“I thought cats could see color,” I said.
“We can,” Festus said, “but we can also tune in frequencies you can’t.”
“Okay,” I said, “so what did you see, and what do you mean by ‘mesmerizing?’”
Chase answered before his father could. “All the old stories say Strigoi can make themselves invisible,” he said, “but that’s not really how it works. They just cloud the minds of the people around them. The creatures you encountered this evening seem to be able to do that to the power of ten.”
The interruption annoyed me, and I let it show. “Suddenly you’re an expert on the Strigoi, too?” I asked, shooting him the arched eyebrow.
For people who know me, the arched eyebrow is a bad sign.
I’ll give Chase credit for not looking away, but a cautious veil fell over his eyes. “I’ve been doing some research, too,” he said.
A little voice in my head reminded me that it didn’t matter who had been doing the research so long as the information helped us. I took a deep breath and made an effort to sound more cordial. “Then by all means,” I said, “enlighten us.”
Chase told us he’d only returned from the Valley a few minutes before our encounter with the two girls Tori promptly christened “The Strigoi Sisters.”
“That makes them sound like bad back-up singers,” I said.
“They look like bad back-up singers,” Tori said, “and it’s easier to say than Seraphina and Ioana.”
“At any rate,” Chase said, grinning at Tori, “while you all were dealing with The Strigoi Sisters, I was in the shower. Dad was keeping an eye on the festival from the front window.”
Festus took up the story at that point. “I saw them throw that energy field around you,” he said, “and knew we had a situation on our paws.”
“What did the energy field look like?” I asked curiously.
“Just like a bubble,” Festus answered, “right down to the shimmering, oily colors on the surface. Thing is, no one else saw it. People who walked in your direction would get within a foot or two and then veer right or left and go around.”
Which was a good thing.
“Okay,” I said, “so how did you jump from ‘chicks in black blowing a big soap bubble’ to ‘the vampires are coming, the vampires are coming?’” I asked.
That’s an inside joke. Ever since we saw Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Tori and I have been imagining the same treatment for Gone with the Wind. Come on. Tell me you can’t see Scarlett driving a stake through a Yankee’s chest on the staircase?
Before Festus could answer me, Beau let out with an “Ah, ha!” He wheeled his desk chair around and regarded Festus with the air of an over-excited academic who had just discovered some hidden scroll. “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed. “They were not buried properly, were they?”
“Well, well, well,” Festus said. “Chalk one up for the warmed-over dead guy.”
“Would one of you please speak English?” I said.
“Beau has landed on the same theory we’ve come up with,” Chase said. “We think the girls are here because some necessary death rituals weren’t performed. We need to get to the Valley and talk to Moira about this as soon as possible to confirm that.”
Uh, no, Mister Man, we don’t.
“The only thing you need to do,” I said, in a low, even voice, “is talk to me.”
An uneasy silence fell over the room. I had just pulled rank on Chase McGregor for the first time.
Now, to be truthful, I wasn’t really sure what my “rank” was supposed to be, but from everything I knew so far, Chase was my bodyguard, not my boss — and I had seriously had enough with his “this is what we need to do” attitude.
Amidst all the anxiety radiating off the group, Festus caught my attention. I saw a gleam of admiration in his amber eyes. That was all the confirmation I needed. I was doing the right thing.
Festus may be a mouthy old scoundrel, but he’s not to be underestimated. He didn’t retire because he has a lame hip; he retired because he didn’t have my mother to protect anymore.
Well, Mom is back — and so is he. In a big way.
While Festus gave me encouragement, Chase shot me annoyed impatience, which is what I always get from him when he’s trying to tell me what to do, and I balk.
Whether he knew it or not, that dance was officially over.
The muscles in Chase’s jaw worked back and forth as he started to argue with me. Festus saw it, too, and decided to pull a little rank of his own.
“Answer her, boy,” he ordered.
Chase blinked at his father in shock. “Dad . . . ”
The protest died on his lips when Festus snapped, “Remember your place, Chase McGregor. She is a Daughter of Knasgowa, and I am chieftain of your clan. Answer her.”
Imagine the scene if you will. A scruffy yellow tomcat sitting beside a fireplace staring down a grown man. The image should teach you an important lesson. Power and authority have nothing to do with size.
In the end, Chase opened his iPad and started to speak, occasionally referring to what I guessed were notes on the screen. He did as he was told and answered me, but he didn’t like it.
We learned that all the Ionescus descend from a single human cursed to be Strigoi Viu, which Chase translated for us as the “undead living.” Technically, that makes them the “good” kind of Strigoi, especially since a kindly Romanian priest working with Benjamin Franklin, of all people, figured out how to feed them with electricity so they would never have to harm people again.
Both Tori and Beau began to take some notes of their own. At that point, Tori held up her hand to interrupt Chase. “So Father Damian and Ben Franklin figured out how to domesticate the good vampires and then they just dumped them around Briar Hollow?” she asked. “What’s up with that?”
