Cherry Stem (Vampire Cherry Book 1)

by Sotia Lazu

  His grim expression stopped me in my tracks. “We had another disappearance last night.” He kissed my forehead and passed me by to drop an armful of folders on the bed.

  I looked at my feet with their ever-perfect red toenails, ashamed that my worst crisis last night had been which hot male to sleep with.

  “She doesn’t fit the pattern. A bit older and rather... Well, she isn’t a match, physically.” He hastened to add, “Not that she’s ugly.”

  “Maybe her disappearance is not related?” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and blew my bangs up off my eyes—really inconvenient hairstyle to carry indefinitely.

  Shaking his head, he sat on the bed and patted the mattress next to him. I sank down by his side, rubbing his neck with one hand while he opened the first folder.

  “She disappeared from a nightclub.” He didn’t find what he was searching for, so he checked the second one and let out a huff before tossing that aside too.

  His shoulders were full of knots, so I slid behind him, legs outside his, and used both hands to massage him. “Maybe she wanted a change of scenery and will show up eventually?”

  “She has a kid. She wouldn’t have left him willingly,” he said in a low voice, shuffling through more papers. I was about to point out that there are some horrible mothers in this world when he cursed under his breath. “Finally.”

  An uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach made me stop what I was doing and glance over his shoulder at what he held up. It was a passport picture, and not a recent one.

  “Theodora Williams,” Alex said. He didn’t have to.

  I knew the big, earnest eyes looking out at me from the face with the prominent angles. Her hair was longer than she’d worn it since I first met her, her cheekbones sharper, her neck slimmer. Still, there was no doubt in my mind. Even in a photograph taken something like ten years earlier, I recognized the girl.

  Dotty.

  Alex was still talking, but I wasn’t listening. His voice was background noise, lost as I was inside my thoughts. Was Dotty randomly targeted, or did my maker know where I lived? Who my friends were? Doubt and self-recrimination were circling in my mind like sharks in a tank, and in these circumstances, I wasn’t a good swimmer.

  “I know her,” I said after several long moments. “She lives in my building. We’re friends. Sorta.” It couldn’t be a coincidence.

  He turned, trying to meet my gaze. When he couldn’t, he rose and sat again, this time facing me. “I’m sorry, Cherry. We’ll do everything we can.” He reached for my hand, and I let him take it but couldn’t accept the solace he was offered.

  “Mark. Where is Mark?” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t asked that sooner.

  “With his dad. Dad went to drop the kid off, and there was no sign of Dotty. They waited, but she didn’t show. The boy said she was out with a guy she’d been seeing, but we have no name or description.”

  “Can’t you find him from her phone records?”

  “We’re waiting for the judge to sign the subpoena.”

  Waiting. I wasn’t good at waiting. I pulled away from his touch. “We have to do something. I think it’s because of me. ’Cause we’re looking into this case.”

  His other hand found my shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “Don’t do that. She was unlucky. We’ll—”

  “No.” The word came out so harsh, it reverberated off the walls and came back to me like the snap of a whip. “This has nothing to do with luck, bad or otherwise. She doesn’t fit the profile. You said so yourself. She isn’t young enough and has family. If she was indeed taken by Willoughby, it can’t be for the same reason. It’s to get to me, like breaking in here was to get to you.”

  “But we don’t know why the others were taken.” There he went with the sense-making again. “We still don’t know why you were turned.”

  “You think my turning is connected?” I was already half-convinced it wasn’t random, but six years had passed since. What he was suggesting was...

  “I do.” He drew circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. “And I’m going to find out how.”

  I stood so quickly that I’d have felt dizzy if I were alive. “We can do that later. We will. First we have to find Dotty.” I itched to sink my teeth in the throats of those responsible for it all.

  “We will do nothing until it’s dark outside.” Alex headed toward the stairs.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Gotta make some phone calls.”

  I wondered what good it would do but said nothing. I paced while waiting for him to come back down. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was the reason Dotty was in danger, and I was restless with the need to act. Wouldn’t stupid dusk ever come?

