Voracious - (Claire Point Vampire 5)

by V. K. Forrest

  “What choice do they have?” Aedan shrugged. “You know the drill. We’ve all been there. On the third day . . .”

  “I’ll be there for the rebirth. I promise.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it. Someone needs to be there to keep me from killing her again when I get ahold of her.”

  “Of course, when she’s first reborn she might not even remember what she did,” Mark pointed out. “Then you’re the schmuck standing there hollering at a sixteen-year-old girl who doesn’t know what the hell is going on to begin with.”

  Mark was totally right, which was partially why Aedan was so upset. It might be years before Peigi would fully realize what she’d done. He was angry. He understood why she had done it, but he was still angry with her. Everyone in Clare Point was angry with her, and that anger would come out tonight at the emergency Council Meeting that had been called to decide what they were going to do with Peigi once she was reborn. There had to be punishment. The question would be, how severe?

  Aedan motioned toward the front counter. “I ordered both of us an iced tea. I’m having the chicken fried steak. It’s the special.”

  Mark followed Aedan’s hand with his gaze. “You can’t blame yourself for this.”

  “Sure I can. She threatened to do it. I should have taken her more seriously.” He opened his arms, looking back on the last few days. “But she seemed fine. You know, after she found out the Council was going to deny her request.”

  “You can’t stop a vampire from doing what she’s going to do. Not one as stubborn as Peigi.”

  Aedan sighed. “You’re right.” He slid a menu across the table. “Maryann said she’d be back to get your order.”

  Mark picked up the menu. “Any idea what the sanctions will be?”

  Aedan toyed with a saltshaker. “Well, obviously they’re going to take away her position on the General Council. She actually left instructions on her desk, for all of us. She’s put Mary Kay up to be the next head of the Council. Peigi appointed Mary McCathal as her and Brian’s guardian until they’re of age.” He exhaled. “We’ll find out tonight what the Council’s going to do.”

  “You think they’ll decide tonight?”

  Aedan nodded, then looked up, ready to change the subject. “So what’s going on with the investigation?”

  “Kristen did a super job working with the sketch artist. Jay’s picture’s gone out to all the newspapers. We’ve already got uniformed cops passing out fliers at hotels, restaurants, shops.” He was quiet for a minute. “You know, there’s a good possibility we’re not going to catch him this time. He might take off. He’s got less than two weeks ’til hibernation, if your hunch is right. He could go home. He could move to another town, another state, another country.”

  “He’s not leaving town. Not on this note,” Aedan theorized. “He’ll be out there again, stalking. He’ll rape again before he goes.”

  “Yeah, well, buddy, I hate to say this, but it would be okay with me if you were wrong this time.”

  “Ladies, gentlemen, could I have your attention?” Mary Kay asked in a clear, authoritarian tone. It was her first official night as the new leader of the General Council. “Could everyone take his or her seat so we can get this over with?”

  Aedan stood near the display case with the fake coins and real hinges from the captain’s cabin of the ship they’d come to America on, and watched as Council members, everyone talking at once, made their way to the circle of chairs. It was a full house tonight. Usually, at least 25 percent of the members were missing on any given night, but tonight, anyone who was supposed to be here, was here. The only person he was expecting who wasn’t here yet, was Kaleigh. She wasn’t a regular member of the Council, but as the wisewoman of the sept, she had the right to attend any meetings and speak anytime she felt her wisdom was needed. Aedan needed her tonight. He’d been counting on her.

  He leaned over to speak quietly to Brian. He hadn’t thought having Brian here was a good idea, but Mary Kay had insisted. The kid barely knew what was going on with the sept, yet, and he certainly didn’t understand what Peigi had done. Aedan hadn’t been able to explain to him why, if she committed suicide, but was going to be reborn, she was in so much trouble. It had to do with the Kahills’ special relationship with God and their attempt to be redeemed. Not only was suicide a sin to the Kahills, but the act threatened the eternal redemption, not just of the individual who took his or her own life, but possibly the entire sept’s. The sept had to, therefore, hand down a harsh punishment, to set an example to the others as to why they couldn’t kill themselves whenever they got fed up with the life cycle they were in.

