Of Blood and Sorrow

by Christine Rains

  A large bang upstairs startled me out of my thoughts. I was up, crouching and ready to spring into action if need be.

  “Erinys Nekana Driscol!”

  Oh shit. My stomach flipped. Only one person ever called me by my full name. The dangerous edge to the shout propelled me out of the bathroom and up the stairs. If I didn’t come running as fast as I could, the Lady would be displeased. She didn’t like to shout more than once.

  I burst out of the basement and through the kitchen to the front entry hall. I skidded to a stop and almost toppled over to my knees. It might have been wise to do so anyway.

  The Lady was in her After Noon form. Bright and golden, beautiful and furious. The air shimmered around her as the heat rolled off her. Perhaps someone who believed in angels might think her one minus the wings, but there was no peace in her shining eyes.

  “My Lady.” My voice wobbled as I lowered my gaze. I might have asked how she found me, but the Lady had her ways.

  “Hiding. In a stranger’s house. And you have the protection of my home.” The Lady’s voice was deep and womanly, commanding. It was also disappointed, and that was what hit me the hardest.

  “I—”

  “There’s no excuse. I haven’t let someone live with me in centuries.” The Lady hissed and the floor shook. “I did not take you for a coward, running and hiding like a mouse, covered in crumbs of cheese. Squeak, squeak, squeak, said the mouse before her neck was crushed in the trap.”

  I cringed and wiped at my shirt. I was ashamed, but I had my reasons. I didn’t know if I could explain them to the Lady, though. Not when we were in the same house as Nicolas at the moment.

  “Come.” The Lady turned, almost as if she barely moved at all. She walked outside, paused, and glared at me over her shoulder.

  Was the Lady taking me to be punished? I had never seen her so furious. But Nicolas was alone in the basement. Unprotected. What if someone else came into the house? Or worse, what if Mary found him? I couldn’t go. Not now.

  “I can’t.” And what a mouse I made with that squeak!

  The Lady blazed, baring her teeth. “Come.”

  Though I was no vampire, my skin reddened and blistered. I bit my tongue to hold back my cry. Never mess with the Lady in her After Noon form. A warning I’d taken seriously, but clearly not seriously enough. The ancient demon could fry me to a crisp.

  I wasn’t going to make her say it again. I bit back a whimper as my heart twisted. I’d find some way to get a message to Nicolas. Not now, though. I’d not bring the Lady’s wrath down upon him.

  I exited the house with my head hung low and my hair draping either side of my already healing face. Closing the door behind me, I tried to blink away the tears. So few people ever cared for me, and I’d disappointed them all. If the Allu were to show up right now, I’d surrender myself to them and let them cut me up spot by spot.

  The Lady brought me to Putzkammer & Sons. I had expected to be taken home, but Connor must have told them what was going on. I would have to face the Lady and all of the Putzkammers now. It had to be done eventually, but it didn’t make it any easier to walk from the car into the funeral home.

  Fresh and savage grief slammed into me as I walked through the door. I stumbled, unable to stop myself from opening up to it. Nothing this potent had tempted me in a long time. What was worse was the familiarity of it. I followed the Lady down to one of the sitting rooms.

  The source of the anguish made me lose my breath. My hands fluttered up to cover my mouth.

  Cort rubbed his mother’s back as she sobbed. His eyes were red from crying. Paul sat limp and shaking in a chair next to them. Aleo paced, openly wearing his tears.

  No. It couldn’t be. I wouldn’t allow it to be.

  The second they saw me, Aleo rushed over and wrapped me in a fierce embrace. Bolona let out a cry and was fast to follow, weeping against my hair. As the older woman shook, so did I.

  “Erin, girl. Thank the Fates.” Aleo kissed my cheek. “We thought you were dead too.”

  A memory of me when I first came to the funeral home, hiding in a corner, and Connor coaxing me to come out by making me laugh.

  “What’s… what’s happened?” I barely got the words out. I knew the answer, but I didn’t want it to be true.

  Bolona began to wail, clutching at me.

