by A. C. James
I’d just never known it.
I’d only found out that I was a witch when Rue shared my family history with me, but if I was being honest with myself I’d always known there was something different about me. Normal people don’t See things. I’d thought that being a seer was a burden, but tonight it had saved my life. And it had saved someone else’s life. Luckily I’d retained those powers even after I’d turned. And who was I to question it? The only kind of luck I’d ever had was bad luck. I wouldn’t start asking questions now.
“None of them can be more than a hundred,” Victoria said.
Victoria walked over to one of the bodies, crouching by its blackened remains. Her blonde, almost white, pixie hair spiked out in varying directions. My head felt thick; I hadn’t even noticed her leaning against a wall, quietly observing. “They’re newly made vampires. I’m sure of it. This one isn’t even wearing bloodstone.”
“Victoria is right,” Arie said. “If he was old enough to know better, he’d be wearing bloodstone. No doubt the irresponsible fuck who made him didn’t bother to explain it, and he must have been turned recently if he’s not wearing one.”
Julian shifted from one foot to the other. It seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else. Honestly, I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t even want to be there. And this had nothing to do with him or his missing cousin. I looked around, but the waitress whom I knew without a doubt was responsible for the death and destruction wasn’t there. Not that I really expected her to be. I knew she’d be long gone by now if she knew what was good for her.
The elevator chimed, breaking the stillness of the bar, and the doors swung open. Tessa walked through them, her spike heels clicking across the black marble. She stopped short, her mouth pursing together at the scorched scene that unfolded in front of her.
“Good God, what’s with the barbecue?” Tessa asked, gesturing toward the three remaining corpses. “Could someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?”
The bouncers had been clearing the bar, and the waitresses had started to clean up the broken glass and blood. Donors were serving the wounded, who were mending with each minute that passed.
“Well?” Tessa said, her impatience clear. “Someone start talking.”
Arie coughed. “Holly told me not to drink the Puncture. I think she had a vision right before it happened. Then they started bursting into flames left and right.”
“The young ones didn’t make it,” Victoria said.
Tessa walked over to the bodies, quiet fury etching her face. “I want to know who’s responsible for this. I want whoever did this with their head on a pike.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Victoria said with conviction in her voice.
I had a feeling that Victoria was deadly serious. And I imagined that Tessa was old enough that she would know what a staked head looked like from firsthand knowledge.
“It was the waitress who served our drinks,” I said. “I’ve never seen her before tonight. I imagine she’s fae. She had a blue trail behind her that reminded me of the silver trail that flows behind Luna. I saw her break into Tessa’s office, use a key that she keeps in the pottery, and steal money from her desk. She paid a fire faerie for whatever she put in the Puncture that did this.” I waved toward the all the damage and the injured vampires that sat at the bar. “She met with him here.”
“Naida. She’s a water nymph. I just hired her three days ago. She said she moved here from Oregon,” Victoria said. “And I believed her.”
She pursed her pale pink lips, looking toward the bodies—guilt outlining her delicate porcelain features. Her guilt quickly diminished, only to be followed by a resolute stance. I imagined she’d shred the waitress limb from limb if she got a hold of her before Arie or I were able to find her. “I should have checked her background more thoroughly, but I’m going to make her pay for what she’s done.”
How could Victoria be so impulsive? I’d always known her to be controlled in everything she did. If you could condemn someone to a death sentence, wouldn’t a small part of you die right along with them? I imagined once she had a chance to calm down she would be more composed. But the way she was talking, I imagined the water sprite would be paying for what she’d done with her life.
Arie sighed. He seemed to have noticed her shift in mood too. “It’s not your fault. None of us saw this coming.”
Victoria was a seer, like me. The burned bodies seemed to trigger something in her, but I didn’t know what. She kept looking over at them. It was almost imperceptible, but I could have sworn that I saw her shiver, as if the act of burning a person were an atrocity that held some deep-rooted and personal fear. Victoria carried so much weight, though I hardly understood why.
“Except me, but I couldn’t even stop it in time. You can’t blame yourself,” I said, chiming in. “Arie’s right. There’s not much any of us could have done to prevent this.”
Victoria had been the one person I’d been dying to see tonight. I hated to see her reproach herself over something so completely out of her control.
“It doesn’t matter. We know who did this,” Victoria said. “And I’m going to kill him.”
“You think Luna’s father is behind it?” Tessa asked, almost rhetorically.
“It’s the logical explanation. Luna’s father found out that she made a deal with you and started pressuring her to work for him again. Luna was upset. You gave her a few days off, and then suddenly Naida applies for a job.” Victoria shook her head. “I should have pressed Naida harder when I interviewed her. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”
Arie wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I leaned into his protective embrace. “This is going to start another war.”
I couldn’t stand the resignation in his voice.
“Look, I’m going to take off. If there’s anything I can do, don’t hesitate to call me,” Julian said. “Let me know if my cousin turns up.”
Julian and Arie exchanged glances across the destruction of the bar. That one look communicated more than words ever could.
