Chapter 5
The old Northanger Abbey manor held the weekly Midnight Kitchen Society on Wednesday nights, where the local vampires met. It wasn’t so much a secret as hiding in plain sight.
Since Lydia was safely at home, my sire’s compulsion drew me in another direction.
I walked up the worn abbey’s path. The building had indeed once been an abbey, but it was destroyed in a fight between fae a century ago.
When they rebuilt it, they turned it into a manor house but kept the name.
The massive dwelling looked slightly more cheerful with the snow on its roof and blanketing the yard.
In the fall, this was a haunted house attraction open to the public.
At all other times, we’d gotten permission from the ever-travelling owners, the Tilneys, to hold our weekly baking session here.
I grabbed the latch on the door and walked into an open foyer with worn tile.
A large crystal chandelier hung above my head, wrapped in ivy, and a grand staircase twisted away from me up to the nether reaches of the home.
People said that this historic house was haunted, but if it was, the ghosts mostly gathered upstairs.
We never bothered them, so they never bothered us.
The heat of the manor washed over me, and I found myself peeling off layers of clothes and hanging them on the nearby coat rack.
Several hung coats and sets of drying shoes by the door told me that most of our assembly had already arrived.
When I wasn’t off touring with my band, I made it a habit to attend the cooking group every Wednesday night.
There was a feeling of solidarity about attending that helped me deal with the hidden parts of myself.
After moving from the dimly lit foyer, I stepped into the front room, which held a sizable old-fashioned fireplace.
On the mantle rested pinecones and frosted branches dotted with tiny holly berries.
Several large upholstered chairs surrounded a woven rug on the floor.
An opening off to the right led to the kitchen, where I picked out voices.
“You made it.” Bradley appeared from the opening with a grin on his face and an apron made of soft, flour-dusted linen that was stitched with tiny black hearts and a saying that said, “Love at First Bite.” I rolled my eyes.
Bradley was discreet… usually, so I’d let the normal arguments about being too obvious go.
We were with vampires after all, and it wasn’t like I had any room to talk at the moment.
“Did you think I wouldn’t come?” I asked.
“I wasn’t sure, what with your new wife and all. I thought you might be engaged in more… husband-like activities.” He wriggled his eyebrows at me.
“Wow, Bradley.” I definitely needed to change the subject. “Is Mason here?”
He nodded. “In the kitchen, making buttermilk biscuits. You never gave me an explanation about earlier today. Why were you spying on your wife?”
“You know me, trying to keep things exciting,” I muttered.
Bradley cast me a skeptical glance, which I deserved, but then turned to everyone in the kitchen. “Hey, everybody, look who’s here.”
I looked around the room, but my ex, Sephira, wasn’t there. I frowned. I needed to talk to her so I could mark her off my list of suspects.
“There he is, the vampire who decides he can flout the rules and risk exposing all of us for his own pleasure.” Mason's voice held a light French accent. With dark hair and piercing eyes, he wore a long apron that looked as if it had seen better centuries and vigorously stirred a bowl of dough.
“Good to see you too, Mason.” I leaned against the counter.
“Shhh, you guys are messing up my video.” Alice held her phone in the corner with her usual gothic setup.
She’d brought the death by chocolate coffin cake she loved to make as her centerpiece.
Everyone fell silent while Alice took her shots.
Then she lowered her phone. The universal sign meant we were now free to speak.
“Ugh, when is the food going to get here? I’m starving,” Nathan moaned.
He adjusted his jacket, which he hadn’t taken off, and gazed longingly toward the front door.
He was the newest of us and the member who was still getting used to controlling his thirst. As vampires, we could eat human food, but it didn’t satisfy us in the same way.
“The food is here, my dear,” Alice responded, brushing the bangs of her purple-dyed hair from her face, motioning to her gothic setup.
“It’s kinda funny though, don’t you think?
” She turned her attention on me. “Everyone is always saying I’m the one who will give us away, and then Wickham goes and breaks the rules. ”
“It’s not right,” Mason said in his gruff voice as he spread the flour out onto the counter. “There’s a right way to do things. Like a recipe, there are proper steps you must follow. If you don’t adhere to the prescribed method, things end up messy and wrong.”
