Chapter 44 Gideon
Gideon
Arabella: I know you’re dealing with Alyra’s death right now, but I think we should talk about last night.
“THE THING IS,” JO SAYS. “I’ve never done a vampire autopsy before. I don’t know what’s normal.”
Jo Southcombe is a friend of Mina’s. After much convincing, she’s agreed to act as Sanctus Estate’s resident vampire criminal investigator – a new role that I’ve created this evening after our first Sanctus Estate homicide.
Usually, I would call an Upyr representative from Alyra’s court, but I need to keep Conclave loyalists far away from Sanctus.
Jo’s the best in the business, and she also won’t tell the human police about the dead body I’m keeping in the basement of Sanctus House.
“So you can’t help us?”
“I didn’t say that.” Jo rolls up her sleeves. “It’s every medical examiner’s dream to be called out of their Lesbian Film Club in the early hours of Sunday morning to perform a vampire autopsy. Just consider yourselves lucky I keep my portable autopsy kit on me at all times.”
“Oh.” I brighten. “That is convenient.”
“I’m kidding, you idiot. I’m going to have to improvise. I don’t suppose you have a bone saw handy?”
“Drat our luck. I left my bone saw in my other trousers.”
“Then go to your kitchen and find me a knife. A large knife.”
“I’ll get you anything you need.” I wring my hands. “Spare no expense. Sinead!”
Sinead brings the knife and a few other things that Jo requests. I lock the basement door and slump against the stone wall, fighting to catch my breath.
I’m still woozy from lack of sleep and the shock of Arabella robbing me and Alyra turning up dead. My phone dings again. It might be Arabella. I reach for it, then drop the phone back into my pocket.
I thought I’d rather risk losing her again than go another night without telling her how I feel. I thought I had to give her the chance to admit that there is something deeper between us than two profoundly beautiful people wanting to hate-fuck each other into oblivion. But I was wrong.
I’m so, so tired of being wrong.
The pain in my chest is worse than grief, because this time I’m not grieving a woman I lost, but a woman I thought I’d found again.
The dream of Arabella I’ve carried with me for a century and a half isn’t real.
It’s my foolish heart burnishing off her edges and softening her dark soul and making me believe she’s someone she’s not.
I bared my soul to her. I gave her everything I have to give. And she still hates me.
That’s it. There’s nothing else I can do. I told her I loved her and she threw it back in my face. She robbed me and took the talisman I’ve carried since her reported death.
And I know I deserve all of it, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
I’m not good enough.
I wasn’t good enough for my father not to beat me. I couldn’t save my brother from the bottle. I couldn’t stop Lucien from turning me into a monster. I couldn’t stop myself from being so blinded by grief that I embraced that monster.
And now Arabella has the hard drive, and with it, every secret that Sanctus is built on. The record of every sordid and illegal thing I did to make this sanctuary happen. Every bribe, every favour owed, every rotten cheque written.
When that gets out, the only good and right thing I’ve ever done in my whole sorry life will fall, too.
It’s right that my ruin is at her hands. Maybe we’re just destined to ruin each other, over and over through eternity. But who else will she bring down with me?
“Are you squeamish, Sir?”
A soft voice breaks me from my spiralling thoughts. I look up through grief-soaked eyes. Sinead stands in the narrow corridor, regarding me with pity.
She points her elbow at the closed door, from which emanates a distinctive scraping noise. “You’re not sitting in on the autopsy?”
I shudder. “I’ll pass.”
“Weren’t you in a vampire gang back in the day?”
“I ran the vampire gang, thank you very much. The great thing about being the boss is that someone else does the bone sawing.”
Sinead folds her arms. “Sir, if I might be frank. We need to do something about Arabella. Alyra was trying to get hold of Arabella all night. It can’t be a coincidence that Alyra was killed the same night Arabella robbed you.
She’s probably in the village right now, with her human friends from that meddling book club.
I knew it was a mistake to involve them in anything to do with our community.
Not only have they not found the killer, Arabella could be the killer!
And now they’ve stolen our most secret files.
