Save the Last Vamp for Me (11 page)

––––––––

“L
ord Holmesby’s remains were discovered by a Lady Serena. They had a thing,” Nick said after checking the folder. “Downstairs, second level.”

“Okay. Stone, would you mind taking Soames down for a look? I want to get a feel for the place. I could have a retrocog if it’s quiet enough.”

“Certainly.”

As soon as they were gone from view, I turned to Nick. “I need you and Leglin to start sniffing around.”

“For what?”

“Dead bodies.”

Nick scrunched up his face. “Come again?”

“Publicly, Merriven was all ‘no killee the humans’ but privately was a different story. I want to know if Holmesby had the same private activities.”

“Okay, but it’ll take hours to cover this whole place. Even if Holmesby did kill, he didn’t necessarily hide the bodies here.”

True. I looked at Leglin, trying to think of a way to speed up the search. The hound stared back, his ears perked. When an idea surfaced, my resulting grin must’ve been pretty mischievous looking, from the way Nick’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Leglin, any chance you could maybe talk some of your pack mates into helping out?”

My boyfriend’s eyes went wide. “You’re going to steal Prince Jerk-Off’s hounds?”

“Not steal, borrow. What do you think, buddy?”

“
I will ask
.” Leglin disappeared.

Nick scowled. “If Thorandryll notices they’re gone, he’s going to demand payment. He already has you on the hook for a date.”

“I’ll swear them to secrecy.”

He grunted. “Good luck with that.”

“I’ll guilt him into letting it slide.” After all, it was the prince’s fault the lone surviving dark elf had attacked Santo Trueno. Said dark elf had shot me in the shoulder with a freaking arrow. “I did spill blood for him again, and I’m no more one of his people than I was when he sicced those demons on me.”

My boyfriend considered that for a few seconds. “True, but his healer fixed you up.”

“Different elf, different deal.” I hoped. Alleryn hadn’t ever asked me for anything. His fee through the hospital had been paid though. Did that make us even?

I dismissed worrying about it when Leglin reappeared, with about two dozen other hounds. “Wow. Good job.”

My hound lowered his head, his ears drooping. “
I promised each a steak as payment
.”

Ouch. That was going to dent the hell out of my budget. “Sure. We’ll have a cookout and they can all come.”

Tails wagged, creating a surprising air draft, and the hounds took off. Some trotted or ran, others simply disappeared. It was unnerving to know they were there, yet not hear anything. I looked at Nick. “Do you think Stone will freak?”

“Duh.”

Too late to worry about it. The big problem would be getting them from here to the last scene.

Leglin reappeared. “
The top floors are clear
.”

“Cool. Um, you did them not to attack anyone, right?”

“
Of course, mistress
.”

“Fantastic. Carry on.” I blinked and he was gone again. “I need to get him a girlfriend. They could have puppies, and then I’d have my own pack of elf hounds. How cool would that be?”

“Not very. My dad wouldn’t let them all on pack territory.”

Crap, I had yet to talk to him about that. “Yeah, about that....”

“Miss Jones!” Stone’s yell echoed through the great hall.

Oops.

––––––––

––––––––

W
e stood in a circle around a giant, iron-bound, wooden well cap. “Looks like I was right to play that hunch.”

“We’ll see.” Stone’s frosty rejoinder had me hiding a grin. One of the hounds swore he could smell dead bodies on the other side of the well cap. I was inclined to believe him simply because of how well hidden the room had been. I glanced at the door. We’d had to crawl through a wardrobe in Holmesby’s bedchamber to get here.

“One of these days, I’ll find a wardrobe that leads to Narnia.”

“And Aslan will make you a queen,” Soames said. We traded a smile. Obviously, Logan wasn’t the only person in his clan with a library card and no fear of using it.

“Who’s Aslan?”

Stone answered Nick. “The lion in ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’. Let’s move this cap, gentlemen.”

“I can give you guys a TK boost if you need any extra help.” Retreating to the doorway, I watched as they selected handholds.

“One, two, three.” They strained, but no dice. Stone growled. “Again.”

I helped with a push of telekinesis, only to wish I hadn’t as the giant lid flipped over, releasing a stench worse than anything the morgue or city dump had on offer.

My stomach heaved, and it wasn’t the only one. Everyone threw up.

Even Stone, and it wasn’t blood coming out of him.

––––––––

––––––––

“Y
ou’re not a vampire.” We’d retreated to Lord Holmesby’s drawing room to rinse out our mouths with brandy, it being the only thing readily available. “You’re not human either. You’re a dhampyr, aren’t you?”

Stone grimaced, took another slug of brandy to swish around, and spat it out into the empty fireplace. “Yes. Lord Derrick is my father.”

“Oh.” Not my wittiest response, probably because I couldn’t get the smell/taste combo out of the back of my throat. “Better call him.”

