by Zoë Fox
He nodded.
“So, they found the most recent victim in the Oak Ridge subdivision?” She asked, referring to an alcove of houses located about a mile from her home.
“Yeah. Apparently, she was only like four or five years older than us.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I think we ought to go out there and check it out.”
He stopped in mid-step. “Oh, hell no! No way, Alex, I’m not going to break into a house! Besides, how would we know which one it is?”
“The one with the yellow crime scene tape covering the door, maybe?”
“Alex, that place is probably still swarming with cops.”
“Duh! That’s why we don’t go till Friday.” She paused again to think. “Three days should be enough time for everything to die down.”
“Are you crazy? Friday is Halloween night! You want to go to a house where a serial killer offed somebody on Halloween night? That’s got to be the exact recipe for a horror movie.”
She nodded. “Yeah, well, I’ve got to take Toad trick-or-treating so it’s the perfect time. Besides the cops will have their hands full with all the jocks who ride around egging houses that night.”
He just stared at her for a moment. Yep, she’d finally lost her mind. “You want to bring your little brother to a crime scene?”
“Yeah, sure. He’s a tough kid. He can handle it.”
“Well, I don’t know if I can.”
She didn’t pay him any attention. If she went, he’d go, even if he complained the whole time. “My Uncle Jamie is a cop. You’ve met him before, right?”
Sean nodded.
“He’s coming over tomorrow afternoon to fix our bathroom sink. Mom tried to get Kirk to do it, but he’s been really busy lately or something. Anyway, I’m going to ask Uncle Jamie about what the news didn’t report.” She said determinedly as she threw her bag over her shoulder. “That way I’ll know which house for sure and what to look for.”
Behind her, Sean covered his face with the newspaper for a moment. Why had he bothered to show her the article in the first place? It wasn’t like she was a sane, rational human being. No, Alex saw danger and it was full steam ahead. Now he’d gone and started something that was either going to get them killed or arrested. Honestly, he couldn’t decide which was worse.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alex looked up from the computer screen and glanced over at Lucas. He’d been sitting at the other desk, the one he’d brought from the mausoleum, for the last hour as she typed up notes scribbled in an ancient looking leather-bound journal. The ink had long since faded on the off-white pages, causing her to squint in order to decipher his spidery handwriting.
After setting up the computer for him, she’d tried to show him how to work a word document so that all the notes he wrote from that point on could be fully electronic. Fifteen minutes into the lesson he’d informed her that the process was too impersonal for his tastes. He’d kindly thanked her for her willingness to help and went back to scribbling in the same notebook he now wrote in. At the pace he worked, she was sure she’d still be entering entries written in the early 1800’s when he handed her that journal to type up. If that happened, she planned to strangle him. Although Alex doubted it would kill him, she was certain it would make her feel better.
“Try to write bigger from here on out, okay?” She asked as he turned another page.
The right corner of his mouth pulled up in a half smile. “I do believe that is the fourth time you have made such a comment since sitting down at that…contraption.”
“What do you have against computers? You bought the thing and now you don’t want to touch it.” She glanced back and forth between his notes and the screen as she typed.
“You have obviously mistaken my intentions in buying it.” He dipped his pen back in the inkwell. She’d brought him a pack of modern ballpoint pens, but, so far, they had sat unused beside him. “I have no desire to touch the device. I bought it so that you could utilize it.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “How are you going to read Roderick’s notes if you don’t learn your way around it?”
“Isn’t that when the printing machine comes in? I figured you could transfer the information to paper, for which I could read them.” Lucas continued to write as he spoke.
“What? Do you want me to brush your teeth for you, too?” She was frustrated with his technophobia.
“I do not brush my teeth.” He responded in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
“Well, that’s just gross!”
Confused, he looked up. “Why? I no longer eat and nothing on me decays, therefore the need for basic dental hygiene has been negated.”
“Yeah, but don’t you get blood breath?”
“No,” he shook his head. “Bacteria no longer cling to my body.”
Her nose crinkled. “Are you saying you don’t bathe either?”
“I do, on occasion, for the sheer enjoyment of the experiences, but is no longer a necessity.”
She continued to stare at him.
“You have been in close proximity to me countless times. I do not smell badly, so I fail to see the problem.” He sat back in his chair.
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve never really thought about it. I mean, people either take a shower or they smell like a garbage can.” She said, turning around so that she could face him. “I just assume—”
“Ah! You are facing difficulties because I violate the rules, or the ‘norm’, as you see it,” he explained. “I am still, in many ways, outside of your realm of experience. I assure you the differences will be less notable with time.” He returned to his notes when she didn’t respond.
Several minutes passed, the room silent except for the sounds of his pen scratching across the page and her typing.
“Luke?” She called his name to get his attention.
“Yes?”
“I can’t make out what you wrote here.” She’d tried squinting at the pages several times, but even that didn’t make the line any clearer.
“Let me see.” He came up behind her, placing an arm on the desk on each side of her. He leaned forward to get a better look.
She was immediately aware of him. The muscles in his arm tensed. ‘This is as close as I’m ever going to get to him’, she thought sadly. When had she’d turned into such a sap?
