Of Life and Death

by A. L. Kessler

  Because that didn’t scream magic with the way she said it. I gave her a polite smile. “Where do you get the hair?”

  “If it’s a personalized one, we use the hair of the person it should resemble. If not, then it’s donated, or I’ve used my own hair once or twice.” She shrugged.

  “Porcelain,” Simon said easily. “She has a few already.”

  “Right this way.” She led him further back into the store, and I hung around the front looking at the dolls on display. I was hoping something would trigger a memory of the child I saw in the vision, give me a clue that she had some connection to the shop.

  She came back up a few minutes later. “Simon is making his selection. That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here Abigail.”

  “It’s Special Agent Collins; I’m following up on a death.” I hadn’t wanted to be straight to the point, but it was going to be hard to keep up the facade if she knew who we were.

  “I figured as much.” She walked behind the glass case that held the register. She pulled out a deck of tarot cards and spread them over the glass. “Care for a reading?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t need a reading. I need to know when the last time you saw Carmen Jones was.”

  She flipped over a card, and the Death card stared up at me. Every deck of cards had their own style; this one was a style where death looked like a teenager, carrying a scythe with a destroyed world behind her. “Death, the most misunderstood card in the deck. Change, Agent Collins, good or bad, but it doesn’t mean that someone is dying.” She looked up and met my gaze. “Yet.”

  Of course there was change going on in my life, it seemed to be constantly fluxing. I didn’t miss the similarity to Clarissa’s reading though. “Carmen Jones, Ms?”

  “You know my last name.”

  “Moll. You’re Drake’s daughter.”

  She flipped the card back over. “Carmen worked for me and then one day she just disappeared.”

  “Did you two get along?”

  She gathered her cards and didn’t look at me. “We did, she was quiet, kept to herself, newly divorced, and wanted to start building up a savings and paying her debt off so she could provide a good life for her daughter.”

  Another divorced mom, there were a lot of those, but it was something that linked our two victims. “Where is her daughter?”

  “Dad has custody of her, the courts granted her visitation rights, but he has her most of the time since Carmen was working two or three jobs at all times to get on her feet.”

  That was a lot more information than I had before. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t need to speak to me about my father?” She met my gaze again. “I know he’s crazy Agent Collins; he wasn’t really sane to begin with, and then Mario turned him into a vampire and his sanity all but disappeared.” She pushed away from the glass and walked toward the window.

  “I don’t at this time unless you have some information that you think I should know.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’ll be honest, I don’t really keep in contact with him anymore.”

  “Thank you.”

  Simon came back from the back part of the room. “Thank you for letting me take a look. It’s occurred to me that I have no idea what kind of doll she’d want.”

  Loraine picked up the one Simon had been looking at in the window. “Why not take her this one. It’s one of a kind.”

  Simon looked at me for a moment and then to the doll. “Okay, thank you. I’m sure she’ll love it.”

  Loraine stroked the doll’s hair and started humming for a moment. The tune caught my attention. Hush Little Baby

  “My mother used to sing that to me.” I smiled. “Do you have children, Loraine?”

  She didn’t answer me and walked to the register. “Five hundred.”

  “I’ve got it.” I put an elbow on Simon’s arm; it was only fair that I pay for it since he was just going along with me. I handed her my card. “You didn’t answer me about the kid.”

  She didn’t say anything to me and just swiped my card. The receipt printed and she handed me a pen. “Please sign.”

  I wasn’t going to get an answer out of her, and I wondered why she was trying so hard to avoid it. I decided not to push. “Do you happen to know the name of Carmen’s ex-husband?”

  “Daniel Jones, she never changed back to her maiden name. Too much paperwork.” She shrugged. “Had I been her, I would have been trying to get rid of anything attached to him.” She turned and packed the doll up and handed the box to Simon. “I hope your pup likes it.”

  Simon nodded. “Thank you, me too.”

