Potion Sickness

by Samantha Silver

  “Luca’s parents hired you?” she asked, and I nodded.

  “Yeah. They want Luca’s killer found. They’re the ones who told me about you.”

  “His mom, right? She spotted us together a couple of weeks ago.”

  I nodded again. “His dad didn’t know yet. She hadn’t told him. Was there a reason why the two of you were keeping your relationship a secret?”

  Sorina shrugged. “It wasn’t really a secret per se. A few of our friends knew. But we didn’t really know if things were going anywhere yet. We were just testing things out, you know? But I think we were getting there. I was going to tell my parents about him this week. I ended up telling them yesterday, for all the wrong reasons.”

  A look of despair hovered on Sorina’s face for a moment before she burst into tears. A box of tissues sat on the coffee table and I reached over and grabbed her one, which she took gratefully.

  “I just can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t believe it. I saw him just that evening. He was going to work, and he surprised me with a visit. He brought me a rose.”

  “Did anything seem strange with him?” I asked. “Did he seem worried, anxious? Did he tell you about anyone he was having trouble with?”

  Sorina shook her head. “No. I mean, I think something was bothering him. For a few weeks he’d been acting a little bit strangely.”

  “Strangely how?”

  “I don’t know,” Sorina answered slowly, biting her lip. “It’s probably nothing. I might just be imagining things. I have a bit of an overactive imagination, and I guess I thought he was going to break up with me, so I was panicking a bit, wondering what I did wrong. But in hindsight, it might have just been nothing. I just felt like he would stare off into the distance a little bit more than he used to, like he was thinking about something else.”

  “Did you ever ask him what it was?”

  “I did, but he said it was nothing. He’d just tell me he was tired, that was all, that he was working too hard.”

  “But you didn’t believe him.”

  “No. I didn’t. But then, I know that I overthink things. I do it all the time. It might have been as simple as what he said.”

  “Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to kill him?”

  “Anastasia,” Sorina replied without a second’s hesitation. “She hated him for his work to push for a change in the law to allow vampires to turn more humans. She was arrested for harassing him, you know, a few weeks ago. Have you spoken to her yet?”

  “I haven’t had the opportunity,” I replied. “I don’t know where she lives, either. Can you help me with that?”

  “Sure thing. She only lives a couple blocks from here. If she killed him, I swear on my family I will stab her in the heart myself.”

  “Well, maybe avoid saying that when you speak with the Enforcers in charge of this case,” I said with a small smile. “Why do you think she killed him? I mean, apart from the whole ‘assault’ thing.”

  “She’s had it out for him over his stance about turning humans for years. She’s an extremist; she believes that the only way vampires should continue is through procreation.”

  “Even though from what I heard that would lead to the extinction of the vampire species?”

  “That’s right. Anastasia thinks we’re not working hard enough at it, and that with a proper campaign encouraging vampires to procreate, that everything would be fine. She doesn’t believe we should sully the water with blood from impure humans, as their side calls them.”

  “I take it you were on Luca’s side of the argument, then.”

  “Of course I was,” Sorina said, her voice heated. “That was how the two of us met, you know. I went to a protest staged on the topic back in Romania, and Luca was one of the speakers. We knew each other to say hi, of course – all the vampires here know each other – but not more than that. He spotted me through the crowd and sought me out after. We spoke for hours after that, well into the morning, and it turned out we had more than just a passion for politics and justice in common.”

  “That’s really sweet,” I said earnestly. All the last guy I had hooked up with and I had in common was a passion for Margaritas.

  “It was nice. We weren’t necessarily rushing into things. We just hung out a few times, and wanted to see if it turned into something more.”

  “Did you love him?”

  “I don’t know,” Sorina answered slowly. “I think I do now, but is that simply the pain talking? After all, as vampires, we experience grief so little in our lives. I’ve never lost someone that I was close to before. I’ve never felt pain like this in my three hundred and seventy-two years. Am I inflating how I felt about Luca because of the pain, or is the pain this acute because of my feelings for Luca? I’m just not sure.”

  Sorina impressed me with her wisdom. She would have made an amazing philosopher.

  “I have to ask this, I’m sorry… I heard that you were at the hospital a few weeks ago because of a cut on your arm.”

  “Yes,” Sorina said. “I was in the kitchen, making myself dinner. I dropped the knife, it hit the counter awkwardly, and cut my arm as I reached over to grab it.”

  “The people that I spoke to seem to think that it may have been more than that. Did Luca ever hurt you?”

  “No,” Sorina said, her eyes flashing with anger. “He never did such a thing. If he had, I’d admit it to you now, since he’s dead. But I swear it, Luca did not cut my arm, and he did not ever lay a hand on me. He wouldn’t have had it in him.”

  “Ok,” I said, deciding to move on rather than press the issue. Given her fiery reaction, I had a feeling that if I continued along that track the level of hospitality Sorina was giving me would drop pretty significantly. “Do you know where I can find Anastasia?”

  “Yes,” Sorina replied. “She works at a vampire-run graphics company in New Fang. She’s one of the managers there.”

  I got the details of the place from Sorina, and thanked her for her time.

