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Twitch. The vamp was about to rise. Oh shit. I brought the stake up and plunged it through his heart before he could open his eyes. He let out a long whispering sigh, sounding like a breeze filtering through a hollow husk, and then vanished in a puff of dust and ashes.
Two down. I turned my attention to Roz. He was just bringing his stake down into the girl's chest and she let out a screech as she, too, disappeared into the abyss.
The immediate danger gone, I felt my legs ripple and I slid down onto the floor, staring at the stakes. Roz joined me.
"You okay?" he asked.
I shrugged. "There but for the grace of the gods, go I…"
"Nope. It won't happen. I watched you take down those two vamps. You're a survivor, Menolly. That's how you managed to break away from Dredge when he'd stripped everything he could from you. That's how you managed to fight your way back from the madness that he inflicted on you."
At my look of surprise, he pushed a lock of unruly hair off his forehead. "I know more than you think I do. Anyway, we still don't know where the Elwing Blood Clan is, but we'll find them. Don't worry."
"Right." He might know a lot about me, but I still didn't know him well enough to trust him. And yet… Roz seemed to be determined to help. And if it was Dredge and the Elwing Blood Clan, we needed everybody we could scare up for the hunt. I pushed myself up and dusted off my jeans, then held out my hand, yanking him to his feet.
"Come on, we need to let the others know we're okay. We have to figure out what the fuck is going on before it gets any worse."
On the way back to the bar, I asked Chase, "So what are you going to tell their families? And what did you tell the families of the first four?"
He paled. "Officially, we haven't found any of the missing. Since we run everything, including the bodies, through the FH-CSI office, we can fudge documents, as much as I hate doing it. All the techs from the investigation at the theater were our men, and we told the management there that a police informant had gotten beat up. Hush hush stuff. If any of their staff was found discussing it, they could go to jail."
"That's using your badge," Camille muttered, grinning. "You know somebody's going to leak something to the tabloids."
"Probably, but we can't control everything." He rolled his eyes. "You know, as well as I do, that everything had to be done in secret because they were vamp murders. There isn't—nor will there ever be—a record of those bodies. I hate doing this to the families, leaving them to wonder why their loved ones vanished, but at the moment, that's all we can do if we don't want full-scale panic to break out."
"Any missing person reports filed yet?" Delilah asked.
He shook his head. "Not yet, but my guess is by tomorrow. We'll officially 'look into the situation' but we can't keep up this charade. Seven people in two nights? Camille's right—this kind of story doesn't stay under wraps for long and pretty soon some savvy reporter's going to put things together. At the least, the department's going to take shit for not having a clue as to what happened to those going AWOL."
Delilah's cell let out an obnoxious series of beeps and she flipped it open and spoke in low tones. After a minute, she folded it closed and smiled. "Well, one bit of good news. I put out the call for a community Supe meeting. Seems like Zach, Siobhan, and Wade have been broadcasting like crazy because it's on for tomorrow night. We'll meet at the V.A. hall."
At least one thing was going right, I thought. But something nagged at me. I looked over at Roz. "Have you ever been to Aladril?"
He blinked. "No, actually, I haven't. Their city is highly warded against astral demons such as myself. I tried to get in once and couldn't set foot through the city gates. They don't need much of a military with their magical abilities, I'll tell you that much."
No wonder they weren't worried about the war between Lethesanar and Tanaquar. Any city that had the ability to magically deny entry to demons was far more powerful than Y'Elestrial's queen, or the sister battling for the crown.
Camille looked at me. "You really think we should go, don't you?"
I gave her a curt nod. "As in, yesterday. Queen Asteria told us to find the seer named Jareth. She seems convinced that the Elwing Blood Clan is behind this; she sent Roz to help us out because of that. Maybe this Jareth can give us some insight. After all, we aren't making much progress on our own, are we?"
"We don't even know what we're up against," she said, glancing at Delilah. "Not really. I think Menolly's right. But we'll have to leave at dusk and return before dawn. Tomorrow night's no good, with the Supe meeting. What about the night after—Sunday night?"
Delilah shrugged. "Fine with me. What do you think?" she asked, glancing in my direction.
I frowned. "If we have to wait until Sunday, then Sunday night it is. But don't be surprised if we see more dead bodies and more vamps rising."
"Why is the Elwing Blood Clan doing this?" Chase asked. "I thought Wisteria would try to help them head for the Sub Realms."
I stared out the window. "Maybe that's not their primary focus. Maybe they're out to raise some other sort of havoc."
Camille blinked. "Scary thought."
Chase dropped us off at the bar. While he and Delilah said good night with a little make-out fest, I leaned against the building, talking to Roz.
"I'll contact you tomorrow night," he said. "I'll be at your meeting. Until then, keep watch, and be wary." His eyes flashed a dangerous shade of desire as he gazed at Camille. She was heading toward her car.
"Remember what I told you," I whispered. "One slip and I'll make sure it's your last."
