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“So you’re old enough to remember what it was like following the Great Coming Out. The burnings, the ‘accidents.’ The all-out lynchings of vampires. While that’s died down over the years, there are still conservative religious groups out there that would like nothing more than to prove to the world what vicious, dangerous animals we are.”
“How many attacks have there been?”
Cal began to protest. I jabbed a finger toward his face, which he did not seem to appreciate. “If you tell me that’s classified information, I will shove my size-seven shoe up your rear.”
“Charming,” he muttered. But my off-putting foot-to-rear threats might have been some sort of stimulant, because he seemed to focus more clearly on what I was saying. I would analyze that disturbing development later.
“There have been a dozen attacks over the course of the last two weeks. The first few were written off as random acts of violence by vampires who were too young to control themselves. But then the violence began affecting older vampires. Vampires with no history of harming humans. We went through the trash left at their homes. They all consumed Faux Type O, which in itself wasn’t unusual. It’s the most popular brand of synthetic blood on the market. But in each attack, the affected vampire had consumed Faux Type O that was part of an experimental batch made by Nocturne Beverages. The newer version was supposed to appeal to younger vampire palates, using a new botanical flavoring agent. The flavoring agent was mixed into a batch of product for test marketing, but rather than being set aside, as was intended, the modified batch was distributed along with the original product.”
“I guess they didn’t learn anything from New Coke.” I snorted.
Cal’s lips twitched, but he continued, all business. “I traced the supplier that produced the flavoring agent, Blue Moon Additives. Blue Moon submitted preview samples to Nocturne for testing, and they received positive responses from company taste-testers. I reviewed the manufacturer’s safety-testing records. Everything seemed to be in order, until I tried to contact Blue Moon after the attacks. The company simply doesn’t exist outside of paperwork. The address listed in Louisville is a vacant office park.”
“What was the flavoring agent supposed to taste like?” I asked, curious about what vampires could find appetizing. Cal opened his mouth to answer. I held up a hand like a shield against the potentially icky information. “Never mind. Some things can never be unheard.”
“Blue Moon is a front, registered by a cleverly constructed dummy corporation. The whole mess has been infuriatingly difficult to sort out.”
Releasing that torrent of information seemed to exhaust him. He slumped back against the couch and closed his eyes. The slight ruddiness of cheek that the donor blood had given him was fading, leaving a waxy, nearly gray pallor.
“So why come to the Hollow?” I asked.
One brown eye popped open, staring balefully at me. “Because the first attack was here. It was written off as newborn blooklust. The Council managed to cover it up quickly and quietly. I suspect it was an initial test case, so to speak. It seemed a reasonable place to start.”
“Why wouldn’t you let the Council staff know you’d been poisoned?”
“Because of the circumstances of my own poisoning, I believe it’s possible someone within the Council hierarchy is assisting in this effort. Only someone within the Council office would know why I am here. And only someone within the Council office would have access to the donor blood that was included in my welcome basket. It would be easy to tempt a younger vampire with money. As you know, the lower-level Council bureaucrats are pitifully underpaid.”
“Shouldn’t people know about this?” I demanded. “Shouldn’t you warn the human authorities, at least?” He opened both eyes, just so he could roll them. I nodded, blushing a little. “Right, discretion, sorry.”
“We don’t know if the person responsible has plans for poisonings on a broader scale. Since we would like to get through this crisis without the human government instituting an extermination program for my kind, we’re trying to handle this quietly,” he said in a wry tone. “All but a few of the affected bottles of blood have been tracked and recalled.”
“Which plants were used in the flavoring agent?” I asked, thinking of the botany textbooks I had upstairs. If Cal had access to them, he might be able to—
He chuckled derisively. “Why would I share that information with you?”
Arching my eyebrow, I mentally nixed my impulse to offer to let him go through my bookshelves. Act like a jerk, get cut off from my treasure trove of information on plant life. I had to have some standards. Cletus the slack-jawed vampire could just deal with the consequences.
“Who among the local Council members knows why you’re here?” I asked.
“All of them.”
“Which doesn’t help us narrow the pool of potential suspects for poisoning your blood,” I conceded. “Is it unusual that the Council left blood in your fridge in the first place? I mean, wasn’t that why you were hiring me?”
“No, I was hiring you to be polite. Ophelia was quite insistent that your services were essential. I was afraid I would offend her if I sent you away. To be honest, I thought your contract was a cover for her monitoring my activities.”
“By that logic, wouldn’t it make sense that I might be the person who tampered with your blood?” I asked. His eyes narrowed at me. “I really have to learn to shut up.”
“I know it wasn’t you,” he said grimly. “The blood was delivered as part of a welcome gift basket from the Council yesterday. You haven’t used the access code for my door before today.”
“My friend Jane says you shouldn’t trust gift baskets around here,” I told him.
“That would have been helpful to know a few days ago,” he mumbled.
“So you’re sort of a vampire PI?” I asked. “Without the office in a semidisreputable part of town or the cheesy mustache?”
The aforementioned unmustachioed lips quirked in response. “In a manner of speaking. You might say my gift is problem solving. If I stay fixed on a problem or a question long enough, I will eventually find a solution. It started in my early days as a human. I’d always been clever with puzzles, games of strategy, battle plans. And now I’m used in investigations into financial indiscretions between vampires and the human business world, finding vampires who have disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances, tracking the human descendants of vampires interested in getting reacquainted with their human families since the Great Coming Out, that sort of thing.”
He was sprawled back on the couch now, exhausted and drained by my questions. I helped him to his feet and walked him to the cellar door. “So if you’re the problem solver, why can’t you figure out who’s poisoning the vampires?”