  “You are going to find Luca’s killer, right?” she asked.

  “I can’t make any promises, but I’m going to do my best.”

  “There are many vampires in this world who do not deserve to live,” Sorina replied. “That is one of the reasons why I believe we should bring in new vampires. The old crowd still live in the old ways far too stringently. But Luca was not one of them. Luca was a good vampire. Luca always looked for the best in people, and he expected it in himself.”

  “It certainly sounds that way,” I said. “Listen, I just have to ask one more thing, just to get it out of the way: where were you when he was killed.”

  “When was that? What time, I mean?”

  “Early in the morning, around six or seven. Probably right when he would have come home from work.”

  “I would have been here, eating breakfast,” Sorina replied.

  “Alone?”

  She shrugged. “Not a great alibi. But I am telling you, I did not want to see Luca dead.”

  “Thanks,” I said, leaving. Honestly, I didn’t get that killer vibe from Sorina, but I had been incredibly wrong about these things in the past, which had almost led to my death a couple of times. I supposed I couldn’t cross her off the list completely, but she was definitely not among the people I most suspected.

  I went back out into the street and decided to check out Anastasia’s place of work.

  Chapter 12

  New Fang was a community predominantly inhabited by vampires, as the name suggested. It was on the other side of the country to Mt. Rheanier, but thanks to portals, travel time was instantaneous.

  Oh boy was it ever cold on this side of the country, though. I pulled out my wand and cast a warming spell on myself; the jacket I was wearing was nowhere near enough to stop the chill from seeping directly into my bones.

  Walking through the streets, using my phone’s maps app to get the directions to the graphics company where Anastasia worked, I couldn’t help but feel insanely out o
f place. Everywhere I looked was vampire after vampire. If anyone thought their population was in trouble, all they had to do was come to New Fang one day. The population here had to be at least ten, fifteen thousand, and every single resident was of the pointed tooth variety.

  I was openly stared at as I walked down the street; I supposed it must have been quite a while since a witch had visited here.

  Still, I held my head high and made my way to Bloodline Graphics, a company who took up a small storefront a couple of blocks away from the main strip in town. I walked in to find a bored-looking vampire sitting at a desk, surrounded by examples of advertising the company had done.

  There was a campaign for a blood company, featuring three vampires happily toasting with wine glasses full of blood, which gave me the creeps. Another was for fang implants, for vampires who were so old their fangs had lost a bit of their sharpness. A male vampire with greying hair flashed his fancy new smile in the ad.

  “Yeah? What can I do for you? Just letting you know, we mainly do ads aimed at vampires,” the receptionist said, with an interest level that had to be approaching zero. I half-expected her to be chewing gum.

  “I’m looking for Anastasia,” I replied.

  “Anastasia who?”

  “The one from Mt. Rheanier.”

  “What do you want with her?”

  “I need to speak with her about a vampire who was murdered.”

  “Luca?” the receptionist grinned. “He was a little baby face, wasn’t he? Came in here a few weeks ago, looking for Anastasia. He was oh-so-polite, always trying to convince her through logic and reason. But that’s not Anastasia’s way.”

  “No?”

  “Oh, but don’t mind me. Go ahead and find her.” She motioned with her head at a closed door to the left. “Through there, down the hall, fourth door on the left is her office. Good luck.”

  “Thanks,” I said, despite the insincerity in the vampire’s voice, and followed the instructions.

  Anastasia’s office was actually pretty easy to find; I just had to follow the yelling.

  “You call this graphic design?” a voice shouted from behind a closed door. “A newborn vamp could come up with something better than this. This is garbage. Now, go back to your desk, pretend you’ve taken courses in graphic design and that you have a modicum of creativity inside that thick skull of yours, and next time you come back here I want to see something that looks like you deserve to be paid for it.”

  The door opened a second later and a terrified-looking vampire clutching a manila folder to his chest ran out, darting past me without so much as a glance.

  Yikes.

  I made my way cautiously toward the office door and poked my head in. Anastasia was absolutely beautiful, there was no doubt about it. Her face was oval-shaped, with her straight black hair cut with asymmetrical bangs, and light gold makeup bringing out the depth of her black eyes.

  The snarl on her face, however, was decidedly less pretty.

  I decided to head right on in and see what was going to happen.

  “Knock knock,” I said as I made my way through the open door. Anastasia’s eyes moved from her computer to me and she unashamedly looked me up and down.

  “And who are you?”

  “My name is Ali Everwood, and I’ve been hired by Luca Sadoveanu’s family to find his killer. Right now, I think that might be you.”

  To my surprise, Anastasia actually smiled at this. A genuine smile.

  “I like a witch who gets straight to the point,” she said, motioning for me to sit. “So this is me getting right to it: I didn’t kill Luca. I actually liked him. I like people who have convictions, and who stand up for them.”

  “Is that why you assaulted him and were taken away by the Enforcers?”

  Anastasia smiled at me again. “Of course it is. Hey, I’m a passionate vampire. Luca and I were on different sides of the issue, and I admit he got under my skin a little bit.”

  “Maybe he got so deep under your skin you decided to take care of him permanently.”

