I ruffled my hair, my first words of the day coming out hoarse. “Oh. You’re here. Thanks for the blanket. Gil?”
Asher nodded at the door, but didn’t look up. “On the phone, said he was gonna call the Blood of Garm. Checking in on the blood moon. So am I. Oh, and good morning.”
“Right. Morning, smart-ass. And what did you find?”
He flipped his laptop shut, leaned back, and sighed. “Not a single damn thing,” he said, rubbing at his eyes. “Blood moons are pretty rare, but not to the extent that you can’t expect a few occurrences every couple of years or so. There’s all sorts of occult traditions attached to one happening, but there’s zero mention of it being celebrated in Silveropolis anywhere. You’d think there’d be something about a festival, or a pie-eating contest. Not a damn thing.”
“It’s infuriating,” I said, rubbing at my forehead. “We know something’s coming, but it’s like nobody gives a shit.”
The door creaked open, then shut. “Tell me about it,” Gil said, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “I called Damien, I called Jackie, and it was the same answer. The Blood of Garm is planning a barbecue for tomorrow night. A regular one, I mean, like ribs and burgers, that’s not a euphemism. And before I went freelance, I never really celebrated either.”
“Interesting,” Asher said. “And here I thought there’d be berserk frenzies and forced transformations all over the place.”
“You’d think,” Gil said. “But a blood moon is a total lunar eclipse. The earth is right smack between the sun and the moon. Technically moonlight is just sunlight reflecting off the moon. No sunlight means no moonlight, and no moonlight means no transformation. It may as well be any other night, to a werewolf.”
“Not a big deal to vampires, either.” I thought back to my time with Vilmas, when I was still an active member of the California court. “If anything, it’s seen as a good time for us to hunt. For vampires, the perspective is pretty positive. ‘Bloody moon, feeding soon.’ It’s dumb, but that’s about it.”
“So the normals don’t know anything,” Asher said. “But neither do the local supernaturals. I don’t get it. We’ve done this all before. Quiet town, ritual killings, spooky secret cult, charismatic leader. But the puzzle is missing so many pieces. None of this fits.”
Gil slammed his fist into his open palm. “Exactly. None of it. Am I crazy? Didn’t we hear correctly at the night market? There was chatter about the blood moon, but the locals aren’t saying anything now. At least not the ones we’re talking to.”
I licked at the rim of my fangs, grimacing. “Gotta go brush my teeth, but we’ve got one lead. Not worth much, but she’s better than nothing. I mentioned the blood moon to Olivia. She said it was all local rumors and superstition, but I think she was being evasive about it. We need to pump her for more information before tomorrow night. What if another dead body turns up?”
“You know, this is all connected,” Asher said, getting up from the couch. “It has to be. These killings are ritualistic, and they’re leading up to the blood moon. We need to know why the murders are happening, and who’s behind them, and what they’re for. And we needed to know all that yesterday.”
“It’s like pulling teeth,” Gil said, heading for the door again. “I don’t even know if these people are hiding things from us at this point. Gonna get the car up and running. Five minutes, and we’re off. Down to Everett’s Exotica.”
It took less than that for me to finish getting ready, but a good wash and a quick change of clothes later we were on the road into town. The trip was silent, maybe because we were all talked out. The wheels were definitely still spinning in my head, though. I thought approaching Olivia with the subject of enthrallment would be bad enough. Now we had to get her to spill the beans, too, assuming there were any beans for the spilling.
“Couldn’t you, I don’t know, hypnotize her, Sterling? Like, Count Dracula style?”
Trust Asher to read my mind. I frowned into the rearview mirror. “That’s a hurtful stereotype about vampires. Only the really powerful ones can do that. And I’m not sure I’d want to do it, even if I could. I’m not one of those creepy Mouths that the Lorica keeps on staff.”
“Well, if not you, then maybe we give Bastion a call after this, see if we can borrow a Mouth,” Gil said.
“Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But if that’s what it takes to make the killings stop, then that’s what we’ll do.” I patted my jacket. “I have his calling card right here. And besides – holy shit. What’s with the squad cars?”
Gil slowed as we pulled up closer to the row of shops where Olivia kept her curio store, the buildings alternately flashing blue and red. I looked around, making sure that we were in the right place, my heart thumping. What the fuck had happened here? Were we already too late?
We parked about half a block away, but one of the cars was already pulling out of the street, leaving just one in front of Everett’s Exotica.
“This is messed up,” I said, hardly waiting for the others as I stomped down the sidewalk towards the shop.
I barely knew Olivia, but that didn’t make her existence any less important. Weird to hear it from a vampire, maybe, but human life is a precious thing. The lights were on in the store, spilling out onto the sidewalk. I swung the glass door open, the warmth of the interiors washing over me, relief filling my insides when I caught sight of Olivia behind the counter, speaking to a cop. Her face lit up when she saw me, but her eyes were rimmed red, her cheeks flushed.
“Sterling? It’s such a relief to see you.”
The officer swept her eyes up and down my body, but said nothing. “We’ll keep an eye out for you, ma’am,” she said to Olivia, tipping her hat as she made her way to the door. Outside, she leaned against her vehicle with her arms folded, watching through the windows like a hawk. Her gaze locked on Gil and Asher as they entered the store.
I stepped up to the counter, relieved at least that Olivia was okay. But the cops?
“What happened here? Are you all right?”
“I am.” The tears started flowing again. “But Timothy – poor Timothy.”
My heart wrenched, my insides turned into ice. She didn’t even need to fill in the blanks. They found his body. He was the seventh victim.
Asher rushed past me, heading straight for Olivia, holding out one arm. She accepted gratefully, grasping him around the waist. Good guy Asher. Olivia looked like she could use the comfort, and for various reasons that included my hunger and mental health, I wasn’t going to be the man for the job.