Murder in Vein (2010) (39 page)

"Do you believe him?'

Mike gave it some thought before answering. "Yeah, I do. He
doesn't seem the killing type. His priors were mostly assault and
robbery. Kidnapping alone was a big step up for him."

Madison leaned forward in her chair, both fascinated and
repelled by the turn of events. "And what's happening with Lady
Harriet? Did they arrest her?"

"She's disappeared. Probably sensed everything went sour
and took off. No one in her coven has any idea where she's gone. 11

"How do you know all this?"

"My partner told me at the hospital just before I was released."

"You have a partner?" Madison paused, then blurted, "Partner
as in another cop, or partner as in gay couple?"

"As in cop." Mike laughed, then grabbed his side as a stab of
pain radiated through him. "You seem more surprised at that
than the dungeon." When she didn't respond, he added, "You
know, I am a real detective with a real caseload when I'm not on
vampire duty."

Madison shrugged. "Just that you never mentioned him ... or
her."

"It's a him."

They remained silent for a while, each lost in their own
thoughts, before Notchey asked, "So, you going to take the job
with the council and live here?"

Madison drew in a long drag of air and blew it out. "Yes, I am.
I'm in up to my neck now, so why not?" She glanced at Notchey.
"Besides, I'm quite fond of the Dedhams. It might be nice to see
what having a family is like, even if they are vampires."

"You could do worse."

"Yep, and I have."

She'd broken the news about her decision to both Samuel and
the Dedhams the night before. The Dedhams had been elated.
Samuel had taken Madison to dinner at Scarlet to celebrate.
While at dinner, he'd handed her a jewelry box. She started to
protest, but he'd stopped her and told her to open it.

Inside wasn't a fancy, jewel-encrusted trinket but a sturdy
handmade bracelet of woven material. Madison took it out of the
box and held it up, puzzled. "Thanks?"

The question in her tone made Samuel smile. "Put it on and
leave it on," he told her. "It will protect you."

Madison studied the homespun bracelet. "What is it, some
voodoo trinket?"

"In a matter of speaking." Samuel took the bracelet from her
and slipped it onto her slim wrist. "It has my hair woven through
the fabric."

"But you're bald," she pointed out.

Samuel laughed. "Who said the hair came from my head?"

Madison grimaced and stared at it. "Does this mean we're
pinned in some creepy vampire way?"

"Sort of." He touched the bracelet. "As long as you wear this
and I'm alive, no other vampire will hurt you."

"Oh, so it's really like a pet ID tag." Madison frowned. "`If
found, return to owner'-that sort of thing?"

She started to take it off, but Samuel stopped her. "It is to protect you," he insisted. "We don't know why this works, but thousands of years have proven that if a living person wears the hair
of a vampire, no other vampire can hurt them. But this is just
temporary. The council is having a special one made for youseveral, actually, in case of loss or damage. Your new one will be
more feminine and will contain hair from each council member.
As long as one of us is alive, you will be protected. In the meantime, wear this. It was one of Gordon's spares."

"What about you?" Madison asked, looking for clarification.
"Can you hurt me?"

"Yes. Only the vampire whose hair is worn can hurt the person wearing it."

Madison gave that some thought. "But what if I wanted...,"
she whispered, looking around the restaurant until she spied a
handsome vampire with blond hair. "Say I wanted him to bite
me. He couldn't?"

When the blond vampire turned her way and flashed a wide
grin, Madison blushed, realizing he had super hearing like Colin
and the Dedhams.

Samuel turned to look at the vampire in question. "Keep your
fangs to yourself, Eric," he told him. "The lady was just making a
point."

Ignoring Samuel, the other vampire raised his blood glass to
Madison. "Just say the word, beautiful."

Turning back to Madison, Samuel explained, "If you give
another vampire permission, he or she can bite you or hurt you.
Otherwise, you're off-limits. Once you're wearing the council's bracelet, you will be protected by all of us, and none of us will be
able to harm you or bite you without permission from the others
or from you yourself."

"In other words, when it comes to the council, I'll get my day
in court before execution."

"That's one way of looking at it."

Madison studied the bracelet again. "I've seen something
like this on Pauline, but I always thought it was some Jamaican
thing."

"Her bracelet contains hair from the Dedhams."

"And Mike Notchey? Does he have one?"

"We've offered him one, but he refused."

"I didn't know refusing was an option."

Samuel shook his head. "For you, it's not-not if you're going
to work for us. We need you to be protected, not just for your
sake, but for ours."

Sadness crossed Madison's face as she looked at the bracelet
again. "I'm so sorry about Gordon. Too bad his bracelet couldn't
protect him against living freaks."

They were quiet while their food was served, then Madison
spoke again. "I have a question. And please don't read my mind,"
she added quickly. "Let me ask it like a normal person."

Samuel raised his glass of imported blood. "Normal is
boring."

"Are you through?"

He smiled, indicating for her to continue.

"What happened to the blood those creeps took out of me?
Last I knew, Colin had it."

"Then why don't you ask him, not me?"

"I haven't seen him since that night." Madison took a bite
of her grilled salmon, chewed, and swallowed. "And something
tells me you know. You seem to know everything." She paused
to sip some iced tea. "Don't you ever get bored with knowing
everything?"

