Vampires and Vanishings

by Lily Webb

  “I’m sorry, under normal circumstances I would have, but like I said, this is urgent.” A beat of silence passed, and the vampire lifted the underside of his wrist to his mouth to mutter something into what I could only guess was a microphone. He stared at me while he waited for a response, then nodded to his fellows, who vanished.

  “You may come with me, but the gargoyles must stay outside by the president’s orders,” he said. Obax rustled her wings, but didn’t protest — she probably knew better.

  “It’s okay, I won’t be long. Here, hold this for me,” I said and passed Obax my broomstick, which in her massive, clawed hands looked like a toothpick.

  The vampire walked me up the drive toward the entrance’s grand marble staircase, framed by the castle’s spires that reached into the sky behind it. Lighting disguised among the flowerbeds under the mansion’s ten lower windows beamed up and bathed the building in a warm, yellow glow, revealing an exterior as white as the moon. Four pillars capped by ornamental designs held an overhang in place and gave a massive chandelier somewhere to swing from. Light bounced off its crystals and danced across the marble floor beneath my feet as I ascended the staircase. If it weren’t for the pointed towers that jutted up into the clouds behind the mansion, I would’ve sworn I was walking into the White House, and I doubted that was on accident. Even if the residents of Moon Grove knew nothing else about the human world, they had to know what the White House looked like.

  “You must be important to have a direct line to the president. What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Emile,” he said. “I’m the head of the president’s security team.”

  “Nice to meet you, Emile. Thanks for working with me on such short notice.”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he swung the door open for me and gestured for me to step inside. I nearly gasped when I entered. I’d seen nothing as over-the-top as the foyer of the mansion. A massive staircase that dwarfed even the stunning one outside dominated the room and a series of chandeliers, each of which probably cost more than my yearly salary, dangled precariously from the ceiling on wire strings like trapeze artists.

  “This way,” Emile said and set off toward the staircase. I followed in silence, marveling at the plush carpet that striped the stairs and the carved marble columns that lined them on either side. At the top, we took a sharp left onto a narrow landing that wrapped back toward and beyond the entrance. The hallway continued for what seemed like forever until at last we emerged in a round room marked only by a door on the far side. On the wall opposite it hung an old painting of a vampire standing in crimson robes with one hand resting on the back of a chair, his legs crossed. The curls of the powdered white wig he wore tumbled down his shoulders, making him look like an undead George Washington. It was an odd decoration, to say the least, but I wondered if the vampire was someone important in their history.

  “Wait here,” Emile ordered and disappeared through the door in a dizzyingly fast motion. Unsure of what else to do, I stood with my hands in my pockets. Though he’d permitted me to enter the mansion, there was no guarantee that Julien would see me, and assuming he did, there was also no guarantee he’d give me any information. All I could do was try.

  The door cracked open and I glanced up to find Christian Beaumont standing inside. He blanched at the sight of me, but recovered quickly with a smile. “Oh, hey, Councilwoman. Fancy meeting you here, right?” He laughed nervously and jabbed his hands into his pockets.

  “Yeah, small world,” I agreed, but I still hadn’t expected to run into him here. Though I tried to convince myself it wasn’t out of the ordinary — Christian was a journalist and Julien was an important person in power so interviewing him made sense — something about Christian’s presence bothered me.

  “Anyway, I don’t want to keep you from Julien. Lilith knows I’ve talked his ear off tonight. See you later,” he said and left before I could reply.

  Emile waved me forward from inside the office, so I entered and turned the corner to find Julian sitting on a leather sofa positioned under the many windows on the opposite side of the room. He wore a plain black suit like his security, complemented by a deep red tie that made his bloody eyes pop. He looked, well, presidential. If nothing else, he played the part well.

