Murder in Vein (2010) (35 page)

Colin was silent as he weighed his words. "No, you wouldn't
find any bodies." He paused. "We have a special service that disposes of inconvenient corpses."

"Inconvenient corpses." Madison shook herself in disgust.
"That's a civilized way of putting it."

Another few minutes of silence passed. A soft rain started up
again, but neither Madison nor Colin made a move to take cover.
Madison glanced over her shoulder at the house. "My grandparents, the vampires."

Colin stood up and placed a hand on either side of Madison's
face. She looked into his black eyes but didn't pull back.

"We got off to a rocky start, Madison," Colin said, his voice
taking on a genuine tone of tenderness. "But I really like you and
hope we can become friends ... in spite of everything."

He bent forward and grazed her lips with his. Then he kissed
her-a light but lingering kiss. Almost against her will, Madison
leaned into it, surrendering to its soft, erotic pull until a vision
of Lilith's white body and the memory of her screams broke
through, destroying the moment.

Madison jerked back. She didn't look at Colin but just stared
at his mouth-the mouth that, hours ago, had sucked the life out
of another woman.

Again, silence fell between them until Colin walked around to
the driver's side of his car. Before getting in, he gave her another
long look.

"Give it a try, Madison, both the job and living here. We vampires aren't always such a rotten lot."

hen were you going to tell me about this?"

The question came from Mike Notchey. When he'd
arrived at the Dedham house to check up on Madison,
she'd brought him up to speed on the break-in, both the one at
her apartment and the one at Auntie Em's.

"I just did."

"A day late and a dollar short, aren't you?" He looked pissed.

"There was nothing you could do about it," she explained.
"Culver City isn't your jurisdiction."

When Notchey had arrived, Pauline told him Madison was
on the back patio. He'd discovered her tucked under a blanket
on a chaise longue, getting some fresh air and reading a book. Or
rather, the book was in her hands and open, but he'd found her
staring off into space.

"It was just some vandalism, probably by kids," she said, pulling the blanket up farther to ward off the damp chill in the air.
"At least that's what the police said. Someone probably noticed I
hadn't been home in a few days and broke in."

"That doesn't explain the break-in at the diner on the same
night."

She stuck her nose back into her book.

"Considering you were kidnapped and nearly murdered less
than a week ago, you seem pretty cavalier about the whole thing."
Notchey took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one.
He took a long first drag, savoring each second he held it.

"I thought you and the vamps thought I was snatched by
mistake?"

Notchey took two more long drags, then snuffed the cigarette, saving the rest. "I'm still leaning that way, at least for the
moment. But even if you were grabbed by mistake, it's pretty
obvious someone is looking for you now."

Madison didn't like the idea of keeping Mike out of the loop
on things, even if she did understand why the vampires wanted
it that way. And after last night, she understood their reasons
more.

Changing the subject, Madison announced, "The Dedhams
asked me to stay and live here with them." She watched the detective, looking for some sign of approval or disapproval. His face
was a blank.

Notchey drew up a patio chair and sat down. "Are you going
to?"

"I'm not sure yet. It's a very generous offer, but there are a lot
of things to consider."

Notchey blew out a gush of air. Madison could smell smoke
on the breath he expelled.

"You're still very young. Sure you should be shut up here, in
vampire world?"

"I'm not sure about anything right now." She let Mike think
she was only talking about living with the Dedhams, but in truth
she was also thinking about Samuel and Colin, and Lilith. And
Colin's kiss.

"They said I could live here," she continued, "and go to one of
the colleges in the area. Transferring wouldn't be a problem. I've
only been taking general classes. I don't even have a major yet."

"And what about a job?"

"Samuel offered me a job working with the council-kind of
a combination secretary and liaison is how I understand it."

Without a word, Notchey pulled out his cigarettes and
removed the one he'd just saved. He lit it again.

"You don't seem happy about that news," Madison said, sensing that this time Mike would smoke the butt right down to his
fingers.

"I'm neither happy nor unhappy. I'm concerned." He took a
drag, held it, and exhaled before continuing. "Once you're in with
the vampires, you'll never get out. Then again, you're already in
pretty deep, but this will be the big and final plunge."

Madison scoffed at the idea. "I'll be able to move on anytime
I want. They know I won't say anything."

"Ever see the Godfather movies?" He took another puff.

"Sure. Everyone has." Madison tilted her head and looked at
him, not sure where he was going with the reference.

"Remember that famous line?" Notchey asked. "I think it was
in the third one: `Just when I thought I was out, they pull me
back in"' He shrugged. "Or something like that."

Madison laughed at Notchey's bad impression of Michael
Corleone.

