Kiss of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm Book 2) (21 page)

I slouched over to my bunk and cracked open the Jane Austen. It was one of my favorite books of all time, along with almost every other female on the planet. But I didn’t care. It still felt personal to me and if that was the case for other fans of Austen, then I was happy for them.

I can’t say that I was immediately lost in the world of Regency England, but I knew the story so well that it was easy to follow along without fully concentrating. I tried to take comfort in the fact that Mr. Darcy was willing to go to great extremes to save Elizabeth’s reputation, even after she had rejected his offer of marriage. Maybe that meant that Dorian would be there for me, even though I had told him to get lost after our first kiss.

How could I have been so stupid? If I’d only been brave enough to admit that I felt something for him, then I wouldn’t be sitting in a cell.

There was the sound of clanging doors. Leonora sat up, looking eager. “Dinner time,” she said when I shot her a questioning look. A woman in scrubs came by pushing a cart full of packs of blood. She handed us each a bag of O positive. “Cheers,” Leonora said, hoisting her blood bag into the air before sinking her fangs into the plastic.

I suddenly realized that I was intensely hungry. I lifted the bag to my lips and it felt like the blood was gone in an instant. And so was the little headache that had been pinging around the back of my skull. I was so freaked out that I hadn’t even realized it was there until it had disappeared. Eating also made me feel a little less freaked out. My hands stopped shaking.

There was a prickling on the back of my neck and I could tell that the sun was about to rise. It looked like I was going to spend the day in the cell with my new friend, Leonora. I wondered about the windows. Were they just going to let us fry in there? If they were, Leonora seemed awfully calm about it.

I don’t know if it was the sunrise or what, but I suddenly felt extremely anxious for Dorian. It was me who was in the prison cell so I couldn’t really explain it, but the passing of every second made me feel increasingly worse. For some reason I was terrified, like I knew I would never see my maker again.

Another few minutes ticked away while I sweated and worried, hunched on my bed like I had the flu. Then there was an automated clicking sound and some heavy, metal blinds began to roll down, completely covering the windows and making them light proof. Leonora let out a small laugh as I leapt to my feet, both startled and relieved.

“Is this what you were expecting?” she asked.

“I wasn’t expecting anything,” I told her, walking over to inspect the blinds. The fear had released me from its clutches and I felt like I could breathe again.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” my cellmate asked.

“I mean it’s hard to expect something when you have no idea it’s going to happen,” was my reply. “I just got snatched out of the blue by those dudes in uniform and dragged here. I honestly have no idea why I’m here.”

“That’s right, sweetie,” she said, glancing up from her romance novel. “None of us do.”

I wondered if that was true. Leonora had such a sarcastic way of speaking that I couldn’t tell when she was being serious. “You going to bed soon?” Leonora asked as she closed her book and fluffed her pillow.

I took the hint. “Yeah.” I wandered back over to my bed. “I think I’ll just read for awhile first.”

I made it halfway through
Pride and Prejudice
. One of the benefits of my vampire vision was I could see perfectly well in the dark and didn’t have to worry about how leaving a light on that might bother my cellmate. But I wasn’t really taking in the plot. I couldn’t get caught up in the book’s romance. I found myself reading the same paragraphs over and over again. With a sigh, I closed the book. I was doomed to spend the day staring at the ceiling, thinking about Dorian.

“So how did you buy it?” I heard my roommate ask. I had thought she was resting, but apparently not.

“Sorry?” I asked. I hadn’t been expecting her to speak.

“How did you die?”

“Oh.” It seemed like an oddly personal question, but I guess it didn’t hurt to talk about it. “Texting while driving.” And then I asked, rather hesitantly, “How did you die?”

“Shitty boyfriend,” she told me.

That caught my attention. “So you were dating a vampire and he killed you?”

