“Road trip,” Raf exclaimed joyfully. “I’ll drive.”
“Fine by me, you chauffer and I’ll show Tom the sites.” And get to cuddle in the back seat for possibly the last time. I shook off the thought. “Just remember to watch out for deer.” I reminded him as I glanced at the clock. Well crap! I was going to be late.
“How long is the drive?” Tom asked.
“If we do the speed limit, about thirty or forty minutes,” I said. Not that I usually do the speed limit.
“More like forty-five. Girlfriend’s got a lead foot,” Raf commented dryly. “We’ll take the Hummer.
We made it out of town to Congo/Ferndale Road in Saline County without seeing any wildlife. About a mile from Col. Glenn going south toward Lawson, three does shot out of the brush and into the road in front of the Hummer. Luckily, we had just come out of a curve and were climbing uphill so when Raf hit the brakes we were going slow enough to stop before hitting them. Good thing, because following closely on their heels was a big, black panther.
“Well damn!” Raf cried. “That was close.”
“I know why Bianca hasn’t found her panther. He moved.” We were about fifteen miles northwest of Bryant. I had no idea what a panther’s range was. But hey, they weren’t supposed to live in Arkansas anymore. Yeah right. “Well shit!”
“Now what?” Raf sounded rattled.
“A hunting club bought this property? I could cry!” The one hundred and ninety odd acres was still for sale the last time I drove out. Now there were signs saying ‘Keep Out, Property of Hunting Club’. “Great. Just fucking great.”
“What?” Raf asked again.
“Nothing, this property has been for sale for a while. Looks like it sold, to a hunting club. No wonder the deer are running for their lives.”
Raf continued on, slowly, not taking any chances. We didn’t see more deer — or panthers — before we pulled into Dee’s drive. The sign left me in no mood for a visit, all I wanted to do was get Willy and go home.
Willy went nuts. He knew it was me, he always did.
Dee yelled, “Hold your horses! I’m coming. Move, Willy.” Finally the door opened. “Hi y’all,” she said. “Come on in.”
CHAPTER 26
“Geeze Louise, Willy, I missed you, too. Calm down!” I laughed. Dragging myself upright, I gave Dee a hug. “Thanks for watching this idiot. Please tell me he was good — until we got here.”
“Sure, until about thirty minutes ago. I swear those folks on Animal Planet know what they’re talking about. He knew y’all were on the way and started bouncing off the walls.”
Jimmy came round the corner, with a tray. There were two bottles of RR and three glasses of pink lemonade. He handed Tom and Raf their bottles with straws. “Sit. Get comfortable.”
“I really hate to bring this up, but you guys need to know. We saw a black panther after some deer on Congo. You need to be careful when you’re out walking. I’d hate for you to stumble across each other in the dark.”
“You think it’s the same one they spotted in Bryant a couple weeks ago?” Dee asked. She didn’t seem upset, just curious.
“How many can there be?” I said with a shrug. “Just keep an eye out. Speaking of out, has Willy been recently? We don’t need any accidents on the way home.”
“Hey guys, why don’t y’all take Willy for a walk? Use the leash,” Dee suggested.
Dee and I packed up Willy’s stuff while the boys were gone. Food, dog bed, toys, and crate. I was glad we brought the Hummer. I thought about telling Dee about my visit to her mom-in-law but decided against it. She’d have ton of questions and I had more than my fair share coming up.
I did tell her about the new hunting club. She knew how much I loved that property. Not that I ever expected to own it, but a hunting club? She was furious on my behalf.
The boys weren’t gone any time at all.
Raf said, “Willy found cat tracks,” as soon as they entered the room.
“I’m guessing we aren’t talking barn cat here. Where?” I asked. Cattle grazed all around in the valley. I figured they would be easy pickins’ for a big cat.
“Right down at the corner by the patch of woods,” Jimmy said, “So, Dee, no more walking to the mailbox alone.”
“We better get going. It’ll take us an hour to get home the way Raf drives. Do we have everything?” I took a second look around to be sure.