"Well, the vampires are like that," he told her, taking his last
puff before snuffing and tossing his cigarette. "They're monsters,
Madison. No matter how civil they seem"

Unbidden, the mental snapshot of Lilith's execution popped
into her head.

"They're horror film legends come to life," Mike added.
"Throw in seductive and mysterious, and that's an alluring
combination."

"Is that what happened to you?"

"In some ways. I got close to Doug and Dodie. Like you, they
saved my life. I owe them."

"The council didn't save your life," Madison pointed out. "So
why do you help them?"

"Because I want to work with them to make sure the lid stays
on between their community and ours. These current murders
could blow all that to smithereens. Speaking of which, did you
guys learn anything at Bloodlust?"

Madison was torn. She didn't want to lie to Mike Notchey,
but neither did she want to go against Samuel's wishes. In the
end, if it was between Mike or Samuel getting mad at her, she'd
take Mike's wrath over the head vampire's any day.

"Not really. Both Colin and Doug went there last night and
came back empty-handed."

Notchey started to leave. "Well, at least there haven't been any
more murders-not that we know of, anyway."

Madison got up and went inside with the detective. "Mike,
you know the Hollywood area well, don't you?"

"It's not my beat, but I'm familiar with a lot of it. Why?"

"Have you ever heard of a place called Porky's? Someone
mentioned it to me, but I couldn't find anything about it on the
Internet. I'm not even sure if it's a place-could be a person."

Notchey twisted his face in thought. "Doesn't ring any bells.
Who told you that? Was it at Bloodlust?" He studied her face,
waiting for an answer.

Madison wanted to tell him about Cubby and how Porky
could be a lead to where the murders took place, but she wasn't
sure how to do it without telling him everything. "No, it wasn't,"
was all she said.

About an hour later, Pauline left for the day. Madison had
approached her almost as soon as she came in that morning
about how she felt about Madison moving in permanently.

"You still going to keep your own room tidy?" was all the
housekeeper had asked.

"Of course. Don't see why that would change."

"Then I say welcome. I think it would be good for both you
and the Dedhams."

In the afternoon, Madison was restless. Her mind was buzzing with the pros and cons of living with the Dedhams and
accepting the job with the council. Her lips were buzzing with
the feel of Colin's kiss, and her ears were buzzing with the impact
of Samuel's words. And everything was overshadowed by Lilith's
death. She knew she would never forget what she'd seen, but she
wondered if she'd ever be able to put it aside.

Mike Notchey was right. Once she made a commitment to
work and live among the undead, they would always have a hold
on her.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Madison went to the
computer and tried again to find a reference to Porky or Porky's in the Hollywood area. Still nothing. She came to the conclusion
that it had to be someone's name. She wondered if Stacie had
found out anything more since last night, then remembered that
it was likely she was sleeping, or whatever it was vampires did,
just like the Dedhams, Colin, Samuel-all of them were out of
commission for several more hours.

It occurred to Madison that, vampires aside, living with the
Dedhams and having the house to herself most of the day could
have both an upside and a downside. The big house seemed
empty without Doug and Dodie's cheerful banter, and Madison
wondered if she would get lonely rattling around the place. Pauline would be company, but she had work to do. But, Madison
countered in her head, once she returned to school and started
working with the council, she'd be occupied most of the day and
would have several hours in the evening when she could interact
with the Dedhams. During the day, it would be almost like living
alone, and she'd done that for several years. It was all part of the
process of weighing the pros and cons of the offer.

Still antsy, Madison grabbed her car keys and jacket. She was
almost to her car when she had second thoughts about leaving.
But, she reasoned with herself, no one told her she couldn't go
anywhere today. And it was still daylight. She'd be safe in the
daylight. Now would be a perfect time to find Cubby and see if
she could pinpoint the Porky connection. Once it started getting
dark, she'd come back.

Turning on her heels, Madison returned to the house. Just in
case the Dedhams rose before she got back, she scribbled out a
quick note saying she was running an errand and would be back
before dark. If they needed her, they could call her cell. Earlier in
the day, she'd made sure to save the Dedhams' number to her cell phone's address book. If she ran late, she would give them a call
and let them know she was fine. Samuel had made her add both
his and Colin's numbers before she left his home that morning.

Excited to get out of the house on her own for a change, Madison never noticed the dark sedan pulling away from the curb
and following her through the canyon.

Without the cloak of darkness, the section of Hollywood Boulevard where they'd found Cubby looked seedier than it had the
night before. It had drizzled on and off most of the day, making
the broken concrete sidewalks look like soggy cardboard. In the
gutters, sodden trash stuck together like lumps of dirty Velcro.
She drove past the boarded-up storefronts where Cubby had sat
the night before, but he wasn't there.