  Connor as a baby, all smiles and giggles. Chubby cheeks jiggling under beautiful hazel eyes.

  “Oh, girl. You don’t know. We had hoped you’d know something.” Aleo sighed and detached his wife to lead her back over to the couch where she collapsed. “Connor. My boy. He’s dead.”

  Connor playing baseball, hitting a home run and his father hooting from the bench at the win.

  I fell to the floor as if I’d been hit in the face. A sound escaped me, not quite a pained scream or soft mew, but something born of both. The world spun and I clawed at my tentative hold to consciousness.

  Cort picked me up and cradled me like a child. I shook as if I were stuck in the middle of a blizzard with no clothes. He set me down gently on the couch and kept a strong arm around me. Bolona’s head was in my lap and somehow one of my hands knew to stroke her hair.

  Connor, as a toddler, stealing a cookie from a platter as Bolona scolded him all the while laughing on the inside at his antics as she did.

  “How?” I squeaked. I didn’t want to know, but had to.

  “Murdered.” Aleo shook his head and resumed his pacing. “We found him outside this morning.”

  “Brutally beaten, tortured, and mutilated.” Cort growled. His grief was the sort that blindly drove men to stupid acts of revenge.

  Cort showing Connor how to drive, laughing together and talking about girls and music.

  I covered my mouth again; this time with the fear I might throw up. Not Connor. He didn’t deserve a death like that.

  “The Allu.” I blurted out. “It was the Allu!”

  “Abdiel assured us it wasn’t.”

  “He’s lying!” I shrieked and sprang up, barely paying attention to how I almost knocked Bolona off the couch. The tears hadn’t fallen yet. They seemed frozen in my eyes. “We did something last night. And the Allu… We hurt one. They’d kill him for it. It’s their way.”

  “Abdiel told us what happened with the other Allu. You didn’t seriously hurt his comrade,” Aleo spoke in a calm tone. It was meant to soothe, but nothing would drive away this pain. I shook my head vehemently.

  “They’d still kill for it. They killed Connor!”

  “Shush now.” The Lady came forward, and the Putzkammer men stepped away from her. I was shocked they all seemingly forgot she was there with their sorrow. She cupped my chin and forced me to look into her eyes. “Abdiel submitted himself to my light. He speaks the truth. None of his harmed Connor. Oh, but how they wanted to do so. Such an act from a Mutt and a vampire.”

  If I could have forced myself to faint, that moment would have been the perfect time to do so. They knew what happened. The Putzkammers still worried about me, embraced me, even though they knew I’d been helping a vampire. Connor was right. I should have never doubted them. I wasn’t of their blood, but they had always treated me like family.

  My tears began to fall.

  “Yes, child. You see now.” The Lady released me and blazed brighter. “Tell us of last night.”

  I squinted against the light and cringed as if it might burn me again. I didn’t know if there was any truth to the myth that I would burn if I lied, but I wasn’t going to.

  “I convinced Connor to help me. I shouldn’t have asked him. I shouldn’t. He’s too good. He never says no to me.” I swallowed hard. I turned to face the family. They deserved that at least. Let them hate me afterward, but I would tell him how good and brave their son was. “I was helping Nicolas. He was confused. He wanted to do something good.”

  Cort scoffed. “The vampire? He’s gotten you good with his char—”

  “No.” I cut off Cort and his trying to rationaliz
e my actions. “I was never affected by his charms. I helped him because I wanted to. Because… he’s not bad. Not all vampires are bad.” I winced at their unbelieving expressions. “I only hoped to give him some information and send him away from here. Yet Nicolas didn’t leave. He didn’t want to be chased away. I asked Connor to help me yesterday, and we drove out to meet with Nicolas last night. He wanted to be there to protect me in case I was wrong. He was looking out for me. All for me.

