Immortal (16 page)

Fin almost let him go. Almost. “You do anything about a job today?”

Regan caught the edge of the doorjamb with his hand, stopping himself. He didn’t turn around. “You know, I could get a job if I wanted to.”

“That right?” Fin exhaled. Regrouped. This animosity between them had been brewing for centuries, but it didn’t mean Fin didn’t love his brother. It didn’t mean he didn’t care. “Look, Regan. This isn’t just me nagging you because I haven’t got anything better to do, because I do. Your therapist said you had to get a job. You promised Mary Kay.”

“And I will. When I’m ready.” Regan reached back and flipped the light switch, leaving Fin in the dark.

“You going to be ready tomorrow?” Fin called after him.

He raised his hand as he went down the hallway. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

T
he following morning, on his way to the bathroom, Fin heard a commotion in the kitchen. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he walked down the hall barefoot in his boxers. He halted in the doorway.

Regan was on all fours on the floor, pulling pots and pans and assorted Tupperware from a lower cabinet.

“What the hell are you doing?” Fin leaned against the doorjamb. His eyes felt gritty and his mouth pasty. He had a bad case of not enough sleep and too much of the banana bread someone always brought to the General Council meetings. “It’s six fifty-five in the morning.”

“Don’t we have a lunch box? A red one? I could have sworn Mom put a red lunch box under here.” He glanced at Fin. “It was one of the squishy ones, you know, the insulated kind.”

Not only was Regan dressed in a clean shirt and shorts, but they were his own.

“You tripping? Some kind of crazy flashback to…I don’t know what.”

“Guess I can use a grocery bag. I just thought a lunch box would be cool, you know, first day and all.”

According to the clock, Fin had been asleep less than four hours, which meant it had only been four hours since he was in the kitchen talking to his brother. “First day of what?” he questioned.

Regan got up off the floor and grabbed a white plastic grocery bag from a pile on the counter. He stuck a sandwich in a baggie, an apple, and a bottle of Gatorade in it. “I used the last of the PB, but I’ll get some more after work.”

Fin felt like he had stepped into an alternate universe. He’d somehow fallen into a rabbit hole where Regan wore his own clothes, packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, and worked for a living. He tried a different approach. “You got a job?”

“Yup.” Regan rolled up the white plastic bag.

Obviously, in this universe, information was not offered, but had to be dragged out of people. “A job? Where?”

“The arcade. I’m the new manager.” Regan grinned. “I start today.”

Fin ran his hand over his face. Now he really felt like a jerk. Last night he’d launched into his get-a-job speech without even asking Regan if he’d found one. But hadn’t Regan told Fin he’d get one when he was ready? Didn’t that indicate he
didn’t
have one? “I’m so confused,” Fin sighed, walking toward the refrigerator.

Regan beat him to it, opened it, and handed him the orange juice carton. Beat him to the cupboard, too. He handed Fin a clean glass. “You’re confused a lot, bro.” He headed for the door. “Look, I gotta go. You try to have a good day. Catch some killers, or something.”

Fin followed him out of the kitchen. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me last night when I was chewing you out that you got a job at the arcade?”

“Didn’t have one last night.”

“You got a job in the last four hours, in the middle of the night?”

“Technically, early morning. Mary McCathal’s an early riser, especially these days, when she has to get up and kick Victor’s wrinkly ass out of her bed.” He winked as he opened the front door. “We’re not supposed to know they’re doing the nasty.”

“You called Mary McCathal at six in the morning and asked her for a dead guy’s job?”

Regan went down the porch steps. “It’s not like Pat Callahan could handle it. He’s been filling in, but the place has been crazy; floors aren’t swept, not enough change, no toilet paper in the bathrooms.” He shook his head, seemingly appalled.

Fin stood on the steps in his boxers staring at his brother. “You got a job,” he said, as if repeating it would make it any clearer in his mind. “You’re managing the arcade.”

“Amazing grasp of the English language and its subtleties.” Regan tossed a grin over his shoulder. “See you tonight, bro. Be careful. Be safe.”

“Whatcha doin’?” Katy tried to spy over Kaleigh’s shoulder.

