None do.
"Very well," Derek says. "But he has to stay in your room while we're working. Cats don't like vampires."
I exhale, relieved it was that easy, and use a bell in the library to summon Lily, who is more than happy to take the kitten and keep an eye on him for the evening.
Matilda comes in pushing a tray of goblets filled with blood and a pitcher of tea with cream and sugar for me, then winks at me as she leaves.
We each take a seat—I choose a chair that gives me a good view of everyone without being in the way—and I pull out a legal pad and pen, ready to take notes.
Derek pulls out a file and places it on the coffee table between him and Dracula. "This is the police report," he says. "At 2:23 a.m. on November 4, your wife, Mary, was found dead in your home. She was drained of blood. The child—a boy—was beheaded and also drained of blood. Mary was still alive when all this happened. She died last.”
The gruesomeness of it startles me, and I study the faces of the men in the room, looking for emotional cues.
Dracula’s jaw is clenched. Liam is full of thinly veiled rage. Derek and Elijah are all business. Sebastian is… well, Sebastian. Brooding.
“You are being charged with two counts of murder, two counts of unlawful draining of blood, and two counts of violating the Non-Violent Vampire Act," Derek says.
I’m already rattled by my mental image of this crime, but then he pulls out a crystal and says something in Latin. Before my eyes, an image, like a holograph, appears and begins to move. It's a bedroom covered in blood, with the corpse of a woman and the beheaded infant she recently gave birth to laying in the center of it all.
I find the nearest trash bin and empty my stomach.
As if on cue, Matilda arrives with a cold washcloth and a new trash bin. I raise an eyebrow at her, and the men in the room are all locked in some kind of power play staring contest and don't even seem to notice I'm over here losing my breakfast.
"I'm going to ask you one more time, Vlad. Did you kill her?" Derek says.
"I did not kill my wife and child," he replies through gritted teeth, his eyes fixated on the projected image. "But I will make the person who did this pay. They will feel the wrath of Vlad the Impaler as no one has ever felt it, and they will know pain before I let them die. If I let them die."
There's a cruel gleam in his eyes that sends shivers up my spine. It's not hard to imagine him being responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, as history says he was in Romania in 1462. Whether he was defending his home region or a truly sadistic monster, history can't agree, but looking at him now, I can imagine both. He may have been fighting for a greater cause, but he also reveled in the bloodshed, savored ripping the heads off his enemies and drinking their blood as it poured out of their skulls. He enjoyed it, and still does.
"Then tell us what happened," Elijah says, flicking off the crystal. "How did someone manage to kill your family in your own home and leave without you knowing or seeing them?"
Dracula's spine stiffens. "The night that it happened, I had left to find someone to feed on—within the rules and bylaws established, of course—and when I returned, I found them dead. My butler didn't see or hear anything, and no leads have turned up since. I am the only suspect as far as I can tell."
"We will need a list of your enemies," Derek says, making a note on his legal pad.
Dracula laughs. "That's going to be a longer list than we have time to investigate," he says.
Derek sighs. "If you don't cooperate in your own defense, we can't help you. I need a list of anyone who might have such a grudge against you, or Mary, that they would do this. A list of anyone who worked for you at that time. Household staff. Anyone who had access to Mary or your home."
The count sighs and digs into the briefcase at his side. He hands Derek a file.
"That should have everything you need."
Derek flips it open and scans the contents, then nods and closes the file. "We will begin our investigation first by talking to the coroners and visiting the crime scene. We need the name and contact information of the person or persons you fed off of that night as well as anyone who can provide an alibi or character testimony on your behalf."
Dracula shakes his head. "I have no alibi, not anyone useful at any rate. I was hunting for blood. I didn't ask for their name and number. I fed, wiped their memory and left. They will be no help."
Sebastian shifts in his seat. "We still need to know where you were. An accounting of every minute. Other people could have seen you that night and they may be able to vouch for your whereabouts."
