I smiled and then took a swig of ale. “No wonder you work from home most of the time, huh?”
“That, and I’m not much for a button-up shirt and tie.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed with a sarcastic gasp.
Adam laughed and set aside the bottle in his hand, letting it balance on the porch railing. He looked over at me, his dark eyes glowing under the soft porch lights. The night was chilly, but we sat close enough together that it was tolerable. The heat of the alcohol swirling in my belly helped too. “I’m sorry you couldn’t go to your friend’s party. I’m sure this is a poor substitute.”
I smiled up at him. “It’s actually not so bad.”
He returned my smile and looked ready to say something else, but something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.
“Is that … ,” I leaned forward, narrowing my gaze as I peered through the front window. With a jolt, I stiffened and jumped down from the railing.
I landed with a loud thump that caught Adam’s attention. “What is it?”
Icy fingers raked down my spine as I lifted a finger and pointed through the window to a petite blonde. “I know that girl.” She was dancing to the music, her delicate arms lifted over her head. Her eyes were closed, completely lost in the beat.
Blissfully unaware of the three vampires looking at her with wide eyes and parted lips.
My next words came out shaky and panicked. I looked at Adam. “She’s a human!”
Chapter 2
A human?”
My pulse thundered in my ears as Adam repeated the word.
It sounded so much worse the second time. “She comes into Siren’s Song. I see her once a week.”
Adam swore under his breath when he spotted the young woman. “They’re going to be all over her.” He sprang upright and headed for the back door. “We’ve got to get her out of there!”
I lunged after him. He yanked open the back door and barreled into the kitchen, only to skid to a sudden stop. Lacey had loaded the dining room table with no less than seven crystal punch bowls and decanters, each filled with varieties of disturbingly realistic faux blood. A dainty place card sat before each one, labeling the contents. Several clusters of vampires crowded each of the bowls, drinking the deep red liquid and schmoozing.
Adam didn’t waste any time. He shoved past people, not bothering with pleasantries. I followed behind, muttering apologies to the disgruntled vamps left in our wake.
When the crowd parted to let us through amid a flurry of irritated whispers on both sides, the only vampire remaining in our way was wearing a familiar snarl.
“What are you two doing?” Lacey hissed, planting her hands on her hips.
“Let us through,” Adam barked, making a move to pass her by. She sidestepped and blocked him.
I surged forward and yanked on her thin arm. She yelped but I ignored her and dragged her closer. “There’s a human out there,” I whispered into her ear.
Lacey slapped a serene smile on her face and made eye contact with the gawking guests. “Excuse us,” she said, moments before ushering us out the door. The three of us piled through into the living room where the music had been kicked up to a near-deafening level.
“Where are they?” Lacey demanded, her eyes narrowed as they darted around the room. I followed her fiery gaze, knowing she was likely checking on the vamps she considered to be high-risk. There were at least three that she zeroed in on before sweeping the room again.
“The blonde over there in the corner,” I said, jutting my chin. “She’s a regular at the coffee shop. She doesn’t have magic. She has no idea what she’d stumbled into tonight.”
“Gee, ya think?” Lacey growled.
My fingers tightened into clenched fists. “How about you just keep your pack of merrymaking bloodsuckers busy while Adam and I show her the door.”
“Just what I always wanted: to play bouncer for a vampire princess party.” Adam snorted. “All my childhood dreams are coming true.”
Lacey reached out, nails ready to slash at his face, but he’d already stepped out of her range. She snarled after him and I didn’t stick around long enough to hear her next insult.
A trio of vampires, two males, one female, crossed my path without so much as a glance my way and cut me off from Adam. I tamped down a stunning spell. It would be satisfying to blast all these smug, self-important vamps into the New Year, but it would also be a surefire way to get myself evicted from the Beechwood Manor and I didn’t have a plan B, or whatever letter of the alphabet my life was currently on.
“Yes, excuse me!” I muttered just loud enough for them to hear me as I skirted around them.
