The Yellow-Bellied Scaredy Cat

by Amy Boyles

  I extended my hand and shook her paw. I will be back, Pepper.

  With that, Mr. Jingles bounced off into the night. As she was bounding away, Axel came into view. He was only a dark shadow at first, but then the edges of him sharpened as he stepped under one of the many gas lamps that lit up Witch’s Forge.

  I rose, anxiety fluttering in my chest. “Well? Did you find anything?”

  He sat beside me. “No, I didn’t find anything.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  Axel leaned forward, dropping his elbows to his knees. “I think that someone killed Arnold. They got ahold of the stone after finding out about it somehow, and then they used it to kill him. They also used it to frighten half of the attendants.”

  I rubbed Axel’s back, trying to ease some of the tension from him. “So someone stole the heart from Arnold.”

  “Had to have. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “But who?”

  Axel’s jaw flexed, and he sat up. My hand slipped from his back, and I dropped it into my lap. “Maybe Giorgio snapped out of his frightened state and decided to take revenge on Arnold. Or…”

  Axel didn’t continue, so I nudged him with my elbow. “Or what?”

  “Or someone else discovered that Arnold had the power and stole it. The person who seems the most power hungry to me is Samson Magnum.”

  I grimaced. “You were in his trailer.”

  “I was. He could have heard something, but I cast a spell on the door to keep everything quiet.”

  “He’s magical and I’m not trying to judge carnival people, but it seems he might be a bit opportunistic.”

  Axel nodded. “I agree. And worse, he’s not stupid. If he’s got the heart, he won’t let it out of his sight.”

  Something about our theory bothered me. “But why would Samson use the power to frighten people out of his carnival? He wants business, right? He doesn’t want it to go away.”

  He shrugged. “That could have easily been an accident. He could still be getting used to it. Either way I have a feeling that Samson is behind this entire deal. He may not have been at first—it was probably a fluke that Arnold found the heart, but then once Samson discovered its power, he took it, frightened Arnold to death and now has it.”

  My insides coiled. “We need to talk to Thorne, tell him your theory.”

  Axel nodded. “I’m sure he already suspects as much, but right now he’s busy dealing with the aftermath of Arnold’s death and interviewing folks in the carnival.”

  I ruffled Axel’s hair. “Plus, I don’t want Samson to see you. What if he realizes you were pretending to be John Brick?”

  He shrugged. “What if he does?”

  “Then he might want to hurt you.” I exhaled a shot of air in frustration. “Look, he knows that you and Charming showed up to interview Giorgio. He also knows that the two of you had inside knowledge about Arnold, and now the magical object that Arnold had is missing. If Samson is smart, then he’ll either pack up his sideshow and leave ASAP or he’ll come after either one or both of y’all.”

  I shivered and Axel pulled me toward him. “It will be fine. How many times have we faced off against bad guys and been okay?”

  “About a zillion,” I said.

  He smirked. “Sounds about right.”

  “But what if our luck runs out?”

  “Now why,” Axel said, cocking an eye at me, “would you say something like that?”

  “I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but there’s been a dark cloud hanging over everything with this quest.”

  “Quest?” he said, his brow arching.

  “That’s what it is, isn’t it? We’re on a quest to find every piece of heart we can. This whole thing started with a tragedy, and I have the feeling it’s going to stay dark and keep getting darker until we’ve found every single piece and put the heart back together—if it goes together.”

  He sighed and brushed his lips against my ear. “You are worrying too much. Yes, there’s a lot to be concerned about, but we need to take this one moment at a time. Samson Magnum does not keep me up at night. I’ve dealt with his kind before—he thinks he’s invulnerable. But I’ve got news for him—he’s not. The last thing he is, is untouchable. He’s mortal just like the rest of us.”

  I considered what Axel had said and I knew his words were supposed to bring me comfort, but for some reason they landed flat. It wasn’t his fault. There was simply something slimy about the carnival owner, a characteristic that I couldn’t put my finger on, but it was a darkness that simmered a touch below the surface of his persona.

