“Fine, so he’s just as dangerous as you are. But…he’s not as selfish. He doesn’t have the same mindset.” I cocked my head to the left. “Who is this?”
“I think you’ll find that all vampires, in the long run, live by ulterior motives. But suit yourself. The woman you’re staring at is the queen mother of all vampires. I won’t tell you her name—it’s better you don’t know. But she’s growing antsy. She’s growing bored. She wants change, and she’s willing to stir up trouble to get it. And she’s quite mad.”
I still wasn’t putting it all together. Maybe my head was still foggy thanks to the drugs, or maybe I was just running on empty today, but I wasn’t clear what was going on.
“Spell it out for me, would you?”
“She’s bored. She wants a change of the status quo. She’s ordered the spells to be used. Trouble is, when a vamp becomes able to walk abroad at all times, they lose the downtime that gives us a chance to pause and contemplate. Sleep for us is very much like sleep for you, it’s just dictated more strongly. And then, there’s the problem with mortals finding out. And there’s another issue.” Essie paused.
“That being?”
“Young vampires are like young men with a full testosterone load. They are immersed in their newly found sense of power. They want to prove themselves the strongest, most dangerous, most deadly.” She leaned forward, the cool smile dropping away. “All vampires are deadly, but young vamps are quite often…killers.”
“And young vampires who don’t have the restrictions of only being able to come out at night…”
“Precisely. Their already bloated egos will be uncontrollable. They’ll challenge the older vampires like myself. Most would lose, but right now, the vampire nation works mostly in harmony. The Arcānus Nocturni have always kept to themselves, only nominally participating. But an event recently changed that. Their morning star was struck down.”
I felt the blood drain out of my face. “Oh fuck. You don’t mean…”
“Precisely. What you did at the chalet? The ramifications are still rippling through the society. Rumors that you’re walking with your silver stake again are spreading. She’s back, they’re whispering. Mad Maudlin’s back in action, they’re saying.”
“That was self-defense.” I realized just how this was going to play out. No matter what the truth was, I had set into motion a revolution among the vampires.
“I know it was, Maddy. I know what happened. I’m not blaming you, but the fact is, your actions had a butterfly effect on the eldest vampires. They remember the days when they had more freedom to do as they wanted. The days before the treaties and before the PretCom came out of the closet. They long for those days.”
“What about you, Essie? Do you wish we still lived in that time?”
She laughed, but there was no mirth behind that voice. “Do I long for days I don’t fully remember? I was a Voudou priestess. I had more power then than I do now. Do you understand that when you become a vampire, when you’re turned, if you’re a witch your powers diminish as the vampirism takes hold. Oh, you can still play petty magical games, but Maudlin, right now? You’re far more powerful when it comes to magic than any vampire.”
“Then just how did you curse me? And why, if you were so worried about Thornton, why didn’t you just come to me and tell me what happened? Why go through all the trouble of throwing a Dirt Magic curse on my household? Aegis is still in bat form and I’m having to deal with Garret James in order to break the hex you placed on my home. On me!”
Essie froze. “You were cursed by a Dirt Witch?”
“Yes, and it’s well known that Voudou and Dirt Magic often go hand in hand.”
“Trust me, Maddy, I didn’t cast any spell on your household.” She looked worried as she took the book back from me and put it back on the shelf. “You’re sure it’s Dirt Magic?”
“I’m sure. The doctor verified it. And we had to destroy the brooch to lift the curse off Bubba.” I stopped, suddenly aware that she was telling the truth. Vampires were good at lying, but I was good at telling when I was being lied to. And unless Essie herself was under a curse, she couldn’t fake the expression that had slid across her face.
“Crap.”
It was the first time I had heard an obscenity fall from her lips. I almost snorted. “You’re really telling me the truth. If you weren’t the one who cursed me, who was?”
“That’s something you very much need to find out. Dirt Witches are more vengeful than vampires.” She played with the mandrake root. “Now, before we wrap this up, let me ask you an equally awkward question. Where did you put the book?”
