by Leah Silver
“Shockingly, no.”
She frowned, her shoulders slumping. “Too bad. You could use a good tickle from a charmer.”
“Sara,” I scolded.
“What? You’re tense.”
“You would be too if—” I cut myself off. I didn’t want to get into it with her.
“If what?” she asked. Just once, I wished she would tune me out when I slipped up. Was that too much to ask? She tuned me out on plenty of other occasions, so I knew it was possible.
“Don’t worry about it. Tell me what you learned today. Any breakthroughs?”
“You know, I’m a little concerned about that woman in England who died?” She phrased it like a question, as if I hadn’t heard of her. She was talking about Levi’s patient zero.
“Why?”
“Because it’s unusual for a vampire to die that way. Aren’t you concerned? She could’ve been you. Or me.” All teenagers thought they were immortal. But when they really were, death could slap them in the face a little harder than normal.
“I suppose. We are a world away from her, though. I’m sure it was an isolated incident, and nothing to concern yourself with.” I really wished I had something in my hands to distract myself, an excuse to look away from her truth-seeking eyes.
“Mom. You know there were two more cases. And they aren’t even close to each other.”
“I do.”
“What did the council want today?”
It should’ve felt like a dramatic shift of gears. I wanted to play it like that. But it wasn’t. She knew the incidents were connected to my meeting, and there was no point in lying to her. I felt my lips forming a thin line as I debated how to play it. The thing was I didn’t want to play it at all. I was too old for games, and frankly, so was she.
“They seem to think the three cases constitute a plague.”
“So, it’s true?”
“No, it most certainly is not.”
“But if they—”
“They are not the end all be all. And they certainly do not trump common sense. Three cases of some mystery illness do not constitute a plague, Sara, and you know it.”
“What makes them think that?”
“They have a seer.”
She sat forward in her chair, her whole body buzzing with excitement. “Really? What was he like?”
“He was a real pain in my ass.”
She threw up her hands. “Everyone’s a pain in your ass, Mom.”
“He was different. Made me uneasy. Reminded me too much of—” I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. “Anyway, I didn’t like him.”
“What did the council want from you?” she pushed.
“They want me to head a team of supernaturals to get to the bottom of this plague.”
“What? That’s great, Mom! What an opportunity!” She was brimming with enthusiasm, while I remained firmly in my seat of skepticism. She bounded out of her chair and landed with a flounce in front of me, taking both my hands in hers. Her light blue eyes danced with the possibilities.
“Think of it, Mom. We could do something really great. We could make a difference in our world.”
“We aren’t doing anything. You aren’t involved, and I plan to keep it that way. This is too dangerous for you.”
She dropped my hands and sat back on her heels “Mom, seriously?”
“Seriously. Besides, I told them no.”
“What? Why on this cursed Earth would you do that?”
“Because I think they’re being overdramatic. Three deaths do not make a plague.” I felt like a broken record, but why didn’t anyone around me seem to hear this logical statement?
“It’s three deaths too many. Our kind doesn’t just up and die. Don’t you want to know what’s causing it?”
“No, not really. What I want to do is hunt some demons, and make sure we still have plenty of money coming in our household.”
Truth be told, we had enough money to last us at least two centuries. But when you lived forever, it never felt like enough. I never felt as if I could relax. Even as supernaturals flocked from all over the world to go on hunts with me, and the blood I harvested sold for a pretty penny, I always worried it would go away one day. That it would end, and Sara and I would be as alone and destitute as the day Agatha saved us.
Sara’s eyes turned sympathetic as she looked at me. “We’re fine. And something like this could have the council taking care of you forever. You could finally relax. Enjoy your life for a change.”
I scoffed. “I do enjoy our life. For Bael’s sake, Sara, don’t be so dramatic.”
“You don’t like it here, so don’t pretend you do.”
“I like being with you. I like seeing you happy. That’s enough.”
“Forever?”
“No, not forever. I expect we’ll make a change eventually, but for now, this is fine. Why are we talking about this? Weren’t we discussing the alarmist, overdramatic behavior of the council?” I scrambled to try to wrestle control of the conversation back from my daughter, which was no small feat.
“And your cowardly reaction to it,” she filled in.
“All right, now that’s enough. They didn’t ask you to do it; they asked me. When you get yourself a reputation, and respect from the council, you can make your own decisions when it comes to saving our race, which I don’t think is in danger in the first place. I can’t just drop everything to go on some crusade for them. They know that, and so do you. Every time I’ve helped them out in the past, they’ve waited for me to fulfill my obligations here before I ventured out. Only once has a particularly terrible demon needed dealing with immediately. And my clients understood. They didn’t want to be involved any more than I did.”
I shuddered thinking of that encounter. As the years passed, I couldn’t help but think I’d gotten lucky with him. Or he’d let me win in the end. I wasn’t sure which, but he was bar none the worst I’d ever faced. That was a real emergency. He’d been taking out humans left and right, and risked exposing not only himself, but also our entire world to them. I couldn’t let that happen.
