Dead Is Not an Option (5 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

After work
on Saturday, I decided to head out to do some research. So much had happened that my promise to Lil had nearly slipped my mind. My first stop was the library, where I combed every shelf and searched for the type of books Natalie had suggested. I was dusty and hot when I ran into my favorite librarian, Ms. Johns. Her curly brown hair was longer than when I'd seen her last, but her merry smile was the same as I remembered.

"Daisy, I haven't seen you for ages!" she said.

"I know," I said. "I've been so busy lately."

"We just got some wonderful new cookbooks in," she said.

"Thanks, but I'm looking for something a little bit different today," I replied.

"What exactly are you looking for?" she asked.

I lowered my voice. "Do you have any specialty stacks?"

She frowned in puzzlement. "I don't know what you mean."

"Stuff only certain people in Nightshade would want to read?"

"You're going to have to narrow it down a bit," she said.

"I'm looking for a way to break a spell," I finally blurted out. I knew I could trust her. She was a librarian, after all. It was their job to save lives with books.

She didn't even pretend to look surprised but tapped a finger on her chin while she thought. "I've got it!" She snapped her fingers. "It's in a private collection."

She led me to a tiny room near the children's storytime tent. A metal desk was against one wall, and books were stacked in every available space. She ignored the shelves to focus on the books in a locked display case.

"I thought so," she said. She produced a tiny key and twisted it in the lock.

She thumbed through a couple of texts, then settled on a large leather-bound book. She handed it to me carefully. It felt like it weighed about fifty pounds.

"They used to cover books in human skin," she said. I nearly dropped the book I was holding.

She laughed. "Oh, not this one."

"Why was it locked up?" I asked.

"This is part of my private collection," she said. "I know you'll take good care of it."

She checked her watch. "I'll be back in about an hour to check in on you," she said. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

I hoped so, too. I sat on the floor and started reading, turning the pages gingerly. About halfway through the large tome, I spotted something promising. I marked the page with a piece of scrap paper.

Ms. Johns poked her head in the doorway. "Did you find anything helpful?"

"I think I did," I said. "Can I borrow this one too?" I pointed to another book. The title was
Witchcraft for Dummies,
which seemed like something I could read quickly.

"Certainly," she said.

"And now, where are those cookbooks you mentioned?" There were some thank-you brownies in Ms. Johns's future.

I was reading the books I'd checked out from the library when Rose knocked on my door. I was relieved to see her, because my thoughts kept turning back to the latest attack instead of staying on the words in front of me.

"Council meeting tonight," she said.

"Should we go?" I asked, but I already knew the answer. There was a mystery to solve, which meant it was time to attend another Nightshade City Council meeting.

It wasn't exactly that we weren't welcome at the meetings, but my sisters and I usually tried to keep a low profile, which is why we tried to sneak in after the meeting had already started. We were minus Poppy, which was unusual. When we'd told her about the meeting, she'd murmured something vague about meeting us there.

Rose was behind the wheel. "Did Nicholas say where tonight's meeting is?" I asked her.

"His dad's funeral parlor," she said. Her boyfriend, Nicholas, usually filled us in on council events.

We hadn't mentioned our destination to our parents, but we did tell them we'd be home late. Otherwise, Dad would have had Chief Mendez searching for us. I blushed as I recalled the particularly embarrassing time when the chief found Ryan and me making out in the front seat of Ryan's car. Not my finest moment.

When we arrived at Mort's Mortuary, the parking lot was full and there were cars parked down the street and around the block too.

"That's weird," Rose said. "Why are so many people here tonight?"

We finally found a parking spot three blocks away and walked to the mortuary. When we got there, Nicholas came rushing down the hall toward us. "Thank god you're here," he said. "Things are out of control."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's shifters versus vampires in there," he replied. "And if Dad doesn't get here soon, there's going to be a brawl."

"Where is he?" Rose asked.

"He's supposed to be here already," Nicholas replied. He ran his hand through his red hair.