I stood, quite ready to get the hell out of here. “I don’t know what book you’re talking about.”
“Check, and mate, then.”
“Tit for tat?”
“Colder than a witch’s tit,” Essie said, laughing. “One last bit of advice. Don’t ever think I’m your worst enemy. I’m no fan of yours, but I can stand as a liaison between an uneasy truce and all-out war. As long as I hold my throne, no one will take it from me. At least, no one I won’t fight tooth and nail against.”
I understood the nuances. I couldn’t let Essie lose her throne. Feeling trapped the same way Linda had been trapped, though with very different circumstances, I nodded.
“Heard and noted. But also note this: the Moonrise Coven is the backbone of this island and will always be. If you want to be part of the makeup of Bedlam, you need to play by our rules. Then, perhaps, we can find a way to work together. I’m not Linda. Never forget that.”
“As well, heard and noted.” Essie held up the mandrake root and blew on it. A wisp of mist ran through the air and once again, it felt like time moved, and like we were part of the outer world again. “I’ll have Ruby escort you back to your vehicle. Thank you for accepting my invitation.” She pressed her lips together but I could tell she was smiling.
Ruby returned as Essie called for her. The vampire motioned for me to follow her. We walked back the way we had come. As we neared the stairs, Ruby tapped me on the shoulder.
“Listen…I want to apologize. I hope you aren’t still sore at us.”
I blinked. “You knock me out, kidnap me, and tie me up and you expect me to just shrug it off as though we were just meeting for coffee?”
“Look, I did what I was told. But I kind of like you. I know you’re a big-time vampire hunter and all, but I was thinking, if Essie doesn’t mind, maybe we could get together and go shopping? Or even get coffee? I don’t have many friends here.”
I was done and over with Essie and her minions, but Ruby sounded sincere and she had such a plaintive look on her face that I felt like a heel for being ticked that she’d even ask.
“We’ll see. Give me some time to cool off.”
“I get it.”
We drove back to my car. My bag was nowhere in sight. Great. I not only lost my purse, but my phone. Then it occurred to me maybe somebody had found it and turned it in. I motioned for Ruby to head out, and I went into the sheriff’s office, feeling decidedly worse for wear.
I glanced at the nearest clock. It was almost five a.m. Lovely. Aegis was probably worried sick. As I rounded the corner, Delia came barreling down the hallway, in full SWAT gear with several cops behind her. She skidded to a stop in front of me.
“Where the hell were you? We were just headed over to Essie’s to break down the joint in an attempt to find you. A couple people saw you being abducted into a black van and the license plate was traced back to someone at her house.”
I let out a long breath. This was going to be a long night and a long explanation, and given what Essie had warned me we were up against, I was going to have to convince Delia that we were better off with her in Bedlam than we were with her out of the city.
With the wistful thought of bed and sleep, I followed her into the office to give her the rundown on what had happened.
Chapter 18
SANDY DIDN’T APPRECIATE the early morning call, but she needed to hear what I had to say, and I really didn’t want to repeat it again. I was tired, hungry, and still feeling clobbered by the after-effects of the damned drug they had used on me. But she agreed to meet us and within twenty minutes, she showed up. Her hair was caught in a makeshift ponytail, she had no makeup on, and she was clutching two mega-sized lattes, but she was there.
By the time I finished, I had finally talked Delia out of staking Essie. And I had talked Sandy out of trying to pour massive amounts of coffee into me.
“I haven’t even been to bed yet. If I drink caffeine now I’ll be a nervous wreck. The Rutillite is just finally starting to fully leave my system.”
“You slept while you were drugged,” Delia said.
“That’s not the same thing!” I sighed, then shook my head. “So, what this comes down to is that if we try to evict Essie from the town, somebody bigger and badder will take her place. Somebody who might be in league with the Arcānus Nocturni.”
“Did she tell you where this vampire queen lives?”
“No. Nor did she tell me her name, but the picture…the picture was scary.” I stared at the doughnuts on Delia’s desk. I wanted a maple bar or three, and I wanted it now, but I also knew that sugar on top of the drug and all the adrenaline wouldn’t exactly make me feel my best.
