I didn’t say anything. Every word she spoke dropped on me like a tiny bomb. Not because I necessarily agreed with her, but because her point was painfully clear. Quitting would be what a lot of people do when they see their path is filled with rocks. That they’re fighting a losing battle. That they just stepped in quicksand and they better pull their foot out while it’s only an expensive shoe they’re going to lose and not the entire leg.
Had Thierry done bad things in his existence? I mean, I didn’t know half of it. A quarter of it. A hundredth of it, really. But I knew he had. The most recent skeleton I’d found in his closet was the group of hunters Bernard told me about who’d paid the ultimate price when Thierry had lost control of his bloodlust.
Was there an expiration date on evil acts? If you did something heinous a hundred years ago, did time and tide wash it all away? And if so, where was the line drawn? A century, a human lifetime, a decade?
How long did someone need to be actively redemptive before he was purged of all sins?
Yikes. My head throbbed just trying to wrap itself around questions like that. I wasn’t the right person to make these sorts of determinations. I wasn’t a lawyer or a judge or a jury. Had Thierry done enough in his six-hundred-plus years of life to land himself on death row? If so, did that mean he should be there now, even if it looked more like a luxury suite in a fabulous hotel?
And if I weren’t in love with him, would I be so willing to forgive the things he’d done in the past?
So many questions, so few answers.
Such was my life.
All I knew was that he was a man with a great deal more history than I had. And, yes, those skeletons in his closet could fill an entire graveyard. A big one with tall iron gates.
But even though I knew this, it didn’t change a single thing for me. Not a single damn thing.
I touched my left hand, feeling the loss of my engagement ring. That’s when my bottom lip finally started wobbling.
“Puppy?” Victoria asked warily. I didn’t bother to correct her on the nickname. I wasn’t feeling quite as fierce as I had in the tunnels with the vampire girl. “Don’t cry.”
I couldn’t break down, not in front of her. I didn’t want her to see me totally lose it right now. “I’m not going to cry.”
“He’s not worth it.”
That was debatable. “It’s done. Until I figure out what to do next, I should get you back to Charles.”
Her potentially psychopathic pseudo-daddy who’d be tracking us down any minute now.
She consulted her phone again. “I texted him. I left out the part about us almost getting killed. He’d probably blame you for putting me in danger.”
I wasn’t sure if I should thank her for this omission.
“Oh, he’s just replied. He says for us to meet him at Blood Bath and Beyond in half an hour.”
The blood addict wanted to meet us at a blood bank. That wasn’t a terribly surprising location. “Fine. I could use a drink.”
I could use a lot of things at the moment, but I’d start with a little B-positive before I wandered the city homeless and directionless now that my main lead to help Thierry had a big piece of wood sticking out of his chest. It was an ironic end for a vampire hunter.
As we headed toward the blood bank, I started thinking about home and how I’d left mine to travel here with Thierry, assuming it would be the beginning of life on the road for us. They say that home is where the heart is.
It was only a little over a month ago that I’d finally moved in with him. He held tightly on to his privacy, but my previous housemate, George, had packed up and left the country to move to Hawaii and that left me homeless. I didn’t have all that many things to gather, but gather them I did and I arrived at Thierry’s doorstep like some sort of street urchin.
He opened the front door of his townhome and looked out at me. “You’re here.”
“With bells on.”
“Come in.”
My feet wouldn’t move. They’d suddenly become a bit cold. “Thierry, I don’t know. Maybe I should get my own place.”
He just looked at me patiently. “Come in, Sarah.”
I mean, we’d been engaged for a couple months by then. I wasn’t shy. But the thought of sharing Thierry’s house after it was like pulling teeth to get him to share anything about himself—well, this would take some time to adjust to. I’d been there many times before, but it always seemed so big and cold. I honestly couldn’t imagine living there full-time. But there I was.
“How many square feet is this place, anyway?” I asked, glancing around at the large foyer.
“Sixty-eight hundred.”
“Sixty-eight hundred square feet,” I repeated. In that case, I hadn’t seen more than half of it. “It’s a cavern, not a townhome.”
And it gave a new definition to the word sparse. All white walls with high ceilings, it held very few pieces of furniture except for the essentials. No clutter, no magazines, no friendly pets or plants. There were a couple cold marble statues that looked like they each cost a small fortune. If there was any dust, the dust was probably too intimidated to show itself.
“How often do you vacuum?” I asked.
His lips curved. “I have someone who comes in once a week to do that for me.”
“Figured.” I didn’t know these things. Why didn’t I know these things?
“I’m not looking for a maid, Sarah.”
“I’m not offering.” I looked around again. The chandelier above us was large enough to give even the Phantom of the Opera heart palpitations. “Never noticed how cozy this place was before.”
“They say a home reflects its owner.”
“You think so, huh? So you think you’re cold, cavernous, and essentially empty?” I raised an eyebrow as I glanced at him.
That earned me a smile. “Depends on the day, really.” He took my suitcase from me and leaned over to brush his lips against mine. “I’m glad you’re here.”