  “...one of you can come in.” Alex got in my way, snapping me out of my internal musings.

  “What?” I had no clue what he was talking about or when he’d returned to the basement. Vampiric senses, my ass.

  “I said, at least we know only one of you can come in.”

  “Where?”

  “In the house,” he said. “This house. Only one vampire can come in—other than you. My mother said two guys came by a few days before she left. They were selling cable service. She’s had no other visitors that she didn’t know.”

  I was perplexed. As was becoming a habit, he read my facial expression all too well. “I told her there was a burglary in the neighborhood,” he said. “Asked if she’d seen any strangers around.”

  I nodded. “Is she sure?”

  “A hundred percent. She’s a hell of a gossip. The cable guys refused to say anything about themselves, and it struck her as odd. They were also very insistent about coming inside the house but didn’t stay for more than five minutes once she invited them in.” He ghosted his knuckles down my cheek. “Are you okay?”

  “No. I want to go by Dotty’s, see if I can find anything out.”

  “We’ve already spoken to her son and her ex-husband.”

  Of course they had, but I could find out more than Alex’s colleagues had. “Mark said she was out with the same guy she’d been seeing for a couple of weeks.” I should have asked her about that guy last time she wanted me to babysit. “Sure none of our neighbors has seen him?”

  To his credit, Alex didn’t look upset that I more or less questioned how he did his job. He shook his cell phone in the air. “Called Lieutenant Roebuck again. Nothing yet. We’ll keep asking around, but there’s not much to go on. Guy might as well be a ghost.”

  “I have to go, Alex.”

  “No, you don’t. What’s more, you can’t. Her place is filled with cops. They’re talking to her neighbors. If you show up, they’ll ask questions, and if they need to talk to you for hours, they won’t be understanding of your sun allergy.” His voice rose gradually. “Let us handle it, all right?”

  “No. It’s not all right. I need to do something about it, and you can’t stop me.”

  “Cherry.” His tone was pleading now. “Please try to understand. It’s our job.”

  “Well, you’re not very good at it, are you? Those girls can attest to that.” I regretted the words the moment they were out of my mouth.

  His face fell and closed up at the same time. He was still looking at me but with narrowed eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “That was cruel.”

  “You think?”

  “I’m sorry.” I leaned my forehead against his broad chest. “I hate being unable to help her.”

  He wrapped his arms around me. “I know the feeling. I promise my guys are doing their best. They’re gonna turn the place upside down, to find clues about her guy.”

  The calmness that washed over me when he embraced me was unsettling. I couldn’t let myself lean on him like that, when he wouldn’t be around for long. “I still believe I can do more,” I said, trying to pull away. “I know her. Your guys don’t. And poor Mark must be scared to death.”

  “He’s with his dad.” He wouldn’t let go.

 
“His dad is a first-class jerk, Alex. Please let me go.”

  He sighed so deeply, my head rose and fell against his chest. “Can you get in and out of her apartment unnoticed? The kid may tell you more than he did the officers, but he’s not alone.”

  “I can make others not notice me.” I hung my head and looked up at him through lowered eyelashes. He’d made his thoughts on mind control clear.

  He surprised me by kissing the crown of my head. “You’re not going to hurt anyone.” It wasn’t a question or a demand, more a statement of fact, yet I felt the need to reassure him.

  I met his gaze and gave him a weak smile. “I’ll... compel them to look elsewhere. No harm, no foul.”

  He chuckled. “Fine. You can compel away. Just don’t get into trouble.”

  “I won’t. Honest.”

  THE UNIFORM IN FRONT of my building was in his mid to late thirties and impeccably groomed. He leaned against the glass door, obviously bored. I could relate. I’d twiddled my thumbs most of the day too, waiting for it to be dark outside.

  He snapped his head my way when I started up the steps. Huh. He wasn’t as out of it as I initially thought.

  I caught his gaze. “I’m not here,” I said. “You never saw me.”