We all rose and I snapped Willy’s leash back on. No need to take chances. As we stepped out onto the porch I noticed the light on in my old house. “I’ve been meaning to ask how Cindy is working out. Is she a good tenant?”
“So far she’s been great. Rent’s on time. Never asks me to fix anything,” Jimmy commented. “Her boyfriend must be real handy. I think he might be part of the problem between her and her mom.”
“How so?” Nosey, who me?
“He’s into body art.”
“Oh — to each their own.”
“Apparently her mom doesn’t see it that way. Cindy’s gotten a couple since she’s been here. I doubt her mom knows.” Jimmy said. He gave me a squeeze and told Tom, “You better take care of my best girl. I know where you live.” Everyone laughed — except Dee.
Tom and Jimmy shook hands, so did Jimmy and Raf, I was pleased to see. Raf gave Dee a gentle hug and whispered something in her ear that brought a slight smile to her lips. Tom gave her a kiss on the cheek. I kissed the other one, sat Willy in the Hummer and stepped up.
“Y’all drive careful and watch out for critters,” Jimmy called in his very best redneck. He waved, then steered Dee back into the house.
Willy wedged between us on the seat to get his ears scratched. Tom managed to get his arm around me anyway. “Did you have a nice visit?”
“I guess.” I replied without much enthusiasm. Raf watched me in the rearview.
“Better keep both eyes on the road, hon. No telling what might come jumping out at you,” I told him.
“Is this the place you girls were talking about?” Raf asked as we passed the first hunting club sign.
“Uh-huh. There are too big ponds on that hill in front. They’re real deep. I wish you could see it in the daytime. It’s so pretty.”
“That would be nice,” Raf remarked casually.
“Sorry. I didn’t think,” I apologized.
“It’s only a matter of time, until we get it figured out,” Tom told us with all the assurance in the world. “There are just a couple of glitches we need to work out in the sun block.”
Better be SPF 1000. “Would you have to put sun block everywhere or only the areas of exposed flesh? I mean y’all can ride in this car when the sun’s not all the way down because the windows are tinted real dark. Right? So as long as your clothes blocked the sun from penetrating to your skin, wouldn’t that be enough? You’re not planning on sunbathing.”
“Darlin,’ sometimes you astonish me.” Tom planted a big kiss on my surprised mouth, squashing Willy in the process. A growl emanated from between us.
“You might want to think about making the sunblock in aerosol, otherwise it will be a bitch to do inside your ears. You could always wear earmuffs or caps with flaps.” I laughed at the image.
Tom flicked open his cell phone and hit a button on speed dial. “Martin? I want to you to start testing fabrics for sun blocking properties. I know. Yes. Yes. Get back to me as soon as you’ve compiled a list.”
“So, your flunkies have to work around the clock?” It was close to midnight.
“Darlin’ they’re vampires. When do you think they should work?” He grinned at me.
I whacked his arm. “Okay, that was dumb. So that explains how you get stuff done so fast. You’ve got people working twenty-four–seven, humans in the daytime, and vamps at night, a true equal opportunity employer.”
“We do try.”
“So maybe we can come back in the daylight and see the property after all,” Raf observed.
“You might need to get permission
from the hunting club. They have No Trespassing signs posted.” I frowned when I added, “You could get lucky, it’s not hunting season yet.” Tom’s hand rubbed my thigh, inching higher with every stroke. I put my hand on his and gave him a look. Mine said stop. The one he gave me in return said something entirely different. I felt the heat creep up my face. I glanced up to see Raf watching in the review mirror. “Eyes on the road buddy.” Raf giggled. It was contagious. Soon we were all laughing and whatever tension had followed us, vanished.
The excitement in my guys was palpable. Tom hadn’t seen the light of day in over a hundred years, Raf in thousands. Now a miracle might well be within their grasp.
We were all smiling and laughing when we walked into the living room. The light on the phone was blinking. Raf entered the code to check the voice mail. Becki’s voice filled the room. “I made arrangements with the coroner. You can view the remains Monday evening. I’ll meet you there.” Message two was from Bianca, telling us her coven was working on the other part of our problem.