  “We were at Starbucks, having coffee and talking.” It sounded weird to talk about hanging out with a vampire like that. I knew it would sound that way to the others as well, but it was the truth. “One of the Allu came in and saw me. When he spotted Connor with me, he left. He didn’t notice Nicolas. More of the Allu arrived. We tried to leave without being seen, and I really thought we might get away, but luck wasn’t on our side. One of them came over to pass on a message to Connor to give to you.” My breath hitched. “That one saw Nicolas. He bashed through the window and tried to get him. Nicolas broke his arm, and Connor smashed his head against the car. We drove away. We didn’t think we killed him, but we knew they’d come after us.”

  By the old gods, we were screwed. Connor the first to pay the price.

  “We couldn’t go any place where they knew to find us. So we decided to hide ourselves for the time being.” I wiped at my cheeks. “Connor, he said he was going to risk it and come back here. He didn’t care what sort of trouble he’d be in. He… he…”

  “Never made it. We didn’t see him at all last night,” Cort finished.

  “The Allu. They would be furious. They’d hunt us.” I couldn’t understand why they’d believe Abdiel. What Cort described was exactly something they’d do.

  “They were and they would have if Abdiel had allowed them.” Aleo finally sat down and ran his hands over his head.

  “But who else would do such a thing to Connor? He didn’t have enemies.” I protested.

  “The vampire. What did he do for the rest of the night?” Cort’s tone was low and full of rage.

  “Nicolas was with me. He didn’t do it! He could never do such a thing to anyone.”

  “Erin,” Aleo began.

  “No. He didn’t do it. I’m not under his influence. I’m not lying. It had to be the Allu.” I shook my head again and swayed, almost losing my balance.

  “You shine in my light.” The Lady’s voice was softer now. “You speak the truth. Abdiel speaks the truth. Now, now, what do we have here? Some cat hunting mice, and we haven’t seen it in the shadows yet.”

  “Abdiel is going to investigate.” Aleo told us and reached over to take his wife’s hand.

  “No!” My cry was hushed by his look.

  “I know how you feel about the Allu, Erin, but Abdiel is capable of doing this. He won’t betray me or my family. And that includes you.” He added. “Connor’s murder was made to look like his people had done it. He doesn’t take kindly to that either. He has enough motivation to find the real killer.”

  “We should—”

  “Just let it go.” Cort snarled, not looking in my direction. Paul staunchly refused to even turn his head my way too. My favorite of the three brothers had been Connor, and it was no secret. Yet the fact they wouldn’t even glare at me ripped my wound wider.

  “You’re going to go home with the Lady.” There was the stern father’s tone in Aleo’s order. He gathered Bolona, who was still softly crying, to him. “You will leave us to our grief. It’s ours and we won’t part with it. You will stay at the Lady’s house until we figure this all out. Then we’ll talk again.”

  I was left speechless. I knew this empty feeling. Sorrow so deep there was nothing left. I turned with a jerky motion and followed the Lady to her car.

  Sometime soon, Nicolas would wake and find me gone. Stuck in the Lady’s house, I wouldn’t be able to get him a message. Would he be worried? Angry? He had every right to be. I’d failed him as I’d failed Connor.

  I woke as the sun started to set.

  Connor.

  I was still dressed, shoes and all, and didn’t bother to change. I walked upstairs heading to the kitchen, but I had no appetite.

  The Lady sat in her rocker by the big bay window. Her pale, almost white golden hair was piled on top her head in a loose bun. She wore a full-length nightgown that had as many wrinkles as her face. She rocked slowly as she watched the sun go down.

  “Erin.” Her voice was frail, but not lacking authority.

  “Yes, Demi?” I stood in front of the window beside her. Her hands clasped in front of her, fingers fiddling with one another.

  “The sun will rise again tomorrow.”

  “I know.” Glancing at her sideways, I nodded once. Sometimes the things the Lady said were strange, but she was not one to waste words.

  “Do you?” The Lady glanced up, gazed upon me for a moment, and then sighed. “Always behave as if the sun will rise again.”

  The Lady stood and shuffled out of the room to her bedroom. Her door shut with a soft click.

  The sun set early in November. It wasn’t quite six o’clock yet, so I had over twelve hours of night to get through.

  Nicolas would be waking up. Would he wonder where I was? Would he try to find me?