  We both walked out of the building, and the moment we did, I heard the tumbler click, locking the door. Interesting. Simon shrugged. “Maybe it’s her lunch time.”

  “Maybe.” I started walking further up the block to Clarissa’s shop. “No idea what we’re going to do with a five-hundred-dollar doll.”

  Simon snorted. “Give it to Levi? It is a tiny vampire version of you.”

  “Don’t even joke; he’d probably flip his shit.” I laughed. “Abigail, why would you do this? You are not a vampire.” But it did have an ironic ring to it, a doll version of me as a vampire, dressed in a frilly dress. The Princess of Vampires.

  I paused. There was no way that she could know. Was there? I shook my head. Just paranoia. There were plenty of people who had dark curly hair and brown eyes. I pushed the thought off as we entered Clarissa’s shop.

  She walked out from the backroom as the little door on the bell ding. “Welcome.” Her eyes lit up at seeing us. “What are you two doing here?”

  “We had to make a trip to a nearby shop.” Simon held up the box.

  I nodded. “PIB work, Simon just got wrapped up in it because I needed a ride.”

  Her eyes widened, and a lot of horror passed over her face. “You didn’t destroy the Hummer did you?”

  “No, I just need to go pick it up. Simon and I went out to lunch, so I’m without it right now.” It was the shortest explanation I could muster, and Simon went along with it without elaborating

  She nodded and held her hand out for the box. “Let’s see what doll you bought from Loraine.”

  Simon handed her the box, and she nearly bounced over to her counter to open it.

  “Do you know Loraine well?” I asked and walked over to the counter with her.

  She pulled the doll out and looked at it. “Such beautiful work, and a great likeness of you. When did you have it commissioned?”

  Simon started laughing, and I glared at him. He covered his mouth and pretended to cough. “I didn’t commission it. It was in the window for sale. Simon is supposed to give it to a pup.”

  “Yeah, except she thinks dolls are creepy. I still vote to give it to Levi. Did you see the tiny fangs?”

  Clarissa’s eyes shot to the doll, and she started laughing. “This is a joke right?”

  “Nope, made that way. Hadn’t met Loraine until today. One of her employees is a victim in my case.” I crossed my arms. “Do you know if Loraine has a daughter?”

  Clarissa sighed and packed the doll away. “She did. No one knows what happened to her. One of her employees said that the little girl was in a home of some sort, for some mental illness that was too much for Loraine to handle. But that was a while ago, and Loraine’s never mentioned her. Loraine is a powerful witch, so I’m wondering if the child hadn’t come into her powers early.”

  That could be a scary combination. “I’m sorry to hear that. That explains why she shut down when I asked.” I took the box from her. “Has there been anything weird going on around here lately?”

  “Nothing stranger than normal.” Clarissa shrugged. “I’m sorry Abby, I don’t have answers for you.”

  “Ah, well, one could hope. But you gave me some inside information on Loraine, and that helped a lot.” I hugged her over the counter. “I’ve got to pick up my Hummer and follow up on another lead.”

  Simon handed me the box.
“And find out what you’re going to do with this.”

  Maybe I could make it a white elephant gift or something. Though that was a pretty expensive gift. I could return it, but that would be extremely rude, especially since Simon put on such a good show about wanting to buy one. “Maybe I’ll set it on my new desk and make it face Agent Grace.” I snickered.

  Clarissa went to say something, probably to ask what I meant, but stopped as a new customer walked in. She went to greet her customer, and I gave her a little wave as we walked out.

  Simon looked at the box. “That was an expensive information trip.”

  “Yeah, but I got what I needed, and you helped keep the tension down.” I gave him a small kiss on the cheek. “And you might have also kept her from using magic on me.”

  He opened his mouth to protest but then shook his head. “Next time warn me if you’re going to use me like that.”

