Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Abi
Istared at the scrawled writing on the bottom of the paper bag containing the generous servings left of the Paragon’s charmed tea. Poetic Similes for Unromantic Dolts.
That certainly explained a few things.
“What are you looking at?” Shannon asked.
“Nothing,” I said, before remembering my manners. “That is, I was just looking at the name of this loose-leaf tea.” Anxious to get it put away before anyone accidentally used it, I climbed the step stool and put the loose-leaf tea away on the highest shelf, where it was far out of reach.
“Tea, yuck.” Jonas made a face as he put on his cleaning gloves and snapped them. “I don’t get the deal with weed water.”
Christopher skulked in through the back door, carrying a few cleaning buckets from Shannon’s car for her, but at Jonas’s words he looked so affronted—like he might chuck one of the buckets at his friend.
Shannon was already all over Jonas. She shook a finger at him. “Don’t you even start. Not today—thank you, Christopher.” She smiled weakly at Christopher when the man (fae?) set the buckets down in front of her.
Jonas looked guilty, then awkwardly rubbed his bald head. “Sorry.”
Christopher bowed. “Of course. I shall do my best to be at your service in lieu of last weekend’s events.”
I slow blinked at the trio. It was early in the morning—obviously, or Christopher wouldn’t be here—and I hadn’t finished my first cup of dark roast coffee, so I wasn’t very quick on the uptake.
But if I correctly remembered the various signs of emotional distress charts Helen from HR had given me, Shannon’s furrowed brows and thin smile were physical indications that she emotionally wasn’t feeling well.
“Did something happen?” I asked.
Shannon sighed. “Noah was attacked this past weekend.”
Another victim of the vampire. I bit the inside of my cheek in anger, until I realized I recognized the name.
“Noah… the teenager who works at Caffé Tlazo?” I asked.
She nodded. “He’s fine. He’s got a bump on his head and was a little confused and woozy for a day or two.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. I’d felt bad for the previous victims, but I knew Noah. Maybe not closely, but I could easily picture the lovesick look he gave Daphne, or how he interacted with customers at work.
A sick feeling stabbed at my gut, and I uncomfortably shifted my weight from foot to foot. “I’m so sorry Shannon—you didn’t have to come here today. Aren’t you friends with his mom?”
She waved me off as she started unloading cleaning supplies from her buckets. “Like I said, he’s fine. A little unnerved, but otherwise okay. I’m just out of sorts. I was born and raised in Algoma. It’s always been my safe little town. It’s unnerving to have this happen.”
“Algoma still is safe,” Jonas stressed. “Remember, the police said this has been happening all across the Door Peninsula? Obviously some twisted sicko is, well, not a serial killer, but at least a serial attacker.”
Beckett was right. Their feeding territory is way bigger than Algoma alone.
“Or the work of a vacationing prankster,” Shannon countered. “Maybe I’m just blowing this all out of proportion.”
Thinking of the vampire, I firmly said. “No, you definitely aren’t.”
When he glanced my way, Christopher had a thoughtful look on.
He must have known I knew about Beckett, because he said—his voice surprisingly serious and not at all melodramatic for once, “Prank or not, it is frightening. Particularly because it would be easy for this… prankster to escalate their behavior.”
He means the vampire could easily kill someone. And if the police realized this is happening in a large area, they must be getting sloppy.
I chewed on my lip as a sick feeling twisted my gut.
Shannon, meanwhile, forcefully drew herself together. “Listen to us, rattling on like a bunch of Edgar Allan Poe doom and gloom ravens. Don’t you worry, Abi. The police will catch whoever is doing this. And in the meantime, we’ll start working!”
“Yeah, thanks for making the coffee!” Jonas got mugs out of one of the creaking cabinets and started pouring coffee for himself and his cohorts.
“Of course,” I said.
“Christopher, bud, you gonna have tea like usual?” Jonas asked.
Christopher whipped a metal infuser ball—already filled with loose leaf tea—out of a pocket. “Yes. I just need hot water.”
I guess fae have a thing for tea? Or is that a Christopher thing? I’ll have to ask Beckett.
“Great! I’ll turn on the electric kettle for you, and then we can get started,” Shannon said, her usual chirpiness back. “Oh, how was your weekend, Abi?”
“It was good. Nice and quiet with a lot of reading,” I said.
Most of my reading was devoted to the book about vampires Beckett was lending me.