  He crossed one leg over the other and rested his clasped hands on one knee. “Councilwoman Clarke, this is an unexpected but no less welcome surprise. To what do I owe the honor?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Emile. “I’d like to speak to the president alone, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  Julien nodded to Emile, who left without protest. After the door clicked shut behind him, I crossed the room and sat down in a leather chair next to the sofa. “I’m sorry for the unannounced visit, but I wasn’t sure you would see me if I asked.”

  Julien raised his eyebrows at me. “Why would you think that? My door is always open for fellow representatives, especially the Head Witch.”

  “Thanks, good to know.”

  “Emile said you had something urgent to discuss. Has something happened?” I wasn’t sure if I believed that he hadn’t already heard about Blaine’s disappearance — or that he had no involvement in it — but I kept that to myself. If he could play dumb, so could I.

  “Yes, actually. Another council member is missing, and the gargoyle assigned to guard him is dead,” I said, watching his face for any reaction. Unlucky for me, he had a game face that could make the best poker player jealous. It didn’t shift at all, betraying nothing.

  “Who?”

  “Blaine Rathmore,” I said, and though it was slight, I noticed a tiny twitch under Julien’s left eye. It was hard to miss thanks to the otherwise blank expression on his face.

  He shifted in his seat and leaned closer to me. “That’s horrible, and even worse timing given Councilwoman Bloodworth’s vanishing.”

  “Agreed. That’s part of the reason I didn’t call to request a meeting with you. The fewer people who know about this latest incident, the better. Anyway, I came to you as president of the vampires to ask for your help to figure out who’s behind these disappearances.”

  “For you? I’d do anything. Just say the word.”

  I paused to consider where to go next. If I pushed too hard, he’d withdraw and I’d have better luck getting blood from a stone than getting information out of him; but if I didn’t push at all, I would’ve risked Heath’s wrath for nothing.

  “I know this will be hard to hear, so I apologize in advance, but the truth is that I can’t help thinking you’re tied to both cases.”

  Julien’s eyes flashed and his previously vacant expression darkened. “Why in Lilith’s name would you say that?”

  “Did you forget about the way you burst into the town hall and demanded the Council vote to expand itself? Since then, the vote has been postponed because two council members — neither of whom were guaranteed to vote yes — are missing, and a gargoyle guard is dead. You have to admit that looks more than a little suspicious.”

  “Councilwoman Clarke, with all due respect, I find this accusation offensive. As the first ever president of the vampires, I can’t think of a single way that helping make two council members vanish would benefit me, politically or otherwise. Them disappearing hurts me and my cause. We can’t very well vote on anything if all the members aren’t present, which, by the way, is yet another reason we need more members.”

  “But that isn’t historically accurate. The Head Witch and Warlock have passed things without the consent of the entire Council before, it’s not unheard of.”

  Julien’s brows raised. “You know your history. I’m impressed.”

  “I’m Head Witch, I have to know it,” I said and silently thanked Lilith for sending my friends to me. I wouldn’t know squat about this town if it weren’t for them. “Anyway, that reminds me: why are you so interested in expanding the Council?”

  Julien straightened his suit jacket and regained his composure. “Because we need it. The Counci
l isn’t working for everyone in Moon Grove, and it hasn’t for a long time. It’s hard to concern yourself with the problems of communities you aren’t part of.”

  “Speaking of, you aren’t from Moon Grove, are you?” No one had told me so, but it was easy to figure out. Julien didn’t have a French accent like the other vampires in town, and Sam said Julien came out of nowhere — and Marcel backed it up — so if Julien didn’t climb the ranks in Moon Grove, where did he do it? And who or what brought him here after all this time?

  He glared at me, his bloody eyes like hot coals as they raked me. “No, I’m not. Since becoming a vampire, I’ve lived in a small magical community in Florida called Fort Fang. It’s inhabited almost exclusively by vampires, but there’s a small community of werewolves and shifters there too.”

  Yet another community I’d never heard of; it seemed like every day the magical realm I’d previously known nothing about grew larger. How did all these places manage to keep themselves hidden from humans? Even as the Head Witch of Moon Grove, it boggled me.