  It was hard for Aedan to grasp the whole concept, so it was no wonder Brian was looking lost tonight . . . and a little scared.

  “These are all vampires?” Brian whispered, watching as the Council members took their chairs in the main room of the museum. “Kind of creepy.”

  “No, not at all. This is your family,” Aedan assured him. “They wouldn’t hurt you. The Council protects you.”

  Brian cut his eyes at Aedan. “But they’re going to punish Peigi as soon as she’s reborn tomorrow night?”

  Aedan exhaled. “I told you this would be a lot to take in. You’ll come to understand it all, with time.”

  “Aedan? Brian?” Mary Kay smiled. “Join us?”

  As Aedan and Brian entered the circle and sat side by side near Mary Kay, the vampires all got quiet. Everyone was looking at him and Brian, almost to the point of making him feel uncomfortable.

  I didn’t do this, Aedan telepathed, making it a general message. I didn’t kill Peigi, and I didn’t know she was going to kill herself.

  But you had an idea.

  She listened to you.

  You could have stopped it.

  You could have told us.

  The thoughts bounced around the room, around in Aedan’s head, until he threw up his hands. “Enough!” he declared, coming out of his chair.

  “You have something to say, you say it out loud so Brian can hear you. You know he can’t read your thoughts, and of all of us in this room, he’s the one most affected by what you’re about to decide.” He yanked at the front of his leather coat, trying to get control of his own tumultuous emotions. “So be honorable Kahill men and women and speak up.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment, in the room and in Aedan’s head.

  “Well,” Mary Kay said, looking from one Council member to the next. “Shall we get on with this distasteful task?” She looked down at notes she’d scribbled on a yellow legal pad. “I did a little research in the library today, and while no one has ever committed suicide that we know of”—she glanced up at the circle, then back at her notes again—“there is precedent.”

  The back door of the building slammed, catching everyone’s attention.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Kaleigh called. Sorry I’m late. Teenage drama at the—oh, never mind. You don’t need to know that crap, she telepathed.

  A sense of relief came over Aedan. Kaleigh was here now. She was the voice of reason. She would be the voice of reason for Peigi, who could not speak for herself now.

  “Sorry to interrupt.” Kaleigh entered the room, grabbed a chair from behind the table where coffee was being served, and dragged it loudly across the tile floor. “Sorry.” She offered a quick, cute smile. She stopped near Brian’s chair, next to John Kahill’s. There was no room for hers. “You mind, John? Could you just scooch over?”

  John got out of his chair, and so did three people to his right. Everyone’s chair made a screeching sound as they all moved to accommodate Kaleigh.

  “Thanks.” She plopped down next to Brian and patted his hand.

  Brian’s face turned bright red.

  Mary Kay cleared her throat. “As I was saying, there is precedent.”

  “There was no beheading,” someone said. “I’d remember a beheading.”

  “Certainly not,” someone else answered. Brian looked at Aedan, his eye
s wide. “They could behead her?” he whispered. “But then she couldn’t be reborn, right? She could never be saved from the curse, she could never be—”

  “We’re not beheading her,” Aedan said firmly.

  “We’re not beheading her,” Kaleigh assured him.

  “What are you going to do to her, then?” Brian must have spoken louder than he intended, because, suddenly, all the General Council members were looking at him.

  Aedan sensed that if Brian could have crawled out of the room, he would have.

  “Banishment,” Mary Hall declared.

  “Banishment,” someone else agreed.

  “We can’t have our members thinking they can off themselves whenever they like,” John Kahill said, “just because they’re having a bad day.”

  “It wasn’t like that and you know it!” Tavia shouted from across the circle.

  “How do you know?” Mary Hall demanded.

  “Did you know she was going to do this? Should you be taking partial responsibility for this?”

  “God knows Mary McCathal should be,” someone put in. “Why isn’t she here? Maybe we should be considering sanctions against her.”