  “Okay, I guess.” I winked at him and started back to the car. I hesitated a little in front of Loraine’s shop but kept going. Clarissa’s words echoed in my head about the child. For magic to be mistaken for a mental illness, it had to be completely out of control, but it seemed that insane power ran through the bloodline. Drake’s sanity was shaken, was Loraine’s?

  Chapter Nine

  Simon had dropped me off at the north PIB building to get the Hummer, and I drove back to the South building. Now, I sat at my desk with the doll on its stand sitting on the corner of my desk, staring at the door. I chuckled to myself thinking about the confusion that anyone who walked in would have. Might not be worth the money, but it’d at least keep me entertained.

  I’d been on the computer looking things up, finding dead ends, but I still had one more search I wanted to do. I wanted to see if I could find Loraine’s daughter.

  I typed in Loraine’s full name and hit enter. Search results popped up, and I scrolled through the non-relevant information. Finally, I found what I was looking for, a file with death and birth certificates in it. I opened it and saw a birth certificate for a female child named Cynthia Moll. The father unknown but the mother was Loraine.

  I wrote the name down and then searched it. Cynthia Moll was currently a resident in Tree Leaf Mental Asylum in the next city south of here. She’d been there since she was seven and now she would be about ten. They didn’t have a diagnosis for her disorder yet, but was said to be delusional, magical, and considered dangerous.

  It broke my heart that a child was considered dangerous. Maybe she needed better training; maybe her magic just wasn’t controllable yet. Children were always innocent when it came to magic; they didn’t know the difference good and bad until someone guided them.

  I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I needed to speak to her. The problem was, the words and memories of a child weren’t always the truth, or at least the truth as adults think of it.

  A knock came on my office door, and I looked up to see Mario standing outside the glass. I glance behind me told me I’d worked until sundown already with my research. Great.

  I got up to let him in, and he paused at the doll on the desk. “That’s creepy.”

  “How did you know where I was?” I raised a brow. “I hadn’t told Levi about the switch.”

  He shrugged. “You turned the tracker on on your phone for some reason.”

  “Oliver did because I wasn’t sure what was going on.”

  “Fill me in?” He walked over to the doll and touched the curled hair. “She looks just like you. A gift?”

  I shook my head. “No, Simon and I went to get some information and to help with the cover, Simon had to buy a doll. This was the one the storekeeper suggested.”

  “You saw Drake’s daughter then.” He looked at me as I sat back down at the desk. “She’s dangerous, you know?”

  I nodded. “That’s why I took Simon with, to have an innocent bystander there to help defuse the situation.”

  “Do you think she has something to do with the deaths?”

  I didn’t want to give him information. “I can’t discuss that case with you, but the case I can discuss with you will be up on my screen in just a moment.”

  I closed out the files on Cynthia and opened the files from the vampire victims we found the other night. “Does this look like the work of Keira?”

  He pulled the other desk chair over and carefully examined the screen. “Yes, it does. This looks exactly like her doing. Is this the only one that’s shown up?”

  I nodded and flipped through the pictures. “This here.” I stopped on the picture of the bedroom with the doll who had painted fangs, much like mine. “This is what made me think it was her.”

  “That doll looks similar to the one that you have. Same maker?”

  I hadn’t thought about it while we were there. “Possibly, it’s a little worn though, older than mine.” I paused. “Drake?” I questioned and looked at Mario.

  “Drake made dolls in his spare time, that’s probably where Loraine learned how to do it.” He tapped the screen. “That one isn’t porcelain like yours.”

  “No, it’s a soft fabric doll with a plastic face.” I pressed my lips together. “I didn’t expect these two cases to come together.”

  Mario nodded. “Don’t count on it yet; it could be just a coincidence. Now, we need to go back to this scene and take a look around.”

  “Mason hasn’t gotten back to me with any other information, so I was just sitting tight.”

  Mario stood and put the computer chair back. “It’s not a sit around type of situation Abigail, you don’t know the creature like Levi and I do. She’s likely to be still using that place.”

