Victoria sat in the kitchen, nursing a wine glass of blood. She stared at her list, a password-protected note file on her phone. Most items were already taken care of, but confusion and awe still swam in her mind.
She worked with Kevin many times, but his powers had grown. Did she even need to worry about being away from home with a witch at her side?
She hadn’t even packed a bag yet.
The wall separating the kitchen from the dining hall was missing. In its place was a large portal, taking up almost the entire space. Kevin moved about his workshop in New Zealand, with Victoria able to see everything he was doing. He browsed through shelves, gathered a few vials. The portal gave the illusion of one large continuous space. It was an odd sight, but Kevin worked as if it were normal. Breaking natural laws, wielding the forces of magic, it was all normal to him.
“Are you almost done?” Victoria called.
“Yeah. Just getting a few more things together.”
Victoria looked at the photo again, the one they’d taken from Tavers’ chamber. It was the only clue they had, but told them nothing. She studied the vampire restrained in the chair. His expression was dark, full of rage. Had he been newly turned? Was he starving, near bloodlust?
“Hey, Victoria?” It was Zoey, calling from another room. “Are you in the kitchen?”
“Yeah.”
Footsteps. Victoria could see Zoey approaching in her mind. Leaving from the basement, wearing flip-flops. She almost knocked over a vase in the hallway. Always improving, willing to learn, a wonderful student. But still clumsy. Victoria turned the photo over. She hadn’t shown it to Zoey. There was no need.
“Hey,” Zoey said, entering the kitchen. “Can we talk for a … whoa.”
Zoey caught sight of the portal. Kevin waved and smiled, returning to his shelves. Victoria and Zoey felt the same wonder, but Zoey didn’t hide it so well.
“Holy shit,” she said. “That always freaks me out.”
“I haven’t got used to it yet, myself.”
“Where is he now?”
“Hey,” Kevin said, laughing. “I can hear you, you know. I’m right here.”
“His new play-house,” Victoria said. “What’s up? Is everything okay?”
Zoey sighed. She cast one last glance at the portal before sitting at the table across from Victoria. She folded her arms and leaned forward. Whatever was going on, Victoria knew it was serious. She took another sip of blood before giving Zoey her attention.
“Are you getting ready to leave?” Zoey asked.
“Just about. There’s a few more things I have to do. Kevin, too. I have to make sure blood gets delivered here. I know you like the Vermilion, but you can’t drink out every night.”
“Well, maybe it won’t be a problem. I’m hoping you’ll take me with you.”
Victoria let the question hang out there a moment. There was only one right answer.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Zoey.”
“Please. This last trip, it was rough. I know it sounds pathetic, but I was lonely. I’m not sure I can do that again.”
Victoria tried not to smile.
“You mean you can’t stay in this luxurious, spacious mansion?”
“Locked away half the day, with no one to talk to? It’s rougher than it sounds. This could be a learning experience for me. Watching you do your thing.”
She turned over the photo and slid it across the table. What color was left in Zoey’s cheeks vanished as she picked it up.
“This is my thing. Someone out there is doing something bad. Maybe using magic. We found this in the den of a human involved in trafficking.”
“Trafficking? People?”
“Well, not Volkswagens.”
The resolve hadn’t left Zoey’s eyes.
“I won’t be stupid and say I can help. I probably can’t. But I promise, I’ll stay out of your way. Do you remember when Kevin was in trouble? Jack sent me to help. I’m not completely useless.”
“I didn’t say you were. But Zoey, I don’t know what we’re getting into.”
“I won’t be a burden.”
“It’s not that.” She took the picture and held it up. “This is our only lead. Kevin is going to take this, and make a portal. We don’t even know where this portal will take us. It might lead right into a sunlight-filled dungeon.”
“I’ll bring an umbrella.”
“Zoey—”
“Victoria, I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done for me. I’d be dead five times by now if not for you. But I won’t become a better vampire … a better person, by hiding away all the time.”
She let out a sigh.
“This is important to you?”
“Yeah.”
There were so many reasons Zoey’s request was a bad one. It’d be impossible to count them all. The goal was to protect Zoey, not lead her into possible danger. There was her own safety to consider, and Kevin’s. Her mental health was also an issue. Victoria had seen things that would haunt her dreams forever, and didn’t want that so early in life for Zoey.
But there was such a thing as overprotection. Where did she draw the line?
“Go pack a bag,” Victoria said, already feeling doubt nibble at the back of her neck. “Pack light. Maybe a day for starters.”
“Pack? We’re not coming back? Even though Kevin can make portals?”
“Like I said, I don’t know what happens next. Maybe we stay there.”
Zoey jumped to her feet.
“Okay. I’ll go right now.”
She nearly ran from the kitchen. Victoria finished her blood and set her glass in the sink. Kevin approached, stepping through the portal and closing it behind him. He slipped out of his coat and let it float near the wall. She shook her head, almost afraid to ask what else it could do.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She felt guilty for not consulting with Kevin. He was a partner, an equal. He was always content to let Victoria lead, but she should have asked for his input.
“Zoey is coming with us.”
Kevin nodded, as easy-going as always.
“Cool.”