They could expose everyone on the estate! We need to contain this—”
“I spoke to Arabella. She and the Nevermore Coven are on their way to return the hard drive. Alyra was her friend. She didn’t do this.”
“You’re in love with her. You’re not thinking straight. She’s dangerous.”
“That will be all, Sinead.”
“You can’t let her get away with this—”
“That will be all.”
Sinead lets out a growl of frustration and storms away, leaving me alone with my dark thoughts. I stare at Arabella’s message on my phone. She wants to talk. What is there to say?
I can’t force her to love me.
I can’t keep flaying my heart open for her to stomp on it with her Louboutins.
I can’t—
There’s commotion in the corridor. A cascade of women fill the narrow space, tripping over each other as they rush towards me.
“Gideon.” Winnie throws her arms around me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not the one lying on a slab, so yes, I’m as dapper and delightful as ever,” I answer, my breath hitching as I catch Arabella’s eye. She quickly looks away.
“It’s not easy to kill a vampire, right? How did this even happen?”
“I guess we can cross Alyra off our list of suspects,” Mina says. “We’ll have to review all the information once Jo gives us a report, and redo our murder board again…”
“We should wear our vampire-repelling charms,” Isis pipes up. “For added protection. Oh, and maybe you should hire me to cleanse the estate of bad magic, just in case—”
Dora grabs her sister and shoots Arabella a meaningful look. “I think what Isis is trying to say is that we should get in there, in case there’s an important clue.”
“Er, right, yes.” Isis pumps her fist in the air. “Ladies, to the vampire autopsy!”
The Nevermore Coven shove their way through the door, leaving me and Arabella in the empty basement corridor. A memory flashes – another time we were stuck in this basement together, with scattered board game pieces and her body quivering beneath me…
“No Catan puns?” Arabella asks, her voice the lightest I’ve ever heard it. “I was expecting a ‘wood-n’t you know it’?”
“Alyra’s dead,” I snap. “She died within the walls of Sanctus. This place was supposed to be a sanctuary. I was supposed to keep her safe, and instead I was passed out on the floor of my empty bar while the woman I love stole from me—”
“Gideon,” Arabella says.
For once, my name on her lips doesn’t affect me. My whole body is numb.
“Gideon, please, can we—”
The door opens with a creak, cutting her off. Winnie pokes her head out, shooting me an apologetic look. “Jo says she’s finished, if you want to hear her conclusions.”
“I have some interesting things to report,” Jo says.
Jo has Alyra’s body beneath a white sheet on top of a large trolley used for transporting supplies from the loading bay.
The Nevermore Coven gathers around, shoulder to shoulder.
Winnie hugs me, resting her head on my chest in a way that would have Alaric brandishing his testicle-severing sword if he were here.
Iris’s face is as white as the sheet. Maisie has her pad and pencil ready to take notes.
Jo looks haggard. She clears her throat and wipes a smear of blood on her PPE. “Okay. Unlike the last two victims, who were human and easy for a vampire to overpower, Alyra was Upyr, and an older model at that.” Jo glances down at the corpse. “Although she looked amazing for her age.”
“She’s a long-time client,” Beth pipes up, her face pinched. “My beauty elixirs work wonders for vampires as well as humans, and my latest formulation is set to revolutionise skincare—”
“Beth,” Dora hisses.
“Sorry.”
“The cause of death is simple.” Jo lifts the edge of the sheet to reveal two fang marks in Alyra’s neck. “Exsanguination. Alyra has been husked, just like the others.”
Winnie buries her face deeper into my chest. Across the room, behind a horrified Komal, Arabella’s eyes bore into mine. I look away from her, down at Alyra’s body. Her eyes are closed, and she looks peaceful, like she’s asleep.
She was supposed to be safe here.
This is all my fault.
Jo consults her notes. “One of the questions I had was how the killer overpowered Alyra, considering there are no visible signs of a struggle. I know that vampires heal quickly, but I’d expect to see something – a torn sleeve, rumpled clothing, blood splatter, but there’s nothing.
So my hypothesis is that she was drugged. ”
My stomach drops. “Drugged?”
“An analysis of her stomach contents will tell me which drug, but that’s going to take a few weeks because I’ll have to somehow sneak the sample through our lab. It would help if you knew some vampire chemist with a handy lab I could use.”
