Hex and the Single Witch (Vehicle City Vampires) (23 page)

“Great idea,
Mel. I hadn’t even thought of that.” I turned to check in the mirror and gasped
at how gorgeous I looked. The metallic blue taffeta was a deep shade of
midnight blue that looked almost black depending on how the light hit it.
Trimmed in black lace, the corset style top pushed my boobs to heights never
known before. Multiple layers of ruffles and hem lines made the skirt look full
and flirty, modern and old fashioned all at once. The blue made my auburn hair
look redder than normal and my usual smoky blue/gray eyes glittered like
sapphires. Wow.

“Of course not,
you’re too busy moping and whining. Look I know you’re worried about Galen, but
seriously, he’s a big boy vampire and quite capable of taking care of himself.
He’s not half as fragile as Satinka thinks he is. I swear she treats him like a
child not the two hundred year old vampire he is.”

“How do you
know?” I asked narrowing my eyes. Was there more between her and Galen than I
knew?

She stood up
with her hands on her hips. “Oh don’t even look at me like that, Wyn. I haven’t
been with your man, but I have been friends with him for a long time. He’s all
grown up and has dealt with the shit Roark put him through for all those years,
but when he’s around Satinka, he lets her act like a mother hen and allows her
to take control. I sometimes think he would be much better if she just let him
take care of himself for once.”

“Really? I
thought you agreed with Satinka about protecting him?”

“I did, but at
some point you have to push the babies from the nest or they’re never going to
learn to fly.”

“This coming
from a woman who has never been a mother.”

“Doesn’t mean I
don’t have mothering instincts,” she turned her head jauntily and gave a wicked
little smile.

I smiled back. “I
know, you’re right. I’ve felt this way from the beginning, but I can understand,
especially with the murders all leading directly to him. If anyone found out
Mel, they’d execute him without a trial.”

“I know, Wyn.
But he’s got us, and we’re not going to let that happen.” She patted my hand. “Now
let’s finish getting ready and go have some fun. I think your hair would look
great pulled up into an old fashioned up-do with some curly wisps trailing down
your neck and around your face.”

I looked in the
mirror and readily agreed. “Mel, I know you did not buy this dress for yourself.
You always complain blue does nothing for you with your caramel cream skin and
chocolate eyes. The red you are wearing is perfect; this blue…was made for me.”
As soon as the words left my mouth I knew they were true. “You had your cousin
Esme make this for me didn’t you?”

Esme is a stitch
witch, seamstress extraordinaire. The woman could look at someone and make them
the perfect gown without ever taking a measurement. She made very high-end
clothing and costumes in a shop downtown.

Mel smiled. “No
way was I going to this thing alone, and I knew you wouldn’t agree to it
without a bribe. This gorgeous gown was the perfect bribe because what girl can
turn away from a ball gown made just for her?”

I laughed. “Especially
not an Esme original.”

“That’s for sure,
now come on, gurl, one way or another we are going to have fun tonight.”

Chapter 31

The Masonic
Temple, a blocky gray building with enough decorative elements to give it an
understated feel of importance without it being gaudy, looked more like a big bank
than a temple. I had never really paid much attention to it before. Just
another building along Saginaw Street but tonight vampires, humans and all
manner of Others filled it. Should make for an interesting night.

Mel pulled two
tickets out of her fancy little bag that also held her magickal digital camera
as we walked through the wide doors.

The impressive
entryway was a large marble foyer with a desk to the right and an elevator and
stairs going down to the left. Behind the desk were a couple small office rooms
and another small room was up front. The far left office held a fortune telling
gypsy, complete with crystal ball and all. A couple people counting money and
tickets occupied the other room. Up front I spied a new camera disguised as an
old one and a coffin along with a few other vampy props. Themed photo booth,
fun.

Directly front
and center stood the grand ballroom entryway. Inside the great room it was a
little dark and foggy. Costumed Ball goers milled around everywhere, going up
and down the stairs, wandering in and out of the ballroom, even in and out of
the building—the place was packed. I was a little surprised at the number of
people attending the gala.

Even more
surprised once we entered the ballroom and I discovered the place was larger
than I first thought. The ballroom was huge, with a giant stage covering the
entire far end of the room. In front of the stage was an open area for the
dance floor, already filled with happy party goers rocking out to the music
being piped in through the sound-system. The band on stage was still setting
up.

A buffet table
chock-full with delicious smelling food lined the right wall. A nightclub-esque
bar decked out in Goth stylings took up the center of the room. To my left, a
staircase climbed up to a second story balcony. Several people milled about
upstairs, but I couldn’t tell if there were any rooms on the second story.

The rest of the
ballroom was filled with tables, costumed humans…and Others. Lots of Others.

I could smell
the vamp pheromones mixing with the musk and green woodsy scent of werewolves
along with the delightful aromas of cinnamon, spice and Autumn that witches
tend to emit. I also smelled numerous human perfumes, some natural and some
came from a bottle. And those were just the strongest scents in the room, which
meant they had the most numbers in attendance. I could also smell various
Others I didn’t recognize, a slight junglesque aroma made me think
were-panther. Once again I inhaled strongly and… no way, was that a ghoul?

The effect entirely
overwhelmed and the visions…Oh my Goddess. Glad my powers were almost
nonexistent right now, it made it easier to shut them off, but emotional vibes
continued to cling to me like wet toilet paper. Not pleasant. It overloaded me.

I glanced at
Mel. She must have realized my readiness to bolt because she put her hand on my
arm. I felt a little zing and then instant bliss.

“What was that?”
I lazily asked.

“Just a little
anti-anxiety spell I made in advance. I was afraid everything might be a bit
much for you so I had it ready to go.”

