Murder in Vein (2010) (6 page)

"Then you won't be. In this house, no means no" He looked
down at his wife and smiled. "Both Dodie and Pauline are excellent cooks. We have a nice large place here. Think of it as a little
paid vacation."

"That's it?"

"Not exactly," Doug informed her. "The deal does come with
some fine print."

Madison rolled her eyes. "I knew it. Economics 101-there
ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

Ignoring her sarcasm, Doug fixed Madison with a burning
look. "You can never talk about us or our way of life, or about the
other vampires you might meet while here. Not to anyone. Ever.
That understood?"

"Sure," Madison said with a cocky grin. "Whatever happens in
the coffin, stays in the coffin."

"We're serious, Madison." Doug's tone turned thick and menacing. Dodie cleared her throat; it brought Doug's ire down a few
notches.

"I get it," Madison assured them. "Keep my mouth shut" She
shrugged. "No problem. I'm good at that. You want me to sign
some sort of confidentiality agreement?"

Dodie reached over and patted Madison's knee softly. "That
won't be necessary, dear. You see, if you betray our trust, we'll
have to kill you. And I'd really hate to see that."

Doug picked up the remote to the TV and turned on the
sound. "The Amazing Race is starting." He settled on the sofa
next to his wife. "You know, Madison, Dodie and I thought about
trying out for this show. With our special powers, we'd kick ass.
Show them what a couple of old farts can really do." He glanced
at Madison, his former hard demeanor wiped clean. "Problem is,
most of it takes place during the day. Then there's the food issue."
Next to him, Dodie giggled.

Slack jawed and shaking, Madison stared at the two of them.
When she spoke, her voice trembled, barely audible over the
opening credits of the TV show. "Notchey promised you wouldn't
hurt me"

Doug dragged his eyes away from the TV and looked at her
with a blend of compassion and gravity. "If you betray us, Madison, and we don't kill you, you'd be tried and sentenced to death
by the local vampire council. Trust me, you'd rather be killed by
our hands than theirs."

Dodie noticed the girl's terror and smiled reassuringly.
"Everything's going to be fine, Madison. You'll see. Now drink
your cocoa before it gets cold."

odie Dedham studied the photo in the cracked, blue wooden frame before picking it up and adding it to the bag of
clothes in her hand.

"Rather a sad little place," said her husband.

Dodie looked around Madison's tiny Culver City studio
apartment. It was a single small room with one window that
looked out over a parking lot. There was a kitchenette with a
two-burner stove, a microwave, and several shallow cupboards
separated from the rest of the room by a counter. To the right
of the kitchen area was a dining alcove. Madison had used this
instead for her sleeping area by cramming a twin bed, nightstand, and lamp into the space. At the foot of the bed, a squat
four-drawer dresser faced out, lending some sense of separation
between the bed and the rest of the room. The bed was neatly
made. A short hallway between the bed and kitchen led to a tiny
bathroom on one side and a full closet with sliding doors on
the other. The main part of the room held an old loveseat and
assemble-it-yourself end tables with more cheap lamps. Across from the loveseat was a long folding table with a rolling desk
chair and a tall bookcase stuffed with books. On the table was
a laptop, a printer, and more books. The computer equipment,
although not the best quality, was clearly the most valuable item
in the room.

"Sad, maybe, Doug," Dodie agreed, "but not hopeless." She
pointed toward the dresser that had been painted to match the
sofa and the end tables. A colorful cotton dhurrie covered much
of the old, worn carpet. The walls were adorned with posters of
classic paintings, including those of Manet, Monet, and Georgia
O'Keeffe.

"Madison may not have much," Dodie said to Doug, "but
she's made a real effort to make this into a home."

"And she's neat as a pin," Doug observed. "Everything is spick
and span." He pointed at the makeshift desk. "She also seems
intent on bettering herself. Also a good sign."

"Although," Dodie continued, "I'm rather disturbed by the
lack of personal items such as photographs and keepsakes. Most
young women would have snapshots of friends and family stuck
here and there, wouldn't they?"

"You'd think."

"Did Mike say anything to you about Madison's family?"

Doug shook his head. Even though they'd not turned on any
lights, the two of them could see quite clearly in the dark, their
natural habitat. "Just that she came from Idaho and had been in
some trouble before she left. Nothing too serious, mostly petty
theft, I believe. He didn't elaborate."

"I checked her cell phone last night," Dodie told him. "It's a
disposable. There were no recent incoming calls except one. I called it back, and it was an auto repair place. And Madison had
made only a couple of outgoing calls. One to the auto place and
the other to the diner where she works." Dodie pointed at the
table. "Make sure you get the computer and her schoolbooks. I'm
going to pull a few more things from the closet."

