Body Count_SVS Book Two Read online

  Instead, I let Maya take me home.

  Well, she tries, at least but it doesn’t work out the way we'd both like it to. Leora and Sparky get in Baba’s hut but passes us the message that the witch can’t transport us into any vampire’s lair. Something about territory and incompatible magic. And it's daylight outside. At least I know the kids are safe. Baba Yaga is scary, but she’d never harm those two.

  Kayleigh and the sun resistant Pickering siblings can leave, but all of us vampires have to wait out the rest of the day. And we’re hungry, of course. I pass my blood bags around and we pass the time together. Just me and my girl. And my vampire mom. And our socially adept friend. And an ancient Vampire King. Hey, I never said this life was normal.

  It’s not so bad, hanging around with all of them. King DeCampo used to scare me so bad I thought of him as King Decapitate. So while we’re all there, I come out and tell him that.

  Stephanie practically has kittens over that until she realizes the King’s laughing. Yeah, that’s right. He thinks it’s funny. And for months she told me he’d likely Rage at the nickname. So as it turns out, the Vampire King of Providence is a pretty cool guy.

  And Raven really came through in all of this. On the night I met them, I tried so hard to come across the right way and be respectful to the King’s Attaché. But I made assumptions, mostly by thinking of Raven as someone with a cushy job who’d never get their hands dirty to save their own life. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Also I discovered that I consider my sire part of my family, like the older sister I never had. She’s the perfect vampire for me to look up to, a role model who’s been nothing but a good example and a source of support. I might not have chosen the vampire unlife if given the chance to refuse it but Steph makes this easier than it would be without her. Her choices were limited too when she turned me. And she’s got more than enough compassion and decency to make up for that.

  And then, there’s Maya. What can I say? She’s amazing. Sure, her past is a complete mystery and the few hints I’ve gotten don’t look anywhere near simple. But I’m taking a chance because she’s more than worth any risk.

  Sunset comes, then dusk. We venture out into the streets of Providence, making our way toward that building on Weybosset Street. But something feels off and I’m not sure what it is. King DeCampo steps up to the door and uses the secret knock. When the door opens, Shadow narrows his eyes.

  “Who the Hell are you?”

  King DeCampo holds up his hand, showing the ring that tells anyone in the know that he’s a Vampire King. Shadow nods.

  “And which city should I tell our King you’re visiting from?”

  “Cranston.” Raven steps forward. “Please address all questions and concerns to me. My King is weary from recent events.”

  We’re let inside and led down the hall. And just like that, we’re presenting ourselves like we’re strangers. And actually, we are. None of them recognize us. Peligro eyeballs me warily, like he’s trying to remember who I am but can’t. Mrs. Kent stands on the edge of the dais, turning her nose up at Stephanie. Annie puts her back to Maya. I look up at the throne and the figure sitting in it. Instead of shadows, it’s all lit up, bright enough for greasepaint.

  “King Whitby will see you now.” Mrs. Kent steps to one side and we see his face. And Whitby? He knows who we are, for sure. He stares at Stephanie, her body not her face, gloating.

  Maya and I hang back as Raven makes all of our forma;l introductions. We saved the entire city, not just for vampires but all the supernaturals and mortals. Maybe we even saved the world. But none of it matters because our own people have no idea.

  Nobody remembers. At least, not here. It’s so bad, they’re denying us pretty much any of the respect we’ve earned. It’s not so bad for me, who didn’t have much to begin with. But for King DeCampo, Stephanie, and Raven, it’s awful. And Maya’s got no friends now.

  Against the odds, I got a group together, and they came out with the upper hand against an enemy that outclassed us. I thought it was a huge important accomplishment, too. Well, I guess we all did. The Deep Ones were a true threat and we weren't wrong to fight them.

  But all along, Whitby had his own agenda. And because he hid that from us, he accomplished a feat with fundamentally more impact. We might have rescued a couple of powerhouses in one battle. But Whitby won a war we didn’t realize he was fighting. And his prize is this city's throne.

  We mingle, like vampires do when they’re visiting. The entire time, I’m overhearing whispers, mostly stuff about how this new guy can’t be much of a Vampire King if he’s declared himself in a place like Cranston. A couple of times, they say King Whitby would have every right to attack us for setting up shop right on his kingdom’s border if we make any trouble.

  This tells me that Whitby’s charade isn’t too well established, at least not yet. There’s no detail in the new background he somehow inserted into the brains of Providence’s vampire population. Raven must have guessed at that and chosen my home town as our territory because nothing was mapped out for it yet.