(It put my reading skills to the test, as the first section amounted to little more than vampire propaganda about why they were so great, but that was also the section that outlined their skills and abilities, which was precisely what I was most interested in.)
“That sounds lovely!” Shannon smiled at me, but there was something about the expression—it had a bruised look to it that tugged at my heart strings.
I feel sorry for poor Noah and all the vampire’s victims, but it affects the whole town, too.
I studied the trio for a moment. “I’ll get out of your way for now, but text me if you run into any trouble or need clarification on directions.
” I picked up my steaming mug and instead of retreating to my carriage house like I usually did, I headed deeper into the house, making my way up the staircase.
This early in the morning, Beckett would still be up. (He usually waited until the American stock exchange opened to make a few trades before retiring for the day.)
When I reached his study, I knocked on the door.
A muffled, “Come in,” made it through the door.
When I cautiously poked my head in, Beckett, standing with his arms braced on his desk, looked up. His usual stoney expression melted into a smile. “Abi.” He ducked around his desk and met me in the center of the room, by the fireplace. “What brings you here so early in the morning?”
We hadn’t talked about the kiss we’d shared in the basement two days prior.
I’d been reluctant to start any conversation since I knew there was only one inevitable answer given Beckett’s decision to stay hidden, and that was that we would never be anything long term which made the kiss a mistake on my part if not on his.
However. Beckett was definitely still… warmer with me and seemed to be holding the talk with himself internally, as evidenced by the way he stood just inside my personal space, his fingers twitching as he briefly reached his hand toward me before abruptly stepping back to observe polite society’s space.
“I was just chatting with Shannon and Jonas,” I said.
“That’s right, it’s a contractor day. Isn’t the fae prince here, too?” he asked with too much innocence.
“Yes, Christopher is here.” I made a face at him, which faded as my good humor was replaced with worry. “Shannon said Noah, a teenager I met on my various outings with Daphne, was attacked.”
“Ah.” Beckett said. “Another victim of the vampire?”
“It sounds like it.” I clutched my coffee cup closer. Usually the nutty smell of coffee would comfort me, but even the rich scent couldn’t crack the icy shell building in me. “I know you’re trying to stay hidden, but can’t you look into this?”
“I have, and I will continue to. Subtly.”
“The time for subtlety is over, Beckett! Jonas said the police realized the attacks are happening across the Door Peninsula. At this rate they’ll find out it’s a supernatural behind the attacks, and then it will become a very big deal!”
“You’re right, but there are limits to what I can do given the position I’m in.”
“You’re a powerful vampire. There’s no way this Unclaimed vampire or whatever you call it could possibly be on your level, or they wouldn’t be so careless and obvious about it!
You could crush them! I read it in the book, it’s easy for older and more powerful vampires to control and defeat younger, less powerful vampires!
” I gestured a little with my hands and almost sent coffee sloshing out of my mug.
Beckett took his unnecessary glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s not that simple. Yes, I could compel them, but first we’d have to locate the vampire, and power like that is very showy, and there’s no hiding it.”
I shook my head, the sick feeling in my gut intensifying. “But if this blows up it will be worse for supernaturals everywhere!”
Beckett slipped his glasses back on and nodded. “Yes. So I’ll keep doing what I have been doing and search at night—”
I interrupted, my fear getting the better of me. “Obviously that’s not working or you would have found the vampire when they attacked Noah!”
“I’ll also put another call into the Curia Cloisters at Magiford.”
“The same Curia Cloisters that has done nothing so far?” I bitterly asked.
“You’re upset.” Beckett clasped my free hand, the one that wasn’t holding my coffee mug, in his. His fingers were cooler than mine, and normally would have been calming, but I felt too sick to do more than notice the sensation.
“Yes! Because I know Noah! Because I know the local humans, and I know the local supernaturals, and I’m aware that both groups are going to get skewered one way or another in this—the human locals by being preyed upon and the supernaturals through the aftermath—if nothing is done to stop this!”
“You’re right.”
I yanked my hand free from his grasp. “Stop saying I’m right! Can’t you do something about this?!”
Beckett studied me for a moment. “I’ll put a call into the Ahnapee River Pack and we’ll get organized about watching the area.
If the vampire follows its previous patterns, it’s probably moved on to a different city by now, but if it’s lingering, our presence should be enough to keep it from doing anything more. That will buy us some time.”