“Holly Boldt?”
I jumped at the sound of my name and spun around to find a walking, talking blast from the past staring back at me. “I—Ivan?” I choked out.
That whole “I don’t date vampires” rule? Well, he was 99% of the reason for that rule. I hadn’t personally tangoed with Ivan Kingston, but my best friend Anastasia had suffered through his womanizing—or, in this case, witcherizing—ways.
As my eyes locked on his, all thoughts of the wayward human slid to the back of my mind. I jammed my fists onto my hips and glared up at the towering vampire. He was ridiculously handsome, almost painfully so. Ice-blue eyes, razor-sharp cheekbones, and a wicked smile that could charm the literal pants off even the most chaste of women.
“What are you doing here? Picking your next victim?” I snapped.
Ivan tilted his head and flashed a haughty smile. “I see you haven’t changed. Still playing the classic fiery redhead.”
“I’m not playing at anything. But if it’s fire that you want … ,” I lifted one hand and flipped it over to expose a purple flame dancing at my fingertips. “Come a little closer and I’ll show you.”
Adam appeared at my side. He stopped short, seeing the flames licking at my palm. “Holly?”
I closed my hand and the flame went out with a slight hiss.
“Everything okay, Holly?” Adam asked me, eying the tall vampire that had a few inches even over Adam’s respectable six-two frame. “Who is this?”
I cocked my head. “I’ve called him several things, but technically, his name is Ivan.”
Ivan laughed, the sound frosty and brittle. “It’s so clear now, Holly. I was wasting my time with Anastasia. You and I clearly would have had so much more fun. Perhaps it’s not too late.” He gave a suggestive grin.
Heat flashed through me and I snarled at him. “You’re going to be sorry you met either one of us by the time I’m done with you!” I replied through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, well let’s throw that onto the back burner for now,” Adam said, slinging an arm around my waist to stop me from launching myself at Ivan’s smug face. I tried to resist but he managed to drag me away. “Holly, come on, we’ve got bigger problems.”
Fury still boiled just under the surface of my skin but I let him steer me through the crowd.
“I found the blonde,” he told me, once we were alone in the hallway outside my bedroom.
I shook off the last bits of irritation and gave him an encouraging nod. “That’s good. What did you have to tell her to get her out?”
“That’s the problem. I told the girl she needed to leave. She argued with me, but I was firm. Told her it was a private party.” He raked his hands through his thick, dark hair. “Anyway, she said she had to go get her friend and—”
“There are two of them?”
“Apparently.”
“I followed after her but got held up.” He sneered over at the pushy trio of vampires I’d nearly collided with moments before. When he dragged his eyes back to me, he grimaced. “I lost track of her.”
“Bat wings!” I looked back around the corner and scanned the room, deliberately ignoring Ivan. It looked like he’d moved on anyway. A brunette wearing a velvet masquerade mask was the new recipient of that arrogant smile.
“What’s the deal with
that guy?” Adam asked, peering over my shoulder.
“It’s a very long story.”
“Aha. Well, remind me to ask when we’re done with this high-risk game of hide-and-go-seek.”
I frowned. “Let’s just say Ivan isn’t exactly boyfriend material.”
“Hmm. Think I should go take that brunette off his hands then?” Adam flashed me a mischievous grin. “After all, I’d really be doing her a favor, from the sounds of it.”
I slapped him lightly on the forearm. “Let’s find the girl and her friend. Then you can go hit on whomever you’d like. All right?”
“Deal.”
“Maybe she left?” I suggested, a hopeful lilt to my voice.
“It’s possible. I didn’t check upstairs, but I’m pretty sure Lacey made that a no-fly zone.”
“Yeah, but a party crasher wouldn’t know that. Maybe she went looking for the bathroom.” I scrambled around the corner and started up the stairs. The living room was packed with vampires. There had to be at least thirty guests in that room alone, and that wasn’t even counting the other dozen in the kitchen. A shiver snaked up my spine and I grimaced at the unpleasant thoughts flashing through my head.
