No Crone Unturned

by Amanda M. Lee

  His response was a horrified squeak. No words, just the shrill sound of terror.

  “Fine. But you asked for it.”

  GUNNER WAS STILL LAUGHING when he crawled into bed an hour later. We’d skipped dinner — neither of us were particularly hungry after the bathroom incident — and the setting sun meant he was ready to crash. Apparently he was over the fact that Bixby was tied to a chair and immobilized in the other room.

  “I still can’t believe you did that,” he said, chuckling as he closed his eyes. “I mean ... you brought a doll to life to go to the bathroom with him. That was ... terrifying.”

  “It was a marionette,” I countered. “It’s not mine. I’ve never had a doll and I don’t intend to start a collection now. It was in the shed. I guess it must’ve belonged to Rain.”

  He cocked an eye. He was exhausted, but he wasn’t quite ready to give up the ghost. “Do you still want to talk about Rain?”

  “No.” That was the truth. Er, well, mostly. “It doesn’t matter if you were dating her or not.”

  “I wasn’t. She had a crush on me that turned weird. That’s all there was to our relationship.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I repeated. “What’s in the past is in the past. I would prefer looking forward.”

  “So would I. That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to ask questions.”

  “I might have questions,” I admitted. “I think it’s best if I ask them down the road. We have things we need to focus on here.”

  “Like the minion tied to a chair in the other room?”

  “That would be one of them,” I agreed, rubbing my forehead. “We need to figure this out ... and soon. I got enough blood to get Brandon through tomorrow, but if this lasts much longer I’ll have to break into another clinic. And I really don’t want to do that.”

  “It’s better than the slaughterhouse.”

  “Yeah, but I keep wondering if I’m shorting someone else blood by stealing those three bags. What if the clinic doesn’t have enough tomorrow and someone dies?”

  “I’m pretty sure the clinic overstocks blood. You know, just to be on the safe side.”

  “Probably,” I agreed, sinking lower on the bed. I was suddenly as tired as Gunner. “Maybe the answer will come in my dreams.”

  “Maybe,” he agreed, brushing his lips against my temple. “We’ll talk about it in the morning. I have a feeling we’ll be up early thanks to your friend in the kitchen.”

  I WAITED UNTIL I WAS CERTAIN HE WAS OUT and then muttered a spell to make sure he stayed that way. Should the vampires come calling, I didn’t want him panicking and rushing headlong into danger in an attempt to protect me. I wanted him to get the rest he needed. If I had fanged visitors I would handle them ... and I expected that would be the case before the night was out.

  I managed to sleep for a few hours. Sometime after midnight, my eyes snapped open and I was instantly awake. I hadn’t heard anything. The house was quiet, Merlin completely conked out between Gunner and me. I had felt something, though. A presence ... and it was trying to probe my unconscious mind.

  I checked Gunner, who was still sleeping. He would be angry when he realized I’d cast a spell to extend his sleep. It would probably result in an argument. It was better for him this way. Brandon’s transformation had taken a lot out of him. If he wasn’t rested, he was liable to make a stupid mistake. I wanted to ensure that didn’t happen.

  I followed the feeling to the front porch, quietly easing the lock and slipping outside. I made sure the door was properly latched so Merlin couldn’t sneak out before scanning the darkness for a hint of movement. I was rewarded within a few seconds.

  “So, we meet again,” a gravelly voice said.

  It took me a moment to isolate the individual I was talking to, but I finally found a silhouette on the lawn. It was difficult to make out features, but there was something familiar about the presence. I was certain we’d crossed paths before.

  “I know you.”

  “You do?” The vampire moved to a spot directly under the moon, where tree branches didn’t obscure his features, and smiled. His fangs were creepy under the limited illumination. “And where do you think you know me from?”

  “Nine Mile and Little Mack.”

  He obviously wasn’t expecting such a specific location. “I ... don’t believe I’m familiar with that intersection.”

  “It was actually about five hundred feet from the intersection. I was walking after dark. Your minion tried to jump me. I called him on it. You showed up and got annoyed that he wasn’t stealthy enough to take down a teenaged girl.”

  The vampire’s lips curved. “Ah. I do remember you.” He lifted his nose, as if scenting the air. “You’re a child of the stars.”

  “Yes, and everyone keeps mentioning that without expounding on it.” I slid into one of the chairs and crossed my legs. “You could save me a lot of grief if you would just tell me what that means.”

  “Don’t you know?”

  “Nope.” I shook my head. “I grew up in the foster care system. I knew I was magical at a relatively young age, but I kept it to myself for obvious reasons.”

  “What happened to your family?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “How ... terrible for you.” He made a tsking sound and shook his head. “I can’t imagine not knowing where I came from. I’m not always happy with my origins — family is always the bitterest pill to swallow — but at least I’m not swimming in questions.”

  “No.” I studied him up and down. “You’re a born vampire.”

  “That’s very good.” His smile was congenial. “Most people don’t know the difference between the two. You, however, seem knowledgeable.”

  “I like conducting research. It’s weird, but there’s nothing that I love better than a good history book. Well, maybe chocolate. When you combine the two, though, I can entertain myself for hours.”

