by Rose Pressey
“Like I said, he left. We grabbed her up and brought her to the back room.” Ginny gestured toward a little hallway on the left.
No wonder she’d kept looking over her shoulder.
“How is she?” I finally found my voice.
Ginny shrugged. “She’s doing okay, I guess. I’ll know more later today on how she’s handling it.”
“I’m really sorry that this happened,” I said.
Why was I apologizing? As the new leader of the Underworld I guess I thought it was my responsibility to make sure everyone behaved.
“Can you take me to her?” I asked.
She hesitated, then said, “Sure, she’s in the back room.”
“Are you sure you want to see her?” Liam asked.
I nodded. “I’m sure.”
“She’ll probably be out of it. She was resting the last time I looked in on her. I gave her blood, but she didn’t want it,” Ginny said.
I swallowed hard. “I want to see her.”
Ginny turned and motioned over her shoulder for us to follow.
“We’ll just stay here,” Annabelle said with trepidation.
I nodded. That was probably for the best.
Liam and I followed Ginny down the long hallway. The walls were covered with photographs of patrons and employees enjoying different events at the bar. There were a lot of photos from Mardi Gras, some photos from Halloween, and other photos from ladies’ night events.
The dimly lit hallway seemed to drag out forever, like an endless tunnel.
“It’s the last room down this hall. I put her in my office,” Ginny said.
“What do newly turned vampires do?” I whispered to Liam as we headed down the hall.
“Well, no two vampires will handle it the same way,” he said.
I knew Ginny was trying not to listen, but with her right in front of us it was impossible.
“Some people just want to sleep for days. Those are the easy ones. But others just want blood and they can’t get enough. They can be difficult. It’s like feeding a baby every twenty minutes. Only the newly turned vampire isn’t cute like a baby.”
I nodded. “I can see your point.”
We made it to the end of the hall and Ginny paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Are you ready to go in?” she asked.
Okay, she was making me nervous. It was like she was about to open a lion’s cage. Should I be prepared to run?
I inhaled a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
She eased the door open and my adrenaline level spiked. The room was dark except for the glow from a little lamp that sat on a table in the corner. A desk was against the far wall with a chair in front of it, and a leather sofa was up against the wall to the right. The woman was lying on the sofa with her eyes closed. It looked as if she was sleeping, but how could I be sure? For all I knew, if I got close enough, she would attack me. Maybe she would blame me for Nicolas’ actions. Remnants of dried blood covered her neck and the puncture wounds stood out as reminders of the violent attack. This was all too real now. There was no denying that she had been attacked and apparently everyone had seen Nicolas commit the act. Maybe I hadn’t known Nicolas at all.
The victim’s brown hair reached to her shoulders and she looked to be around twenty-two or three years old. But I always had been terrible at guessing ages. I wondered if she was one of the quiet ones. If she had been in there sleeping for hours, then it sounded like she matched the description of a quiet one. But I needed to talk to her. I needed to hear the words from her mouth. Had Nicolas really attacked her?
“She was a very sweet girl. I just hope this doesn’t change her.”
I glanced over at Ginny. “You mean this could change her personality?”
Liam scowled. “No, she’ll be fine. Don’t put ideas in her head.” He scolded Ginny. “If she was sweet before then she’ll be sweet afterward.”
Ginny shrugged. “If you say so.”
She didn’t sound convinced. Maybe she was just being dramatic though. I chose to believe Liam. What he said sounded like a much better scenario.
“Is it okay if I speak with her?” I asked.
“If you think you can get her to answer. Go right ahead.” Ginny motioned for me to move closer. Why did I feel the need to find a big stick and poke this woman from a safe distance? Okay, if I was going to be the leader then I needed to toughen up.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
“Marisa Hanley,” Ginny answered.
I stepped closer, but the woman didn’t move. “Excuse me, Marisa,” I said weakly.
I didn’t want to poke her, but it didn’t look as if she was going to come around if I didn’t.
I reached out and shook her shoulder, then immediately snatched my hand back before she had a chance to bite it. Liam snorted and I scowled at him. Her eyes remained closed. When I reached out to shake her again, her eyelids popped open. She glared at me and jumped up to a seated position, backing up on the sofa. She looked as if she wanted to get far away from me.
I held my hands up in surrender. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I just have a couple of questions about what happened.”
Her complexion was pale and her eyes were wide as she stared at us.
“Who are you?” Marisa finally asked.
Ginny answered for me. “This is Halloween LaVeau. She’s the leader of the Underworld. She takes care of problems with the paranormals.”
Marisa looked at me strangely for a moment. “Well, she’d better take care of that beast who attacked me,” she spat.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” I said.
“He should be locked up,” Marisa said.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.
“There’s not much to tell. I went over to leave the bill for their drinks and he jumped up and attacked me. I didn’t have time to get away or anything.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve worked here for a long time and never had a problem until now.”
“So I hear,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “So everyone saw him do this to you?” I asked.
