Poppy kept hold of her hands. “And you don’t know who Abraham is?”
“No,” she said. “But he was here, along with Austin and some other guys.”
Poppy gasped. “Austin attacked you? He seemed so nice. Did you take him? I bet you could take him.”
“No. The ghouls and some guy named Dragos attacked me. Abraham, Austin, and the others showed up to help protect me.”
“And you think Abraham’s voice is familiar?” asked Poppy. “Did you recognize his face too?”
“Never saw it,” replied Dana, sounding tired. “The whole area was pitch black. Couldn’t see my hand in front of my face even.”
Jeffrey stepped in her direction, wanting to go to her. The need to offer her comfort was nearly all-consuming. “Dana.”
She didn’t look at him.
Poppy continued to hold her hands. “I’m so sorry that I brought you here. I didn’t know it would be this way.”
“It’s not your fault,” assured Dana. “I wanted to come to Grimm Cove. I felt this weird pull to come here, which I’m starting to think wasn’t by accident. Can we head back to the house now? I want to wash ghoul off me.”
Poppy released Dana’s hands and reached up, pulling a bit of something from Dana’s ponytail. Poppy wrinkled her nose and tossed it aside. “Yuck.”
Dana’s gaze followed. “Did I have ghoul in my hair?”
“I think so,” said Poppy.
Dana groaned. “Of course I did. Why not?”
“Come on, we’ll get you cleaned up and make sure you’re not hurt but maybe don’t know it because of shock,” said Poppy. “And if it helps, I’ll look through my grandmother’s spell books that Marcy’s been reading to see if there is a spell to keep Jeffrey away from you.”
“Poppy,” he said quickly. “You’d do that? I thought we were friends.”
She leveled her gaze on him. “She’s like a sister to me. I’d do anything for her. You’d do well to remember that.”
He nodded.
Dana touched Poppy’s arm. “Don’t do any weird witchy stuff to him. I’m fine with him hating me because of my surname. It doesn’t matter what he thinks of me. I haven’t decided if I’m going to stay in Grimm Cove or not. Because I’m not sure if you guys realize just how insane this town really is. You should really have people sign waivers at the city limits or something. Check here if you understand there is a one hundred percent chance you will be attacked by some kind of demon.”
“You want to leave?” asked Jeffrey, the fight leaking out of him. He wasn’t exactly pleased to find out she was a Van Helsing, but he didn’t want her gone. He just wanted a minute to wrap his mind around the idea that he had a mate, and she just so happened to share a last name with the douchebag known as Elis.
“Can you blame her, Jeffrey?” snapped Poppy with so much bite, Jeffrey thought she might challenge him to head the pack. She was that fierce. In her current state, she just might win.
He sighed. “No. I can’t blame her.”
“Do you want her to stay?” demanded Poppy.
“Maybe Dana and I should discuss this later,” said Jeffrey, wanting to get away from the audience they currently had.
Poppy glanced around at the dead ghouls and then right back at him. “They’re not going anywhere anytime soon, by the looks of it. Now is the perfect time. Speak your truth, Jeffrey. I’ll speak mine. I love her. She’s family to me. I want her to stay but I’ll respect her wishes if she wants to leave. And right now, I’m trying very hard not to pick up a ghoul body part and beat you with it for being a thick-headed moron.”
“Poppy-seed?” asked Brett, finally managing to get free of Marcy’s questions. “Did you just threaten Jeffrey with dead ghoul parts?”
“You should use the arm of one,” said Marcy, walking toward Stratton. “It’s lighter than a leg and will be more effective at injuring Jeffrey than a ghoul head or something.”
“Thanks for all the support, Marcy,” said Jeffrey.
Marcy met his gaze. “She’s like a sister to me too.”
Stratton chuckled. “In other words, mess with one and you get all three gunning for you.”
“Yes,” said Marcy and Poppy.
Dana remained quiet.
Marcy tipped her head. “We’re her backup bitches. And we’re not above bludgeoning you to death with ghoul parts. Plus, I know a gal who knows a gal—in other words, I have mob connections.”
