Probably intending to turn her.”
“Oh shit!” Grady said, spinning around momentarily to compose himself and then back. “Again…nothing derogatory…”
“We got it, Grady…You’re asking for our help. That’s understandable.” Dorian replied. He turned to Amber. “Well…looks like the greenhouse is going to have to wait.”
“Kind of looks that way…doesn’t it?”
“Amber, you know her personally,” Dorian said. “And even if you haven’t picked up anything yet, you’re still more apt to be in tune with her.”
“Sally’s known her for a long time too.”
“I know. Still, I feel you may have a stronger emotional connection with her.”
“Because of Paul…you mean?”
He nodded in the affirmative, “Yeah…But…We should get an article or two of her clothing…for the scent,” he explained to Grady.
Grady glanced at Star who had just run up from the woods.
Dorian chuckled. “Not for the dog, Grady. For us!”
“Ohhh! Comprende,” he said, a little embarrassed.
“I’ll summon Klaus and he can get Sally. I’m going to put my tools away. And while I’m doing that, you can shimmer to Paul’s and pick up some of her clothing, Amber.”
“Oh…thanks, guys,” Grady said, looking somewhat relieved.
“Don’t thank us yet, Grady. You can do that when we get her back!”
Amber wasted no time. She shimmered out immediately.
“Amazing how you can do that,” Grady said.
“Yeah…its fun,” Dorian replied.
“I’ll head back to Paul’s. He’s pretty upset. Doesn’t need to be alone right now.”
“Got it,” Dorian said. “Grady, if she’s still alive…which I think she probably is…we’ll get her back! Promise!”
“Thanks, Dorian. And I’m sorry I ever suspected you might be the bad guy.”
“Apology accepted.” He turned and headed for his tools.
Grady left.
The store was closed when Amber arrived, but she could see Paul sitting behind the counter crying. She shimmered in and faced him from in front of the counter.
He looked up with a start. “Jesus! You scared the hell outta me!”
“Sorry…Got here as fast as I could. I need something of Judy’s…a blouse, scarf, anything.”
“Oh sure,” he said and headed to the back.
She stopped at the door.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, wondering why she was just standing there.
“I’m a vampire, Paul. I can’t come into your living quarters unless you invite me.”
“Ahhh…That’s right. I forgot. In that case, you’re invited. Come on in.”
She did.
“Her chest-of-drawers is by her bed. Take whatever you need.” He turned his face from her, trying to gain his composure.
She snatched up a couple of scarves from Judy’s top drawer, closed it and turned to Paul, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.
He turned to her, eyes full of desperation. “She’s all I’ve got, Amber! She’s all I’ve got!”
“And you’re not going to lose her. Not if I can help it!” And she took him in her arms and gently hugged him.
“You know,” he said. “It’s been really, really hard…you first choosing Dorian over me…and then learning you’re a vampire too! But…I’m finding that fate has a strange way of working. It’s only because you’re a vampire that I have any hope of getting her back!”
“There is a certain irony to it.” She agreed and kissed him sweetly on his lips. “I’m not going to let you down, Paul. Not this time!”
“Oh God! Amber…”
Then she shimmered out with the scarves.
Fourteen:
Clifford had stayed with Jerri the entire night, not wanting to leave her alone. He’d slept on the couch and woke up when he smelled frying bacon. He sat up and looked into the kitchen. “Damn! What time is it?”
“Eleven.”
“Shouldn’t you be on your route?”
“Called in sick. Let Robin take it today…She’s my new substitute and needs to get more familiar with the route, anyway.” She grinned. “Besides…It’s the least I can do for you staying here with me.” She wiped her hands on a towel and came into the living room. “It really means a lot to me that you did.”
He stood up and glanced out the window. There were patrol cars all over the place. “Guess they’re going over everything with a fine-toothed comb?” he said.
“Kind of looks that way.”
“That was weird…wasn’t it…vampires killing vampires to protect humans?”
“Yeah…I’d have never believed it. But Brooks said that none of them would have got away, if it hadn’t been for their intervention.”
“They want to keep it hush…hush though.”
“And for good reason! Who in hell’s going to believe any of it anyway? Unless they see it first hand?”
