Hailey giggled. "I see what you mean. About being like a child. A lot of teenage romances are like that."
"But I'm not a teenager. On the one hand, I'm barely five. On the other hand, I'm several centuries-old-maybe as old as Cain. It's hard to know."
"You've got to be kidding," Debbie said. "The little we've talked, Nicky, you have more maturity than most thirty-year-olds. You're selling yourself short."
I snorted. "Well, I'm glad I've grown on you."
"I don't know how I'd ever even get to the point where I could consider trying to see the positive in my situation without you, Nicky. I wish it didn't happen. If I had a chance at salvation, I'd take it. But perhaps, there's another way I can be saved."
"Thanks, Debbie. Means a lot. I'm still worried about Devin, though. He just wasn't acting like himself, and I don't know that being worried about us like everyone seems to think is the whole reason."
"Devin is a compassionate young man," Debbie said. "Always was, even as a boy. He was the one who befriended the kid at school that no one else wanted to play with. But he's also sensitive. If something is bothering him, Nicky, you should talk to him about it. What you shouldn't do is start casting suspicion his way. He doesn't need a possessive girlfriend right now. He needs a partner, someone who can be strong for him when he's weak even as he's trying to be strong for you right now while you're adjusting to your new ability."
I pressed my lips together. Before I could reply, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Debbie said.
Cain walked in and, behind him, a Black woman-undeniably attractive. Her hair was in dreadlocks, falling past her shoulders. Her lips were full, and she had wide eyes.
"Julie!" Hailey said, leaping to her feet and embracing who I surmised was the ghost of the caplata who wielded the infernal flambeaux. At the moment, though, she didn't have the object in hand. If she did, Cain would be a much larger, harrier version of himself.
"You know the plan already?" Hailey asked.
Julie nodded. "I do."
"Annabelle and I caught her up," Cain said. "If the Order members show up again in their golden gowns, Julie summon the flambeaux."
"Summon it?" I asked.
Julie smiled wide. I was taken aback by her beauty. It's not that I was attracted to her, at least not like that, but she had the sort of appearance that people noticed. She was striking. "The flambeaux is an infernal object," Julie said. "It is not safe to carry it around in its corporeal form. It is a part of me, its power restrained by the frame of this body. I can nonetheless call it forth at any time."
"Fascinating," I said. "Is it common for ghosts to take bodies?"
"Not at all," Julie said. "So far as I know, I'm the only one. The flambeaux was a corporeal object. When I took hold of it, as a spirit, our natures were mingled. I and the object, together, maybe either material or immaterial."
"But you can't just retake a spiritual form, Cain said if you did..."
"Then I'd have no way of restraining the infernal power of the flambeaux," Julie said. "Its power, welling up within me, would pour out like an inferno."
"So you really are like a ticking time bomb."
"Not exactly. I don't tick. I mean, I have my ticks. Don't we all?"
I chuckled. "We certainly do."
Chapter thirty
It was ten minutes until the witching hour. My stomach churned with nerves. Sure, we had a plan. But it was a complicated strategy with a lot of moving parts. Not to mention, the whole prospect of infernal power being evoked to pull it off gave me a slight case of the heebie-jeebies. I'm not superstitious or anything, but when you're talking about the power of hell, you can't help but have at least a little trepidation about it.
Cain and Julie were in Hailey's room with her. I patrolled the halls. If the Order members showed, I'd scream. Not really in character. I never screamed. But I could certainly hit a high C-note, Mariah Carey style, if need be.
I tapped the toe of my stiletto on the tile floor as I leaned against the wall. Watching. Waiting.
The trap was set. Hailey was the bait. Cain and Julie, together, would subdue the assailants, and Hailey would be free to unleash her power against them. I wasn't supposed to fight the intruders if they showed. Not like I'd stand much of a chance against them. They weren't vampires. They were Order members-and I didn't have any real defense against their magic.