  I walked through the kitchen in a failed effort to provoke my appetite. Nothing. I flipped through the channels on the television, but I couldn’t concentrate on the screen.

  Connor was dead. And it was because of me.

  A few tears trickled out. I couldn’t taste my own grief, but I was familiar with sorrow. I’d lived with it for all my life. Only with the Putzkammers had I known any long-term contentment. Only with Connor had I ever felt comfortable enough to tell another person everything.

  He’d been a few years younger than me, but he was my best friend. More than a little brother, almost as close as a twin. People often mistook us for a couple, but it had never been that way. What I’d needed when I first came to the Putzkammers was a friend, and Connor was the one who brought me out of my shell.

  My world had tumbled into darkness once more. I didn’t know if I’d ever see the light again. Nothing would ever be the same.

  I wanted to crawl back into the basement and stay there until I was dragged back out to face the Putzkammers again. I didn’t expect sympathy from the Lady. She’d called me a mouse, a coward.

  All because I’d helped a vampire. A vampire who was in a worse situation now because the Allu were more intent on killing him and Hessa was searching for him, ready to dig her claws into her toy. I wasn’t there to help any longer.

  Yet I could be.

  I sat up on the edge of the couch. Why did I have to stay locked up? Nicolas needed my help. Everyone hated me already. What did I have to fear? I couldn’t disappoint them any further.

  I hurried down to my apartment and changed. Calling a taxi, I grabbed my wallet and the compact the Lady had given me. I would help Nicolas and Connor. There was one way to do both. Nicolas wanted to do something good. This was it. My own vampire detective.

  Yes, it could totally work. The sun would rise tomorrow.

  I stood outside, unable to stay pent up any longer, and gnawed my lower lip until the taxi arrived. I gave him an address on the street adjacent to the Reese’s house and politely exchanged small talk. All the while, my heart pounded.

  I handed the driver a big tip and tried not to run until he was out of sight. Cars still drove about, but the area was dark when I came to the house. Mary’s upstairs bedroom and living room lights were on.

  I crept down the stairs, the last step creaking loudly. How could I forget that step? I cursed under my breath and quickly tried the door, but it was locked. I sprinted up the stairs and back into the trees just before the kitchen light turned on.

  Mary peered out the window and flicked on a light that illuminated the back patio. After a minute, she turned it off and exited the kitchen.

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
r />   “You came back.”

  I yelped and jumped back as if I had springs in my legs. I grabbed at a tree for balance as Nicolas laughed quietly.

  “Dammit. Don’t do that.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you. Okay, well, maybe a little.” He grinned and shifted a duffel bag he had slung over one shoulder. “You can let go of the tree now.”

  I held on to the tree and stared at him. He looked clean, with fresh clothes on, and there was a little color in his cheeks. He had been busy in the first hour of the evening.

  “Connor’s dead.”

  “What?” His smile dropped and so did the bag.

  “He was murdered. Beaten, tortured, and killed.” My voice was a monotone. “I’ve been repeatedly told it wasn’t the Allu.”

  “Fuck.” Nicolas ran his hands through his mussed hair and came to my side. “Are you all right?”

  I wasn’t sure if he wanted to take my hand, hug me, or pat my shoulder. He didn’t seem to know what to do either. I reached out and took his hand in mine. My grip was tight.

  “No. I’m not all right. Someone killed Connor, and we need to find out who did it.” I tugged him, eager to get going, but he didn’t budge.

  “We? I’ll help you, but I don’t know what I can do. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Nicolas ran the pad of his thumb over the top of my knuckles.

  It was an odd feeling to be in charge of the situation. He looked helpless, and I found I liked that a little. He wasn’t all confident and arrogant. Not at all like Hessa.

  I knew what needed to be done, though. I would do this or die trying.

  “We’ll start by going back to the crime scene. See what we can find. Then we’ll try to find where Connor went after he dropped us off. Somewhere between there and the funeral home, he ran into his killer.” I was seeing it more clearly now. All those cop shows I’d watched were going to come in handy. I stood straighter with my chin up.