Dead Is Not an Option (4 page)

CHAPTER SIX

The next day
I was scheduled for an early shift at Slim's. The morning fog made Nightshade's familiar Main Street look foreign and vaguely menacing. I was glad that Mom was dropping me off on her way to work.

Flo was already there when I arrived. She wore a T-shirt that read
I'M A GLEEK
. A sign of a kinder, gentler Flo?

She caught me staring at her shirt and actually blushed a little. "It's a gift from Vinnie," she said. Vinnie was her boyfriend and was in my favorite band, Side Effects May Vary, along with Nightshade High's school nurse, Ms. Phillips.

"Did he mean it ironically?" I asked, having a hard time picturing it.

She giggled. "No, he's a total fan," she said.

"He has good taste," I said. "In girlfriends and in television shows."

It wasn't until a little before lunch that things went downhill. Wolfgang Paxton walked in the door with some of his buddies. I sighed and gave Flo an imploring look, which she ignored. I was stuck waiting on them. No sense in putting off the inevitable, so I grabbed some menus and headed over to their table.

"What can I get you?"

"Hi, Daisy," Wolfgang said with a wink. "I'm glad you asked."

What horrible innuendo would come out of his mouth? Wolfie was an all-around pain in the butt, but he was also a paying customer.

I gave him a tightlipped smile. "What do you want for
lunch?
" I asked emphatically.

He had the grace to apologize. "Sorry, I can see you're busy. Can we get three rare cheeseburgers, two large fries, and three chocolate shakes?"

"And a steak platter," one of his buddies said. "The twenty-four ounce."

"Rare, I take it?"

Wolfgang nodded. "And when you have time, I need to talk to you about something." He read the reluctance on my face. "It's important."

"Okay," I agreed, "but it'll have to wait until my break."

I had fully expected him to eat and run—after paying the check, of course—but when I finally caught my breath, Wolfgang was still sitting at the table, alone, patiently waiting.

The diner had almost emptied out, and Flo had already plopped down on her favorite stool at the counter. I made myself an iced coffee and offered money to Flo, which she waved away.

"Is it okay if I take my break now?" I asked her.

"Fine with me," she said.

I went to talk to Wolfgang, who was gnawing on a few remaining fries on his plate.

"What do you want, Wolfie?" I asked. I was being kind of rude, I knew, but he was kind of a jerk.

"It's not anything bad," he replied. "I wanted to say thank you for helping Elise."

I couldn't have been more floored if he'd wanted to elope.

After I recovered from my surprise, I asked, "How is she? I'd like to stop by and see her after my shift."

"She's still not conscious," he said grimly. "Bane won't leave her bedside, not even to sleep, but he wanted me to tell you he's very grateful. They said she might not have made it if you hadn't come along when you did."

I didn't know what to say. Whoever had done that to Elise was a truly evil person, but after a lot of thought, I wasn't sure that it really was a vampire. First of all, what vampire was foolhardy enough to take on the entire Wilder clan? Not to mention the Paxtons, who were another very powerful Were family. Plus, it was barely past dusk when I found her, and vampires don't like daylight. But I was positive Elise had communicated the word
vamp
to me. What else could she have meant?

Wolfgang's lower lip quivered, but with effort he controlled his emotions. "I want you to tell me everything you know about what happened."

"I heard moaning and saw the blood. I went to help her. You know the rest."

"Did she say anything when you found her?" he persisted.

"She was in a lot of pain," I replied.

"Please, Daisy," he said. "Bane's going crazy, wondering why anyone would do that to Elise."

I hesitated. "Chief Mendez asked me not to discuss the particulars of the case." And to stay out of the investigation, but I had no intention of doing that.

"It was a vampire. That's what everyone's saying," Wolfgang said. The anger in his voice was so intense that I shivered. He was out for payback.

"Maybe there's another explanation," I said. I was already breaking my promise not to talk.

"Please, Daisy," he said in a gentler tone. "We want to know who's behind this, and we know the city council isn't exactly impartial when it comes to crimes committed by paranormals. You've got to help us." The distress on Wolfie's face convinced me.

