Discord Jones, 1. Vampires, 0.
“Lord Holmesby’s remains were discovered by a Lady Serena. They had a thing,” Nick said after checking the folder. “Downstairs, second level.”
“Okay. Stone, would you mind taking Soames down for a look? I want to get a feel for the place. I could have a retrocog if it’s quiet enough.”
“Certainly.”
As soon as they were gone from view, I turned to Nick. “I need you and Leglin to start sniffing around.”
“For what?”
“Dead bodies.”
Nick scrunched up his face. “Come again?”
“Publicly, Merriven was all ‘no killee the humans’ but privately was a different story. I want to know if Holmesby had the same private activities.”
“Okay, but it’ll take hours to cover this whole place. Even if Holmesby did kill, he didn’t necessarily hide the bodies here.”
True. I looked at Leglin, trying to think of a way to speed up the search. The hound stared back, his ears perked. When an idea surfaced, my resulting grin must’ve been pretty mischievous looking, from the way Nick’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Leglin, any chance you could maybe talk some of your pack mates into helping out?”
My boyfriend’s eyes went wide. “You’re going to steal Prince Jerk-Off’s hounds?”
“Not steal, borrow. What do you think, buddy?”
“I will ask.” Leglin disappeared.
Nick scowled. “If Thorandryll notices they’re gone, he’s going to demand payment. He already has you on the hook for a date.”
“I’ll swear them to secrecy.”
He grunted. “Good luck with that.”
“I’ll guilt him into letting it slide.” After all, it was the prince’s fault the lone surviving dark elf had attacked Santo Trueno. Said dark elf had shot me in the shoulder with a freaking arrow. “I did spill blood for him again, and I’m no more one of his people than I was when he sicced those demons on me.”
My boyfriend considered that for a few seconds. “True, but his healer fixed you up.”
“Different elf, different deal.” I hoped. Alleryn hadn’t ever asked me for anything. His fee through the hospital had been paid though. Did that make us even?
I dismissed worrying about it when Leglin reappeared, with about two dozen other hounds. “Wow. Good job.”
My hound lowered his head, his ears drooping. “I promised each a steak as payment.”
Ouch. That was going to dent the hell out of my budget. “Sure. We’ll have a cookout and they can all come.”
Tails wagged, creating a surprising air draft, and the hounds took off. Some trotted or ran, others simply disappeared. It was unnerving to know they were there, yet not hear anything. I looked at Nick. “Do you think Stone will freak?”
“Duh.”
Too late to worry about it. The big problem would be getting them from here to the last scene.
Leglin reappeared. “The top floors are clear.”
“Cool. Um, you did them not to attack anyone, right?”
“Of course, mistress.”
“Fantastic. Carry on.” I blinked and he was gone again. “I need to get him a girlfriend. They could have puppies, and then I’d have my own pack of elf hounds. How cool would that be?”
“Not very. My dad wouldn’t let them all on pack territory.”
Crap, I had yet to talk to him about that. “Yeah, about that....”
“Miss Jones!” Stone’s yell echoed through the great hall.
Oops.
We stood in a circle around a giant, iron-bound, wooden well cap. “Looks like I was right to play that hunch.”
“We’ll see.” Stone’s frosty rejoinder had me hiding a grin. One of the hounds swore he could smell dead bodies on the other side of the well cap. I was inclined to believe him simply because of how well hidden the room had been. I glanced at the door. We’d had to crawl through a wardrobe in Holmesby’s bedchamber to get here.
“One of these days, I’ll find a wardrobe that leads to Narnia.”
“And Aslan will make you a queen,” Soames said. We traded a smile. Obviously, Logan wasn’t the only person in his clan with a library card and no fear of using it.
“Who’s Aslan?”
Stone answered Nick. “The lion in ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’. Let’s move this cap, gentlemen.”
“I can give you guys a TK boost if you need any extra help.” Retreating to the doorway, I watched as they selected handholds.