This didn’t feel that urgent. It just didn’t. And no amount of wanderlust from my centuries-old teenager would change my mind. “This isn’t Samael, Sara. This is panic. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Panic is a demon, too, you know.” She said it so quietly I almost didn’t hear her.
“What?”
“Brother to Chaos. They thrive on creating their namesakes among the humans. What if they’ve moved on to our kind?”
The thought had never even entered my mind. Panic and Chaos had been resting on their laurels, watching the world collapse in on itself as seeds they’d sewn years ago blossomed. They didn’t usually kill, though. If they did, their game was over.
“That makes no sense and you know it, Sara. I’m done discussing it with you. I just spent the entire day arguing about it with them. And one of them followed me home. I don’t need to continue the discussion here.” The anger coursed through me so strong I stood up and stormed out of the room, but once I was alone in the hallway, I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself.
Sara was right. Our livelihood wasn’t a good enough reason to tell them no. I did have things booked through the next year, but things could be shifted. They always could. Problem was I didn’t think this was worth that sort of effort. And I didn’t want their drama blowing up my life. It was as simple as that. So why did the issue keep nagging at me?
I walked to the back of the first floor, toward the kitchen. After I pulled some stuff out of the fridge, I absently started throwing ingredients together. Rage baking. It was what Sara always called it. Vampires didn’t need to eat or drink human food. It was an indulgence, and a normalcy I’d kept in our life. Something that helped remind us we weren’t monsters. It was also another reason why we hadn’t fit in at the coven. They said I was clinging to my humanity. Maybe I liked my humanity more than I liked them.
When I was done
with the third batch of cookies, Sara leaned against the doorway of the kitchen.
“We having cookies for dinner?”
“Maybe. What’s it to you?” I said, resisting the urge to stop what I was doing and actually look at her. I wasn’t ready to explain myself, or apologize. I shouldn’t have to apologize for my decision. I’d done the right thing.
She walked to the counter, and took a cookie off the pile from the first two batches. “Fine by me,” she said as she took a bite.
Silence hung while I busied myself getting the cookies off the pan, and she munched my spoils. So much time went by that I thought she’d walked away.
“Mom, I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
Finally, I stopped and looked at her.
“Maybe you’re right. Logically, you are right. But something feels off about this. The cases are too far apart, too disconnected to be … natural. Someone or something is helping this along. Which means it’s more serious than a couple of deaths.”
“Maybe.” I sat at the table in front of my massive plate of cookies, and took one off the top. “Nothing was ever hurt by waiting. I have another meeting with them in about a week to discuss any further developments.”
“What?” Her excitement was back, but I sent her a withering look. She put a lid on it just as quickly as it had sprung up. “I mean, you didn’t tell me that.”
“No, I suppose I didn’t. I told them I wanted time to gather more information, see how things played out. They didn’t disagree that three deaths didn’t make a plague. But they put all their trust in that seer. And something about him gave me the willies.”
She snorted. “The willies, Mom? What are you, eight?”
“I’m serious. He can’t be trusted.”
“Because he looks like someone you knew. But he isn’t. Is it entirely fair to judge someone based on someone else’s actions?”
Spoken like a true kid, wise beyond her years.
“I don’t know.” I took another exasperated bite. “He certainly had a hot temper, and didn’t like that I disagreed with him. He was just too … controlling. I don’t trust him.”
“Be that as it may, it’s all the more reason to get involved. If someone untrustworthy is deeply embedded in the council, shouldn’t you out him?” she reasoned.
“No. I’m not responsible for policing the council. I have better things to do.” I wiped my hands on my pants and went for another cookie.
“Like rage baking? Not that I’m complaining,” she said as she took another off the pile.
I sighed. “Sara, it’s never a bad choice to wait for more information. I can’t see uprooting our life for this conquest when it might not even be necessary. I’ve never even heard of this supposed famed seer. Where did he come from, and why is the council suddenly so trusting of him?”
A smile pulled at one corner of her mouth. “Now there’s a place where I can help you.”
Sara spent the following days researching Devlin and his history with the council. She didn’t find much at first, and I started to get discouraged. I sat at the computer opposite her, toying with the card Levi had given me. Maybe I should call him and ask what he knew about Devlin. What harm could it do?
I’ll tell you what harm it could do. He could think it’s an invitation into your pants, I thought as I pushed the card away.
“What is that, Mom? You’ve been turning it over in your hands all afternoon.”
“Nothing. I just thought it might help, but I think it’s more risk than it’s worth.”
“Mom, this guy’s a ghost. It might not hurt to have some help.”
“He’s not a ghost. He’s a vampire. Ghosts can’t be on the council; you know that.”
“I was being facetious,” she said, rolling her eyes. “My point was I’m wondering if you’re right. Why can’t we find anything about him? I mean, you’re all over the place. Anyone in our community can find out who you are, when you became a vampire, how to get in touch with you, even my name if you really dig. But this guy—”
I had to admit it was odd. Council members usually had some kind of profile on our protected data network, as well as a way to contact them with any concerns. Of course, data about our world and all who lived in it was guarded fiercely from the humans, but most of them didn’t even know it existed, so I felt safe. Humans weren’t the worst this world had to offer, anyway.
