Charmed to Death

by Rose Pressey

  Pluto strolled along beside me. Apparently, he wanted to help too. The guys followed along behind me as we moved through the house.

  “So where do we start?” Liam asked.

  I stopped and placed my hands on my hips, looking around the parlor. “I have no idea, but I guess we should go over this room and see if there are hiding places in here.”

  I assumed I would have found secret spots by now. Though this place was so big that there could be places I would never find out about. Nicolas started knocking on the walls to see if there were any kind of hidden compartments. It was a good idea. I would have never thought about that. The thought of a hidden spot gave me the creeps. To think that there could be something hidden back there was spooky and I’d never even dreamed about it.

  Liam started checking around the floor to see if there were any loose pieces in the hardwood that might rise up. It could be concealing a hiding spot. Unfortunately, we had no luck in this room, so we moved into the next room. The library was a huge space.

  “This could take a really long time to go through every room,” I said.

  “It’s going to take more than one day, that’s for sure,” Liam said.

  We did the same thing through the library. I would have expected to see a hiding spot behind one of the shelves. I pulled out each book from the shelf, checking for some space back there, but there was nothing.

  “I guess we should move onto the next room,” I said.

  “We didn’t check the kitchen yet,” Liam said. “We could split up and see if that helps.”

  “I don’t think it matters. I mean, we can go through a room quick with all of us working, and then move onto the next one.”

  Next we checked the kitchen, going through the cabinets and even checking under the cauldron. There was just no space where anything could be hidden. We looked in the dining room, which didn’t take long to check. Looking at the floor was the hardest part. One thing I knew for sure though, this would drive me crazy until I figured out what it was. But then I had to think maybe Nicolas was right. Maybe there wasn’t anything here and Gramps was just remembering this wrong. Just thinking about all the rooms left made me exhausted.

  “Perhaps we need to take a break,” I said. “Let’s go back into the parlor.”

  Once back in the room we collapsed onto the sofa. I laid my head back on the cushion and released a deep breath. I kept trying to figure out what this could possibly be that I was looking for and then it hit me. A spell. I could cast one and see if that would tell me what this thing was. Maybe it wouldn’t work, but it was worth a shot.

  Before I had a chance to suggest this to Liam and Nicolas, Thomas stepped into the doorway. He smiled and walked into the room, sitting on the chair closest to me.

  “What’s going on? You guys look tired. It’s too early to be tired.”

  Oh, sure, he would say that. He had just taken a long nap. Meanwhile, we had been searching the house. I sure hoped that Nicolas and Liam didn’t tell him about what we’d been doing.

  “We’ve been looking for something,” Nicolas said.

  I glared at him, telling him to shut up with my eyes. So much for keeping our activities under wraps.

  Thomas looked from me to Nicolas. “What are you looking for?”

  Oh, that did it. He really was here for a specific reason, and not a good one. He was probably looking for whatever this thing was too. How did he know what he was looking for when I had no clue? Even if he knew, he wouldn’t tell me. How could I get this information out of him without completely giving away what we’d been doing? Because if he didn’t actually know, then I didn’t want to tell him.

  Now my thoughts were beginning to be jumbled. Back to the conversation at hand. I needed to change the subject until I could figure out a clever way to question Thomas.

  “So what do you have planned for this evening?” I asked.

  “I thought I’d go prowling around. That’s why I took a nap. Just kidding. I was hoping that there’s someplace nice in town to check out.”

  Nicolas jumped up from the sofa. “I know what we should do. We should check out the Bubbling Cauldron.”

  What was he thinking? I didn’t want to go there with Thomas. I didn’t really want to go there at all. It was late and I had a lot of searching to do. But then again, if we all went out then I could sneak back here and look around the house without Thomas knowing what I was doing. I had a feeling he was going to be really snoopy the entire time he was here. Exactly how long was he going to be here?

  Reluctantly, I said, “Okay, let’s go. It’ll be fun.” I forced a smile.

