Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
After a couple of hours, we left the club. It was still fairly early—around nine-thirty—and I felt restless. As I fastened my seat belt, I thought about Eddie, then Laddy.
“Listen, can we drive over to the Wayfarer? I want to check with Tavah to see how Laddy’s doing.” I wasn’t sure they’d be up for it, but both Camille and Delilah instantly agreed.
Camille swung into a turn lane, and we were on our way.
It wasn’t all that far to the Wayfarer, especially at night.
Seattle might be a big city, but the majority of traffic in the evenings tended to be either taxis or pedestrians, especially in the downtown or the University districts.
We managed to find a parking space near the front door and headed into the bar less than fifteen minutes after leaving the club.
Jocko looked up, raising his eyebrows. “Can’t keep away, can you?”
I laughed. “Well, I love this place so much. You know my sisters,” I said.
He waved. “They’re practically regulars by now. Hey, girls.”
“I thought I’d go talk to Tavah about Laddy. I want to know if she has any information on how he’s doing.” I headed for the back, Camille and Delilah behind me. Several of our customers greeted me on the way through, and I waved back at them.
As we headed downstairs to the basement, I thought about when we’d first come through the portal here.
It had been such a shock…even though we’d been prepared, we still locked ourselves in the apartment that Chase had already rented for us—with one bedroom that had no windows in it, so I could be safe from the sun—and we hadn’t come out for a couple of days.
Now, around eight months later, we had a house, we had cars, and we were integrating into society with… if not ease, then with optimism.
Tavah was engrossed in a book, and she looked up when we entered the basement. “Hey, what brings you here tonight?” With a glance at Delilah and Camille, she added, “Oh, hi. It’s been a while.” Turning back to me, she said, “You’re wondering about Laddy, correct?”
I nodded. “I wanted to check on him.”
“He’s doing all right, at least so far. He had a rough time most of the night, but when I checked in before coming to work, he was in better spirits. My friends are working with him. He said to tell you hello,” she said.
“Do you think I should visit him?” I asked.
Tavah shook her head. “No, not yet. I think he’s better off with strangers. You’re a reminder of his regular life. He talked to you several times a week, and it can be hard to learn to let go of old dreams and habits when you see people you know.”
I nodded. I understood exactly what she was saying.
When the OIA had taken me away for a year to help me learn to adjust, I hadn’t seen any of my family during that time.
It was to help me learn to break away from the past. By the time I was allowed to return home, I wasn’t breaking down every five minutes, and I had learned to restrain my anger.
A good sire helped their newly minted vamps through the process.
With no sire, it meant that all the fear and shock that came with waking from death was all tangled up, with no one to help channel it.
Sires—the decent ones—stuck around to help their children learn how to cope and exist in a world turned upside down.
“Tell him I said hello, please?” I glanced at the portal. “Any activity going on here?”
Tavah shook her head. “No. Not since a couple of days ago.” She paused, then said, “I heard some gossip on the street last night. After my friends picked up Laddy and I got off work, I went out hunting. I know you were already planning on that, but I thought I’d take a look as well.
” The expression on her face told me she was just as worried as I was.
“Did you find anything? I didn’t come up with any leads, except…
I found a homeless man who had been turned.
No sire in sight. I had to put him down.
” I still couldn’t get him out of my mind.
I felt so bad for him. “I wish vampires and Supes had a place to go to when they need help. But there aren’t any coordinated resources around here.
There are some specific organizations, but they aren’t all that easy to find. ”
“You’re right,” Delilah said. “You’d think a big city would have something like that, but…”
“I think that we haven’t been out of the closet long enough for anybody to plan it out,” Camille said. “Maybe somebody should start a group—form a committee to look into the feasibility of creating a space like that.”
“You’re right,” Tavah said. “There isn’t, and there ought to be.
Anyway, yeah, I did find something that left me wondering.
One thing Laddy told us after you left was that he’d dropped his jacket and a bag he was carrying with his sister’s birthday gift in it.
I found them—the jacket and bag.” She pointed to a side table, on which stood a large shopping bag.