Marisa scowled. “Of course they did.”
I nodded.
“Look, I was attacked and it was totally unprovoked. So what are you going to do to him?” she asked, looking me right in the eyes.
Talk about pressure. I had no idea how to answer that question.
“First I’ll have to find him,” I said.
“Well, you’d better hurry before he does this to someone else.” She rubbed her wounded throat.
She was right about that. If everything she said was true, then I had to stop Nicolas. As much as it would hurt, I had to save another innocent person from being attacked by him.
“Are you going to take care of him?” she asked.
I nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
It was a good thing she hadn’t realized that I was just telling her what she wanted to hear. Of course I would try to take care of it, but I couldn’t make any guarantees.
“Thank you for talking to me, and again I’m sorry about what happened.”
Her expression softened a little. “Thanks. Now who is going to give me some blood?” Marisa’s softened appearance changed instantly as she looked around the room with a wild-eyed expression.
Uh-oh. I felt the need to cover my neck. It sure wasn’t going to be me.
“I’ll take care of her,” Ginny said with exasperation. “Just give me two seconds.” Ginny shook her head. “She’s a very demanding one. She was always so quiet before.”
Ginny looked at Liam as if to say, I told you so.
“We’ll see ourselves out. Thank you,” I said.
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Every time I looked at that woman I envisioned Nicolas on some wild rampage attacking everyone in sight. That certainly wasn’t the Nicolas I’d known.
Liam and I stepped out into the hallway and I glanced over my shoulder. To my relie
f, Marisa wasn’t following me.
“What do you think?” I asked Liam as we walked back down the hallway toward Annabelle and Catherin.
He shook his head. “None of this makes sense. If you’re asking me if I think Nicolas did this, then I’ll say no, but it looks as if he did.”
“Maybe it wasn’t unprovoked. I know she said it was, but how do we know any of these people are telling the truth? Heck, they could be lying about Nicolas even being here,” I said.
Liam glanced over at me. After a second, he said, “That’s true. I’d never thought of that.”
“As far as I’m concerned, Nicolas is innocent until proven guilty. But we need to find him so we can ask him for the truth,” I said.
“It isn’t like him to run away or abandon a situation. He’s a stand-up guy. Nicolas always takes care of his responsibilities, so that’s the opposite of what they’re saying about him,” Liam said as we moved down the hall.
“That’s why I said I didn’t think he did this,” I said.
When we stepped out into the larger room again, Annabelle and Catherin were still sitting at the round table. Annabelle noticed that we’d returned and gave me a pleading look. Catherin was talking and it looked as if she’d been chatting nonstop since we’d left. Annabelle clearly needed to be rescued.
“Ms. LaVeau?” Ginny hurried toward us.
By her expression it didn’t look as if she was about to deliver good news. I wasn’t sure I could handle more bad news right now.
“There was one more important thing,” she said when she approached.
“Yes?” I asked, dreading what she was about to say.
“The woman who was at the table with Nicolas?” Ginny said.
I nodded.
“Once Nicolas had left, she said that they had to get rid of Nicolas… and you.” Ginny pointed at me.
My stomach turned. I immediately thought of Sabrina and Jacobson. But it couldn’t have been them because they hated Nicolas. They would have just taken him out right there and then instead of sharing a few beers with him. Besides, Nicolas would never meet and talk with Jacobson and Sabrina.
But the strangest part about this whole scenario was how Nicolas had been here last night when I knew for a fact that he had been at LaVeau Manor. That was when it hit me. A glamor spell. Someone was obviously pretending to be Nicolas. Alas, this opened up the unfortunate possibility that it was my Nicolas who was fake, and the real Nicolas was the murderous psychopath.
I’d even done it myself once. It was a long story, but I’d wanted to discover the truth about Liam and Nicolas, so I’d taken on Nicolas’ appearance in order to get Liam to talk to me. It hadn’t turned out as planned, but who would be pretending to be Nicolas and why? Especially when the man and woman he’d been talking to wanted to kill him. This was all so confusing.
“You have no idea who this man and woman are?” Liam asked.
His expression had taken a serious turn, which didn’t help my anxiety. Annabelle looked as if she might be sick at any moment. Oddly, Catherin seemed cool and calm.
Ginny frowned. “I’m not sure.”
She didn’t sound convinced about her last statement.
“Are you a witch, Ginny Love?” I asked.
I hadn’t sensed any magic when I came into the bar, so my guess was no. I hated to pull out the fact that I was the leader now to her, but she needed to confess. I hated using titles and ranks. It seemed weird.
She frowned. “No, I’m a vampire.”
“You know you need to tell me the whole truth? If I find out you’re lying or withholding important information, then I’d be forced to take some kind of legal action,” I said.
Ginny scrunched her brow. Yeah, she probably knew that I was totally making all this up as I went along. But she couldn’t prove it, so that was to my advantage.
Finally, she said, “They were witches. I heard them mention the New Orleans Coven. But that’s all I know, I promise.” She held her hand up as if under oath. “I mean, would I have called you if I didn’t want to help?”