  His eyes went blank. “I never saw you.”

  I nudged him aside and crossed the threshold.

  The two cops outside Dotty’s apartment were equally easy to get off my case, as was Mark’s dad, a short, tubby man with beady eyes and thin lips—I don’t know what Dotty ever saw in him.

  Finally certain my presence wouldn’t be remembered, I walked to the boy’s bedroom.

  Mark rushed me and wrapped his arms around my waist the moment I opened the door. Gone was the snotty brat whose ass I wanted to kick every time I babysat him. He was just a lost little kid now, and I was the only adult he felt close to. He buried his face in my belly and let out a choked sob that broke my heart.

  “It’s okay, big guy. We’ll get your mom back.” I caressed his hair. “We will. And she’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

  “Will the scary man let her go?”

  I wouldn’t have made out his question without my enhanced hearing. What did he know? “What man, Mark?” I wanted to see his face, but he might find it easier to talk without facing me.

  “He came to my window earlier. Said—” Another sob, and then he wouldn’t talk despite my urging him.

  Only a vampire could have appeared at his second-story window, and I bet my bottom dollar I knew who it had been. “Did the man have big, pointy teeth?”

  Mark sniffled.

  I decided to resort to extreme measures. “Look into my eyes, sweetie.”

  He did, his face open and full of trust. The hope mirrored there made me feel guilty, but not enough to stop me from using my abilities on him. “Tell me exactly what the man said.”

  His eyes glazed over. “You’re a good boy, Mark, and that’s why I won’t kill your mom. But you have to do something for me too. Tell Cherry to get her boyfriend off my case. If you tell anyone else you saw me, I’ll come back for you.” The voice that came out of his mouth was his, but deeper, like he was imitating an adult.

  I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt whose disdainful tone I heard.

  Willoughby.

  Mark trembled like a leaf, and I clutched him to me harder. I would find the stupid vampire who thought he could mess with me and mine, and I’d turn him to dust, like I did with his buddy.

  “You are a good boy, and I’ll get your mom back to you.” I slid down to kneel before Mark, never tearing my gaze from his. “You must believe me and not be sad.”

  He smiled—not the cocky grin that resembled his dad’s, but a sweet tilt of the lips that was a hundred percent Dotty. “I believe you.”

  I kissed his cheek and told him not to tell anyone he saw me. I trusted him not to, though I’d stopped the gaze lock by that point.

  He grabbed my shirt before I could go. “Dad wants me to stay with Gran for a while. What if Mom comes home and doesn’t find me?”

  Dotty had mentioned her mother-in-law lived in Bakersfield, far enough for Mark to be relatively safe. “I’ll tell your mom where to find you. Don’t worry.”

  He wiped his nose on the back of his hand and nodded.

  I RANG ALEX’S DOORBELL and waited. My phone vibrated in my back pocket. I pressed the little green button and brought it to my ear.

  “Constantine.” I said his name flatly, instead of a greeting. Hey or whazzup wouldn’t cut it.

  “Cherry.” It sounded more like Chérie. It pissed me off without real reason.

  “Did they say yes?” There was no need for niceties; we both knew why he called.

  Alex opened the door, and I motioned for him to be quiet as I walked inside and let him close it behind me.

  “Indeed.” Constantine sighed. “Where are you?”

  I ignored his question. “When?”

  “Now.” I detected impatience in his voice. “Where are you?”

  “Not your business. Where?” The council’s private meeting chambers have always been hush-hush. They hold hearings in safe houses, but never without an appointment and never at the same place twice. Last I’d seen them, they’d been in an old warehouse.

  Only a handful of people knew how to contact them, something I found at odds with their purpose. Rulers are supposed to know their subjects. Also, I hate being considered anyone’s subject. That said, I assumed their agreeing to meet me meant I was in the inner circle. Sort of.

  “Come by the mansion. I’ll take you to them,” Constantine said. So no inner circle for me.