Someone started pounding on the front door. Nicholas flinched, then turned to Rose. "I'll be right back."

Should we go in?
I sent the thought to Rose, but she only shook her head in response. I couldn't resist opening the door and peeking in. I heard her thoughts very clearly:
Oh my god.

Our sister Poppy was sitting smack in the middle of a den of hungry-looking vampires. There was a distinguished-looking man in an expensive suit who leaned on a long silver cane as he paced. He wasn't anyone I'd ever seen before, but he was handsome.

"This will not stand," he said. He had a voice like Vincent Price, full of menace. The sound was guaranteed to send shivers down a listener's spine.

Poppy saw us and waved. "It's about time you got here. What are you doing standing in the doorway? Come in already."

I noticed that she was holding hands with Liam. My sister had had her heart broken not that long ago, so normally I'd be happy to see her date anyone—vampire, Were, or swamp monster—if it made her happy. I had nothing against vampires, at least in theory, but with the escalating tensions between the Weres and the vampires, I had a feeling that the Giordano family would have to choose sides. And since Ryan and Nicholas were both Weres, I had assumed we would be firmly on the side of the furries.

Apparently, I was wrong, judging from the way Poppy clung to her tall, dark, and dead date.

"Daisy, you remember Liam," she said. She gazed adoringly into his eyes.

I cleared my throat. "Hello, Liam," I said. "Nice to see you." I'd met him briefly, but that had been months ago.

I tried to act casual as I scanned my sister's neck for bite marks.

"Daisy, Rose, it's nice to see you again," Liam replied. "Poppy talks about you all the time."

I wish I could say the same about him, I thought, then looked over at him guiltily. It wasn't his fault that Poppy never talked about him.

Could he read my thoughts? I didn't know that much about vampires. The vampire kids at school mostly kept to themselves, didn't bother anyone, and rarely dated anyone besides other vamps.

Some people said that vampires don't have a smell, but I could detect the faint odor of bitter violets and absinthe. It was an unaccountably attractive scent and seemed to be coming from Liam and the elder vampire.

The Vincent Price sound-alike broke away from the group and strode over to us.

"Grandfather," Liam said. "These are Poppy's sisters, Rose and Daisy. This is my grandfather, Count Vlad Dracul."

The vampire bowed low at the waist. "You are Daisy Giordano?" he asked me. "I have heard of you."

"Good things, I hope," I replied after a long pause. I was processing the fact that I was standing face-to-face with the legendary Dracula.

"You are involved with the Mendez pup," he said.

I bristled at his tone. And it gave me the creeps that he seemed to know an awful lot about my love life.

"I am dating Ryan Mendez, yes, but what business is it of yours?" I was being rude, and challenging a vampire was probably stupid, but he only raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Your loyalty is admirable," he said. "Let us hope it is not misplaced."

I sent Rose a message.
Poppy's dating Dracula's grandson? Great. Did you know about this?

Of course not,
she sent back.

The older vampire watched us intently until Poppy nudged me. "Cut it out," she whispered. "He can read minds."

"Most minds, my dear," Count Dracul replied. "But your sisters seem to be the exception."

I wondered if we really were the exception. I threw him a look, but his face remained expressionless. Maybe he was trying to throw us off.

Mr. Bone finally arrived, and everyone took a seat. Vamps on one side and Weres on the other. The Weres were showing their teeth, and the vampires were out for blood. More people poured into the meeting, until it was standing-room only. Obviously, the news of the vampire/Were feud had spread. There weren't just council members attending tonight's meeting. It looked like every vampire and shifter for a hundred miles had made a trip to Nightshade.

Ryan hurried in and took a seat next to me. I was glad I'd saved a seat for him, just in case, although a particularly snippy Were rabbit had twitched her nose at me when I'd told her the seat was taken.

"Do you know what has everyone all riled up?" I asked him in a whisper.

Ryan cleared his throat. "A vampire teen was kidnapped a couple of days ago. He was rescued, but he was in the sun way too long and almost died."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

He shrugged. "I forgot," he said flatly.