"Can you bring human witnesses into your courts?" I ask, speaking for the first time.
All eyes shift to me. Elijah answers. "Not specifically, no. But we can use a Memory Catcher—like the one you just saw—to capture their memory of the night in question, and that's admissible as eyewitness testimony."
I'm torn between being impressed and dismayed. "So you steal memories from people without their knowledge or consent?"
"Not exactly," Elijah says. "It's more like we are picking up the impression of the memory that's left. If it's strong enough, it will give us a clear indication of what happened." He gestures to the crystal they just activated a moment ago. "That memory was lifted from one of the Enforcers who first responded to the murder."
"Then can't you do that with Dracula? Catch his memories to prove what happened?"
"Paranormals can tamper with memory imprints, so they are not admissible in court unless they are expert testimony used to establish the facts of the case, such as an Enforcer or coroner's memory," Derek says. "Otherwise only human memories can be used. We will do a Memory Catch of the crime scene, but it's unlikely to yield anything useful since we don't have any non-paranormal memory prints to pull."
"This is your whole plan?" Dracula asks. "Throw some magic around and hope for the best?"
Derek scowls at his sire. "We will do everything we can to win this case. We want to be freed of you as much as you want to be freed of this mess. Maybe more. But we have to work with what we have, which, at the moment, isn't much."
"Very well," Dracula says, standing. "I will find you a character witness. In the meantime, you will find the evidence that proves me innocent and identifies the murderer." This is a statement, not a question, and with a sharp turn he walks out of the library.
Derek stands. "Elijah, you and I will work on the paperwork we have to file for court." He looks to Liam next. "Put your ear to the ground, brother. See if any of our sources know anything about the murder or the nature of their relationship."
Liam nods. "I'll report back later," he says, leaving the room.
Derek looks to me and Sebastian. "I need you two to talk with the coroners and examine the crime scene for anything the Enforcers might have missed."
Sebastian glances my way, but his face is impartial, and I can't get a read on his emotions. I, for one, am nervous and excited to be assigned fieldwork. I assumed I'd be stuck in an office all day doing paralegal grunt work.
Elijah leaves and Derek approaches me with a frown on his face.
"Are you comfortable doing this?" he asks. "I know you're getting thrown in head first. It can be overwhelming."
"It can be," I admit. "But I'm ready. I want to go."
I'm about to turn away, when I pause. "Is there any chance we can make a detour on the way back? I need a new cell phone since Liam melted mine. And I'll need a new number, so Jerry can't call me again."
"About that," Derek says. "We will be moving, and where we're going, you won't need a cell phone."
"We're moving? Now? I don't understand."
Derek glances at Sebastian. "You'll see what I mean shortly. Is there anything else I can do for you? I am, as always, at your disposal."
"No, I'm good." Answers. All I want is more answers. But I feel as if I've found a magic lamp with a genie who is granting me all my wishes, and though this new life comes with a heavy dose o
f danger and mystery, it's kinda worth it. Something about all of this crazy fits. I feel like this is where I belong.
Derek reaches for my hand, and the touch sends a shiver up my spine. "Never hesitate to let me know if you need anything at all." His gaze holds mine for too long, and I look away first, blood rising to my cheeks.
"Thank you," I say sincerely, forcing myself to look him in the eyes. "For everything you've done for me. I appreciate it. I…I've been worried that you'll regret hiring me. Because I'm...mundane."
He frowns. "It is…unusual, especially since we work within the legal system of our community. But it's not unheard of. There's a precedent if I need to justify your presence. I know Lily told you about the spell on the ad. You shouldn't have been able to see it at all as a human, but you did. That's significant. You're meant to be here, Eve Oliver. That much is clear."
He says this with such conviction and authority that I know he believes in what he's saying and will fight for me. I can hear it in his voice. See it in the hard set of his jaw. He really believes I belong here.
I smile and squeeze his hand. "If you're sure."
