Bloody Heretic (12 page)

    “
What? You think of s
omething?”
He asked. He had thought of something. That there was no way he had calmly and coolly drank from two women while Jeanne watched. Just the false memory of it had him hard and wanting. He ran from the room before Claude could utter another word.
H
e burst into Jeanne and Gloria
’
s room without even knocking. Gloria flung the TV remote up into the air with a shriek. He didn
’
t even pause;
he rushed into their bathroom.

    “
Aha! Just as I thought!”
He exclaimed as he found strawberry scented body wash. He held it up triump
hantly. He dropped the bottle to
the floor,
grabbed Jeanne by her shoulders and shook her.

    “
What did you do?”
He demanded. Her gray eyes were huge in her face as he jolted her
back and forth. “
Damn it! Tell me!”

    “
I didn
’
t do anything! What are you talking about?”
She pushed him away. Gloria stood up from the bed, her fists clenched at her sides.

    “
What the hell are you raging about?”
She asked forcefully. He ignored her.

    “
I was wiped last night. It had to have been you. What did I do Jeanne? What did I do to deserve that?”
Both of the women gasped, looking at each other in horror. He started to doubt his own convic
tion; their shock was so great.

    “
It wasn
’
t me! Why
would I do such a thing?”
Jeanne protested. He looked at Gloria.
She looked back at him in anger.

    “
It sure as shit wasn
’
t me! I was out with...,”
she paused, “
I was on route clearance.”
She folded her arms. “
I haven
’
t seen you since yesterday.”

    “
Well, someone wiped me! Adam would never, and he
’
s the only Other here who is old enough.”

    “
Ethan is older than you, correct?”
Gloria asked.

    “
Not by a lot and he also would have no reason.”
He glared at her.

    “
How do you know you were wiped?”
J
eanne asked.

    “
Ask me what we did last night,”
he said to her.

    “
What did we do last night?”
She repeated.

    “
We sat in the club. We discussed the case, we drank from a few girls and then we left,”
he repeated back. Gloria gaped at him. Jeanne di
dn
’
t look convinced.

    “
Yeah, that was about it.”
She shrugged at Gloria.

    “
Oh, no,”
Gloria said. She snatched Jeanne by the shoulder, forcing her to look Gloria in the eye.

    “
Jeanne, what did you and Dom do last night?”
She asked.

    “
We sat in
the club. We discussed the case, we drank from some girls
and then we left,
”
s
he answered. Dom didn
’
t see anything wrong with her answer
either
but Gloria slapped a hand over her mouth and looked shocked. Jeanne scrunched her face up.

    “
What?”
She ask
ed.

    “
You were both wiped. Who could do such a thing? You
’
re stronger mentally than any Vamp I
’
ve ever seen. It
’
s impossible.”
She paced the room, throwing a hand into her massive amount of hair, which got stuck and she had to yank out.

    “
What the h
ell are you talking about? I most certainly remember
everything from last night,”
she slid Dom a look, “
and I can tell you, had I encountered someone who was capable of wiping me I would remember.”

    “
Not if they
wiped you
,”
she pointed out. “
I
’
m telling
you, you were both wiped.”
She walked up and grabbed them both and turned them toward the big bathroom mirror. Their room was the same layout and Dom got Dé
jà
Vu as she repeated the same maneuver that Claude had.

    “
What did you guys do last night?”
Glo
ria asked.

    “
We sat in the club. We discussed the case, we drank from a few girls and then we left,”
they both repeated back, eyes straight forward as if they were repeating off a cue card.

  
“
Look weird to you?”
Gloria asked.

    “
It does now,”
Jean
ne muttered. “
I don
’
t see it when he says it though. I have the same memory of
last night that
he does. Hmm. I
’
ve never been bespelled before.”
Her eyebrows rose. “
That I know of.”

    “
I have, and it
’
s like being assaulted. I
’
m sorry I came bursting in l
ike that. Let
’
s get everyone together and try to get to the bottom of this.”
Dom turned and walked away, feeling somewhat ashamed for assuming the worst from her.
If he was being honest with himself he was more worried that he had actually done something a
wful, something that had needed to be wiped from his memory. If he had killed someone last night in a blood lust fueled rage he didn
’
t want to know. They
walked back to his room, Jeanne
ran for Adam and Ethan and the girls
, Gloria for Orleans and Elliot
.
A
s he entered the room Claude stood up.

