2. Surprises
Chapter 2
Surprises
Rancho Bautista del Murciélago—Moments later
C erissa popped open the hinged jewelry box and squealed. Bangles! An assortment of heavy solid-gold traditional bracelets and lighter, more refined modern ones filled the velvet-lined interior. Her first bangles as a soon-to-be married woman. The moonstone and amethyst bracelet Henry had given her upon becoming mates was a Hill vampire tradition, but now he was gifting her jewelry aligned with the Indian tradition, and the gesture touched her. “Oh, thank you, Quique.” She pulled him to her for a kiss, and their guests applauded and whooped. “They’re beautiful.”
He picked up one of the lighter bangles, placed the woven gold over her now-dry henna tattoos, snapped the bracelet closed on her wrist, and then kissed her hand. “Lovely. Just lovely.” He rubbed his thumb over where their names entwined in the tattoo’s design, and his eyes became glossy with unshed tears. “The designs are perfect, querida. ”
“It’s real now, isn’t it?”
“Indeed, it is.” He pressed his lips to hers, then took the groom’s chair.
She flushed with excitement and giggled.
Breaking from tradition, she’d convinced Henry they should open the wedding gifts now rather than leaving them sitting two weeks until they returned from their honeymoon, which gave the waitstaff time to clean and serve dinner. As they unwrapped the gifts, Karen did the maid of honor thing, noting the item given on the back of each sender’s card.
For the most part, Henry sat back and let Cerissa do the honors.
She opened the last one, still in its shipping box, and lifted out the wrapped gift. “No card,” she said, looking at Karen.
“Save the shipping label. The shipper may know who sent it.”
“Oh, okay.” Cerissa tore off the wrapping paper and, using the utility knife Karen provided—her bestie came prepared for everything—cut the smaller box’s seal. It was filled with Styrofoam peanuts. Not wanting to spill the contents on the floor, she carefully wormed her hand in, feeling for the present. Her fingertips felt something cold and hard, and she wrapped her hand around the item and pulled it out.
She froze when she saw the silver stake in her hand. Shock zapping through her, she unclenched her fingers and dropped the stake on the hardwood floor with a thudding clang . Henry stiffened beside her, shifting away from it subtly. She wanted to push him far from the dangerous object, but she understood why he hadn’t jumped from his chair. He was maintaining the lie that her mortal family members weren’t aware of the existence of vampires, which Amma was revealing with a frightened shriek. Cerissa looked into the crowd, searching for help, and Ari bounced to his feet, grabbed Deveshi’s arm, and hauled her out the French doors to the poolside. Agathe shot her a concerned look but trailed along.
With the outsiders gone, the Hill’s chief of police, Tigisi “Tig” Anderson, stepped forward. “Leave it there. Jayden, please go to the car and bring back an evidence bag and gloves. Everyone else, remain where you are.”
Tears filled Cerissa’s eyes. The purported gift couldn’t be anything other than a threat. About twelve inches long and made from highly polished silver, it looked like a carved replica of a wooden stake. Why would someone send such a threatening object to them the night before their wedding? She shook her head, tears streaming from her eyes. “What does it mean?”
The chief offered a hand. “Go into the kitchen while I take care of this. I’ll be right in to discuss the situation.”
With Tig’s help, Cerissa pushed to her feet, all the happiness replaced with stomach-clenching fear. She went into Henry’s arms, and they rushed to the kitchen together.
W hat in the name of the ancestors is going on?
Tig hung back to preserve the evidence. She knelt, using a pen to rotate the stake, and examined the weapon.
Some asshole either had a sick sense of humor or intended the horrific gift as a threat. For now, she’d go with the latter.
The stake’s upper portion was wrapped in a leather-sheathed yoke with strange, wedge-shaped impressions burned or carved into the leather. The symbols comprised simple lines and slashes, with some lines starting or ending with solid black triangles.