It had been three days since the meeting, and the council had left me alone. I hadn’t heard of any other deaths, and was beginning to wonder if Devlin was even a seer.
“Maybe he’s some kind of friend of a higher-up?” Sara offered.
I stood and stretched, then walked up behind her. She was slumped over, as if she were tired. Her skin looked a bit grey, but I told myself it was the light in the study.
“We’ve been sitting here all day. Why don’t you come with me for a walk? Get some fresh air.”
“I’m fine, Mom. This is what I do every day.”
“I know, and it’s not good for you.” I gathered her light brown hair in my hands and ran my fingers through it as I looked at her computer screen. She must’ve had at least a dozen windows open. All different searches of the council, Devlin, the deaths, and their connections. She’d come up empty every time.
She put her face in her hands. “I am kind of tired, actually. Maybe a walk would do me some good.”
Being tired wasn’t something that happened to vampires. Maybe she was just exhausted from the last hunt. Yet another reason why I shouldn’t take this case. She obviously wasn’t up for it. Demon blood. That was what she needed. It was what we both needed to reenergize.
“Okay, let’s—” I stopped short when my eyes landed on her shoulder, right near her neck. A black spot no bigger than a quarter marred her perfect skin.
“What—” I brushed it with my fingers, but the spot was smooth, as if it didn’t exist. “Sara,” I breathed as my world came crashing down around me.
Death by pen with a plume
“What’s wrong?” Sara asked as she turned and looked at me.
“I—” How did I answer that? How did I tell her she’d be dead in a matter of days? How could I live an eternity without her?
I went back to my desk, and did the only thing I could think of. I picked up the small card and made a call.
Levi was at my house faster than I imagined possible. In the meantime, Sara was in the bathroom examining herself. The door was closed, and there were no sounds coming from the other side. I was pacing back and forth in front of it when Levi knocked.
Rather than leave my post, I sent him a text message.
It’s open. I’m upstairs.
His heavy footfalls should’ve comforted me, but their presence only signified something very wrong in my world. A man hadn’t seen the inside of our home in many centuries. Boys had come and gone, companions of Sara. But good men who would tolerate my sharp tongue, lifestyle, and sense of humor were few and far between. But Levi wasn’t here for me.
“How is she?” he said as he topped the stairs.
“I don’t know. She’s locked herself in the bathroom.”
He knocked lightly. “Sara? My name is Levi. I’m a friend of your mother’s, and a bit of a doctor. Can I come in?”
Her curiosity must’ve overcame her, because she cracked the door, peeking out just a bit. “You’re the guy from the other day. The one who was out front.”
He gave her a rather disarming smile. “I am, indeed.”
“How can you help?”
“I’m one of the members of the team I’m sure your mom told you about. I also specialize in pathogens.”
“Human pathogens?” she asked as the door opened a little wider. I could see she’d taken off her shirt, but still had on a cami and her bra. There was more than one black spot on her chest. Had they been there before, or was it spreading that quickly?
My mind spun out of control when Levi put a heavy, grounding hand on my shoulder. “All kinds of pathogen
s. The council has asked me to be on this team because of my expertise in the field.”
Sara opened the door all the way, and Levi held out his hand. She took it hesitantly.
“I’m Levi. Nice to meet you, Sara.”
“And you,” she said, eyeing him. I was dying to know what she thought, but she was a teenager. Give her three seconds and we’d hear exactly what was running through her head. “Don’t go using your charms on me. They won’t work.” Case in point.
“I wouldn’t dream,” he said with a half smile and a wink in my direction before he stepped into the bathroom.
He kept up light conversation, asking her about her studies, her favorite movies—Harry Potter, even though the depiction of wizards was a bit off base, but it would be nice if there was an actual school for supernaturals. Could you imagine how amazing that would be?
She talked easily once he got her going, but the whole time, I watched him examining her closely. Somehow, he was carrying on a genuine conversation while concentrating on his work. Someday, I’d have to ask him how he did that.
When she was finished telling him about the latest book she’d read, he nodded. “That’s wonderful, Sara. I will get a copy as soon as I can. I’ll let you know what I think.” Something about the way he said it made me believe him. It wasn’t something he said just to make her smile. He meant it. A grown man was going to read the recommendation of a teenage girl. It baffled me.
“Sara, if you’ll excuse me, I’m just going to chat with your mother for a second.”
“Sure,” she said as she pulled her shirt back over her head.
He shut the bathroom door behind him, and I walked him to the door. “This isn’t good, Merry, as I’m sure you well know. She has days at the most.”
“No. There must be an answer.”
“Maybe.” Absently, he took out his phone and tapped furiously on it. “Ed is on his way over.”
“What? You invited a stranger over here?”
He looked up, clearly confused as his eyebrows knitted together. “Ed is a very talented wizard. Perhaps the most talented of this century. He’s been working on a suspension. I think he’s her only hope.”