by Lily Luchesi
“Doesn’t start for two more days,” he replied. “I’ve been using this time to build up my mental abilities, you know, since Dakota nearly gave me brain damage with her brain waves.”
“Skin changers,” Angelica muttered. “Such a pain in the ass. But you’re healed, right? No nasty side-effects?” She still didn’t look at him.
“I’m healed,” Daniel said, sitting in an armchair. “But the reason I wanted to stop by was because I wanted to borrow a book, and I’m pretty sure I saw it on your bookshelves when I was here over Christmas.”
The penthouse was Angelica’s long before she ever met Danny, and she had turned one entire wall into floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and still needed more space to store all of her books. And that didn’t include the massive library she had at the PID, but those were only work related books. The ones in their penthouse were for both work and pleasure.
Danny watched as his wife gave Daniel a look that would have probably sent him hiding in the nearest foxhole were it aimed at him. At least she looked at him at all. What’s with her today?
“Do you know what I do to people who return my books back to me late or damaged in any way?” she asked.
Daniel’s face changed, color draining except for two red spots on his cheeks. “Well, um, since I just watched you kill someone with acid for challenging your rule, I guess whatever it is, it’s pretty bad.”
“Smart man,” she said, standing up. “What book do you want?”
“Well, I wanted to expand my mind and look into different mediums. And when I went online, I heard about The Equinox…” Daniel trailed off. “Am I totally off track here?”
Angelica shook her head. “While I doubt the book can help you more than the PID witches can, I do have a copy, the full volumes. But it’s old, it’s rare, and if you damage it with a college party or whatever, I’ll hurt you.”
She walked over to the bookshelf and removed hefty volumes of hardcover books. Danny watched her do this with ease, when he would have fallen over, even as a vampire.
“Do I need a suitcase to carry all of these?” Daniel asked.
“Probably. You’re going to want to get to the bookstore and get Eight Lectures on Yoga and Tao Te Ching. What I have here are volumes one through ten, the original printed manuscripts, nothing that came after,” Angelica advised.
“And here I thought I’d take it for a bit of light reading,” Daniel said, staring at all the thick books. “Well … thanks, Angelica.”
“No problem.” She walked into the kitchen and brought him a cloth shopping bag to carry the books in. “Danny and I’ve got to get going to work. Careful with your back with those.”
Danny watched the exchange and saw something he didn’t like. After all this time, he knew Angelica pretty well, and he knew that she was wary of Daniel. Why? What did those books contain that had her cautious?
As soon as the door closed behind Daniel, Danny turned to his wife.
“Okay, what gives?”
Angelica sighed. “He quit the Coven’s mind strengthening sessions as soon as we’d killed Dakota. And now he’s suddenly got it into his head that Crowley’s works can help him. I’m afraid he’s going to hurt himself. The original printings … there are only six sets on Earth. And I have two of those: one here, the other at the PID. There are hidden messages in the texts. I fear he might accidentally harm himself. But if I told him that, he’d be just as stubborn and arrogant as you were when we first met.”
She smiled a little and Danny felt better. If she could still be sarcastic, then it wasn’t too bad. He trusted his descendant, and didn't think they had anything to worry about.
“Sorry, Angie … but why do you want me to do this?” Sean Wireman asked Angelica later that evening. Danny was down in the armory, testing out their new compound bows, while Angelica was dealing with slightly more personal matters with Sean, the PID director, siren, ex-rock star, World War II hero, and her closest living friend.
“You were once one of the top lawyers in the world. Why shouldn’t I ask you?” Angelica asked, pushing the legal pad back toward him.
He pushed it back to her again. “Because I don’t want to,” he replied. “I thought you died once, and I had to deal with all that legal shit then. Can’t you leave me some peace? Please?”
“Peace? Yeah right. When have either of our lives ever been peaceful?” she asked. “Helping me legalize my will isn’t going to actually sign my death warrant. Being back in the fray now, I think it needed a bit of a rework, so I rewrote it last night.”
Sean sighed. “What did Danny say about that?”
The Empress ducked her head, looking more like a teenager than a centuries-old vampire. Her porcelain cheeks turned pink and she said, “He might have thought I was writing up weapon ideas.”
“See!” Sean cried, slapping his hand on the desk.
“Well, don't forget, he thought I was dead a lot longer than you did,” Angelica said, defensive. “He doesn’t want to hear about my last will, but I need it rewritten for obvious reasons. This is a dangerous life I lead … not that I’d have it any other way. Promise me you’ll take care of things.”
Sean let out a breath and said, “All right, fine. I promise. Only because it would be a clusterfuck if anything did happen to you… But nothing is going to happen to you.”
Angelica patted his hand. “Right. Now you’re the psychic. Just look it over and get the process started.”
Sean opened the legal pad’s cover and said, “You couldn’t have typed this? Three centuries of life on Earth, and yet you still write like chicken scratch.”
He skimmed the document, seeing that it was standard, and not too different from the one he’d had to execute back in twenty-seventeen. In the event of her death, Danny was the technical leader of the vampires and controlled all financials in regard to the PID and all its offices around the world. He, Sean, would remain the Chicago director unless he died or quit.