Adam and I went in opposite directions at the top of the grand staircase. He went to the left to check the bathroom at that end. I veered to the right to check the room used for storage and the guest room. I didn’t dare crack the door to Lacey’s room. I had a feeling she’d know if I so much as grazed the knob. Like a dog hearing a high pitched whistle.
I checked the rest of the rooms twice, my stomach sinking a little lower with each dead end.
There was no sign of the blonde. Or her friend.
I backtracked to go and find Adam but stopped at the top of the stairs when Posy swooped in, a panicked look pinching her stern features. “Holly, dear, someone has been in my study! It’s a mess!”
I held up a hand. “Posy, listen, I’ve got—”
“I don’t even know why I agreed to this whole party,” Posy interjected, irritation rising in her voice. “With all of these vagrants around, it will be a miracle if anything that’s not nailed down remains once they’ve gone! Most of the books in the study are valued in the thousands!”
With a heavy sigh, I placed my hand on the banister and turned to go downstairs. No rest for the witchy.
I jogged down the first few steps and called over my shoulder to the frantic ghost, “I’ll handle it, Posy. I promise. Nothing will get broken or stolen.”
With a pair of humans missing in a house filled wall-to-wall with vamps, a few stolen books were really the least of my concerns but I decided to humor her; I hadn’t checked in there yet, anyway.
The door to the study was closed. I paused, my hand on the knob, and breathed a silent plea that I wasn’t about to walk in on two blood-drunk vamps getting a little too acquainted with each other. A gust of cool air hit my face when I pushed into the room and I realized one of the windows was open. Vampires don’t technically put off body heat, being undead and all that, but they still have a core temperature and when enough of them gather, it can create a stuffy atmosphere. Lacey must have opened some of the windows prior to her guests arriving.
“Lacey said no more than twenty guests,” Posy complained, appearing at my side. “I counted forty-two and that was before the doorbell rang for the dozenth time!”
“Posy. It will be—” I reached over and hit the light switch and the rest of my sentence evaporated as I froze in place.
“I’m afraid to look,” Posy declared, pinching her eyes closed. “What’s the damage? Check my vinyl collection! Holly, you know how I get when I don’t have my music!”
My mouth moved, but nothing came out. Across the room, slumped against the arm of one of the two high-backed chairs near the fireplace, lay the limp body of the blonde girl I’d spotted from the back porch. A trickle of blood stained the front of her soft pink shirt.
“Posy, go get Adam,” I said, my voice thick.
I glanced at her as her eyes sprang open. They landed on the girl and went wide. “Oh, heavens! Is she—”
With tentative steps, I approached the woman. The blood was coming from a set of small wounds on her neck; my stomach rolled over violently before cinching into a tight knot.
Posy glided closer and then reeled back again. She looked at me, her thick eyebrows hiked halfway up her lined forehead. “Is she all right?”
I swallowed hard and placed my fingers along the girl’s wrist.
Shivers crawled over my skin as I slowly backed away.
“I think … I think she’s dead.”
Chapter 3
Adam!” The scream ripped from my throat.
“Who is she?” Posy asked, keeping her distance.
I shook my head. My fingers were still pressed to the girl’s wrist, desperately hoping I’d missed a heartbeat. “I don’t know, Posy. There weren’t supposed to be any humans in attendance tonight. Adam and I were on the back porch and saw her through the window. I recognized her from Siren’s Song, but I don’t know her name. Adam tried to get her out but she said she needed to get—” I stopped short and my stomach lurched. I swung around. “Posy, she said she had a friend here with her. You have to go find her!”
Posy straightened, her expression grave. “Of course! Any idea what she looks like?”
“No.” I dropped the girl’s wrist and backed away. The room suddenly felt too small, as though the walls were creeping in around me. I raked a hand through my hair and tried to form a clear plan of action. “A human in the middle of a vampire gathering should stand out.”