Jut then one of the sheriff deputies knocked on the front door and Jerri went to answer it. “Can I help you, deputy?” she asked the tall black man.
“We hope you can. Are there any sheds or old buildings that you know of in the surrounding woods?”
“Gee!” She thought about it. “I think so. Don’t often go back that far…but there are several. But none of them are in any good shape.”
“Don’t have to be to keep someone hidden.”
She frowned. “You mean there’s another victim?”
“Possibly.”
“Who?”
“Paul Stevenson’s sister never came home last night. We have reason to believe she might be one of their…victims.”
“No!” she said, stepping back.
Clifford came up to her. “Judy?”
“Yep.”
“Dammit!” Clifford blew out air. “Dammit! She’s just a kid!”
“Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Ma’am, you’ve been as much help as you can…I’m sure. These individuals we’re hunting aren’t exactly your run of the mill criminals.”
“Yeah. We found that out first hand.” Clifford said.
“Anything you want us to do?” Jerri asked. “Use my dogs?”
“Normally, they might come in handy. But they’d probably just end up dead if they found them. So not this time…But thanks. Well, you folks just stay careful. And don’t venture too far for a while.”
“Gonna stay right here with Jerri,” Clifford said, “until this is over.”
“Good idea. You do that.” He walked off.
“That’s considerate of you, Clifford,” Jerri said, closing the door.
“You don’t think I’d leave you alone at a time like this, do you?”
Her eyes misted. “I’d like to think you wouldn’t.”
“Well…I won’t!” He put his arm around her then. “I could sure stand some of that bacon you fried up.”
“Get it for you right now.”
Klaus and Sally had arrived by the time Amber returned with the scarves. Amber handed one of the scarves over to Sally to sniff, and Sally in turn passed it to Klaus. Dorian took the other one that Amber handed over.
“What are we, the vigilante vampire team now?” Klaus asked, chuckling amusedly.
“Kind of looks that way,” Dorian responded, bugging his eyes. “But it’s for our own good, as well. We want to live here. Gotta keep the community happy…and the only way to do that is try and keep them safe.”
“Oh well…Guess it’s a break from the usual boredom.”
“I haven’t had time to get bored, yet,” Sally said.
“Honey…you will. Trust me…After a few hundred years, you’ll get really bored.”
“How can you get bored when the sex is so wonderful?” Amber asked, cutting her eyes to Dorian.
Dorian grinned hugely and hugged her.
“Well…aside from that,” Klaus admitted. “But until I found Sally, it
was pretty dull.”
“Thank you, sweetie,” she said, tiptoed and kissed his cheek.
“Judy…” Amber reminded them. “We got to get going!”
Dorian had a suggestion, “Why don’t each one of us take a compass point? You take the north for a hundred miles, and I’ll take the south. Sally can take the east and Amber the west. And I’ll do a quick search around Jerri’s first.”
“Good an idea as any. Just you girls don’t get too brave,” Klaus said. “Neither one of you have been turned that long. A lot of us bloodsuckers stronger. Don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Definitely don’t want that!” Dorian said. “But I got the feeling the young vampires haven’t been turned too long, either. With their leader out of the way, they may be a little easier to overcome.”
Klaus said, “Hope you’re right, my friend.”
“I hope so too.” He gave Amber a quick kiss and shimmered out.
The rest followed suit.
Amber searched the entire western area within a hundred miles and then some but came up with nothing. She headed back in towards Pierce County, honing in her thoughts, ever vampire sense she had, scanning for Judy. She wasn’t about to give up. She circled around and throughout the county several times as a raven, and finally decided to settle in back towards Jerri’s. She sensed that Dorian had been there but left.
Police units, vehicles from the sheriff department, and ranger vehicles were parked all around Jerri’s place and down the road for miles. She eyed Grady and landed at his feet, fully forming in front of him, about scaring him to death.
“Jeez!” he cried. “Just about had a heart attack. Dorian did the same thing to me a bit ago.”
“He’s not here now, is he?” She asked, thinking she just might not be sensing him.
“No…He…flew off just about twenty minutes ago after looking around here first.”
“Guess there’s no point…” she was going to say, “in my looking”, but something stopped her.