I was supposed to run-right into the room to lure them into Hailey's room and spring the trap. Since I could move faster than the rest of them, even faster than a vampire, it made sense. When I screamed or sang as I intended, Julie would summon her flambeaux, Cain would shift—not to kill the assailants but to defend the rest of us if need be. And if all went according to plan, Hailey would take them down so we could interrogate them and extract the information we needed to find Malinda.
That's where my skill set would come in. Sure, I'd never interrogated a human before, certainly not a witch of any sort. But the skills I'd learned interrogating vampires through the years were universal. With Julie's hellfire as a torture device and whatever vexes Hailey could cast, we had more than enough torment-inducing firepower at our disposal that I was confident I could make them talk.
I almost jumped out of my shoes with every sound. One of the patients sneezed in his room, and I thought my heart was going to fall into my stomach. It was the witching hour. If they were going to come, at least if they intended to use magic at all, they'd arrive any time.
There was a clock in the hallway. The second hand clicked its way around... and around... and around.
With about five minutes left, I'd nearly given up. But Cain made it clear-don't communicate with them until after the witching hour had passed.
Four minutes left.
Nothing.
Three. Two.
Then, with thirty seconds left, there was a flash of light at the end of the hall.
This time, only two figures appeared in their gold gowns.
But they just stood there at the end of the hall.
What the...
I followed through with the plan. I might have been a little overdramatic about it. I feigned a look of shock, staring at them wide-eyed for a moment and lifting both hands to either side of my cheeks as I released a high-pitched C-note of a scream.
Then, I ducked into Hailey's room as Julie summoned her flambeaux. Cain began to shift.
I peeked out the door. The two men in gold were still standing there.
Until the second hand made its way to the top of the clock.
Damnit. They knew what they were doing. They realized that Hailey couldn't cast any spells inside the asylum's wards after the witching hour was over.
But they couldn't either. So, there was that.
I ducked into the corner of the room as Cain stood there, fully wolfed out, breathing heavy.
A bright, red flame danced atop Julie's flambeaux.
Even if we didn't need to destroy their robes so Hailey could cast a spell, we stuck to the plan. The robes offered protection, generally. Since magic was off the table, it would probably fall to Cain and me to subdue them.
No sooner did the two golden-clad figures appear at the door and Julie unleashed a torrent of hellfire on them.
The heat coming off of her flambeaux was almost unbearable. I was afraid, being made of mostly water, that I'd turn to steam. Apparently, it wasn't quite as hot as it seemed.
As Julie's hellfire consumed the witch hunters' robes, the men inside them screamed.
Cain grunted. Julie took it as a cue that she'd done enough as the robes exploded in a release of golden-colored celestial power, filling the room with a haze.
Cain huffed and puffed because, well, he was a big bad wolf. He wasn't blowing any houses down, but it did clear the air.
And staring back at us, beneath the robes, were two familiar faces.
I stood there, my jaw dropped halfway to the floor.
"Devin?" I asked.
"P
auli, what the fuck?" Hailey asked.
Then they looked at each other and kissed each other directly on the lips.
The proverbial dagger went right through my heart.
Chapter thirty-one
"Come with us," Pauli said. "Only Hailey needs to come. No one else needs to get hurt."
"Fuck off, Pauli! You traitorous son of a bitch!" Hailey's red vampire eyes were aflame with fury. I was half worried she'd rip them apart. After all, she might not be able to cast magic in the asylum after the witching hour, but she was still a vampire.
Cain stood between them to ensure that didn't happen. Towering over both of them, he looked down at them and growled.
"Devin," I said, tears falling from my eyes. "How could you?"
Devin looked at Cain, smirked, raised his hand in the air, and snapped his fingers.
Cain whimpered and backed away.
"What the hell?" I asked.
Devin looked at me and lifted his hand again. What was he going to do? But before he could snap his fingers, a flash of multi-colored light appeared. Devin took a step back.
A rainbow-colored boa wrapped around Pauli, squeezing tight. "Get out of my body, bitch!"
"Pauli?" Hailey asked.
"Damn straight! You know the difference between this asshole and myself? I make this body look sexy!"
