by Zoe Arden
"You let him do this to you?" I couldn't believe it.
"I had to. Do you know what the Cult of V wants to do? I had no choice. The only way to save my family was to save the world. I had one chance to come back. To reverse things."
"What happened?"
"Vlaski found out I was working for COMHA. He didn't even stop to ask questions. Just took me prisoner."
"Why didn't he just kill you?"
Russell's mouth formed a sorry smile. "Because Vlaski thinks that torture is more fun."
My heart thudded in my chest. "Oh."
"I escaped a few months later, but I had nowhere to go. I couldn't go back to my family. They wouldn't have been safe."
"So, what did you do? Hide out?"
"I learned Vlaski's movements. I studied him. Tracked him. Until I was certain I knew where he was going to be before he did."
It felt like a marching band was stomping through my head.
"Vlaski was asking about a book of Melbourne's."
"The Last Vampire?"
"Yes."
"Do you have it?"
"No. Why is it important to him? Melbourne said it has evidence against him and everyone in his group. Does he just want to destroy it?"
"I'm not sure. I've never seen it. It was stolen from Vlaski before I met him."
"Stolen? By who?"
"Melbourne."
"Oh, for some reason, I thought it had always belonged to Melbourne. He didn't mention that he'd stolen it."
"There's probably a lot of things Melbourne hasn't mentioned."
"What do you mean?"
"Ava, I need you to listen to me. I heard what Vlaski told you about Melbourne before he attacked you."
"You mean that stuff about not being able to trust him? Don't worry, I know that's not true."
"That's the thing, Ava. It is true."
I stared at him, not comprehending.
"I don't think I understand. What are you saying?"
"Don't trust him. Not one word. Everything out of his mouth is a lie."
I laughed. " I've known Melbourne for a while now. He's practically dating my aunt. I don't think he's a liar. You must be mistaken."
Russell reached into his pocket and pulled out a half-torn photograph.
"What's that?" I asked. My throat felt like parchment paper. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Russell handed the photograph to me. It showed something that I suspected was a rare occurrence. A smiling, happy Vlaski Ambrose. A man's arm was draped around Vlaski's shoulder while they posed for their photo. The man himself was missing. His head had been torn off. All the photograph showed was his arm.
"I don't have the other half," Russell said, "but the man beside him is—"
"Don't bother," I told him. "I already know."
I dug into my purse and pulled out the photo I'd been carrying around with me since I'd gone searching Melbourne's house for The Last Vampire. It was the one that had been ripped in half. It showed a smiling, happy Melbourne posing with a friend. The friend's head had been torn off.
I held my photograph next to the one Russell had just given me. The two pieces fit together like a puzzle. It was one complete photo now, instead of two halves. It showed Melbourne with his arm around Vlaski's shoulder. They were standing together and smiling. Friends.
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CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
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"Are you sure this is safe?" Russell asked. "If your family sees me..."
"They won't," I assured him. "Just stay here and don't go out front."
"I don't see what this is going to accomplish."
"We need to come up with a plan."
Eleanor came strolling into the back, looking at something in her hand. I quickly shut the cabinet doors before she could see him. One of them slammed against Russell's nose. I heard a soft "yow!" from inside the cabinet.
"Sorry," I whispered.
Eleanor looked up in surprise.
"Ava, you're already here. We thought you were still in bed."
I smiled artificially at her. "Nope. I thought I'd take a page from Aunt Trixie's book and get here early this morning. I wanted to surprise you by cleaning the place up."
Eleanor looked around, her expression confused. "You, er, cleaned?" she asked. The tables were loaded with dirty mixing bowls and baking pans. Flour was everywhere, sprinkled on the floors and tables like snow. A row of mood extracts littered every shelf along the wall in the back.
"Well, I just got started," I told her. "Why don't you go back out front and leave it to me? I'll call you back when I'm ready for the unveil."
"That's very sweet, Ava, but I have to bake 200 vanilla cheery cupcakes for the Witch's Auxiliary meeting tomorrow."
"I'll make them."
"You... will?"
"Sure."
She stared at me, not moving.
"I mean, I know you're the cake expert, but I, um, was thinking I'd like to improve my skills in that area. This is the perfect opportunity."
"Well... if you're sure." I could see she was far from sure but didn't want to hurt my feelings. It wasn't that I couldn't bake. It was just we each had our own thing we excelled at. Eleanor's was cake. Trixie's was frosting. Mine was mood extracts.
There was a sneeze from inside the cabinet. "Aaah-choo!" I immediately shouted. I didn't even know vampires could sneeze. Eleanor looked at me strangely. I immediately launched into a round of fake sneezes all my own. "Aaahh-choo! Aaahh-choo! Aaahh-choo!"
Her eyes lingered on the cabinet, moving slowly to me and back again. Trixie popped her head into the back just then. "Eleanor, Eli wants to know whether the orange scones get placed in the happiness display case or the sleep-through-the-night one. I couldn't remember."