"You forgot?" I said. He was making it very hard for me to hold on to my temper.

"Anything else you forgot to tell me?"

"Nothing I can think of," he said.

"Has anyone stopped to think that a kidnapping could be the work of the Scourge rather than some shifter payback?" Rose asked.

"It wasn't the Scourge," Ryan said. "The vampire said he smelled wolf. And the kid in San Carlos? Bite marks all over the body. Let's face it—for once, it wasn't an evil Scourge plot. It was paranormals killing other paranormals."

Mr. Bone headed for the podium and banged on the gavel, but no one could hear him above the uproar. He finally resorted to switching to his much more intimidating look, a skeleton with a flaming skull.

That finally got the crowd's attention, and the shouting ceased almost immediately.

"The council believes that these incidents are not unrelated," he said.

There was a shout of agreement from the crowd.

"What are you going to do about it?" a Were growled.

Mr. Bone pounded on the gavel. "The council is taking this matter very seriously," he said. "We are using all our resources to find out who is responsible for these heinous acts."

Rose and I exchanged glances, and she sent a thought my way.
This is not good.

There was another roar from one of the Weres, and then the room got so noisy that Mr. Bone had to bang on his gavel several times before he could be heard.

"Quiet. Quiet please!" he said. "If we all could just calm down?"

"Calm down?" Count Dracul said. "One of our young vampires was kidnapped from his home, taken to the beach, and left in the sun to burn."

"That was unfortunate," Mr. Bone said. "We are looking into it."

"There's no proof that the Weres did it," someone in the crowd yelled.

"We all know that this is in retaliation for the death of the young cub in San Carlos a few months ago. A terrible accident," the count replied.

"What about Elise Wilder? What kind of monster would attack an innocent girl?"

Chaos erupted, and for a moment I felt sure there was going to be a fight. But Mr. Bone went into his scary flaming-skull mode again, which reminded the crowd that he wasn't just a golf-loving mortician.

Count Dracul stood. "What motive would the vampires have for starting a war with the Weres? We have been at peace for over fifty years."

"Vampires aren't reasonable," a tall Were said. I didn't recognize her. "They only want one thing. Blood. And they don't care how they get it."

Liam jumped to his feet. "That's not true," he said. "We take blood only from willing donors."

I glanced at Poppy, wondering if she was Liam's latest "donor," but she met my gaze with a smile that told me nothing.

The meeting went downhill from there. It was obvious that neither the vampires nor the shifters were willing to listen to reason. Continuing the meeting was pointless.

"How are the Nightshade City Council members going to be impartial?" a tall pale vampire asked. "Mr. Bone, your son is a shifter."

"And several of our members are vampires," Mr. Bone replied. "For the last time, the council is looking into it. We have appointed a task force to investigate this matter. I hope the members of the task force meet with your approval."

"Who are they?" someone shouted.

"Liam Dracul, Nicholas Bone, and Chief Mendez will be working together to determine if these crimes were indeed paranormal hate crimes or if there is something else afoot," Mr. Bone said. "The task force will report directly to me, and I assure you, I will be able to maintain my impartiality."

Both sides seemed to calm down at the news. There was even a smattering of applause.

"In the meantime, I suggest you all go home," Mr. Bone said.

He managed, with a little help from Chief Mendez, to persuade everyone to go their separate ways.

Nicholas insisted on driving us home, but Poppy dug in her heels.

"I'm not going with you," she said stubbornly. "I came with Liam, and I'm leaving with him."

"Poppy," I said, "be reasonable."

"No harm will come to your sister," Count Dracul said. "I give you my word."

I raised an eyebrow. "Good."

He raised one right back at me. "Good."

Ryan gave me a quick kiss goodbye and then went to talk to his dad.

In the car, no one spoke for a minute, and then Nicholas said, "I can't believe you sassed Count Dracul, one of the oldest vampires in existence."

"I was worried about Poppy," I said. "That's the same guy she took to the Nightshade Through the Ages ball, but she never talks about him."