  “Ladies, gentlemen,” Mary Kay said loudly.

  “Maybe we should consider beheading her,” John said. “That would certainly serve as a deterrent in the future.”

  Aedan had been looking in Tavia’s direction when John spoke. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brian move, but the kid was so fast. Incredibly fast for a teenage vampire. One second Brian was seated beside Aedan; the next, he was in front of John Kahill and had the guy by the collar, fangs bared, yanking him out of his chair.

  “Brian, no!” Kaleigh flew between them and the room erupted.

  Aedan grabbed Brian by the shoulders, and dragged him back. “Easy, easy,” he soothed.

  “He’s talking about Peigi,” Brian muttered under his breath, sounding as if he was about to cry. “About my Peigi.”

  Realizing he was now standing in the center of the Council Circle and that everyone was looking at him, Brian wiped at his eyes in embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t even understand what’s going on here.” He wiped his eyes with his arm again. “I don’t understand why I’m so upset.”

  Kaleigh took Brian’s arm and led him back to his seat. “You care because she’s your wife,” she said softly. “Because you love her.”

  Brian sank into his chair. “I don’t want her to be beheaded.”

  “We’re not beheading anyone,” Mary Kay announced, using her authoritative tone. “Now, that’s enough. According to precedent, Peigi Ross should be exiled.”

  “She should be banished,” someone said.

  “Exiled, not banished,” Mary Kay responded firmly. “Banishment is permanent; exile is not.”

  Surprisingly, everyone grew quiet.

  “For how long?” Mary Hall asked. “Giving her a year or two away from Brian and Clare Point isn’t much of a punishment.”

  “I guess you’d make it a life cycle if you had your way, wouldn’t you?” Tavia asked Mary, her tone accusing.

  Mary stood up, planting her hands on her ample hips. “No, actually, I think a life cycle would be harsh,” she said, surprising everyone in the room, including Aedan. “I think it would be excessive . . . especially since whatever we do to Peigi, we have to remember that we’re doing to Brian.” She gestured toward the teen. “And he was no part of this.”

  “Mary Hall the voice of reason?” Kaleigh whispered. “And who says there are no longer miracles?”

  In other circumstances, Aedan might have smiled.

  “So what do you propose, Mary?” Mary Kay asked.

  Mary Hall took her time, seeming to enjoy her moment in the limelight. “A twenty-five-year exile. That will give Peigi time to think about what she did. We can send her to Lia’s people in Italy. God knows those vampires owe us a favor.”

  “Twenty-five years? That’s not long enough.”

  “Twenty-five years? Isn’t that overkill?”

  “I say fifty years.”

  Then everyone was talking at once, again. “They want to send Peigi away?” Brian whispered to Aedan.

  “Yes. She’ll be sent to live with non-Kahill vampires. She’ll be safe, but she’ll be allowed no contact with any of us.”

  “I can’t see her?”

  Aedan shook his head. “Not for the time specified by the Council. Then all would be forgiven, and she’d be welcomed back into the sept.”

  “Even twenty-five years seems like a long time,” Brian murmured.

  “To you right now, sure. To her, for a while, yes.” Aedan shrugged. “But it’s not so long when you think about the fact that we’ve been around for fifteen-hundred years.”

  Mary Kay let the Council members talk for a minute, then she held up her hand. “Ladies, gentlemen. We want to get home tonight. Do I have a motion on the floor?”

  The remainder of the meeting went quickly. It only took two votes to reach a majority decision, and Aedan soon found himself on the sidewalk, escorting Brian home in the dark. Kaleigh walked with them.

  “So that’s it?” Brian asked.

  “That’s it,” Aedan said. “The decision is final. Peigi will be exiled for twenty-five years.”

  “Can . . . can I see her? When . . . when she comes alive? Just for a few minutes?”

  “No. Because the sentence is immediate. She’ll be taken from the churchyard to the airport.”

  Brian looked at Kaleigh. “I . . . I can’t talk to her?” he repeated. He sounded lost.