  “He made some mistakes.” Stephanie’s leaning in to deliver this information, like she did with DeCampo and Raven before getting to me.

  “Really? I only see one.” I tell her.

  “Good deduction, Tino.” She grins. “Because he didn’t make Providence his own personal territory with the entire state as his declared kingdom.”

  “Why wouldn’t he do a thing like that? It sounds like the way to go.”

  “Yes, and it’s the way King DeCampo set things up. But there are two reasons I can imagine for Whitby to make this mistake in particular. Hasty ignorance or misinformation.”

  “I’ll take misinformation for five hundred, Alex.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Just a joke. It only means I think it’s because someone told him the wrong details while he planned this coup.”

  “Raven disagrees. Their brother’s always been the sort to put the cart before the horse.”

  “Well, maybe it’s a little of both.” I shrug. “How is all of this going to affect the other projects we’ve got in the works? The Mafia and that supernatural hit list they’re probably still shopping around after Kayleigh quit?”

  “That remains to be seen.” Stephanie turns and heads toward Maya, no doubt to share these same ideas.

  I wait for King DeCampo to stand up and challenge Whitby to the throne. He’s absolutely going to outdo him in a Test of Ages. But even with the bagged blood we drank, he doesn’t. I wonder why but don’t want to ask where the walls have ears. There’s a solution to that problem. My office.

  Once I reach DeCampo’s side, I suggest a change in location. He agrees and gathers the rest of the group. We head back to the dais where we go through the motions of civil farewells. Mrs. Kent gives us the phone number for checking in any time we cross into the Providence city limits. She tells us we can contact Shadow to arrange for blood bags and gives us that number, too.

  And just like that, I’m saddled with a handful of vampires who lost everything.

  Out in the street, I realize we don’t have a car. We walk away from the immediate area, back toward WaterPlace park. The remains of the Pickering’s van are gone, only a few shards from busted headlights are still there, glinting under the LED street lights. I take out my phone, which is intact, thank God. I dial Esther.

  “What the fuck do you want?”

  “You still using the office?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. I’m bringing a few vampires over there.”

  “Well la di fucking da.”

  “I don’t have my car.”

  “Tino, you’re killing me here.”

  I cover the phone with my hand and ask permission to give some details. DeCampo nods.

  “No, the old Vampire King says that the new Vampire King will kill us if we don’t get out of his city and back to Cranston in the next fifteen minutes.”

  “Sh
itballs.” Esther’s stealing the catch phrase she always rolls her eyes at.

  “You said it this time.”

  In ten minutes, she pulls up to the curb. Fitting all five of us inside even the mid-size sedan Esther drives would be a comic exercise if it weren’t for the depressingly dire circumstances. I notice as she helps inside that her left arm and right leg are moving more smoothly. No wonder she’s in a less grouchy mood than usual.

  That does nothing to cheer anyone else up though. Inside the crowded car, it’s like we’re in glum city at the border of despair town. But before we can all fall into an irreversible funk, Esther’s music comes on.

  She favors 90s bubblegum pop. Last time I rode in her car, she played Barbie Girl by Aqua. This time it’s the Spice Girls singing Wannabe. A fitting anthem for down-and-out elder vamps trying to get everyone to remember how powerful they are and the assholes who deposed them in the first place.

  I’ll tell you what I want. The right to change this music. I really really want that as a matter of fact. But I know from previous experience that Esther will zig a zig my ah if I even ask. Dammit. I forgot how catchy this song is, the type of earworm that digs into your brain. It’s taking over my headspace but at least it ends when she shuts off the ignition in the parking lot. Finally, I get to stop being a Scary Spice zombie. Yeah, Scary was always my favorite. Don’t tell anyone I said that.

  Esther heads for the bathroom on the first floor to take care of human biology the rest of us don’t have to worry about anymore. I bring everyone upstairs. Raven’s seen it already but I give everybody else the grand tour, for what it’s worth. We share the bags of blood in the mini-fridge. I realize something. Well, more like someone.

  “Hey, did any of you see Hargrove tonight?”

  Nobody has. I think back to the piles of dust and ash Maya shared with me before the whole mess. Well, some of that was the remains of my vision. But Stephanie and DeCampo weren’t dead. Maybe Hargrove isn’t. He definitely wasn’t in the Deep One’s body double bubbles. Try saying that five times fast. Wait, don’t. I’m woolgathering here.