What the hell the marks meant, Tig had no idea. She shook her head. Even though she and her mate, Captain Jayden Johnson, were here as guests, they were never off duty, so they’d investigate this as a team. When he returned with the crime scene kit and evidence bags, Tig called on two reservists to help. “Rolf, Liza—please assist Jayden.”
The mayor and vice mayor moved into position, plucked nitrile gloves from the dispenser container Jayden offered, and helped him bag the shipping box. He took photos of the stake, then bagged it. They even preserved the wrapping paper and gift box.
With everything under control there, Tig followed the bridal couple into the kitchen.
Her heart ached for them. Knowing about Cerissa’s secret Lux identity didn’t change the compassion Tig felt for the bride. Cerissa was getting married for the first and only time, ancestors willing. To have her pre-wedding party tainted by such a gift could be traumatic.
Cerissa stood by the kitchen’s center island with a sad, dazed look on her face as Henry exited the pantry, a bottle of scotch in his hand. Trays of food and serving tools sat on the counter. He must have dispatched the restaurant crew to another room, since he seemed to be the only one still in command. Tig gestured at the mahogany kitchen table, which was empty. Cerissa wilted onto the seat while Henry poured her a stiff drink.
Tig grabbed the chair opposite her. “Do you have any idea who sent the stake?”
The bride-to-be’s eyes held unshed tears. “None.”
Tig looked over at Henry. “Who do you think sent it?”
He broke eye contact as he set the highball glass down and handed Cerissa a handkerchief. “I do not know.”
“Come on. We’ve been here before.” In the past, he’d withheld critical information, and Tig would no longer tolerate his subterfuge. “Who have you pissed off lately?”
Henry’s pupils expanded and his spine straightened, anger in his posture. “No one.”
Good . His eyes’ automatic response to the insult meant he wasn’t lying—this time. “We’ll process the stake and the packing materials for fingerprints and DNA.” Tig paused, waiting for Cerissa to wipe the tears away. “Do you remember who delivered the parcel?”
“Sort of.” Cerissa sniffed and took a sip of the scotch, then a deeper drink. “We opened the gifts in reverse order of receipt. I insisted because I wanted to show my appreciation for those who sent their gifts early. The last box, the one containing the stake, arrived yesterday, just after dusk. A delivery person—a woman—brought it.”
“Do you recall what she looked like?”
“Shorter than me. Long black hair in a ponytail. Middle Eastern, maybe. Light brown skin and eyes round rather than almond-shaped.”
“Any distinct features? Scars? Tattoos? That sort of thing.”
“It—it was so quick. I wasn’t really—”
“ Cari?a .” Henry took her hand. “Your lenses would have recorded the delivery.”
“Oh, oh! Give me a moment to check.”
Cerissa’s eyes took on a faraway look, a look Tig associated with Cerissa viewing the video from her Lux contact lenses. She used the time to text Ari to join them. As Cerissa’s Lux supervisor, he had access to the videos, and they needed his tech skills to freeze and extract a frame.
“Got it,” Cerissa said, her eyes coming into focus again.
Ari strutted into the kitchen. “You rang? I’ve been keeping your mother from calling off the wedding. Something about the stake being an inauspicious omen .”
Cerissa’s mouth dropped open. “Amma is saying what?”
Henry wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Deveshi is wrong. We will marry tomorrow night and all will be well.”
“But what if Amma says something to convince Agathe to withdraw her permission to let us marry?”
“Don’t worry, Ciss.” Ari plopped onto the end chair at the kitchen table. “Karen and Rolf are babysitting her, and Karen won’t allow anyone to interfere with your wedding. She’s become quite the tiger, you know?” He swept a hanging curl off his forehead. “So I’m here. Whatcha need?”
Tig held up one finger, asking him to wait. “Cerissa, how clear is the image?”
“Pretty clear.” Cerissa took her phone from her pocket, opened the back compartment, and, after removing the lenses from her eyes, dropped in both. “Ari, the time code is yesterday afternoon at four thirty-six. Pick the best image you can from around that time.”