  “Well, I don’t know what the Bubbling Cauldron is, but it sounds like a hell of a good time to me.” Thomas clapped his hands and stood from the chair.

  Liam stood and then draped his arm around Thomas’ shoulders. “It’s a nightclub. You’ll love it.”

  “All right, sounds like a good time. I’m glad Hallie’s going. I have a feeling she doesn’t really want to go with us.”

  “No, really, I’m excited to go,” I said with a forced smile. “Just let me change my clothes and I’ll be ready.”

  I headed up the steps to my bedroom and picked out a black dress. I’d rather stay in my sweats, but they would be suspicious if I went like that, so I put the dress on anyway. I rushed back downstairs to meet the guys in the foyer.

  The guys were laughing and having a great time. Thomas could do absolutely no wrong as far as Liam and Nicolas were concerned. I would have to prove them wrong. I didn’t know how, but maybe I’d catch Thomas in a lie or something.

  “Meow,” Thomas said, looking me up and down.

  “You look great.” Nicolas kissed me on the cheek.

  Liam held the door open for us. I led the way over to Liam’s car. We got in and headed into town, parking along the street in front of the Bubbling Cauldron. Before we got out of the car, my phone rang.

  “It’s Annabelle,” I said. “I’ll just be a second. You all go ahead.”

  Thank goodness they took the hint that I wanted to speak with her in private. They got out of the car and left me alone to talk to Annabelle.

  “We’re going to the Bubbling Cauldron. You should meet me here.”

  “Oh, I don’t know…”

  “I want to slip out and go back to the manor so I can look for something.” I rushed my words.

  “What kind of scheme are you into now?” Annabelle asked.

  “No scheme. It’s just something I have to do. So will you come over? I may need help.”

  “I can be there in about ten minutes if you wait for me outside.”

  “I’ll be looking for you,” I said.

  I got out of the car and told the guys that Annabelle would be arriving soon.

  “You all go ahead and go inside. I’ll wait for her out here and then meet you inside.” I tried to sound cheery.

  Nicolas looked as if he didn’t like that idea much, but finally he agreed to wait inside with the other guys. I could’ve just slipped away to the manor right then and there, but I knew that they’d come out looking for me if I didn’t actually go inside. I had no idea how I was going to give them the slip later, but I’d have to think of something.

  Chapter 9

  “Hey, you look great like always,” I said.

  Annabelle was wearing a royal-blue dress with a full skirt that hit just above her knees. The bodice had little spaghetti straps. Her strappy gold sandals added just the right amount of pizzazz.

  “Thanks,” she said with a big smile.

  The guy at the club entrance motioned for us to come on through. I guessed being the leader of the Underworld had its perks, meaning that I wouldn’t have to wait in line to get in. That kind of made me feel bad, but it was their rules, not mine. I guessed they felt like they would get in trouble if they didn’t let me in, and I just wanted to get in there so that I could come back out.

  When we entered the club, to the right was the huge bar area with light
-up shelves. The music pounded against the walls. A huge black cauldron sat in the middle of the dance floor. Glowing bubbles in colors of red, green, and blue came from the middle and floated up toward the ceiling. The place was crowded as usual with people stuffed into every corner of the space. I didn’t see the guys just yet. We tried weaving our way through the crowd toward the middle of the room.

  “Where are they?” Annabelle yelled over the loud music.

  “I don’t see them,” I said.

  I hoped that they hadn’t taken off. I couldn’t help but wonder if something bad had happened, like the witch had appeared. I wouldn’t be shocked to see her here, although she would stand out quite a bit in that dress.

  I felt someone staring at me. When I looked to the right, I spotted Nicolas with Liam standing beside him. Then Thomas joined them. Where had he been? Our eyes met. Thomas gave me a look that was kind of a smirk, as if he knew I was onto him. Could I prove his bad intentions? We’d just have to see about that. I would prove that he was here for bad reasons. It might take me a bit, but I would eventually get there.

  Nicolas and Liam spotted me and made their way over.