  “How ... pedestrian.”

  “Maybe.” I exhaled heavily through my nose. Trying to poke around inside of his head was a wasted effort. He shuttered better than most mages I’d come across. He obviously wasn’t worried I would somehow find a way past his barriers and get a gander at his plans. “What’s your name?”

  “Armand. And yours?”

  I sat there a second, surprised ... and then I burst out laughing. “Armand? You’re full of it. That’s the name of the vampire in that Anne Rice book.”

  He frowned. “How do you know that? The book was released decades before you were born.”

  “True, but when you grow up in the foster care system you get used to old things. One of those old things was a movie collection that consisted of titles people donated when they were tired of the flicks. Interview with the Vampire must’ve been a popular title at one time because pretty much every group home I was ever in had a copy.”

  “Ah.” He nodded once. “Well, I prefer Armand to my real name.”

  “What’s your real name?”

  “I don’t want to tell you.”

  “It must be really embarrassing.”

  “Oh, it is.” He was silent for a beat and then shook his head. “Adolph. That’s my real name. I refuse to answer to it.”

  “Oh, that totally sucks.” I felt legitimate sympathy for him. “You’re a bloodsucker who was named after a guy responsible for mass genocide. That’s, like, the most hated name in history.”

  “Hence the reason I go by Armand.”

  “Yeah, but that’s a name for a tool.”

  His face remained blank. “A tool? Like a screwdriver?”

  I considered explaining but opted against it. Nobody had time for unnecessary conversations, which was pure torture for me to admit, even to myself. “What’s the deal, Adolph? Why are you here? What’s your ultimate plan?”

  “Armand.”

  “Yeah, I’m going to call you Adolph.”

  “I’d prefer you didn’t.”

  “I prefer you hadn’t done many things. Like
, for example, I wish you hadn’t killed Honey. Where is she, by the way? Did she rise? Is she one of you? If not, I have some questions about her body. If you’re a skeevy pervert who loves cozying up to corpses we’re going to have issues.”

  “Why do you care what we’re planning?” He folded his arms across his chest. “It seems to me that there should be a happy medium here. You can have your half of the town. We’ll take the rest.”

  “Oh, that sounds lovely,” I drawled. “Can we get some brightly-colored tape and put a line down the middle of Main? That’s what they did on The Brady Bunch and it absolutely worked without a hitch.”

  His expression never changed. “What is it you want from me, witch?”

  “I want you to leave.”

  “We went through a great deal of effort to set up shop here. We’re not going to turn around and leave.”

  “Then I’ll have to kill you.” I delivered the line with brutal calmness. “I can’t allow you to stay, especially when you’re killing people ... and possibly turning people ... and definitely enslaving people.”

  Amusement glinted in the depths of his eyes, which looked onyx under the limited light. “Is this all about your boyfriend’s mate? We can come to an agreement if that’s the case. I’ll release Brandon from his blood bond. You can hand over Bixby. Then we’ll divide the territory and draw up a map. This need not result in war.”

  “Oh, it’s going to be a war.” I lifted my feet and rested them on the other chair. He kept pacing the ward line. It was obvious he was looking for a way across. He was bound for disappointment. “There’s no way across the wards.”

  He snapped up his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Listen, it would probably be best if we didn’t lie to one another. Things are bad enough without adding ridiculous crap to the mix. You’re angry that I took your minion. I’m angry that you infected Brandon. We’ll never come to agreement on those two things.”

  “So, what do you suggest?”

  “You leave my town.”

  “It’s your town, is it?” He looked haughty. “My information tells me you are a newcomer. This might not be my town yet, but it’s certainly not your town.”

  “And yet I’m the one who is going to take control of this situation.” I refused to back down despite his obvious annoyance. “This place is magical. I sense it. I’m sure you do. There’s already a mystical population here. There’s no room for you.”

  “There could be ... if the area witches weren’t so territorial.”

  “No.”

  “So, only witches are allowed in Hawthorne Hollow. Who established that rule?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s not only witches. I don’t really care who settles here ... as long as it’s not vampires. The other factions can coexist without killing one another or running roughshod over the human population. You guys refuse to live by certain rules.”

  “And why should we? We’re above humans. They’re a food source, nothing more.”

  My stomach twisted, but I kept my face impassive. “I could kill you right now.” My voice was barely a whisper. “I have the power.”

  “You have a dark wave of fire that you unleash without considering where you cast,” he corrected. “It was an interesting trick ... once. We’ve taken precautions to make sure you can’t use it again.”

  “Oh? What precautions?”

  He lifted his hand in the air and made a fist, causing me to narrow my eyes. When I glanced around, a bevy of flashlights clicked on almost simultaneously. There, in the heart of the beams, I found faces from town. Most I’d never talked to, but I recognized them. They had the same glazed look as Brandon, which meant they’d been taken over. But more than that, they were now being used as human shields.

  “If you let loose that spell again, you’ll destroy the precious humans you’re trying to protect,” he said in a low voice. “Is that what you want?”