The cavern already felt about ten degrees warmer. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Didn’t think, despite the size of this place, that there’d be enough room for me here.”
“Maybe not before. But there is now.”
“What’s changed?”
His smile widened at my trepidation about entering a house I’d been to many times before. “Would you prefer I charge you rent? Would that make you feel more comfortable calling this your home?”
“I don’t think I could afford it.”
He slid his gaze over the high ceilings, white walls, brass fixtures. “If you want to add anything you think would warm it up in here, feel free.”
That sounded like an interesting challenge. “How long’s it been like this?”
“Cold and empty?”
“Yeah.”
He met my gaze. “A very, very long time.”
“I guess it’s definitely time for a change, isn’t it?”
“Long overdue.”
I grinned at him. “I’m up to the challenge.”
I’d really only gotten started on that when we had to leave for his “offer he couldn’t refuse.” But I’d done what I could to warm the place up. I’d started with a welcome mat. It had a happy face on it and was bright and colorful. It didn’t say “Welcome.” It said “!!!WELCOME!!!”
I knew he wouldn’t like it. I considered it more of an amusing test to see how open he was to change. He’d let me move in with him, but how flexible was he really willing to be?
It disappeared the day after I placed it by the front door. It was just—poof!—gone. When I imagined the shocked look on his face when he would have first seen it, a spot of wacky and whimsical color in his otherwise monochromatic world, I started to laugh hysterically.
Thierry entered the foyer to see me standing there with tears streaming down my cheeks. He immediately came toward me and took me by my arms. “What is it, Sarah?”
“My…welcome mat…it—it’s g
one….” I couldn’t catch my breath. My laughter came in hiccups now.
He didn’t realize I was laughing; he only saw the tears. His expression was now etched with regret. “I’ll bring it back.”
I just stared up at him with surprise. “You will?”
He stroked the hair back from my face. “Of course. If you really want it here, I—I can find a way to accept the mat. If you like it, then I’ll like it, too.”
A smile spread over my face. “I don’t care about the stupid mat.”
He looked at me then like I was completely insane. Maybe I was.
At that moment, I finally felt like I was home—as long as I was with him.
Yeah, it was cheesy, but that’s how I felt. So sue me.
“Sarah, good to see you again!” Josh, the owner/manager of Blood Bath & Beyond, greeted me in the coffin room.
“You too. I seriously need a drink,” I told him. “It’s been a rough day…and that’s a huge understatement.”
“I hear you.” He put his hands on his hips and bent over toward Victoria. “And what’s your name, young lady?”
“Back off,” Victoria replied. “I don’t do cute.”
Josh shot a surprised look at me and I shrugged. “Victoria does do cute, but she needs a larger audience for it first.”
“I see. Well, allow me.” He creaked open the door to the coffin and the three of us stepped into the Starbucks blood bank.
I scanned the place. “I guess Charles isn’t here yet.”
“Charles?” Josh asked.
“Victoria’s…friend. He’s the one who recommended this place to me.” I flicked a look at the tiny vamp. “What’s his last name, anyway?”
“Manson,” she offered, then grimaced when I blanched. “No relation, I swear.”
Oh boy.
Feeling even more uneasy than before, I ordered my shot of blood and a regular brewed coffee and paid for both mine and Victoria’s out of the small amount of cash I had in my wallet. Sure, Charlotte took my ring but left my purse behind. That made sense. For a thief, she was a lousy one.
The B-positive didn’t help today. I hadn’t really expected that it would.
Charles Manson. Unbelievable.
“Hey, kid,” Josh said with a grin. “Check this out.”
He moved toward Victoria and touched her ear, pulling out a large gold coin. She stared at it for a moment before her eyes went wide and a big smile stretched across her face.
She clapped her hands excitedly. “Do it again!”
He did it with the other ear, this time pulling out a silver coin.
“Neat trick,” I said. “Is that part of your act at…where did you say you have a show? Club Noir?”
“You got it. Vladimir Nosferatu the Great.” He laughed. “Although I might be changing that to something a bit less corny soon. I use props from the store. Some magicians have their assistants escape from wooden boxes. I do coffins. Instead of live doves—bats. Fake ones at the moment, but they look pretty cool. I also have a segment with a kitten wearing a tiny Dracula cape.”
I couldn’t help but grin at the mental image. “That’s ridiculously adorable.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I try.”
“How’s business for the shows?”
“Not bad. Could be better, but there’s a lot of competition in town. I share the stage six nights a week with Kristopher the Magnificent.”
“Another magician?”
“No, he’s a psychic.”
“I can sing and dance,” Victoria offered. “And I’m looking for a new gig if you’re looking to expand the evening of entertainment.”
Josh eyed her. “You?”
“She’s actually a hundred and two,” I explained. “And currently unemployed.”
“Ah. Well, I’ll keep you in mind if a spot opens up, Victoria. Not sure it’s quite the act I’m looking for, though. Kristopher keeps things pretty interesting for the audience as he reads minds and communes with spirits from the other side.”