I raised my hands. “I’m sorry I broke the rules. I’m aware that puts all of us at risk—”
Mason dumped his dough onto the counter and let out a loud humph.
“I only did it because I thought it might protect you,” I continued. “Protect all of us, including Lydia and me. I fully plan to end the marriage.”
The room fell silent. I even had Nathan’s attention. “You’re divorcing her?” he asked.
“It’s called an annulment when it’s early and both parties agree it was a mistake—”
“Yeah, but does she agree it was a mistake?” Alice asked.
“Does that really matter if it’s what is best for her?” I said a bit defensively. “For everyone?”
Mason scowled and returned to his dough to fold it. “That’s not how things are done.”
“I don’t know, that does seem kinda harsh, man,” Bradley added. “Marrying someone and then tossing them aside.”
I stared at them in disbelief. “You all just told me I can’t be above the rules. That I was putting everyone in danger.”
“For sure, but the damage is done,” Alice said.
I grit my teeth. “I’m protecting her.” Protecting her from me, my crazy life, and the death and danger that inevitably followed me.
“Protecting her or yourself?” Alice shot back.
I needed the heat off of me, so it was an immense relief when Nathan shouted, “Food!” and rushed for the cooler that a woman named Lexa had just brought into the room. Young-looking and petite, she worked at the local blood bank and could sneak dated bags of blood out to us fellow vampires.
Lexa opened the cooler, revealing the bags.
Each had a small cross and heart on them.
Nathan grabbed a nearby straw off the counter and stuck it into the blood bag, feasting on it.
I watched his enjoyment a little warily.
Blood was delicious to vampires, including me.
However, I used to be vegan before I became a vampire, and now I mostly took my blood in rare steaks because I had no other choice.
“You should see some of the new technology they have for extracting blood,” Lexa said. She was always into recent technical innovations. “We just got these devices that make it super fast—”
I turned away from the discussion. Now that everyone was distracted, I moved across the kitchen toward Mason, who was bent over his dough, carefully using a cutter to shape his biscuits.
Bradley saw my approach and laid a hand on his husband’s arm. “Hey hon. Wickham came to hash things out. Perhaps we should give him a moment so we can, you know, hash?”
Mason cut into his dough a bit too forcefully. “We welcomed you here when you first came. And now you risk making us all vulnerable. And at the worst time.”
“Somebody left a dead body drained of blood behind the police station recently,” Bradley added quietly.
“Yeah. It was pretty inconvenient when I found that dead body first on my doorstep,” I said.
I watched Mason’s reaction, ignoring how Bradley’s jaw dropped in shock. Mason’s eyes narrowed. “Someone is trying to expose you.”
“Maybe because they’re upset with me,” I pressed. “Maybe because they don’t want me exposing their world, they’re eager to expose me first?”
Bradley scowled. “Hold on a minute—”
But Mason held up a hand. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“I’m merely trying to uncover the truth,” I said. “I talked to my sire. He doesn’t seem to be the one. In fact, he used his song to compel me to find the culprit.”
“And what reason would I have, would any of us have, to unmask you, Wickham?” Mason demanded. “Yes, we’re upset, but only because exposing you exposes us. Besides, look at them, do you really think any of them are capable of the diabolicalness that you suggest?”
I glanced over at the room of vampires. Alice had returned to taking pictures from every possible angle.
I noticed the small heart-shaped cookies that sat next to Mason’s workspace that, no doubt, Bradley had been working on before I came.
Lexa had collapsed in a chair after her long work hours and was snoring away.
Mason was right. These were anything but criminal masterminds.
I wouldn’t suspect any of them. I watched as Nathan jabbed a straw into another bag of blood, a bit trickling over his chin.
His eyes glazed over when he placed the straw between his lips, and a slight shiver ran down my spine. Well, most of them I wouldn’t.
I rested a hand on Bradley’s shoulder, who still didn’t appear pleased that I suspected his beloved. “I didn’t actually believe any of you did it, but I need to ask if you know anyone who would?”
