Chapter 14
That night, Lydia and I returned to Cupid’s Confections—the safest place for her to be.
Lizzy and the others agreed she should stay there, and they allowed me to remain as well.
Lydia’s room only had a small twin bed, so I made myself a spot on the floor.
Sometime during the night, she must have climbed down to join me, because I woke up with her in my arms. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
After lunch, I met with the Midnight Kitchen Society.
Even though it was Monday and during daylight hours, I convinced Bradley to call an emergency meeting. Mr. Rothschild confirmed that whatever had been wrong with my Jeep was magic based, and in a day it had gone back to normal. I walked up the front walk, my feet crunching in the unshoveled snow.
Some brave kids, who may have dared each other onto the property of the supposedly haunted home, had left angel indentations in the fresh powder in the yard.
Bradley met me in the entryway as I brushed off my shoes in the doorway and stepped into the toasty atmosphere to hang my coat. We entered the kitchen. They were there baking as usual. Emergency meeting or no, the group would fulfill its purpose.
“Hey everyone, Wickham has returned,” Bradley said in his normal cheery manner.
The vampires in the kitchen turned toward me with skeptical looks. Everyone was there except for Sephira.
Mason folded his flour-covered arms against his chest. “I thought I said not to come back until this murder case was over. Have you solved it?”
“No,” I said, looking around the room. “But I need your help. Everyone’s help.”
“Why should we assist you when you’re the one who has put us all in danger? Honestly, we should distance ourselves as far away from you as possible,” Mason protested.
“I get it. That’s what I tried to do with Lydia,” I said, my chest warming at the thought of my wife and her strong-willed determination.
I should have known I could never fight her.
And I no longer wanted to. “I believed that if I distanced myself from her, it would keep her safe from me. But I realized that the only way to really protect someone is to find those of like minds and come together when they’re in trouble.
That’s why we’ve come together in this group, isn’t it?
Not to push each other away, but to support each other when things turn rough. ”
“What assistance do you require?” Bradley leaned against the counter next to his cookie cutters in the shape of mittens and horse-drawn sleighs.
“Lydia and I have a plan to lure out those who have been after her so we can catch them,” I said. “But we need you there to help keep her safe. We’ll meet in Fairwood Forest behind the church tomorrow night.”
Alice had added a small icing sculpture of a gothically dressed snowman next to her coffin cake this time, and she snapped off a quick picture before stowing her phone back in her pocket. “Who else will be there?” she asked, ever the perceptive one. “If we’re found out—”
“We can use a fae glamour. I’m fae, half of us are fae. We can protect our identities. But there’s a skill set that only vampires can do.” I paused. “I should warn you, though. Prince Valemont and the Bennets will be in on the plan. Which is why we’ll use the glamours to protect you.”
“Prince Valemont?” Mason asked. “What’s he doing in town? And why does he care?”
“I may have a connection with the prince.” I shrugged like it was nothing.
Everyone in the room fell silent, and they looked at each other as if trying to come to a decision.
“This is to catch the killer who’s been framing you?” Nathan asked.
“Yes. Once we find out who’s been setting me up, the prince can take it from there. He’ll devise a story that will leave our”—I motioned around at all of us—“participation out of it.”
Mason shook his head. “And he’d do that because…”
“Don’t you know?” Alice said. “Prince Valemont is pushing for reform for vampires and werewolves.”
“And he knows I’m being set up.” I stepped forward, trying not to appear too desperate. “I have his word he won’t seek to learn your identities or anything about you if you help with this. You can keep on living your lives in peace.”
Alice, Nathan, Lexa, Mason, and Bradley continued to look at each other.
“Come on, guys,” Bradley said. “Wickham is one of us. Who are we if we don’t watch out for our own?”
Slowly they all nodded, and hope gathered in my chest. This could work.
Mason unfolded his arms. “Okay, Wickham, what do you need?”
The next evening, I got the vampires in place. Being a vampire had its advantages in that our speed and strength made it easy to climb and hide in trees. Also, it was effortless to get out of trees, considering a fall of such a small height wouldn’t injure us.
I left them there and went to Cupid’s Confections, where Lydia and her family awaited.
Despite the closed sign on their store, they had the door unlocked, and I slipped in.