Lucas realized he’d made a mistake the moment he positioned himself that way. The smell of her flooded his nostrils, vanilla and a faint, sweet smell of blood pumping through her veins. It was intoxicating. She’d worn her auburn hair pulled up, baring her neck. He watched the line of flesh jump from her pulse. He had the urge to bury his face in the curve and plunge his teeth into that delicate spot. He could still remember exactly how she tasted.
“Well, isn’t this cute?” Roderick’s voice came from the doorway. “I hope you don’t mind that I showed myself in. The door was unlocked.”
Lucas stood up straight at the sound of his colleague.
Roderick rolled his eyes at the guilty expression on the other vampire’s face. “Oh, please. It’s not like I caught you with your pants down,” he said as he stretched out on the couch.
“What is he talking about?” Alex asked, swiveling the chair around again.
“Nothing.” Lucas responded through gritted teeth. He glared at Roderick, hoping he wouldn’t say anything more.
He ignored him. “Judging by the scent of the air, someone is certainly hot for teacher.”
Alex’s face turned bright red, causing Roderick to laugh out loud. Lucas looked at her in surprise, but didn’t say anything. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Don’t tell me the two of you are still dancing around that!” Roderick’s voice made his disgust apparent. “Modern women are easy, Lucas, my friend. All the courting and chivalry is no longer necessary.”
“You’ve said enough,” Lucas snapped at him. “I do believe we’ve already spoken about your manners.”
Roderick took a deep breath
. “Right. Fine. Sorry.” He spoke in monotone.
“Not accepted.” Alex stared at him, not bothering to hide her dislike. “You’re just going to say something offensive in five minutes, so what’s the point?”
“You’re probably right.” He smiled. “Fairly astute for such a simple creature.”
“Roderick!” Lucas warned. His master had been right. No amount of time would ever make his ex-apprentice grow up. He never should have bothered with him. His life would have been much easier had he chosen another. “If you came here to tell me something I suggest you get on with it.”
“Why? So, you two can get back to not having—”
“I am serious!” Lucas interrupted.
“Fine.” He tossed a thick bound manual to him. “Catch.”
As far as Alex could tell, Lucas never moved, yet he held the book in front of him. “And this would be?”
“The latest edition of rules, guidelines and other bureaucratic nonsense from the council. You haven’t updated your address since moving, so I had them send it to me. I don’t know how they would feel if she got her hands on it.” He said as he cleaned his nails. “Thought you might want that. You always did like rules.”
“Thank you. I will read it late.” Lucas placed the tome on his desk.
“Got anything to eat?” Roderick looked up at him hopefully.
“I thought you guys didn’t eat?” Alex looked to Lucas for an explanation.
“Oh, we do.” Roderick said before Lucas could speak. “Just not what you would call food. In fact, if he’d let, I’d probably eat you. To me, you’re a steak babe.” He smiled at her, the expression in his eyes making the gesture cold.
“I do not know how you would expect me to keep a ready supply of blood here.” Lucas said, ignoring his last comment. Roderick seemed to take any response to his idea of humor as encouragement.
“Well, why else did you bother to plug in your fridge?” He paused. “Oh, for her, of course. Seriously, I get mine by the bucket and keep it in the fridge. It’s much more efficient.”
“Wouldn’t you have to kill someone to get a bucket full of blood?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she hadn’t asked.
Roderick’s humorless smile widened till the points of his fangs showed. She refused to be intimidated, continuing to stare him in the eyes.
“Not all of us are goody-two-shoes like Lucas. In fact, some would even go as far as to say that the kill is the best part.” He ran his tongue across the tip of one of his elongated incisors.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Toad, I don’t think your teacher is going to be happy that you colored the cows in this picture green,” Meredith said as she glanced over his color-by-number assignment.
“They’re space cows.” He didn’t bother to look up at her as he continued to fill the grass area pink.
“But the grass is supposed to be green.”
“It’s Easter grass.”
“Alex, help me out here. He listens to you.” Meredith looked over at her oldest. Alex sat next to Toad, reading a copy of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.
“What? They’re space cows on Easter grass. You heard the kid.” Alex folded down the top corner of the page she’d been reading.
“The instructions say—”
“Art doesn’t follow the rules,” Toad interrupted, as if that explained everything.
“I give up on you two.” Meredith sighed deeply, placing the Frosted Flakes box and the ketchup bottle in front of Toad.
“I thought you did that years ago, when I became a latch-key kid.” Alex reached across the mess of crayons and poured Toad a bowl. “According to the media, that means you don’t love us enough.”
“I love you.” She paused. “I just don’t understand either of you.”
“Toad doesn’t understand Toad,” he mumbled to himself.
The doorbell rang and their mother went to get it. When she came back, Alex’s Uncle Jamie followed behind her.
Jamie Leisey had been Alex’s father’s younger brother. After her dad died, Uncle Jamie had taken over looking after them in many ways. Openly critical about the kind of men Meredith dated, the two often clashed, yet he was the first person she called when something went wrong.
