Chapter 14 #2
We both laughed at that, then laid in comfortable silence, just looking at the textured ceiling, processing the mornings events, and the questions it brought to mind.
Questions that needed to be asked aloud.
“Why would anyone think vampirism was real?” I turned to Todd, who hands were folded over his stomach, listening. “And how did the vamp hunters know about the fang ceremonies? Come to think of it, how did vampire hunters know about the vamps at all?”
He took a moment, a crease formed in his brows, before he faced me and said, “Where one exists, so does its opposite.” His next movements were slow, purposeful. “And opposites attract.”
Surprisingly deep, there was something about Todd’s words that tugged at me, wrapped itself around my mind, and pushed me to think of any and all reasons the vamp hunters existed.
Maybe it was spite. Someone who hadn’t been able to reach the rank of full vampire and decided to create an oppositional group.
Maybe that same someone took the vampire-thing a little too seriously à la Daemonica.
Or maybe someone lost a loved one to the vamps, and formed a group of vamp hunters as a retaliatory response.
But if that were true, there would have been a string of bodies left in the wake of Lenore’s vamps, which wasn’t the case—Daemonica excluded.
But there were a lot of victims. Vampire hunter victims. Seven in total in the last year.
“Why did they think it would work? The vamp hunters?” I rolled onto my elbows, mind churning. “The murders escalated from two to five. Surely, there had to be an in between. A reason they thought the ‘cure’ would work.”
“Maybe the vampires set the numbers the hunters ‘cure’. Five familiars were bitten, five were ‘treated’. Before that it was two and two.” Which meant the escalation was solely the result of the number of people bitten, not confidence in the solution.
“But why did they think it would work, when things went so wrong in Lexington?”
“That is something we will need to find out.”
There was much to mull over. So many more questions that needed answers. At least with the right questions, we could start moving in the right direction. And in order for that to happen, we’d need to get the remaining video footage, and answers from Lenore.
“Alright, the team is up to speed.” Jack returned, the door closing over behind him.
“Cyber is looking for anti-vamp groups and related activities online. Kaatz and Thruppy are checking out the latest records and footage sent by Lenore. Fawzy and Zhou are headed back to Lexington to see if there are any more similarities to the murders at Spring Grove.”
Since Todd and I didn’t bother getting off the bed, I looked over my shoulder to address Jack as he resumed his position leaning on the desk across from us. “The murders in Lexington happened eleven months ago, if they’re looking for the sunrise to tell them anything, they’ll be a month off.”
“Good point.” He nodded. “We’ll make sure they note the shadows then we’ll project where they would be a month from now.
” Just as Jack started to settle in his phone rang again.
His eyes held an apology, first to me, then to Todd, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to answer it. “Sorry, I’ll be right back.”
Jack answered the phone as he slipped out the door again.
I assumed he had taken the hint that Todd and I didn’t particularly enjoy having to mute ourselves while Jack was on the phone, and had chosen to give us space to continue our conversation.
Jack’s room was kitty-corner to mine, so it didn’t take much for him to slip out across the hall to have a conversation away from other hotel guests’ wandering ears.
Which was pleasant given that our motel room set up usually forced Todd and me to subject ourselves to the constant stream of Jack’s calls. And it was looking very much like we’d be returning to a motel sooner rather than later.
I didn’t relish the thought of having to travel all the way back to Huntington to have another conversation with Lenore.
I was growing as tired as dirt, and was hoping we’d stay in place for a couple of days.
Partially, so I could enjoy the hotel and its high thread count sheets—not that I knew what was a good thread count to start with—and fancy glass-encased shower.
I flattened myself out on the bed, soaking in all the comfort I could get, and nuzzled my face into the folded crooks of my elbows. “What are the chances we’ll be staying here tonight?”
Todd’s response was swift. “Fifty-fifty.”
Either, or. Not overly helpful, it was like saying both yes and no.
I paused a moment, thinking about Todd’s comment about the vampire hunters, and how his words made me feel. “You know, what you said about opposites earlier surprised me.”
“Because it was deep?”
I shrugged.
“Want to know a secret?” Todd rolled himself over so that we were shoulder to shoulder, the bed dipping where we touched. When I nodded, he pushed himself off the bed to his feet. “I read it off a mug.”
