18. Still Tuesday #2
“From the permit Carly filed in our office, it looked like she was trying to start a new fortune-telling business. With that in mind, her abductor could’ve been anyone, maybe even someone buying prophecies off of her who didn’t want her to stop giving them.
And we know she had ties to all of the communities, probably because of that.
People can’t resist a chance to know what fate awaits them.
Her parents tried to live as Cogs and sweep their secret under the rug, but it sounds like Carly was trying to build connections in the PC instead. I think—”
Richard blinked back in front of them, and Dessa shrieked yet again, throwing herself into Jamison’s chest.
“Richard! Stop it with the sudden appearances!” she yelled.
“And that’s the thanks I get for coming back on such important business.
” Richard pouted, crossing his arms, but it only lasted for a second before the words spilled out of him.
“The word is Rhett called AzRIO and said Julia is missing, but they have a description of the guy she was last seen with. He’s a Vampire, but they don’t know who he is. ”
Jamison jumped to his feet, alert and ready to move. “Are the Vampires out looking for her?”
Dessa whipped out her phone, her fingers a blur. Melba picked up on the first ring, and Dessa didn’t bother with hellos. “Please tell me he’s popped up on the cameras.”
“He’s headed into the Fourth Street storage facility about a quarter mile north of you.”
Then Dessa was sprinting, the phone still pressed to her ear as Jamison launched into a run at her heels.
“Okay, call Rhett and tell him where the suspect is, but make sure they don’t kill him until we can get some answers.
” With that, Dessa hung up the phone and concentrated on the fastest route through town.
“I thought Peter said the guy who killed him wasn’t a Vampire or a Werewolf,” Jamison said. “And if this is Vamp-on-Vamp violence, doesn’t that mean their clan is supposed to take care of it?”
“If it’s a disappearance, it might be linked to the other disappearances,” Dessa said, her heart battering against her rib cage. “And if the Weres or the Magickers find out about it, they’ll be pounding on the Vampires’ door in an hour.”
Dessa turned a hard left, and the multi-story storage facility appeared before them, a dark red trail leading up to the door.
Oh no. “Okay, you’re going to have to start at the bottom, and I’ll start at the top.
” She pulled her spare pop-stake from her bag and tossed it to him.
“Remember, our first priority is to save Julia. With any luck, we may be able to scare him off like with the Werewolves.”
Dessa shoved through the door and searched for more of the blood, but the white tile was clean. “I’m going upstairs,” she said as she sprinted toward the hallway.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to split up?” Jamison asked, his breath coming out uneven and harsh.
Dessa didn’t let her mind drift to that time in the fields when four kids split up, and only one came back whole. But they had a job to do, and they had to do it fast.
“No, I’m not,” she said, and then she ran into the stairwell.
Taking the steps two at a time, she arrived at the top floor with sweat trickling down her temple.
Since the building was more or less a square, she was able to quickly deem both hallways empty, the units locked tight, before running down to the next floor.
She was about to call Melba for more technical information when she saw the blood on the third landing and fell silent.
Creeping on her toes, she texted Jamison instead.
Dessa: He’s on the third floor.
The clatter of a rolling storage unit door echoed through the hall, and she picked up her pace, pulling her pop-stake from her back pocket.
Heart thrashing, she peeked around the corner to find a man with shaggy brown hair manhandling an unconscious Julia into the storage unit.
Dessa needed to intervene before he locked the door and did who knew what to her in there.
Jamison: I’m on my way. Wait for me.
Dessa: The unit is in the 320s.
But…taking on a Vampire wasn’t exactly a smart idea. She was trained to use her legs to flee first and then resort to self-defense only when necessary. Though Vampires weren’t anywhere near as strong as a Werewolf, they were faster.
Everything changed though when she saw the wooden stake in the Vampire’s hand. Because there was only one reason he would have that.