"You're not my Devin!" Debbie shouted, blasting out of her room and diving at whoever it was that looked like Devin. But the imposter lifted his hand, snapped his fingers again, and Debbie fell to the ground.
Then, looking at me, whoever it was that was wearing Devin's face shifted shape. I was in shock. What a roller coaster of emotions. Just minutes earlier I saw who I thought was Devin kiss Pauli. My heart was shattered. But it wasn't really Devin. Wasn't Pauli either. They were vampires. I could see it in their eyes. And I recognized one of them.
"You..." She stood there, smirking, glaring at me with her beady and red vampire eyes. Her long, straight hair fell below her shoulders. "You're the woman who made me shift into a vampire at my club."
"Ding, ding, ding," the woman said. "We have a fucking winner!"
Pauli, still wrapped around the other vampire, the one who'd taken his shape, disappeared, taking the vamp with him. Another ride of emotions carried me from momentary relief to worry. Then the fury bubbled up inside of me, like a cauldron of hellfire ready to explode. Where was the real Devin. If the vamps touched a hair on his head... if they harmed him in any way... if they turned him...
And now I was face-to-face with her. One of the two who were looking for Devin, hunting him and me. I wasn't sure what all that snapping shit was about. Whatever it was, it was almost like a kind of compulsion. I'd faced vampires with crazy, unique abilities before. When in doubt about what a vampire can do it's not worth the risk to wait and find out. I had to move fast.
As quick as lightning, I removed my shoe and charged the vampire. Just as I was about to stake her through the heart, she shifted into bat form and took off flying down the hall.
I followed suit. Shifting into a bat got easier every time I did it. I spread my wings and took off, pursuing her through the wards of the asylum. I had one advantage—I knew the place. She didn't. She turned, flying through one of the wards that dead-ended at the end of the hall.
I had her. Until she turned and, clicking her toes together, I lost control and crashed into the wall.
I shrieked as I fell to the ground. By the time I got back into the air, she was gone.
I shifted again into my human shape. Forget Naked and Afraid. I was naked and pissed. I rose from the floor to my knees. Where was Devin? What had the vampires done to him? Did Pauli know something. I clenched my fists and screamed. I felt a touch. Cain, back in human form, rested his hand on my back. I turned and saw Julie, no longer wielding her flambeaux, followed by Hailey and Debbie as they made their way down the hall toward me.
I shook my head. "The bitch got away. Vampires never get away from me."
"I think Pauli might have caught one of them," Cain said. "We just have to figure out where he teleported the prisoner."
A loud banging sound echoed through the halls. We all took off after it. It was coming from inside one of the rooms.
Cain reached and, pulling the handle, quickly slid into the room and pulled the door behind him.
"I told you I'd get away from you! Now you're my bitch, you silly bat!"
I looked at Hailey. "He really does like the word 'bitch' doesn't he?"
Hailey shook her head. "If I had a dollar for every time Pauli called someone that, I'd be a millionaire."
"Nice one, doc!" Pauli said, his voice still muffled by the door.
Cain opened the door. "I've given him a sedative. He's back in his natural form. We should have about thirty minutes to secure him before he wakes."
I cocked my head. "You have a sedative that works on vampires?"
"Mostly garlic juice, actually," Cain said. "It's a shock to the system. He'll be in some kind of mood, though, once he's up."
"Oh my God!" Debbie said, peering between Cain and me. "That's him! The vampire who bit me!"
I put my arm around Devin's mom. "Are you certain!"
"Absolutely! He's the one. I could never forget his face. And something inside of me... it was like I felt him coming."
"Because he's your sire," Hailey said. "My sire was eliminated moments after he bit me, so I've never felt it myself. But it's common for younglings and their sires to have a connection like that."
"We can't let him get away," I said, grabbing the vampire and throwing him on a gurney, like the one they'd put Debbie on when we first unstaked her. Cain and I quickly strapped him down. Worst case scenario, if things got out of hand, I'd stake his ass. Well, not literally. I'd stake his heart. Giving the bloodsucker pleasure was the farthest thing from my mind.
"Pauli," I said. "What is going on here?"