He nods. "I'm absolutely sure, Eve."
Sebastian approaches us, hands in his pockets. "Ready?" he says, though he looks none too happy to be doing this, whether because I’m going or because of where we're going I can't say. Either way, being with mister grump is going to be less than awesome if he's going to be in a bad mood all day.
I link my arm through his and smile my most charming smile at him as he leads us out the library. "Come now, you can't spend your whole life growling and grimacing at everyone. You really need to lighten up and enjoy life more."
He snorts at that. "Lighten up? That's your advice for me while we're investigating the highest profile murder case in the paranormal community?"
I nod. "That's exactly my advice. There will always be something that gives us an excuse to be miserable. Our job is to find the reasons to be happy. To make joy and gratitude more of a habit than misery and excessive amounts of stress and worry."
He looks down at me, his face unreadable. "You're very wise for such a young human," he says.
I make an exaggerated scrunched face. "I'm not that young. Sheesh. You old guys think everyone is young."
"Old guys?" he asks, his stern facing cracking into a small smile despite himself.
"You are male, yes?" I give him an appraising look with a bit of a flirtatious edge.
He rolls his eyes. "Yes, I am male."
"And you are old, yes?"
He glares at me a moment, but then nods. "I suppose by some standards you could consider me aged."
"Some standards? By whose standards would you not be considered ancient?" I ask.
"Dragons," he says without hesitancy. "To them everyone is young."
I nearly choke on my tongue at that. "There are dragons?" I ask.
He nods. "There are dragons, yes, and so many other creatures. Was that not in the books Elijah gave you?"
I shake my head. "Nope. It was just dry, boring, law books."
"I have a book for you. If you'd like to read it." He says this almost shyly, and I'm intrigued.
"Definitely. I most definitely want to read it. Thank you."
He nods and leads me down a corridor I haven’t seen before. An archway lined with moss and branches and vines climbing up the walls. Lily joins us, though I don't see her arrive or what direction she comes from.
“Aren’t we going to the limo?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “It’s time to move the castle.”
“Move the… castle?” I remember Lily mentioning something about their home changing location. "Is this what Derek meant when he said we are moving?" I ask.
He grunts, as if that tells me all I need to know.
I roll my eyes. “Lily? Care to elaborate?”
“Sure, bosswoman,” she says eagerly. “My uncles have clients all over the globe. We go where needed. And right now, we’re needed in the Otherworld.”
“The Otherworld?”
“It’s where I was born. Where most paranormals are born these days.” She pauses, losing her chirpy composure for a moment. “My tree was still young in the dryad grove when a land-bound mermaid with a penchant for arson started a fire that would burn for a fortnight. My home was destroyed in the blaze, killing my family and nearly killing me. But Granny Matilda saved a seed from my tree, a seed of my soul. She saved me. And when she planted the seed in the castle, it flourished, and so did I.” She finishes with her natural spunk and pulls open a heavy wooden door.
My next question catches in my throat at the sight before us. A massive tree grows at the center of the room; bark white as snow, roots digging into the glass floor, spreading out endlessly into the darkness below. Leaves of all colors, emerald and crimson, burnt-orange and deep purple, reach toward the ceiling, except there is no roof, but a whirlpool of stars and clouds swirling above.
I am frozen. Transfixed by the impossible imagery.
Sebastian squeezes my hands and steps forward onto the glass floor, which stays firm beneath his heavy body. “It will be all right,” he says.
I nod with a smile and join him in the room. From here, I cannot see where the world ends, and I feel suspended, floating in the night sky, the tree glowing like the moon.
“It takes a great deal of energy to move an object the size of the Night Castle and surrounding property,” says Sebastian, leading me to the base of the trunk. “Lily’s tree provides the fuel.”
I look at her compassionately. “Is that difficult?”
She shakes her head. “Dryad magic is meant to be used. Traveling is like a rollercoaster ride for me. But I suppose I would get tired if my tree teleported a bunch of times in a short while.”
