Authors: Parker Blue
DAMN BETCHA, Fang said at my feet.
Shade pretty much said the same thing and Mom went on a little longer than we did, being much more global and politically correct in her thanks. Jen was more concerned with her narrow teenaged world, but they both expressed thanks for having me here today.
The rest of the meal went pretty well, with everyone trying to avoid sensitive topics and being on their best behavior. They didn't even object to me fixing a plate for Fang. I think it was the best meal I'd ever had in this house.
After dinner, we cleaned up then played Monopoly. That was safe, too, since there wasn't much about demons and vampires in the property acquisition game. Shade seemed comfortable enough and the others finally relaxed around him, especially since we tried to keep in skin-to-skin contact as often as we could.
For once, I did pretty good at the game. Rick usually won easily, but I had Fang to advise me this time. Who knew the cute little terrier could be such a ruthless real estate tycoon? But Rick won anyway and we ended up back at the table for dessert while Fang took a nap.
To keep Shade grounded, I slipped off my shoe and shimmied my bare foot up his leg. Sure, it might look like we were playing footsie, but I didn't care. This way he could look normal and we could both still have our hands free for pie. Since everyone was playing nice and we'd pretty much exhausted other subjects earlier, I asked, “Did the insurance cover the damage on the store?” Since Rick had said he was thankful for prosperity, it seemed like a safe subject.
Rick nodded. “We were surprised, but yes, they're covering most of it. Nothing was missing that we could see—just vandalized."
Jen piped up. “And we got it all cleaned up and ready to open for our big sale tomorrow."
Relieved that they hadn't suffered more because of me, I said, “Glad to hear it."
Mom, sounding tentative, asked, “Did you find any leads on who did it yet?"
"Dan and Micah are working on it, but I haven't heard anything yet.” Apologetically, I added, “I'm afraid to do much more for fear they'll come after you."
Rick covered my hand with his. “We understand, honey. We appreciate everything you're doing."
It made me feel bad, ‘cause I wasn't doing a darned thing. But there was one thing I could do. “Well, if you need any help tomorrow, let me know."
"I'd be glad to help as well,” Shade offered.
"Thanks,” Mom said. “But we should have it covered."
Jen rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if Josh shows up. He didn't bother to come to work the day of the break-in or the day after. Without any explanation, either.” She glared at her parents. “No one else could have gotten away with that."
I shrugged. “If it's the same Josh I know, he couldn't. He was beaten pretty badly that day and wasn't healed until the following day. He was probably too embarrassed to mention it."
"How was he healed?” Rick asked. Shade and I exchanged an apprehensive glance, but Rick said, “Never mind. It's not important. Joshua did work yesterday."
Jen snorted, sounding a lot like Fang when he was disgusted. “Yeah, but you didn't see the scene he and his friend had outside at lunch time."
"Jennifer,” Mom warned. “Be nice."
"Come on, Mom. He and that Emo chick were yelling at each other about vampires and stuff . . . outside, where anyone could hear them. It's the only time I've ever seen her when her eyes weren't all creepy purple glowy."
Shade jerked, looking startled, and I gave him a questioning look, but he just shook his head.
"Were you eavesdropping?” Mom asked with a frown.
"No. I was just getting some fresh air. They were shouting so loud, anyone could have heard them."
Probably because Mood had confronted Josh about how he felt about her, though that wasn't my info to share. Trying to ratchet down the tension a bit, I said in a soothing tone, “He was probably upset because the vamps were the ones who beat him."
"No, they weren't,” Jen said indignantly. “At least, that's not what he said."
"He didn't?” That was odd. Shade's expression turned grim for some reason.
Rick held up his hands. “Can we please not talk about this now?"
I gave him an apologetic look. “I'm sorry, but I think this might be important. Jen, can you tell us what they said?"
Looking pleased that she knew something useful, Jen nodded eagerly. “That girl yelled at him because he blamed the vamps when someone else really beat him up."
"Did she say who?” I asked.
"No. But he said it was really all the fault of the vampires because if they had saved his girlfriend like she asked, nothing bad would have happened to anyone."
Shade let out a noise as if he wanted to say something, but I beat him to it. “Saved his girlfriend, how?"
"I don't know."
"Did they mention his girlfriend's name?"