"I'll look into it," I said. "But I'm not making any promises."

He nodded. "That's good enough for me."

He got up to leave, but I thought of something else. "Do you know of any reason a vampire would be angry at Elise? Or Bane?"

"No clue," he replied, but he said it to his shoes. I did a little mental probe and caught the words
my fault
before he left. Wolfie was guilt ridden about something. He irritated everyone—maybe this time he'd ticked off the wrong person and Elise had paid the price.

When I got home from work, there was a pink '57 T-bird in our driveway. It was a dead ringer for Miss Foster's car, but my former gym teacher wouldn't be driving anymore. I'd turned her into an oily splotch on the gymnasium floor, hadn't I?

"What's that thing doing in our driveway?" I demanded as soon as I got into the house.

"Isn't she great?" Dad replied. "I've always wanted one, you know. I bought it with some of my book advance."

I wanted to be happy for him, but my stomach lurched at the thought of seeing it every day. "Where did you find it?"

"Spenser gave me the lead," he said. "It used to belong to an old friend of his."

My unease grew. "Who?"

"Spenser," Dad said. "Spenser Devereaux, Samantha's dad, my colleague." His twinkling eyes gave away that he was teasing.

"That's not what I mean, Dad," I said. "I mean, who did the car belong to?"

He shrugged. "Spenser didn't say. He told me that his friend wouldn't be needing it any longer."

My stomach clenched, but I told myself that it was probably just a coincidence. Then again, exactly how many pink T-birds were there in Nightshade?

CHAPTER SEVEN

Things seemed
to calm down in Nightshade after Elise's attack. At least, I thought so until about a week later, when Sam came up to me after my last class. "Have you heard what they're saying?"

"What?"

"That there's going to be a fight in Nightshade. The vamps against the Weres."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Penny told me," she said. "Tyler overheard some of the guys talking about it."

You could count on Penny to know the latest gossip, although she'd tapered off a bit since she and Tyler had gotten serious.

"What has everyone in an uproar this time?" I asked.

"Didn't you know?" Sam asked. "There was another one. Two nights ago. They're trying to keep it quiet. Christy Hannigan's mom works at the hospital, and she told Christy all about it."

"Another Were was attacked?"

Sam shook her head somberly. "No, it was a vampire this time. One of the young ones. And now the vampires are out for blood. Literally."

"That can't be good," I said. I couldn't believe I was so behind on the gossip, but then again, we didn't know all the vamps in town since some of them went to night school.

We walked to the car.

"Hey, do you want to spend the night at my house?" Sam asked. "My dad's out of town and it's a little spooky there by myself."

"I thought you'd want to spend every waking moment with Sean," I said.

"Oh, he and his dad are going on that father-son camping trip with Ryan and the chief."

"I could use a break from my sisters."

"I don't blame you," she said. "It must be tough."

"I was just kidding," I said. "What must be tough?"

"Forget I said anything," Sam replied.

"Come on, Sam," I said.

"It's just, I thought Rose and Poppy might be having some problems," she said. "Since Rose is dating a shifter and Poppy is dating a vampire."

"They're getting along fine," I said. I was totally in denial. They still weren't getting along at all. Hopefully, Mom's dinner party would solve that problem.

"Of course they are," she said soothingly.

She looked so abashed that I couldn't say no to her invitation. "Let me just clear it with my parents," I said.

We stopped at my house for a change of clothes and my sleeping bag before heading to Sam's. I'd been to Mr. Devereaux's condo a few times, but it had been mostly right after Sam had moved in with him. The place had changed since my last visit.

"Your father redecorated," I said.

The condo, which had been nice before, was now opulent. The modest television had been replaced by a gargantuan flat-screen TV that took up one entire wall. When I stepped on the white carpet it felt like I was walking on down pillows, and there was a white silk couch against the other wall that looked too pristine too sit on.

"Let's put your stuff in my room," Sam suggested. As we walked down the hall, I noticed that snapshots of Sam had been replaced by several paintings. I stopped for a second and examined one with multicolored splatters.

"This looks like a real Jackson Pollock," I said.