“How does Leese feel? Is she okay with you working with me?”
“She was upset at first. She probably still is. But she came around, just told me to be extra careful.”
She watched him as he went to the refrigerator to retrieve a soda. He’d been quiet the past few days, distant.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Sure. Just, you know, focusing on getting ready, magic, all that fun stuff.”
She tapped her fingers on the table.
“Kevin.”
He sighed, his back to her. She smiled as he shook his head, irritated that she read him so easily. He turned and leaned against the counter.
“Jack pisses me off.”
“Just recently? Or ever since you first met him?”
He didn’t laugh at her joke.
“Why does he have to be an asshole all the time?”
“You’ve only known him a few years. Try a few centuries.”
“He called me a coward,” he said, his voice trembling with anger. “A fucking coward. He doesn’t talk to Zoey like that. Or Alex.”
“He only says these things because he cares. He missed you.”
Kevin finally laughed.
“You’re crazy, Victoria.”
She let it drop. Rising to her feet, she crossed the kitchen and grabbed Kevin by the shoulders. He had trouble meeting her eyes.
“You’re many things, but a coward isn’t one of them. I know it’s easy to say, but don’t let Jack get to you.”
“I’m working on it.”
Victoria heard footsteps in the distance. Zoey was pulling a bag behind her. The left wheel was squeaky. She stepped back into the kitchen, her excitement barely under control.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she announced.
“A bag?” Kevin said.
“Are we staying overnight?”
“I have no idea,” Victoria said, shrugging. “It all depends on what we find here.” She held up the photo.
Kevin took a deep breath as he took it from her.
“Just so you know,” he said. “If this place doesn’t exist anymore, there isn’t a wall or a surface for a portal to latch on to, this photo just disappears. Our case is over before it even starts.”
“You’re just always so positive,” Victoria said.
Zoey laughed.
“Okay, Zoey,” Kevin said. “Stand to the side, out of sight. It’s night here, but could be morning there. I don’t want sun scorching you.”
She smiled and nodded, appreciating his concern. Zoey took up a position near the kitchen doorway, far from Kevin’s portal site. He pulled a potion from his coat.
“Here we go.”
He was slow, apprehensive, as he drew on the wall. Victoria understood his hesitance. She was asking him to create a doorway to what was possibly a murder scene. He kept the portal small, only big enough to reach a hand through.
Kevin placed the photo on the wall, and it vanished.
No sunlight poured into Victoria’s kitchen. Only cold air, and a musty smell, greeted them. Kevin peered through, arching his neck at all angles to see.
“It looks safe,” Kevin said, stepping aside. “But I can’t tell where this is. Victoria?”
She approached the porthole-sized gateway and inhaled. There was moonlight coming from somewhere she couldn’t see. She smelled steel, rust. Old, soiled clothes. She heard rats, scurrying not far away.
“Okay,” Victoria said, satisfied Zoey would be fine. “Let’s take a look.”
Kevin widened the portal with his palm. The motion disturbed the rats. They squeaked and scattered in the darkness.
“What is that I’m hearing?” Zoey asked.
“Uh.” Victoria couldn’t think of a soothing lie. “Rodents. Rats.”
Zoey hesitated, staring at the mouth of the portal separating Victoria’s kitchen from the dark unknown.
“Still want to come?”
“Yes,” Zoey said. “But, is it okay if I leave my bag here?”
Victoria laughed and nodded.
She stepped through first, with the witch and young vampire trailing behind. There was a broken desk in the corner. An overturned file cabinet blocked a doorway leading out. The door held to the frame only by a single hinge. There were shattered picture frames on the carpet. A quick burst of headlights lit up the room as a car passed beyond them.
“What is this?” Zoey asked. “An office?”
Victoria walked around the desk to the doorway. There were old washing machines and dryers, which hadn’t seen life in years. Discarded clothes littered the floor. Graffiti graced the walls, and there were scorch marks from an old fire.
“It looks like an old laundromat.”
Zoey squealed as something ran over her foot.
“Old is right.”
Victoria turned back to the office and studied carefully. There were two metal anchors in the wall, where she was certain a chair was secured at one time. There was no blood on the floor, nor the scent in the air. Ruts in the carpet suggested the chair sat in one spot for a while.
“So, that picture,” Zoey said. “It leads here?”
“Yeah,” Kevin said, glancing at Victoria. “What do you think? Can you hear anything? Smell anything?” He looked at Zoey. “Either of you?”
“It smells disgusting,” Zoey said.
Victoria agreed. Besides the anchors, nothing jumped out about the scene that suggested a next step. There was no trail of blood, no corpse. There wasn’t even a pile of ash.
“That email was sent weeks ago. Whatever happened here is long done.”
Kevin frowned as he stepped from the office into the open.
“Probably. But let’s just see.”
He opened another portal to his workshop. Zoey stepped around shattered glass to join Victoria. The two vampires watched Kevin move from the dark, dank laundromat to his well-lit storage room. He grabbed a single potion from his shelves, along with an old video camera.
“He’s useful to have around,” Zoey said.
“Yeah. It’s a good thing I didn’t kill him.”
“You … tried to kill Kevin?”