  “With all that sunshine, Florida seems like an odd place for vampires to settle.”

  Julien chuckled. “Yes, well, we make do.”

  “So what brought you here?”

  “Ambition,” he said, and the tips of his fangs brushed his lower lip as a smile spread across his face. “When I heard from an old friend that Valentine Delacroix, the last king of the vampires in Moon Grove, had gotten locked up, I saw an opportunity. So, I moved here and quietly started working behind the scenes to boost my profile.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Oh, not much less than you. It’s interesting how our paths to power seem to mirror each other, isn’t it?”

  I hadn’t thought about it that way, but he was right. Still, it bothered me that he’d been in Moon Grove for nearly as long as I had but had somehow flown under the radar — until now.

  “Who is this old friend who told you about Valentine?”

  “Lucien Bellerose,” he said, which shocked me, though it probably shouldn’t have.

  Lucien was one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in Moon Grove, due in no small part to all the real estate he owned in town. I’d spoken to him as a suspect months ago during my investigation into a dead reporter that ultimately led to Valentine the vampire king’s downfall, but I never would have guessed that Lucien had contacts as far south as Florida. Then again, given his age and wealth of knowledge, it made sense. He probably hadn’t lived in Moon Grove for all the hundreds of years he’d been alive.

  “Wow, he’s more influential than I thought.”

  Julien nodded. “Yes, he’s quite plugged in to vampire politics all around the country.”

  “So did he ask you to come and run for president on his behalf?”

  “Not exactly. He told me he’d heard rumors among the vampire community in town that they were embarrassed by the actions of their prior king and were ready for something different. Given my relatively young age for a vampire and my outsider’s perspective, he thought I could fill that role, so Lucien and I worked together to make it happen, and before we knew it, the vampires had voted to throw out their monarchy in favor of a democratically elected president: yours truly.”

  “But it’s not much of a democratic process when you run unopposed.”

  Julien sneered. “It’s not my fault no one saw themselves fit to challenge me. It wasn’t like I tried to stop them.”

  So he didn’t deny having no opponent. I didn’t believe for a second he or Lucien hadn’t put their fingers on the scales to guarantee that, but I had no proof. “Maybe not, but I’m sure it didn’t disappoint you either.”

  “No, I can’t say that it did. I’m sure you would’ve felt the same in my shoes.”

  “Given my grueling election, yeah, probably.”

  Julien’s smile returned. “We aren’t so different, you and I. We’re two sides of the same coin, really, molded and powered by ambition.”

  “That’s where we disagree. I earned my position.”

  “So did I. Running unopposed doesn’t negate all the hard work I put into building my reputation and connections.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Is that why you were speaking with Christian tonight?”

  Julien nodded, unfazed. “What choice do I have other than the Messenger to get my name and message out to Moon Grove at large? Lilith knows Grave Times hasn’t done me any favors.”

  As much as I wanted to pry into why the vampire-owned magazine hadn’t backed one of their own, I didn’t have time to ask. If Heath hadn’t already started getting nervous about how long I’d been gone, he would soon — and he wouldn’t hesitate to send gargoyles looking for me.

  “What did Christian want to talk to you about?”

  “Oh, he’s writing a profile on my presidency,” Julien said, and I felt like a fist of ice had gripped my stomach. “He told me he’d also recently interviewed you and didn’t think it would be fair to run a piece about one of the two important new leaders in town without also covering the other.”

  I kept my face as stony as possible. “Sounds like a good reporter to me.”

  “And you of all people should know what makes one,” Julien said, his eyes twinkling. “He’s a strange young warlock, isn’t he?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe that’s just because he came from another community.”

  “Maybe you’re right. Anyway, he also told me he’d seen Councilwoman Bloodworth the morning she went missing. In fact, he’d interviewed her beforehand, and he seemed rather upset that he hadn’t been able to do anything to keep her from vanishing.”