  Kaleigh rubbed his arm. “It’ll be okay, Brian. You’ll be okay. Time goes by quicker than you realize.”

  “But . . . where am I going to live? Do I stay in the house? It’s my house.”

  Aedan glanced at Kaleigh in the darkness. “The details have to be worked out, but Peigi must have known this sort of thing might happen. She asked Mary McCathal to take you in. So you and Victor can, you know, hang out.”

  “She knew this might happen?” Brian looked at Aedan, then Kaleigh. “She knew she’d have to give up her job as the Council leader and would be sent away? I don’t understand. Why would she do this?” He sounded close to tears again.

  Aedan exhaled, trying to get control of his emotions; otherwise, he would be crying, too. “She did it for you, Brian. For both of you. Because she loves you.”

  Chapter 25

  It feels good to be out again, after staying cooped up in the condo for more than a week. Thank goodness I had the forethought to rent through the Internet rather than staying at a hotel where I might have been seen.

  For days I nursed my wound . . . and my festering anger. I only meant to toy with the vampire, taunt him a little. Then my intention was to disappear . . . and revisit in fifty years. But the vampire has made this personal. He has put a likeness of me in newspapers, on the TV. Even in the mini market, where lowlifes abound in the middle of the night. I will have to wear a cap on my head and keep my eyes downcast so no one will take notice of me.

  Fortunately, I heal quicker than humans. A touch of women’s makeup, and no one can see the gash the whore made. I also resorted to using a bottle of blond hair dye. I know I should go home, to the safety of my lair, but I hate the idea of leaving on such a sour note.

  And there is the favor to repay for the annoyance the vampire has caused me.

  It took me two days to find his car again. This time I did not leave a note. But I did follow him to see where he goes. Who he stalks. I even went inside one night and had a beer when he was not there.

  She is pretty, the tart behind the bar. And vaguely familiar. It takes some time for me to put two and two together. I recall the tavern wench near Orange and realize how much this woman looks like that one. Then I realize this pretty woman at the bar is the vampire’s whore.

  One more book, Kenzie telepathed.

  “No more,” Aedan said. He sat in her bed beside her, legs stretched out. “Your mom
said two books. She’s the boss, applesauce.”

  In an unusual display of physical affection, Kenzie slipped her hand in Aedan’s. I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to leave us. I’m afraid, she telepathed.

  He set the book on the cardboard box beside the bed that was shaped like a red and blue race-car. Of what? There’s nothing to be afraid of.

  The bad man.

  He turned to look at her, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. She stared straight ahead at the Transformers poster on her wall.

  What bad man?

  You know.

  I don’t know, Kenzie, he telepathed, trying not to seem impatient. You have to tell me.

  It had been a long week: Peigi’s suicide and the uproar in Clare Point it had caused, her rebirth and immediate exile. Trying to help Brian understand and deal with everything that was happening. Then there was the way Jay had just disappeared again. Aedan truly feared Mark was right, that Jay had fled. On the one hand, that meant women would be safe from him for another fifty years. On the other hand, it would mean they wouldn’t be safe in another fifty years. And Aedan would have failed. Again. The sketch they had distributed hadn’t given them the results they had hoped for. They’d gotten hundreds of leads; none had led anywhere. Apparently Jay really did look like an ordinary guy, and everyone saw him everywhere: on the boardwalk, in restaurants, at Funland.

  Don’t leave us.

  Aedan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, wondering if it was time to warn Kenzie that eventually, he would have to go. But the truth was, he didn’t know when he would be leaving. With Peigi’s death and rebirth, everything was unsettled. Mary McCathal seemed set on looking out for the teenagers, but Aedan wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Wasn’t Peigi his responsibility? And Brian, too? They’d cared for him when he was a teenager.

  “Everything okay in here?” Dallas entered the dimly lit bedroom.

  “Just finishing up the book.” Aedan got out of Kenzie’s bed, extracting his hand from hers.

  “Give me a kiss good night.” Dallas walked over to the bed and leaned over.

  Kenzie rolled onto her side, presenting her back to her mother.