“It sounds like we have plans tomorrow evening.” I gave an involuntary shiver.
“No need for you to go,” Tom said as he put an arm around me.
“Oh, I’m going. I found him after all. I’m just not looking forward to it.”
“We can tell if he’s one of ours. What good would seeing his body do you?” Raf asked.
“He’s right, Darlin’. It’s not like we’re keeping secrets. You don’t need to put yourself through it again,” Tom argued reasonably.
Raf gave me the look; I gave it right back. Secrets.
Did I love Tom? Yeah I did. Was I in love with him? Maybe, if I let myself. If I didn’t screw it up. How much of our attraction to each other was Dee’s doing I could only guess. I did know any lasting relationship had to be built on honesty. Secrets never stayed buried for long. I sucked it up.
“Honey, it’s time for that talk.” I tugged Tom’s arm. “Let’s go upstairs.” He gave me a questioning look. “To talk,” I reiterated. He let me lead him to the stairs. Raf gave me a smile of encouragement and thumbs up — ever the optimist.
I leaned my back against the bedroom door, pointing to the bed. Tom sat obediently. I took a deep breath. “You don’t know anything about me, not really.”
“But, Darlin’ … ”
“No. This is going to be difficult so I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t interrupt until I finish.” I smiled at him, or did my best to. “Don’t take it personally but I’m just not sure I can get through it if I have to look you in the eye. I hope you understand.”
“Connie … ”
I waved my hand. “After.” I said. “I’ll answer all your questions, after. Now get comfy. This could take a while.” I began to pace, sifting through the messy contents of my mind. Where to begin? If I had to do this, I wasn’t going to skip anything, no sins of omission to add to the list.
“I didn’t have what most would consider a typical childhood. My parents divorced when I was just a baby. He had her committed, got the divorce and shipped my brother and me off to her parents. We stayed there until Grandpa died. Without him to intercede, Grandma packed us off to other relatives. We bounced around a lot but I tried my best to fit in. For some reason early on, I think I was five or six, I drew the attention of male family members — in a sexual way.” As I paused a moment to clear my throat, I heard the bed squeak and knew Tom had risen. “Don’t — please.”
If he touched me, I’d break. Another creak let me know he had complied with my request. I exhaled and became the narrator of events, not the innocent who lived them.
“These were adult or near adult males messing with me when before I started kindergarten. If Grandpa had been alive, he would have skinned them and nailed their hide to the barn door, but he wasn’t. And to be truthful, at first I didn’t tell anyone. I figured I’d done something wrong. When I did tell, no one believed me. My chance to escape came when Mom was released from the mental hospital. I mean, how bad could it be with just the three of us there?” Nervous giggles trickled from my throat.
“Life with a paranoid schizophrenic … when she was on her meds it wasn’t so bad — but she seldom was. Just after my thirteenth birthday, I came home from school to an empty house, and Mom gone. The landlady must have called my relatives, because they came looking for us. I wasn’t going back. Jimmy hid me until they gave up searching. My brother stayed elsewhere. After a couple of weeks, we found a rent house Dad’s child support check would cover. Occasionally my brother took in a boarder. For some reason he liked to tell these guys I was easy. Like somehow that made him a big man? He was twisted, I realize that now.”
“Social Services found out about us. I went into the system. He was seventeen and about to graduate so they didn’t worry about him. Let’s just say foster care wasn’t any better than my home life had been, so I ran away. You wouldn’t think life would be better alone on the streets, but in my case — it was. I had a meltdown or something and began living my brother’s lies. By the end of my senior year, I turned my life around, with Jimmy’s help. Then Dee came into the picture. I spent a lot of time at her house. At one point Jimmy’s folks tried to foster or even adopt me but the state wouldn’t allow it. Nancy’s a doctor for Christ’s sake! The case worker said there were too many males in the household.” My hysterical giggles resumed. It was really funny.
“She was worried about a girl … in that house? Too bad no one worried about my foster dad, or the boarders, or the relatives, or — my brother.” I stifled the urge to vomit with a deep, shaky breath.
