No Crone Unturned

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No Crone Unturned Page 16

by Amanda M. Lee


  “I met him when I was a kid,” I explained. “I was late and hurrying home. Well, I mean ... it was a group home. The guy who ran it was fairly lenient with me because I lived there so long and really didn’t cause much trouble, but there were rules. The doors locked at a certain time. They were on a timer. If I didn’t make it, I would be forced to sleep on the street. I didn’t want to risk that, so I was in a hurry ... and that’s when I saw him.”

  “Wait a second.” Gunner’s eyes flashed with something I couldn’t immediately identify. “Are you telling me that a state-sanctioned group home locked you out and forced you to sleep on the streets of Detroit if you were late?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah. All the homes were like that. I remember I was only a few weeks from getting booted from this one because I was graduating from high school. I had a lot on my mind when I ran into this Bixby freak.”

  “I hate hearing these stories,” Gunner muttered.

  “That’s because you have a kind heart.” Rooster patted his shoulder. “You also have a hero complex and want to go back in time and save her from the horrible things that happened. That’s impossible, so you need to focus on the here and now.”

  “Oh, thanks so much for that,” Gunner said dryly. “I never would’ve figured that out myself.”

  “Knock it off.” Mama Moon, who was anxious to hear the rest of my story, focused on me. “I want to hear the story. You met this minion you say is hanging out at the house on the bluff before? Did he remember you?”

  “He acts like I’m confused, but I know it’s him. He’s wearing the same jacket ... and there have been a few times when he’s looked at me when he thinks nobody is watching and I see the recognition there. He’s annoyed that he didn’t kill me then.”

  “And what happened that night?” Mama Moon folded her arms over her chest and waited. “Did he try to put his hands on you?”

  I allowed my memory to wander to the night in question. “He was hiding in the bushes. I sensed him and called him out.”

  Gunner’s hand automatically moved to my back, as if he expected me to say something terrible. “Did he try to hurt you?”

  “No. Well, he might’ve, but I wasn’t a ... normal teenager.” I flashed a smile that was just evil enough to cause Mama Moon to chuckle. “I called him out, threw in a few choice names, and then took off. Another guy showed up at some point. He was really dark ... and tall ... and he suggested I would see him again. He also said I was safe for the night and to go. On any other night I might’ve pushed the issue, told him he wasn’t safe, but I didn’t want to sleep on the street, so I took off.”

  Mama Moon’s eyebrows drew together. “You think that was the master vampire?”

  “I don’t know.” That was the truth. “I didn’t realize we were dealing with a nest until earlier tonight when they approached us outside the high school. I thought it was simply a master and three half-vampires. This is different. It’s ... more dangerous.”

  “It certainly is,” Mama Moon agreed. “We need to get ahead of it ... especially if they’re turning locals into half-vampires. That’s never good.”

  I turned back to Brandon and eyed him speculatively. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I don’t think they plan to turn multiple people. They went after Brandon because of his ties to us.”

  “But we can turn him back, right?” Gunner almost begged. He looked almost desperate at the thought. “He won’t stay like this, will he?”

  “We can turn him back as long as we get the master,” Mama Moon confirmed. “Until then, we need to keep Brandon locked up. It’s not wise to confine him here, because they’re likely to come looking for him.”

  “We’ll take him to The Cauldron,” Rooster interjected. “There’s a storeroom. We’ve used it as a cell more than a few times. He’ll be comfortable. Most importantly, he won’t be able to get out. It’s warded.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Mama Moon bobbed her head. “As for this nest, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve sensed them for a few days. I haven’t seen them. They’ve been careful. If they’ve stopped being careful ... .” She trailed off, letting the sentence hang.

  “They didn’t really show themselves tonight,” Gunner argued. “Scout sensed them and put on a magic display that killed at least three of them. We didn’t see how many we were dealing with.”

  “Which is troublesome,” Mama Moon mused. “I’m not sure what we’re dealing with, but it can’t be good. We might have to work together on this one.”