  But what could we do about it tonight when Thorne was wrapped up dealing with the fallout of Arnold’s death? We would have to wait until morning at the earliest to let him know our worries. And if we did tell him and confronted Samson, he could easily use the stone against us and we could fall victim to it.

  Axel rubbed the back of my neck, and my worries slipped away at the feel of his flesh on mine.

  “Tomorrow,” Axel promised, “we will deal with this. There isn’t anything we can do about Samson tonight. We will need Thorne’s vampire strength if we’re to face off against Samson. He’s a smart one, and I have the feeling the more people we have with us, the better off we will be.”

  “If he made so many people afraid at the carnival, then I fear approaching him. He could turn all of us afraid in a second.”

  Axel’s mouth tightened, and I knew he worried about the same thing. “Then we’ll have to find another way. We’ll need to get everyone together to figure it out.” He gazed at me, his blue eyes swimming with emotion. His long, dark lashes nearly touched his cheeks when he blinked, and a smile slowly tugged at his lips.

  “What is it?” I said.

  He took my hand and rubbed his over it. The warmth from his flesh left a trail over mine. “You remember a few weeks ago when we talked about making a few baby werewolves and witches of our own?”

  I scoffed. “Not that again.”

  He nodded. “Yes, that again. I’m not giving up on this until you say yes.”

  I groaned. “I have said yes. I said yes, we can think about it in a year or two.”

  Axel pressed his forehead to mine. “How about we stop thinking about it and make it happen?”

  “I don’t know…” Who was I kidding? Of course I wanted kids with Axel; it was just, this was such a stressful time. “Tell you what—how about we put it in the universe’s hands?”

  Axel smiled seductively before rising and tugging me from the bench. “I say we start putting it in the universe’s hands right now.”

  I let him pull me inside and thought, maybe it was time to just go with the flow, stop worrying too much about the nuances of the future and just let things ride. As that thought entered my mind, Axel tugged me into the bedroom, and I let my inhibitions go.

  Charming

  The next morning I awoke, expecting to have received a message from Thorne about what he had discovered with Arnold’s death, but there was no message.

  Plus, Kimberly still never called me. I certainly didn’t expect her to dial me at midnight, but I thought that perhaps she would at least shoot me a text, at the very least.

  But nope, still no message.

  I showered and dressed, making my way downstairs about thirty minutes after I awoke. I entered the kitchen to find Betty and Rose stirring up breakfast. When I say stirring, that is what I mean. Rose stood over a big pot of oatmeal, while Betty ladled up grits.

  Rose beamed when she saw me. “Charming, would you like a bowl of oatmeal and grits?”

  My stomach turned. “Together?”

  “Put hair on your chest,” Betty said, dropping a bowl in front of me.

  Yes, it was indeed a mixture, and yes, I wanted to vomit. “No thanks, I think I’ll stick with coffee.” I poured a cup. “Has anyone seen Leopold?”

  “He’s with your mama in the dining room. They’re eating grits and oats,” Rose said.<
br />
  I made a mmm sound. “As yummy as it sounds—and it is so tempting, let me tell you—I just have a bit of a queasy stomach this morning.” Rose opened her mouth, and I shut down what she was going to say before one word escaped her lips. “And no, I’m not carrying a bun in the oven. There is no bun and there is no oven.”

  Rose grunted.

  “Okay, so there’s an oven, but it isn’t switched on.” Sweat sprinkled my brow. I needed to get out of this conversation and fast. “Oh, I think I hear Mama calling me from the dining room.”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Rose said.

  Before either of them could say another word, I practically sprinted from the room. I entered the dining room to find Leopold and Mama in deep conversation.

  Mama saw me and sat back. “Charming, I’m glad to see you up.”

  I shot Leopold a quick glance. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  Leopold shook his head. “No, I was only telling your mother of some intelligence I discovered.”