“Hey, Uncle Jamie.” Alex had to look up to properly greet him. Slightly over six feet tall, with a bald, shaved head, the policeman might have looked intimidating to some, though Alex didn’t see how. His over masculine posture was completely undone by his baby face.
“Hey, Alex,” He glanced over at her brother. “Hey Tree Frog.”
Toad smiled up at him. “Not frog. Toad.”
“Same difference. You think if I threw you at the wall, you’d stick?” Jamie ruffled his hair.
“I don’t know. We could try.” Toad scrambled up the man’s leg, into his arms. Jamie began to swing him around. The kitchen filled with the sound of him giggling.
“Jamie, I swear to God, if you throw that child at anything you’re gone to regret it.” Meredith shrieked at him. He’d accidently dropped Toad on his head when he was a baby. Not only had she never forgiven him, but she secretly blamed him for why her youngest child was a little off. She looked over at Alex. Scratch that. More off than the other one.
“Your mom is no fun,” Jamie whispered to Toad as he placed him back in his chair.
“Yeah, no fun!” Toad echoed.
“Cute. Turn my kids against me. Real cute.” Meredith said as she started down the hallway. “The broken sink is in the main bathroom. I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”
Jamie nodded, before turning his attention to Alex. “Okay, kiddo, get the toolbox. You’re helping.”
“But—”
“But nothing. You’re going to learn how to do this stuff for yourself. By the time you’re old enough to have these kinds of crises, I’m going to be too old to crawl under a sink. The last thing the world needs is one more helpless woman.” He yelled the last part down the hallway so that Meredith had no choice but to hear him.
Her only response was to slam her bedroom door closed.
“God, I love ticking her off,” he smiled. “Really makes my day.”
Alex followed him into the bathroom after retrieving the necessary tools.
“Mind telling me why your little brother is eatin’ ketchup on his frosted flakes?” Jamie asked as he crouched down to examine the pipe.
She shrugged.
“That kid puts ketchup on everything, but it just ruins the flavor,” he mumbled.
“I don’t think Toad’s taste buds work the same as the rest of us,” Alex offered.
“I don’t think that boy’s head works the way most people’s do,” he said, turning on the water to see where the leak was. “I think your mama dropped him on it or something.”
Jamie showed her how to properly tighten the pipe.
Sitting on the closed toilet, Alex decided to go ahead and ask him what Sean and she had discussed the previous day.
“Uncle Jamie?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“Did you get called in when they found the body over in Oak Ridge?”
“Yeah. I think everyone got called in.” His voice was muffled by the wood separating them as he worked.
“Which house was it?” She swung her legs as she talked.
“Well, you know, that ugly green one where they never cut the grass?”
“Yeah, the one with the creepily huge collection of lawn gnomes?”
“Uh huh. Not that one. The one on its right.” He paused. “Can you hand me that crescent wrench again?”
“Sure,” she passed it to him. “What was it like when you got there?”
“No signs of forced entry,” he recited. “Which means she either knew the perp or he followed her in. He’d tied her to a chair in the middle of the kitchen, cut her wrists and bled her out. According to the coroner, he’d chopped her head off after she was dead. We still have no clue what the bastard is doing with e
ither…the blood or the head, I mean. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.” She answered a little too quickly.
“Alex,” she heard a ‘thunk’, which meant he’d bumped his bald head. “Damn it! Ouch!” He took a deep breath and started again. “Alex, I know when you’re up to something. You get that sound in your voice like your dad used to get.”
“What sound?” She did her best to insert innocence in her tone.
“That one. That oh-I-wouldn’t-even-know-what-trouble-is sound. Cut the crap. I’m not your mom.” He pulled out from under the sink. His bushy eyebrows rose up, meeting where his hair should have been. “What are you getting yourself into?”
“Nothing. Really.” She hoped it would be nothing.
“Fine. Don’t tell me, but if you get yourself arrested don’t call me to bail you out.” He went back to what he’d been doing inside the cabinet.
“Mom would bail me out,” she said sullenly.
“HA!” He laughed. “Who do you think she’d call asking for money?”
He had a point.
“Your mother tells me you’ve been messing around with an older guy,” he said after a few moments of silence.
Alex groaned. “Messing around is the wrong word for it.” Now that she thought of it, ‘older’ probably wasn’t right either. Try ancient in comparison.
“Look, just be careful.”
“We haven’t even kissed!” She said in her defense.
“Good. Keep it that way. The last thing I need is to be a great-uncle.”
She sighed. It seemed like everyone thought she was standing in line to get herself knocked up.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Why is your brother being so secretive about his costume,” Meredith asked, joining her daughter in the living room.
Alex shrugged. “Toad takes Trick-or-Treat seriously.”
“Yeah, but I’m his mother!” She sat down dejectedly on the recliner next to the couch, where Alex had made herself comfortable. “He’s locked me out of his room.” She paused. “You know what it is, don’t you?”
Alex nodded. She’d helped him find everything he needed to complete his outfit. Last year he’d gone as the grim reaper, but this Halloween he’d really outdone himself.