BY THE TIME I woke up, Aegis was gone to his lair. I drowsily remembered him escorting me upstairs, where I promptly fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I blinked, pushing myself to a sitting position, squinting as I glanced out the French doors leading onto my balcony. Even from here, I could see the snow falling heavy and thick. I pulled the blankets up around my neck, not wanting to get out of bed into the chill that pervaded the room.
“Murp?” Bubba bounced onto the bed, landing solidly by my side.
“I’m getting up, yes. You’ll get your food. Just give me a moment.” I yawned, stretching, then pulled Bubba to me and scratched him behind the ears. He purred, shifting so that I could reach the good spots. The next moment, he was drooling on my arm. Happy drool, I called it, when his cat nature overtook his cjinn nature and he reveled in all things feline. “You like that, don’t you? Hmm, boy? Good boy.”
He rolled out of my arms and onto his back, exposing his belly. I thought for a moment about rubbing it and wishing Rachel voted off the island but, considering the potential for backfire, I decided to forgo that little pleasure.
“Thanks for the offer, Bub, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. Come on, let me get dressed and then we’ll head downstairs.” I bit the bullet, throwing back the covers. The chill of the morning hit me full force and I groaned, shivering as I made my way to the bathroom where I turned on the shower full force. As the room began to fill with steam, I made sure my bedroom door was locked. Ralph might be in jail, but his stunt had left me paranoid. With Aegis asleep, I didn’t want to have to face any new unwanted visitors.
“Bubba, dude, can you watch the door for me?”
“M’rrow.” He took up his post, guarding the door with a stare so intense it was almost comical. He had a way of frowning that reminded me of a grumpy troll.
I wasn’t sure what he could do if something came through, but I wouldn’t put it past him to have a repertoire of attacks, even if he just latched onto an ankle and bit. Feeling a little more secure, I draped my robe over the back of my vanity chair and stepped under the steaming water. The pulse beat down on my back, and I finally began to loosen up. My body felt sore—and it wasn’t just from wild monkey sex with Aegis. Apparently, I was holding onto far too much tension. My muscles were all knotted up. I turned the showerhead to “pulse” and let the throbbing water pound against the back of my neck and shoulder blades. It wasn’t quite as good as a massage, but it helped.
Ten minutes later, I lathered up my hair and rinsed it out, then turned off the water and cautiously emerged from the shower. Wrapping a towel around me, I lowered myself to the chair, leaning my elbows on the granite counter. Running over things in my mind, I took stock of the situation.
One: I needed to furnish the Bewitching Bedlam so I could open on time.
Two: I had to assess the damage Rose’s death had caused to my reputation and start deflecting any collateral damage. Speaking of Rose, I had to—three—go see her parents. I’d call Sandy in a little while and go over that.
Four: the coven was having a meeting tonight, since we were on the verge of a full moon, and I needed to prepare for the Esbat.
Five: I should talk to Delia and ask her what she learned from Linda.
Six: Ralph was sitting in jail for a crime I was pretty sure that he didn’t commit, and I felt like there had to be some way I could help prove him innocent. But a little niggle of doubt flickered in the back of my mind. What if he had killed Rose? Even if he had been in thrall, he would be the one to face the harshest part of the punishment. If we caught the vampire—my guess was Rachel—who enthralled him, the Moonrise Coven could mete out its own punishment. But still, the law of the land would see Ralph punished far harsher than her, if he had been her triggerman.
All of these thoughts jumbling together in my mind, I combed out my hair and began to dry it. By the time I had my makeup on and my hair done, the warmth from the steam was wearing away. I slid into my robe and padded back into the bedroom. Deciding jeans and a turtleneck would work well for the day, I dressed and pulled on a pair of rumble boots. I clattered downstairs to feed Bubba and get some breakfast. It was time to start the day.
“DAMN IT.” I was staring at my computer.
“What’s wrong?” Franny appeared beside me.
I steadied myself. I was starting to get used to her popping in and out.
“I haven’t checked my email in several days and now I find two cancellations for our opening weekend. We only have one guest room left booked.” I gnawed on my pencil, trying to decide how best to approach this. I scribbled down a note to refund their deposit and stared glumly at the screen.
“Do you think they heard about Rose’s death yesterday?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. They’re both locals from Bedlam, so my guess is probably. Either that or Ralph’s trash-talking campaign is working. Either way, it sucks.”
I glanced at my reservation planner. Hoping our one remaining guest wouldn’t take it into her head to cancel as well, I jammed the planner back on the shelf above my desk and quickly glanced over the rest of my to-do list. Except for furniture, the inn was pretty much ready to open. We still needed a lot of landscaping done, but that wouldn’t happen till the spring.
“Is there anything I can do?” Franny’s offer was tentative, but it was the first time she had shown any interest in the bed and breakfast and she seemed genuinely concerned.
“Thanks, Franny. I appreciate the offer, but unless you can scare up customers or quench the rumors going around, I don’t think so. But thank you.”
“All right. But if you need anything. Well, I’ll let you think.” Franny silently vanished.
As I sat back, deciding what to do next, my phone rang.
“Yo, Maddy.” Sandy’s voice was perky but breathless. “I thought we could go over to talk to Rose’s parents this afternoon. I really don’t want to wait much longer.”
I rubbed my forehead. A headache was rapidly brewing. “You’re right.” I glanced at the clock. “It’s ten now. I need to run a few errands. Meet you at the Blue Jinn at noon?”
“Sounds good. We can take your car—you’re better at driving in the snow than I am—and you can drop me off at the diner afterward. Listen, I’ve been thinking about where Rachel could be staying and I have a couple ideas. I’ll run them by you on the way to the Williamses’ house.”
I knew exactly what that meant. “You aren’t thinking we should perhaps pay a visit to her if we can find her, are you? That I should unleash Mad Maudlin: Vampire Hunter again?” Visions of old crypts and mausoleums and creeping through a cobweb-shrouded labyrinth flashed through my mind.
“Why not? Rachel can’t do anything to us during the day, can she? And if we can find her and stake her, well, problem solved.” Sandy sounded so matter of fact that I hated to burst her bubble.
“Aren’t you forgetting the treaty Linda set up with Essie?”
“That doesn’t cover Rachel since she’s not part of Essie’s court.”
“True, but even though by rights we could take her out, we just can’t go around staking vampires right and left. How do you think that’s going to go down if we just willy-nilly stake somebody we think is behind this? We have no real proof right now.”
Sandy snorted. “Proof, schmoof. For one thing, Essie herself said that Rachel’s not welcome in her court. And second, we both know that Rachel’s the ultimate reason Rose is dead. So we find her, stake her, and say nothing. Nobody’s going to know. There won’t be any proof left behind except a pile of ashes, and those are easy enough to clear away.”
I pressed my lips together, mulling over the idea. It would take care of the issue, and it wasn’t like I didn’t have the experience behind me. But this was different. If I staked Rachel without ever telling Aegis and he later found out, it could destroy our relationship. And the truth was, we didn’t have any proof.
“Sandy, this isn’t the 1700s. We have to do this through the proper channels.”