“One, two, three.” They strained, but no dice. Stone growled. “Again.”
I helped with a push of telekinesis, only to wish I hadn’t as the giant lid flipped over, releasing a stench worse than anything the morgue or city dump had on offer.
My stomach heaved, and it wasn’t the only one. Everyone threw up.
Even Stone, and it wasn’t blood coming out of him.
“You’re not a vampire.” We’d retreated to Lord Holmesby’s drawing room to rinse out our mouths with brandy, it being the only thing readily available. “You’re not human either. You’re a dhampyr, aren’t you?”
Stone grimaced, took another slug of brandy to swish around, and spat it out into the empty fireplace. “Yes. Lord Derrick is my father.”
“Oh.” Not my wittiest response, probably because I couldn’t get the smell/taste combo out of the back of my throat. “Better call him.”
“I will, after we’ve searched the Tanaka estate.” The dhampyr downed the last of his brandy. “I hope to God we don’t make a similar discovery.”
“If we do, someone else can open it,” Nick said. “I’m damn sure not going to. Not after that.”
“Me neither.” Soames shuddered, his eyes still watering. “That was incredibly putrid.”
“Yeah, it was.” I buried my nose in my glass, hoping the brandy’s aroma would overpower the “mass grave with a side of vomit” still lingering between my nose and the back of my tongue. It didn’t. I downed the brandy. “All right, let’s hit the road.”
Ten
One elf hound made vampires clear the way. A herd of elf hounds could empty streets.
Vampires blurred away at top speed, ducking into buildings or even climbing them as we went, until all I could hear was the clip clop of the horses’ hooves.
It was funny, but I didn’t laugh because of Nick. His furrowed brow and side-glances made it clear he hadn’t forgotten what I’d said before we were interrupted earlier. At least he wasn’t bringing it up now. Maybe I’d have a brainstorm about what to say before he did.
Or maybe I should admit there wasn’t a future for an “us” since I couldn’t see one that didn’t include me having to give up basically everything.
That would be the adult thing to do. But it was nice having a boyfriend who wasn’t scared off by my psychic abilities. Mentally shaking my head, I refocused on the case.
We now had two murder victims who’d pretended to be good little vamps. Exactly how did they fit in the puzzle? “We should check Esme’s estate too.”
“That won’t be necessary. The gargoyles wouldn’t be there.” Stone leaned forward, resting his fore arms on his knees. He was behaving more human since upchucking. “They were originally created to protect humans. She wouldn’t have been able to claim the loyalty of so many if she, or any of her family, were routinely draining humans.”
I glanced at Soames for confirmation, and received a slight nod. “Okay, we’ll leave her and her family marked as good guys then. I bet if we have the hounds search Merriven’s estate, we’ll find more bodies.”
The dhampyr leaned back. “Would they obey someone else?”
I put the question to Leglin, and after a few minutes of discussion, we dropped off him, Soames, and a dozen hounds to search Merriven’s estate when we passed by it. Another hound, named Enid, stepped forward to take charge of those left.
Lord Tanaka’s estate was a graceless pile of volcanic rock, but the inside was Ja
panese themed. I spent the time the hounds were searching admiring a collection of weapons, armor, dragon statues, and of all things, dried flowers mounted in picture frames.
Soames called me. “No bodies, but there’s a room on the second floor that’s suspicious. The hounds are going nuts, but I don’t know why. I can’t smell anything, and there aren’t any blood stains.”
“Okay, take pictures of it, grab Leglin’s collar when you’re done, and tell him to bring everyone to me.”
“Will do.” We ended the call and Enid popped into view.
“We’ve found what you seek.”
“Thank you. Will you show us?”
She assented, her head and tail held high, and led the way at a deliberate pace. Elf hounds could really pile on the dignity when they wanted to.
