Four Centuries (Damned and Cursed Book 7) (35 page)

A police car sped by, making her heart jump in her chest.
 
Some of the more ridiculous parts of her plan sprang to mind, even though the police weren't looking for her.
 
What if someone saw the Jeep from the road and came to investigate?
 
How would she explain why she was hiding underneath in the grass?
 
How would she explain the bottles of blood in the back?

Zoey examined her phone, before her thoughts could unravel.
 
Kevin was right when he said the phone was useless.
 
She couldn't even play any games, much less make a phone call.
 
It was just her and the space underneath the Jeep, as well as the noisy interstate, to keep her company.

She shook her head as she watched the flashing light, still not quite able to fully understand what she held.

"Magic," she whispered.

It had taken her some time to fully accept that she was a vampire, something she thought only existed in movies and books.
 
Then she heard Victoria and Jack talk about werewolves as if it were an everyday conversation to enjoy over dinner.
 
It was strange at first, and difficult to digest, but being near Victoria simply made things easier.

But then a young man, not much older than her, threw a bunch of things into a pot, and changed her phone into something magical.
 
Then he drew a circle on the wall and walked through it.

Vampires.
 
Werewolves.
 
Witches.
 
A man with wings.
 
Another man that was apparently none of the above, but spoke as if he were old.
 
What else was out there?

"Damn it, Victoria," she said.
 
"You should have told me."

More than anything, she wanted to talk to Victoria.
 
She wanted to apologize for borrowing the Jeep and running away, and also for the fight they had.
 
Zoey was truly hurt that Victoria didn't tell her about magic, or walking in the daylight, but she understood.
 
She didn't tell her own parents that she was attacked and turned into a vampire.
 
She knew she had no right to hold any kind of grudge against Victoria.

But
knowing
something, and
feeling
something, were different.
 
She knew Victoria was only looking out for her, but that didn't ease the sting.

She nearly dropped the phone as she dozed off.
 
The sensation of her arm falling jostled her awake.
 
There were many more hours to go before the sun set.
 
A long drive was ahead of her.
 
She needed her rest.

Drinking the last gulp from the bottle next to her, she rested her head on her shoulder and closed her eyes.
 
Hopefully her dreams wouldn't be plagued with nightmares.

Victoria didn't sleep very well.
 
She tossed and turned as thoughts of Zoey being in trouble kept her from fully settling in.
 
After a few hours, with the sun pouring in through her window, she finally threw the covers aside.
 
She didn't even bother slipping into any clothes.
 
Reaching for her phone on the nightstand, she paced naked in her bedroom as she called Zoey's phone.
 
After going immediately to voicemail once again, she hung up and tried another of her speed-dials, waiting for him to answer.

"What?" Jack said.

She had always prided herself on her composure.
 
She was well-aware she had a temper, but in the face of true danger, of real evil, Victoria didn't rattle.
 
She didn't come apart at the seams, unable to think and plan.
 
That was why she'd lived to be over four centuries old.

For whatever reason, that was all out the window.
 
She had the energy of a nervous newborn.

"Zoey's still not answering her phone.
 
Have you started looking for her?
 
Have you called Kevin?
 
What have you found out?"

"Actually, I've done nothing.
 
I did have a nice breakfast with Tiffany, though.
 
I'm teaching her how to make pancakes."

She clenched her eyes shut in frustration.

"Jack—"

"Oh, wait, that's not true.
 
I did talk to Glinda, since he made a portal for me to get home."

"What did he say?"

"We didn't talk about Stray.
 
We talked about work, mostly, and I told him not to bring his cat over anymore."

"Goddamnit—"

"Victoria, you've asked me for a favor, and I'll do it.
 
But, please, don't question me, and don't
nag
me.
 
Let me deal with the Stray, and you deal with whatever the hell it is you're worried about.
 
Vampires croaking, or whatever."

She seethed, but held her tongue.
 
Not many alive could tell Victoria not to question them, but Jack was one of them.

"Just find her."

"I will.
 
Now, leave me alone."

Victoria showered and quickly dressed before sitting at the computer in the basement.
 
It wasn't the best of ideas, as everything surrounding her reminded her of Zoey.
 
She'd gotten attached to the young teenager, and didn't truly realize how much until she walked down the stairs and saw her missing.
 
But the computer in the basement was faster than her laptop, and the desk also provided a place to work.

Jack was right.
 
It was going to be a long day.

Her first call went to Frank.
 
She needed remote access to the Vermilion's security system and whatever records they kept.
 
He told her he needed to get back to her, as Kate had all that information.
 
Despite Frank's tendency to bend the truth at times, she believed him.

The next several hours were spent calling various contacts, playing phone-tag with some, to eliminate possibilities and narrow her search.
 
Her contact in the military told her there were no secret experiments going on in Baltimore, and an old friend from the CIA confirmed as such.
 
The United States government had been known to experiment on vampires in the past, and it wouldn't surprise her if they used Baltimore as a testing ground once again.

Victoria may have been one of the oldest of her kind, but there were still many things she didn't know.
 
She called some other vampires she knew across the world, relaying the symptoms of what she'd seen.
 
Several of them thought whatever killed the vampires in the Vermilion had to have been man-made.
 
