“And you believe Laurel was behind this?”
Saber took a deep breath. “We believe that Laurel helped murder Ike so she could take over the nest. We strongly suspect that the vamp with immunity to silver is helping her.”
Ray eyed us steadily. “You realize how fantastic this purported immunity sounds.”
“We know,” I admitted. “But Laurel didn’t escape by herself last night. She has a vamp accomplice who wasn’t at the club. That leaves us with Miranda and Charles, and it doesn’t make sense that either of them is involved.”
“No. No, it does not.” Ray locked gazes with Saber. “What will you do about Vlad?”
“Shut him down. Having a network of nests violates the rules, and I’ll hunt the bastard myself if I have to.”
“So the minor nests will no longer be forced to pay tribute to the major ones?”
“The word is going out to VPA agents all over the country. Major nest leaders will be audited.”
Ray raised a brow. “By the VPA?”
“Worse,” I said. “The IRS.”
Ray smiled with a touch of the sparkle I’d seen in his dark eyes when we first met. Then he shook his head and sobered.
“I must tell you so that you may warn others. There is a madness among the major nest leaders, as if they all have been infected with the same disease. And it is growing worse. It is the other reason I left South Beach.”
A madness? Shudders ripped through me, along with a dread I didn’t understand. The paper bags I clutched rattled and snapped as I shivered.
“Someone walking over your grave, Princess?”
I fisted the bags tighter. “You might say that.”
“If you sense la oscuridad, then you must prepare to fight it with la luz. ”
“The darkness and the light? Ray, could you go for clear instead of cryptic here?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it. “When the time is right, you will understand. Come, the rest are becoming edgy.”
“I hate this woo-woo crap,” I muttered to Saber on the way back to the parlor.
He chuckled softly. “Right, this from the psychic vampire.”
I glared, but without real ire. To tell the truth, Ray’s reference to the darkness made me think of the weird dark shape Kevin had captured on digital video.
Our interviews with the other vampires didn’t take long. No one knew squat about Laurel’s love life, and no one had seen her bring
“company” home. Yes, Laurel had tried to stir them against Donita, but they confessed to being increasingly afraid of Laurel. The madness having a trickle-down effect?
When Saber asked if the no sex, no biting policy made anyone angry, they told us it only ticked Laurel. Miranda and Charles had each other, of course, and couldn’t give a flipping fang about club policies. The rest of them were relieved. Why? It turned out that Coach, Tower, and Suzy were seeing the three blood bunnies, Claire, Barb, and Tessa. The blonde Amazon Zena? She was seeing the club’s day manager, a divorced forty-year old with a child.
Mama Zena? Yikes! Talk about scaring small children.
Before we left, Saber cautioned them all that Laurel could be extremely dangerous and to be on their individual and collective guards. That duty discharged, we left.
In the car, Saber phoned Jackson to report he was bringing evidence into the station. Jackson said he’d wait for us, and that he’d call an evidence tech to take samples from us to account for any extra hairs, skin, and whatnot. Miranda was likely the only other vamp to darken Laurel’s bedroom door, and her DNA would be on file with the VPA. Hers and Ray’s. We gave our samples, then talked with Jackson in the break room about our theory that, although Laurel probably didn’t kill Ike herself, she was an accessory to murder. Saber also shared that the VPA agents in Atlanta were storming Vlad’s nest, and that we were waiting to hear the results.
“You’re positive Donita Ward had nothing to do with it?”
“Captain,” I said, “Laurel tried to make it look like Donita had robbed those tourists. Setting Donita up for murder would be a cinch, especially with a vampire accomplice.”
“I can’t say I disagree, I just wish this case weren’t so damned messy.” He tapped his pen on the table where his cup of coffee sat cold. “I’ll call her tomorrow. Let her know she’s no longer a suspect.”
We left the station at ten and, because Saber’s stomach was making volcanic hunger noises, we stopped at an IHOP and got an isolated booth in the back. He ordered a huge breakfast: eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, hash brown potatoes, toast, and a side of pancakes. I had sweet tea heavy on the ice, and, though he let me pick at his pancakes, he glowered if my fork inched anywhere near the hash browns.
I finally put down my fork, crossed my arms on the table, and gave him the evil eye.
“All right, let’s have it. What is bugging you?”