"They have Devin," Pauli said. "They got both of us the other night when we were on the quarter. But they couldn't keep me contained for long. Once the drug they'd given me wore off, and that stupid bitch who commands people with a snap of her fingers left, I got out of there."
"Where is Devin?" I asked. "Why didn't you take him with you."
Pauli shook his head. He was standing there, completely naked. This time, I wasn't at all distracted by it. I was too worried about Devin to even think about it. "He refused to come. This one, here, the one the other vamp called Lazarus, was Debbie's sire."
"A sire can eliminate their youngling without so much as a stake," Hailey said. "If the vampire knows what he's doing, anyway. And this one, I think, has been around a while."
I nodded. "I think he must be one of those that had been staked in the Order's catacombs."
"He's nightwalker," Hailey said. "Both of them are. At least they used to be. It seems they are still doing the Order's bidding."
Pauli nodded. "They are. The other one, Victoria, was a real ho."
"Not a bitch?" I asked.
Pauli shrugged. "Sure. I mean, obviously. But when she was there, I couldn't shift, I couldn't teleport. She'd just snap those bitchy fingers, and I'd end up doing whatever she wanted. She'd already forced Devin to cast some spell on them. After that, they were able to shapeshift into whatever the hell they wanted."
"But once she was gone, you regained your abilities?" I asked.
Pauli nodded. "I figured it out. It's the sound of the snap that does it. If you can't hear her snap, she can't control you."
"And you just happened to have earplugs on you?" Hailey asked.
"No," Pauli said. "But I had a couple condoms. Wadded up some latex and plugged my ears."
"Gross," I said, chuckling.
"You're telling me," Pauli said. "I've had spermicide in many of my orifices. This was the first time it's been in my ears."
I rolled my eyes. "Do you know where they have Devin?"
Pauli nodded. "I do. But we can't waken this vamp. We need to stake him.
Otherwise, he'll kill Debbie the second he realizes he's been captured."
"Then staking him isn't enough," I said.
"We don't eliminate vampires in this asylum," Cain said.
"Fuck that," I snapped. "I won't allow this vampire to hurt Devin's mom."
"Cain," Hailey said. "I know you have your policies. But Nicky is right."
"Julie," I said. "Can you burn out his heart with hellfire?"
Julie nodded. "I can. But Cain, unless you want to shift again."
Cain took a deep breath. "If we kill this vampire, we might also lose an important asset needed to get Malinda and Devin back."
"It's okay," Debbie said. "I will not have you protect me while my son is still in danger. If this vampire can help you get him back, you need to interrogate him. If he kills me, so be it."
"Debbie, if we let you die, Devin will never forgive me. You don't deserve to die."
"Nicky," Debbie said. "Devin is my son. I'd give anything to help ensure his safety. Even if it means..."
Cain shook his head. "We don't eliminate vampires here. But I also won't allow anyone to harm one of my patients. Push comes to shove, protecting my patients is the priority. Julie, Nicky, take care of it."
"No!" Debbie shouted. "Let me die! I'm damned already. Save my son!"
I grabbed Debbie's hand. "Do you trust me, Debbie?"
"I don't... I mean, I do, but..."
"I promise you, I'll get Devin back. We're hunting vampires now. This is what I do."
"Like I said," Pauli added. "I know where Devin and Malinda are being held. If we move fast, before Victoria can move them, we won't need Lazarus."
"Lazarus," I said. "What an ironic name for a vampire."
Cain nodded. "Let's just hope, after we do this, he doesn't find some other way to come back from the dead."
"He won't," Julie said. "Not after my hellfire consumes his heart."
"Cain," I said. "I need a knife to expose his heart. Before he awakens."
Cain nodded and left the room. He returned a minute later with a scalpel. "Do it fast. Like Pauli said, we can't waste any time."
"We might have even less time than you think," Pauli said. "There's a third one. Not a vampire, like the other two. She was the one in charge."
Bat Shift Crazy: An Ex-Shifter turned Vampire Hunter Urban Fantasy (The Legend of Nyx Book 2) Page 17