Fallen Ever After (14 page)

“I thought you said no fae at the club,” I said.

“And you have a better idea?” Tessa asked. “We don’t have any other choice.”

“The safest place for Luna is HFC,” Arie said.

“It’s not like the club is all that safe…not anymore.” I bit my lower lip. “Well, I don’t mean to sound callous or anything, but maybe it’s better if we send her packing before anyone else gets hurt.”

The burnt bodies lined up at the club were carried out like garbage. I certainly didn’t want to end up like one of them.

“Holly!” Arie looked surprised that I would even suggest such a thing.

Damn.

“Look, I like Luna. I really do, and I feel really bad about her problems—”

“Yeah, she does have daddy issues,” Tessa said as she flicked one of her nails.

“But after last night, I think we should try negotiating with him. If he wants his daughter that damn bad—”

“You don’t negotiate with a man like that,” Tessa said.

Arie spoke so softly that I almost didn’t hear him. “And there’s no guarantee that once he has his daughter back that he won’t just come at us again with this poison his brother is brewing.”

“Arie’s right,” Tessa said. “You weren’t around when Victor Monti controlled the city. You have no idea what kind of power you’re giving him if we give him Luna. There’s no going back after what happened at the club.”

Of course I knew they were right. I hated that I’d even suggested it, but I was drained and a little helpless after last night. We had to do something. This was so much worse than Katarina. And I didn’t even want to think about the havoc she’d caused. But somehow imagining a world where I had been Arie’s first love, his only love, was harder on my heart than everything she’d done or what we faced now. Something so utterly ridiculous and human to think of at a time like this.

I sighed. “So what’s next? We can’t just sit here and wait. Don’t you think we need a plan of attack?”

“Patience,” Arie said.

But I couldn’t help it. A war between fae and vampires could expose us to humankind if we didn’t handle this quickly.

“We’re not doing nothing. The Slayer caught a red-eye flight, and I put together a packet with Lucca Monti’s photo from the surveillance footage along with all the details I got from Luna, including his last known address. I sent him everything this morning.”

“What if the club is attacked again?” I asked.

Arie laughed. “I’d like to see them try it. They’ve lost the element of surprise. Now we know and we’ll be ready.”

“I had the entire supply of Puncture dumped except for a small sample which I sent to the Legacy’s lab for testing. For now we’ll have to rely on CD donors at the club,” Tessa said.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s the only way to be safe.” Arie crossed his arms.

Tessa nodded. “There’s only so many donors to go around.”

“And only so much blood you can take from them.”

Arie looked over at me as I mused aloud. Suddenly his cell phone rang. He answered it.

“Hello?”

“Yes, I’m expecting her. Send her up.” With that Arie hung up and turned toward me. “Your Crimson Dusk is here.”

We were all quiet until Tessa broke the silence.

“I sent Victoria to fae territory on the North Side of town to do some surveillance after that thug showed up at her place. She dropped Luna off at the club and has been watching them ever since. Victoria just checked in with me an hour ago.”

“And?” Arie asked.

“Everything is quiet. It doesn’t seem like they’re gathering in numbers or about to make a move. I have a guard posted outside of Arie’s old apartment at the club for Luna’s safety.”

“So that’s it then?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just need to have my office and the club swept for bugs. I need to get over there and get that done before the club opens,” Tessa said.

“Wait, you still plan to open after what happened? You can’t be serious,” I said.

“It’s business as usual—otherwise we look weak. We look like we’re afraid,” Tessa said.

With that there was a knock at the door.

“Breakfast I presume,” Arie said.

I slid off the barstool and walked over to answer the door. A woman in her thirties wearing a wool coat and a flashy scarf smiled when I opened it.

“Someone ordered a Crimson Dusk,” she said.

“Yes, come in.” I stepped to the side as I held the door open.

“Well, I have to get going,” Tessa said as she slid off of her perch at the breakfast bar and shrugged into her coat. “See you later.”

She left just as the woman took off her coat and unwrapped her scarf to reveal a pair of puncture wounds in the side of her neck. The only time I’d ever fed on a human was at the club, and it’s not like he’d volunteered. It felt a little funny with someone who was willing, although I couldn’t say why. Wordlessly, she walked over to me and tilted her neck.

“Wait,” I said. “What’s your name?”

She gave me an odd look before answering. “Denise.”

“Denise, can I ask you something?”

I bit my lower lip.

“What?”

“I don’t mean to be rude. I’m very grateful, but why do you do this?”

She looked over at Arie. “I’m a doctor. My son is a vampire. It was the only way to save his life when modern medicine failed him. I view it as donating blood. It fulfills a need. Now if you don’t mind, I have to get to the hospital and do rounds. So if you could please get on with it.”

I swallowed. “Sorry.”

If she viewed this as donating blood I wondered vaguely if I should offer her some orange juice, or cookies, or something afterwards. Of course, that was a ridiculous idea but that didn’t stop it from randomly popping into my head. Closing the distance between us, I stepped behind her and grabbed her shoulders. I tried to be gentle when I punctured her neck. Her blood replenished me, and I took as little as I could before releasing her. I used a drop of my own blood to stop the bleeding.

“Thank you.”

Denise nodded. Then she picked up the scarf that she’d draped over the sofa and wrapped it around her neck. As she put on her coat Arie coughed.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Of course,” she said. “You saved my son’s life. I owe you.”

Arie smiled at her and showed her out.

“You turned her son?” I asked after he closed the door.

“No, I took him to Tessa. She turned him. Victoria was the only vampire I turned after Katarina.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, I’m sure you can understand my reluctance after how badly things went with her.”