The whole missing fangs thing.
“I’ll find her, Holly. As soon as I do, I’ll come get you,” Posy assured me.
She vanished right as Adam crashed through the door. “Holly? Are you—” his eyes landed on the girl and he swore under his breath.
“I can’t find a pulse. I think she’s—” The rest of the words were choked out by a surge of bile in the back of my throat.
He crossed to the chair with three long strides and leaned over the blonde. Without a word, he pressed his fingers to the girl’s throat, careful to avoid the line of blood. He searched for a sign of life but after a moment, his shoulders rolled forward and he craned around to look at me, his face pale. “She’s … gone.”
“Posy’s looking for her friend,” I told him with a shudder. I wrapped my arms around myself and wished there was a fire built in the large fireplace beside the chairs. A breeze shot through the open window and I went to close it. It didn’t close at first but after my second attempt, it slammed shut with a thud that made both of us jump.
“Who would do this?” I asked, the whispered question almost rhetorical.
“I don’t know, Holls.” Adam leaned closer the girl and my breath hitched at the change in his expression. “It looks like she’s got bruises here.” He swallowed hard. “Fingerprint-sized bruises. There was a struggle before—” he stopped short of saying the rest. It was too horrible to speak out loud.
My legs wobbled.
“What do we do now?” I asked, not really expecting a good answer. What could we do? We would have to call in the Supernatural Protection Agency (SPA) to clear the scene and take the woman away. It would undoubtedly be a mess and involve a lot of questions.
“First, we’ve got to make sure the other girl is safe. We need to figure out who this girl is. Then, yes, we need to call the SPA and get them over here.”
“And hope to goodness that a war doesn’t break out,” I muttered under my breath. To say there was no love lost between the vampire community and the SPA would be a massive understatement. Most vamps preferred the rule of their so-called Vampire Council, a separate governing entity that operated in the literal shadows of the haven.
“Good point,” Adam replied, running a hand over his jaw. “Any chance you could seal the house up? As soon as they find out the SPA is planning a visit, they’re all going to scurry and we’ll lose any
leads.”
“I can try some wards,” I told him. I spread my hands out and closed my eyes. A long list of spells and charms flew through my mind before I landed on one. Heat and energy pulsed from my hands as I raised them up over my head. The windows along the study wall clicked in succession as each of the locks were magically sealed into place. Each door and window in the manor would have followed suit. The magic faded and I opened my eyes.
Adam waited, his eyes expectant.
I gave a nod. “I can’t guarantee it will hold forever. Magic has a tendency of going screwy around vampires. But for the time being, everyone is locked in.”
“And any other party crashers are locked out,” Adam added with a miserable look at the blonde. “What was she thinking? Sneaking in here like that?”
“I don’t know. I feel bad that I don’t even know her name. She’s a regular at the shop.”
Adam crossed the room and gathered me into his arms. He was warm and solid, the steady beating of his heart providing a measure of comfort in the dark circumstances.
Posy reappeared, concern etched in her face. “Holly, Adam, I found the other humans.”
“Plural? What, are they multiplying on the spot?” Adam growled.
“They’re just kids,” Posy added softly, her eyes lingering on the girl slumped in the chair.
The kids turned out to be a pair of mouthy teenagers, a boy and girl who had each had far too much to drink and were insistent that they were not leaving the party anytime soon. Adam and I dragged them out to the back porch, away from the party, without Lacey spotting us. I warded the door closed behind us while Adam started in on them. “What do you two think you’re doing here?”
I folded my arms and gave them both my best angry-mother-hen glare as the two of them exchanged an amused look.
“Busted,” the boy said in a sing-song voice.
The girl met my eyes. “It was a dare.”
“A dare? From whom?” I asked, the words snapping like a whip. Had they been lured here? I remembered the way Lacey had looked at some of her guests when she’d learned about the humans. Would one of them have brought humans to the party? For some kind of twisted form of entertainment. Or worse …
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