"Veronica,” Shade said, pressing his fingers to his forehead as if he had a headache or was trying to hold something in. “His girlfriend's name was Veronica."
"Yeah,” Jen said. “Is that important?"
"Very.” Andrew's dead sister had also been Josh's fiance. That meant he had a great motive for wanting vamps dead. And he'd tried to pin his beating on them. “Did they mention anyone else?"
"Just something about Josh not meaning to hurt a girl called Shawndra."
Shade rocked back and forth a little, looking pained. I peered into his face. “Shade, are you all right?"
He tried to tell me something with his eyes, but I wasn't getting it. “Not really,” he managed.
My family looked worried. “He had a concussion not too long ago,” I explained. “He probably just needs some rest.” Or was having the same kind of epiphany I was and wanted to talk in private.
They all made sympathetic noises as I slipped my shoe back on and nudged Fang awake so we could head for the door. “Thanks for dinner,” I said. “It was great."
"You're welcome,” Mom said. “It was nice meeting you, Shade. I hope you feel better soon."
I fidgeted while they all did the polite good-byes and was able to keep my mouth shut until we got into the car and shut the doors. But then I couldn't keep quiet any longer. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” I demanded.
"Probably,” Shade said. “We have to get to Club Purgatory right away."
"Why?"
"Because that's where Josh is spending Thanksgiving, with the Underground."
I started the car and headed toward the club. “Yeah, looks like he's our guy."
HE CAN'T BE THE THIEF, Fang said in disbelief. I CLEARED HIM.
"Mood,” Shade said curtly.
"Oh.” The light dawned. “What color are her eyes normally?"
"Hazel,” Shade said.
HUH? Fang sounded bewildered. THAT IS SO RANDOM. WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?
Impatiently, I explained. “Whenever we use our powers, our eyes flash purple. But her eyes were purple every time I saw her. That's because she was controlling his emotions whenever she was around other people."
SO THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T PICK UP ON ANYTHING WHEN WE QUESTIONED JOSH, Fang said wonderingly. SHE HAD A LID ON HIM.
I sped up a bit more. “Was she in on this with him?"
"No,” Shade said. “He was upset about losing Veronica and she was just trying to help."
I couldn't see Shade's expression, but his voice sounded tight and he was hunched over in his seat. “You okay?"
"Fine,” he said. “I'm just . . . remembering things."
"Remembering what?"
"From when I healed Josh. It makes me dizzy."
"I thought you couldn't remember that stuff."
"Normally, I can't, but every time you or your sister mentioned something about what happened, I picked up flashes of his memory from when I healed him. Mood's too."
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know. I think it has something to do with you grounding me so soon after the healing."
WHO CARES HOW? Fang demanded. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER? IS JOSH THE THIEF?
"Yes,” Shade said. “He's a phase demon."
Whoa—news flash. A phase demon could phase in and out of solid objects . . . meaning he could walk through walls. Everything fell into place. Josh, the thief. It totally made sense.
Fang snorted. NO WONDER IT WAS SO EASY FOR THE LITTLE BUGGER TO STEAL THE BOOKS.
It was important to figure this out, but I was afraid to ask much more, afraid it would hurt Shade.
HE'S OKAY, Fang assured me. HE'S NOT HURTING . . . JUST TRYING TO STAY STABLE AND KEEP FROM GETTING TOO DIZZY.
Traffic had slowed to a crawl downtown so unfortunately, we had time for Shade to continue translating flashes of Josh's memories into something that made sense.
Desperate to cure Veronica's cancer, Josh had asked the vampires to turn Veronica into one of them. They refused without any explanation, which ticked him off, but he didn't do anything about it for awhile because Mood was keeping his emotions damped way down.
But when Mood jumped in to quiet the rumble at the club, she released him so abruptly that his anger at the vamps came back to him at once. He snuck out, phased through the office and the desk to take the books, then hid them inside the wall until he was able to come back and get them.
With the whiplash of emotions sawing through him, he wasn't really rational at the time. He'd planned to find out what the books said about vampires, then return them before we figured it out. Unfortunately, we found them missing too soon, so he couldn't. And . . . the books didn't want to be returned.
Whoa, again. I had to break in at this point. “Books can't feel,” I scoffed. “You must have that part wrong."
