Ghost Town (The Ghost Files Book 6)

by Chanel Smith

  A few weeks prior, an elder vampire by the name of Fariha de Sanabria had been sent to the ‘Final Death’ by an unknown killer. The rumors on the street had it that a human had done it. The more she pried, the more Veronica picked up tidbits about the whole affair. It was becoming common knowledge among the L.A. vamps that there was a renegade killer operating in the area. A man who tracked down vampires, broke into their places of abode and gunned them down with a crossbow. A crossbow with silver tipped arrows. Apparently he was damned good, too. He had caught Fariha in the open and impaled her to a tree with an arrow through the heart. Right in the middle of a park over in Yorba Linda to boot.

  Fariha’s demise hadn’t bothered Veronica in the least; in fact, she had been more than just a little relieved. The three hundred year old Moor had been as skilled a fighter and killer as they came, and Veronica had not been looking forward to the day when she would have encountered her. And she would have eventually done so, because Fariha was a coven maker and that type of shit did not go down well with modern day vampires.

  She ‘stole’ people from their human lives, feeding on them until they were too close to death to deny her. So, of course when she asked them if they wanted to live or die, they chose to live. To live the life she would give them. She had made a record six progeny in the last year and, in the opinion of most of the elder vampires, she was doing a piss-poor job of educating them and keeping them in line. They now saw her and her growing coven of hooligan fledglings as a threat. Why else was she procreating? So the human hunter had dealt with Fariha, and now Veronica had assigned herself to deal with Fariha’s children.

  It wasn’t long after midnight that the six dark figures emerged from the crypt below a broken down, neglected mausoleum that seemed to hide in the shade of two weeping oak trees. Veronica caught the scent of death on them and cocked her head to one side as she took a head count. They were finely dressed in what she could only envision was authentic vintage clothing from Fariha’s wardrobe. The leather of their jackets, corsets and pants was aged, yet supple and luxurious; the brocade silks of the skirts and vests shone with gem-like colors and fine needlework. Veronica counted six baby vampires.

  They were weak, vicious, starving. It was hunting time and they were working themselves into a mad frenzy. They had gained a bit of a reputation of having no moral standard and no self-control. Since the death of their maker, the pain of her loss seemed to have driven them into further depravity because of late, children, passersby, joggers, commuters, baby sitters… no one had been safe. They killed without discrimination, not even bothering to seek out the feeding houses and blood banks in the area.

  Veronica would be sure to wipe them out.

  One of the males paused on their way toward the cemetery gates and sniffed at the air as if he had caught the scent of something strange. It took him and the others a few minutes to come to the conclusion that their senses were correct, but that was all the time it took for the Huntress to make it all too late for them. Veronica floated swiftly down from the high steeple and landed soundlessly on the ground behind them. She quickly arranged herself into a position from which she would be able to move among them in a perfect arc. She unsheathed her silver-bladed Katana and the mahogany silver tipped stake and, in the blink of a human eye, she had powered through the group, removing every head clean from its shoulders and driving the wooden spikes straight through every heart.

  She twirled one more time and as the tails of her long black coat came to settle around her calves, Veronica looked up and watched the six headless figures burst into flames simultaneously among the headstones of the Rose Hills Memorial Park. She smiled as she walked out of the gates, sheathing her weapons at her side.

  ***

  San Juan Capistrano.

  The city is the site of the Catholic mission for which it is named, Mission San Juan Capistrano and after Giovanni da Capistrano, a Franciscan saint from the Italian region of Abruzzo. Within its limits can be found one of California's oldest residential neighborhoods, Los Rios. It is the home of the oldest in-use building in California, the Serra Chapel in the Mission. Despite all its rich history, the area is probably best known at present for being the home of both the first vineyard and the first winery in California.

  It was also the locale of Johnston McCulley's first Zorro novella, The Curse of Capistrano, published in 1919, which was later renamed The Mark of Zorro after the success of the film of the same name.

