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“How many people knew she liked vampires?” It occurred to me that if it was common knowledge that Trixie liked vamps, it would be easy to orchestrate a meeting between her and Bryan.
“Too many. She frequented several chat rooms, but mainly the one called Fang Girl Wannabes.” Marion shook her head. “Trixie was always too open. She never learned that it was dangerous to give too much away. She even used her own name online. But why would they kill her? Was she targeted?”
“We don’t know that yet. But there has to be some connection there, if they were badgering her for information.” I glanced over at Camille. “We’re going to have to dig deep into that damned club.”
Marion found what she was looking for in her desk and tossed it across the desk. “Trixie left this in the break room last week.”
I picked up the matchbook. The cover had a logo of a green flaming wheel with an X in the center of it, against a black background. Across it, in white lettering, it read, The Energy Exchange. I flipped it over and read the address, but I already knew where it was. We’d seen it before.
“Okay. So we’ve got an ancient necromancer, sorcerers, the Koyanni, and this club. And somehow they’re all linked together. I don’t think the vampires as a whole are involved, Bryan not withstanding.” I tossed the matchbook to Camille, who held it in her hands and closed her eyes.
After a moment she opened her eyes and hastily put it down on the table. “Yeah…we’ll have a talk about this in a while. I don’t like the places it’s taking me.” She glanced at me and mouthed Demonkin. Marion was too preoccupied to notice.
“Did she talk about Bryan much?” I figured Menolly could track him down and—if Roman backed her up—they might be able to question him.
“She didn’t say much. As I said, our parents had a fit when they found out. And I knew he was trouble. It’s not that I don’t like vampires…but this guy…he felt predatory—all vampires are, but he felt on the verge, constantly. I worried about her safety.”
Marion pushed back a stray strand of her hair that had escaped the ponytail and let out a deep sigh. “Truth is, Trixie was the rebel of the family. She didn’t fit in. For one thing, she didn’t want children and that was a big issue. The folks wanted her to get married and have a passel of kids. And they wanted her to settle down, to build a life like I have. But she hopped from job to job. She hitchhiked to California a couple years ago to live with the drummer from Dead End Boys—she was a fang hag all the way. But that didn’t work out, so she came back and went to work for me.”
She looked at me, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. “Find out who killed her, please. Trixie wasn’t the brightest bulb in the socket, but that made her special. And…she was my sister.”
As she suddenly busied herself straightening up her desk, we took that as our clue. I scooped up the matchbook and put it in my pocket, and we filed out. By the time we hit the front door, I’d forgotten all about buying myself one of her cinnamon rolls. The pain on Marion’s face had killed my appetite.
Back in the car, Camille held out her hand for the matchbook again. She shuddered as I dropped it into her palm. “This is nasty. Demonkin energy—and I’m beginning to recognize Tregart energy in particular, we’ve run into so many of them.”
Chase made a small sound. I glanced over at him. It had been a Tregart who had almost killed him, who had changed his life forever. He’d been terrified of them since last year, but now the look in his eyes was borderline dangerous. He didn’t so much look frightened as pissed.
“So we’ve got Van and Jaycee—I think we can safely say they’re wrapped up in this. They’re both sorcerers and Tregarts. We’ve got a magical club that seems to be connected to everything. Telazhar’s most likely involved…what else are we missing?”
“The kitchen sink?” Camille snickered, but then pressed her lips together. “Whatever they’re up to, you can bet it’s no good. Question: why Trixie? Why use her this way?”
“Because she knows about the coyote shifters. Because the Koyanni are out to even the score and they hate their less volatile brethren. Because…” A cold sweat washed over me. “Because Marion told us about the Koyanni and they found out, somehow, that she’s the one who outed them.”
Camille snapped her fingers. “And Trixie might have told them that. Or…killing Trixie…murder makes good revenge against someone you hate—kill their family members?”
“I think you’re right, but it doesn’t fully account for them blowing up the Supe Community Center. And why not just kill Trixie alone, why destroy others?” Chase cleared his throat. “I still have a feeling they’re trying to drive a wedge between the FBHs and the Supes. Getting Trixie in the mix that was a bonus.”
I thought about it for a bit. “You may be right. They could also be trying for a psychological edge. They know we have a small army, so either they must be confident they outnumber us or they’re doing their best to psych us out before we meet. Set us on guard. Make us jump.”
Camille leaned forward against the backseat again. “So what next?”
“We should check on the other two families and see if there was any link to the Energy Exchange, because that seems to be our primary connection so far.” Chase put the car in gear and we headed off to our next victim’s house.
By the time we finished up, we hadn’t found any connection between Thomas and Salvatore and the Energy Exchange.
Chase dropped us off in the parking lot. “Sharah and I’ll see you tonight at seven.” He paused. “So, you don’t think it’s weird that I’m dating a relative?”
I laughed. “Sharah’s so far removed that you really shouldn’t worry. And think of it, dude…you’re related to royalty.”
He shook his head, looking a little dazed. “I still can’t believe that I’m part elf. A very small part, but…”
“Welcome to our world.” Camille shook her head. “Guess what, you’re part minority now. When Andy Gambit writes his sleaze column, he’s writing about you, too. Think about that the next time you lecture me for smacking that pervert’s face. I still think I should tell Smoky what he did.”
“No! I mean…let it be for now. I’ll see if I can get through to him that a nice long vacation out of Seattle might be a good idea.” Chase headed back into the building as we climbed into my Jeep.
Camille fastened her seat belt. “So what do we do about the Energy Exchange?”
“We do what we always do. Investigate, see what we can dig up on it.” I eased the Jeep out of the parking lot and we headed toward home. “And we ask Menolly to convince Roman to tell us about Bryan. In fact, I wouldn’t mind a look at that website. Maybe we can find Trixie’s postings online.”
