Thursday evening I stood in the lobby of the Wine Palazzo an hour too early. I needed to scout the place. Also, my utter lack of feminine wardrobe at the safe house had depressed me. And that had been embarrassing. There were far more important things to get upset over.
And so, my second-hand dancer's heels clacked hollowly up the wooden stairs as I ascended to the loft of the restaurant-bar. The too-short boot-cut jeans revealed the majority of my shoes so, if I needed to, I'd only have to rip of the heels and run. But that didn't guarantee much. I was good over short distances until I could mount a Beast or be covered by a Contubernium.
Here, I was alone.
I might as well just die wearing somewhat-fancy heels. And within a more-than-fancy locale.
The Palazzo was a rustic, barn-like establishment made of wooden boards, beams, and second-hand furniture. Crystal chic-chandeliers hung over the natural-wood counter-top of the bar that tucked beneath the balcony below me. Their twinkles spun across the dance floor that I had a perfect view of from the loft.
There was a strong stench of cologne up here, but I suspected that was the group of teenagers near the windows. Propping my arms on the loft's railing, I stared down at the gathering townspeople. A decent turnout of folks had come early to get a bite to eat.
Someone approached, their footsteps creaking over the wood-flooring. Excitement bubbled in my chest at the prospect of meeting someone new. Perhaps I could glean some information about the disappearances or the Wardes in the thick of small-talk.
"Hey there, Sussy-Sara."
I startled, rounding and pressing myself back into the railing. I'd caught snippets of this tone while eavesdropping at the library. As I stared at the dark-skinned vampire, it dawned on me that 'bulky' had been an inadequate descriptor. He was built. Massive around the forearms and shoulders. Maybe he'd been wearing baggier clothes to play-down his strength before. He certainly wasn't now. Cologne wafted from the athleisure attire he wore and, immediately, I knew how I'd been duped. He'd forced me nose-blind and stayed out of sight.
They know I'm not human. They know I'm not-
"You are Sara, right?" he checked, raising a eyebrow.
Upon closer inspection of his features, I could guess that he'd been vampirized in his early twenties, but I could only imagine what lifestyle he'd lead before then to put on such muscle. His eyes were a stark contrast to his dark skin and curly black hair, but a familiar appearance, I realized with discomfort.
"Yes," I recovered, forcing my posture to relax, "Leo?"
"That's me," Leo confirmed, then promptly reached out to ruffle my hair.
My eyes widened. I didn't have time to move. But oddly enough, I didn't even flinch. An unintentional squeak wormed its way past my lips and nostalgic tears welled-up faintly in my eyes. He didn't look that much like my brother, Bruno. But, apparently it was enough. Especially with that dopey grin.
Calm is the mind, calm is the Spirit, I reminded myself, smoothing my hair.
"What're you doing here?" I demanded.
"Gonna dance."
"What about your partner?"
"I was hoping to ask you for the first dance"
"I'm spoken for."
"Not for the whole night," he argued, leaning on the railing beside me. "If I have anything to say about it."
"Forget what you say," I muttered, scowling. I was told that only two leeches would be here tonight: Mason and the doctor. No more. Leo being here... well that meant the others might pop up at any time. I took a steadying breath and continued, "It's about what your fiancée says. Congratulations on the baby, by the way."
Leo cocked his head, "Hm?"
"That's why people get married right out of high-school, right?" I goaded, "They're pregnant?"
This was an opportunity. Vampires had short-tempers. If I could pressure him while it was just one-on-one, get him riled up enough to pursue me to a better location, I could defeat him. Leo straightened, watching me, and his strength almost made me wither. His smile vanished.
Vampires couldn't procreate, of course... perhaps I'd touched a nerve as I'd been hoping to. Still, the way he loomed over me made me lean back. He was too big.
Steady, I reminded myself. You can do it this time. You can.
It wouldn't end the way it had with Mason.
You're better than that! That was a one-time mistake!
"You're lucky Annie's not here," he said finally, his tone even as he stared firmly down at me. "She's sensitive about that."
Press further, I thought.
I swallowed on a dry throat. My nerves were electrified, like frayed copper wiring. They crackled.
"Oh?" I pushed forward, "She's got the mood-swings already, huh? No wonder you got away from her for the night. Buckle-in because it only escalates from here."
"That's not fucking funny."
I narrowed my eyes, straightening and squaring off with him. Leo towered, blocking the light.
"Interesting," I asserted, scowling up at him despite the tremble of my lower lip, "When I told you I was spoken for, earlier, that's the exact thing I was trying to convey. "
Leo stared down at me for a moment longer. Fear turned my veins cold beneath his icy stare.