Ari slid his phone off his belt and tapped the screen. “Who am I looking for, chief?”
“The woman who delivered the box containing the stake.” Tig gave a brief description as she considered how to use the image. “Send me the video and some stills. That way, I can put out an APB, warn the community, and give it to the guard gate to be on the lookout. We’ll say it came from Henry’s security camera system. If you need to change the aspect ratio to make that believable, do it, so long as we can clearly see the woman.”
“Will do.” He furrowed his brow, still tapping on his phone’s screen. “Why a silver stake? Isn’t that overkill? A wooden stake or any implement made of silver would do the job. Why combine them?”
Tig scowled at him. A very good question. One she didn’t have the answer for.
Jayden strode in, carrying the bagged stake. “Rolf and Liza took the nested boxes to the car. There’s no return address and no delivery service logo.”
“Um,” Cerissa began, “I realize now that the delivery woman’s uniform didn’t have a recognizable logo on it. But she wore the same brown button-up shirt, matching shorts, and running shoes that are so common to other shipping services.”
Tig stood. That was all she needed to know, for now. Time for the couple to return to their party. “Jayden and I will take the evidence back to the station and see what we can get from it. Some fingerprints, hopefully.”
“Oh, um, she wore gloves. The delivery woman. Leather work gloves. I saw them in the video just now.”
Tig’s stomach sank. So much for finding fingerprints. “We’ll do the forensics work on the off chance a hair or eyelash or anything else fell into the packing materials.” She leaned over and squeezed Cerissa’s hand. “Please, go back to your party. Ignore this incident as best you can. We’ll figure it out. You’re getting married tomorrow, and I want you both to be happy.”
“Tomorrow,” Cerissa repeated slowly, her gaze unfocused before it suddenly sharpened. “The ceremony is outdoors, on the lawn overlooking Rolf’s vineyard. A sniper could pick off Henry with no effort.” Her voice rose, her panic clear. “If this is a threat—no, we’ll have to move things indoors. We’ll make it work. Karen has a backup plan in case it rains. Unless…maybe Amma is right. The stake is an inauspicious omen. We should cancel the wedding—”
Tig shook her head. “I don’t believe that’s necessary.”
Cerissa looked at Henry and then back at Tig. “But—”
“Cerissa.” Tig gave another comforting squeeze, a plan already forming in her mind. “Liza and Zeke aren’t in the wedding. I’ll put them on guard duty. They’ll watch for snipers from Rolf’s balcony. And we’ll add police officers to the guard gate.”
“But who? All your vampire reservists will be at the wedding.”
“There are plenty of Hill vampires who are weapons certified. One of them can back up the guards.”
“ Querida , please, listen to Tig,” Henry said. “She’ll handle this. She’ll keep us safe.”
“Henry—”
“Uh, guys,” Ari interrupted. “I’ll drop a dome over Rolf’s house.”
Jayden’s eyes widened. “You mean like in that sci-fi thriller?”
“Don’t be silly. You won’t be trapped. I can set the skin to stop projectiles. No bullets, no crossbow bolts, nothing like that, but air can pass through. The skin will redirect birds; they won’t slam into it. When the party’s over, people can leave.”
Cerissa bit her lip. “We have that technology?”
“The dome is something Agathe has been working on.”
Tig tapped her fingers on the table. Agathe was the Lux leader who let Tig walk away alive with knowledge of their existence. “Are you sure she will approve using the dome?”
“She’s wanted a real-life test for a while.” Ari grinned smugly. “I’ve been doing some of the coding. Don’t worry. No one will know it’s there, and nothing deadly will get through—just the guests they invited. Trust me.”
Tig exhaled a deep breath, still not believing what the Lux could do. “Then we have a solution. So go back to your guests. Relax. Unwind. Enjoy your party. In the meantime, Jayden and I will try to determine who’s behind this.” Then she pointed at Ari. “But you. Get me that video ASAP.”