I peeked in to see a brown leather jacket, and a wrapped gift.
“Where did you find these?” I asked.
“The alley next to the Allegro Studio Apartments. Laddy doesn’t live there, so there was no real reason for him to be there.” She gave us the address. “You might want to check around there.”
“Thanks,” I said. At least we had some sort of lead. I turned to my sisters. “Shall we take a drive over there?”
Camille nodded. “The sooner we find out who did this, the sooner we’ll stop her from hurting anybody else.”
“Thanks, Tavah. How did you know where to look?”
“I asked Laddy what route he’d taken from work. It led him past there, and since he doesn’t drive, and the taxis were all running late, he said he walked. While he was in the safe room, he wrote down everything he could remember. Including her looks.”
“What did she look like?” I asked.
“Tall, thin—I think he told you that. Golden hair that glowed like a halo. He did remember she was wearing a crimson dress.” Tavah handed me the notes she’d prepared.
After a little more chitchat, we headed back upstairs. I stopped to talk to Jocko. “We’re going to check out a couple of leads. We’ll be careful,” I added before he could express his concern. “I’ll see you tomorrow night. How’s Chrysandra doing, by the way?”
He nodded, his eyes twinkling. “She’s a trooper. Boy, can she serve ‘em. And she knows her drinks. Good call, Menolly. I think she’s going to work out in the long run.”
Feeling vindicated, I led my sisters out of the Wayfarer and we headed back into the night.
The Allegro Studio Apartments were in an old brownstone walk-up.
Four stories high, the building was tall and narrow, the bricks weathered and tired.
Gray, peeling windowsills climbed the walls, and weed-shrouded flower boxes lined the front steps.
The building had seen better days, and probably housed college students who couldn’t afford dormitory prices.
Not that rent was cheap—living in the Seattle area required money or the ability to room with several people.
“Do you think she stays here?” Camille asked.
I shook my head. “Too much chance of the sun coming through the windows. She’ll need a private place…
” But then I stopped. “These buildings generally have basements, don’t they?
And what better place for a rogue vampire to hang out than in a dingy, old basement that might easily have a hidden room—or a room that could be fixed up to hide in? ”
“Good thought,” Delilah said. “But the front door’s locked, and my guess is you need a key to even get into the foyer.”
“I can solve that easily enough,” I said. In my work with the OIA, I’d been known to pick more than one lock. I didn’t have my lock picks with me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t figure out a simple deadbolt.
“I have another suggestion,” Camille said. “We ring the intercom and find someone to let us in. If they’re students, chances are someone in the building’s ordered pizza.” She darted up to the door and pressed the nearest button.
“Hello?” A voice echoed out of the intercom.
“Pizza delivery,” Camille said.
After a brief pause, the buzzer sounded, and Camille opened the door, giving us a nod.
We followed her in. I glanced around. From what I could tell, the building had sixteen apartments, four on each side of the hall.
To our right, a stairwell led both upstairs and down.
Camille turned and headed down the stairs. I hustled to slide in front of her.
“You don’t want to be first in case she’s down there,” I said, keeping my voice low. We had the ability to lower our voices to a point where most FBHs—full blooded humans—couldn’t hear us. Even though I’d been turned into a vamp, I could still access that part of my bloodline.
She nodded, hanging back to let me take the lead.
We reached the basement, which was closed off by a door, but it was unlocked.
Apparently, security wasn’t one of the main priorities of the building.
As we entered the massive basement—it took up the entire footprint of the apartment building—I pointed to the bare bulb overhead.
It was on, which meant somebody had been down here.
Whether it was the maintenance man, or someone else, I didn’t know.
The basement consisted of several rooms. A row of large cubicles took up the entire wall to our right, each one closed off by a door that was made up of a frame with chain link instead of wood, so you could see through.
Each one had a number on it, and I assumed it corresponded to one of the apartments.
Lockers, I thought—storage for the tenants.
The cubicles weren’t huge, but big enough to hold a bicycle and some boxes.
I quickly moved down the row, peeking into each one, but there was nothing alive in there. Just various boxes and a few small pieces of furniture.