That made me sit up taller with a jerk. A bit of the hot coffee splashed onto my lap. “For real, or is it just an act?”
“Good question. I like him—I really do—but he’s a bit strange. He’s always at the theater, too—I think he practically lives there. I get this gut feeling that he’s got some serious, legitimate skills, but something’s preventing him from tapping into them as much as he could. I have no idea why he’s stuck working at a dive like Club Noir.”
His cell phone rang and he put it to his ear, talking quickly with someone on the other end of the line. When he ended the call, he looked at me, his expression apologetic.
“I have to deal with a problem.”
“Something wrong?”
“Just a new employee of mine. He’s…a bit of a hothead. Likes to scream at customers. Had no idea he was a vampire with human issues when I hired him a week ago. Afraid he’s going to go postal if I fire him, but looks like it’s going in that direction.”
“Sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” The strain on Josh’s face was hard to ignore. “See you later, Sarah.”
“Good luck.”
He disappeared through the coffin door, leaving me there thinking hard.
A hothead employee—a vampire one—who’d been working here for a week. Everybody was looking like a suspect to me right now. I thought I’d said I didn’t care about the serial killer? I only cared about Bernard’s murder?
Right. The murder I hadn’t been able to figure out yet and probably never would.
Ah, yes. Those were the chiming bells of doom echoing in my ears. I recognized that tune very well.
“Finished?” I asked Victoria.
She nodded, setting aside her tiny cup of O-positive and bottle of chocolate milk. Her face was still lit up from before. “He did magic!”
“That’s what magicians do.” I’d take a stage magician any day over a real witch or wizard. Coin tricks were way more fun to deal with than curses, no question about it.
We slowly left the Starbucks and wandered through the massive vampire-themed store toward the front entrance. A stuffed bat swooped so low overhead that it nearly got caught in my tangled hair. As we passed the slot machines, I decided to try one more time. In went a quarter and out came…
Nothing.
Again, it was a straw and camel’s back situation. Such a tiny failure made my eyes start to sting. I kept walking and ran my hand under my nose, trying to give myself a pep talk, only to find my inner cheerleader had gone on her dinner break and I had no idea when she’d be back.
“Oh, there you are.” Charles was waiting outside, his arms crossed. Victoria ran directly to him and gave him a big hug. He shot me a look of impatience. I shot him back a look of suspicion.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him about the blood I’d seen smeared on his lips earlier. Was it from a blood bank or from the latest serial killer’s victim who’d dropped dead right in front of me?
But I kept my mouth shut. About that, anyway.
“How long are you staying in Vegas?” I asked as calmly as I could.
“Our flight leaves tomorrow night.”
“Flight to where?”
“Why, Sarah? Are you planning on staying in touch?”
I didn’t really like his sardonic tone. I’d been friendly enough with this guy—to his face, anyway—given my doubts about his potentially murderous nature, plus I’d done some free babysitting today. Unexpected kidnapping notwithstanding. In my opinion, he should be friendlier. “Maybe I am. Maybe me and the kid bonded this afternoon.”
“That’s sweet. We live in Seattle. Having a connection to the Ring might be nice. Yes, please stay in touch.”
“I’ll send a postcard.”
This guy gave me the creeps. Big-time. All I could see when I closed my eyes was him slicing that blade into Thierry’s chest. The image morphed into him slicing his fangs into unsuspecting human necks.
I don’t trust you, budd
y.
“I’ll see you again before we leave,” Victoria said. “Won’t I?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, wondering how I could gather more information about Charles Manson’s shady background as a vampire hunter. “Do you want to?”
“Of course I do!” She left Charles’s side before flinging her arms around my legs and giving me a tight hug. “I’m going to miss you so much!”
My heart melted. Then again, it was really hot out today.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I’ll miss you, too. Even though you call me puppy.”
“I love puppies! Don’t you?”
“Well…yeah. Who doesn’t?” This kid was an enigma if ever I’d met one.
“What are you going to do now?”
My lump only got thicker. “I don’t know.”
“Forget him,” she advised. “You should come back to Seattle with us. You could be my mommy. It would be so much fun!”
This kid was seriously bipolar and I couldn’t believe she had worked her way under my skin given her roller-coaster personality. But she had. “Um, thanks for the offer, but I—I kind of have to deal with some stuff. Grown-up stuff.”
Her smile fell and the harder-edged Victoria appeared again. “Don’t patronize me, puppy.”
“I’m not! I’m just saying…” I sighed. “I can’t leave him. Not like this.”
“It’s too late to help him. The hunter’s dead. He’s next. Just cut your losses and let him go. That’s what he wanted you to do, right?”
Knowing Thierry, that was exactly what he wanted. He’d ensured my safety with Markus last night, knowing full well that might mean we’d never see each other again. As long as I was safe, he’d be satisfied.
The thought only made me feel worse.
“Victoria?” Charles prompted. “Time to go, kiddo.” She moved away from me to hold on to his hand.
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