Always the Vampire (25 page)

Okay, I admit my heart was still pitter-patting when I let myself in the cottage and set the alarm for my daytime sleep. I missed Saber being there with me, and Snowball did, too. She meowed at the door even after I set out fresh food and water.

I fell into bed at nine, hugging a pillow instead of Saber’s warm body.

Which might be why my dreams turned ugly.

The vision opened in Cosmil’s perfect circle, except where there should have been trees, rough stone walls stretched to the sky. Triton and Lynn writhed on the grass, black mucus running from their noses like blood from a severed vein. Cosmil and Lia were there, too, coughing and vomiting the same inky goo that smelled like hot asphalt and swamp.

I woke up gagging and found Snowball draped over my neck and chest.

Damn, when did she get so heavy?

These spooky dreams were getting old fast, but I refused to dwell on them. Instead, I showered, downed a Starbloods, and called Saber’s cell from my cordless house phone.

“Any report on Lynn?”

“She’s stable. Cosmil believes she had a mild case of the Void illness, but one that hit her hard. He’ll let Triton see her after he closes the store at five. Cosmil wants to resume our training, too.”

“So you’ll drive Triton to the compound and hang out there?”

“Yeah. Oh, and I used Triton’s computer to look up that networking site. You have to register, and it looks more like a gaming thing to me, but the address is
www.shiftermagic.net
.”

“Got it,” I said as I jotted the URL on my note pad. “I need to check in with Maggie to be sure there are no wedding snafus, but I’ll get on the computer before I leave for my tour.”

“You’ll come out here straight from town?”

“Probably. I should ask Lia if she wants some fresh clothes. If she does, I may drop by your place on the way, but I won’t stop at home. I can change into jeans and a tee at Cosmil’s.”

“Good deal. See you about ten tonight.”

We signed off, and I called Lia first. She asked for a cotton outfit I’d seen her do the magical ironing job on, and she asked me to bring her pouches.

I disconnected and immediately called Maggie’s cell. She answered on the third ring.

“Are you with a client?”

“The one who can’t pick a bathroom tile to save her snooty life.”

“Tell her to go with neutral glass tiles. It’s the rage.”

“Says HGTV?”

“Just tell her it’s the choice of celebrity designers.”

Maggie laughed. “So, what’s up?”

“I have a tour tonight and then another thing,” I said as I opened my laptop and powered it on.

“You’ve had a lot of other things lately. I’ve noticed all the late comings and goings. Should I know specifics?”

“We’ve been hanging out with Triton a lot,” I fudged, then hurried on. “But I called to be sure all things wedding are going smoothly at your end.”

“They are. I’ll be over to help with last-minute preparations for the bridal shower Saturday.”

“Okay, but Saber and I have Sunday’s party covered. You and Neil just need to show up, eat, and open gifts.”

“And then write thank-you notes. Oh, here comes my client. I’ll catch you later.”

I put the phone unit on the desk, entered the Shifter Magic web address, and waited. The registration screen flashed up with hokey depictions of vampires and shifters and fairies in the outer frame. I signed in using my secondary e-mail address, and borrowed my mother’s maiden name to set up enough of a profile to give me access.

A list of games appeared in a navigation bar at the top of the page. I clicked on shifters, and a long, five-column list popped up. Human-dolphin was in the first column, but so was human-butterfly.

Hmm. Did a butterfly shifter experience a cocoon stage first?

I entered the shifter “game,” went through the tutorial, and finally got into the forum. Sure enough, supposed shifter sightings were reported from St. Augustine to the Barbary Coast by people with screen names like ahab930, adam12, and flipper21, but I couldn’t tell if these were gaming comments or sightings people legitimately believed they’d seen.

I watched the clock so I’d have plenty of time to change, drive to town, park, and meet my tour on time. Meanwhile, I scrolled through scores of entries until I found one that referenced St. Augustine. Sent from magicman1463 three days before the full moon, the message read:
Single St. Aug dolphin seeking female.

This lame line had sent Lynn in search of Triton? I guess women fell for worse. The “magicman” moniker could be Starrack’s, but it seemed hit or miss that Lynn would have seen the post, much less acted on it.

I continued scrolling and searching, but never saw a message quite so pointed. I also never saw another message from magicman1463, though there were other magicman users with different numbers. Could Saber pull strings to get 1463’s identity? If so, could he do it in a remotely helpful time frame?

That was the rub.

 

 

I decided to break out my female pirate outfit for the ghost tour. It wasn’t precisely period perfect, but it wasn’t a sexy Halloween getup, either.

Since I was dressed for it, I told my ghost tour group tales of St. Augustine’s pirate raids. I told them that English corsair Sir Francis Drake attacked and burned the town in 1586. Then I spoke of the pirate Captain John Davis. In 1668, he and his men had plundered the town, killing sixty inhabitants, including a young girl whose ghost haunted Davis until he fled from St. Augustine half mad.

“You really didn’t like this Davis dude, did you?”

The question came from one of the teen tourists. I acknowledged him with a smile.

“I wasn’t around then, but you’re right. Just thinking about him makes me angry. Davis strikes me as having been a particularly vicious bully.”

“Well, if you’re so antipirate, why the costume?” a teen girl with the same family asked.

This time I grinned. “Three words. Captain Jack Sparrow.”

She laughed, and the group moved on.

We’d seen the haunts, I’d given my closing spiel, and the tourists had dispersed when two young transients approached me.

“Excuse me,” the girl of about twenty said. “Aren’t you the local vampire?”

Uh-oh. Good things didn’t usually follow a question like that.

“Yes,” I answered cautiously, an eye peeled for one or both of them to whip out a weapon.

