Sweet Oblivion (Shady Arcade Book 2)

by Sharon Stevenson

  “Brother,” she said.

  His red eyes locked with hers. “We need to talk.” He motioned for her to follow him.

  She moved swiftly after him to the top of the stairs and down a long corridor to a room that was dark. Trepidation filled her. Had someone asked Mark to kill her? She wouldn’t put it past Midnight clan’s leader, even if he had just allied himself with her clan. It had occurred to her that the clan might still be pissed about how she’d been stolen by a bounty hunter and handed over to Randall when she’d been turned. She’d heard the vampire who’d betrayed them had been killed, but that there were no hard feelings between the clans. The whole thing was suspicious, if you asked her, but no-one ever did. She supposed she hadn’t turned into a monster after she’d been turned and she doubted Mark had either. Still, she couldn’t quite force herself to chill out. His behaviour was strange to say the least. She followed him into a room, senses on high alert for any signs of a trap.

  She frowned at her younger brother, trying to relax her tensed shoulders. “What is it?”

  “This room is soundproofed,” he said. “There’s no light, but you can see the entire place, right?”

  She glanced around swiftly, using her enhanced vision. The only alarming thing about the room was how infrequently the bed sheets had been washed. She wrinkled her nose. “I can see it.”

  “Good,” he said, locking the door and turning back to her.

  She could tell the second his eyes met hers that he had something awful to tell her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Midnight clan sent someone after Zack.”

  So that’s who tried to kill him. She nodded. “Someone called Bridget?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” He shrugged. “I suppose it’s not really news to you then. I overheard one of the clan leader’s lackeys talking to her on the phone a couple of times. He was angry when he got word that she’d been killed. I’m guessing Zack’s okay if you already know about this.”

  She nodded after a second. This wasn’t a vampire fishing for information, it was her brother worried about family. He’d gone to all this trouble to let her know Zack was safe. She smiled.

  “It’s good to see you, Mark. Where’s Mitch?”

  “He’s downstairs doing disgusting things with some girls he just picked up.” Mark winced.

  “He’s enjoying this, isn’t he?” Audrey just knew it. Mitch was the type to take to vampirism like a duck to water.

  “It’s been heaven for him.” And hell, for poor sweet, good-hearted Mark.

  She hugged him. He hugged back tightly.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  “You too.” She stroked his back.

  They broke apart and Mark wiped at the corner of his eye.

  “So, are they using you for anything interesting?” She figured she might as well check.

  He shook his head. “We’re a status symbol. Mostly they wheel us out for entertainment. Tonight isn’t about that so we were left to ‘enjoy the party’.”

  “How are you doing?”

  He shrugged. “Everything is different. I’m still getting used to it.”

  “Me too,” she lied. “It’ll get better.”

  “I hope so.” He paused, swallowed. “Mitch killed a girl last month. Drained her and freaked out. It was weird. He seemed calm, but he was talking a mile a minute. The next day he was fine, didn’t seem to care.”

  “Sounds like Mitch.” She wasn’t that surprised. “You sensed he was calm?”

  Mark nodded. One of his abilities was to pick up on emotional states of nearby people. It had always been handy for telling if their Dad was pissed or not when they were kids. They’d escaped a few hidings in their time with his help.

  “So, he was pretending it bothered him to kill her?”

  “I think so. I don’t know.” He sighed. “Maybe I’m just being a prick. It’s been pretty crazy since we died.”

  “It definitely has.”

  “So how is your clan?”

  She shrugged. “My boss is an asshole.”

  “So, you’re sleeping with him?”

  She swatted at him and then folded her arms. “Maybe.”

  “Everything changes but it all stays the same, I guess.”

  She smiled. “I guess so.”

  It should have been the perfect opportunity to contact Zack. If there was one person left in the world she could trust, it was Mark. But she hesitated. The thought of speaking to Zack now that he had this idea in his head that she wasn’t real, stopped her. As much as she wanted to check in on him, she knew he was probably safer without her intrusion. It pained her to do it, but she was going to have to try harder to stay away. Being caught out would only get Zack killed.

  Chapter Six

  Zack got home and locked his door behind him. The new necromancer didn’t seem impressed that Chloe hadn’t walked him to his door. He still felt bad for dragging her into his mess. With a weary sigh, he ran a hand through his hair and headed to the sink. He grabbed the nice towel out of the drawer before he took his other glove off and washed his hands. The soap was handmade and felt like a warm, enveloping hug of happiness. He dried his hands on the soft and euphoric towel and then walked through the hall—where he’d almost had his throat ripped out—to get to his bedroom.

  He stripped off and got into bed, realising he’d left his gloves on the kitchen sink. He groaned, but he didn’t want to move. The vaguely depressed sheets seemed to echo his mood, which made him less tempted to get up and grab them. He didn’t need them right now.

  He closed his eyes and tried to force himself to go to sleep. It didn’t work. His mind was still chewing over everything he’d seen in his old house. He knew what he was going to have to do and it all hinged on finding out where his family had gone, on pulling one single damned clue out of thin air, something he could chase down. A starting place.