  “Then we’ll work together.” Rooster declared. “This is now officially more than a distraction. This is our primary concern. We can’t let these vampires get a foothold in our territory. They have to be eradicated — and we’re the only ones who can do it.”

  Sixteen

  Moving Brandon was difficult. He put up a terrific fight when I started untying him, backhanding me hard enough that I flew into the wall next to the table.

  “Don’t touch me! You’re a witch!”

  I rubbed my cheek as I regarded him. “Thanks for the news flash.”

  “What happened?” Gunner asked, scurrying into the room. He looked frazzled. “I heard a thump.”

  “Your friend and I were just bonding,” I replied dryly, still rubbing my cheek as I watched Brandon try to untie his dominant right hand with his clumsy left. “It’s going swimmingly.”

  Gunner couldn’t hide the confusion clouding his features. “Did he ... hit you?”

  “It’s fine.” I forced my hand down and pasted what I hoped was a comforting smile on my face. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Unfortunately, that was beyond Gunner’s acceptance level. “Did you hit her?” He was incredulous as he turned on Brandon, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

  Brandon stopped what he was doing long enough to meet Gunner’s accusatory gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He adopted an air of innocence. “She’s lying. I didn’t touch her.”

  “She didn’t say that you did.” Loyalty is a funny thing. Gunner obviously cared about Brandon a great deal, considered him a friend. But right now he looked as if he wanted to murder him. “What is wrong with you?”

  Brandon was taken aback. “Excuse me? I’m tied to a chair in your girlfriend’s house. I don’t think the question is what’s wrong with me. It’s what’s wrong with you. She knocked me out with her magic.”

  “You were attacking us.”

  “No.” Brandon vehemently shook his head. One of his wrists was still lashed to the chair. He diligently worked to free it, but his eyes were focused on Gunner. “I was trying to talk to you. I wasn’t attacking. I don’t know why you would think that. Of course, you attacked before I could even explain why I was here.”

  Gunner’s eyes slowly tracked to me. “Is that possible?”

  He was asking me to tell him his friend was okay. That was something I couldn’t do.

  “Look at his neck, Gunner.” I kept my voice low. “Remember his eyes when he attacked. He’s not himself.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Brandon snapped. “She’s trying to make you doubt me, turn you against me. Don’t let her win.”

  “And why would she want me to turn against you?” Gunner’s expression was hard to read, but he remained calm.

  “Because she’s trying to isolate you from the group. She wants you in a vulnerable position so she can turn you.”

  “Turn me into what?”

  “You know ... one of her.”

  “I don’t know.” Gunner’s tone was perfectly reasonable, but I could practically see him seething under the surface. “What is she?”

  “She’s evil, man.” Brandon’s expression was imploring. “Why can’t you see that? She’s trying to turn you against me. It’s not fair. It’s not right.”

  “But she hasn’t turned me against you. In fact, she encouraged me to spend time with you following Honey’s death. She thought you needed me.”

  “That’s part of the act.�


  “Uh-huh.” Gunner looked up as Mama Moon and Rooster entered the room. He didn’t have to say anything for me to know that he was in great pain. He blamed himself for what had happened to Brandon. I could sense the emotions rolling off him. It wasn’t reasonable or right, but it was crawling beneath his skin.

  “Why is he untied?” Mama Moon asked.

  “Because I was getting ready to transport him,” I replied. “We got a little distracted before we could finish the job.”

  “So I see.” She narrowed her eyes and studied my cheek. Her nearness made me uncomfortable. “We should get moving. The faster we lock him up in his new digs, the faster we can get some sleep ... and I desperately need sleep.”

  “That makes two of us,” I agreed.

  “That’s because you use the cover of darkness to seduce my friend and turn him evil,” Brandon hissed, his eyes glittering slits as he practically spit on me. “You’re a seductress, a heathen. You’ll meet a fiery fate soon enough.”