“No,” Leonora said. “I had this shitty boyfriend, Eddie, who I was crazy about. Everyone kept telling me I should stay away from him, but I was caught up with the romance of dating the bad boy.” She let out a short, bitter laugh. “I thought I was so cool because he was so bad. And then he beat me to death with a tire iron. My maker found my body by the side of the road and decided to give me
the gift of eternal life
.” She said the last bit with a goofy voice, like she was trying to do a cheesy Dracula imitation.

“Are you close with your maker?” I asked. Leonora seemed like the kind of person who would tell me if I was stepping over the line with nosy questions.

“Kind of,” was her reply. “We’ve got a whole mother-daughter thing going on, which is kind of nice in a way. Cause, you know, I never knew my real mom.”

“Do you know why your maker turned you?”

Leonora let out a sigh. “She told me it was because her husband beat her to death about a hundred and fifty years ago. But I also think it was because she was a little bored and kind of lonely.” After a moment she added, “Or just bored.” Rolling over and propping herself up on her elbows, she asked, “Why did your maker turn you?”

I had to think about it for a moment. “On the surface I think he did it because he felt sorry for me. But underneath I think it was the whole bored-and-lonely thing, too. I’m guessing that might be pretty common with the undead.”

“So why are you in here?” Leonora asked. “You don’t exactly seem like the kind of vamp who goes on a killing spree.”

“I was telling you the truth before. I’m not really sure why I’m here,” I told her. “I snacked off of a few guys. Just scumbags that I found hanging around the bars. But I never killed any of them. And I always wiped their memories.”

“That doesn’t sound like a jailing offense,” Leonora commented. “Are you sure that’s all you did?”

“Well…” I wondered how much I should reveal to her. “I think it might also have something to do with this vampiress that’s kind of pissed at my maker for some reason.”

“O-h.” Leonora broke the word into two syllables. “Did they used to date?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at me.

“Yeah, like a couple of decades ago. But now she’s been following us around and acting kind of nutty,” I said. “I think she might have set me up.”

Leonora lay back down. “Maybe she’s still not over him.”

“Maybe,” I muttered. She sure did hate him enough. “How about you?” I asked. “What’d you do?”

“I killed my boyfriend,” Leonora said, her voice matter-of-fact. “Ripped him to pieces. That taught him a real good lesson. It was the bloodiest murder Canton, Ohio has seen in recorded history. Or at least that’s what all the papers said.”

“And the Bishops didn’t like you doing that?”

“I don't’ think they minded the killing so much. I mean, the guy did beat me to death.” Leonora’s voice took on an extra gravelly snarl. “But I made such a mess of it that it got a lot of attention in the news. And that they didn’t like at all.”

“Did the police find out it was you or something?”

“No, thank God, or I’d be nailed shut in a coffin right now.” Her laugh was as dry as a piece of husk stuck in your throat.

I thought about how initially I’d wanted to kill Tommy and Sheila and the rest of them. I wanted to make them wish they’d never been born. But revenge was a tricky business. “Are you glad you did it?” I asked. “I mean, did killing your ex make you feel any better?”

“Hmm.” She was silent for a few moments. Eventually she said, “You know, I don’t think it did. I mean, the son-of-a-bitch deserved to die, but I don’t feel that good about it. Not really. What I really wish is that I had never dated him in the first place.”

Chapter 24

Dorian

“Hugo, I don’t have time for your nonsense,” I raged.

“Tell me vhat is wrong, Mr. Wanderlind.” The giant’s demeanor was very controlled, even though he had a vampire yelling in his face. “Maybe I can help.”

I had flown back to the castle and barged into the servants’ quarters, demanding to speak to the over-sized manservant. I’d found him with the lovely, diminutive Gloria, cuddled up in an enormous bed.

“The Bishops sent some goons to grab my progeny,” I told him. “They think she had something to do with the teenagers who were disappearing around here. But that’s impossible,” I thundered, pounding my fist on the doorframe. “She wasn’t even a vampire when that whole thing started.”

“If that’s your only problem, then I have a solution for you,” Gloria said. She was still in bed, clutching the sheets to her bosom.

