Chapter Eighteen
Melinda
Blood sacrifices.
That was the headline for the paper the following morning. We had all huddled around the table earlier that morning to see not only the headline, but the images of each victim. There were four so far:
Agatha Oakland
Hannah Brantley
Jeremy Pickens
Camden Barnes
On the second page of the story displayed my face.
I was now considered an almost victim. Bright side, it helped keep others from thinking I was the killer.
However, with a target now on my back, the others refused to let me far from their line of sight.
If it wasn’t Lucien then it was Isadora and if it wasn’t those siblings then it was the twins.
My only reprieve was the bathroom, which I was currently sneaking out of as afternoon fell. That was until a voice behind me stopped me.
“Where are you going?” Lucien asked as I headed towards the living room exit.
“To pitch myself off the house,” I fired back sarcastically.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed at the bad joke. Sighing, I motioned for him to follow.
“You’ll follow me anyway so come on. I need a drink so I want to borrow dad’s truck.
You’re driving because I don’t think I can get behind the wheel for a bit. ”
His narrowed eyes softened at my words. Wrapping his arms around me, he let the coolness of his embrace help settle my growing nervousness.
What if it was someone I was close to? What would I do? Could I really put down someone like a rabid dog? I wouldn’t know until that time came, unfortunately.
“Let’s go,” he said. My grip on him tightened as the house suddenly blurred around me, morphing into only shades of earth.
In a few blinks, we were coming to a stop at my house.
I wasn’t used to this way of traveling and my stomach didn’t seem to like the position either as it twisted with a threat of relieving itself of its contents. “Mel?”
I nodded, showing that I heard him. “Sorry, I’m not used to traveling like that. Usually you're holding me differently.”
Placing a kiss on my temple, he rested his head against mine. “I should have thought of that, I apologize.”
“Mel, thank god you are alright,” My dad said from his truck.
I looked over to see grocery bags in his truck bed.
He forgot about them as soon as he saw me and ran to pull me into a hug.
Something about it felt off, but I brushed it off and embraced him back.
I hadn’t seen my dad since my near-death experience because Lucien had kept me less than an arms-length away.
I felt his shoulders tremble as he held me, causing me to pull away and find him with tears in his eyes.
“I was lucky. I remembered what you taught me and was able to get out. Lucien was there to save me as well, but I kind of beat him to it,” I joked as Lucien looked our way at the mention of his name. My dad pulled me back into a hug, placing a kiss on top of my head.
“Well, it looks like you came just in time. Help me out with these bags?” dad asked, too uncomfortable with the emotional exchange.
Frowning, I walked over to the pile of discarded bags full of groceries. Mostly my favorites from what I could see. “Dad, I already bought groceries last week. What’s with all of this?”
“Never hurts to have more food. Come on, help your old man.”
Lucien took the bags, using his vampire strength to make everything in one trip, but I remained outside as I looked at them warily. I had taken over shopping by his request a few years ago. Dad hardly left the house itself unless it was to fish or hunt or to see his therapist, Dr. Bailey.
Something gnawed in my stomach, but I chalked it up to anxiety and finally stepped into the house. Lucien and my dad were talking to each other, but as they saw me, the conversation halted for a moment.
“What were you two talking about?” I questioned and dad gave me a sympathetic frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Those men came again while you were gone. This time they gave me an envelope to give to Lucien. The seal is—.”
“It seems someone in Shadowhaven wants your land and my father used it to send a message. We are being summoned back home,” Lucien finished for him.
I wasn’t aware of what that meant, but by the looks on their faces, it was not good.
Lucien shoved the folded letter into his jean pocket with an aggravated sigh.
My father stared at him briefly before looking in my direction again to answer my first question. “We were discussing how long I had left with you.”
“Why can’t I come back to visit?”
My dad shook his head. “Mates cannot be apart for too long. The bond is like a string and the further it’s pulled, the worse off it is for both parties.
If you were here for even a day while Lucien was in Shadowhaven, you would become a shell of a person riddled with pain until you died.
The bond is there to ensure that you two remain together. ”
I looked to Lucien, who nodded his approval to me.
What my father said was the truth. I could no longer visit here, already bound by laws of a place I had never been and a bond I had no say in.
The joy I had felt from the bond was now coupled with the pain that came from knowing I would never see those I cared for in this town again.
Now I really needed that drink.
“Could we borrow your truck?” I asked. “I need a drink and I’m without a vehicle.”
“What about Lucien?”
“First, he’s not a vehicle. Second, there may be some people here that know what he is, but there are those that don’t also. I’d prefer not to break any of these Shadowhaven laws I know nothing about.”
Sighing, he pulled his keys from his pocket and handed them to me. Lucien took them, knowing I wouldn’t be the one driving and thanked him before leading me outside. He pulled me against his chest where I let out a shaky breath.
“What’s this for?”
He squeezed me gently as I spoke, “I won’t be leaving tonight or tomorrow. You have time, Mel. I can feel your heart, remember? I felt your fear and anxiety over leaving him here.”
I had forgotten, but it was a hard thing to remember. To have been a book left at a title read, to now being a wide open book to him. He got to see and feel behind all my layers.
“I love you.”
He chuckled as he placed a kiss atop my head, “I love you too.”
***PAGE brEAK***
I threw my head back, taking the burning liquid to the back of my throat while John cheered me on.
Slamming it onto the bar, I hissed at the alcohol sliding through me.
John high fived me as he handed me a lime, which only helped the burn a little considering this had become my fifth shot of the hour.
