Poison Fruit (26 page)

“Okay.” Turning back to Bethany, Cody addressed her in a gentler tone. “Look, I understand that you want to protect your family. Believe me, I do. You’ve been powerless for a long time, right? And now
that’s changed. You’re the one with the power, more power than you’ve ever had in your life.”

Atop her perch, Bethany sneered. “What, and with great power comes great responsibility? Spare me. I don’t need a werewolf on the down low to spout dime-store philosophy straight out of a
Spider-Man
movie at me.”

“Who said anything about responsibility?” Cody said mildly. “I was going to say something like, when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

A look of confusion crossed Bethany’s face. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means Lee’s not a nail, so quit hammering him,” I said. “No beating up innocents as a warning, okay? Because I
will
file a complaint, and I’ll file it on Hel’s behalf with Lady Eris or whatever the hell her real name is.”

“Oh, fine.” Bethany slumped in defeat. “I was just trying to look out for you,” she said to her sister.

“I appreciate the sentiment.” Jen’s voice was softer than it had been. “But I promise you, Lee’s
nothing
like Dad. He couldn’t be less like him if he tried. Okay?”

“I really couldn’t,” Lee agreed.

“So are we good here?” Cody asked.

I glanced at Bethany. She returned my gaze with a stony one of her own, but she didn’t say anything. “We’re good,” I said to Cody. “And thanks, but I could have handled this on my own.”

He shrugged. “Just doing my job, Daise. I didn’t know who Bethany was stalking when I spotted her.”

“I wasn’t
stalking
.” Bethany came down from the jungle gym in another bounding leap. “I was observing.” She came toward me, not halting until I could feel the undead aura that surrounded her—the absence of a heartbeat, of involuntary breathing, of human warmth. At close range, it was as creepy as all hell—and somehow even creepier with
someone I’d known as a living, breathing mortal. “So you think you could have handled me, huh?”

Over her shoulder, I saw Cody raise his eyebrows in inquiry, and I
gave my head a slight shake, standing my ground. I hadn’t been truly angry before, just annoyed. After all, Bethany
had
taken a bullet for her sister at the Halloween parade earlier this year—literally, at point-blank range.

But I was getting angry now. I’d never had a lot of patience for the hierarchical bullshit that went on in the eldritch community, all the posturing and standoffs, and tonight, it was more than I could take. All I’d wanted to do was enjoy the lighting ceremony, have a nice time with my friends, and forget about the specter of Armageddon for one evening, not get into a virtual pissing contest with a vampire.

I let my anger slip its leash, feeling the atmosphere around us grow charged. My hair crackled with static electricity. My tail was lashing, and
dauda-dagr
’s hilt was solid and reassuring in my hand.

If Bethany made a move on me, I
would
cut her; and then we’d see what sort of lasting damage my magic dagger did to undead flesh.

Over at the swing set, the chains rattled uneasily. Bethany Cassopolis licked her lips, took a deliberate breath and a step backward. Score one for me—and without a single word spoken. With an effort, I reined in my temper. The atmosphere eased and the swings stilled.

Assuming an air of finality, I slipped
dauda-dagr
back into its hidden sheath. “So, how about that burger?”

“Yes, please,” Lee murmured. “And beer. Lots of it.”

Bethany pointed at him. “I stand by my warning. Don’t you forget it.”

Jen rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you, you’ve got nothing to worry about. And hey, it’s not like your judgment is anything to brag about. Where’s your snotty vampire boyfriend, anyway?”

Her sister shrugged. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I broke it off with him as soon as he turned me. You’re right—he was totally passive-aggressive.”

“Huh.” Jen looked surprised. “Good for you.”

“You can do that?” Lee asked, sounding equally surprised. “Isn’t he, like, your maker or your sire or something?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t work exactly like that,” Bethany said. “I mean,
we’re
supposed
to be soul mates, blood-bonded for life and all that, but
you know, once I wasn’t a stupid, weak mortal under Geoffrey’s thrall, I realized he was a controlling prick just like our father and I didn’t really like him all that much.” She shrugged again. “Lucky for me, in real life, vampire progeny can only be commanded by their brood-mistress or –master. I don’t have to obey anyone but Lady Eris.”

