Burning (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #1) (14 page)

I flipped on switches for every light in the vicinity.

She laughed. “It’s okay, Rand. For the most part, ghosts are harmless.”

“
For the most part?”

“
Let’s not go there,” she said, her eyes tracking something I couldn’t see. “Now that wasn’t a very nice thing to say,” she said to the empty air, sounding very much like a crazy person. “Now, shoo!”

I shivered as a cold draft swept by me. “Shoo?”

She grinned. “Works better than an exorcism. Anyway, he’s gone. Most of them are, in fact. They wanted a preliminary look at the vampire. They’re already bored with you since you deny their existence.”

“
That’s good. Let’s keep it that way.”

Samantha nodded. “But if the ghosts keep bothering you, I know of two paranormal investigators—Monty and Ellen Drew—who would love an all-expenses-paid trip to Switzerland.”

“I’ll keep them in mind.”

“
Where’s Samantha’s room?” Corbin asked when he was halfway up the stairs with her luggage.

“
Lucas said to give her the Blue Room at the top of the stairs.” To Sam, I said, “It has a sunken Jacuzzi tub en suite. The Sisterhood of the Scythe put together a welcome basket with lavender bath fizzies and soap. I’m told that we grow our own lavender in the summer. When we aren’t vampire hunting, we amuse ourselves with various projects that keep us out of trouble.”

“
Sounds so...normal.”

“
Like you, we try to do normal things with ‘family.’ If there’s anything you need during your stay here, let me know.”

“
Actually, after I have a bath, I think I’ll get dressed and go out. I’m kind of hungry.”

At my worried look, she admitted, “I need a little snack, maybe a rabbit or something. No feeding on people, I promise.”

Corbin said, “I heard that. I’ve got your dinner in the kitchen. No need to sneak away for take out.”

“
You guys are funny. What’s for dinner, Corbin?”

“
I’ve got a stag hanging upside down and his blood’s draining into a big bowl. He’s good and stout, so it’s taking a while.”

“
I don’t think you needed to kill an entire stag for me.”

“
Oh, the blood’s all for you, but the wolves will get the carcass.”

“
Wolves?”

“
We’re a registered wolf preserve,” he said in his Irish brogue. “We’ve got a pack of about thirty that lives on the property.”

“
That’s one way to keep people from trespassing!”

“
Oh, you have no idea.”

“
I think I do.” Her eyes sparkled at our resident werewolf in a flirty way and I could swear that under his thick red beard, Corbin actually blushed.

“
These are not your wimpy American wolves,” he said. “They are descendants of the strain of European wolves that ate many people during the Middle Ages. We’re trying to bring them back from near extinction.”

“
Lovely. I trust you know what happened in the movie,
Jurassic Park
?”

“
Lawyers got eaten, and they deserved it,” Corbin said and lugged the last of her bags up the stairs.

Samantha took the stairs two at a time and asked Corbin, “Are you a vampire hunter, too?”

He grinned at her with all of his teeth. His tongue lolled. I held in a groan and resisted the urge to do a face plant. I had never seen Corbin flirt before this. It wasn’t pretty.

“
No, I don’t hunt vampires,” he said. “I came with the property and they let me stay because I’ve already peed in all the corners.”

Samantha laughed sharply and angled her head at Corbin, but looked at me. “Nice work if you can get it.”

“Oh, I get bed and board and all the hunting I want on the full moon, except for people. In exchange, I guard the gate during the day while the vampire hunters sleep. I’m occasionally the chauffeur, but primarily, I’m a wildlife biologist in charge of the health of the wolf pack.”

“
Wildlife biologist?”

“
That’s my passion. I’ve written many papers on wolf behavior.” He winked. “It seems that I have an innate grasp on the subject.”

Amazingly, she winked back. “It sounds like a werewolf’s paradise.” She flung her big suitcase on the bed and unzipped it. “I’m looking forward to that Jacuzzi bath, gentlemen. And I need to phone my children and my sister. I’ll be down in about an hour for the stag blood and to meet everyone if you can round them up.”

“I’ll do that,” I said. “Meet us in the great hall. You can’t miss it. Just come down the stairs and turn left into the first corridor. Follow it to the roaring fire, around which our motley crew of vampire hunters and Corbin will be slumming.”

“
Got it.” She smiled at Corbin. “That was very nice of you to accommodate my special diet by shooting a stag.”

“
I didn’t shoot it, Sam.”

“
Oh, right. Full moon yesterday. What was I thinking?”

“
I’ll put the blood in a pot and scald it for pathogens. Then I’ll keep it warm for you. I’ll stir it so it doesn’t congeal. It’ll be right from the neck artery to your cup, but warm and very clean.”

I shivered and felt the bile rise in the back of my throat. Hearing two supernatural creatures talking about blood so casually was...alarming.

“Bless you,” said Sam, smiling. “They tried to give me pretzels and Coke on the plane. That would not have worked out well.” She gently closed the bedroom door between us.

Corbin and I stood out in the upstairs hall, looking at each other.

“I think she likes me,” he said.

“
She’s not even the same species.”

“
When has that ever stopped me?”

“
I wouldn’t know since the topic has never arisen. If you want to date her, you shouldn’t have told her that you peed in all the corners.”

“
Too much information?”