What was I thinking?! I thought suddenly.
A Beast would've struggled against a vampire of Leo's stature. Forget a physically-weaker Mage like me. Leo was too close. Before I had the chance to cast, he'd-
Leo shrugged.
Then he went back to leaning on the railing, tapping his toe on the floor to the beat of the radio this time. A well-executed human tic.
"You're real nasty, you know," he finally said, "What'd we ever do to you?"
I put my hand upon my chest, as if calming my heart, but ready to cast.
"I just know your type."
"And what type is that?"
Nibbling on the tip of my tongue, I silenced. This was the interrogation I'd been expecting. Despite his dopey grin, this vampire was discerning. He didn't have the same snooty-scholarly air about him that Mason did, but he certainly possessed an unrivaled instinct. Or perhaps he was just more willing to blurt out what everyone else in his coven was already suspecting. He glanced over in my silence, watching my expression almost expectantly. Then his brows knitted slightly and he looked away.
What was... that? I wondered.
"I called your first dance," he asserted again, smirking to himself. "You owe me that."
"I don't owe you anything."
"At least help me make fun of Mason."
"So it's okay when you bully him?"
"We're basically brothers," he chuckled, "It doesn't count."
"You got that close in, what, two, three years?"
Leo glanced sideways and rolled his eyes. That dopey grin returned to his face.
"And what about you?" he countered, "What makes you oh-so wise and discerning beyond your years?"
With great effort, I stepped back and leaned on the railing, attempting a more relaxed posture.
"Girls always mature quicker than boys," I chided, pretending to examine my nails, "I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"You got me there," he chuckled, "I stopped aging mentally at, like, seventeen. Annie's been complaining about it."
I wanted to snort. No way he'd actually been vampirized at that age, but it likely wasn't far-off. twenty or twenty-one, perhaps?
"Really, though," he pressed. "What is your deal?"
"You're fishing in a chlorinated pool," I told him, "You won't catch anything."
"I've caught plenty already," he argued, smiling still, "Now, I'm just having fun."
I clicked my tongue and pushed off the railing. The venue was beginning to really populate and I wanted to get lost in the crowd. Talk to anyone else. The game of stealth and subtlety was far too difficult for me to play.
"Seriously, what do you want with my brother?"
"I find him interesting."
"In what way?"
"In the way women usually do," I grumbled, quickly tiring of the conversation.
"Uh-uh, try again."
With a final glare, I turned on my heel and stalked off. At a good time, too. As I descended the stairs, I caught a familiar whiff of mint. With a quick-scan, I easily found Mason. He was glaring steadily up into the loft, his posture stiffer than usual, hinting at aggression. Yet when I approached, his shoulders released and a half-smile alighted his cheeks.
"I'm glad you could make it," he greeted, then nodded to the loft, "I see you met Leo."
I followed his gaze. Leo's grin widened as I scowled up at him.
"We chatted."
"Feel free to ignore him. It's what I do."
He gestured for me to follow him to the bar. A familiar, rounded brunette stood there, her carefully pinned hair shivering as she chatted and laughed alongside a few other townsfolk: Dr. Warde. There was a man beside her. From the back all I could see was his russet-brown hair and I could tell why Allie had assumed Mason was this man's biological son. They'd chosen a good human for the facade.
Then I picked up the scent.
No.
Scents.
There were two vampire scents over there. One from the doctor. And one from the very man beside her. I halted halfway toward them. Mason shadowed me, examining my face.
"Sara?" he checked, his hand raised, but he hesitated before reaching for me this time. "Are you alright?"
The priest turned then, laughing along with his wife, and I caught-sight of something glimmering upon his neck. It peeked out from his v-neck sweater: a golden-link chain with a simple cross dangling from the middle.
My eyes went dry as they widened.
How? How was he wearing that?
"That's your dad?" I finally asked in a whisper.
Mason tilted his head, his green eyes shimmering with worry, "Yes."
I continued to stare, oblivious to the glances that the other bar-goers were shooting me. The vampire doctor already been beyond belief. Yet there were ways she could compel her coworkers to do surgeries for her. But... a vampire priest? A vampire couldn't enter sacred ground much less preach the lord's word. And here this one was wearing a cross.
"May I introduce you?" Mason asked.
"I... I don't know."
"Let's sit," he suggested instead, cautiously reaching out again.
I glared at his hand, but let him hover it over the small of my back. He guided me to an empty high-table with two chairs. For a few moments I sat, simply watching the pair at the bar.
Mason broke the silence, "Do you... have any questions?"