  Alex frowned, and I turned my back to him to whisper into the phone. “I don’t want you there, Constantine. Thank you for arranging it, but I don’t need you to cover my ass.”

  He tutted. “First off, I prefer your ass naked. Secondly, they requested I be there.”

  Bullshit. It wasn’t a they that wanted him at the meeting; it was a she. A bitch, who happened to be one of the council members. Ádísa.

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Chapter Seven

  AS IT TURNED OUT, I wasn’t the only one to grumble.

  Alex insisted on coming with me, but I couldn’t very well present him to the council and say, Hey, peeps. This human knows all about us, but it’s cool. Not if I liked my head where it was—and it just so happened my shoulders were kind of partial to it.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” He stood at the open door, blocking my way out of his mom’s ground-floor bathroom. Arms stretched over his head, he held the door frame and rolled his shoulders and neck. His heartbeat betrayed that he wasn’t half as relaxed as he appeared.

  “Yes”—an endearment was about to roll off my tongue, but we weren’t there yet—“Alex. It’s safe. They’re the council. The good guys.”

  He snorted, the sound carrying more snark than any nonverbal response should. “What about the warning?”

  The thought had bugged me since I left Mark behind. “The warning was about you backing off, which you said you would. Plus, I don’t see how he’d find out I’m meeting the council.”

  “You do realize I’m not officially withdrawing from the case, right? Just lying low?” He sounded concerned. “That doesn’t mean the department is going to drop it. There are people looking into this as we speak.”

  “I know,” I said. “And it’s not like you and I are gonna sit on our hands in the meantime. We’re just going to be more subtle.”

  “Still, maybe going with him—”

  “Isn’t a good idea,” I finished his sentence. I had no time for jealousy and territory marking now, although I might enjoy Alex and Constantine comparing their machismo at a less panicky time. “The council asked for him, and they will know what to do.” I wholeheartedly hoped they would. If they couldn’t help, Dotty wouldn’t be Willoughby’s last victim.

  “Fine. If you want to go, go.” There went the cool act, right out the window. He didn’t ra
ise his voice, but there was an edge to it. “If you’re not back by dawn, I’m coming after you.”

  “I’m going, and I’ll be back way before dawn.” Not that he’d know where to begin looking. I rummaged through my bag, for a bobby pin. My nowhere-near-natural, bright-red hair color was damaging enough for my credibility in front of the vampire ruling body. I had to at least pull the bangs back.

  Ah, there it was.

  “Fine,” Alex barked once more

  I had the pin in my mouth and was trying to hold the front of my hair up, to secure it. “Fine,” I spat back around the hairpin. I finally got my bangs where I wanted them and tried to pin them in place. No luck. My hair isn’t great at staying in place unless copious amounts of hairspray are involved.

  Alex plucked the thing out of my grasp and shoved it in my hair so hard that, at a steeper angle, it would have gone through my scalp.

  “Ow.” I ducked away and turned to glare at him.

  “Sorry.” No, he wasn’t. The corners of his mouth lifted. A smiling Alex was a good thing, so I wouldn’t hold this against him.

  I pinched his ass and begrudgingly returned the hug and peck he gave me. They felt too much like goodbye and made me want to burrow into his embrace and forget about the meeting.

  I couldn’t. “I’ll be back soon.”

  “I’ll be here. Told Roebuck I’m following a lead, so I won’t have to go by the department until we know something about the case. And I’ve got research to do.” He pointed to the folders strewn all over the coffee table. “So I’m clear, though, I don’t like this.”

  As I walked out the door, I couldn’t help but wonder how much harder letting him go for good would be, if leaving him for a short time felt so bad.

  CONSTANTINE WAITED for me at the door, dressed this time. Can’t say I wasn’t a bit disappointed over the lack of bare flesh, but most of me was relieved to see him in his black dress pants, designer black shirt, and purple tie. A vampire dressed in black and purple. Stereotypes-R-Us.

  He looked scrumptious, dressed up—don’t get me wrong—and with clothes covering his body, I had less trouble focusing on his face.