  “I was beginning to think that I’d lost you,” Nicolas said as he grabbed my hand.

  “We made it.” I smiled.

  At that moment when I looked over Thomas had set his sights on Annabelle. No way was I going to let that happen. He kissed her hand and introduced himself.

  “Thomas, why don’t you go get us a drink?” I asked.

  Of course this was my way of getting rid of him for a bit. The line at the bar seemed long.

  “We’d both like white wine, please.”

  “Two white wines coming up.” He winked at Annabelle as he walked away, as if she would be charmed by him.

  I knew her better than that. When he walked away I looked at her and said, “That’s the guy I told you about, Thomas. You should stay away from him. I think he’s bad news.”

  She looked in the direction where Thomas had just walked away. “I don’t know, he doesn’t look so bad. I mean, he’s cute and he seemed nice enough. What’s the problem?”

  “Hello? Are you falling under his spell too? He’s obviously up to something.”

  “Well, Hallie, you know that sometimes you are a little bit paranoid.”

  I smirked. “Oh, is that right? Well, we’ll see who’s right when I find out his real reason for being here.”

  “What’s this conversation all about? It seems like serious talk over here,” Nicolas said with a smile.

  “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all,” I said. “Maybe we should find a seat.”

  As soon as we were seated I was going to take off for the restroom and then sneak out. I hated to do that to Nicolas, but he wasn’t giving me any other option. We weaved through the crowd until we came to a table that had just a couple chairs. Annabelle and I sat down. Liam and Nicolas stood next to the table. Soon I spotted Thomas returning. I was hoping that he wouldn’t find us. No such luck.

  Thomas placed the wine glasses down on the table in front of us. “For the beautiful ladies.” Again he winked at Annabelle.

  Uh. He rubbed me the wrong way. It was time for us to get out of there.

  “Annabelle and I are going to the restroom,” I said.

  “We are?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Yes, your lipstick is messed up.”

  She touched her index finger to her lips.

  “Hurry back,” Nicolas said.

  I kissed him before walking away. There was a back door by the restrooms. We could slip out without being noticed. I made sure that Annabelle kept up with me so that she didn’t get lost in the crowd. We finally reached the hallway that led to the restrooms and the back door that I intended to exit through.

  “We’re not going to the restrooms, are we?” Annabelle asked.

  I glanced back at her. She knew me too well. “No, actually we’re not going to the restrooms. We have to go outside. I’ll explain when we get out there.”

  It was too loud to tell her the full details. There was always a guy who stood in the hallway by the back door just in case someone tried to open it and let someone else in the back way. He saw me and waved. I motioned toward the door and he nodded, understanding that I wanted to go outside. Annabelle and I stepped out into the warm night air.

  “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Annabelle asked.

  “I have to go back to the mansion and look for something. I wanted to do it without the guys being around,” I said.

  “Why can’t the guys be around?” she asked.

  “Because I think that guy Thomas is the one behind the weird stuff. He can’t find out that I’m looking for something special in the manor. Plus he was flirting with you. He’s up to something and I don’t want him to know about anything I find.”

  “But they’ll miss us and probably come looking for us,” she said.

  “True, they probably will, but I’ll get a headstart and when Nicolas texts me I’ll make up an excuse to keep them here for a little while longer. I’ll tell him you got sick and that we’ll be inside soon.”

  “I’m surprised that you’re not telling the truth.”

  “Well, that’s the thing. Normally I would, but it seems as if this Thomas guy has both of them in a trance. I think he was doing to you too.”

  “I just don’t understand it. He was really cute.”

  “Don’t say that,” I said. “So what if he’s cute? He’s not a nice guy and I intend to prove it.”

  We headed across the parking lot to go back out to the street to Annabelle’s car. Just as we were halfway across the lot a weird noise came from somewhere nearby.

  “What is that?” Annabelle asked.

  “Sounds like an animal or something. Do you think something’s hurt?” I looked around.