“Who the hell cursed you, if Essie didn’t? And do you believe her?” Sandy slumped in her chair, nursing her drink.
“That’s what I’m wondering. Who the hell could have it in for me? Besides Essie and the Arcānus Nocturni, who have I pissed off in the past couple of months?”
“Ralph. You were in here three times complaining about him, twice which resulted in me serving him with a ticket. Once for the fireworks, and don’t forget the speeding.” Delia shrugged. “Granted, he deserved those, and I would have gone after him about Snow White, but I don’t think he’s feeling all that friendly toward you.”
I thought about it. Ralph and I were definitely rivals, but I took it in stride. Usually. Then again…something struck a bell. “Wait. I remember something.” I ran through when I had chewed him out about Snow—there was… “Honey. Honey! I wonder if she could be a Dirt Witch.”
“Who’s Honey?”
“A Daisy Duke impersonator. No, seriously, she’s one heck of a pinup girl who was at Ralph’s when I went over there to bitch at him. She’s his cousin, apparently. She was carrying a plant and a trowel, and something about her made me stop. I remember something about her energy set off my alarms, but I was too pissed to really pay any attention.”
“If he does have a cousin who’s a Dirt Witch, then she might have some wood nymph in her as well. They can be nasty when crossed and if she has any sense of family loyalty, he might have prevailed on her to cast a hex on your house.” Sandy shook her head. “What’s her name again?”
“Honey. I don’t know her last name. But I’m going to find out.” I jumped up. “I’m exhausted, but I’m not going home till I find out what the hell kind of games Ralph and Honey have been playing at my expense.”
Sandy stopped me as I headed toward the door. “You are going home and you’re going to sleep on it first. You know as well as I do that you’re about due for an energy crash. Rutillite is fucking hard on your body. You said it’s not completely out of your system yet, and you know full well that if you aren’t near your bed when it is, you’re going to be hurting mighty bad.”
I grumbled, but Sandy was right. And I could feel the last bits of the drug starting to dislodge themselves. Like Novocain, when suddenly you started to feel your jaw again and then—in one big rush—it was gone and you suddenly felt the after-ache of the appointment. Only Rutillite’s after-ache was more like a sledgehammer to the head.
“Fine. Then you’d better take me home. But the minute I get up, I’m heading to Ralph’s.” I glanced at Delia. “Don’t you dare go over there without me.”
“Hey, hexing a neighbor or a business rival is against the law, but it’s so hard to prove that I’m not sure I want to bother. But I can have a little talk with him if you want me to. I can tell him that I’m going to watch the both of you from now on, to make nice and quit shitting in the sandbox.” Delia arched her eyebrows, smiling.
“Oh, lovely thought. Satyrs are so crude and lewd that I can actually see him doing just that. Taking a poop in my garden as an act of defiance.”
“Well, stop badgering him and maybe he’ll get bored and stop badgering you.”
“He started it.” I stopped, suddenly feeling the last of the drug wash out. “Cripes. There it goes. And…right on cue.” I rubbed my temples as they started to ache. “Headache incoming. I need to get home and get to bed.”
“I’ll take her,” Sandy said. She gathered my purse and phone from Delia, then looped my arm around her shoulders and helped me out to her car. “Don’t even protest. You won’t be able to drive in a few minutes. We’ll come get your car later. It’s early enough that I’ll be able to explain to Aegis what happened—he’ll understand, even though he’s in bat form.”
I nodded, feeling queasy again. I needed gentle, bland food and I needed a bed, and I needed them now. Sandy drove me home, checking on me every few minutes.
Feeling like I had been hit by a truck, I finally whispered, “How’s Bubba doing with Mr. Peabody?”