“Or whatever her real name is,” I couldn’t help adding under my breath. Opposite me, Cody suppressed a grin. Trust me when I say that Lady Eris of the House of Shadows embodied every vampire trope exploited by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark back in the day. Although it’s also true that she works it pretty hard. In our last encounter, before I learned to shield, I was damn near ready to beg her to sink her fangs into my neck.

“Ha ha,” Bethany retorted. “It’s her real name, dummy. Her mother was the only daughter of a wealthy industrialist and her father was a classics scholar in Boston in the late eighteen hundreds. They fought a lot.”

I didn’t get it. “And?”

She raised one eyebrow. “Eris, as in the Greek goddess of strife? Which is also a pun on heiress, as in the heir to a fortune?”

Huh. Go figure.

“Hey, that’s pretty good,” Lee commented.

“I know, right?” Bethany agreed before jabbing her finger at him again. “Just remember what I said. I’ll be watching.” On that note, she made her exit, whirling away into the shadows along the edge of the playground.

“Ohh-kay,” Jen said to no one in particular. “Sorry about that, guys. Let’s go get those burgers, shall we?”

I paused to retrieve my thermos before following Jen and Lee.

“Daisy.” Cody’s voice halted me. “I lied before.”

“Oh?” Thermos in hand, I straightened. “About what?”

“I knew you were here,” he said quietly. “I caught your scent. And I know you could have handled Bethany on your own. I just wanted you to know I’ve got your back. I’ll always have your back.”

If my life were a movie, Cody would have gone on to say that he’d
thought about what I’d said the other day and realized that I was right,
that our problems weren’t insurmountable, that he loved me, that we’d find a way to make it work no matter what, that all that mattered was that we were in this together. The sound track would have swelled and we would have clung to each other and kissed in the falling snow, while the Christmas lights sparkled in the background, and maybe a few townsfolk who’d been rooting for us all along would have cheered.

Also, I would have been wearing a much cuter coat.

Instead, Cody just stood there looking sexy and unavailable, snowflakes dusting the fleece collar of his uniform jacket and melting in his hair.

“Thanks,” I said to him. “Good to know.”

So that’s pretty much all there is to say about that, which is to say, nothing. Nothing had changed.

I caught up with Jen and Lee, and the three of us crossed the street and went around the corner to Bob’s. It’s one of those places that’s swamped by tourists in the summer and reclaimed by locals in the off-season. Thanks to the lighting ceremony, it was crowded, but we managed to snag a table in the back.

“How very . . . quaint.” Lee glanced around the room at the decor, which consisted of Christmas lights, vintage beer signs, and creative taxidermy that had seen better days. “What the hell is that supposed to be?”

“It’s a jackalope,” I actually have a soft spot in my heart for taxidermists; it happens to be my grandfather’s trade, although he doesn’t go in for that sort of novelty work. “Don’t tell me you haven’t been to Bob’s before.”

Lee shrugged. “What can I say? Until recently, my life in Pemkowet has been a sheltered one.” He poured three glasses of beer from the pitcher the waitress had brought us and hoisted one. “Here’s to it becoming a hell of a lot more interesting.”

“You’re in pretty good spirits for a guy who just got tossed around by a vampire,” I observed.

He grinned. “I’m a guy who’s dating a vampire’s sister. That’s pretty badass, don’t you think?”

Jen muttered something incoherent into her beer glass, but on the whole, she didn’t look displeased.

We rehashed the Bethany incident while we waited for our food. When our burgers arrived, the waitress set a fresh pitcher of beer that none of us had ordered on the table along with our plates. “Courtesy of your friends at the bar.”

“What friends?” Lee’s voice took on a suspicious edge. “Is this a joke?”

Oh, gah. I’d sort of hoped that paranoid streak of his had become a thing of the past, but high school damage runs deep.

Jen gave him a mild look. “Let’s not jump to conclusions, okay?”

Scanning the bar, I caught sight of Dawn Evans swiveling on her stool. With a shy smile, she raised a beer bottle in our direction. “It’s okay. I know who it’s from,” I said, extricating myself from the table. “Be right back.”

I squeezed through the milling throng to where Dawn and Scott were sitting side by side at the bar. Although I’d touched base with Dawn to make sure the charms Casimir had provided to ward off the Night Hag had worked, I hadn’t seen either of them since the morning of Scott’s attack.

They looked good, both of them; calmer and clear-eyed. “Thanks.” I clinked my glass against Dawn’s bottle. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Oh, ah know,” she said in her Alabama drawl, stroking Scott’s arm. “We just wanted to thank yuh.”

