Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(41)
She blinked. “That’s a good question, and one I wish I had the answer to. We do a sweep every so often, but there’s never any guarantee. How about if I walk you out after we’re done here? I want to get that recipe for cornbread from you.”
I stared at her like she was crazy. I didn’t cook. But then I realized that she was giving me a chance to talk to her privately. “Oh, right. It’s Aegis’s recipe, but man, it’s good. Anyway, what did Shar-Shar want?”
“Shar-Shar wanted to tell me that Essie will be claiming Thornton’s body. And they want you to return his possessions. Apparently—” she shook her head as I was about to protest. “Apparently, Essie has a signed power of attorney giving her the right to collect his worldly goods. He signed it when he went to work for her five years ago. There’s nothing we can do.”
For some reason, my heart ached when I heard that. Thornton had probably signed his soul over to her—metaphorically speaking, of course. Vamps didn’t collect souls. But they collected lives.
“I’ll bring everything to the station,” I said with a quiet shrug.
“They wanted to come to your house to make certain…”
“That I didn’t keep anything? They can fuck the hell off. I said I’ll bring his things to the station. If Essie doesn’t like it, she can fu—forget about it.” I let out a long sigh, deflating like a popped balloon. The buzz from my mocha had died down and I felt exhausted.
“That will be fine. I told Shar-Shar that.” Delia nodded toward the door. “Come on, walk me out to the parking lot. I need to get something from my truck, anyway.”
As we headed out the door, all I could think about was the happy man who had just wanted to get away from a bad relationship, who had brightened my life for just a little while.
OUTSIDE, I MOTIONED for Delia to walk over to my CR-V. “Here’s the deal. I wasn’t going to bring you into this, but I think you should know. But do not tell anybody else without asking me, or your life could be in danger. Mine already is.” I paused. “Actually, do you want to know? What I have to say could affect your life and your job at some point in the future.”
“I make it my habit to keep informed,” Delia said. “What did you manage to dig up?”
“You remember when I was on vacation in January? Aegis and I went up to the Astra Alpine Chalet?” I shivered. The chalet had been beautiful. What had happened there had not been so lovely.
“You were caught in that avalanche, right?”
“Correct. I won’t want to go into everything that happened, but I discovered that there’s a secret society of ancient vampires called the Arcānus Nocturni. We’re talking older than Aegis and definitely older than Essie. A number of vampires probably don’t even know they exist.”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Delia said.
“You’ll like it a whole lot less when I tell you their biggest secret.” There was no way to ease into the matter. “Delia, these vampires can walk under the sun.”
She stared at me. “No. You’re joking, right?” But the look on her face told me she knew I was serious.
“They’re immune to the sunlight. They can walk among us and we’d never know by looking or talking to them that they were vampires. Unless you happen to notice they aren’t breathing or you touch them and feel their cold skin. Delia, they have long memories, and I’m pretty sure they have an agenda that doesn’t include our welfare on it. I’ll tell you all about the trip some day, once I stop having nightmares. But trust me, when you say there are worse vampires than Essie, you’re not kidding.”
“Are you sure Essie isn’t part of this society?” Delia asked.
“Not entirely, but I really doubt she has anything to do with them. Essie likes her power too much to accept anybody else’s rules. But you and I both know the vampires are trying to dig a toehold in Bedlam. Even without the Arcānus Nocturni behind them, that’s scary enough.”
“True. So now we have both Essie to contend with and the possibility of this secret society trying to wedge their way in. Just what I wanted to hear. What are your thoughts on the matter?”
I thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m not certain. All I know is that I need to find someone who can break a Dirt Magic hex, because Aegis really needs to turn back into himself instead of hanging around as a bat. Not to mention, I’m tired of feeling like Typhoid Mary. Hey, do you know somebody named Garret James? Sandy mentioned he might know how to break a curse.”
“Cripes, she really gets around, doesn’t she? I do know Garret. He’s basically a good-hearted person, but I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side. And I’m not sure if he has any ties to Essie, so walk softly, Maddy.”
“I will.” I hadn’t thought about the possibility that he might be in cahoots with the vampire queen. “All right, I’m heading out. I’ll drop off Thornton’s possessions tomorrow. If Essie complains—”
“I know, she can suck your ass.” Delia laughed. “But I’ll find a better way of wording it. Meanwhile,” she sobered, her laugh disappearing, “you be careful. Given what you’ve told me, you need to watch your step, Maddy. Vampires who can walk in the sunlight… None of us would be safe at any time.”