  “Does it have to do with Arnold from last night?”

  Leopold smoothed his hand over hair. “I wish it did. No, I left Thorne and his men last night. They questioned everyone that they could, asking what they had seen and heard.”

  I took a sip of the strong, bitter coffee. “What did they discover?”

  His brow wrinkled with worry. “Not much, I’m afraid. No one saw anything, and no one had seen who frightened Arnold.”

  “And let me guess—there was still no sign of the heart.”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  I made a face. Mama saw it and frowned. “Before you start worrying,” Mama said, “I’m sure Thorne has everything under control. We now understand exactly how dangerous this heart fire is. Apparently anyone can become afraid—anyone who is on the wrong side of it, that is.”

  “I won’t lie and say I’m not concerned. But as you said, Thorne has it under control.” I smiled, trying to make myself feel better than I really did. “Speaking of, have you spoken to him today?” I said to Leopold.

  He rose and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. “I was just about to head over to the jail to see if he had arrived. Would you like to join me?”

  “Yes, please.” The coffee had quelled my hunger, but I would have to grab a bite to eat soon. Whatever it was, it most certainly would not be oatmeal and grits—gross.

  I kissed Mama’s head.

  “Charming, call if you need anything,” she said, “and come right back. I’m sure we’d all like to know what Thorne has to say on Arnold’s death.”

  “Will do.”

  Leopold escorted me from the house. It was the first time that we had ever been alone. My nerves buzzed at the very thought. Oh, the vampire and I had met before, but we had not spent any time together.

  Leopold slowed as soon as we were out the door. The jail was within throwing distance, so it would only take a moment to get there. With him slowing it would take even longer.

  “Thorne told me that you searched the boy’s trailer for the heart?” Leopold said, lowering his voice.

  “We did, but we weren’t able to find anything.”

  He grunted. “We didn’t find anything on his body, either.”

  “So someone stole it.”

  Leopold nodded. “So it appears,” he said in his timeless, classy way.

  “What were you talking to my mother about back there? When I entered the room?”

  Leopold blanched. “I’ve…heard some news.”

  The buzzing of my nerves stopped, and my stomach tightened at his words. Whatever this news was, it was absolutely not good. Leopold’s body language told me that—from his tight jaw to the pale color washing over his skin, there was no doubt that Leopold’s news would be upsetting to the rest of us.

  “What is it?”

  “I’ve heard something about Blake Calhoun.”

  My heart constricted. “What have you heard?”

  Leopold stopped. We stood in the middle of the sidewalk. Cars rumbled by, tourists milled around and we were standing stock-still about to discuss a vampire.

  Leopold’s eyes darkened. “I have it on good authority that Blake is on his way here.”

  The blood sloshed down to my feet. My body went numb as I stared into Leopold’s face, searching it for more information. “How? Why?”

  He rubbed his smooth cheek. “There was a video that got out—about the strong man being afraid of a cat.”

  I clucked my tongue. “Right. Of course. There was a crowd around the performance that day. He saw it, then?”

  Leopold nodded. “He saw it, and he’s on his way here—with men.”

  “How many men?”

  “I don’t know. I spoke to Betty about it this morning, and from what she explained, the last time they encountered Blake, he didn’t have backup and he lost the heart. Apparently he doesn’t want to make that mistake again, so he’s bringing others.”

  I nibbled my bottom lip. I could feel the worry worming its way into my body and making me tense.

  Leopold squeezed my shoulder. “It will be fine. Don’t worry. However many vampires Blake brings, we have many as well. He won’t be stupid and start a vampire war, not here, where it’s so obviously human filled.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t understand. I’m afraid, yes, nervous about him because I know he’s dangerous, but I want to meet him. I want to ask him about my father’s death.”

  Leopold shook his head. “Charming, Blake is dangerous. He isn’t a man to be trifled with. You cannot just approach him and ask about William. For one, he’s here for the heart fire. If he knows you have any connection with it, he will use that against you. He’s not safe.”