“Hey!” Dessa shouted, extending the sharp oak end of the pop-stake and hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
The weapon hummed with a quickening magic that zipped through her muscles, the sharp wood gleaming under the fluorescent light.
She really needed to start carrying Brad’s gun instead. “Leave her alone!”
Dessa wasn’t sure what she expected from the guy, but the speed at which he closed the distance stole the breath from her lungs.
She raised the pop-stake, his chest clearly exposed—and in a moment of indecision—aimed for his shoulder instead.
The blow glanced off him, and his fingers encircled her throat, crushing any scream before it could form on her tongue.
Dessa choked for breath, wriggling in his firm grip as he pulled her to him, and just as quickly dragged her back to the storage unit.
A black vignette encroached on Dessa’s vision, and she was about to pass out when he deposited her on the floor.
She sucked in a ragged, painful breath just as he slammed the door shut.
The air burned her bruised windpipe, and she coughed in the dark until the man turned on an electric lantern in the enclosed space. Unfortunately, the scene he revealed didn’t exactly inspire much confidence.
He’d heaved Julia onto a slanted metal table with one stake lodged in her shoulder and her blood dripping into a large jar at the end.
“Tried to…get away from you,” Julia said, eyelids fluttering.
The man fumbled with a toolbox, and a hammer fell to the floor with a clang. “I’m sorry, Jules.”
So not good.
“Help!” Dessa lurched toward the door when the man’s shoe slammed into her temple with fireworks of pain. When her eyes focused again, it was on Julia’s blank stare, the second spike protruding from her chest.
Oh no.
Dessa froze, cold flushing through her rigid body. No, no, no. This could not be happening. Her chest tightened, choking her panicked gasps, and she gagged through a wave of nausea.
She’d been too late.
The Vampire eyed his filling jar of blood and grabbed a set of pliers, his fingers twitching as he tightened them around Julia’s fangs.
Beads of sweat crawled down his skin, his rolling eyes wild and his movements manic. Unnatural.
Head throbbing, Dessa reached in her back pocket and detached the four-inch silver pocketknife from her keychain.
It wouldn’t be much, and silver was less effective on Vampires than Werewolves, but it might be enough.
She’d have to be quick. With a normal Vampire, it probably wouldn’t work at all, but in his state…
She rocketed to her feet and threw the silver knife as hard as she could.
It lodged in his neck, and he let out a roar, dropping the pliers with one of Julia’s fangs.
In his momentary distraction, she unlocked the door and burst through it.
She only made it a step before her pounding head sent her vision tilting, and she collapsed to the floor.
“Dessa!” Jamison’s voice cut through her fog.
Then he was there, standing in front of her, brandishing a pop-stake at the raging Vampire charging toward him. Dessa’s vision doubled, and she could’ve sworn it was Peter and Zach standing in front of her. About to die.
“No!” she screamed.
The Vampire collided with Jamison, neck bleeding and teeth snapping.
The murderer’s fever-bright eyes locked on Jamison, and for a second, the Vampire hesitated, his nostrils flaring.
In that moment of pause, Jamison buried the wooden spike of the pop-stake into the murderer’s stomach.
The Vampire roared in pain, and Jamison shoved him away, his chest heaving.
“Run, Jamison!” Dessa shouted, staggering to her feet against the wall.
But before he could move, the Vamp lunged again, his hands closing around Jamison’s neck. “I said the delivery was coming,” the murderer screamed, flecks of blood dotting the scar on his chin. “Stay away from me!”
Dessa tackled him from behind and wrenched the pop-stake from his abdomen. She raised it to stab him again when he flung her from his back, and she crashed against the wall while Jamison’s flailing limbs grew weaker.
“Jamison!” Dessa cried.
As if answering her call, Rhett Carline and another suited figure burst through the door like two avenging angels.
The bloody Vampire took one look at them and leapt through the corridor’s glass window. Dessa barely had time to feel relieved before her knees gave out beneath her, and the darkness encroached again.