Tanaka had a disposal pit hidden behind a solid iron door on the lowest basement level. It wasn’t far from his personal chambers. We held our breath while opening the door, but it didn’t smell like Holmesby’s well had. I pointed to the bags of quicklime stacked in a corner. “That keeps the bodies from smelling, but contrary to popular belief, it also does a pretty good job of preserving them.”
“I think I’ll inform my master of our discoveries now,” Stone said. I snapped a few pictures before we returned to the ground floor.
By the time the dhampyr finished his call, Soames and the other hounds arrived. Leglin shook free of Soames’ hold on his collar, and came to me. “Many humans died in that room, mistress. We could smell their deaths even though the room was cleaned with,” he paused, his eyes half-closing. “The strong liquid you use sometimes, on white clothing.”
“Bleach?” My goodness, the police would kill to have some elf hounds as K9 units, if the hounds could pick up scents after that kind of cleaning job.
“Yes.” Leglin’s tail wagged double time, whacking Stone on the thigh. The dhampyr grunted and stepped out of range.
I looked at the mass of hounds. “You were amazing tonight. Thank you so much for your help. Leglin will let you know as soon as we have time for a cookout, and you’ll get your steaks.”
Every single one of the hounds inclined their heads and poof! They disappeared. I gave Leglin a super good neck scratching before planting a kiss just above his nose. “You’re awesome.”
Nick asked, “What now?”
“Back to the office for us. I want to add the new photos to the rest of the case stuff.” Looking at Stone, I said, “Let me know if you guys have any luck undeleting the witnesses’ memories.”
“I will.” Stone’s promise was accompanied by a smile. “You’ve been of great assistance.”
“We do our best. Talk later.” I teleported the guys to Nick’s truck, Leglin following on his own. Spent the drive to the office formulating questions, which could often trigger my tracking ability.
No useful threads appeared though.
Derrick had finally emailed the other photos and information sheets. After printing them out, I asked Nick to take care of printing the photos Soames and I had taken. “We’ll go sort this stuff.”
“Sure.” He took our phones and sat down at my desk.
In the War Room, I glanced over the info sheets while Soames taped up the photos from Friday night’s discovery. “I guess my ‘elves as killers’ idea is out.”
“Unless one used an invisibility spell and a scent blocker,” he replied. “I didn’t catch any hint of elf where Lira was killed.”
“Then they’re off my list.” I scanned Lira’s mini-bio, and caught something. “She had a sister.”
“Lira?”
“Yeah. We should see about contacting her. Maybe Lira told her something useful. Be right back.” I left to find a legal pad and pen. Returning, I took a seat and began making notes. Soames finished his task just before Nick joined us. My boyfriend was frowning as he held up the stack of prints. “Where do you want these?”
“Go ahead and tape them under their owners.”
He put our phones on the table and went to work. Soames dropped into a chair and pointed at my notes. “You don’t think the case is over?”
“I’m not sure whoever killed Esme and her family is the same person who took out the other three. Or that the witnesses’ memories were altered.” Even if they had been, catching Lira’s killer didn’t mean he or she would confess to killing the others. I doodled question marks under the last of my notes. “Wonder what Derrick’s going to do about all those bodies.”
“Hide them again. I would,” Nick said while coming to sit at the table. “Huge PR disaster otherwise.”
“If he does, I’ll find them again and tell Damian where they are. Their families deserve to know what happened to them.” The men exchanged a look. “What?”
“Do that, and the media gets wind of it—which will happen because Mayor Wells is a media whore—and humans will go on the war path.”
“You have a point.” It wouldn’t exactly be fair to paint a big, red target on the vampires who weren’t running around eating people.
Good night, had I really just thought that?
“When humans do that, they tend to lump us all together,” Nick added.
“Oh.” Okay, I’d have to come up with a different idea. What, I didn’t know, but somehow, families would learn what had happened to their loved ones. “I’ll figure something out if Derrick tries to pull a cover up.”
“Or you could just stay out of it.”
I stared at Nick. “Excuse me?”