“You cannot ask my grandmother to hide his body,” said Dana.
“Why not? She would,” said Marcy.
Poppy did a double take in her friend’s direction and then reached for Dana once more. “Come on, hon.”
Dana took three steps, and Jeffrey found himself moving forward after her. “Do you want to leave Grimm Cove?”
What he really wanted to ask was if she wanted to leave him, but the words wouldn’t form.
“I don’t know what I want,” she said firmly, refusing to face him. “Do you know what you want? Because you’re hot and cold with me.”
All eyes went to him.
“I, um, well…like I said. It’s complicated,” he managed, suddenly afraid of three women.
Dana rounded on him fully, a hand going to her hip.
Damn, the woman made being angry sexy. Why did she have to be a Van Helsing?
“Well?” she demanded. “Are you going to deny running hot and cold with me?”
He fidgeted with the shirt sleeves, making sure they were tied tight, wanting to avoid answering in front of everyone. He didn’t like looking weak. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I call bull,” said Marcy from her spot near Stratton. She glanced at the tree near her. “Oh, a caterpillar.”
Stratton simply shook his head.
Jeffrey found he was unable to escape Dana’s penetrating gaze. As she jutted out her chin in defiance, he knew he’d more than overstepped his bounds with her. He’d catapulted over them.
She huffed. “I’m going to go ahead and assume our breakfast date is off. As are any other possible ones.”
He opened his mouth to protest but she didn’t let him get a word in edgewise.
“You know where you can stick your hatred of all Van Helsings?” she asked.
Poppy grabbed for her and reached up fast, putting her hand over Dana’s mouth. She then gave Jeffrey a knowing look.
“What a shame,” said Marcy. “She’d have given you a chance before. But, like we said, when she tells you where to stick things, it’s a hard no from her.”
Jeffrey’s wolf stirred deep in him, making him aware it wasn’t happy with him either.
Everyone’s a critic.
“I’ve been here forty-eight hours, and in that time, I’ve been attacked twice by things that shouldn’t even be real. I’ve been drooled on by a not-exactly-a-zombie. I’ve been sliced open by one. And the town is apparently running over with Van Helsings. Never met another one in all forty years I’ve been alive, and then I find two others here,” offered Dana.
“More than two,” said Stratton as Marcy stepped closer to him. “There are a good number of them. Elis, Brian, and Austin are all Van Helsings. And if I’m right, so is Abraham.”
“Then why haven’t we met him before?” asked Brett, making his way to his wife. He put an arm around her protectively. “The Van Helsings are pretty tight. And I’d like to point out the obvious, that Stoker’s book is how old? Slayers don’t live that long. So this Abraham guy can’t be the same one Stoker wrote about.”
“Stoker’s book?” asked Poppy, confusion coating her expression.
Marcy edged so close to Stratton that they were now pressed together.
Stratton looked afraid to move for fear he might set off the crazy lady.
“Abraham Van Helsing is the professor from Bram Stoker’s book, Dracula,” said Marcy, sounding totally sane. “We should have a Dracula theme party and invite all of our vampire neighbors. It’s important to make them feel welcome too. Burgess
would love it. I could make him a tiny cape to wear. He’d be adorable in it.”
And just like that, the sanity left.
“So you think the Abraham who came to help Dana is the one Stoker wrote about?” asked Poppy.
“Possibly,” said Stratton.
“I agree with Brett. He’d be dead by now.” Poppy stepped closer to her mate.
“True, but that’s assuming he’s a slayer or human and not something else,” said Stratton. “Lots of questions.”
“And no real answers,” said Brett before motioning toward one of the dead ghouls. “We need to get teams out here to make this all go away. Stratton, can you reach out to the usual suspects, get that started?”
He nodded. “Can do, boss. Question though.”
“What’s that?” asked Brett.
“You guys never found it curious that you have a bunch of Van Helsings here, with the same name as a supposedly fictitious vampire slayer, and that these Van Helsings just so happen to run around town with a guy whose surname is Harker?”