"I don't know everything," he admitted. "Just most of the
things important to me."

"So make this important enough for you to know."

Samuel gave her a coy shrug but said nothing.

Madison leaned forward and hissed, "He drank it, didn't he,
the little bloodsucker?" She cut another piece of fish and stuck it
in her mouth, chewing with annoyance.

"Don't be angry with Colin, Madison. He just did what comes
naturally." Samuel lowered his sunglasses and winked at her from
across the table. "And he shared, like the good sport he is."

Madison dropped her fork.

n hour after dropping Madison off at the Dedhams' house,
Samuel had changed his clothes and was heading across his
back lawn toward the ivy. When he arrived at the council
room, he was pleased to see everything in order.

The prisoner was seated, her hands tied in front of her. Her
feet were also bound and her mouth gagged. Standing guard next
to her was Isabella. The prisoner's chair faced the large council
table. Behind the table sat various council members.

A quick head count told Samuel the required number of
council members was in attendance. Not wanting to alert Madison that something special was up with the council, Samuel had
instructed Doug Dedham to remain at home. It was enough
that Madison had witnessed Lilith's execution. She would have
to be handled like Mike Notchey, with care and sensitivity. Like
Notchey, Madison wasn't stupid, but it would serve no purpose
to make her a direct accessory to the council's harsh but necessary governing methods.

Samuel took his place at the head of the table. With a slight
nod of his bald dome, he indicated for Isabella to remove the
prisoner's gag. The woman coughed and cleared her throat
before staring at her captors with a mixture of defiance and fear.

"How dare you?" she began, looking straight at Colin. "You
know who I am, yet you and this ragtag coven treat me like
this?" The woman sputtered, using her indignation to mask her
fright. "This is an abomination! Totally against all coven rules of
conduct."

"This is no coven, Lady Harriet," Colin informed her, his voice
even and solemn.

Lady Harriet looked at the face of each person on the other
side of the table. "Then what is this? An abduction? A kidnapping to extort money from my ex-husband?" She cackled. "Good
luck," she said with scorn. "Conrad stopped caring about me long
before he divorced me, and now that Ben is dead, he cares even
less." At the mention of her son, Harriet's voice cracked, and her
defiance faltered as she lowered her head.

"I can assure you, Lady Harriet," began Samuel, looking
directly at her, "this is no kidnapping." With a short sweep of his
hand, Samuel indicated the council members. "We are the California Vampire Council. You are here because you are on trial for
murder and conspiracy."

Harriet's head snapped up. "Trial? Murder? You can't be serious." She looked to Colin again. "You said this wasn't a coven."

"It's not, Lady Harriet," Colin told her again. "We're the governing board for vampires living in California. Real vampires."
Colin flashed his fangs. Kate Thornton, Stacie Neroni, and Eddie
Gonzales followed suit. Samuel and Isabella kept their fangs
covered.

Lady Harriet's eyes widened, but she didn't look shocked. "I
always knew you existed," she told the council with a tight-lipped
smile. "I had to convince Ben and Ethan, especially Ethan, but I
always knew it was just a matter of time before I found you."

"And what about Lilith?" asked Stacie, getting to her feet to
stand in front of the prisoner.

"Her? She was insignificant. Ethan convinced her to join us.
She'd have done anything to save that sorry-ass coven of hers"

Stacie continued with her questions. "And who told you about
the bloodlines?" Stacie turned her bare left hand out and tapped
her palm to get her point across.

Lady Harriet looked down at her own left hand but couldn't
see her bloodline because of the way her hands were tied. She
looked back up at Stacie, her fear gone, replaced with budding
confidence and hope. "During some recent research and studies,
I found a very old text on vampires. It was in a foreign language
I didn't recognize so I couldn't read it or have it translated, but
the drawings showed someone sucking the blood out of a young
woman with one of these hand marks. Then the person sucking
the blood became a vampire."

"So you thought if you drank the blood of those marked as
such, you'd also become a vampire? Is that correct?" Stacie waited
for a response.

"Yes. At first I thought it was just the blood of young women,
but when Ethan met Geoff, and he had a bloodline, too, we
decided to try his blood."

Stacie came in close to the prisoner, her fangs still out and
menacing. "And what about your own bloodline? Weren't you
worried that Ben or Ethan would try to kill you for your blood?"

Lady Harriet scoffed. "Ben was my son; he'd never kill me.
But he never had a real backbone or leadership qualities. Ethan
was smarter, but not by much. They needed me and what I knew
if they wanted to become vampires."

Stacie turned to the table and picked up a cell phone. She
showed it to Lady Harriet. "According to the messages and voice
mails on this, it seems you controlled the whole operation."

"That's Ben's phone." The older woman's eyes narrowed.
"How did you get that?"

Colin answered, "I took it off his dead body."

"You? You killed my son?"

Shaking his head, Colin clarified, "No, the police killed him.
I just happened to be there after, when you were trying to call
him." He paused and looked at Samuel, who gave Colin leave to
continue. Stacie sat back down. "You see, Lady Harriet," Colin
explained, standing, "you got it wrong. Only people with those
bloodlines can become vampires. Had he lived, your son could
have told you that. I understand he learned of it just before he
was shot."