Doug went to the table and started packing up the items on
Madison's desk. "Let's step on it, Dodie. Samuel said he'd meet us
back at our place in about an hour."

When they reached their home, Doug and Dodie found a
large black Mercedes sedan parked in front of their door. Standing nearby was Gordon, Samuel's bodyguard and driver. They
nodded to the serious man with the thick neck and crew cut and
made their way inside, leaving the items from Madison's apartment in their car.

Samuel wasn't waiting in the living room as they expected,
but two young women were. Slim, leggy, and gorgeous, the
women, one black, the other Asian, lounged on the Dedhams'
sofa dressed in expensive evening clothes. They looked bored.
Both were beaters. The black woman was new to them, but the
Asian woman they'd met before. Her name was Kai.

"Kai, where's Samuel?" Doug asked.

Kai swung her head in the direction of the stairs, her long,
glossy black hair swaying like a dark curtain moved by a sudden
breeze.

Doug flew up the staircase, Dodie fast on his heels.

Samuel La Croix was seated in a desk chair that he'd pulled
close to the bed. He was leaning back, one tuxedo-clad pant leg
crossed over the other, casually watching Madison sleep.

"She looks like an angel, doesn't she?" Samuel addressed
the Dedhams without taking his eyes, which were shielded by sunglasses even in the dark room, off of the sleeping young
woman. "Once those bruises and cuts are gone, she'll clean up
nicely."

Dodie stepped forward. Her husband reached out and put a
warning hand on her arm, keeping her from approaching further.
"She's not for you, Samuel," Dodie told the vampire in the chair.
Her voice, though firm, was respectful.

Samuel La Croix turned toward the Dedhams and smiled. His
smile was wide, his teeth stark and gleaming against his mahogany skin. He stood, stretched his limbs with the ease of a jungle
cat, and approached the bed. With a soft touch, he ran two fingers across Madison's cheek. She didn't stir.

"Given her something, have you?" he asked Dodie. "Making
sure she slept while you two went out tonight?"

"She was still in pain from last night," Dodie explained.

Samuel laughed under his breath and picked up Madison's
limp left hand, turning the palm toward him. He studied it, running a finger across the lifeline. "She's not one of us," he observed.

Doug stepped forward. "No, Samuel, she's not."

"Interesting" He paused and turned toward the Dedhams.
"Haven't most of the victims been marked?"

"Yes," Doug answered. "At least we think most, if not all, had
bloodlines. But Madison doesn't. Rather shoots our original
theory in the foot."

Samuel placed Madison's hand gently back on the bed and
once again studied the sleeping woman. After a moment, he
moved toward Doug and Dodie in a long stride of authority.

Placing a hand under Dodie's chin, Samuel raised her face
to meet his. Nearby, Doug tensed. Samuel was much taller than
Dodie but not nearly as tall as Doug. His head was bald, his jaw strong, his brow thick and serious. A pale scar raised against
his dark skin like a thin, curved levee and traveled down from
behind one ear, disappearing into the collar of his shirt.

"I've always admired your courage, Dodie, and your concern for your inferiors." Samuel's voice was even, spiced with
an accent of far-off places and centuries of travel. He took off
his sunglasses, revealing two large milky eyes, which he fixed on
Dodie. "But if I want the girl, she will be mine."

Samuel replaced his glasses and took one last look down
at Madison. "Now let's leave this sleeping beauty and go back
downstairs. We have a lot to discuss before sunrise."

hen Madison opened her eyes, she again saw the sliver of
light from across the room. She stretched in the big bed,
smelled the familiar wisp of lavender, and glanced at the
clock on the nightstand-8:55 in the morning. Thanks to the
heavy lined drapes, the bedroom was still cloaked in inky blackness.

When she'd gone to bed, it had been around eleven. She'd
taken another pain pill-only a half dosage, though the fuzzy
feeling in her head made her wonder if it had been more than
half. When Dodie had offered her the medication, Madison had
hesitated, but her body still ached from her assault by Bobby
Piper. She also decided that just in case the Dedhams were of a
blood-sucking mind, she didn't want to be awake if and when
they came after her. She wanted to trust them, and they were trying hard to win her over, but even with the vampire thing aside,
Madison wasn't used to trusting people, dead or living.

After a trip to the bathroom, Madison opened the drapes.
She had no idea where she was, and in the shock of discovering the truth about her hosts, she'd forgotten to ask. The view outside her window showed the house was located in a woodsy area
surrounded by uneven ground, as if on a hillside. Just beyond
the trees at the end of the driveway, she caught sight of a road.
Beyond that, she could make out the roof of another house. As
she studied the view, a car went by on the road. The other building and the car soothed her. Wherever she was, it wasn't in the
middle of nowhere, as she had suspected.