Jeffrey and Brett shared a look. Clearly neither had given that much thought, in the past.
“Harker?” asked Marcy. “Is his name Jonathan, like in the book?”
“No,” said Brett. “Different Harker.”
She shrugged and returned to focusing on the caterpillar.
Brett looked to Dana. “Something isn’t sitting right with me. You mentioned your father passed away when you were little.”
Poppy elbowed her mate. “Brett.”
Dana nodded. “He did. I was just a baby still. No one in my family really talks about it. I don’t know anything about him or his side of the family. I’ve asked over the years, but my mom and my grandmother were tight-lipped about him.”
“What was his name?” asked Jeffrey.
“Bram Van Helsing,” she said.
Fourteen
Jeffrey
Jeffrey’s entire body tensed as he thought harder about Dana’s father’s name. As much as he didn’t want to believe it was true, the pieces fit. “Bram, as in the short form of Abraham?”
“Yes,” said Marcy, bending to touch the dead ghoul nearest her and Stratton.
Stratton bent alongside Marcy and moved her hand before she could make contact with the dead ghoul.
Poppy’s eyes widened. “You think he’s…?”
Brett sucked in a big breath. “It’s a big leap but my gut is saying we’re on the right track.”
“On the right track with what?” asked Dana. She didn’t say another word for a moment as everyone simply stared at her.
Poppy offered a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure they’re wrong. Your grandmother and mother wouldn’t have lied to you about something like that.”
“What do you…?” Dana stiffened. “You think Abraham is my father?”
Brett and Jeffrey nodded hesitantly.
Dana snorted loudly. “Yeah, right. That would mean my father has been alive all this time, and my mother and my grandmother spent my life lying to me? Next, you’ll tell me my father was the black wolf. Or maybe a ghoul who smelled better. Or hey, how about a vampire? Because you’re suggesting he’s freaking immortal.”
All the men shared a look at the mention of him being a vampire. It would fit. Vampires had immortality on their side. It stood to reason he could very well have been alive in Stoker’s time. And he’d be considered the living dead. Not to mention, if Stoker’s book was born from a grain of truth, could it be that Abraham Van Helsing was turned into a vampire too?
Poppy pointed to Jeffrey, and then Brett. “I know you two. You’re both thinking the same thing. What is it?”
“Maybe they didn’t lie to Dana,” said Jeffrey. “Maybe they bent the truth trying to protect her.”
Marcy nodded, making yet another move to touch the ghoul.
Stratton sighed and took her hand in his, holding it as he stood fully, taking her with him. He kept hold of her hand as if she were a child.
Dana’s brows met. “Bent the truth? Elaborate.”
“Dana, some don’t consider vampires to be alive in the normal sense of the word,” Jeffrey said, wanting to hold her despite her being a Van Helsing.
In fact, the more he thought about her leaving Grimm Cove for good, the less he cared what her last name was.
“I’d like to go home now,” she said to Poppy, ignoring Jeffrey as she turned and walked away.
He hurried to her, coming to a stop right behind her. “Legs.”
She paused but didn’t face him.
“Want me to break his kneecaps?” asked Brett with a slight laugh.
Dana chuckled weakly. “Maybe.”
“Legs, look at me. Please,” Jeffrey pleaded.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, her green gaze seeing right through to his soul. Her eyes were rimmed with red and moist. He knew tears were close to falling, and that everything she’d had thrown at her since arriving in town had been too much for her.
If he dared to let her walk away, she’d walk clean out of his life for good.
He knew it in his bones.
That wasn’t an option.
The woman had blown into his life like a tornado, turning his world upside down, and he didn’t want to go back to the way it had been before her—the other women, the reckless behavior. He wanted to grab her with both hands and not let go.
Right now, if he tried that, she’d no doubt remove vital bits.
“Sometimes, when I speak, it’s without thinking,” he said.
“Sometimes?” she asked. “Just sometimes?”
“Most of the time,” he corrected, earning him the slightest of smiles from her. He licked his lips. “I don’t want you to leave Grimm Cove.”