  It was in a forgotten grotto below the old mission that Veronica Melbourne now sheltered. She had solemnly accepted some help from one of Mr. Tan’s many trusted colleagues to find the place after several disconcerting discoveries of her previous nests. There was nothing more frightening for a vampire of any disposition, than the thought of being discovered and brought out into the light of day as they slept helplessly.

  As she sat on the edge of her twin-sized cot and looked around the dark, damp room, she sighed heavily.

  I live like a fucking rat! she thought. I really need a paying job, and fast. Maybe if I had a steady stream of income, I could afford a nice, light-tight apartment near the Haight-Ashbury in San Fran. That would be awesome!

  Veronica sighed again. She knew many vampires in the California supernatural community, but she didn’t know of even one who lived like she now did. She vaguely remembered being told by an elder vamp about how they acquired property and wealth and managed to live fairly well-to-do lives without having to work a day in their ‘second life.’

  She shook her head.

  Stealing from the dead has got to be just about as much bad luck as speaking ill of them.

  She decided that she preferred the holes in the ground under churches that she had been reduced to than glamoring some dead person’s attorney into adding her to their will or, even worse, some bank teller into keying thousands or even millions into her checking account, knowing full well the poor employee would be subjected to federal investigation and subsequent incarceration for it.

  No way, Jose!

  But then again, she had always been a prideful girl.

  Chapter One

  A few days later, Veronica sat in a street side café in the shopping district on Old Town Calabasas, sipping a room-temperature drink and doing her favorite thing; celebrity watching. The waitress attempted to approach her table for what must have been the third time since she had sat down and Veronica noticed when Ryu, her usual waiter, held onto the girl’s elbow to stop her and shook his head discreetly. A few moments later, he went over to her table carrying a small box.

  “This came in for you today by courier, Miss Melbourne,” he said, smiling confidently.

  Damn, he was so fucking hot. There’s just no way he doesn’t know that!

  She took her time looking the man up and down, feasting on him with her eyes, even as her fangs began to tingle and the crimson saliva filled her mouth.

  She swallowed hard and barely managed to reply, “Thank you, Ryu.”

  Veronica took the box and put it down on the table beside her. As curious as she was about its contents, she returned her gaze to the Asian-American man that was consuming her attention. His arms were long and muscular and completely covered in full sleeves of colorful yakuza style tattoos. She looked closer and noticed that there were traces of black line and colored images peeking out from just above the stiff collar of his white starched work shirt as well.

  I wonder if he’s wearing one of those full suit tattoos I’ve heard so much about?

  It was difficult to find even the most enthusiastic human canvas who would commit to that these days. Outside of the pain, there was the sheer expense of it to consider too. His right arm showed the brazen defiance of the oriental phoenix as it twisted up his arm, surrounded by flames and petals that were falling from the blooming branches of sakura trees. The left depicted the curving undulating body of the dragon engulfed in billowing clouds and images of Taoist gods and goddesses herding and feeding flowing streams of colorful koi f
ish.

  Beautiful.

  Ryu handed her a delivery form and a pen and after a quick glance over it, Veronica signed it and handed it back to him.

  “Another ‘Bloody Scary’?” he asked, to which she nodded affirmatively before he turned and headed back inside the café.

  ‘Bloody Scary’! How amusing! It looks like a Bloody Mary, but it’s really just blood with a plastic stalk of celery in it! And it was served at an appetizing body temperature. Human body temperature, that is.

  It was a bestselling drink on the after-hours menu at the Beast café. The proprietors and the night staff at this particular restaurant were what she considered paranormally sympathetic. They were in the know about all kinds of beings of her particular condition – the undead condition – and provided a place where supernatural beings of all types could dine, imbibe and socialize under the guise of appearing quite ‘normal.’

  Don’t be so shocked… its Calabasas. You didn’t really think all these beautiful creatures that you worship as celebrities from the other side of the television were human. Did you? Come on, get real!