The girl fidgeted. “I don’t know how to put this.”

“Let me,” the young man said, bumping the girl aside. “We’ll let you bite us for money.”

My jaw dropped.

“Say what?”

“We’ll donate blood if you pay us.”

I gathered my wits. “You need to know two things. First, I don’t bite people. Second, I don’t have any cash on me.”

Which was true. I’d left my emergency five dollars in the truck, but I did have my Visa in my pirate pants pocket.

The girl spoke up. “Wouldn’t you make an exception? We’re awfully hungry.”

Something about her face tugged at my heart. And wallet.

“I won’t bite you, but I will buy you a pizza.”

“I thought you didn’t have any cash,” the young man said.

“I don’t, but I know a guy who’ll help you out.” As soon as he swiped my credit card.

“You’d do that for us?” The girl’s eyes glistened with hope.

“Sure, but we need to move it. The restaurant closes soon.”

I began walking south on St. George. I sensed them weighing whether to follow me or not, but I soon heard their footsteps.

We arrived before closing, just in time to order one sixteen-inch pizza with the works, two bottled waters, two bottled colas, and two jumbo plastic cups of tea. The girl took hers sweet. Maybe that’s why I hadn’t been able to turn her away. She was a sweet tea soul sister.

Surprisingly, the young man thanked me with as much sincere warmth as the girl did. They went off toward the bay front, juggling their dinner and drinks. I hotfooted it to my truck, calling Saber to leave the message I was running behind.

Time to pick up Lia’s things at Saber’s. Time to burn rubber to Cosmil’s shanty.

Time to see if Lynn was the innocent our research indicated she just might be.

Saber waited on the porch as I climbed from my truck, my change of clothes slung over one arm, Lia’s things in a plastic Publix bag.

“Hey, you okay?”

“You didn’t get my message, did you?”

“Cosmil’s protective wards here must be interfering with our service. That or reception is iffy out here. What happened to hold you up?”

“I bought a pizza and drinks for a homeless girl and her boyfriend.”

He shook his head and hugged me. “Word will get around that you’re a soft touch.”

“Maybe,” I said, holding him tightly, “but the girl got to me. She looked like I was her last hope for a meal. Speaking of girls, how is Lynn?”

“Sleeping. I called Mrs. Tidwell with an update. I told her Lynn had a severe reaction to something she ate, but that she’ll be fine in a few days.”

“Is Triton hovering over her?”

“He’s in there watching her breathe.” Saber gave me a kiss and a pat on the butt. “Better get a move on. Cosmil is getting testy.”

I entered the shanty to see Cosmil and Lia on the sofa quietly talking. Triton stood at the bedroom door.

Lia glanced at me, then did a double take. Her brows rose in surprise, and her lips twitched. I held out the bag to forestall a comment.

“Here are your clothes and pouches, Lia.”

“Thank you. Now scoot on into the bathroom and change. I’ll be supervising the three of you tonight, and we have a great deal to do.”

“Did you make that sketch of Starrack for us yet?”

“I’ve begun, but not completed it. Healing work has taken most of my time.”

“So your location spells haven’t panned out, either?”

“No, and we feel like old dogs following a muddled scent.”

“We surmise,” Cosmil added, “that Starrack is using a cloaking spell. He excelled at those, as I recall, and before you ask, Francesca, yes. We have added our own cloaking spells to the other protection we have cast on all of you.”

I doubted the cloaking would help if Starrack already knew our physical addresses, as we suspected he did. But, hey, the more spells, the merrier.

“Cosmil,” Saber said, “you told us you might have been able to track the Void to Starrack if the Veil hadn’t been closed.”

“I did.”

“Then what about using Void residue in your spell? The Void may not have typical DNA, but it must’ve left some foreign material on Legrand’s remains. Have the forensics lab rush a tissue sample to you.”

A smile bloomed in Cosmil’s eyes, and Lia beamed.

“Brilliant, Saber,” she praised. “Cosmil will make the call while we train.”

As I squeezed past Triton on the way to change clothes, he barely glanced at me. Man, he did have it bad. Pandora, though, in her hefty-house-cat form, lifted her head to meow a greeting from the foot of the bed.

When I was ready, my ponytail resecured, I stowed my costume in the truck and joined Lia, Saber, and Triton in the yard.

“We’ll be running through several exercises tonight, then we’ll work with the amulets. We’ll start with telepathy, but you’ll be sending information via pictures rather than words.”

She handed each of us a magazine and tiny flashlights like I’d see at the dollar store.

“All right, pick any page and project it as a whole but with as many details as you can. Cesca will send first. Gentlemen, raise your hand when you first begin receiving an image, but don’t speak what you see until I ask.”

I opened the decorating magazine to a kitchen-remodel photo and mentally sent the image. Saber and Triton raised their hands almost simultaneously and accurately describe the photo. Saber took the next turn, and his image of a meadow with a background of snowcapped mountains came to me a few moments before it did to Triton.

“That’s to be expected, Triton. Cesca is more bonded to the two of you, than you men are to each other. Proceed.”

Triton’s image of a shipwreck came, and I saw it first, but Saber mentally read the name of the ship in the photo legend.

“Very good.” She clapped her hands, and the magazines and flashlights disappeared. “Now, you know that every living organism has an energy signature, down to each leaf of each tree. You recognize a rose by its shape, color, fragrance, yet every rose on a bush resonates with its own vibration.

“Saber, sight is your most enhanced preternatural sense. Smell is yours, Cesca, and Triton has the sharpest hearing and the gift of echolocation even in his human form.”

I snapped my gaze to his face. “You do?”

“Cesca, attend me please. Using your unique talents and skills, your next task is to find Pandora.”