Instead of answering her directly, Chase looked at me. “I saw you in the Valley,” he said. “You were talking to the Mother Oak, so I assume you know about the Grid now.”
The words “I saw you” carried the unmistakable tone of an accusation, which I did not like.
“Yes,” I said. “I know about the Grid.”
“You do?” Mom gasped.
Without taking my eyes off Chase, I said, “I’ll tell you about it later, Mom. What about the Grid, Chase?”
He just couldn’t help himself. He had to go there.
“Did you talk to anyone else in the Valley?” he asked.
And we have a winner, folks! Suspicions confirmed. Chase saw me with Lucas Grayson, thus the attitude.
My reaction to that?
Oh, hell no.
Thankfully, Festus followed the whole silent exchange and stepped in again before the sparks ignited into an open argument.
“I think I’ll take it from here, boy,” he said smoothly. “Finding out about the Grid and understanding it are two different things, Jinx.”
Festus rarely uses my name. At that moment he did it to get me to ignore his son, who was acting like a jealous idiot, and focus on what I was being told. It worked.
“Good point,” I said, ignoring Chase. “So help me understand.”
“The Grid is like a net of power overlaying the globe,” Festus said. “The points at which the Mother Trees are placed are called vortices.”
When he paused to make sure I was following, I nodded and said, “Go on.”
“The vortices form centers of power in the Fae world. At the time Damian and Franklin figured out how to feed the Strigoi, electricity was a novelty,” Festus said. “Their earliest feeding system relied on proximity to the local vortex to generate enough power to be effective.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “The Strigoi were placed in a location that would maximize their ability to stick to their feeding program and stay away from human prey.”
“Exactly,” Festus answered. “And that’s the part of all of this that doesn’t make any sense. The Ionescus have been here since the American Revolution. In all that
time, there hasn’t been a single report of one of them hurting a human. I think the problem here is Anton and not his people.”
Dad had been listening intently to the whole conversation. “Wait a minute,” he interrupted. “We’ve always known this was a personal revenge thing with Anton. What do the rest of his people have to do with this?”
“That,” Festus said, “is a little added complication. Anton might have cast the curse on Kelly originally, but because he’s the head of their clan, all of his people have to honor the curse. If he has decided that the truce is broken, all of the Ionescus are in on the hunt now.”
Great. I can’t just get one vampire. I have to get packs of them.
“If I may?” Beau said. “Am I to infer that you believe it possible the majority of the Ionescus are not in favor of pursuing this revenge?”
My ears perked up at that.
“That’s exactly what I’m inferring,” Festus said. “The Ionescus have a good thing going here. Why risk losing all that?”
Yeah, good argument, but I saw some major problems with the theory.
“If that’s the case,” I said, “what was with that group appearance tonight and what’s the deal with the Sisters not being buried the right way?”
“I think the Ionescus showed up en masse to reel in those two teenage vamps for being out of bounds,” Festus said. “If I’m right, those girls are just as big a problem for their family as they are for us.”
“What makes you think that?” I asked.
Festus inclined his head toward Chase. “Because unlike my boy here, I read the footnotes.”
In rare cases, it seems that a third kind of Strigoi can crop up. When a Strigoi Viu dies, no matter what the cause, they have to be . . . well, disposed of . . . and I’m not talking embalming.
If you don’t want a dead Strigoi Viu to rise as a super-charged Strigoi mort, the body has to be staked with silver and beheaded. Otherwise, they really do rise from the dead as the creatures most people call vampires. Once that happens, the only energy that can satisfy their hunger comes from warm, living blood.
Which explained everything except the source of the information Festus shared with us.
“Exactly what footnotes have you been reading?” I asked suspiciously.
Festus looked me in the eye and told me the truth. “At my request, Earl, Merle, and Furl worked up a dossier on the Strigoi.”
“And why would you have them do that?”
There’s one thing you need to know about Festus McGregor. He doesn’t flinch from the consequences of his actions.
“I lied to you about what happened the night Ferguson died,” he said.
“What did you leave out?”
“Ferguson was able to say one word to me before he died,” Festus answered. “He said, ‘Ionescu.’”
17
Festus was certainly rocking the one-word bombshells. First I get vampires, and then I find out he — and by extension Chase — knew Ferguson and Ionescu were linked all along.
So. Not. Cool.
Trying really hard to control my temper, I said, “If this secrecy thing is a McGregor family trait, I don’t like it, Festus. When were you going to tell me about Ferguson’s dying words?”.
Still looking me straight in the eyes, Festus said, “I owe you an apology. I seriously underestimated your ability to deal with all of this. I should have told you what Ferguson said the night it happened.”
“Yes,” I said, “you should have.”
“On my honor,” he said, “I had no idea those two girls were alive in any form until I saw them walk up to you this evening. I would never have put any of you in that position if I had known.”
From the sofa, Mom spoke up in his defense. “Listen to him, honey,” she said. “Festus wouldn’t hurt us.” She paused and glanced at Dad, and then added, “He would never hurt me.”
