useful thoughts. If anyone had seen something, they might be too afraid to come forward.

  I did pinpoint three witnesses, and with the lightest possible touch, managed to “suggest” to one to recall what he’d seen. He did, and it didn’t make the slightest bit of sense.

  He saw Lira’s head fall off. That was it.

  No one swinging a weapon to cut it off. She’d been walking. Then her head just flew off, her body hitting the ground a few seconds later, already
beginning to decompose.

  I tried my luck with the second witness, but couldn’t get her to recall her memory of that night. The third, a woman, had seen the same thing as the man had, from a slightly different angle.

  It appeared we needed to put out an APB on the Invisible Man. “Hey, Stone.”

  “Yes?”

  “Did anyone bother to scan for witnesses?” Most vampires had telepathy, which I felt was really unfair.

  “Of course. No one saw anything useful.”

  “Yeah, seeing her head suddenly go flying, not remotely useful.”

  He sighed. “They didn’t see the killer. That would’ve been useful, Miss Jones.”

  I felt like face palming. “And the fact they didn’t isn’t useful? Are you kidding me? He may have altered their memories, wiped himself out of them.”

  The big vamp frowned before conceding, “It’s possible.”

  Disbelief shrilled my voice. “You think? Well, think about this too: Someone capable of selectively altering memories might also be able to unalter them.”

  His eyes widened and his lips parted. “You’re right.” He pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll pass that on to my master.”

  “Yeah, do that.” Did we need to check the other scenes now? I debated while he made the call. There was something I wanted to check into concerning the other two council members. Plus, it could take a while to undelete the witnesses’ memories, if anything actually had been deleted from them.

  A nagging sensation that I’d forgotten something important struck, but try as I might, I couldn’t think of what it might be.

  “Your insight just now may very well have solved the case,” Stone said, putting the brakes on my effort to remember. “Do you still wish to see the other scenes?”

  “We can skip Dalton’s, but I do want to visit the other two.” With the lead I’d given them, Derrick would follow through with any witnesses to Dalton’s murder.

  “As you wish.”

  I spent the carriage ride to our next stop patting myself on the back. In spite of being a baby compared to vampires when it came to psychic abilities, I’d come up with something that hadn’t crossed their minds.