  “Not with PIB and cops swarming around it. Besides, I thought she was staying with someone up north.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “But, I’m going to humor you, to show you that PIB has their shit together.”

  He crossed his arms. “And if she’s there and PIB is not?”

  “Then I know we’re dealing with something bigger than just PIB can handle and I’ll let you help me more.” I stood from my chair and grabbed my bag. I patted the doll on the head. “You have a good night, mini-me, keep the office safe.”

  Mario shook his head. “You can’t trust a doll to keep a room safe.”

  I smirked. “You can if you put a protection rune on the bottom of it.”

  He said nothing to me as we walked out of the office. Maybe I’d stunned him into silence, or maybe he thought my response was silly, either way, it made him stop talking, and I enjoyed the break from him rambling.

  We walked out into the parking lot and to the Hummer. He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me and motioned to the vehicle. My heart skipped a beat, wondering what he saw that I didn’t. And then I noticed it. Another fucking flamingo was sitting next to the car; this one had swimsuit wrapped around its neck.

  I shook my head and kept going forward. “It’s just someone playing a prank.”

  “How do you know that for sure?”

  I picked it up, opened the back of the Hummer, and threw the flamingo on top of the pile. “Because someone keeps leaving them for me.”

  “How many?”

  I shrugged. “Thirteen of them surrounding the car at the mansion and since then there’s been two more that joined the crew.”

  “And this doesn’t bother you?” He raised a brow.

  “Nope, there’s no magic to them, so I’m not that worried about it. When I get a chance, I’m going to swing by the shop that I know sells them and see if someone bought them in bulk.”

  Mario peeked into the back of the Hummer. “What are you going to do with them?”

  “No idea. Might put them on my lawn, might try to return them, might just keep them in the back of the Hummer.”

  He climbed in and leaned back in the seat. “I wish you’d just let me take us there.”

  “I don’t like traveling that way.” I turned the key and gave the engine a moment to warm up. “I don’t like not having a car, or depending on someone to tak
e me places.” I was also tired of rehashing this conversation.

  He chuckled. “You like control.”

  “Wouldn’t you? It’s the only thing I have to cling to in my life. Take away my control, and I’m nothing but a puppet.” I looked at him. “It’s why I fought Levi so hard for control over my life, why I joined PIB, why I moved out.”

  Mario didn’t glance at me and remained silent.

  I put the car in gear and then started out of the parking lot, heading toward the highway.

  “Why do you think that?” Mario crossed his arms. “The more control you have, the more danger your life is in.”

  I gave myself a moment to think. “When I was four, someone slaughtered my parents. You know that though. I was ripped from my life and thrown into Levi’s. When I was ten, my powers started showing up, and Levi found a witch to teach me control. When I was eighteen, I lost that control for the first time, almost killing someone.” I sighed. “I begged Levi not to lock me away in the mansion. I told him I’d find a way to make sure I never lost control again.”

  “And that clearly didn’t work; you’ve started losing control again.” Mario pointed out.

  “No, I haven’t. I had perfect control when I killed all those blood-starved.” I reminded him. “I joined PIB after Levi said he’d find someone to help me. The argument we had before I went into the academy was the worst we had, but in the end, he ended up agreeing it was best. You see, Mario, if I give in and let Levi make choices for me, let you make choices for me, then everything I’ve fought for and everything I worked for is gone. I go back to being Levi’s adopted daughter and nothing more.”

  I wasn’t sure why I let him in on that secret. I hadn’t even really explained it to Levi. I tightened my hands on the steering wheel.

  “You’re scared,” he said after a few minutes. “Don’t bother denying it; I can sense the fear in you.”

  I nodded. “For reasons I don’t want to explain to you.” I was scared of being pulled further into the vampire world, of not being able to maintain who I was, allowing myself simply to become the Princess of Vampires, Levi’s adopted daughter who must be protected.