  We could look for Hargrove, see if he’s still got the real memories in his noggin like we do. And then, I also remember Peligro. He helped us before, definitely against Whitby’s wishes. And he’s psychic, so we might have a decent chance of getting Providence’s real history restored if we can leverage his ability in that direction. I don’t tell everyone all of these ideas. Instead, I’m jotting them down on one of the yellow notebooks in my desk. Remembering is at an all-time high on the scale of important things to do.

  “Hey guys, there’s still hope.” I set my pen and pad down in the desk drawer, done writing for now. “We’ve got to keep on keeping on. Otherwise, we’ll lose the will to make things right again.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, Tino. But there’s a reason we elders like it when the younger set runs around and gets things done for us.”

  “Yes. We’re tired.” DeCampo leans against the counter lining one wall of the studio space I use as an office. “With a change like this, perhaps the best option is to sleep for a while and let Whitby have his short-sighted run at being King.”

  Maya’s standing there silent, eyes wide as though his words were a physical blow. Maybe she saw something in the King’s own memories while she fought the fake. Or she might have remembered some detail about Whitby’s plans after coming to power. But I think those are both wrong. The expression on her face looks like someone reliving their own experience, long forgotten. My mind’s ear hears an echo, Baba’s voice saying Maya of Macedon. But a real voice, front and center in the present, derails that train of thought.

  “No, your Majesty.” Everyone turns to look at Raven, who’s been sitting in the pink saucer chair in front of Scott’s desk. “We’re going to get everything back the way it was.”

  “But how?” Maya’s hands clasp in front of her chest.

  “I’m taking a page out of Tino’s playbook.” Raven stands. “Last night, he showed me how much of a difference alliances with other supernaturals can make. It’s a powerful tactic and also something my brother will never bother doing himself. He’s too proud for that.”

  Raven’s at the door, hand on the knob.

  “Where are you going?” Stephanie blinks.

  “I’ve got a family of teenage magicians to manage. Their parents just died. They need the head of their family to help them through that loss and focus the energy grief generates in a constructive direction. And I think we can all agree that Whitby had something to do with the Deep One uprising.”

  “That’s right.” I nod. “He’s a Pickering, too. And with magic.”

  “Yes.” Raven turns the doorknob but stops short of opening the door. “He didn’t go to the mortal family, opting to drop information to the other side of that contractual agreement I renegotiated last night. Whitby doesn’t make allies, never has. He prefers duping people into letting thim expolit them.”

  “So all we’ve got to do is make or reinforce our contacts?” Maya grins. “I can do that. So can you, Stephanie.”

  “Yeah, aren’t you friends with Fergus Fitzpatrick?” I pat my sire on the shoulder. “I hear he’s in charge of all the werewolves.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Go have a meeting with him. And I’ll talk to Leora.”

  “Who is that?” DeCampo asks.

  “The girl with the salamander. She’s Baba Yaga’s Lamb and recently orphaned. Last night I volunteered to take responsibility for her in terms of the mortal authorities as part of an agreement with Baba. So I’ve got an in with her.”

  “Perhaps there is hope after all.” DeCampo straightens, finally beginning to resemble the vampire I faced during my Trial last month.

  “Come on.” Raven beckons to their once and hopefully future king. “There’s room at the Pickering house for all of us.”

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll stay at my apartment in Cranston.” I yawn with good reason. It’s been too long since I really rested.

  “Yes, Valentino.” Stephanie grins. “And I’ll stay there, too.” There she goes, inviting herself again. Except this time, I don’t mind at all.

  “Just don’t give me any more reading assignments by H.P. Lovecraft, okay? Those daymares suck” We have a nice chuckle over that.

  We follow Raven out the door. I use my phone to summon a Lyft. The driver drops us all in front of the Pickering house. My car is still there. Frankie opens the front door, listens to Raven’s brief explanation about temporary guests, and nods. He welcomes them all inside the big gambrel house by the sea. Before shutting the door, he waves at me.

  Steph and I get in my car and head home. I get a message from Raph Paolucci but the crisis he was investigating has passed so I let it wait until tomorrow.

  Stephanie curls up in the comfy chair under the fleece throw that goes with it. She’s small enough to fit there comfortably. I climb into my bed, which I have sorely missed. After I shut off the light, I stare up and into the darkness. And I smile because together we can weather Whitby’s storm.

  We will take back our city.

  The End

  (For Now)

  Thank you for reading! If you loved this book, please leave a review. You can find my other work by clicking the links below, going to my website or visiting my Author Central page.

  Providence Paranormal College Volume 1

  Providence Paranormal College Volume 2

  A Change In Crime

  Wiser Guys

  The Longest Night Watch

  Stardust, Always

  Supernatural Vigilante Society

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