I think of Lilac. “And what’s the second thing?”
“This is what I wanted to show you.” Jo points to the fang marks.
“Around the fang wounds are these other marks. Here and here. They’re very faint.
I’ve gone back to my autopsy photos of Danny and Patrick, and I can see these same faint marks with an identical pattern.
I think we can say that these three people were killed by the same killer. ”
“Which means that there’s a killer at Sanctus.” Beth glares at me. But she can’t make me feel worse than I already do.
The Nevermore Coven all start talking at once, arguing over how best to approach solving the crime. Arabella flicks her gaze towards the door. I follow her back into the hall, but we’re blocked by Sinead and a tall woman in a black suit.
“This is Dani, the funeral director,” Sinead snaps, her eyes never leaving Arabella’s face.
“Hello, Gideon. I’m so sorry for your loss.
” Dani holds out her hand, giving mine a firm shake.
“I understand the deceased is a vampire? Lucky for you, our company is used to dealing with the strange and unusual. This will be my first vampire funeral, but hopefully not my last. Er…” Dani’s lip wobbles.
“I think that was the wrong thing to say. You’re supposed to live forever, aren’t you? ”
“That’s the goal.” I gesture to the room behind me. “Sinead will show you to the body, if you can get past all the amateur sleuths.”
“Ah, the Nevermore Coven is here.” Dani peers around me. “I’m friends with Mina, so I’ve met them already. Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure Alyra gets our best service without any Coven interference.”
Sinead and Dani disappear into the basement, leaving me alone in the corridor with Arabella.
“Here.” She thrusts the hard drive into my hands.
I stare down at it, marvelling at how something so small can hold so many secrets. Every member of Sanctus trusted me to keep their identities safe, and in a single evening, this woman found my weakness and destroyed everything.
“Why?” I grind out.
“Why did I take it? Because I think someone at Sanctus is the killer, and they knew me in my old life,” she says. “I needed to look at all of their faces, check their past names and information, and find the arrogant bastard who thinks he can scare me into submission and hurt my friends.”
I look up at her, as if seeing her for the first time. Does she think so little of me? “If you’d asked me, I would have helped you do that. Why did you think I wouldn’t?”
She looks at a spot past my shoulder. “I didn’t want you to break the promises you’ve made to the members.
I want Sanctus to succeed just as much as you.
People like you and me – we need sanctuary, and I’ve come to believe that you’re the one who can make this work without the courts.
If members found out that you helped me dig through their files, no one would trust you again.
But if I did it on my own, it absolves you. ”
“I’m not absolved!” I jab my finger at the room behind me. “If I’d caught this killer, instead of being distracted, Alyra would still be alive.”
“Then it’s a good thing you won’t have me around as a distraction anymore.
” Her eyes flutter shut. “I broke every rule Sanctus has. I know I’m being kicked out.
I know I’m losing my home. I don’t care anymore.
I didn’t even find what I was looking for.
Paul Badica is the only Upyr I recognise, and he’s long gone.
We’re back where we started, with no clues about the killer.
But at least you’ll be able to keep Sanctus open.
The Nevermore Coven will help you find the killer.
Get justice for Alyra. I’ve done enough damage. I won’t be a distraction any longer.”
“You can’t leave.” My fingers clench around the hard drive. “I can’t do this without you.”
“Gideon, this mess is my fault. Don’t punish yourself for it.
I fucked it up it myself, the same way I fuck up everything in my life.
I’m done blaming you for my mistakes. At least this way, I’m the only one who gets hurt.
” She juts out her chin, as if to say that she has so little left to be proud of, but she’s proud of that.
You’re not the only one hurt. “Is this everything you have to say to me?”
Arabella bites her lip.
Tell me that you love me.
Tell me you love me, and we can figure this out.
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry.”
I push myself off the wall and back into the room. Arabella’s eyes follow me, the golden halo at the edges eclipsed by the gloom at the centre. Her lip quivers, and normally that would be enough to send me to her, on my knees if necessary, to take her pain away.
Slowly, I shut the door in her face.