"Oh, for witch's sake," Eleanor said, turning and heading back out front. The bakery would be opening in one hour and there was always so much prep work. "Don't let him put them in the sleep trays, that'll just contaminate everything. Some poor tourist will fall asleep while he's driving his car and crash into a hydrant."
I was grateful when Eleanor was gone. I opened the cabinet doors again and saw Russell's eyes running like faucets. "I think I'm allergic to the peanuts you're storing in here," he said, sneezing again.
"Those aren't peanuts," I told him, "they're wigworm shells."
His nose started to run now and his eyes went red. He sneezed a third time. I had no idea that vampires could be allergic to anything. "I need to get out of here," he said, stepping out of the cabinet.
"Okay, but if Eleanor comes back..." I looked around the back room and grabbed a checkered tablecloth. I laid it over the biggest table we had. The cloth fell to the floor and I shoved Russell underneath.
"Is this really necessary?" he asked. "Why don't I just come back later? When you're through?"
"Because we don't have time to waste. You want to help Colt, right?"
He nodded.
"Well, he's already been fired from COMHA and I think Dean Lampton has it in for him. We need to come up with a way to tell Colt you're still alive and—"
The door to the back swung open again. I had just enough time to push Russell's head under the table. I smoothed out the tablecloth. Trixie stopped and stared at me.
"Why is that tablecloth there?" she asked. "Isn't that for the town picnic?"
"Is it?" I asked. "Oh, yeah, I just... I told Eleanor I'd clean and covering the dirt was the fastest way to get rid of it."
Trixie looked at me for a second then smiled. "Why didn't I think of that? Great idea."
"Thanks."
She grabbed a cupcake display holder and went back out front.
"That's your Aunt Trixie?" Russell asked when she was gone. He was looking up at me from under the table. The cloth draped around his head like a scarf on a cold winter day.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Melbourne's mentioned her
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"He has? You mean Melbourne's spoken to you? Recently?"
"More like threatened me recently."
"Threatened?" I said, shocked. I was still having trouble believing that everything I thought I knew about Melbourne was a lie, but there was no way around it. That picture of him and Vlaski proved too much.
Russell sat cross-legged on the floor. "I tried to tell you all this last night, but you were too upset."
He was right about that. After discovering the picture of Melbourne and Vlaski together, I'd freaked out a little. Melbourne was someone I'd trusted. I'd hoped my aunt would make a life with him. I'd liked him. I'd even considered him a friend. Instead of listening to Russell's explanation of the photograph or anything else, I'd suddenly become overwhelmed with the need to check on my family. I knew Melbourne had an easy time getting in and out of our house. Now that Trixie knew he was alive, how much easier would it be for him?
I'd dragged Russell along the road until we'd gotten back to my place. Everything was quiet. Everyone was safe. For now. I'd insisted that Russell hide in my room that night. He could sleep on the floor. I didn't want to let him out of my sight, scared that I might wake up and find out I'd dreamed him.
In the morning, I'd pushed him out the door before anyone else was awake and dragged him down to Mystic Cupcake.
"I'm sorry," I told him now. "Tell me again, what is it that Melbourne is after?"
"He's been working with Vlaski for years. Decades, at least. He was working with Vlaski when I first met him."
I gulped, trying to let this information settle in my mind and on my body. My shoulders were tense. Colt still wasn't talking to me, yet here I was chatting it up with his father. Sharing secrets with a man he thought was dead. How would I explain this to him?
"So Vlaski and Melbourne really are friends?"
"More than that. Melbourne is Vlaski's right-hand man. He's helped him plan everything from the beginning. All that Cult of V stuff? Half of it was Melbourne's idea."
"But I don't understand. If that's true, then why has Melbourne been living in Sweetland Cove? Why not just stay with Vlaski?"
Russell shook his head. "It's part of their plan. Look, when I was turned, I learned almost everything there was to know about the Cult of V before my real identity was discovered. At the time, part of their plan was to place certain vampires strategically throughout the world. In places near oceans or major rivers, where venom could easily be introduced."
"But it seems like you'd need a whole army of vampires to infect that much water."
"Precisely. That's phase two."
"Ph-phase two?" It was so hot in here, I could hardly breathe.
"Once the trust of a community has been gained, the vampire in place—in this case, Melbourne—is supposed to begin turning people. Once they're one of us, it will be easy to convince them to help and there will be that much more venom available for infection."
"You mean... Melbourne plans to turn Sweetland residents into vampires? Which residents?"
"I can't say for certain, but my guess would be the people he's closest to. Your Aunt Trixie. That girl who worked for him at Coffee Cove. Your friend."
"Lucy?"
"That's the one."
"Is that it?"
"Just one more person that I can think of."
"Who?"
"You."
* * *
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
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"Remind me what we're doing here," Lucy said as we rounded the corner of Melbourne's living room.
"We're looking for a book. The Last Vampire."
"And why is it important?"
"Because everyone wants it."
Lucy shrugged. "Who's everyone?"