    “
Did she fess up?”
He asked, excited.

    “
Did who fess up?”
He asked as he sat behind the desk.

    “
Jeanne. I assumed that
’
s who you went after. The more I thought about it, I remembered she uses strawberry sce
nted soap.”
Claude looked expectant. For some reason the thought of Claude knowing what she smelled like sent a bolt of rage through him. He wasn
’
t getting possessive of her, was he?

    “
What
’
s this about, Dom? It
’
s an hour before we
’
re scheduled to meet,
”
Adam asked as he entered the room. Everyone else followed behind him.

    “
Everybody get in here and get comfortable first.”
Dom waited while everyone was seated or standing comfortably. “
Alright, you want the short version or the long one?”
He asked Ada
m.

    “
The short one and then if I
’
m not satisfied you can give me the long one.”
He crossed his arms. Dom waved Jeanne over to stand next to him. Then he motion
ed
to Claude to do his thing.

    “
So, what did you do last night?”
He repeated and Dom and Jeanne did their little monolog.
The Vamps in the room gasped. The Were
’
s looked confused.

    “
What the fuck was that?”
Vic asked.

    “
That, my dear, was what being bespelled looks like,”
he explained and then the Were
’
s gasped.

    “
But who would do something like that? Who could?”
Alex asked.

    “
Honestly, my first thought was Adam,”
Dom admitted, “
But I knew he would never unless it was necessary. You didn
’
t, did you?”
Adam gave him a look that wasn
’
t flattering. “
I had to ask. My next thought was of Jeanne. Fortunately I when to her room to ask,”
Dom said but Gloria interrupted.

    “
To demand, more like it.”
She glared at him.

    “
To ask if it had been her
,
we soon figured out that she had been wiped as well. So
here we are. All I
’
ve got is from the time you four left last night until sometime before I made it back here we were bespelled.”

    “
Oh my God! Was I bespelled?!”
Claude demanded. “
Ask me what I did last night!”

    “
What did you do last night, Claude?”
Dom asked with a smirk. He looked down, thinking.

    “
What
did
I do last night?”

    “
Oh! We played Mario Cart 64 until midnight and then you showed me how to steal vids from YouTube. Then Vic picked me up for my nightly hunting exercise. I don
’
t know wha
t you did after that,”
Elliot answered for him. Claude brightened up.

    “
Yeah
! I remember all that. I surfed
YouTube for like two hours after he left and then I hacked the FSB website to download shit from the area
’
s history to look through.”
He grabbed
the paperwork. “
See?”

    “
Okay, so they probably got us at the club. How did I seem
to you when I came in last night?”
Dom asked.

    “
I don
’
t know. I was out like a light when you came in,”
he said.

    “
You stopped by our room to say that you were tir
ed and you
’
d brief us today. You seemed fine to me,”
Adam said.

    “
I don
’
t even remember that.”

    “
So, I reiterate, who could do something like this?”
Alex waved at Dom and Jeanne.

    “
Was it Boris, do you think? Or Valentin?”
Vic asked.

    “
I highly
doubt it was Valentin. He doesn
’
t seem
any
older than two centuries, tops,”
Ethan said.

    “
Yes, I don
’
t think so either. And we have no idea how old Boris is. Claude, any new information since last night?
”
Adam asked. Claude sifted through some papers,
looking for something. When he found it, he handed it over to Adam.

    “
It
’
s a deed, signed over from the city during the cold war. It
’
s got Boris Aleksandrov
’
s signature and Lenka
Zhukov
’
s. Lenka being
the very same
who tried to assassinate the Russian K
ing in 1990 before Igorek took his head. Remember that?”

    “
Yes, it was all Niles talked about.”
Adam and Ethan looked over the printout. “
You think they were in business together?”

    “
It sure looks like it. I can certainly narrow down Boris
’
s college
s if they kept the same company.”

    “
Do what you can. This doesn
’
t narrow down what happened to Dom and Jeanne but it
’
s a start in the right direction.”
Adam handed the paper back. Jeanne looked up at him suddenly.

    “
What?”
He asked.

    “
I remember
something from last night. Something real.”

    “
Are you sure it
’
s real?”
Dom asked her, not trusting for a second anything that he thought he remembered from last night.