After everything that had happened, I couldn’t blame Julian for wanting to get out of there as fast as he could. The place reeked of burnt vampire, and everyone was on edge. This wasn’t his fight. It was our fight, and I pitied anyone that got in the way. The murderous looks on both Victoria and Tessa’s faces were enough to scare the shit out of anyone. I had a feeling that when Tessa got a hold of Naida that she’d end up in her ‘interrogation room’ upstairs, and there wouldn’t be very much left of her once she and Victoria got done. I shivered, and Arie wrapped his arm around me even tighter.
Julian gave a curt nod. “Yeah, I’ll call you. And if you need anything…”
Arie nodded before Julian exited onto the elevator. Everyone stood in silence. Some of the older vampires who’d drunk the poisoned Puncture, but hadn’t been burnt to a crisp, were listening to our discussion about the attack. I imagined they’d want to deliver retribution as well. Another donor had extended his arm to one of them, generously coming to her aide.
The wounded, the dead, and everything that had happened, sickened me. I’d managed to save one life, but if only I had a better comprehension of my magic, then maybe I could have saved more.
Tessa broke the silence. “We should pay Luna a visit. Show her the picture from Naida’s employment file, and see if she recognizes her. If Naida worked for her father, she’d probably know about it.” She walked around the bar, pouring herself a shot of Cuervo. “Besides, someone needs to check in on her for her own safety. Her family doesn’t exactly value it, and we’re as close to family as she’s got.” She threw back the shot in one swallow.
If there’s one thing I’d learned about Arie’s friends, it was that I could count on their fierce loyalty.
“She spent the night at my place last night. She was really upset, so I told her she could stay with me,” Victoria said. “I didn’t think she should be alone. She was talking all sorts of crazy shit. Th
at she should have done what her half-sister did—run off and save everyone the trouble.”
Her voice was as pragmatic as ever, and it didn’t seem to register anything other than concern for a friend. It baffled me that for someone as astute as Victoria was, she had no idea that Luna had feelings for her. But Victoria didn’t show attraction toward anyone, and even held Arie, her maker, at a safe distance. She was always loyal but didn’t usually get emotional. Tonight was an exception, but given the circumstances, I could understand why.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Tessa said.
“Let me just grab Naida’s file and we can go.” With a nod, Victoria turned on her heel and headed in the direction of Tessa’s office on the third floor.
Arie started pacing back and forth as we waited for Victoria to return. She’d been gone almost ten minutes and we were all quiet as we thought through all the implications. Arie stopped pacing in front of the last crispy body in front of the bar as two of Tessa’s guards came back to take care of the last reminder of the night’s attack.
“What difference does it matter if Luna confirms that Naida works for her father?” Arie asked. “The better question to ask is what the hell was in the Puncture? It managed to nuke the newly turned vampires. This is something new, something we haven’t faced before, and we need to figure out what we’re dealing with.”
The unknown was always scarier than the things we could label and confront. It occurred to me that if I had drunk the Puncture, I could have been one of those charcoaled causalities lined up in front of the bar. My stomach heaved, and I closed my eyes to keep its contents where they should be.
“God, what if the next batch they cook up is more potent? The damage that could do…” I trailed off and took another sip of water. If I could just keep it down.
“Arie’s right. We need to know what this is,” Tessa said. Her cat-like eyes held an emerald fire that made me glad that I was on this side of the battle. “And until we know what we’re dealing with, extra security measures will need to be taken. Absolutely no fae will be allowed entrance to the club.”
“Even Luna?” Victoria asked, returning with a file folder wedged under her arm.
“Yes,” Tessa said. I could tell by her tone that she was adamant about, it and that no amount of persuasion would change her mind.
“We know her and can trust her,” Victoria said. “Christ, I’ll vouch for her.”
Tessa crossed her arms. “It’s not a matter of not trusting her. It’s for her protection. We all know her father is Victor Monti, and we all know what that means.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I muttered as I shook my head.
“They call him Big Vinny for a reason. There’s been a long-standing feud between vampires and the fae that work for the Chicago Crew,” Arie said.
“But what happened?” I asked.
“Well Victor was using his daughter for control. Since she’s a moon faerie, she has the power to influence anything that happens during the night,” Victoria said. “The trouble started during Prohibition, when Victor got greedy and decided that he should have a slice of the profits from the jazz club downstairs.”
“My club,” Tessa said.
“But this has always been vampire territory,” Arie said.
“My territory, and when I refused,” Tessa said, “he cut off the supply of alcohol to the club and bribed our source at the blood bank to cut off the supply which provided Puncture upstairs. Except that he forgot one thing…”
“What’s that?” I asked.
Tessa flicked a red-manicured nail. “I don’t like being told what to do. I had drained him within an inch of his life when Luna begged me not to kill him. She agreed to servitude in exchange for sparing her father’s life. Without his daughter’s magic, he lost a valuable resource and control over half the city.”
Arie grinned. “But be honest, Tessa. You’ve never taken very kindly to women being controlled, and you’ve always had a soft spot for Luna.”
“Perhaps when you’ve been around as long as I have you learn one thing…” Tessa smirked. “One way or the other, shit sucks when you’re a woman. Especially one that misbehaves.”
