Discovery of Death (10 page)

Marcus put his forehead against hers, then gave her a kiss on the lips. “I love you, Shelly. Forever.”

♦ ♦ ♦

It was almost three quarters of an hour before Rose arrived at the house on Valor Road. She pulled into the driveway, put the car in park, and looked at the house. All the lights were off.

Is this the right place?
She checked the piece of paper where she’d written the address her dad had given her. What was written matched what was on the house.

She turned off the ignition, yawned, then got out of the car. “This better be good,” she muttered.

Rose approached the front door, and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, footsteps arose within. She couldn’t see the person on the other side due to the frosted window alongside the door. They didn’t even bother to turn the light on, but instead just opened the door. It was her dad.

“
Hey, honey,” he said softly.

Between the shadows on his face, Rose noticed her dad’s bloodshot eyes. “What’s wrong? What happened? Whose house is this?”

“
Come inside.”

She did and her father took her in his arms and held her tight. He was shaking, sobbing.

“
What happened? Are you okay? Is Mom okay?” Rose asked, peering over his shoulder and finding the house empty.

Her father pulled away. He didn’t have to say anything. His face said it all: her mother was dead.

Rose burst into tears and stood there with him in the front landing, her head on his shoulder.
How? Why? What happened?
“Were you . . . were you with her?”

Her dad sniffled. “No.”

“
Where . . . where is she?”

He didn’t reply.

She shook as she cried. “Dad, where’s Mom?”

Finally, he said, “Downstairs.”

Rose’s heart sank. Did her dad come to this house and find her? Did she slip and fall? Did she . . . kill herself? Where were the people that owned the place? Was she having an affair? Is that who killed her?

Her father gave her a loving squeeze, then said, “Come here, Rose. I want to show you something.”

She pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes. “What?”

He didn’t say anything, but instead took her by the hand and led her through the dark house, past the kitchen, downstairs to a family room and then to a closed door. When he opened it, Rose saw there was a light on in the basement.

“
I don’t want to see this,” she said.

“
I know, but it’ll be all right.”

“
How could it be all right if Mom’s de—” She broke down again, shoulders jerking with each painful sob.

“
Here, let me help you.” Her father put his arm around her shoulder and guided her down the basement steps. When they got to the bottom, they didn’t go further into the room.

Rose couldn’t believe what she saw: a cement-walled fortress, each wall lined with swords, knives, tools. A stand in the middle of the room held black one-piece outfits that looked to be made of plastic or metal. By the wall on the side was a table with something on it, a blanket draped over top. She squinted her eyes and knew the blanket was covering a body.

“
What is this?” she asked.

“
I don’t know where to begin.”

“
Where’s Mom? Is that her?” She pointed to the table, then took a step toward it.

“
Yes.”

Suddenly, a sharp thought hit her and a swell of anger bubbled within. She stepped even farther away from her father. “What, are you some kind of pyscho? Did you kill her?”

“
Rose!” he shouted. Then his face went soft. His voice was gentle when he spoke again. “Of course not. I would never harm your mother. I know that by looking around this room, that could be what you’re thinking. Please know I had nothing to do with what happened.”

“
Nothing?”

He glanced to the floor. “Not . . . nothing.” He met her eyes. “But I didn’t k-kill her.”

“
Dad, I swear, if you so much as laid a finger on her, I’ll—” She didn’t know what she’d do. Call the cops, that’s for sure. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

“
What are you doing?”

“
What does it look like I’m doing?” She began dialing 9-1-1, but only managed the first two digits before her father snatched the phone out of her hand. The way he moved was like lightning.

“
You can’t.”

“
Give me that!” She reached over and he shoved her arm away.

“
Listen to me!” he snapped.

The sound of his voice made her jump.

Softly, he said, “Please listen to me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your mother and I love you very much, Rose. We’d do anything for you. In fact, it’s because of you that we have this house.”

“
This is—”

“
Let me finish.”

“
Oh, Dad . . .” she breathed.

“
This house is ours. We kept it a secret from you for your own protection until you were old enough. Then we were going to tell you what this is.”

Was he crazy? Were her parents lunatics? Worse . . . murderers?

He beeped her cell phone off and put it in his own pocket. “Your mother and I,” he said, “we . . . how should I say this?” He sighed. “We kill vampires.”

She arched an eyebrow.
You’re crazy.

“
We have since before you were born. My father did it. So did his father. So did even his father. We are called ‘slayers,’ in that we slay vampires. I know I sound crazy, but just hear me out. They’re real and not just the things of stories. We did it to not only help other people, but also to try and make this city a safer place for you. All those late nights, those meetings with ‘clients,’ the times your mother and I had to run out of the house at a moment’s notice—it was all because of this.”

Rose’s mind was blank. She didn’t know what to think. How was she supposed to react to this? Her mom . . . . She glanced at the table by the wall of swords again.

“
Your mother died tonight because she was out there doing what she thought was right. In a way, she died protecting you, even protecting me. I swear to you I’m telling the truth. I’ve never lied to you. The only thing I’ve kept secret is what your mother and I did when we weren’t working. Honest. We needed to wait until you were older, until you were mature enough to process all this.”