I groaned into my arms. Of course, he did. “And here I was trying to give you a compliment.”
“And I’ll take it. Don’t let the tattoos fool you. I can be deep when I want to be.”
The door clicked shut. Jack entered in silence, his face sullen. Disappointed. The mood in the room changed. I sat up, exchanging a quick look with Todd, before breaking the silence. “What? What’s wrong?”
“You’re not going to like this.” Jack’s words were directed at me. “We’ve got a confession.”
?
I let out a string of curses from behind the one-way mirror. Jack was right. I didn’t like it.
We’d dropped everything and driven the three hours back to Huntington where the confessor was being held by local police, and I did not like what I saw.
The person who had confessed to murdering the familiars sat in front of us, patient, calm, with her hands cuffed to the metal table. It was almost like she was at peace. Contented to be under lock and key. Like she wanted to be guilty.
“She was at the gathering.” Todd kept his eyes on the confessor, exhaling with a hot huff.
Yes, yes, she was.
The elfish woman who’d accosted me at the gathering, straightened her posture as she checked out her own appearance in the one-way glass.
And it angered me. There was no way it was her.
I was more than confident that she—the woman who had clung to me, professing her love for all things vamp, her enthusiasm for being a part of vamp life, wanting nothing more than to be let into the inner sanctum—had zero to do with the case.
“That woman did not kill the familiars.” I ground the words out through my teeth.
Somehow, in light of five peoples’ deaths, seven if we counted Lexington, this woman had made the case about her.
What she wanted. And she wasn’t afraid to let the murders go unsolved in order to put attention on herself.
This, this, was what I was worried about.
Once people knew what the agents and I were looking into, someone would involve themselves in the case.
They’d make things murky. Lead us down the wrong path.
But the question was, how did the elfish woman know what had happened?
She wasn’t a vamp, wasn’t part of the inner circle. So, who told her?
Jack slanted his head towards the woman on the other side of the glass. “She’s claiming she did it single-handed.”
I scoffed. Even Todd couldn’t have taken on five people by himself, never mind doing it all without leaving any evidence.
“There’s no way she subdued five people by herself.” Oh, thank Todd. He saw it too. “No way she carried them from the mausoleum to the lawn without leaving evidence.”
“Claims she drugged them and brought a dolly. Carted them over.” At least from Jack’s tone, I knew he wasn’t buying it either. And we’d driven all the way back to Huntington for a red herring.
“If that was the case, forensics should have found wheel tracks, drugs, something.” I folded my arms across my chest. I needed to reign in the anger flaring within my ribcage before it became red-hot and blinding.
“Do you think her confession was made under duress?”
“There are a lot of inconsistencies. Could be that she’s covering for someone else, or taking the fall for a larger team. Duress, although plausible, seems unlikely.”
“I spoke to her at the gathering.” The agents shifted their gaze to me. “She only made it into the inner sanctum twice. When Todd and I were there the other night she never made it past the waiting room. It doesn’t add up.”
Silence from the agents, as they awaited more of an explanation.
“I did tell you about her during the debrief. She’s the one who thought I was a vamp and asked me to take a bite out of her neck.”
“That eager, hmm?” Jack flashed his attention over the hickey I’d given up concealing on my neck.
“Practically, offered it to me on a platter.” Though I was tempted, I refused to continue covering the mark on my neck.
I would not be ashamed. I had enough scars as it was, this was just something else for people to stare at until it faded.
“How soon can we get her out of here?” She’d taken up enough focus and resources from the case already.
“We have to see it out.”
“See it out? What the hell does that mean?” My fiery hot rage slammed against my hold.
Jack did a scan of our surroundings, no doubt noticing the security cameras I’d marked on our way in, before walking me back against the wall.
His broad shoulders obscuring my view from the camera, he lowered his voice, “Now it’s time to play politics.
We got grieving families who want justice.
We have seven deaths. A confession. And a police force that wants to keep matters from escalating in the public eye.
There are a lot of people we need to placate.
If we keep digging, there will continue to be open wounds. ”
“But—”
“But we can still dig,” Todd corrected as he came to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jack.