  “Looking forward to it,” I said with faux brightness, pushing myself away from the wall. “I love fiery fates. I think they’re pretty ... and warm ... and who doesn’t love s’mores?” I looked to Gunner, hoping to find a ghost of a smile on his face as I attempted to lighten the mood. Instead, he moved closer to me. Gently, he brushed his fingers over my cheek. I could see the turmoil churning in his eyes and struggled to find a way to make this better.

  “I’ll fix him,” I said after a beat. “I promise. This is my fault. I should’ve seen it coming.”

  His forehead wrinkled. “Do you think I blame you for this?”

  “I think you blame yourself ... and I’m part of that by extension.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “He was obviously attacked after you left last night. You said he was drunk. That probably means he didn’t even put up a fight. It was easy for them to take him over. If you’d been there it might not have happened.”

  “Probably not,” he agreed. “That doesn’t mean I blame myself. He’s a big boy. He got involved with Honey on his own. She was obviously part of this. They didn’t just pluck him randomly from the whole town.”

  “You wanted to check on me last night. That’s why you left. If it wasn’t for me ... .”

  “Don’t.” There was no anger emanating from him, only sadness. “I came here because I wanted to be with you. As for Brandon ... .” He looked frustrated as he eyed his best friend, who was back to messing with the rope. “You said it yourself. Nothing that’s been done to him is permanent. We can fix this.”

  “Oh, geez.” Mama Moon rolled her eyes and shook her head. I’d forgotten she was present ... which isn’t easy because she has one of those larger-than-life personalities that can swallow an entire room. “Are they always like this?”

  The question was directed at Rooster, who shrugged. “They’re ... a work in progress,” he replied after a moment. “They’re both a little ... I guess the word would be slow ... when it comes to relationships. Usually I find it funny. This is a little tragic.”

  “This is a lot tragic,” Mama Moon countered, although there was a twinkle in her eye. “I guess they’re kind of cute.”

  “I can think of a few other words.” Rooster moved closer to Brandon, who immediately stopped trying to untie the rope and tried to pretend he was innocent of every possible charge we could throw at him. “What do we think the best way to transport him is?”

  “I think you should untie me and I’ll sit in the seat like a good boy,” Brandon offered. “I really have nothing against you. I want to cooperate.” He was silent for a moment and then glanced at me. “Well ... I have nothing against most of you.”

  “I don’t understand why he’s acting like this,” Gunner offered, frustration evident. “I mean ... why is he directing all his anger at Scout? Why is she at the center of all this for him?”

  “Because whoever enslaved him made her the focus,” Mama Moon replied calmly, her voice soft. “Scout was obviously pegged as the biggest threat before they went after him.”

  “That would make sense if they set this plan in motion tonight,” Gunner argued, “but it’s obvious they didn’t. This was something they put together before this happened.”

  “Yes, well ... .” Mama Moon pursed her lips and turned her full attention to me. “You mentioned that you interacted with the minion before. You didn’t get into too many specifics. You said you were late, in a hurry to get home, and you crossed paths with him. Did he jump you? Did he try to haul you into the bushes and feed you to a vampire? How exactly did you two meet?”

  “It’s not like we were introduced,” I countered. “I was walking down the sidewalk. I sensed danger. I called out to him, which seemed to surprise him, and I kept going. Then another guy showed up, this one younger and hotter, and started lambasting him. It wasn’t much of an exchange.”

  “Did you get a good look at the other man?”

  “The hot one,” Gunner grumbled, eliciting a genuine smile from me.

  “I was a teenager. It’s not as if he was Taylor Lautner or something.”

  “Taylor Lautner?” Horror washed through the room as Gunner looked to Rooster and then back to me. “Please tell me you didn’t like that guy.”

  “Hey, when I was seventeen, he was one of the ‘it’ guys. At least he was tan and buff. The other guy was pasty and white. They had to paint fake abs on him. It’s not my fault there were no good teen heartthrobs when I was of a certain age.”