“So how does it work?” I ask. “Do we need to do anything special or…”
"Lily's the only one who needs to be here. But if you lay your hand on the bark, you can feel the power," Sebastian says, placing his palm flat against the tree. I do the same, and when I touch the wood, a sense of easy comfort fills me, like drinking warm tea by the fire on a cold night.
“You both ready?” asks Lily, her hands scrunched up, her face bursting with anticipation.
Sebastian nods.
“Ready,” I say.
The dryad places her hand on the tree, and the stars above begin to swirl around us, covering my vision with blinding light.
I close my eyes.
And a flash comes over me.
Three figures stand on a cliff. Their faces hidden in darkness. I can barely make out their forms in the night, until lightning strikes, and they look like shadows, hungry and cruel. Rain falls heavy and thick, and a stormy sea swirls below them.
I can’t breathe.
I can barely think.
I am here. Standing on the shore at the base of the cliff.
One of the figures leaps down, cape billowing in the angry wind. They land before me, and for a spilt moment lightning strikes, and I see their face, their beautiful face. Blood red lips. Eyes like the ocean. Hair dark as night. It is a woman, I realize, and she reaches forward and grabs me by the throat. Her nails rip into my flesh. “You should have died with your mother.”
I scream.
And strong arms reach around me, holding me close.
A soothing voice whispers to me.
"Shh… you're safe. You're safe, Eve. No one is going to hurt you."
He grips me firmly, my head is against his chest. My tears stain his shirt.
I try to adjust my breathing to match his. Slowing it, steadying it.
A warmth flows through me and my head fills with images of the mountains and tall trees reaching for the sky. I feel my body settle into the earth, like my soul is being grounded, tethered gently to something strong and sturdy, something immovable.
Eventually my shaking stops, my breathing normalizes, and the panic subsides, leaving in its wake a massive headache.
I open my
eyes and see that I am laying in Sebastian’s arms at the base of the dryad tree. The swirl of stars is gone. Lily stands uncomfortably to the side.
Now that I'm feeling a bit better, embarrassment floods me and I pull away from Sebastian and wipe my eyes. "I'm…sorry about that. I get panic attacks from time to time, though they seem to be coming in more frequency recently. I think the lights triggered something—"
"You have nothing to apologize for. This isn't your world. And it's dangerous. You're smart to be scared."
I frown, looking at both of them. "That's just it. I'm not scared. Of any of this. I know I should be. And I keep waiting for it to hit, but so far, nothing. If anything, this feels like home. Like I've finally come home after being gone for far too long."
I look at the endless darkness below me, at the roots reaching into nothing. "Adam and I never felt like we belonged anywhere. Our father did his best to make us feel special, since we weren't very normal. But after he died, it was hard. Foster homes and other people's agendas and expectations of us. And then Adam died and it was like the last tether I had was cut. I was floating away until I found this job. This life."
"Your father sounds like he was a special man," Sebastian says softly. "Foster care must have been hard."
"He was," I say. "And most of the foster parents weren't bad people. But they didn't understand us or our relationship. They didn't understand why we never fit in."
I look over at him again, our eyes locking. "Is it weird that this is the place I finally feel like I belong?" I ask.
He shrugs. "Who's to say what's weird or not? Life is full of impossible dreams, often wrapped in the ordinary."
"You're very wise for such an old vampire," I say, teasing him with his own words.
A quiet laugh escapes his mouth. Reluctantly, I think. "Touché," he says.
I chuckle and stand, smoothing out my clothes with my hands. “So did we do it? Did the castle travel?”
Lily beams. “See for yourself.” With a spring to her step, she leads us out the door we came, and out the front entrance of the castle. When we step outside, I gasp.
Green lights dance across a dark sky. Shimmering and coiling like a snake. “The northern lights,” I whisper.
I Am the Wild (The Night Firm Book 1) Page 10