Sam shrugged. "One of Dad's former students painted it. He said she gave him a good deal."

Mr. Devereaux seemed to have a lot of cash lately.
His book must be doing well,
I thought.

We stashed my stuff in her room, which looked like it was the only part of the place that hadn't had a makeover, and then headed back to the living room.

"Do you want to go rent a movie or something?" I said.

"We have plenty of movies here," Sam said. She opened a cabinet full of DVDs. "Dad just bought the newest Matt Damon film," she said.

"Didn't that just come out?"

She shrugged. "He buys a lot of movies," she said. "But he never seems to have time to watch them."

She saw my sympathetic smile and said, "Don't feel sorry for me, Daisy. My dad's busy, but he loves me."

"What's not to love?" I replied.

She bumped my shoulder. "Now, let's pick out a movie. What do you want? Action adventure? Horror? Romantic comedy?"

"I've had enough horror in my life lately," I answered. "So no vampires fighting with werewolves. How about a nice, safe romantic comedy?"

"Want some popcorn?" Samantha said.

"Can we eat in here?"

"Sure," she said. "Dad said everything can be replaced."

Her dad seemed fairly cool about his new possessions, especially considering that the Devereaux family had been having financial problems not that long ago.

"How about I make some caramel corn?" I said. My stomach growled. The fries we'd split at Slim's obviously hadn't satisfied my hunger pangs.

"And let's get a pizza," she replied. "Dad left me a bunch of cash." She took out a stack of what looked like hundreds and took out a bill, then replaced the money in the kitchen drawer.

After we ordered a large pizza with chicken, white sauce, and extra garlic, I started on the caramel corn. I popped the kernels and then put a stick of butter into a shiny new high-end copper pot and turned the burner on low heat.

The doorbell rang, and I assumed it was the pizza delivery person, but then I heard Samantha and it sounded like she was arguing with someone. Something in her voice made me shut off the stove and rush to the front door.

"No, he's not here right now," she said. "Can I take a message?"

"What's up?" I said, moving in front of her protectively.

"She's here for my father," Sam said. "Who, as I said before," she emphasized, "Is. Not. Here."

The woman's face was in shadow, but she gave an annoyed grunt at the news that Mr. Devereaux was not available. A hat concealed most of her face, but I noticed a small purplish birthmark on her jaw.

"I'll wait," she said, and made an attempt to push her way in. I slammed the door in her face and threw the deadbolt.

"I must see him," she said. "It's important or I wouldn't be here. Tell him it's Trinity."

"Go away," I shouted through the door. "Right now, or I'm calling the cops."

Sam had already grabbed the phone, but the stranger gave up. Her heels clicked as she walked away.

"Do you think we should call the police?" she asked.

"No, she was probably just..." I hesitated, not sure of a polite way to put it.

"Looking for a booty call?" Sam collapsed into a fit of giggles. "Gross, Giordano."

"I just meant, you know, after the divorce, your dad probably wants to, er, date again."

"I can't say much for his choice of women," she said. "First Ms. Tray, and now this weirdo."

Ms. Tray had been our high school guidance counselor for a very short time. She was attractive on the outside but pure evil on the inside.

"I've heard it's tough to be single," I said. I smothered a few giggles of my own. "I think I recognized her, though."

"I've never seen her before," Sam said.

"I think she's the substitute postal carrier," I said. "She was delivering mail on my street the other day."

"Whoever she is, she's weird," Sam said. "I hope Dad isn't serious about her."

When the doorbell rang again a few minutes later, we both jumped, but it was only the pizza guy.

"Thanks for staying with me, Daisy," Samantha said. "You're a good friend."

I was embarrassed by her gratitude. "You have caramel corn in your teeth," I said.

She laughed. "Cut it out," she said. "And just take my thank-you."

"Okay," I said. "You're welcome. Now hand over a slice of that pizza." And I took a huge bite so I wouldn't start blubbering. This might be one of the last nights like this, especially if I didn't get into UC Nightshade.

Sam read my mind. "You'll get in, Daisy. I know it."

The rest of the night was filled with calories, gossip, and fun. Thankfully, the strange woman did not make another appearance.