  It took everything I had to keep from reacting. I wanted to lash out, ignite him in fire, but that wouldn’t solve the other problem. For each of the humans, there was a vampire counterpart, more than twenty of them. And while I had no doubt they were bitten and not born, that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.

  “You’re powerful, witch,” Armand noted. “In fact, you’re so powerful I can feel the magic oozing out of you. But you’re not powerful enough to defeat us.”

  I swallowed hard. “What is it you want?”

  “I want my butler back. I want you to mind your own business. I want you to stay away from us. Can you agree to those terms?”

  Honestly, no, but I had to buy time. “I need to talk to my people.”

  “I thought as much.” He looked triumphant as he took a step back. “For now, as a sign of good faith, I want my butler back.”

  “I’m not giving you anything until we hammer out a deal,” I countered. “It will be on paper ... and signed in blood. There will be no breaking the agreement. If there is, you’ll die. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “And what if I don’t agree to your terms?”

  Ultimately it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to agree to my own terms. He didn’t need to know that, though. “Then we’ll have to go to war.”

  “Are you willing to make the sacrifices? You’ll lose all of these people.” He gestured at the blank human faces. “That goes against everything you stand for, doesn’t it?”

  “It does, but we’re realists. Sometimes you have to pull a Star Trek and worry about the good of the many rather than the one.”

  “That seems callous.”

  “Really? I think it’s practical.” I pushed myself to a standing position, hoping he didn’t recognize how badly I was shaking. “Come back after dark tomorrow. We’ll hammer out the details.”

  “How can you be sure that your people will agree?”

  “Do they have a choice?”

  “Fair point. I’ll return tomorrow.” He started to disappear into the darkness, but then stilled. “No tricks, witch. If you try to double-cross me you’ll be the first one I kill.”

  I wasn’t afraid of him. He was a small man who thought he had unlimited power. I planned to show him otherwise. Still, I had to play the game ... for now. “Tomorrow. I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement.”

  “I’m sure we can. It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

  He laughed all the way to the tree line, filling me with anger. He might’ve thought he’d won, but he was nowhere near claiming the trophy.

  Twenty-Five

  I was relatively assured Armand wouldn’t be a problem for the rest of the night — even if he wanted to break the temporary truce, he couldn’t cross the wards — so I crawled into bed next to Gunner and almost immediately passed out. When I opened my eyes the next morning, I found he was already awake and smiling at me.

  “Good morning, Sunshine.” He swooped in and gave me a long kiss before I could even wrap my head around greeting a new day.

  “Good morning,” I managed when we parted, my cheeks flushing as I struggled to get control of my hormones. “Somebody’s in a good mood.”

  “I slept hard.”

  That was partially due to the spell, though I opted to refrain from admitting my part in his extended slumber until I had some coffee. If we were going to fight, I was going to need caffeine.

  “You look good.”

  “So do you.” He tapped the end of my nose. “I take it you slept as hard as me.”

  “Mostly.”

  His smile dipped. “Mostly?”

  “There’s probably something we should talk about.” I refused to lie to him. That didn’t mean I was ready to volunteer information that would cause us to snipe at each other for the rest of the day. “I would like to do this for five minutes before that happens.” I rolled closer and rested my head against his chest, briefly shutting my eyes as the sound of his heartbeat filled my ears.

  “Wait ... .” His hands were on my shoulders and I kne
w he was going to push me away and demand answers.

  “Not yet.” I held tight. “I want five minutes of peace before we fight.” When I risked a glance at his face, he looked conflicted. “Please. The argument will be waiting for us when we’re done.”

  He growled but acquiesced and wrapped his arms around me. “Whatever you did, I’m going to kill you. Just so you know.”

  “How do you know it’s a killing offense? I could’ve done something as simple as paint your toenails while you were asleep.”

  His feet shifted next to mine, as if he was trying to feel for polish, which caused me to smile.

  “I’m guessing you don’t care enough about nail polish to risk doing that,” he said after a beat, his hand stroking the back of my head. “I’m going to be angry in a few minutes, aren’t I?”

  “Yup.”

  “I wish you would stop doing things to tick me off.”

  “Right back at you.”

  “Hey, I don’t do half the annoying things you do. I’m the good one in this relationship.”

  “Yeah. You’re a virtual angel.” I kissed his strong jaw. “I guess that makes me the devil, just like Bixby thinks.”

  “Screw him. Although ... .” He shifted again and craned his neck in an attempt to look down the hallway. “Have you checked on our friend? He’s been tied to that chair a good ten hours. We should probably get him up for another bathroom break.”

  “Probably,” I agreed. “Just three more minutes.”

  His hand returned to the back of my head. “It might make you feel better to tell me what you did. Waiting will only make things worse.”

  “In theory, that’s true. In practice, I know better. I want a few minutes of time with you before ... well, before you start stomping around and saying I’m giving you an ulcer.”

  He was quiet a moment while the soothing motion of his hand continued. “I’ve changed my mind on that. My father says I have an iron constitution. I can pretty much eat anything ... except for sushi. I freaking hate sushi.”