If Danny were to die before her, everything was left to Sean, and vice versa. The next line read, “If both Daniel Michael Mancini and Sean David Wireman are deceased before me, then let everything go to Hell upon my death.”
He smirked at that. Even talking about her own demise, she was still snarky. “So, what? Since you’re here, do you want to go back to hunting?”
She nodded. “Why not? Maybe it will scare all the species to see that they’ll be hunted by the vampire Empress if they fuck around. Of course I prefer hunting with Danny, but if he doesn’t want to —”
She cut herself off mid-sentence as there was a knock on Sean’s office door.
“Yeah?” he called.
The door opened and Danny walked in, covered in blood. His white shirt was ruined, and his hair was sticky with the stuff. Sean was horrified until he remembered that they were using pig’s blood in the bow prototypes.
He and Angelica glanced at each other and then both burst into laughter. Danny didn’t look amused, and that just made Sean laugh harder. Despite a mutual respect, they would never like each other very much.
“What happened?” Angelica asked when she got control of her giggles.
“The ampoule of blood? It wouldn’t release so the armory guys decided to try loosening it. Well … it was loosened too much. The ampoules flew off and broke all over everyone who tried to use them. And now I smell like iron and bacon.”
At that, Sean lost it, resting his head on his arms in a futile attempt to contain his laughter. Vampires could smell the animal that the blood had come from, whereas most other species couldn’t. So thinking that Mancini had to reek of ham was somehow hysterical to him.
Angelica stood up, still letting out a few giggles here and there. “Go clean yourself up, Danny. I’ll go reconfigure the blueprints.”
Sean watched them both leave, Angie giving him a jaunty wave as she closed the door behind her and smiled. Once upon a time … until just a few months ago … he’d been jealous of Danny for winning her heart. He’d b
een in love with her since nineteen-ninety-nine, and had been floored when she’d married the detective. But now he saw how their love withstood anything, and he was just glad that his best friend had found somewhere to rest her uneasy heart.
All he wanted was for them all to get their happily ever afters.
2
After Danny cleaned himself up and changed his clothes, he went to the PID library to look up anything he could find on psychic visions in vampires. As far as he knew, vampires weren’t psychic creatures … unless you counted psychic vampires, who fed off of energy as opposed to blood, and weren’t technically vampires. Not for the first time, he thought about how confusing the paranormal world could be.
He had only been able to see one vision from a vampire, and that was Angelica, before he’d turned. The only reason he’d been able to see that vision was because they both had ancient vampire blood in their veins. It was the same reason that Daniel could sometimes see into his mind. But as a full-blooded vampire, Danny should not have been able to get a single vision. It was impossible, and everyone knew it.
Thinking about that vision he saw of Angelica killing the human Helena Collins when she’d first become the Empress, a face floated into his mind’s eye. Black hair and eyes, sour disposition, perpetual grimace on his face. Augustus Caesar, the old and original vampire Emperor. Someone who would certainly want revenge.
That can’t be who was talking to me in my vision, he thought, feeling his heartbeat increase with worry. I watched him die, I saw Angie cut his head off. He closed his eyes, trying to conjure up the vampire’s voice.
It came, eventually. “This is no place for a mortal with human morals.” There were similarities to the voice in his vision: both were British males with a posh clip, but no, it was not Augustus who had spoken to him.
He shook his head, feeling stupid. Of course it couldn’t be Augustus. He was dead. And no vampire ever came back from being decapitated, especially not if their murderer was Angelica Cross.
Danny went back to his reading then, not sure what he was even trying to find at this point. It was entirely possible that his soul, which was where the visions came from, had one last blip of psychic left in it. But why wait all this time to show up? And could this vision even be trusted as accurate and not a crazy nightmare?
There would be no lore on his current predicament: he was only the second Emperor, and the first formerly psychic one.
He slammed the book shut with disgust.
“Hey, don’t damage what you can’t replace,” Angelica scolded, plopping down in the chair across from him.
He jumped, having been so lost in thought that he hadn’t heard her approach. That was bad enough for a detective, for a vampire it was inexcusable.
She grabbed the book and read the title. “The Mind of a Seer,” she read. “Trying to help Daniel? Or are you going to tell me what spooked you in your sleep, when a vampire is supposed to be, quite literally, dead to the world?” Her dark eyes searched his, and he felt a blush creeping up his neck.
“Don’t look like you got caught doing something naughty. I know you, Danny, inside and out. You’re troubled. Tell me what’s going on.” She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. “Part of marriage is being there for each other through the good and bad. It’s right there in the vows. Let me help you, please.”
Danny grasped her hand tightly. It was cold; she needed blood. When she was working, she often forgot to feed. Angelica was never an emotional or verbally demonstrative person. To have her say all that, either she really did care that much or she was just trying to wheedle the information out of him. With her, he could never be too sure.
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” he said quietly. “And I’m scared.”
“Tell me what’s happening, and we’ll figure it out … together.”
And so he told her, including the part where she withered away to a dusty old corpse before his eyes. Her eyes widened with every word; he’d never seen her that silent or surprised before. He ended by telling her about the voice, wanting revenge.