  Like a movie projector, my mind reeled back to the day of the council meeting when Dawn’s husband had burst into the town hall and told Heath and I that he didn’t know where his wife was. Christian was there, seated right next to Marcel in the front row, but he’d never mentioned to me or any of the council members he’d seen Dawn before she vanished, despite already having a personal connection to me. Why? Was he scared he might be implicated if he did? As a new reporter fresh out of school, I wouldn’t have blamed him, but it was still the right thing to do.

  A knock at the door tore me out of my thoughts, and Emile’s buzzed head poked inside. “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but the Councilwoman’s gargoyles are insisting to see her.”

  “We’re having an important conversation, surely they can wait until—”

  “No, it’s fine, I need to get going,” I interrupted as I stood from the chair and straightened my robes. I could’ve sat talking with Julien for hours, but the longer I kept Obax and Vaxis waiting, the more ornery they would get, and I couldn’t risk one of them flying back to the town hall to rat me out to Heath. Besides, I’d gotten what I came for from Julien — and then some.

  I offered Julien a hand, which he rose to shake gingerly. I hadn’t realized how tall he was until he stood towering over me. I looked up into his bloody eyes and kept my face as firm as possible. “Thank you for speaking with me, President Delroy. I appreciate it.”

  “Please, Councilwoman, the pleasure is all mine. I’ll be in touch if I hear anything further. In the meantime, if there’s anything I can do — anything at all — to help you find your missing colleagues, don’t hesitate to ask. Vampires, witches, it makes no difference. We’re all in this together.”

  “Agreed,” I said, and turned to follow Emile out into the hallway.

  The door swished shut behind me, and as we marched toward the staircase, my mind seemed to move twenty times faster than my feet. Why hadn’t Christian told me he’d seen and spoken to Dawn? And what in Lilith’s name did he interview her about? My best guess was that it was the upcoming vote Julien had forced us to take, which made me wonder what Dawn might’ve told him. Had she laid all her cards on the table, or had she kept her hand close to her chest?

  As a politician, I knew I could demand he tell me or face legal consequences, but as a journalist, the idea nagged at me. How could I pressur
e a reporter to tell me what he’d spoken about with another council member — information that might have been given off-the-record?

  And Christian was at the self-defense course too. I hadn’t seen him leave, but I’d been camped out in my office when Blaine called for a break — and Christian wasn’t there when I came back out on the town hall’s lawn. Could he have seen something about Blaine and chosen not to speak up again? Or was I reaching?

  I didn’t have time to think it through. While I was lost in my thoughts, Emile and I had worked our way back outside to the drive where Obax and Vaxis stood waiting with their arms crossed and angry looks on their faces. I’d lost all track of time since entering the mansion, so I had no idea how long I’d been inside, but immediately my mind jumped to how I’d explain the lengthy absence to Heath once we got back to the town hall…

  … And how I could convince him to let me speak to Christian.

  Chapter Eleven

  The wind roared in my ears as we hurtled through the night sky toward the town hall, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from the thoughts ricocheting off the walls of my mind like kids in a moon bounce.

  I knew Heath would be angry with me once he found out I’d lied to him and gone to visit Julien Delroy — and he would, thanks to Obax and Vaxis — but I hoped he’d understand why once I told him what I’d learned from Julien.

  When we reached the building, we descended without speaking and the gargoyles stormed off toward the door disgusted with me. They hadn’t said a word to that effect during the flight back, but I wasn’t sure if that was because they were angry or silently plotting all the ways they’d spin the story to Heath to absolve themselves of guilt. They had nothing to worry about, though; going to the president’s mansion was all my idea and I’d fall on my wand to keep them out of trouble.

  Obax said something in the beastly sounding gargoyle language to the guards inside to let them know we’d returned. The doors creaked open and a beam of light from inside sliced through the night. “Inside, Councilwoman. Now,” Obax barked.