“
Too much everything. Then again, I would expect no less from a bona fide werewolf.” A chilly breeze swept over my shoulder. “Samantha said the castle is haunted.”

“
Don’t think about it, mate. It’s the wind howling through the corridors at night.”

“
That’s what I said.”

“
I don’t believe in all that ghost hunter stuff,” Corbin said.

“
That’s pretty ironic, coming from a two-hundred year old werewolf who’s been flirting with a vampire. And, if vampires and werewolves exist, why not ghosts?”

“
I can’t see any ghosts. Therefore, to me, they do not exist.”

“
I can’t see them either. But whenever I feel creeped out, I deny it to myself.”

“‘
De Nile’ is a long river.”

“
A word of advice, my werewolf friend. If you’re interested in a woman, keep your tongue in your mouth when you look at her.
Literally.
The drool is off-putting, man.”

“
Drool bad. Got it.”

Chapter Twenty-four

Sam and I walked toward the great hall.

“Every moment that I’m with you, I’m grateful that you’re here and yet, there is this huge sense of irony.”

“
On my end, too.” She paused. “I’ve killed humans, but only those who deserved to die.”

“
Judge and jury?”

“
I live with that,” Sam said. “You don’t fear me. Why not?”

“
You had your chance, over the ocean.”

She chuckled.

“Let’s go eat.” I hurried through the drafty corridor.

“
Race you.” She zipped forward at a mighty clip.

In her wake, there was a hint of something besides lavender bath fizzies in her aroma. I smelled
gun oil.

Okay, so she didn’t completely trust us. She had a concealed carry somewhere under that slinky, inky cowl-neck sweater dress—the gun was probably in her bra or in her knee-length black suede boots. I didn’t blame her one bit. She was an invited guest of a group of vampire hunters, after all.

She waited for me to catch up. “Foolish mortal,” she said. “Don’t you know you can’t beat a vampire in a footrace?”

“
So noted.”

“
Before we join the others...do you have any leads on your daughter’s whereabouts?”

“
Not yet.” I had an idea—a very good idea. “Would you help search for my daughter? I’ll pay you.”

“
No payment necessary. When Lucas paid me for the vampire trap test, I offered to lend my services to help you find your daughter.”

“
I didn’t know.”

“
I wonder why they didn’t tell you. Maybe they think I won’t live through the test of the vampire trap.” She gave me a look that made me squirm.

I said, “I can assure you, this is a test module, and the weapons will not be armed.”

“In that case, would you accompany me through the entire test of the vampire trap?”

I hadn’t expected that. “Sure, I’ll run the gauntlet with you.”

“Thanks. And after I test the vampire trap, I’m going to do a preliminary investigation of your daughter’s kidnapping.”

A surge of gratitude rushed through me. As the days and weeks had piled up, my anxiety worsened. I felt that Kristen was alive. We just didn’t know where, or with whom, exactly.

“Thank you,” I said, and meant it. “We have skills as vampire hunters, but we don’t have advanced skills as investigators.”

“
I’m aware. It’s handicapping your search, but I can’t be here for your group very often. Every time I leave my children to travel, it’s a risk. I had to pull them out of school and send my sister, Mary Lou, on vacation with them.”

“
I didn’t know, but it makes sense. If my family could be hit while I was away, so could yours. We try to be cautious, but at a core level, the Brotherhood of the Blade and Sisterhood of the Scythe are just ordinary people who want justice and retribution for their family and friends who have been harmed by vampires.”

“
An ‘eye for an eye’?” Sam asked.

“
I’m not denying it.”

“
Violence never stops with that mindset.”

“
I’m aware. Suggestions?”

“
Lucas told me that I made the ‘Do Not Kill’ list. Am I the only one on it?”

“
That’s right.”

“
But if you came across a random vampire, he or she might be arbitrarily killed?”

“
It’s happened. Numerous times.”

“
I don’t want to get on a soapbox about it on
your
turf, but killing every vampire you find comes across as genocide, well, vampire-cide, to me. It’s not a good karmic path.”

“
True.”

“
I’ll make it clearer,” Sam said. “Choose your enemies as carefully as you choose your allies.”

“
Anyone else who should be put on the official ‘Do Not Kill’ list?”

“
I don’t want to name names or cities, but I have a vampire friend who is a cop in Southern California. She’s
not
evil, although she has major issues.”

“
She?”

“
Yes.”

“
And she’s a cop?”

I digested that. “I’ll put it out to the group that you should have input on the ‘Do Not Kill’ list and that we should add your woman cop friend in Southern Cal to it. I don’t know how it would go over with the others, but obviously, you are our ally.”

“Good because there’s another. A man. A new vampire.”

“
Like I said, I’ll make sure you have input on the ‘Do Not Kill’ list. Further, I’ll take your genocide remark to heart. Killing every vampire without any discrimination is indeed genocide. You should make your point directly to the group. We need a consensus.”

“
I’ll pick that battle when the time’s right.”

“
Okay.” I paused. “I have one question for now, before we go eat.”

“
Yes?”

“
Why did you fly to Switzerland in a jet instead of your, ah, own wing power?”

She shrugged. “I had luggage. And I had a crap ton of airline miles that were going to expire.”

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“
You may, although I might not answer it.”