Rose took a deep breath. “I . . . I don’t know what to say. I’m having a hard time believing you.”

“
I know.”

“
You sound like you’re drunk and are trying to hide what really happened tonight.”

“
I know.”

“
Mom would never go along with whatever it is you’re saying. Mom hated even killing a spider never mind some fake monster.”

“
I know.”

“
Will you quit it? I’m trying to talk here.”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
You should be, Dad.” She needed to get out of here so she moved for the stairs.

He blocked her path. “Where are you going?”

“
Away.”

“
You can’t.”

“
Don’t even try and keep me here.”

“
I don’t want to, but I will. You have to understand this is a delicate matter.”

“
You think?”

“
What I mean is your mother and I planned for this day. We had hoped to tell you together, and we even talked about it earlier this afternoon, but your mom wanted to hold off a bit until you were over Zach.”

The mere mention of his name pierced her heart. “Don’t go there with me.”

“
I’m sorry. All I meant was we had wanted to tell you together, but we also talked about what we’d do if we couldn’t. The only thing we could come up with was when one of us passed due to this . . . job . . . we’d tell you right away, bring you here and let you come to terms with things.”

“
You lie.”

“
Come on, Rose, look around. Do you think I’m lying? Okay, sure, maybe you think I’m lying about the vampire part, but in terms of your mother and I being mercenaries, what do you think? Who else keeps a basement like this?”

“
I don’t know, pyschos? Serial killers?”

“
If you don’t believe me about the vampire part, fine. We’ll tackle that issue another time. But I’m telling you the truth.”

She shook her head. “Just let me go, Dad.”

“
No.”

Without thinking, she shoved him in the chest, pushing him back a step. The moment her foot touched down on the first stair, her dad grabbed her from behind and pulled her deeper into the room.

“
Stop! Let go of me!” she screamed.

He took her past the table, around a corner, and to a door that had a pair of chains across it in an X. With one hand, he clutched her close to his body; with the other he fished a key off a ring on his belt. He slid the key into the padlock keeping the chains together and unlocked it.

“
Dad! Stop!” she shouted.

“
Quiet. I’m giving you proof.”

The padlock came loose and the chains draped to the side like a pair of curtains. He then punched a code into the keypad above the door handle and a loud
ka-thoom
shook Rose’s insides. Her father opened the door with a grunt and set her down inside. He threw on the lights.

“
Look around,” he said.

The room was as big as a wine cellar, narrow, with what looked like silver coffins stacked three high and two deep on either side. There was another stack of two next to the wall across from them.

“
What is this?” she asked.

“
This is where we keep them, if they don’t disintegrate upon death. There are vampires in these coffins. We keep them contained here in case, through some miracle, they come back to life after we thought we disposed of them. In the old days, you could chop off their head and would be assured they would not regenerate. Seems some have increased in power as those contained here regenerated their heads after being decapitated.” He pulled a sword off the wall next to the door and proceeded to the first coffin.

“
What are you doing?” she asked.

“
Come here and watch.”

“
I don’t . . . I don’t want to.”

“
Fine, then stay there but don’t leave this room. You want proof that I’m not crazy? That I’m telling the truth? Fine. This is it.” He turned a switch that looked like a large butterfly nut on the side of the coffin. Another
ka-thoom
shook the room, then the lid on the coffin slid to the side, retreating inside the wall away from her father.

Her dad pointed the sword against what was within.

“
No
sudden
movements,”
he said, “but you can look.”

Rose glanced to the door. She couldn’t believe what was going on.

“
Rose?” her dad said.

With a sigh, she went over beside him and looked in the coffin. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the body within. She couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but it lay there like a decomposing corpse, the skeleton beneath pushing up against its drooping skin. Its dark clothing was in tatters, a large silver spike of some kind protruding from its chest, roughly where its heart would be. The tip of her father’s sword was against where the spike met the flesh in a cakey mess of dried blood and rotten meat.

The skull was without eyes, only the sockets remaining, its hooded brow sharp and pronounced. Its mouth open, large sharp teeth lining it.

Rose put a hand to her mouth and also pressed the side of her index finger and thumb against her nose the smell was so bad.

“
See?” her dad said. “I was telling the truth.”

18

Z
ach was in
the crypt with his family. He sat alone, his back against his coffin, knees up, elbows upon them.

Mira had explained that what he saw were flashes from the woman’s life, prominent memories that she’d held dear.

It was the image of himself he saw in the montage that bothered him the most. He didn’t tell Mira that part, not really sure how to even bring it up.

“
Those of whom we drink blood become a part of us in that way,” she had told him. “The secrets and memories that were revealed to you are now your own. It is how we gain wisdom and learn to utilize it to ensure our survival.”

Zach wasn’t completely sure his not mentioning the image of himself was a complete secret anyway. These people could read his mind and he’d thought about what he saw several times since returning to the crypt. He just wished he knew how to read his family’s minds and how to block them from reading his own.

One thing at a time,
he thought. He’d already learned so much, and apparently his father was to teach him even more tomorrow night.