There wasn’t much I could say to that with my father sitting right there. Or at least that’s what I thought until Dad voiced his support. “Festus would give his life for Kelly in a heartbeat,” he said. “There’s no way he knew Sally Beth and Jo Anne were alive.”
Truth be told, I didn’t need them to convince me. I didn’t think Festus would put us in danger either — and neither would Chase, at least not intentionally, but his pig-headed streak was starting to be a problem.
“I believe you, Festus,” I said. Then I looked at Chase. “But you should have told me regardless of what was going on between us personally. If I’m going to trust you to do your job around here, nothing like this can ever happen again. Understood?”
“Understood,” he said tightly.
“Good,” I said. “Now, let’s figure out . . . ”
Chase interrupted me. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but in the spirit of transparency, there are still a couple of things you don’t know.”
The spirit of transparency? Nasty nice was not going to cut it with me, but I was trying to keep the conversation on track.
“I’m listening,” I said.
“Anton Ionescu is Irenaeus Chesterfield’s lawyer.”
Un-freaking-believable.
“And?”
“I went to the Valley to ask Ironweed to start surveillance on the Ionescu compound,” he said.
And that, ladies and gents, officially qualified as enough.
“Tell me that you at least discussed that with Barnaby first,” I said.
“No,” he said. “I didn’t talk to Barnaby.”
Festus tried to step in and defend his son. “Jinx, in all fairness, that was my . . . ”
Too little. Too late.
I was already on my feet and pointing a finger at Chase. He must have expected me to hurl a bolt of energy in his direction because he flinched.
Silly man. I didn’t need magic to take him down a peg or two.
“You and I need to have a private conversation,” I said. “Come with me.”
With that, I turned on my heel and marched off into the stacks. I wasn’t about to look back. If Chase McGregor knew what was good for him, he’d follow me.
After a few seconds, I heard footsteps behind me. I kept walking until I knew there was no chance anyone in the lair could hear us and then I turned to face him.
We were standing in an open area where four sections of the archives converge. I hadn’t meant for the setting to look quite so much like a fight ring, but considering the tension between us, maybe that was apropos.
“With everything else that is going on in our world, Chase, I do not need a lone wolf werecat on my hands,” I snapped.
Yeah, I know. Mixed species metaphors. It was a heat of the moment thing.
“Jinx,” he began, “I just wanted to . . . “
I held up my hand. “Stop right there,” I said. “Festus is right. You work for me. I’ve let all this paternalistic, protective, misogynistic crap go on for too long. I might have been in over my head at the start of the summer, and I appreciate everything you did to help me adjust, but those days are long gone. You either start treating me as an equal in all this stuff we get into or get out of my way. Your pick.”
The red flush creeping up from the neck of his shirt could have been anger or embarrassment. “It doesn’t work that way,” he said. “You can’t just fire me.”
“Watch me,” I said. “I’m a grown woman and a perfectly capable witch. If you can’t deal with that, stop coming around. I saw what Festus could do when he took down Ferguson. Lame or not, there is at least one werecat who is actually fulfilling his responsibilities, and I’m not looking at him.”
“Fine,” Chase said, giving in to his anger. “Whatever you say.”
Since we were both already mad, I went for broke. “Is there anything you haven’t told me?” I asked. “Because we’re not going back to the lair until everything is on the table.”
“No,” he said.
“Fine,” I said. “Come on. They’re waiting for us.”
“I thought you said you want
ed everything out on the table,” Chase shot back, his eyes blazing.
Unbelievable. He was going to go there.
“Something you want to ask me, Chase?” I said.
“Why were you talking to Lucas Grayson on the square in Shevington?” he demanded — in entirely the wrong tone of voice to get a good response from me.
I took a step forward until I was right up in his face.
“Listen to me carefully, because I’m only going to say this once,” I said. “You gave up the right to ask me a question like that when you decided to implode our relationship. If there’s anything you need to know because we have a job to do, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, what goes on in my personal life is none of your business.”
Since I didn’t need an answer, I didn’t wait for one.
I turned around and went back to the lair. This time, there were no footsteps behind me.
The group stayed busy while Chase and I had our . . . discussion. To my surprise, Glory appeared to have joined the effort. She was standing on a book lying open on Beau’s desk, reading the text. In relation to her size, the print was enormous.
“Hey, Glory,” I said. “I guess you heard everything we were talking about?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, craning her neck back to look at me. “I didn’t mean to listen in without permission.”
“You don’t need permission,” I said, sitting down. It didn’t put me at eye level with the Barbie-sized witch, but at least I was no longer towering over her. “I apologize for not asking you to be a part of the meeting.”
Her green face colored with what I think was a blush of pleasure. It’s hard to tell. Normally she’s sort of spring green, and now she was more forest, or maybe pine. You get the idea.
“That is just so nice of you,” Glory said. “When I heard about everything that’s going on, I came down here to the desk to ask Colonel Longworth if I could please help. Those creatures you all were talking about just sound awful. Even worse than the Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
Witch on Second: A Jinx Hamilton Mystery Book 5 (The Jinx Hamilton Novels) Page 13