  “I can’t even look at you right now.” Gunner held up his hand and turned back to Brandon, who was tugging so hard on the rope I was surprised he hadn’t drawn blood. “You need to stop doing that, Brandon. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

  Brandon immediately stopped fidgeting. “I’m not doing anything. Why do you think I’m doing something? It’s because of her, isn’t it?” The look he shot me was straight out of a misogynistic movie from the 1980s. “Seriously, all our problems started with her. You need to get rid of her.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Gunner reached for the rope. “I’m going to untie you. If you try to run I’ll be forced to knock you out. If you touch Scout again I might have to kill you. I know that’s difficult to hear because you’re my best friend, but it’s the truth.” He lowered his voice and stared directly into Brandon’s eyes. “Don’t ever touch her again.”

  I wasn’t big on the macho stuff, but the threat was effective ... and caused my heart to flutter, which was an absolutely disgusting reaction that I refused to admit to anyone, including Gunner.

  “You’ll need my help to untie that rope,” I said after I watched him fumble with the knot for a full thirty seconds. “It’s magically tethered to the chair.”

  He shot me a dirty look. “You could’ve told me before I screwed around so long I looked like an idiot.”

  “What fun would that be?” I sent him a small smile, one meant solely for him, and then reached for the ropes. “Brandon,” I called out, trying to draw the man’s attention to me.

  He refused to look in my direction.

  I tried again. “Brandon,” I said, more softly this time.

  When he turned to look at me there was abject hatred reflecting back. I had to remind myself that the real Brandon didn’t feel that way. This was being forced upon him.

  “I’m going to fix this and make it so you can go back to your life,” I promised him.

  “I don’t care what you say. I don’t believe you.”

  “Well, believe this.” I was firm. “If you try anything while we’re transporting you I’ll curse you with an itching spell that will make you want to scratch your private parts until they fall off. It will be so bad that you won’t be able to use them for a full year. And, before you convince yourself that I’m bluffing, you might want to think about the stories I’m certain Gunner told you about the wolves who were in town a few weeks ago. I’m more than capable of doing it.”

  Brandon swallowed hard.
“I ... .” He darted his eyes in Gunner’s direction.

  “Behave yourself,” Gunner ordered. “She’s serious. She gets off on casting karma spells, and you have some really crappy karma right now. Behave yourself ... at least for a little while.”

  THE BACK ROOM AT THE CAULDRON WAS surprisingly posh. It featured a cot with a blanket and pillow, a small television and even a bookshelf, though the selection looked to run to the classics, and therefore dry, rather than anything hot and steamy.

  “I take it this isn’t the first time you’ve locked someone in here,” I said as I glanced around.

  Whistler, who had been roused from sleep by Rooster, shook his head. He looked half asleep, though he didn’t utter a word of complaint. “Nope. This room was built as a cell. There’s no way he can get out. Nobody ever has.”

  “You can’t leave me in here,” Brandon insisted as he glanced around. “There’s no window. What if there’s a fire? You can’t lock me in a room with no window.”

  “If there’s a fire, we’ll get you out,” Gunner promised him. “Don’t worry.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Brandon grumbled. “You’re not the one being locked in a cage.”

  “It’s a nice cage,” I offered helpfully. Only hatred was reflected back at me when I tried to make eye contact with him.

  “I know what you are,” he hissed. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re a child of the stars. Your time has passed. You don’t belong here.”

  I was sick of hearing that term tossed at me. I wanted Drake to get it together and provide the information he promised. I had sympathy for his plight, but only to a certain extent. I needed answers. Of course, this was the absolute worst time to get them. I had other things to worry about, which is why I refocused on the present.

  I refused to let Brandon upset me. I shook my head. “Everyone knows about the children of the stars but me. I have no idea if it’s good or bad ... or how I fit into that world. I’m guessing I don’t, because they abandoned me to this one. Either way, you can’t use it as a weapon against me because I have no idea what it means.”

 

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