“You poke your nose into things you really shouldn’t, Cordi. Do you honestly think someone’s not already making plans to take you out before you start blabbing about finding those bodies?”
Crap, had I put him and Soames in danger, playing my hunch? “Take me out?”
“Yes, you. They know we won’t say a word, because most humans are just waiting for an excuse to turn on all of us.” Nick’s glare scalded me. “Maybe you’ll get lucky again if you keep your mouth shut.”
It took a moment to find my voice after that, since I was staring at him with my mouth open. “You’re just now thinking to tell me this? You couldn’t do it before we paraded through the Barrows with a pack of hounds?”
He jerked back, throwing up his hands. “And put the idea in Stone’s head myself? You aggravate the hell out of me a lot of the time, but I don’t want you dead. Besides, you don’t listen to me anyway.”
Crap, it was going to turn into one of those arguments. “I do sometimes.”
“No, you don’t. You do what you think needs to be done, or what you think is the right thing to do, and never think about the consequences.”
Soames eased his chair back and stood. “Think I’ll call for a ride. See you tomorrow.” He grabbed his phone and vacated, leaving the door open behind him.
Too bad I couldn’t follow suit. “Look....”
“No, you look. I keep trying to tell you how things work in our world and,” Nick thumped the table for each word as he finished. “You just won’t listen.”
“Your world? Last I checked, this is everyone’s world, which means it’s my world too. I got along in it before we met.” Before he could respond, I said, “And not just because of luck, Nick. Do you realize you’re insulting me every time you say that? That you’re basically telling me I don’t have any skills or knowledge at all?”
“You don’t have enough knowledge.”
I pushed away from the table, anger warming my chest. “I’ve had enough of this crap. I can’t be in a relationship with someone who treats me as though I’m an idiot.”
His face went slack. “What?”
“You heard me. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s your dad with all his plans and rules.” Whoops. I closed my mouth, not having meant to throw that in.
Nick leaned back. “You’re breaking up with me?”
“Yes.”
He blinked. “Because of my dad?”
Gah. “No, but he didn’t help matters any.”
Nick’
s eyes narrowed. “You’re doing it because of Logan, aren’t you?”
“What the hell? This doesn’t have anything to do with him.”
“No?” He pointed at my phone. “You called him Sunday.”
My jaw dropped. “You went through my phone?”
Nick didn’t deny it. “You said you’d be busy helping your mom.”
“I can’t believe you went through my phone.” Breaking up with him was so very much the right thing to do.
“You were with him Sunday, weren’t you?”
“No. Well,” I hissed and pointed at him. “He and Terra helped us Sunday. Terra’s been cooped up, needed a change of scenery. Mom and Tonya were there too, and I have no idea why I’m explaining myself to you. I can spend time with my friends if I want to. I don’t need your permission or approval to do it.”
Nick jumped to his feet, sending his chair over backward. “You didn’t even mention it.”
“Because you freak the hell out,” I shot back. “Just like you’re doing right now. You’re jealous of him for no damn reason.”
“No reason? He shows up out of the blue, and the two of you are best friends immediately. You blow off any worries I have about him, and you keep secret any time you spend with him. Those are damn good reasons to be suspicious.” Nick’s chest was heaving. His face was flushed and his eyes had turned dark gold. When he clenched his jaws, his face kind of rippled, as though something wanted out.
He looked close to completely losing it. I tried for a calm, reasonable tone. “I told you I don’t cheat. If I wanted to date Logan or anyone else, I’d break up with you first.”
“You are breaking up with me,” he growled.
“Not because I want to date anyone else. We don’t have the same goals, and you don’t trust me. You don’t think I can take care of myself. That’s why I’m breaking up with you.” Was it my imagination, or was his skin turning kind of gray? I reached out with my empathic ability, only to recoil at the seething rage that filled him.
Okay, that was not good. “We both need to cool off a little.”
Save the Last Vamp for Me (Discord Jones Book 3) Page 8