“Just so you know, with the exception of Randy — real sorry about him — I’ve been celibate for the last five years. I know you can’t catch anything, but still, I wanted you to know I don’t sleep around.” I paced, waiting for the inevitable.
Finally, the tension became overpowering and I turned to face my fate.
Tom sat frozen. His eyes were enormous and black as pitch, his fangs fully extended. But what shocked me most were the red trails down his cheeks. I choked on the sobs rising in my throat, swallowing them down, and went to him. Sitting next to him, I put am arms around him. “It’s okay,” I told him. “It’s over.”
Tom turned slowly toward me, his eyes intent on my face. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?”
I lay my head on his shoulder and murmured, “Something like that.”
CHAPTER 27
“No absolutely not!” I said for the hundredth time in the last hour.
“Why? I know you can do it,” Raf argued.
“I’ll freeze. I always freeze in front of people,”
“But I can fix that,” Raf assured me.
“We’re not even sure your vamp mojo works on me anymore.”
The ongoing discussion started when Raf got the go ahead for the grand re-opening of Midnight Sun. He decided to have a Karaoke night and give prizes. He wanted me to sing. Sure I sang around the house and along with the car radio. I could hold my own in a group, but alone, in front of people? Nuh-uh!
“You didn’t forget the driving directions I gave you,” he insisted. “Only things you or I blocked came back, not what I put in your head. Let’s rehearse to prove it. Look into my eyes … ”
“If only to shut you up!” I glared deep into his eyes and ground my teeth.
• • •
The sun was low when we arrived at the morgue and parked in the underground garage. Becki held the door open for us, motioning us in. Our John Doe awaited us on a stainless steel gurney amid a sea of stainless steel doors, tables, and sinks.
“This is Dr. Johnson, the coroner,” Becki said, introducing us. When she nodded, Dr. Johnson folded back the sheet.
I gasped, not from the sight, but from holding my breath. “What is that odor?”
The doctor grinned. “Well formaldehyde to be sure. The remains are preserved.” He flipped through some pages on a clipboard. “The other component hasn’t been isolated.”
“Ma
gic,” Raf said. Tom nodded.
The doctor appeared skeptical. Becki wore cop face.
Raf and Tom leaned in for a closer inspection. The body looked like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces were laid out anatomically. The head, the torso, legs, arms, hands, and feet, all there, but disconnected. The chest gaped open and empty; the head showed a zigzag of sutures going around the skull.
“The brain is missing. Removal seems to have been via the nasal cavity. The heart is also absent. Everything else is accounted for. We ran the prints, but nothing came up.” Johnson waited expectantly.
“Well?” Becki asked.
“He’s one of ours,” Tom answered.
“I saw no evidence of elongated canines,” Dr. Johnson said.
“Why would you? In final death we revert to our human form. In advanced rigor, establishing a time of death would be impossible even if the body wasn’t preserved,” Tom told him.
“Why would someone go to the trouble to preserve the body?” Becki asked.
“The obvious answer is so it wouldn’t deteriorate. We take longer to decompose, but will eventually. Someone wanted the body intact for a while.” Tom looked thoughtful. “The chemical might also have been used to obstruct his scent in case anyone was looking for him.”
“You guys can smell another vampire?” Becki asked.
Raf shrugged. “We can smell just about anything. If you mean can we smell a dead vampire? Yes.” He didn’t look happy.
“Vampires of common lineage have similar scents.” Tom searched for a way to explain without giving too much away. “We recognize members of our kiss — our line — by scent, dead or undead.”
“So you think the magic and formaldehyde were to throw whoever might be looking for him off the scent?” Becki reiterated. “Why put him in the dumpster behind a business run by vampires? That seems counterproductive.”
“I only see two possibilities, as a test or a warning. A human and her dog found him, not a vampire. So if the test was to mask his scent from other vampires, it appears to have worked. If, on the other hand, it was intended as a warning, I’m afraid I’m at a loss,” Tom told her.
Midnight Sun, Inc. (Crimson Romance) Page 22