“We heard Chief Bryant announced that you caught the bitch.” Scott’s left eyelid twitched at the mention of the Night Hag, but his gaze was steady. Still haunted, but steady. “She
was
real, wasn’t she?”

I nodded. “Too damn real by half.”

“Yeah.” Scott nodded, too. “I’ve seen some bad shit in my day, but I don’t ever remember feeling so goddamn helpless. It’s good to know that there’s someone out there fighting the good fight and holding the line against things that go bump in the night. Because that shit? That shit’s uncanny. That shit can make you crazy. That shit can kill you.” He took a swig of beer, eyeing me. “I don’t know what you had to do to put an end to it, Ms. Johanssen, but I know there was a price. There’s
always
a price.”

“It was worth it.” At least I hoped it was.

“Well, we sure do ’preciate it,” Dawn murmured. “And it ain’t all bad, is it?” Her face brightened, touched with lingering wonder. “Were yuh at the tree-lightin’ ceremony tonight? Did yuh see them frost fairies?”

“Yeah, I did.” I smiled. “Beautiful, weren’t they?”

She smiled back at me. “Sure were. Yuh won’t see
that
anywhere else in the world, will yuh? And that little girl singin’ a solo sure was somethin’.” Dawn gave her husband’s arm another affectionate squeeze. “Scott thinks she should try out for
The Voice
, but ah still lahk
American Idol
.”

“Nah.” Scott took a pull on his beer bottle. “
Idol
’s played out.”

“You seem like you’re doing a lot better,” I said to him in a low voice. “Are you, um, still sleeping okay?”

“Yeah.” Scott nodded. “I have good days and bad. But it’s better.” He shuddered. “That bitch caught me hitting rock bottom. I don’t ever want to go back there.” Turning on his barstool, he stuck out his hand. “Put ’er there, soldier. You saved my life.”

I shook his hand, feeling self-conscious. “Oh, God, it’s nothing. I mean, it doesn’t compare to what you’ve been through. Thank you for the beer. Speaking of which, I should get back to my friends. I think their burgers are getting cold waiting for me.”

Dawn Evans caught my shoulder as I turned to go. “It weren’t nuthin’, honey,” she said softly. “Don’t yuh ever think that. Yer fightin’ a different kind of battle, that’s all.”

I shrugged. “Just trying to keep the peace.”

She gave me a sweet, weary smile. “Aren’t we all?”

I made my way back to the table and explained the situation to Jen and Lee, or at least as much of the situation as discretion permitted, while we dug into our burgers. His paranoia allayed, Lee was surprisingly understanding. I’d forgotten that Ben Lewis, one of his two close friends from Pemkowet High’s nerd posse, was serving in Afghanistan. Ben had been a short, stocky, quiet little guy, the Hobbit to Lee’s Skeletor. It was hard to imagine him in combat, but then, it was hard to imagine Dawn Evans driving a Humvee, too.

Later that night, walking back to my apartment after Jen and Lee
and I had said our good-byes, I thought about what Dawn had said to me. I’d never thought of myself as a soldier—rather more of a diplomatic liaison—but Hel had given me a dagger, not a talking-stick to pass around the speaking circle. She hadn’t given it to me for the purpose of threatening Bethany Cassopolis. I’d used it before to end lives, twice.

I didn’t relish the thought of using it again, but if I had to, I would.

And my mom’s reading had indicated there was a conflict coming. There was a hell-spawn lawyer out there who might or might not work for Hades, Greek god of the underworld and wealth.

There was my nightmare.

But there was also a blanket of new-fallen snow on the world, Christmas lights, and a star sparkling atop the tree. There was the memory of frost fairies glittering amidst the snowflakes, and of a young woman lifting up her voice in song to fill the aching void of their absence with a different kind of wonder.

There was Scott Evans’s firm handshake and the clarity in his eyes, the knowledge that I’d done good in the world.

Those were the thoughts I chose to hold close as I climbed the stairs and let myself into my apartment. Mogwai greeted me with yowls, protesting his confinement, but he let himself be assuaged with a full bowl of kibble. After a hearty meal, Mog deigned to plunk himself on my lap, flex his claws in and out, and purr with satisfaction while I sat at my desk and entered Bethany’s transgression into the Pemkowet Ledger database, because hell, yes, that was going on her record.