Lucien watched me carefully and I smiled drunkenly at him.
“Do vampires not get drunk?”
“Oh, we do. It just takes more than it would for a human.”
“I’m not human, I'm a witch, remember,” I slurred while motioning for another. Bryon came over, frowning in disappointment at me. “Oh no, the fun police.”
This only increased the frown lines forming in his forehead. “Mel, for someone who came in here just to pool, you seem to be drinking more than normal. I just worry.”
I motion to him with my eyes on Lucien. “Fun police.” Lucien snorts at my remark, but says nothing and I look at Bryon again. “Am I getting cut off? It’s only a few shots.”
“And a margarita which you chugged like a man in a desert finally tasting water. Followed by a bloody Mary that you drank half of before giving it to the vampire. So, yes, until you sober up more.”
“I can still pool you under the table, sir,” I replied. Bryon just nodded without listening as he gathered my empty glasses. Lucien watched our interaction with a twinge of jealousy in his eyes. I laid my head on his shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts. “How are vampires made?”
He took a moment to reply, most likely shocked by my sudden question. It was the first thing that had come to my mind in my drunken state. Curiosity had been a major factor since none of this new world had really been explained besides random information overloads at certain times.
I had learned of vampires, werewolves, witches, different fae and hunters so far, but I knew there had to be much more to Shadowhaven beyond those groups. I was curious about how they came to be, how many were there, what variations were there and everything beyond.
Lucien finally responded, “Vampires are made by the exchange of blood. Your Hollywood films have gotten that part right, but it’s deeper than that as well.
We share a part of ourselves when we turn someone, part of our essence and many times these made vampires will take on the characteristics of their maker.
Shadowhaven makes sure that such things are monitored to keep certain people from being turned.
Those that show signs of aggression in their human lives will not be allowed to turn because their aggression will only be magnetized.
And for obvious reasons children cannot be turned. ”
“I feel as though that part is self-explanatory as to why,” I agreed. I lifted my head from his shoulder to rest it on my hand on the bar counter. “Can you only make a human into a pure blood by being a coven leader? Or is there another way?”
“I’m not turning you today, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lucien teased with a crooked smile. Something flashed in his eyes, as if he was trying to deflect the answer with his charms.
“Tell me. Is it bad?”
Dropping his smile, he furrowed his brows in thought.
“Yes and no. The only other way is for a pure blood vampire to relinquish their magical essence during transition. It’s only considered taboo because losing that part of yourself is irreversible.
You feel that ember inside of you when you tap into your magic?
That warmth, imagine it gone forever and living your entire existence without it.
They will remain a pure blood, but without that magic essence, they will always feel that missing piece.
I have seen some vampires take their own lives over the absence.
That is why we will wait until I take over the coven. ”
I nodded, my fingers on my necklace as I envisioned the feeling he described. The cold that would take over my body without the warmth of magic would be agonizing and I had only held it for a couple weeks.
All conversation came to a sudden halt as the doors to the Saddleback flew open by Henry, the mailman, with eyes crazed. Bryon rushed across the bar to him, checking to see if he was fine, but Henry pushed him off.
“There was another attack!”
The room filled with ‘what, when, who’ and the likes until someone let out a splitting whistle that silenced it all. When the room fully quieted, Bryon was still waiting for Henry to catch his breath to ask, “Who was it, Henry?”
“Dr. Bailey. Her mouth was sewn shut. They took her heart. It was—.” Henry began breaking down into tears. I had never seen Henry so freaked out before. Nothing seemed to truly bring his spirits down, but this had been so bad that he could not wear his normal smile.
“She was a Weaver,” Lucien whispered in my ear. “Hunters usually kill Weavers in such a fashion, but Weavers are passive. They only feed on pain, but never inflict it. They’re also hard to kill. It had to be someone she trusted.”
That hardly narrows down the list.
Lucien pulled me a little closer, as if scared the killer would come for me next.
The room then exploded into chaos as many left to return home while others began crying with Henry as they felt the loss of another in our town.
Dr. Bailey would make that the fifth victim in this killing spree.
I felt as if we were drawing to a close.
Who would be the final victim? Would we be able to find the person before it was too late?
The questions kept building in my mind until Lucien had to help me out of the bar. He told me words of comfort as he sat me at one of the outside tables.
“Mel, breathe, we will find the killer if the authorities don’t. I will make sure this all comes to an end. If you need comfort, find comfort in that.”
I nodded, my breathing ragged. Lucien was here. Lucien would protect me. Lucien would protect those I cared about. I trusted that and I trusted him. But, why did I feel so hollow all of a sudden? As if none of his comfort could penetrate the anxiety I felt within the emptiness inside me.
“Can you close the tab with Bryon? Here, use my card.” I tried to pull out my card, but he placed a hand over mine to stop me.
When our eyes met, he gave me a soft kiss and left me there with the truck keys in case I wanted to wait for him there.
I decided to do just that, sliding into the passenger seat with a sigh.
When I stretched across the seat to start the truck, I noticed a map wedged between the middle and driver’s seat.
Curious, I retrieved it.
I looked at the map, red circles in every place a body was found, even Dr. Bailey’s office was circled.
Why did my dad have this? How could he know that Dr. Bailey would die?
I knew the answer, but I needed more proof. My dad’s truck came with GPS so the map was already a red flag.
I pulled up the GPS to find that the last place he visited had in fact been Dr. Bailey. I continued to scroll until every piece of evidence was laid in front of me and I could no longer deny the truth.