  “No one is safe if he gets it,” I said.

  “But you know things,” Leopold said, his gaze filled with worry. “If he drinks your blood, he would have your knowledge. Blake will see what you’ve seen and he’ll know about Arnold’s connection to the heart, and he’ll know if you suspect anyone else who might have taken it.”

  I wanted to argue, wanted to rally against what Leopold was telling me, but there was no point. I was no match for a slew of vampires, let alone just one, and I knew it.

  But that still didn’t stop me from asking my next question. “If we can get him alone, will you help me ask Blake about my father?”

  “Charming, I know this is important to you—”

  “Please,” I said, suspecting he was about to shut down my hopes. “I’m only asking if we can get him alone. I’m not saying we need to go out and capture him.”

  Leopold slowly nodded in agreement. “Yes, but I will not put other people’s lives at risk for this. There are too many innocent people here, in this town, to do that.”

  Hope warmed me. Well, maybe warm wasn’t the best word choice. I didn’t exactly feel all warm and bubbly about the idea of facing off against Blake, but at least I knew that Leopold would help me do so, if he could.

  That thought and that thought alone filled me with hope.

  I smiled up at Leopold, and his young face, the one that looked younger than Thorne’s, split into a smile and his ancient eyes held a tenderness that I never thought I would witness in a vampire.

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go talk to Thorne.”

  We started walking again and entered the jail to a great commotion. Thorne’s deputies were walking about, looking busy, but all of it died when Leopold entered the room.

  I suppose it was no surprise, really—all these men had come from Leopold’s clan, so they held him in high esteem.

  “Where is Thorne?” Leopold said in a booming voice. It was technically a question, but the way Leopold asked, it was more like a statement, sounding more as if he had said, Take me to Thorne, instead of inquiring about his whereabouts.

  Peek, a vampire deputy that I absolutely could not stand and would not be upset if he ever decided to jump off the nearest cliff, sauntered up, worry filling his eyes.

>   “We haven’t heard from him—not since last night.”

  Now I could understand why the worry was in his gaze. Thorne, like all other vampires in existence, didn’t have to sleep. It made more sense that he would be at the jail working on the case than in bed.

  Leopold’s gaze scoured over the men. “Has anyone tried calling him?”

  “I have,” Peek assured him. “That was over an hour ago.”

  “He should have returned your call by now,” Leopold mused.

  I agreed. With all this mess regarding Arnold’s murder—because that’s what I believed it was—it made sense that Thorne would have touched base with his men as quickly as possible.

  Unless he couldn’t touch base with them.

  A feeling of dread crawled over my flesh. I tried to shake it off, but it was no use. First Kimberly had taken to not returning my calls or texts, and now Thorne wasn’t in communication.

  Something was up, and we needed to figure out what it was.

  “When was the last time anyone saw him?” Leopold asked.

  “Last night, when we were wrapping up our questioning of the carnival workers.” Guilt twisted Peek’s haunting vampire features—the dark eyes, the pale skin that nearly glowed. “Thorne told us to go ahead, that there was something else he wanted to do.”

  Leopold frowned. “I’ll go to his house and see if he’s there. When I find him, I’ll call you. If he contacts you first, reach out and let me know.”

  “Yes, sir,” Leopold said.

  I reached for Leopold. “I’ll go with you.”

  The vampire shook his head and led me from the jail. “No, I don’t want you coming with me. I don’t know what I’ll find, and Charming, I’m worried that Blake may have something to do with this.”

  My stomach pretzeled. “Surely not so quickly.”

  “That’s how vampires move—fast.” We reached Leopold’s sleek sports car, and he unlocked it with a blip. “Charming, stay here, with your family. I want you to promise me that you will stay where it is safe. We don’t know what’s coming.” He glanced at the sky and stared at the clouds as if watching for a storm to roll in. “Promise me.”