“I did. When we first met.”
“Holy shit. What happened?”
She smiled at the memory.
“He almost killed me instead.”
He rejoined them, rubbing his thumb over the viewfinder of the camera. Zoey watched with confusion. He waved the camera about, as if he were filming.
“What are you doing?” Zoey asked.
“Looking into the past.”
“You … what?!”
“Just six hours,” he said, as if that wasn’t impressive. “I can’t go back any further than that.”
Victoria and Zoey both moved behind Kevin, peering over his shoulder. As amazing as it was to peer back in time, his magical camera offered nothing new. Six hours ago, the laundromat did not differ from the present, except for the sun being high in the sky.
“It was worth a shot,” Kevin said.
“What do we do now?” Zoey asked.
Victoria said nothing. She offered no course of action, simply enjoying watching Kevin work. It was Zoey who had another idea.
“Oh!” she said. “Kevin! How about that phone trick you did for me? When you helped me find that vampire.”
“I thought about that,” he said. “I don’t think it will work.”
“Why not?”
“Because the picture has to have some emotion, something behind it. Taking a picture of a raging vampire, chained to a wall, I just don’t think that’s enough.” He moved to his workshop once again. “But, it can’t hurt to try.”
He printed another copy of the photo from Tavers’ email. Victoria was truly impressed with his workshop. He seemed to have something of everything. He gathered more magic. A potion and a baking sheet. He filled the baking sheet with water from a tiny refrigerator.
After crossing back to the laundromat, he set everything on a nearby cart.
“Okay. Let’s see if this does it.”
He set the picture on the sheet and pressed his finger to the water.
Nothing happened.
“Damn,” he said. “Like I thought. Just not enough emotion. Or … the guy is dead.”
“Sorry,” Zoey said.
“Don’t be,” Kevin said. “It was a good idea.”
Victoria smiled as she regarded the two of them. They made an excellent team. She never thought she’d be involved in an investigation with two supernatural creatures not yet old enough to legally drink.
Zoey shrugged her shoulders.
“So, what now?”
Victoria laughed.
“First, we figure out where the hell we are. Let’s go.”
The three of them moved toward the front. Several windows were cracked, with web-like strands running through the glass. Pushing open the unlocked door, she took in the sights and scents around her.
The street wasn’t very busy. A couple passing by gave them an odd look as they emerged from the rundown former business. A car idling at the end of the block direly needed a tune-up. The sun had set, but recently. They were possibly on the west coast. Thick clouds moved overhead, threatening rain. She could smell the moisture in the air.
Her eye caught a newspaper vending machine not far away. She approached, but Kevin already had his phone out.
“It looks like we’re in Washington,” he said. “Sumerset, Washington.”
“Really?” Zoey said. “I’ve never been to Washington.”
“Me, neither.” Even wearing his coat, Kevin folded his arms. “It’s cold.”
Victoria followed Kevin’s lead, bypassing the newspaper and pulling out her own phone.
“We need a car. There’s a rental place two blocks away. We’ll find a hotel.”
&nb
sp; “A hotel?” Zoey said. “We’re staying here?”
“You can leave anytime you want.”
“No, that’s not what I … ” She touched Kevin’s arm. “We have him. Why don’t we just stay at your house?”
The thought was a tempting one. Having the convenience of magic at her side was new to Victoria. But there was a process, and too many shortcuts might ruin centuries of habits Victoria had developed.
“No,” she said. “We need to be here. Experience this place, see it with our own eyes.”
“Sleep in its nasty hotels,” Zoey muttered.
Kevin stifled a laugh.
It didn’t take long to reach the car rental business. They just made it before closing. The crew working inside were winding down, straightening up the office and joking around, when Victoria pushed open the doors. The lobby was nothing but frowns and moans of frustration at first. That attitude changed when Victoria flashed her smile. The next ten minutes were full of warm laughter and subtle flirting as Victoria took the lead.
Victoria used those minutes to gather information. What was the town like? How was the weather? Where was a good place to stay? A good place to eat? What was there to do for fun?
Zoey claimed the passenger’s side first. Kevin pushed her playfully as he climbed into the back of the rented Yaris. Zoey reclined her seat, invading Kevin’s space.
Victoria appreciated the antics. The time to get serious was approaching. But she had one last joke to contribute.
“You two behave,” she said. “Or I’ll turn this car around.”
“Okay, Mom,” Zoey said, then let out a thoughtful sigh as Victoria left the lot. “Do you think that’s what people think?”
“What?” Kevin said.
“Like those guys, back at the car place. What do they think we are? Like, are we brother and sister, and Victoria is our mother?”
“Whoa,” Victoria said. “There is no way I look like a mother. And you both look nothing alike. They probably think you’re dating.”
“Ooh, Kevin,” Zoey joked. “Let me come back there and sit on your lap.”
“Don’t make me pull out my mirror.”
“Why? What’s that?”
“It burns vampires.”
“You’re no fun.”
Victoria smiled, and reflected on the question. It was one she’d never entertained. What did mortals think of Jack and her when they came barging into their lives?
Damned and Cursed | Book 10 | Fallen Skye Page 16