“Bubba and Mr. Peabody have developed a brand-new game, and I was going to talk to you about it later but I might as well tell you now. Thanks to Bubba rolling over and Mr. Peabody taking the time to groom Bubba’s belly, Mr. Peabody apparently got his wish. He has scent glands again. Alex has been spending the last few hours trying to de-scent the house. Mr. Peabody is going to have to undergo a new operation, which isn’t a lot of fun, and Bubba stinks to high heaven.”
I groaned. “So not what I needed to hear right now.”
“Hey, you asked. I just gave you the 4-1-1 on it. Now, when I get you home, you promise you aren’t going to call a cab or do anything stupid and go holler at Ralph? At least until you’re feeling better? You need a solid morning of sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll save that for when I really wake up. Maybe Garret will have the hex-breaker ready by then.” By then, my head was throbbing to the point of where I couldn’t have even stumbled to Ralph’s door.
Sandy again helped me inside, where we found a frantic Aegis flying round and round the house, screeching like a banshee. Sandy shushed him as she tried to get me upstairs, but there was no way I could manage the steps and she wasn’t strong enough to carry me. So she helped me into the parlor and laid me down on the sofa, drawing the afghan over me. Then, bringing me water, she settled down in the rocking chair by the fireplace as Aegis hovered over me, anxious.
I stared up at him. He was hanging upside down from the lamp that overlooked the sofa, stretching his wings and flapping to punctuate whatever it was he was saying.
“You do realize you’re making me dizzy.” I squinted, trying to make out the rest of the room, which looked like a badly focused movie that kept moving around. Real Blair Witch stuff.
Aegis squeaked again.
Sandy reached out her finger and he smelled it, settling down. “Listen, dude, Maddy’s really fucked up because of the Rutillite, so maybe you could lay off the kvetching until Garret gets here with the hex-breaker.”
I groaned, rolling into a ball on my side, huddling against the pillows. “Can you go ask him if he’s by any chance finished early?” I couldn’t even put in a phone call.
“Yeah, I will, but not till you’re sound asleep. It’s six-fifteen, so he’s probably not going to be up yet.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, but before I go out running any errands for you, I’m going home, taking a shower, and then getting dressed in something a little less frumpy. These are my pajamas, you know.” She leaned forward, rubbing my back. “Now go to sleep.”
“I c
an’t,” I whined. “I’m too tired.”
“All right. You wait here.” Sandy stood. “Aegis, you…well, if she tries to get up, you fly in the kitchen to tell me. I know what will knock her out.” She headed out of the room.
I tried to doze, but I couldn’t get out of my head. I was overexhausted and my body had taken a rough hit from the drug. I coasted, floating on a dizzying sea, until Sandy returned. She was carrying a bowl of instant mashed potatoes.
“Eat this.”
I didn’t want to eat, but the potatoes smelled good, and my stomach lurched with hunger. She slid her arms around me and helped me sit up enough so I wouldn’t choke, then fed me, spoon by spoon, until I had eaten it all.
A blissful warmth began to spread through me, cushioning my nerves, easing the raw, frayed feeling. A few minutes later, my eyes were beginning to close.
“What’d you put in those?” I asked, barely conscious enough to form the words.
“Honey, I had a bottle of Valerio in my purse. I figured it might come in handy.”
Valerio was a compound that Andy McGee made at his pharmacy and it rivaled the strongest sleep aids out there. I usually slept just fine so I didn’t keep it around, but now, I decided, I was damned well going to. And with that last thought, my breathing eased, and I let myself slink into blessed, dreamless sleep.
THE FIRST SOUND I heard was a woman’s voice. Then I heard Sandy answer her. As I blinked, trying to pull out of the fog-shrouded sleep, I picked up bits and pieces of the conversation.
“Please, you know that Maddy would let us stay here if she knew what was going on.”
The voice sounded familiar, and then it registered—it was Snow White.
“I know, but she’s had a lot of problems lately and I don’t want to make a promise without her approval. Can’t you find another hotel or something?”
“Ralph cut off my money and took my car keys. It’s not even my car—we don’t have them in Storybook Land. Since I refused to finish the movie, he told me and the boys to find our own way home.”
Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam Book 2) Page 20