  “No. Luca was born of pure blood. We need more of his kind, not less. I’d have never killed him.”

  “But a different vampire, someone who was turned from a human, you’d have no problem killing?”

  Anastasia shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. I’ve never tried. But Luca was a good vampire. He had strong ideas, and I might not have agreed with them, but he fought for them, and I respected that.”

  “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “Oh, about a week ago?”

  “Really?” I asked, my eyebrows rising. I had expected Anastasia to say that she hadn’t seen him since she’d been arrested.

  “Yeah. I wanted to apologize for what I’d done in the heat of the moment.”

  “What exactly was that, anyway? I know you were arrested for assaulting him, but that’s all I know.”

  “I might have punched him in the face,” Anastasia admitted with a shrug. “Not my finest moment. But you know, vampires are becoming an increasingly rare breed these days. We need to preserve our heritage, and we need to make more of an effort to increase the vampire population naturally, not by bringing in impure humans to beef up the numbers. What’s the point, if the blood and culture of our people is simply going to be diluted and disappear by doing that?”

  “Ok, so you went to see him. How did drinks go?”

  “Fine,” Anastasia said. “The thing is we actually did get along. He accepted my apology, we chatted for a while, and he even asked me if I knew any accountants here in New Fang.”

  “Oh? Why?”

  Anastasia shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell me. Just wanted to know who the firm here uses. I gave him the name.”

  “Ok, so you’re pretending you were the best of friends, basically. Excuse me if I don’t believe you right away.”

  “Believe what you want. We weren’t best friends, but I also wouldn’t kill him.”

  “How can I believe you? You’ve admitted yourself that you acted rashly in the heat of the moment. You’ve obviously got a temper. I don’t know what the vampire who ran out of here did, but most bosses don’t scream at their subordinates.”

  Anastasia’s face clouded over. “Yeah, ok, fine. I have a temper. But you know what? I didn’t kill him.”

  “Not even in a fit of rage? You didn’t go over to his townhouse, decide to have a polite discussion about the future of vampire kind and stab him in the chest?”

  “I didn’t, you stupid witch,” Anastasia snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”

  I leaned back in my chair, satisfied, and Anastasia’s eyes widened as she realized just how easily she had lost control.

  “Fine,” she said, more slowly this time. “I have a temper. And it can get out of hand, but I’m telling you, I didn’t kill him. When did he die?”

  “Probably around six or seven in the morning.”

  A smug look took over Anastasia’s features. “Well, that settles that. I couldn’t have killed him; it was impossible. I stayed late at work that day and didn’t get back to Mt. Rheanier until nine.”

  “Is there anyone who can confirm that?”

  “Check with Simba, the shifter who guards the portal back in Mt. Rheanier at that time. He’ll confirm it for you.”

  “Ok,” I said. “I will. I’ve also been told I should speak with George. Do you think he could have killed Luca?”

  Anastasia pressed her lips together as she thought the question over. “I genuinely don’t know,” she replied. “George is a weird cat. I will say I heard him and Luca arguing a few weeks ago. I don’t know what it was about, but I don’t think it had anything to do with their difference in opinion about turning vampires.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, as soon as I got there, they both immediately stopped talking. If that was what they had been discussing, they would have just kept going. It’s not like neither one of them knew my thoughts on the topic.”


  “Did you overhear any of what they were saying?”

  Anastasia shook her head. “Sorry. Don’t have a clue. But whatever it was, it sounded important. I’d ask George about it. If he tells you, then you have an answer. If he doesn’t, then you might have a motive.”

  “Ok, thanks,” I said. “Anyone else you can think of who’d want to kill Luca?”

  “Nope, sorry,” Anastasia said, shaking her head. “I do hope you find the person who did it, though. It wasn’t me, and I don’t like knowing there’s someone out there willing and able to murder vampires.”

  I left the office then, wondering if I’d just spoken to a murderer. I supposed I was going to have to check on Anastasia’s alibi on my way back.

  Chapter 13

  I walked back out into the street and immediately typed in the address to the accountant Anastasia had recommended. That was certainly a lead I wanted to follow up on. Why did Luca need to speak with an accountant? Why couldn’t he just chat with one of the ones from Mt. Rheanier? There were a lot of questions here, and they were questions I wanted answers to.

  The office building that housed the accountancy firm was pretty easy to find. I walked through the front door, followed the signs, and quickly found myself in the reception area, which was classy but minimalist. Another vampire sat at reception, but this one looked far friendlier than the one at the graphic design firm.

  “Hello there, what can I do for you? We don’t get a lot of witches around here,” the vampire said, his teeth gleaming in the low light as he flashed me a friendly smile. His cherubic face had cheeks that were a bit on the redder side for a vampire, and his blue eyes twinkled happily, like he was genuinely pleased to see me.

  “I was hoping to speak with Eldromir,” I said. “I’m investigating a murder in Mt. Rheanier and was told that the victim visited him soon before his death.”

  “Oh, the death of that poor young vamp Luca,” the vampire said, nodding in understanding as his smile fell.

  “You heard of it?” I asked, a little bit surprised.