I had stormed in there wanting answers for what had happened to my family so that they could help me. I wasn’t expecting a solution to my troubles. “What is it?” I asked in a low voice, the fury being temporarily sucked out of me.

“The local newspaper is available online,” she told me. “All you would have to do is show the Bishops when the teenagers started disappearing and then tell them your progeny's maker’s day. That should clear her of any wrongdoing.”

The answer was so obvious that I felt like a fool for not thinking of it myself. But then again, I rarely thought about the internet. I really only bought my laptops because it felt like a modern thing to do and I didn't want to become one of those vampires who was frozen in time. “Thank you,” I told Gloria as I immediately started backing out of the door to their quarters. “That is exactly what I will do.” I grabbed the doorknob and began pulling it shut. “My apologies for barging in on you. I know I’ve been horribly rude, but I was distraught and not thinking clearly.”

“That is not a problem, Mr. Wanderlind,” Hugo said as I drew shut the door.

Running to my room, I flipped open my rarely used laptop and glared at the screen, willing it warm up quickly.  Finally it was ready and I was able to do a search. I typed in “Missing girl, Tiburon, Ohio” and like magic dozens of stories appeared. And there were articles not just about the first missing girl, but about all of the teens who had disappeared. Noting that all of the disappearances happened on or before Christmas Eve, I slammed the laptop shut and jammed it in a leather satchel. Two minutes later and I was plunging through the night like a guided missile, heading for Columbus and Haley.

My fury gave me extra speed, which was good because I was running out of night. I couldn’t believe that the Bishops had sent someone to apprehend Haley so hastily. I wasn’t used to thinking of their authority as overreaching, although I’d heard some vampires complain about it from time to time. I was convinced Ilona had something to do with the Bishops’ sloppy research before ordering the arrest. I knew she had a powerful maker, but there seemed to be a lot more vampires who were willing to turn a blind-eye to her bad behavior. I didn’t know if they were just fooled by her two-faced personality or if she had some type of leverage over them. Ilona knew very well that sometimes the best currency was secrets.

Any way you sliced it, Ilona was out of her mind. But she was also crafty and very controlling. It had taken a lot of finesse to get her to break up with me thirty years ago. I couldn’t imagine how she would have behaved if I had flat-out broken up with her. But what was motivating her now? Why come after me? Was it because I’d spoiled one of her evenings by droning on about Haley? That didn’t seem to warrant a vendetta of this magnitude.

I reached the address on the card the soldier had given me just before dawn. It looked to be only an old warehouse, but looks could be deceiving, especially in the vampire world. The Bishops had an immense amount of power and riches, but they frequently found it more prudent to keep a low profile. Especially when displays of wealth could so easily draw the attention of mortal eyes.

I landed on the roof and knocked on the door, fully expecting to be admitted, even at that late hour. I waited at least a full minute and no one answered. Feeling anger rising in my belly, I raised my fist and hammered on the door. It was already pretty battered and my blows shed some more of its paint, but I did not make a dent. At least I knew that I was at the right place. It took vampires to make something so innocuous looking to actually be constructed out of impenetrable steel.

The sun was about to rise and I knew if I stood there any longer, railing at the door, that I would shrivel with its first light. I was in dire need of a place to conceal myself for the day and I had to think quickly. I knew of no safe house in Columbus, Ohio. I’d had no time to plan my stay in the city before taking wing. But I did remember seeing a graveyard as I made my way over the streets. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to shelter me for the daylight hours. I headed there as fast as I could fly.

I hadn’t really been paying attention to the cemetery as I flew in, just noted the gate with graves laid out in neat rows beyond. But it turned out to be a very modern graveyard. There were no mausoleums, no aging marble structures in which I could conceal myself from the sun. Most of the headstones were just those engraved little pillows of marble that made it so much easier for the groundskeepers to mow the lawn. I cursed the day that sepulchers went out of fashion.