Andre closed the gates behind us and came up to me, twining his fingers through mine. Two months ago I would’ve had a major problem with this, but right now I really appreciated the physical reassurance that he was next to me.
In front of us the gravestones were old and weather beaten, and they stuck out of the ground like crooked teeth. Crows perched on top of several of them and in the nearby trees. They cawed, making my skin crawl.
I was so getting cremated when I died.
He tugged on my hand and I followed his lead. “So,” I said, “you were also called in to view this body?”
He made an agreeing noise in the back of his throat. “I’m always called in when a crime appears to involve a vampire.”
I studied his profile as we wound our way through the graves. He looked like a dark, avenging angel. My dark, avenging angel, according to a childhood prophecy.
He caught my eye and gazed down at me. A sly smile spread across his face. “Enjoying the view?” he asked.
I was. Quite a bit, which was making it hard to concentrate.
I shrugged. “It’s decent.” I had only just uttered the words when we heard laughter.
My first thought was that it was man in the suit. I hadn’t seen him since the Autumn Ball, so I was about due a visit. But as our eyes roved the cemetery, it was clear that no one was here.
Andre’s grip on my hand tightened. “There it is.” Two our left I could see the crime scene tape. I could also smell traces of blood and other bodily fluids, and beneath that, the smell of the long dead. A headstone whose top was shaped like a three-leaf clover had maroon stains sprayed across it.
I made a face and crouched down. “Did the second victim die here?” I asked, placing a hand on the top of the clover-shaped gravestone.
“Yes, but the killer laid the body out over here.” Andre walked a few paces away from me, and I followed him. The space was just big enough to arrange a full grown man in the shape of a star.
Was the killer a religious fanatic? It seemed strange that the first body would emulate a Christian sign in an area that drew mostly non-Christian believers, and that in a graveyard filled with crosses and angels, a second body would replicate a pagan symbol.
As my eyes roved over the scene, a soft wind tickled my face. The devil’s consort, a voice whispered.
My gaze snapped to Andre. Unlike all those encounters with the man in the suit, Andre’s narrowed gaze and coiled muscles indicated that he too had heard this voice. Worse, he was staring at something behind me and to my left.
I spun around and searched the dark cemetery. I didn’t see anything. However, some unconscious part of me must’ve known that there was something in the darkness that watched me because the hair along my arms stood on end.
“Gabrielle, move slowly towards me,” Andre said.
“Slowly?” I said, still searching the darkness. “If I move, I’m sprinting out of here. There is no such thing as moving slowly.”
“That’s fine. Just move. I’ll follow.” He didn’t need to tell me twice. Just like in Glen Maye, I ran like my life depended on it—and it just might’ve.
Unlike Glen Maye, this time we didn’t have far to run.
A voice sang next to me, Consort, consort, consort.
I was really starting to hate that word.
I swung open the car door and slipped in, slamming it behind me. Less than a second later Andre was next to me, keying the ignition.
The car roared to life, and Andre whipped it around to drive back the way we came.
My heart thundered in my chest, and I took slow, even breaths to calm down.
As we passed the cemetery, I gave it one last glance. A shadowy form loomed amongst the graves, its body facing us—watching us.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. And then it vanished.
***
I drummed my fingers against the soft leather of Andre’s car. “Well, I can’t say that I learned anything from that visit.” Except how to make a (nearly) grown woman almost pee her pants.
Andre’s knuckles were white. The wheel was in serious danger of getting squashed by his grip. “I should never have taken you to the crime scenes,” he said.
I rubbed my temples “Don’t even think about getting all protective and bossy just because something weird happened.”
“I put you in danger. That’s my fault. I should never have agreed to investigate this with you.” I really wanted to shake him silly.
“And you think I wouldn’t have tried to visit the sites if we hadn’t teamed up? Because I would’ve, either by myself or with Caleb.”
“Caleb?” His mood darkened considerably. I didn’t realize that Andre knew who Caleb was; they had never officially met. I guess he’d read the papers about the two of us escaping Bishopcourt. “Why would you visit them with Caleb?” He took his eyes off the road to look at me. “Are you two . . . ?”
His gaze was too intense. “No Andre, we’re not dating,” I said. “The Politia assigned us as partners.”
Andre’s eyes narrowed. Apparently he, like me, didn’t think this was just a coincidence.
“My point is,” I continued, “I would’ve visited those crime scenes either way.”