  That was when I noticed the guy. It was the one who had been talking to Thomas. He was sucking on a woman’s neck as they sat in the backseat of a car.

  “They’re just making out,” Annabelle said.

  “Not just making out. He’s getting some blood. He’s a vampire.”

  Thomas had acted as if he didn’t know any vampires at all. That was exactly what he had told me. Now I knew he was lying, unless of course he didn’t know they were vampires. I supposed that was a possibility.

  “Do you think she’s okay?” Annabelle asked. “I guess she wants to be doing that with him.”

  That was when they both stopped and looked at us. The guy looked irritated and the girl just smiled.

  “Yeah, I guess there’s our answer,” I said. “We should get out of here.”

  We headed the rest of the way across the parking lot, out to the sidewalk, and then down the street to Annabelle’s car. I explained to her that the guy in the car was one of the ones who had been talking to Thomas and how he’d said he didn’t know any vampires.

  “Now do you believe me?” I asked as we got into the car.

  She shrugged. “I just said he was good-looking.”

  “Don’t be fooled by those dazzling eyes and that perfect smile,” I warned.

  “Plus, he has cute dimples,” Annabelle added.

  Annabelle turned on the car and we pulled away from the curb. We’d only reached the red light when I spotted someone out of the corner of my eye. The light turned green and Annabelle took off.

  “Wait. I think I just saw the woman in black. The one I saw at the manor.”

  “Do you want me to turn around?” Annabelle asked.

  “Could you? I wonder if she was going to the Bubbling Cauldron?”

  “We’ll find out.” Annabelle made a U-turn.

  I wondered if she’d been taking driving lessons from my mother. I scanned the sidewalk as we drove by. There was no sign of her. I looked at the line of people waiting to get into the club.

  “She’s not there,” I said.

  “Are you sure you saw her?”

  I sighed. “No, I guess not. Maybe I’m so str
essed that my mind is playing tricks on me.”

  “It’s possible,” Annabelle said.

  “I guess we’ll just head to the manor now.”

  She nodded. “You got it.”

  My cell rang. “It’s probably Nicolas.”

  “Uh-oh,” Annabelle said.

  When I looked at the screen I didn’t recognize the number.

  “Hello,” I said when I answered.

  “Halloween LaVeau?” the woman asked.

  “Yes?”

  “This is Cassandra Delaney, vampire leader with the National Vampire Association. We have a problem.”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “There’s been another murder,” Cassandra said.

  “When did this happen?”

  “The police have just been called. Apparently it happened a few minutes ago.”

  “How do you know it’s a murder?”

  “Oh, I know because someone told me they were going to do it.”

  “Then why didn’t you stop it before it happened?” I asked. “Did you recognize the voice and phone number?”

  “Well, the number was private and it sounded as if the person was trying to disguise their voice. I wasn’t even sure if it was male or female. There was something oddly familiar about it. I was trying though.” She sounded as if she was getting a little irritated with me.

  “Where did this happen?” I asked.

  “Outside of the Bubbling Cauldron,” she said.

  My eyes widened.

  “What is it?” Annabelle whispered.

  That was when I saw the police cars and sirens arriving.

  “What’s going on?” Annabelle asked.

  “I’m on my way there,” she said. “I’ll meet you.”

  I needed to discuss this with her.

  I hung up the phone. “Apparently there’s been a vampire murdered.”

  That was when it clicked with Annabelle that we’d just seen the vampire.

  “Do you think it’s the vampire we saw?” she asked.

  “Yes, it could be. Let’s go see what’s going on.”

  We hopped out of the car and headed in the direction we had just come from. When we reached the area, the police stopped us. I showed them my ID as the leader of the Underworld. That gave us access into the area, just not over to where the body had been found. Considering it was the same car we had just passed that they had taped off, I assumed it was either the guy or the girl. I had to get Nicolas and Liam. I sent Nicolas a text. Before I got an answer, he came out of the back door. When they spotted us they rushed over. Thomas wasn’t with them.