NOPE, Fang said cheerfully, SHADE'S ‘JOSH MEMORIES’ ARE CLEAR ON THAT. THE BOOKS WHISPERED TO JOSH, WANTED HIM TO READ THEM AND USE THE DARK MAGICK INSIDE TO HURT HIS ENEMIES. Fang paused a moment. MICAH DID SAY THE BOOKS COULD BE DANGEROUS . . . AND TESSA SAID SHE COULD FEEL THE MAGICK IN THEM.
Then why had I never felt it? I shook my head. That didn't matter right now. Shade continued to sift through his flashes, explaining that Josh had been so vulnerable that the darkness inside those books had sent him over the edge.
The books said vampires react badly to demon blood, so he drew his own blood and used his phasing ability to inject it directly into the supplies at the blood banks. He thought it would make the vamps sick, not knowing it would make them crazy. Apparently, he was either too grief-stricken or too stupid to figure out that they'd turned Veronica down because they couldn't drink demon blood.
"What was that bit Jen mentioned about hurting Shawndra?” I asked.
Shade shook his head and concentrated. “Shawndra found Josh with the books and wanted to help. Since you were getting too close to learning the truth, he wanted to discourage you and throw suspicion on the vampires at the same time. He thought if a demon got hurt, too, and they told you to back off, you'd stop looking at Josh."
It had worked, too. “So he dumped a bunch of weed killer on his friend?” What kind of creep was he?
"He didn't mean to hurt her. They used the page from the encyclopedia, and Shawndra splashed too much weed killer on her arm. She didn't realize how much it would hurt, but when she did, she made Josh leave her so Micah and Tessa could help her.” Shade sighed. “That's why Mood was so mad at Josh, because he hurt Shawndra."
It all made sense. “Where are the books now?” I asked. “Maybe we should get them first."
"Can't,” Shade said.
"Why not?"
Fang snorted, plucking the answer from Shade's mind. BECAUSE ANDREW FIGURED OUT THAT JOSH HAD THE BOOKS AND TRIED TO GET JOSH TO HELP HIM WIPE OUT THE BLOODSUCKERS.
Shade nodded. “Josh tried to tell Andrew they weren't at fault, but Andrew wouldn't listen. Instead, he beat on Josh, trashed the store looking for the books, then tore apart Josh's room until he found them."
"So Andrew does have them?” I asked in disbelief as I pulled up to the club.
"He does now,” Shade confirmed.
"Then why are we here?"
"He might be here . . . or Josh might know where he is."
"And just how do you control a phase demon?"
"He can't phase through anything living, like people or live plants."
"Okay, you hold onto him and this time I'll beat the answers out of him."
We headed into the club and I slowed my step and smiled, trying not to let everyone know how hard my heart was beating. The party seemed to have wound down, and most people were gone. The only ones left were Micah, Josh, Mood, and Tessa, who were all cleaning up.
"Hey,” I said lightly. “Did I miss all the good stuff?"
Tessa smiled. “Yes, sorry. I swear it looks like a pack of vultures swooped in and made off with everything."
"There might be some fruitcake left,” Micah suggested with a smile.
"Uh, I'll pass.” I doubted even Fang would eat that.
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT, BABE.
"Good decision,” Micah said and raised his eyebrow, silently asking me what was up. Guess I wasn't as good at hiding my emotions as I thought.
I raised my voice. “Can everyone come here? I have some news."
They murmured questions but came to join us. Shade spoke into Josh's ear, then clasped Josh's wrist as if to ground himself. Good idea.
"What's your news?” Micah asked.
"I know who the thief is and why he did it."
Josh's expression didn't change at all, but while Micah and Tessa exclaimed, Mood looked apprehensive, her eyes glowing purple.
"Can you please let go of Josh's emotions?” I asked her.
"What?” She looked guilty and cast an apprehensive glance at Josh. “Why?"
Josh sighed. “It's all right, Mood. Let me go."
Mood looked uncertain but did as he asked. Her eyes gradually lightened to her natural color, and animation appeared in Josh's expression. I hadn't really noticed how dead it had seemed until now, when I saw him without Mood's control. His face turned heartbreakingly sad, as if he were experiencing his girlfriend's death all over again.
"Can you handle it?” Shade asked him.
Josh nodded and glanced ruefully down at Shade's hand on his wrist. “But there's no need for that. I gather the Slayer has figured out I took the books?"