I looked at her, wondering for the hundredth time whether I should fill her in on Melbourne's reappearance, as well as his duplicitous agenda for Sweetland Cove. She'd been very fond of him when he was alive. That is, when she'd thought he was alive. Maybe I should at least tell her he wasn't really dead. I finally shook my head.
"You're safer not knowing. Besides, the details are so confusing right now I can hardly keep track of things myself."
Lucy sighed. "I'm not exactly a frail little pup, you know. I'm better at casting than you plus I grew up around this stuff. Vampires and witches aren't as scary to me as they sometimes are to you. So, I'm gonna give you another day to think it over, then I'm demanding answers."
"Fair enough," I told her.
Honestly, I was glad Lucy was setting an ultimatum for me. I had to tell someone about all this before I lost my mind. Trixie knew Melbourne was alive, but I had no intention of telling her that the vampire she loved was a back-stabbing no-good. She'd cried enough over him since thinking he was dead, I didn't want to cause her any more tears.
When I'd finally let Russell out of the bakery, he'd gone in search of "important information" and told me he'd be back when he had something to report. It was vague but I figured it was one of those things that was probably just too complicated for him to explain. Next time I saw him, I'd see if I could get more details.
In the meantime, that gave me time to talk to Colt. He needed to know that Russell was alive. Russell agreed but had no idea how to approach him himself. I'd called Colt and left him a voicemail telling him I needed to talk to him. I said it was a matter of life and death. I kept checking my phone to see if he'd texted or called. I didn't want to miss it if he did. So far, nothing.
"Is it a hardback or a paperback?" Lucy asked, walking over to a bookcase.
"I have no idea."
She started going through the rows of books, pulling each one out and carefully checking before moving on to the next one.
"I've already checked all the bookshelves," I told her.
"Maybe you missed something," she said.
"I suppose." For some reason, I wasn't harboring much hope. I had the feeling that if Melbourne had wanted to hide something, he'd have chosen a less obvious spot.
It bothered me that he said he'd simply forgotten where he'd put the book. I was ditzy sometimes, sure, but that was with things like house keys and paper clips, not books that apparently held the power of life and death within their covers.
I stopped and turned around, suddenly feeling like someone was watching me.
"Lucy?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you hear anything?"
She stopped walking around and started listening instead.
"I don't think so," she said.
"Are you sure?"
We stood stock still for several minutes. I could hear her breathing. "Ava, there's nothing there. What is it that you think you hear?"
I shrugged and tried to play it off. "Never mind. I'm just sleep deprived is all. I'm hearing things."
Lucy looked at me skeptically. My heart was racing but I tried not to show it. Was I just being paranoid?
"Maybe we should go," I told her.
"Go? But we only just got here."
"Yeah, I know, but, um... well, I'm not so sure the book is here, after all."
Lucy slammed her hand against one of the open shelves in the bookcase. It made a loud slapping noise. "Dang it, Ava! What in the wizarding world is going on? First you drag me down here looking for a book that you swear is so important that life as we know hinges on finding the thing—"
"I never said that!" I yelled at her.
"You may as well have, the way you've been acting. Now, you tell me you've made some sort of mistake? That the book you dragged me here to find might not even be here? Are you on some sort of medication I should know about?"
"No, it's just... it's complicated."
"Ava, I'm your friend, not your parent. Just tell me whatever's going on."
I wanted to, but how was I supposed to tell my best friend that it had just occurred to me that the whole reason Melbourne wanted me to
come here might have been not to find this book he was after, but because his place was deserted.
If he really wanted to turn me into a vampire, where could he have found a more isolated spot? And I had dragged Lucy here with me, giving him an opportunity to take us both out at once. I wondered what it would be like to change into a vampire anyway? What had Russell felt when it happened to him? Had it hurt? Had it changed his body or mind in any way? Were his thoughts still his or did they belong to some retired version of himself now?
There was talk of the town taking over Melbourne's house if no one claimed it—they had ninety days—but not one person had expressed an interest in buying it. Anastasia Peacock's store was already up for sale, and it looked as though that woman from Florida was about to place her bid, but no one wanted to mess with the house of dead vampire. I wondered about the woman who would be taking over the Alchemic Stone. What kind of person was okay with dark magic and draugar? No one besides the realtor had seen the Florida woman yet, maybe she was as crazy as Anastasia.
It just went to show how frightened people were by vampires. The town hadn't stopped talking about forming some sort of vigilante group to run all vampires out of Heavenly Haven. Lottie Mudget was helping on the committee to get things started. So far, Sheriff Knoxx had been able to keep people at bay, but he didn't know how much longer he could do it.
"Ava?" Lucy asked, and I realized I'd been staring motionlessly at her.
"Sorry. I was just thinking... hypothetically speaking, what if I told you that Melbourne wasn't really dead?"
"Hypothetically? I'd say you were crazy."
I smiled uneasily. "What if I could prove it?"
"How?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"What if I wasn’t the only one who'd seen him?"
She looked at me hard for a second. "Are we still talking hypotheticals here?"
"Here's another hypothetical for you. What if Melbourne and Vlaski Ambrose were working together?"
"On what?"