She paused, ruminating, before replying. “I think that there’s a very good chance that the latent powers in your soul created an elaborate nightmare. It might not have been the future, just some bullshit your psyche cooked up. After all, you do worry about my death, and plenty of people want revenge on you.
“You were a cop, putting away dozens of criminals. And then you joined us here at the PID. It’s gotta be in your subconscious, that people will be out to get you.”
Danny nodded slowly. “That’s possible. I had considered something similar but I’m a little freaked out.”
“No shit. You should be.” Angelica stood up and went to stand behind him. He felt her arms come around his shoulders and he leaned back into her touch, resting his head on her shoulder. “No matter what this turns out to be, you’re not in this alone, Danny. As long as I’m alive, you’re never on your own.”
He closed his eyes and let her kiss him as he reached back and put his hand in her black hair. He was glad she didn’t make him say anything. Unlike her, words were not his forte and he was afraid that his mouth would never be able to accurately convey just how much he loved her, and how much she meant to him. She’d saved his life when he was Jonathan Price. She’d done it again when they were reunited in this life. But more than saving him from werewolves and vampires, she’d saved his soul. When he’d been hopeless and suicidal, she’d pulled him back from the brink. He owed everything to her, and no words could ever show her how he felt.
“I love you,” he whispered against her cheek when she pulled away.
“I love you, too,” she said. “And I need you to do something for me. A friend of mine from Scotland is in residence. I had asked him to come here to help Daniel, before Daniel dropped the Coven’s training. I want you to work with him. See if he can get anywhere with this, or at least confirm our theory.” She tapped the book on the table. “He wrote this. His specialties are poisons and mind magic.”
Why am I not surprised her friend specializes in poison? Danny nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. And maybe convince Daniel to come back, too. If he knows I need to still have training, he might see the light.”
Angelica beamed at him, and it took everything he had not to take her in his arms again.
“You’re the best. I’ll arrange a meeting for you now, okay? In one of the conference rooms. I’ll text you which one. Sean and I have another idea for the ampoules on the bows.”
“Sounds good. Thanks, Angie. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away. I figured if I could figure it out myself, it would be easier.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “We’re stronger together. You know that.” Ruffling his curls, she exited the library.
He glanced down at the book he’d been trying to read and sighed. He hoped this wasn’t going to be a waste of time.
Angelica texted him not five minutes later with what conference room he was to go to and he walked slowly to the elevator. He already went through this shit once before, he didn’t want to do it again. He thought all of that was behind him.
He entered the small conference room, which was outfitted with an antique table, like most of the rooms. Angelica didn’t like modern office furniture. It also had a coffee machine, water cooler, and a small fridge which held blood for vampires.
A man was standing at the coffee machine with his back to Danny. He was a little taller than Danny was, about six-one, with white hair and clad all in black.
“Hello?” Danny called, feeling uneasy.
The man turned, giving Danny a once over. Hazel eyes raked him in, seeming to stare straight through him, while thin lips quirked into a smirk.
He felt faint, and not from the glare of the wizard. He’d never seen this man in his life, yet he had seen him: in his vision. This was the man who had died via vampire bite in his vision, who had been hanging on the mats like a macabre Halloween display at Hannibal Lecter’s house
.
I so didn’t need this, he thought, his stomach flip-flopping.
“Mr. Mancini. You look … troubled,” the man said, his accent pleasant and his voice soft and deep.
“You have no idea.” Danny tried to compose himself and shook the man’s hand. “And call me Danny, please.”
“I’m Alec Lynx,” the man said. “I had thought I’d be working with another mortal.” His expression of dark amusement didn’t change.
“Your surname sounds familiar,” Danny commented.
“I am the descendant of Harley Lynx, our former Coven Queen in the United Kingdom,” he explained. “Harley was the daughter of Salem Sinclair, the former King. My line also goes back to a powerful shapeshifting family, the Lynxes.”
Danny smiled a little. “So, Angie thought I needed a royal to help since I’m also royal?”
This time Alec smiled genuinely. “Perhaps. So, sit. Tell me what’s going on. I admit this is a new case for me, and I am looking forward to the challenge.” He looked up at Danny and added, “And you can tell me why you looked ghastly when you saw my face. I might not be handsome, but even I know I’m not that ugly.”
Danny sat across from him and said, “I got my first ever vision as a vampire, and in that vision, I saw your dead body. I’ve never seen you till today.”
Alec’s calm eyes suddenly turned sharp. “Well fuck. All right, then. We can dissect the vision, be sure that it was a vision — frankly, I don’t see how it can’t be a vision, since you saw me there — and then you and Angelica can figure out what to do to circumvent its fruition.”
Danny nodded, feeling a little more at ease with the way the wizard had handled hearing about his own predicted murder. He couldn’t have dealt with someone who was freaked out by what was happening to him.
“Has anything happened in your life that changed you physically, since you became a full vampire?” Alec asked.
Danny shook his head. “No. The only thing is I was helping my ancestor figure out his powers. Could that have … I don’t know … awakened something in me?”