“I will, after we’ve searched the Tanaka estate.” The dhampyr downed the last of his brandy. “I hope to God we don’t make a similar discovery.”

“If we do, someone else can open it,” Nick said. “I’m damn sure not going to. Not after that.”

“Me neither.” Soames shuddered, his eyes still watering. “That was incredibly putrid.”

“Yeah, it was.” I buried my nose in my glass, hoping the brandy’s aroma would overpower the “mass grave with a side of vomit” still lingering between my nose and the back of my tongue. It didn’t. I downed the brandy. “All right, let’s hit the road.”

––––––––

O
ne elf hound made vampires clear the way. A herd of elf hounds could empty streets.

Vampires blurred away at top speed, ducking into buildings or even climbing them as we went, until all I could hear was the clip clop of the horses’ hooves.

It was funny, but I didn’t laugh because of Nick. His furrowed brow and side-glances made it clear he hadn’t forgotten what I’d said before we were interrupted earlier. At least he wasn’t bringing it up now. Maybe I’d have a brainstorm about what to say before he did.

Or maybe I should admit there wasn’t a future for an “us” since I couldn’t see one that didn’t include me having to give up basically everything.

That would be the adult thing to do. But it was nice having a boyfriend who wasn’t scared off by my psychic abilities. Mentally shaking my head, I refocused on the case.

We now had two murder victims who’d pretended to be good little vamps. Exactly how did they fit in the puzzle? “We should check Esme’s estate too.”

“That won’t be necessary. The gargoyles wouldn’t be there.” Stone leaned forward, resting his fore arms on his knees. He was behaving more human since upchucking. “They were originally created to protect humans. She wouldn’t have been able to claim the loyalty of so many if she, or any of her family, were routinely draining humans.”

I glanced at Soames for confirmation, and received a slight nod. “Okay, we’ll leave her and her family marked as good guys then. I bet if we have the hounds search Merriven’s estate, we’ll find more bodies.”

The dhampyr leaned back. “Would they obey someone else?”

I put the question to Leglin, and after a few minutes of discussion, we dropped off him, Soames, and a dozen hounds to search Merriven’s estate when we passed by it. Another hound, named Enid, stepped forward to take charge of those left.

Lord Tanaka’s estate was a graceless pile of volcanic rock, but the inside was Japanese themed. I spent the time the hounds were searching admiring a collection of weapons, armor, dragon statues, and of all things, dried flowers mounted in picture frames.

Soames called me. “No bodies, but there’s a room on the second floor that’s suspicious. The hounds are going nuts, but I don’t know why. I can’t smell anything, and there aren’t any blood stains.”

“Okay, take pictures of it, grab Leglin’s collar when you’re done, and tell him to bring everyone to me.”

“Will do.” We ended the call and Enid popped into view.

“
We’ve found what you seek
.”

“Thank you. Will you show us?”

She assented, her head and tail held high, and led the way at a deliberate pace. Elf hounds could really pile on the dignity when they wanted to.

Tanaka had a disposal pit hidden behind a solid iron door on the lowest basement level. It wasn’t far from his personal chambers. We held our breath while opening the door, but it didn’t smell like Holmesby’s well had. I pointed to the bags of quicklime stacked in a corner. “That keeps the bodies from smelling, but contrary to popular belief, it also does a pretty good job of preserving them.”

“I think I’ll inform my master of our discoveries now,” Stone said. I snapped a few pictures before we returned to the ground floor.

By the time the dhampyr finished his call, Soames and the other hounds arrived. Leglin shook free of Soames’ hold on his collar, and came to me. “
Many humans died in that room, mistress. We could smell their deaths even though the room was cleaned with
,” he paused, his eyes half-closing. “
The strong liquid you use sometimes, on white clothing
.”

“Bleach?” My goodness, the police would kill to have some elf hounds as K9 units, if the hounds could pick up scents after that kind of cleaning job.

“
Yes
.” Leglin’s tail wagged double time, whacking Stone on the thigh. The dhampyr grunted and stepped out of range.

I looked at the mass of hounds. “You were amazing tonight. Thank you so much for your help. Leglin will let you know as soon as we have time for a cookout, and you’ll get your steaks.”

Every single one of the hounds inclined their heads and
poof
! They disappeared. I gave Leglin a super good neck scratching before planting a kiss just above his nose. “You’re awesome.”

Nick asked, “What now?”

“Back to the office for us. I want to add the new photos to the rest of the case stuff.” Looking at Stone, I said, “Let me know if you guys have any luck undeleting the witnesses’ memories.”

“I will.” Stone’s promise was accompanied by a smile. “You’ve been of great assistance.”

“We do our best. Talk later.” I teleported the guys to Nick’s truck, Leglin following on his own. Spent the drive to the office formulating questions, which could often trigger my tracking ability.

No useful threads appeared though.

––––––––