  She picked up the glass and drained it just as the waitress appeared and placed the fresh glass in front of her. It was still warm to the touch, a little bit of style that they had at the Beast which Veronica was ever thankful for. Other places served the hemoglobin chilled, just as it was best preserved. She had heard that some vampires even drank it that way. She, on the other hand, preferred it as close to coming from the vein as she could get it, and that meant it got a cursory zap in the microwave before making its way to the table. Before the new girl could offer her a menu for the umpteenth time, Veronica waved her away and turned her attention to the box on the table. She sliced the tape open with a razor sharp fingernail and pulled the flaps apart.

  Inside was a flat, black box which she pulled out and laid on the table. She pushed the two metal clasps open and lifted the lid, her curiosity getting the better of her. On a bed of black velvet, Veronica found a beautiful Beretta BU9. She had always wanted a compact pistol like that. It was the perfect conceal carry weapon; tiny but powerful and certainly deadly. But there was one strange thing about the firearm and she mulled it over in her head as she ran her long, cold fingers over it, lifting it from the case to feel the heft of it in her hand.

  The gun was coated in solid gold plating.

  As she sat there admiring the weapon, suddenly a soft voice seemed to whisper in her ear.

  “Welcome to the club,” it said.

  Veronica whipped around in her seat trying to see where the words came from but there was no one in sight. She sniffed the air tentatively, nothing out of the ordinary. Just humans, supes, weres, ghosts, vampires. The usual. She shook her head, raised her nose higher into the gentle breeze that was blowing and took a deep breath.

  Hmmm. There’s something else too. What is that? Talc?

  Quickly, she placed the Beretta back in the box and noticed a small, black, manila envelope. She took it out of the box and turned it over in her hand. The seal was wax and red. The insignia on it was of an open-mouthed gargoyle.

  Who seals envelopes with wax anymore?

  The note inside was written by hand in old-fashioned, cursive, calligraphic writing and all it said was:

  Welcome to the club.

  ***

  Across the street, on the roof of a luxury car dealership, a little boy and girl sat in the dark, holding hands as they watched Veronica Melbourne keenly in the light from the restaurant and the warm Calabasas street lights.

  “It is certain that she will find us now, Alexei. This Veronica Melbourne is an old soul and she is no fool either. She’s bound to figure things out very quickly,” the Grand Duchess said finally.

  “Indeed, Anastasia. She will be the first outsider in centuries to know of the Watchers. Perhaps she will be the first of the new breed.”

  “So many of us have become tired of this task, brother. I have heard of many of the ancients who rose one day and just walked into the sun to rid themselves of the responsibility and this wretched longevity of life.”

  Alexei scoffed.

  “It hasn’t even been a hundred years yet, Sister, and I am already tired of living. If we had survived the Bolsheviks, we would have most likely still have succumbed to the natural death many years ago. It has been long and it has been tiresome for me. You know how much I miss both our mother country and the way that beautiful land shimmered in the sunshine, even in the dead of winter.”

  Anastasia looked at him with sorrow in her eyes. She squeezed his hand tighter as she rose and pulled him to his feet. They walked like that to the end of the roof and stepped from the edge. As they floated softly to the ground at the rear of the building, she put her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close to her.

  “Brother Alexei,” she began, her accent full and strong. “Perhaps if she comes to us, we can convince her to take us back to Mother Russia. Would you like that? Would you like to go back to Catherine Palace again?”

  The young Tsarevich sighed deeply.

  “It is all I can ever dream of, Ana. Ever since that night when Agrippina dug us up from beneath the pile of bodies in that cellar and gave us this life that we now possess. I remember fleeing Saint Petersburg and running for the Finnish border like a common criminal. The last thing I let emblazon itself on my already preternatural retinas was the image of Catherine Palace, our home.”