Having worked at the Coffee Grind, I couldn’t argue with her there. And Tessa had once been a courtesan, so I imagined that she’d seen and done things that I could only imagine. Her words reminded of a quote about well-behaved women, something about them not making history. “If it is Luna’s father who’s responsible for the attack, I don’t understand…why now? Why risk another falling out?” I asked, because even if it was obvious to them, I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
Victoria frowned. “We stayed up talking late last night. One of her father’s informants told him about her recent proposition to Tessa—that her servitude would be put to an end if Holly wanted to go back to being human and Luna used her magic to make it happen. Luna’s father came to her apartment to tell her that she was to return home immediately and go back to working for him. Luna doesn’t want that, and for good reason.” Victoria slid onto one of the barstools, placing the file folder on the bar. “Who would want to work for a guy like that? Tessa should have killed him years ago when she had the chance.”
“She had no life at all working for Victor, and the things that she had to do for him...her half-sister took off six months ago because she couldn’t stand the prick,” Arie said. “He views both his daughters as nothing more than means to an end, with little regard for what it costs them.”
“This is why I’m glad I never really knew my family. There’s always one crazy nut-job to make everyone else miserable,” I said. My father had followed his dreams of the NFL on the wings of a football scholarship rather than deal with raising a daughter. At least that’s the way I saw it since I’d learned the truth from Rue. “Her father sounds like a dick.”
Tessa half-smiled in agreement before turning her attention on Victoria. “Well, now that we have Naida’s file, we should go see Luna before anyone else gets the same idea. Yes?”
Arie grabbed my hand, but somehow I didn’t find it very reassuring considering that we could find Luna any number of ways or with any number of fae once we got there. The unknown was some scary shit. I only hoped that we could find Luna in one piece, and perhaps she could explain things. Even Tessa looked a little worried. I knew things were bad when someone like her suddenly looked serious. Something in our world could nuke us from the inside out, but we had no idea what it was, and no one wanted to face the same fate that had killed five vampires tonight.
“Holly, go with Victoria. I’ll catch up. I want to check the surveillance footage to see what this fire faerie looks like. If the image is clear, maybe I can have Luna take a look at the guy.” Arie gave me a quick kiss before heading toward the security room.
“Yeah, that’s a good plan,” Victoria said.
“It’s the only plan until I get there and shake some answers out of that girl,” Tessa said.
Victoria looked at Tessa like she could kill her with her bare hands if she messed with Luna. I didn’t doubt it. Fuck. This debriefing wouldn’t end well for anyone if those two couldn’t get it together. And Tessa looked like a sand shark that had just been stepped on by a belligerent vacationer who’d drunk one too many Bahama Mamas. I wished that Arie and I hadn’t come tonight. We should have just stayed home and curled up in each other’s arms.
“We’ll take my car,” Tessa said. “The backseat is kind of nonexistent, but someone as tiny as you should be able to fit without a problem.” She nodded in my direction.
I shrugged into my brown suede flap coat, which hung over a nearby barstool. The three of us were turning toward the elevator when one of the waitresses grabbed my arm. “Hey, wait a sec. You’re Holly, right?”
I bit my lower lip. “Yeah.”
“I’m supposed to give this to you. I was going to bring it to your table, but then…” She shrugged and handed me a piece of paper that was folded over. Both Tessa and
Victoria were looking at me, so I shoved it into my pocket. “Let’s go.” I wasn’t sure what was on the paper, and it was killing me to not open it right then and there.
Chapter 6
Tessa drove a Mustang GT, ruby-red like the color of her nail polish. The tires squealed as she pulled out of the parkade and headed toward Victoria’s townhouse on the North Side of town. Victoria was in the passenger seat next to her, where she was being grilled about her interview with Naida. Victoria clenched her jaw, not saying much as Tessa chewed her out for not being more thorough in checking her background. Victoria knew as well as I did that arguing would be completely pointless.
It wasn’t hard to tune them out when all I could think about was the note that the waitress had given me as I was leaving the club. I folded my fingers around the paper in my coat pocket. When it was abundantly clear that they were absorbed in discussion, I couldn’t wait anymore. I had to know what was written on it. I pulled the note from my pocket, glancing toward the front seat as I unfolded it.
Neat block print lined the page. I quickly scanned the text. It had been meant for someone else—someone that the person who had written the note knew quite well, from the looks of it.
I heard you were dead. I’m glad to see that you’re not. I need to see you again. I’ll be in touch. Hoping you’ll be dressed like you were tonight. You always look good wearing nothing.
—T
Who the hell was ‘T’? Whoever ‘T’ was, they’d obviously mistaken me for someone else. Someone they thought was dead. Perhaps the vampire sitting at the bar was ‘T,’ and that’s why he’d been staring at me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as a sudden thought occurred to me. There was one person that he could have mistaken me for very easily.
Katarina.
I looked like her in almost every way. The only difference was that her eyes had been hazel, while mine were brown. But the vampire who’d been sitting at the bar was sitting far enough away from me and in the dim lighting—he probably wouldn’t have noticed such a small detail. And Katarina is dead.