"How long has he been a priest?"
"He's technically a pastor - a clergyman of a protestant church," Mason corrected and my gaze flicked to him scathingly. A relieved crooked smile graced his lips and he continued, "He trained since he was a teenager and has been dedicated to God and His congregation ever since."
Ever since, I wondered.
I'd caught a whiff of the pastor's vampiric mint earlier: it had been beyond even wintergreen, moving toward a more sterile, medicinal scent. Both of them smelled like that. They were over four to five hundred years old. A five-hundred-year-old holy man vampire?
How was that possible?
"I need to go home, I think," I mumbled, "I don't feel good."
Mason cocked his head, his brows knitted, "You sure you don't want to talk to him?"
"I don't know," I swallowed, "Not... not right now."
"Alright," Mason soothed, catching a waitress's attention, "Maybe you should eat something?"
"I ate already."
"Then some water, at least."
The waitress nodded and trotted off. Mason continued to watch me, expectant. But I gave him nothing.
"You seem troubled," Mason noted.
"First date jitters," I lied unconvincingly.
"As if this would be our first official date," Mason chuckled.
I frowned, "...is it not?"
"Not with you feeling sick, no."
"Oh."
"Oh," he agreed, though his wrinkled brow portrayed frustration. Instead, he continued, "If we were to go on a real date, I'd pick something you liked, after getting to know you more."
"Hiking."
He rolled his eyes at the answer he already knew, but the half-smile became wider, "I'd take you to one of the parks, then. Something with beautiful views."
I giggled weakly at that, "As if you can't close your eyes, toss a stone, and hit a ready-to-paint masterpiece from here."
"Good point."
I glanced over at his parents again, "It's... Paul, right? Paul Warde?"
I saw the pastor's shoulders stiffen slightly at the sound of his name.
"Mhm," Mason confirmed.
"I..." I licked my lips. We were still dancing around the obvious. Almost playing a game at this point; who would be the first to say 'vampire'? It wouldn't be me. "I'm not ready to speak with him. But I need to see his eyes."
Mason straightened, intrigued, but he didn't need to say anything to his father-figure. Paul turned, his hazel eyes meeting mine. And, across the distance I could see it: that slight glimmer of silver. He maintained the same animal supplemented, indirect-human diet as Mason.
I puffed a sigh.
"I haven't met someone like you before," Mason mused, his chin propped on his fist.
His cheeks pinched as if enjoying an inside joke.
"Like what?" I prompted, irritated.
"Someone open to admitting when they're wrong."
"Wrong?" I snorted.
Mason's eyebrows lifted. His coppery hair drooped into his eyes as he straightened and interlaced his fingers speculatively.
"What is it, then?" he wondered.
I thought about my next words as the waitress arrived with my glass of water.
When she left, I spoke, "There's no way any of you can be innocent."
And there wasn't. There was no way, that none of them hadn't crossed that line: murdered a human, stolen from unwilling participants, or coerced someone into false-consent.
"Sure there is."
Mason's eyes glittered, that infuriating half smile now mocking me.
"Are you?" I demanded to know.
His eyes dimmed at that, the grin melting off his expression.
"That's what I thought."
With that, I slipped from my seat, patting my pockets to feel my keys. A movement in the corner of my eye made me jerk back a step, away from the table. Mason had stood.
His brows arched, his green eyes pleaded, "With regard to the issue that brought you to Homer, I'm innocent. All of us are. Your culprit is someone... something else."
The issue that brought me here? I wondered.
No, the issue I'd stumbled upon: the missing hikers.
Quietly, skeptically, I regarded Mason. There wasn't much weight to his claim, a vampire's claim, but there was a part of me opposed to killing the coven at this point. Especially after witnessing the vampire pastor. I bit my lower lip, then grimaced.
"I should eliminate the risk, regardless of whether you're innocent in this or not," I mumbled aloud, eyes narrowing as I inspected his face. The brutal honesty in the downward tilt of his lips was so human. I ignored it, "For the fact that you are not innocent in everything, I should do it..."
The hair on the back of my neck prickled. Something moved in my periphery and I stiffened. Leo had come down from the loft and now leaned lazily against the far-end of the bar. Watching us.
"...but I am outnumbered."
"In this, at least, we are innocent," Mason insisted.
"That remains to be seen."
"And will you?" he pressed, "Will you see it?"
I stepped back, feeling my chest tighten, "I need to go."
Mason's shoulders sagged, but he nodded. Nose stinging as if I'd inhaled ammonia, head buzzing as if filled with angry wasps, I turned unsteadily on my heel and fled from the restaurant.