I found four out of five of the Bennet sisters together at the table sharing a cup of tea, each of them with hands on their teacups looking rather serious.
Lydia stood and embraced me. “Everything ready?”
“Our snare is in place,” I said, pulling her close to feel the security of her warmth next to me as a reassurance that all would go to plan. “Where’s Mrs. Bennet?”
“Jane took her out to see a movie. We figured that might be best,” Kitty said.
I nodded. Considering the way she fawned over Lydia and made a big deal over things, it probably was best.
“Has Darcy provided the tech yet?”
“Yes.” Lizzy handed me an earpiece. “Darcy’s butler brought this by while we were having tea. Nearly tripped over Lydia on his way in.”
“We confirmed the plan with him, and he gave us the tech. We’ll also listen in, though you won’t hear us,” Mary said.
I turned to Lydia. “And do you have what you need?”
Lydia held up the blue-hued potion. “We worked on it together. It’s designed to work very similarly to a vampire compulsion. Once I pour it onto the phone and go into the woods, it will be very hard for the owner of the phone to resist coming to reclaim it.”
“Once we have him, we’ll use the truth serum on him, and he’ll have to tell us who’s actually behind this,” Lizzy finished.
And you have your stone? I asked in my mind.
Lydia smiled. Always.
“Then we’re almost ready,” I said. I slipped the earpiece into my ear and clipped the mic onto my shirt. “Darcy, are you there?”
“I’m here. Are we about set to get started?” Darcy had agreed to help with the plan after Lydia and I had come up with it.
“Yes, Lydia is about to put the potion on the phone and head to the woods. I’ll monitor her from a distance until she’s in position.”
Lydia took a final sip of her tea, then the sisters rose from the table and gathered in a hug.
“You’ll be okay,” Lizzy said, more to reassure herself. She looked at me as she said it.
“No one will touch her,” I vowed.
Darcy had needed to call Lizzy to tell her that I was to be trusted. But now she nodded, albeit hesitantly.
I followed Lydia from a distance to the edge of the woods.
The soft trilling of birds made it sound as if we were in a winter wonderland, the kind where snow clung to every branch and our boots crunched over a path dusted in white.
The air smelled of cold earth and evergreens, laced with the faint, comforting scent of pine resin.
I had been careful to wipe out any footprints besides Lydia’s.
She looked over her shoulder in my general direction.
Thanks for letting me do this with you, she said in my head.
You didn’t give me a choice.
She released a soft laugh. I guess I should say thank you for not fighting me on this anymore.
I kept my gaze on the woman who’d stolen my heart. You’ve got this. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.
I know.
She pulled out the potion, dipped her finger into the bottle, and rubbed it onto the phone. Then she placed the bottle in the trash receptacle, stored the phone in her pocket, and headed into the woods.
“How are things going?” Darcy’s voice blared in my ear, and I was tempted to take the blasted piece out. It was hard juggling more than one voice in my head.
“Everything is going according to plan. Lydia has applied the potion to the phone and entered the woods. I’m following at a distance,” I said softly.
Depending on where he is, it will probably take about twenty to thirty minutes for him to come, Lydia thought.
As long as he was still in Austen Heights.
I mimicked Lydia’s journey into the woods, coming to the boundary where my vampire friends hid up in the trees. Lydia walked into the small clearing and brushed the snow from a fallen log before sitting down to wait.
She wrapped her arms around her stomach, leaning forward. Something is wrong.
I took a step toward her, glancing in all directions. The forest was still. Each tree was a silent sentinel in this frozen paradise.
My vampire senses, which were on high alert, picked up nothing.
I returned my gaze to Lydia. What is it?
I feel… strange… it’s. Hex. She stared at me in shock. It’s a removal potion, used to move someone from one place to another, but how did it get into my drink? It only works on those with witch powers.
“Oh no,” I muttered.
“Wickham, what’s going on?” Darcy demanded.
I had seconds. Blurring forward, I got to her just as her feet were starting to fade. I wrapped my arms around her.
Lydia, I thought, open our connection.
And she did. I reached out, wrapping my fae power about her, tying the two of us together.
And the world careened wildly out of control before darkness enveloped us.