I gulped. There it was again. Those stupid insecurities bubbling to the surface. I contemplated this as I made my way to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel when my phone rang. The number flashed across the screen of my cell phone.

Shit.

I’d talked to Mrs. Ellis over the holidays, but I didn’t tell her about Arie, let alone the promise ring. And I’d certainly left out the part about me being a vampire. I had to keep reminding myself to call her Elizabeth. It just didn’t feel right when I couldn’t bring myself to call her mom. She’d taken me in when I was sixteen and I’d always be grateful. But I swear she had a dead-on accurate bullshit detector. She’d sensed that something wasn’t right when I’d talked to her last week. Elizabeth didn’t know what, and I didn’t know how to tell her.

Hi, how are you? I’m fine, and you? Oh, I’m a vampire.
Just the conversation I wanted to have.

“Are you going to answer that?” Arie asked.

“Um, yeah.”

Arie headed up the stairs to the loft bedroom as I took a deep breath and accepted the call.

“Hi.”

“Hi, yourself. You do know how to use a phone, right?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ve just been really busy with work.”

“At the Coffee Grind.”

I paused. “Um, yeah.”

“Holly, what is going on with you?”

“I’m fine. Really.”

But I was so far from fine it wasn’t funny and she wasn’t buying it.

“Did you lose your job? You know we’re here for you if there’s anything you need.”

“I know, but I’m okay.”

“You sound different.”

Yeah. I am different. Inhumanly different.

“I’m really, really sorry. I’ll try to call more. I’ve missed talking to you.”

There was dead silence on the other end.

“It’s not that. You’ve been distant and vague for months now. We’re really worried about you.”

“Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can. Do you want to come down for a visit next month? I know it’s not your birthday yet…”

“I can’t get away—not with work.”

I hated lying to her, but it was better than explaining that I’d met my godmother, learned more about my biological family, that I died, that I was dating one seriously hot vampire, oh, and I’d quit my job at the coffee shop to work for Tessa as a seer. Yeah, that was a conversation that would only go over one way. Shock, disbelief, and her getting on a plane to come up here and have me committed.

Besides, I couldn’t just drop everything and go on a vacation when my world had been turned upside down. And I promised Rue last week that I’d visit my grandmother in a month. I needed to know more about my family. Elizabeth would probably be hurt, at least at first, and I didn’t want to hurt her. It killed me that I was keeping things from two people I loved. I’d kept the mysterious ‘T’ from Arie when we were supposed to be straight with one another. I didn’t know what that would do to our relationship. Wasn’t not telling him the same thing as lying? I’m sure that’s how he’d see it. Now I was keeping everything from Elizabeth too. It twisted my stomach into knots.

“Well if you can get time off or change your mind, let us know. We’d love to have you,” Elizabeth said.

We talked for a few more minutes. She asked about my friend Trina and I told her that her daughter just went to winter formal. I told her I was thinking about looking for a new job. Better to have her get used to the idea and figure out a reasonable lie to tell her later. Elizabeth prattled on about how much warmer the weather they were having was and hinted that I should move down south. But I couldn’t imagine my pale ass in a bikini then, and I sure as hell couldn’t imagine it now that I was several shades paler. Once she seemed to have forgotten my evasiveness I hung up with her. Besides, Arie had mentioned last night that we should go over to the club and help out in any way that we could.

Frankly, regardless of whether it made us look weak or not, I didn’t see how keeping the club open was a good idea. I wasn’t an idiot, and only an idiot wouldn’t be afraid of something like this. Common sense told me I should be pretty damned scared right about now. I had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. My gut told me that I couldn’t trust Victoria’s report that nothing was happening just because the fae didn’t seem to be gathering in numbers. I knew to fear the calm, quiet moments more than the chaos, because at any moment I could be shocked by choices entirely out of my control. Being crazy-scared made more sense, and I could live with that if it gave me the strength to be brave.

*****

It had been six weeks. Waiting. People wait all the time. They wait in lines, they wait until the stars align before they let themselves fall in love, they wait for the unknown to turn their predictable worlds upside down, and some aren’t even living at all, they’re just waiting. They give up once they realize there really isn’t anything to control except for their own actions. They act from a place of fear. And all that’s left is the waiting. Tessa said it’s the most perfect form of psychological warfare. I had to agree.

Luna wanted to jump out of her skin, and I was sure she’d go stark raving mad cooped up in the apartment at HFC if the vampire guarding her door didn’t let her get some air. I’d talked Tessa into letting her work on slow nights, but she wasn’t getting a warm reception waiting on vampires who’d just been attacked by fae. So she retreated to the apartment and went back to being cooped up rather than deal with their attitude. It wasn’t her fault, but it was understandable. I’d gone over to keep her company a bunch of times, but I couldn’t stand watching her pace as she psyched herself out with all the what-ifs. She seemed anxious and bored without Victoria, who had been sent to spy in fae territory.

In fact, I hadn’t seen much of Victoria in the past six weeks except for when Arie took her place staking out Victor Monti’s restaurant, which acted as a front for the Chicago Crew. The few times she’d stopped by the club she’d looked paler than usual. Tessa had been in contact with the Slayer, but apparently Lucca Monti’s last known address had been vacated. No one knew if he’d been tipped off. With how teary-eyed and moon-faced Luna had been when she found out her uncle was involved, I didn’t put it past her to call him.

I’d said as much to Tessa almost a week ago. So she’d checked Luna’s phone records but the only calls were to Victoria and one to Arie. Tessa claimed that the landline in the apartment would show any outgoing calls, and there hadn’t been any that were suspicious. I almost felt sorry for her. She had to feel like a prisoner, but until we found her uncle and put a stop to this there was nothing to be done about it.