Mason and Bradley exchanged glances. “What about your ex?” Bradley asked.
I released a breath. Yes, Sephira. It meant a lot that they’d accuse one of their own, but we all knew Sephira and what she was like. Bradley had been the voice of caution before we even started dating. If only I had listened. She was next on my list of visits. “I’m not sure how to find her.”
“Do you have anything of hers?”
Actually, I did. “Her old beanie.”
Mason nodded. “Talk to Mary Bennet. She can help you.”
I raised my eyebrows in shock. “Mary? Lydia’s sister?
” The last time I talked to Mary Bennet, she was helping Lydia and me track down the person who’d lit Cupid’s Confections on fire.
Before that, she was accusing me of murdering a local resident by the name of Isabella Ravenswood—a young fae woman who’d made potions for werewolves and other illegal creatures.
“Mary took over for Isabella after she died,” Bradley added. “She may be able to hook you up with a local werewolf, if one is willing.”
It seemed worth the risk. “Thanks, guys.”
“Find this culprit and put a stop to this for all our sakes.” Mason paused in his baking and leveled me with a stern stare. “And you will be forgiven and allowed to rejoin the Midnight Kitchen Society.”
I frowned. “I wasn’t aware I’d been kicked out.” This little group was my only positive connection to my vampiric side. I didn’t wish to lose that.
“Now you know,” Mason said. He went back to his dough, gathering up the leftovers and smashing them together so he could roll it out again.
Seemed fair enough. I was already determined to find the killer. “I’ll keep you informed of what I discover,” I promised before turning and heading out of the kitchen.
Bradley followed me. “Geez, Wickham, if I thought you were going to come here and accuse my husband of all people—”
“I didn’t believe it was him, but I had to be sure.” I grabbed my coat and scarf off the coat rack. “Do you forgive me?”
“I’m not certain yet. What do you plan on doing about Lydia? Are you really going to annul the marriage?”
I pressed my lips together, still surprised at my fellow vampires’ reactions. “It’s harsh, and she may not want it, but it’s what will protect her.”
“And what do you want?”
I slid my arms into my coat. “What’s best for her.” If I was found out and imprisoned, Lydia might get accused of aiding me. That was also illegal. Not to mention dealing with a vampire killer was dangerous. I refused to let her be the killer’s next victim.
“I agreed that the Grey Doors would play at her upcoming birthday party next Friday.”
I ran a hand over my face. Lydia’s birthday. This was exactly what I didn’t need at the moment. “Our band isn’t in playing condition.” What with our manager and one band member dead, and another one a murderer.
“I've got it covered,” Bradley said with a smile. “I’ll find the people and train them up. You don’t even have to worry about coming to practice.”
“But you need me there for the performance.” My stomach twisted. How would Lydia feel about my attending her birthday party? By that time, we’d probably have annulled our marriage. Would she want me there? Of course she wouldn’t. I wouldn’t want me there.
“Wickham, hear me out.” Bradley held up his hands. “Let’s say you weren’t a vampire, and she wasn’t a fae-witch, and it wasn’t forbidden. Pretend for a moment you weren’t finding dead bodies everywhere. Then would you wish to stay married to her?”
I pushed aside the burning feeling in my chest that wanted to answer. “That question is a fairytale. I don’t live in that world, so it doesn’t matter what I want.” Glancing to the kitchen, I noticed Nathan starting on his third bag of blood. “I need to go. Keep a close eye on that one.”
Bradley looked back and nodded sincerely. “Always. You care for her though, don’t you? I could tell by the way you watched her at the cafe.”
I headed for the door and opened it, the bitter evening air blasting me in the face and reminding me to put on my scarf. “Night, Bradley.”
“Night, Wickham. Just remember, one day this will die down, and there won’t be dead bodies and accusations of murder. When things inevitably get boring, how would you like to spend your life? Alone or with a sassy fae-witch who makes every moment an adventure?”
I shut the door behind me, but his words echoed in my mind the entire way home.