“Mel,” I mumbled
totally blissed out, “you should bottle and sell that stuff, it rocks.”

“Crap. I might
have made it too strong for you. Give me your hand again.”

I drowsily
reached my hand to her. It felt kinda like I was underwater, just floating
around. Then, a little jolt and my bliss vanished. “Hey, why’d you do that?” I
whined.

“Sorry, Wyn. I
want you to be happy, but not so buzzed you can’t function like yourself. Not
tonight.” Her mouth set into a grim line.

Was this Ball
more important than she let on?

She glanced
across the hazy room. “Look there’s Satinka, let’s go say hello and get the 411
on what’s going down here tonight.”

I followed Mel
through the crowd admiring the assortment of costumes, a wild mix of vampire styles
from the classic Victorian top hat and caped Dracula to Rice’s Lestat to the
modern leather clad urban fantasy style vampire. Even a few Steampunk outfits
mingled in the crowd…along with every vampire style in between. Quite a few
young Goth girls wore short pixie style outfits along with classic Goth styles
of the 90s—long flowing crushed velvet gowns with laced up tops and batwing
sleeves.

I was surprised
to see many authentic “costumes” from the 1800s and earlier. They had to be
worth a fortune to collectors. I wasn’t surprised to see real vampires wearing
them. Guess they didn’t like to throw things away. Hmmm, no wonder so many of
them were ridiculously wealthy, they probably had the foresight to hang onto
things knowing they would probably be worth a lot of money someday.

We reached
Satinka to find her flanked by two werewolves and two vampire Guardians. She
spoke with a man who emanated power. He wasn’t a vampire but something
extremely powerful magick-wise. He had his own entourage of guards standing
close by. I could tell they belonged to him because they all wore matching
costumes decked out with gold and purple sashes around their waists matching
his sash, though his was much more elaborately displayed with what I assumed to
be his family crest—a shield with a flying dragon.

I was curious to
find out who he was but whispering questions to Mel was a big no no considering
most Others would be able to hear me.

Once Satinka and
the man finished speaking, polite introductions were made. He was Regalado, a
representative from the High Council of the Others. An event such as the
Vampire Ball always required at least one council rep to be in attendance. I
also learned he was a wizard. No wonder power dripped off him.

His dark
chocolate brown eyes swirled with golden fire as he assessed my power level.
Obviously he found me lacking because I was quickly dismissed and his attention
went elsewhere. He left our little circle and sauntered through the room like
he owned the place.

Fine by me, I
had no desire to play along with a power pissing contest tonight. I didn’t have
much to play with anyway. I wondered how much power I’d have if not bound
repeatedly by so many spells. If someone went to all the trouble to bind me,
over and over for many years, from reaching my true power level, then there
must be something truly worth hiding. I shivered, not sure if I wanted all that
power. Over the years I had wished to be more like Mom and Grams in the magick
department, but maybe I couldn’t handle it. Not now, not all at once. I should
have grown up with it, growing into it like a normal witch and learning as it
increased. Now, once unbound, it would probably hit me all at once, which would
probably be a disaster.

As I stood
contemplating the crowd Mel pulled Satinka aside. I felt a pop and realized Mel
had cast a spell bubble around her and Satinka so no one would hear what they
said.

A tingling at
the back of my neck made me looked up to the balcony. Malone stared down at me.
I couldn’t help myself and smiled at him, to my surprise he smiled back. He was
dressed in full Victorian finery with a hint of steampunk. A long black frock
coat came almost to the knees of his striped trousers, accented with metallic
buttons and a few added buckles. His blood red cravat matched his waistcoat. It
was adorned with a wicked looking cravat pin which appeared to be a skull, a
book and a key formed together in an intricate yet miniscule design. A fancy
top hat, a walking cane, and gloves completed his outfit. I even spied the
silver chain of a pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat. Where some men
would look foppish or flat out ridiculous, he looked delicious.

I excused myself
from the preternatural crowd and made my way through the partygoers toward the
stairs. I met Mike just as he descended the last step.

“Annie, you look
breathtaking.” His gaze raked over me making me feel exquisitely exposed as
they lingered on my breasts then made their way down my skirts.

“You don’t look
too bad yourself.” Ooohh, was I flirting? You bet. Maybe I should tone it down;
we were supposed to be here in a semi-professional capacity. “I am kinda
surprised you came, this doesn’t seem like your type of scene,” I said as I
glanced around at all the vampires.

He grinned. “Keep
your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“Right.” I
laughed politely even though I didn’t find it too humorous.

He sobered. “I
had to come, it’s part of my new job description as head of the P.I.T. Crew.”

I gasped. “When
did that happen? Did something happen to Conally? Are you still going to be the
lead detective?” What would I do without him in the field with me?

“Conally’s fine,
just decided it was time to retire. He’ll be announcing it officially next
week. And yes, I will still be the lead detective. Flint doesn’t have the budget
to hire someone else to be Captain, though unfortunately I don’t get the title
yet. I still have to go through the ranks, now I’ll be Sergeant Detective. No
one wants this job anyway. A lot of the guys on the force think the P.I.T. Crew
is a bullshit X-files type office. A joke. So screw ‘em. I get a great pay
raise, a new title, and I get to keep doing what I love, being lead Detective.”
He looked very pleased. “We’re adding a couple new detectives though, pulling
them from other areas. A couple humans have made it clear they know more about
the paranormal crimes than what they officially put in their reports, a couple
are Others. One is a vampire. I’m not thrilled about it but we need someone
with knowledge on vamp crimes, especially right now.”

“That’s great,
Mike. I’m glad it’s a win/win situation for you.”

Just then the
band started up and he led me from the loud ballroom out into the lobby. He
looked to his right and eyed the stairway.