Kaleigh, seated on the railing in the shadows of the front porch of Tomboy’s house, presented her shoulder to Katy, blocking her view. She’d practically become a regular at his nightly parties in the last week. To the humans, she guessed she looked like some kind of groupie, watching but not really participating; she didn’t care.

Turning her face toward the moonlight, Kaleigh tucked a little notebook into her back pocket. “Nothing.”

“What were you writing?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re a lousy liar.” Katy climbed up on the rail to sit beside her. “You’re obviously doing
something
. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just read your mind.”

“You can’t read my mind.” Kaleigh watched two drunk human girls, arm in arm, stumble through the front door into the living room.

“Here we go again.” Katy threw up her hands. “Back to the
I’m the wisewoman and I have more power than you do
.”

“I am and I do.” Kaleigh glanced at her friend. “And you don’t want to know what I’m doing. Trust me, it’s better if you don’t.”

“Sure I want to know. You’re obviously writing down names.” Katy indicated the notebook in Kaleigh’s pocket. “The question is, whose? You working for your uncle? Doing a little detective work?” She scooted closer. “You think one of the human girls here killed those guys?”

“Didn’t you hear? It’s not a human killing them.”

Katy’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God.” She crossed herself. “You’re kidding!”

“You didn’t hear? I can’t believe it; I knew something before you did. You always hear the gossip first. I heard at the DQ this morning,” she lied. “I thought everyone had heard by now. Fin made an announcement at the Council meeting the other night. A V killed those guys.”

Katy gasped, genuinely shocked. “One of us?” She watched a group of human teens carrying plastic party cups of beer cross the porch and go into the house. “So you’re trying to figure out which Vs are here? Someone who comes here is killing them?”

“I’m not a part of the investigation.” Kaleigh eyed one of Rob’s friends just inside the door. He was drinking a beer and talking to the two drunk chicks. She pulled out the notebook and pen and added his name.

“So what’s with the notebook, then?” Katy still didn’t act like she quite believed Kaleigh.

“We shouldn’t be here. Kahill teens. At least not downstairs.”

Katy watched her face as she spoke. “So what’s going on downstairs?”

“You know what’s going on. V kids are taking advantage of humans. I can’t just ignore the situation.”

“You’re going to tell the Council? You can’t do that.”

“No, I’m not going to tell the Council,” Kaleigh intoned. “Not if I don’t have to.”

“What
are
you going to do?”

Kaleigh smiled to herself. “I’m going to take care of it.”

“Well, any way you look at it, this is bad. Maybe we need to start working on a contingency plan. You know, just in case we have to flee the country.”

“We are
not
fleeing the country, Katy!”

“You hope we don’t have to. But if these killings continue, you know it will have to be considered. If humans start investigating these murders, the game is over. We’ll have to run.”

“I don’t even want to think about such a thing.” Kaleigh heaved with a sigh.

“I know you don’t.” Katy rubbed her arm and then jumped off the rail and headed for the steps.

“Where you going?” Kaleigh asked.

“Home.”

“Home?” Kaleigh turned to watch her go. “Pretty early for you. I thought you and Beppe—”

“Beppe.” Katy made a face. “What a dick. What was I thinking? He’s not even that hot. Probably not even really from Italy. I bet that accent is fake. I bet he’s never even seen the Trevi Fountain.”

Kaleigh was careful not to let Katy see how relieved she was to hear that that was apparently over. “Sorry to hear things didn’t work out for you two.”

“Oh, you are not. Apparently, he’s got this thing for fake boobs, which I obviously do not have.” Katy squeezed her ample, genuine breasts.

Kaleigh lifted her eyebrows.

“Amanda Petrie, that’s where it’s at, apparently,” Katy said. “You know her, from our chemistry class. The one with the ginormous implants. Remember, she got them for her sixteenth birthday, instead of a new car.”

Kaleigh laughed. “What’s wrong with implants? I was thinking about getting them.” She cupped her own small breasts. “You know, when I’m older.”

“You, fake boobs? Right. Like there could ever be anything fake about you.” Katy went down the sidewalk. “See you tomorrow.”