  Leaving town wouldn’t be easy but he was beginning to wonder if that was the only way he’d find something out. Going back to his old house might eventually get him answers. If he systematically touched every surface until he shook loose a vision that would actually help him. The thought made his head hurt, but he’d have to exhaust his search before he decided on the next step. He had no other option.

  It all meant one thing. When he found that one damned clue he was going to have to find a way to leave town. That meant taking risks and leaving the relative safety of Shady Pines. It meant running in to vampires. As much as he wanted answers, he knew going it alone would be suicide. He was going to need someone like Chloe to have his back.

  He wasn’t stupid. He knew she’d saved him from Bridget.

  He couldn’t do this on his own, but could he really ask Chloe to come with him? The way she’d reacted before at his old house told him he couldn’t. He was asking too much of her and she didn’t owe him a thing. She’d already saved his life. He couldn’t ask her to risk her neck for him like that. He probably owed her an apology, more than anything, but he doubted she’d want to hear from him again anytime soon so he’d have to pick his moment for it.

  Sighing, he turned over in the bed and tried to figure out his other potential options for help.

  His body guard was a no go. The guy would probably lock him in his room if he mentioned his plan, even if he tried to make it sound innocent. He didn’t think there was any conceivable excuse he could use to get the guy to transport him out of town.

  He doubted Cassandra would be able to help, even if she wanted to. He’d probably stumble over his words if he tried to ask anyway. She tended to have that effect on him. Besides, he wouldn’t want to endanger her. She was a harmless human. He needed a necromancer, or...

  Would a vampire help him with this? He knew the security guard who’d been turned into a vampire had been controlled by Bridget to bite him; that he hadn’t planned on doing it himself. The talk he’d had with Chloe at the hospital had filled in some gaps. She’d told him the guy had been turned by someone who’d been sent t
o kill him, that he wasn’t part of a clan and had no desire to hurt Zack. So, there was a vampire in town he didn’t need to fear, exactly. Not that he would necessarily help Zack. Just thinking about it gave him the shivers. Asking a vampire to help him seemed like the opposite of a good idea. Not to mention that he might be Chloe’s boyfriend now. If he couldn’t drag her into this, he couldn’t drag in someone she was involved with either. So, then what?

  He didn’t have an answer for that, and he doubted one would spring forth anytime soon. Sighing, he closed his eyes and tried vainly to get to sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  Chloe’s skin was clammy as she sat in the waiting room. The Municipal Court building had a room they hired out to the necromancer’s Council every now and then for these tribunals. It was a mildly terrifying place where the elders could sit in high seats and look down on their accused while they decided the fate of said accused.

  She’d awoken to a voicemail that had filled her with dead. It hadn’t felt real. She’d gotten through the morning in a daze, yet, somehow time seemed to speed up as the hour of her trial drew closer. She’d had to run to the building and she’d just gotten there in time to be told to wait.

  Her future was about to be decided. The door opened and a necromancer acting as a bailiff gestured to her to come in. She got to her feet, took a deep breath and walked into the room.

  Three elders looked down on her as she got to the podium and took her place behind it. The microphone there looked tiny and seemed unnecessary. She looked up, trying to keep her gaze steady on the people who were about to sentence her.

  “Chloe Duncan,” the woman in the middle said. “You’re in breach of a confidentiality agreement. Interactions with Zack Harrison were prohibited. Yet you did not inform your guardian as protocol dictated...”

  Chloe blinked. This trial was about her interactions with Zack? Seriously? Anger started to burn through her as the woman went on.

  “...and while we understand that Kenneth MacFarlane was not undertaking his duties in a serious manner, this indiscretion cannot be ignored.”

  “Zack was my everything.” She couldn’t keep the emotions out of her tone, her hands gripped the podium as she stared at the woman. “I walked away from him because I was ordered to do so. I didn’t speak to him on purpose, none of this happened on purpose. I didn’t know I was supposed to go out of my goddamned way to avoid him.”

  The woman didn’t flinch, but Chloe was starting to shake.

  “More than anyone, you know why Zack needs to be protected.”

  Now they were throwing her relationship with him back in her face? She frowned.

  “What’s going on here? I thought I was being sentenced for killing a vampire.”

  The three of them looked at each other, before the one in the middle spoke again.

  “The vampire was a direct threat to Zack. You will not be punished for saving his life. However, it has become clear that we need to remove you from Shady Pines. For his safety.”

  She shook her head. “What?”

  “The vampire you are guardian of will go with you. You are to take permanent responsibility for him.”

  “Go where?”

  “That information will be given to you once you have left. An escort will take you to your new residence.”

  “I have a business here, a life—” Did she really? Could she call what she had left without Zack a life?

  “And Zack must be protected from vampires at all costs.”

  Of course. Chloe took a breath. She should have known this was coming. It was somehow worse than prison. It hurt knowing she was a danger to the man she loved. Leaving would be better for everyone. Even if it would feel like dying.

  It wasn’t as if she was getting any choice in the matter.