  Anastasia held him close to her again and hushed him like a child. Was he still just a child?

  “Perhaps, Sister. Perhaps she will come to us. Perhaps she will agree to take us back and perhaps Agrippina will finally let us go.”

  “Would that make you less tired, Alexei? Would you stay with me a little longer then, my brother? Is it possible that you could be happy even?”

  “I think that I could, Ana. But only if I did not have to come back here ever again.”

  ***

  The trip from Old Town Calabasas to San Juan Capistrano would have taken a person an hour and a half by car, but the trip took Veronica five minutes. She just ‘zipped’ it. It sounds stupid, but she couldn’t come up with anything more appropriate to describe what exactly it was.

  Basically, when she wanted to go somewhere distant, she just pictured it in her mind. Then she would think of the route she would normally have taken there and it was as if as she thought of the route, her body travelled it… just like that. In the space of a thought, she could cover hundreds of miles of distance and arrive wherever she wanted.

  Her new lair was located in an old forgotten dungeon below an outbuilding at the Mission San Juan Capistrano ruins. Veronica thought the place suited her style to say the least. It was still ridiculously bare, but after what had happened at the last few places she had holed up in, she was not in any rush to settle in too far. If she had another home ransacked, she would probably lose her mind and go bat-shit crazy on innocent people in the streets around the neighborhood. Someone had found her last three dens and completely ransacked them. The thought of a stranger knowing where she slept helpless during the day was catastrophic, but what got to her the most was that person going through her personal belongings, her dirty clothes, her books and papers…

  …touching my weapons! Gaaaah!!!!

  Since then she had begun to religiously stash everything of interest in her safe. She used her mobile phone for the Internet and no longer had a refrigerator so she wouldn’t be tempted to keep any blood at home.

  Here’s to hoping that no one will be able to find me at this ruined old historic site.

  There were plenty of visitors to the place during the day, but the dungeon she occupied was so old and forgotten that it didn’t even appear on any of the floor plans of the mission as it was known to exist at the time. At night, the property was well secured. No one could get in or out without the knowledge of the security team posted there by the historic foundation that managed the place.

  Veronica sat on the tiny bed and put he
r face in her hands. The evening was just getting started and here she was without a case to solve, without an investigation to run, without a date to go out on, or even a lover to satiate her needs. Her mind wandered back to the golden gun and the cryptic message that had accompanied it.

  Welcome to what club? How were the members of said club so sure she even wanted to join? More seriously, had her acceptance of the gun compromised her individuality or secretly committed her to something she knew nothing about? She grimaced at the thought of being manipulated. The package had been delivered in advance. Who would have known that she would be at The Beast for supper that evening? Was her stalker at it again?

  If the person knew where she would be, then it wasn’t a stretch that they would know who or what she was and what she did for a living. A light gust of wind passed through the room, flickering the flames, scattering the light from the candles and sending strange shadows dancing all over the walls.

  Welcome to the club, the voice in her head said again.

  What club? Other hunters? Other vampires?

  Suddenly Veronica was overcome with a strong feeling of caginess. She got up from the edge of the bed and double checked the safe. The handle didn’t give when she tried to turn it. Of course, she knew very well that if a fellow vampire applied just a little pressure to the lock, it would spring open like a Jack-in-the-Box.

  She had to get out of there. The room seemed to want to close in on her and squeeze the very life from her body. She pulled on her black moto jacket and a pair of hiking boots, then set the strange note aside. Carefully, she emerged from beneath the huge stone that guarded the entrance to the dungeon. It was one of three that Veronica had located, and when she found two more exits from the underground chamber, but failed to locate where the caverns had emerged, she had discretely collapsed them. It felt like a night for flying so she stood still outside the entryway and looked to the sky, willing herself to rise into the air and be transported to her favorite perch for thinking: a dark, flat outcrop on Lobster Point that overlooked Lobster Bay on the back side of Santa Catalina Island.