Kaleigh was just plucking the notebook out of her pocket when she realized someone was watching her. She glanced up to see a girl she didn’t recognize standing in the shadows of the far end of the porch. A bunch of surfboards had been left there, leaned against the wall. Kaleigh wondered how long she’d been there. Had she been listening in on her and Katy’s conversation?

The girl made eye contact with Kaleigh. She was petite. Pretty, with olive skin and dark eyes. Guarded eyes.

“Hey,” Kaleigh said, a little unnerved. She should have been more careful, talking to Katy. She knew better. “You, um, just get here?” she asked, racking her brain to try and figure out when the girl had walked onto the porch. Maybe she’d been with that group Kaleigh had watched pass a couple of minutes ago. God, she hoped she and Katy hadn’t been speaking too loud.

“Been here awhile.”

The girl approached her and Kaleigh tried to guess her age. High school? College? It was hard to say; she had a lot of make-up on. She was wearing a cute spaghetti-strap tank and her inky black hair had been flawlessly straightened.

“I came with my brother, but he ditched me,” she said.

Then it hit Kaleigh. She knew why the girl looked familiar, even though she was pretty certain she’d never met her. “I don’t suppose your brother is Beppe?”

The girl frowned as she leaned against the porch rail. “Please don’t tell me you went out with him, too. Like half the girls in town are either in love with him or they already hate his guts.” She had absolutely no Italian accent. She sounded like any other teen from the mid-Atlantic states.

Kaleigh laughed, thinking of Katy, and raised her hands. “I know him from the arcade, but that’s as far as it goes.”

“You’re smarter than most.” She folded her arms over her chest. “He’s kind of a creep, if you know what I mean.”

Again, Kaleigh laughed. “I’m Kaleigh.”

“Lia.”

“Nice to meet you, Lia. So you came all the way to Nowhere, Delaware, from Italy, why?”

It was Lia’s turn to laugh. “My parents take us somewhere on holiday every summer. Last year it was Costa Rica, this year the U.S. They’re parents. Who knows why they do any of the things they do.”

Kaleigh hopped down off the rail. “Well, I better head home before someone gets up to go to the bathroom and realizes I’m not in my bed. Nice meeting you.”

Lia smiled. “You, too.”

Kaleigh went down the porch steps backward. There was something about this girl that made her seem different from other human teenage girls. Kaleigh just couldn’t put her finger on it. “See you around. Maybe at the Fourth of July parade tomorrow? It’s lame, but kind of a big deal around here.”

“Sure.” Lia pointed at her. “Just make sure you stay away from my brother.”

Kaleigh was still chuckling to herself as she went down the street, the list of names safely in her pocket.

When Fin got the invitation from Elena to come to the cottage, he had considered bowing out gracefully. It had been a long, crazy day, with all the Independence Day celebrations. First there had been the annual Clare Point parade and street barricade duty, then he had cruised the crowd for hours, watching for any behavior out of the ordinary from the town locals. To his relief, everyone had gotten into the spirit of the day and had behaved themselves. Even Victor was in the spirit, sporting a red, white, and blue bandana around his straw hat, buying lemonade from a street vendor for Mary McCathal. It was the first time anyone had seen them out in public together.

Elena had called Fin, saying that even though it was after ten, the family was still all out enjoying the festivities. Fin had complained that he was tired and needed a shower and that he wouldn’t be much company. She had countered by saying she needed a shower, too, and invited him to join her.

The invitation was just too good for any red-blooded vampire to resist. Elena was waiting for him on the back porch when he turned the corner on her street. She greeted him with a soft kiss. She was barefoot, wearing a soft, flowing dress.

“Still in uniform, sorry,” he apologized.

“And who says I do not like a man in uniform?” She led him through the back door, into the house, pulling off his tie. “Just as well as I like a man
out
of uniform?”

Her laughter was warm and husky and when he kissed her, just inside the door, he was glad he had come. She had a way of making him forget what was going on in the town, in his life, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Her fingers found the buttons of his light blue dress shirt and a second later he heard his badge clatter as the shirt hit the floor.