“Why?” she asked, narrowing her gaze on him.
“Because you’re his mate,” said Marcy, answering for him.
He lifted a hand in her direction. “What she said.”
“That’s the only reason?” asked Dana. “Because you have some misguided notion that I’m your special someone? I’m not.”
“You don’t feel any pull to him?” asked Poppy, sounding disappointed.
Dana glanced at her. “I just feel the urge to go for his kneecaps. Does that count?”
Brett snorted.
Jeffrey groaned.
His best friend shrugged. “What? We already discussed the fact she’d rip vital pieces off. Be happy she only wants to go at your kneecaps. As you pointed out, you’re not really wearing anything to help protect other parts.”
Well, there was that.
Jeffrey glanced at Dana. “I’m sorry. Don’t maim me.”
She stared at him for what felt like forever before she snorted, turned, and began walking away.
He’d hoped his proclamation would have been Hollywood-movie worthy and that she’d fall into his arms. Not storm off.
It was evident he had some work to do in the leading man department.
Jeffrey made a move to rush after her and had to grab the shirt around his waist to keep it in place. “Legs, wait. Where are you going?”
“Back to the house,” she said, her voice shaking somewhat. “I need a shower and to think. You need time to realize you’re wrong about us.”
“I don’t need any time because I’m not wrong about us. And the house isn’t in that direction,” he said with a small laugh, hoping to lighten the mood. “You keep going that way and you’ll end up at the Pickenses’ farm.”
She glanced at him, and the edges of her lips trembled. “Where is a squeaky toy when I need one, wolf-boy?”
It was an olive branch, and he was smart enough to take it.
“How about I walk you back, and on the way, we can play find my clothes,” he said with a wink.
She gave a casual shrug. “Unless this involves you playing fetch, I’m not sure I’m interested.”
“You can throw sticks and I’ll retrieve them,” he said, grinning more. “That should keep me busy and amuse you.”
<
br /> “Deal,” she said.
Poppy cupped her mouth, her eyes growing moist. It was easy to see she was happy but trying to avoid bursting with joy and happy tears. It was a total Poppy thing to do.
“Brett, can you handle everything here?” asked Jeffrey.
“I’ve got this. Can you walk Marcy and Poppy back too?” asked Brett, kissing Poppy’s temple quickly.
Jeffrey needed alone time with Dana but understood Brett wanting his mate away from the crime scene. “Of course.”
“I want to stay. I can help put ghoul parts in bags,” said Marcy. “Can I keep a few bits? Nothing important or anything. Maybe a foot or something.”
Stratton’s brows met. “You are very strange.”
She smiled wide. “Thank you. You’re handsome. Are you seeing anyone special?”
“Not at the moment,” he said. “Would you like to have dinner with me?”
Marcy leaned against him, all smiles. “No. It will be weird when your mate gets here.”
“I don’t have a mate,” said Stratton.
Marcy patted his forearm. “Sure, you don’t.”
“Jeffrey,” said Brett. “Can you stay at the house until I get back? I don’t want the girls alone with everything that has happened. We don’t know if Dragos will make another move on Dana. With Tuck being gone for who knows how long, I’d feel better if a man was there.”
“Tucker is there,” said Marcy. “He’s a man.”
“He’s still in his teens,” said Brett as if that didn’t count.
“Didn’t you tell me that your wife and her friends hit that succubus with a bolt of lightning and killed a bunch of evil thralled vampires?” asked Stratton.
“Yes,” said Brett.
“And Dana took out a couple of these ghouls with relative ease,” said Stratton. “Kind of like a slayer would.”
Jeffrey tensed as more pieces fell into place. It all made sense. If they were right, and Abraham was part of the Van Helsing clan, and the same one mentioned in Stoker’s story, he was a famed vampire hunter who just might actually be a vampire. And if he was Dana’s father, it would mean she’d inherited the family destiny of policing supernaturals and possibly some of her father’s vampire traits.
Hexing with a Chance of Tornadoes: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Romance Novel (Grimm Cove Book 2) Page 13