Mortals were always trying to find new ways to kill vampires, and Victoria couldn't deny that.
 
However, several others thought it could possibly be natural.
 
There were several theories about vampire evolution, especially about their weaknesses.
 
It was even theorized that long ago, vampires were very allergic to garlic, but had developed an immunity.
 
If that were true, it would certainly be feasible for the opposite to happen, to develop another weakness, perhaps going so far as to being unable to digest a certain blood type.

As fascinating as the discussions were, they didn't help Victoria in eliminating possibilities.

It wasn't until mid-afternoon when Kate finally called her.
 
Victoria checked on her condition, making sure she was okay.
 
Kate's voice was still emotional, but she insisted she was fine.
 
She gave instructions for how to access their network and check the security cameras, as well as taking down one of Victoria's email addresses for the records she wanted to send.

Victoria spent nearly an hour simply combing through data.
 
Finally, she found what she wanted, the appointment log.
 
At long last, she knew the identity of the second mortal, the one who followed Olivia to Tony's club.
 
Trish.
 
Trish had filled out a personality profile for the Vermilion, along with every other mortal and vampire that wanted to use its services.
 
Victoria frowned at the collection of nearly two-hundred profiles.
 
Did someone really have to fill out their hobbies and interests in order to feed, or have a desire to be fed from?
 
Did Frank do any kind of personality matching before scheduling a suite?
 
The idea seemed ludicrous, but she had to appreciate his thoroughness if it were true.

The appointment log for the day prior confirmed what she'd already seen.
 
A slow evening, which looked to be the case for weeknights in general.
 
Olivia was paired with a vampire named Matthew, their first time together.
 
In fact, it was Matthew's first trip to the Vermilion.
 
Victoria felt sorry for him, more than for anyone else.
 
His first visit to the Vermilion was his last.

Trish was paired with a woman named Molly.
 
Victoria double-checked the personality profiles, and sure enough, they'd requested to be matched with women only.
 
Frank really did do his homework.
 
Victoria noticed that Trish and Molly had been together before, several times.
 
If they were familiar with each other, why use the Vermilion at all?
 
Perhaps it was the same reason married couples rented hotel rooms, even though their bed was perfectly fine at home.
 
Or maybe it was out of loyalty to the place.

The appointment logs mostly followed the same format, although oddities stuck out every so often.
 
Most appointments were for an hour, with several stretching to two.
 
Most pairings were one on one, but Victoria raised an eyebrow at some of the exceptions.
 
The exceptions went beyond pairings, and dipped into exotic territory.
 
Groups of three, four, and five, with differing amounts of men and women.
 
She wouldn't want to be the one responsible for the cleanup after those appointments.

Victoria nearly missed it, as the names were starting to run together in her mind.
 
But she noticed that Olivia and Trish's last visit to the Vermilion also happened to be at the same time, three days ago.
 
They were with different partners in different suites, like before.

The two women used the Vermilion's services, and then three nights later, the vampires that fed from them died.
 
Victoria didn't believe that was a coincidence.
 
She also felt a stab of anger and shook her head in frustration when she saw the name of the vampire Olivia was paired up with.

Thomas Sanders.
 
The vampire she tracked and politely lectured before her trip to New Delhi.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered.

She followed Kate's instructions, and within ten minutes was browsing the Vermilion's security system.
 
The footage wasn't as fluid, running over the Internet through a VPN connection, but it was still serviceable.
 
She went back three days, to the hallway camera.
 
Sure enough, she watched Kate lead Thomas and Olivia to their suite.
 
Ten minutes later, Trish and a vampire named Elisha, according to the log, were led to another.
 
Several more suites were filled, one with a threesome, nearly filling up the Vermilion.
 
It was no wonder Frank didn't want to close down.

After a five minute lull, the real fun began.

Victoria was reminded of some of the episodes of Scooby-Doo she watched in the seventies.
 
Vampires and mortals alike moved from room to room.
 
Some were half dressed, while others didn't care and braved the hallway sans any clothing at all.
 
She couldn't keep track of all the body parts bouncing around, but in the end, Thomas, Trish, Olivia, and another female vampire were in a suite together.

Where was security during the swapping?
 
She doubted the cost of a pairing was the same as a foursome.
 
Where were Frank and Michael?

The answer lay within the lobby camera.
 
Kate was alone for most of the night, with Frank only making an appearance occasionally before leaving through the main doors to the club.
 
Michael spent more time in the lobby, but it seemed he flirted with Kate more than anything else.
 
The body language said it all.
 
He leaned against her desk, bright smile, and hovered over her shoulder while they watched videos on the computer.

It was in the middle of those videos, only an hour after opening the doors, that a man stepped into the lobby.

At first Victoria thought he was only a customer.
 
He sat in the lobby and browsed his smartphone, his attention far away from Michael and Kate.
 
Victoria waited for his partner or partners to show up, but none of the mortals or vampires that passed through the Vermilion were there for him.

He did, however, take an active interest in everyone that arrived.

While Kate checked the customers in the mystery guest chatted up mortals and vampires alike.
 
He spent an extra amount of time with Thomas, which she made a mental note of.

It was his conversation with the first mortal that arrived, Olivia, that grabbed Victoria's attention.