“I’ve learned to assume nothing,” I said.
“Thank you for the information, Ginny. I appreciate it and you did the right thing.” I offered a small smile.
“You won’t tell anyone that I told you, will you?” she asked with wide eyes.
I shook my head. “I won’t say a word.”
We made our way out into the main part of the bar again. As I neared the door, a woman touched my arm, stopping me. She had the same nervous expression on her face as Ginny. The woman wore the bar’s blue logoed t-shirt and jeans. A hint of a gold necklace peeked out from under her collar. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
“Are you the new leader?” she whispered, looking around the bar.
I looked her up and down. “Yes, I’m Hallie.”
Liam stepped between us.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I had to tell you.” She glanced around again. “I had to tell you about the man and woman.”
I eyed her suspiciously. “The man and woman who were here talking to Nicolas Marcos?”
She twisted the end of her ponytail around her index finger. “Yes, I overheard them talking.”
“Thank you, but Ginny just told me about it.” I smiled warmly.
“Did she tell you who the woman was?” she whispered as she looked around again.
I stared at her for a moment. “No, she said she didn’t know.”
The woman nodded. “Ginny probably doesn’t remember who she is, but I take care of a lot of tables here in the bar and I remember a lot of people.”
“Wait. So you know who this woman is?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.
This woman had me paranoid now.
She leaned against the table. “Her name is Janet Brock. She’s a witch who lives just across town. It’s an old house next to a swamp. I don’t know the address, but I could draw you a map.”
“Yes, please. That would be wonderful,” I said.
Liam grabbed my arm. “I’m not sure we should go there. We don’t know how many people are there.”
The woman waved her hand. “Oh, no. She lives there alone.”
“How do you know her?” Liam asked.
“She’s been in the bar before. It was a couple times and I waited on her both times. She was kind of talkative. Anyway, she told me that she lived alone.”
“So how do you know where she lives?” Liam pushed.
She shifted from foot to foot. “I’m not proud of this, but she told me that I could have some of her witch’s blood. I wanted to see if it worked and she said she needed the money.”
Apparently witches’ blood gave vampires witchcraft power. Not as much as a witch possessed, but something was better than nothing.
“So you went to her house?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, but when I got there she had changed her mind, which was just as well because she made me nervous.”
“Why did she make you nervous?” Annabelle asked in a shaky voice from over my shoulder.
She shrugged. “It was just a vibe I got. You know how sometimes people just don’t seem on the up and up?”
I nodded. I knew that feeling all too well.
“Did she speak to you when she was in here last night?” Liam asked.
“No. She acted as if she didn’t know me. That was fine with me though. You know, she’d been in here alone before. That’s why I was a little surprised to see her speaking with the man and then Nicolas,” she said.
“But she was definitely talking with Mr. Marcos and another man?” Liam asked.
She grabbed a napkin from the bar and pulled the pen from behind her ear. “I’m one hundred percent positive. I’ll draw a map for you. Sorry I can’t remember the name of the street.”
“Do you have any idea why she was talking with Nicolas?” I asked.
After drawing out a sketch, she handed me the napkin. “I heard the same thing as Ginny. Janet and
the man said they wanted Nicolas and you dead.”
I looked at her. “Why are you telling me this?”
Her expression darkened. “I thought it was the right thing to do.”
I nodded. “Well, thank you.”
“Please be careful,” she called out over my shoulder.
As we walked toward the door, Annabelle asked, “How do we know she’s not setting you up?”
“She’s right. We could be going right into their trap,” Liam said.
“Well, that’s the chance I have to take. What if she has information about Nicolas?” I threw my hand up. “Heck, what if she has Nicolas there?”
Liam stared for a second. “All right. But I go check it out first. I’ll leave my gun with you. If anyone approaches and tries anything to harm you, you’ll have to use it.”
Chapter Eleven
We made our way out of the bar and into the bright sunlight. I shielded my eyes until they had a chance to adjust.
“You still haven’t explained how vampires can go out into the sunlight,” I said as we hurried toward the car.
“We take a pill,” Liam said without glancing over at me.
“You take a pill?” I asked suspiciously.
“We don’t really have time to go into the basics. Annabelle, I can drive if you’d like,” Liam said.
“Gladly,” Annabelle said, handing over the keys.
“The least you can do is explain to me what kind of pill. Do all vampires take it?” I asked.
“Leave it to you to be interested in how this works now,” Liam said.
I chuckled. “Hey, I need something to keep my mind off what may happen when we get to this house.”
He paused, then nodded. “You’re right. Okay, well, vampires discovered quite some time ago that there was something in beets that allowed us to go into the sun.”
I snorted. “Beets?”
“I know it’s not glamorous, but it is what it is,” Liam said.
“So how does this translate to a pill?” I asked biting my lip to fend off a giggle.
“They made the beet extract in pill form,” Liam responded quickly.
“Of course.” I shook my head.