  “Larry wants to join the FBU.” She supposed she should mention it, considering it might factor into where they got placed. If one of them could get something good out of this, it would be better than nothing.

  The woman nodded. “You have twenty-four hours to prepare for the move. We can have your things forwarded if that’s not enough time.”

  “Twenty-four hours?” Are you freaking serious? She stared at the woman. The bitch had to be crazy.

  “I’m sure you understand the need for expediency. I trust that you will have no further interactions with Mr. Harrison.”

  She didn’t know what else to say. Apparently, that didn’t matter. She was dismissed. The doors closed behind her.

  Chapter Eight

  The plan came to Zack when he opened his bathroom cabinet to get a new tube of toothpaste out. He had a small cache of medical supplies inside, things someone else had bought and left there for him. He’d barely looked at anything other than the toothpaste and brush since he’d been brought to the flat from the hospital. Rifling through the contents, he found one item that he wondered about using. The pills were supposedly a herbal remedy to aid sleep. Sneaking out after his body guard drifted off would likely be easier if he was less likely to wake up at the slightest sound. It wasn’t failproof but Zack slipped them into his pocket all the same. He could slip a couple into the guy’s tea later that night.

  He closed the cabinet and brushed his teeth, ignoring how weird he looked with the gloves on as he did it. The mirror was a pain in his ass. He didn’t need to know how dishevelled and exhausted he appeared either, but there it was. He finished getting ready and told himself this was it. Tonight, he’d go back to his old house and sift through everything until he had an answer. He’d find a clue and he’d leave Shady Pines to look for his family.

  He followed his minder out the door. It was sunny outside, bright enough to make him squint. He wished he still had the glasses he’d bought from Chloe’s shop, but Turner had confiscated them from him as soon as he’d taken over from Bridget and Kenny. He didn’t like to converse with people who hid their eyes, apparently. Which might be a problem if he ever actually conversed with Zack, other than to boss him around.

  Zack put in his lunch order on the way in, along with Turner’s. It was only once he was alone in his office that his shoulders relaxed, even if the door was only allowed to be partially closed.

  “One more day,” he muttered to himself, hoping against hope that he was right about that.

  The knock on his office door made him jump in his seat. His minder’s thick hands made the sound harsh enough that it seemed to ring through Zack’s ears, the door creaking opening wide from the impact. He dropped the pen he’d been spinning around his gloved fingers and glanced up to see the scowling face of his body guard. “Visitor.”

  He moved back and another familiar face came into view. His sleazy neighbour closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Zack fully expected Turner to push it back open, but Kenny didn’t show any signs of disturbance if he did give it a shove.

  “Eh...” Words abandoned him as the guy pulled on a smarmy smile. If he was about to pull a seduction act, he’d fare as well as Bridget had, but Zack tried not to jump to any conclusions.

  “Heard you’ve been asking questions,” Kenny said, taking a step forward and pulling up a chair.

  The legs scraped across the floor, the squealing sound making Zack wince. “Okay—”

  Kenny sat down and leaned on the table. “I might have answers for you.”

  Emphasis on the ‘might’. Zack tried not to sound dubious when he finally found his words. “What exactly are you talking about?”

  Kenny sighed loudly. “Oh, come on. I know you want to find out what happened to your family. And that dour-faced statue out there is not going to let you out of his sight for long enough to let you find out.”

  “What do you know about that?” Zack tried not to get his hopes up. He didn’t know much about Kenny at all, but what he did know he didn’t like. Everything he heard here had to be taken with a heavy pinch of salt.

  “I might have a clue.” He leaned back in the chair and looked around, a decidedly unimpressed expressio
n on his face. “But there’s no way I’m gonna just tell you with that bruiser sitting outside the door.”

  “So why are you here?” The thought of slipping off one of his gloves and grabbing Kenny’s wrist crossed his mind. He mentally threw up at the thought and moved on.

  “I’m here to proposition you,” Kenny told him, gaze drifting back to him and focussing. “Meet me at midnight at the trail to the woods and I’ll get you out of town.”

  Zack frowned. An answer to his problem had just presented itself without his intervention. There was something decidedly fishy about this. He wondered if he was having a dissociative episode. It would be a first to actually imagine seeing the person he was talking to. He pursed his lips, shelving the thought. It would do more harm than good to think about it. “What do you care about that?”

  Kenny shrugged, but the smile on his face had widened. “Maybe I just want to help out an old friend.”

  There was definitely something Kenny wasn’t telling him. Still, Zack’s hopes were stirred at the idea that he might know where to start looking for his family. He couldn’t justify ignoring this. Answers weren’t exactly in the habit of falling into his lap. He shook his head slowly.

  “I don’t know what this is, but—”

  Kenny got to his feet. “Believe me, or don’t. If you can lose your babysitter I can take you to where they are.”

  Alarm bells went off inside Zack’s head. He knows where they are? How would he know? Unless he’s working for the people who took them... “How do you know where they are?”

  Kenny’s grin surfaced and disappeared in a flash. He stared down at Zack with threat in his gaze.

  “I’m the only hope you have right now, freak show. Don’t fuck this up.”