Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (25 page)

“Don’t move too
quickly
, we’re putting the pieces together on the timeline.
Remember,
Alex would
need a motive
,
and being a
college student
ghost hunter isn’t exactly motive for murdering a
random
lady in the dungeon of a cave.”

I sighed, stressed we had gained another suspect.
My phone rang
.
A
blocked number
,
but
I decided to answer it.

“Hello
?
”
I
said.

B
reathing
sounded from the other end of the line
.

“Hello?
”
I said with a curious tone.

It was dead silent.
The phone disconnected.

“Who was that?”

“No clue.
The
number
was blocked
,
and they hung up.
If it is important, they’ll call back.”

“True.”

“
What exactly do they sell at this
garden
place
?
”
I asked as we
stood in front of the en
tryway, peering inside the door.

“Well, I’m
not sure.
We found a
price
tag with this store’s name on it on one of the gold goblets on the
altar
.
I figured I’d go to the source and check it out.
I assume the rest of the stuff, the bowls, the candles, were all bought here.”

“I get it.
Yeah,
I remember those black candles were all in different shapes
with
different
symbols on them.
Very creepy stuff, Detective.”

I gazed
over
at the
shop’s windows,
backed
with a black velvet
fabric from the inside
with neon writing on the outside
of the glass
promoting capes, vampire teeth, and exotic oils.
Highlighted in the display window was
a black lacquer table
with a
human skull on top
,
tea light
candles surrounding it.
To me, it was a
Halloween
prop
store.

“If these candles and such have a meaning, it can help us see exactly what these guys were up to in that cave,”
he
said, hol
ding the door open to the shop.

I
took slow steps
inside
;
a thick aroma of
incense
burned the inner lining of my nasal cavity
.
The ceiling was painted in a mural as if it were cracked brick with a snake
bursting through.
The
serpent
’s
head was enlarged,
opened mouth
,
the
fangs dr
i
p
ping
with blood
—
right above the
cash stand
where we were headed.

“Hello,
ma’am.
My name is Detective Chase from the Godley Grove Police Department.
I spoke to
somebody here named Desde
on the phone this morning.”

“Yesssssss, you did,” the lady sang mysteriously
as she pulled her
black veil away from her face.

Her
face was painted a metallic white color
, and she wore
black, glittery lips
tick
.
With
long, black hair
, bone straight,
her eye makeup was thick
and dark.
She wore black contacts
covering
most of the whites of her eyes
—
Dimitri must have used the same supplier.
Unlike Dimitri, s
he was eerily pretty.

“You
’
r
e
Desde?”

“Yessssss
,
”
she hissed
like a snake, her
draped
layers flowed gracefully as she moved
in a fluid motion
.

“I wanted to show you pictures of the items we discovered around
a
dead body in the Arles Cave
.
I’d like to see
if you can tell us what these items are traditionally
used for
.”

“Yesssss
s, Desde is willing to help you,
”
she moved smoothly in a random, wiggling fashion.

Detective Chase looked at me through his peripheral vision
.
I knew he was trying to assess my reaction to this woman to ensure I was not going to lose it.
She was
soothing in a weird way
—
I wasn’t scared or intimidated, but
rather
amused.

“This is the first one,” he placed the pictures of the goblets on
the altar
on the counter.
The lady studied the picture for a moment and then smiled, revealing her golden teeth and rhinestone fangs.

I
scanned the dark aisles of the store
;
black lights lining
the shelves, giving
a
sinister
Halloween night ambiance
.
There was an
aisle of candles immediately in front of the cash stand,
and
I recognized a few of them from the crime scene.
The aisle on the right had
G
othic attire
,
and
t
he aisle on the left was
packed
with oils, colorful bowls, lava lamps, and a large selection of gold and silver goblets.
Turning back
toward
s
the counter
, my eyes landed upon a
swivel case full of golden fangs.

“Desde knows what these are
.
They are Goblets of Life.
They are used for drinking blood and giving po
wer to those who drink of life,” she said melodically, moving from side to side.

“Where does the blood typically come from?
I mean, in the ceremony or whatever, do they have to kill the person and get the blood?
”
he probed.

She
smiled
, studying
Detective Chase’s face before she continued.
“Nooooo.
Th
e
blood comes from the willing.
If they are not willing, you cannot gain power.”

“It’s that tenet of consensual feeding, right
?
”
I added boldly, proud I could contribute to the conversation.

“Yessssssss, young girl
.
You are quite smart if you already know the tenets.
Do you
wish
to awaken
?
I see
by
the shape of your ear
that
you have the second life in you.”

“What does that mean
?
”
I mused
, pulling my hair
forward
to cover my ears.

“It means you, my dear, are a vampire
, you are one of us,
but
you don’t know it yet
.
You need to be awakened.
You need a
Nosfu vampire.
”

I paused in an awkward silence, glancing at
the detective
, begging him telepathically through my eyes to save me from this conversation.
I was afraid to offend somebody like
her
for fear of what she could do to me.
On the other hand, I didn’t want to act interested.

“Desde, I have another picture for you
.
Let’s not focus on recruiting Miss Frost
into becoming
a vampire,”
he
asserted
as
he placed the pictures of the candles on the counter.

She
slowly
rolled her head around before looking down at th
e counter to view the pictures.

She pointed to the first candle and added, “This is
the Candle of the Second Life.”

He
jotted notes on his notepad
before locking eyes with Desde,
“
W
hy would you light th
is
candle?”

“If you are going to awaken somebody.
T
his,” she pointed to the second candle
with
extremely
long, pointed, deep purple nails
, “needs to be lit along with it
,
and it i
s the Candle of the Awakening.”

“What about this one,” Detective Chase pointed to the last candle.

With a mischievous
smile
, she searched
the detective’s
eyes
before turning towards me to stare into my eyes.

“That is the
Candle of
Nosferatu.
Very powerful.
If you light this one, you become
undead;
you walk through the forest to the other side
, notifying
the others of
your presence.”

Her description baffled me.
I had no idea what planet’s rules she was delving into, but it didn’t make sense to me.

“What exactly do you mean by that
?
”
he
inquired.

“If these three candles are lit together, and you drink from the Goblet of Life, you will awaken somebody like young Miss Frost and the other vam
pires will sense her awakening,” Desde said grimly, extending her hand
towards me
.
“It confirms an eternal bond with your House, your Order
, and it
can
’t
be broken.”

“I have a few more questions
,
and then we’re done, Desde
.
I appreciate your help,”
he
said as he
placed
a picture of the bowls on the counter.
“What are these bowls used for?
I see they are all shapes, sizes with various symbols on them.”

Desde shook her head slowly
as
she looked at Detective Chase, her expression
morphed into a fervent seriousness.

“Ooooooh.
These are Rinden Bowls.
These are used to make oils.”

“What do these oils do?”

“
Most are used for good spells,” she pointed to her selection of the bowls in the aisle behind us to the left, “but some are used solely for
black magic.
Th
e
bowls
in the picture are
for black magic
.
I don’t s
ell those
;
you have to custom order them.
Not really related to the vampire culture
,
but some partake in the powers.
I don’t s
uggest
using them
, however,” she shook her head in a somber manner
, looking
downward, avoiding eye contact.

“But what do they use the oils for, Desde?”

“They are used for curses
,
hexes
,
jinxes,
protection against enemies.”

“Would
they
be
used in a human sacrifice?”

“Nooooooo.
The southern vampires don’t do human sacrifices,
D
etective.
I heard some of the northerners do, however.”

“One last thing.
What about this
?
”
Detective Chase placed the picture of the murder weapon on the counter.