As we pulled into line, I told Sandy about the text. “What’s Durholm Hall? I don’t think I remember it from when I lived here last.”
Sandy stared at the screen. “Crap. That’s where I suspect Rachel might be hanging out. Durholm Hall was a private estate at first. The Durholm family owned it—well, the last of the Durholm family. Sheila Durholm. She was a dryad. The house is like a massive ode to nature with a tree growing right through the center. The entire mansion was built around it. But Sheila developed root cancer and she willed the house to the Arborview Society.”
The Arborview Society was a fraternal order of woodland-oriented Otherkin. Dryads, centaurs, nymphs, earth witches, anybody whose focus was on the preservation of nature and the practice of earth and water magic was welcome. They were a generally peaceful but powerful group who kept to themselves. Yet their lobbying powers in Congress were a silent, quiet force behind the scenes. They had affected a number of human measures regarding the forest industry, but managed to work so far under the covers that practically nobody outside of Bedlam—at least nobody in the human world—had heard of them.
“Why would she be there? A vampire? You think they’d hide her?”
“No, I don’t. But the mansion has a number of tunnels beneath it. The perfect place for a vampire who’s rogue to hang out. Nobody lives there. It’s a day-use facility for their organization. Generally, they roll up the sidewalk at sunset and seldom start before sunrise from what I understand. Sheila died three years ago and I doubt if the Society has explored even half of what’s hidden below that old mansion.”
“What made you think of it? What made you think that Rachel might be hiding there?” I edged up toward the speaker. “What do you want?”
“Triple-shot large mocha with a dusting of cinnamon.”
I ordered that, and a quad-shot white chocolate peppermint mocha for me. As we rounded the corner toward the service window, I started to pull out my card, but Sandy shoved a twenty my way.
“Let me pay today. Tell her to keep the change. It’s the holiday season. She can’t make all that much money.”
“Okay, but I buy the next one.” I eased into place at the window, handing the barista the twenty. As I accepted the drinks and handed them over to Sandy, she nestled them into the cup holders. Then I pulled into an open space in the parking lot next to the mini-mall adjacent to the coffee shop.
Sandy yelped as she burned her tongue on the hot drink, leaving a mustache of white foam on her lip. “Yowch. You’d think I’d learn to be patient one of these days.”
“Yeah, well, you’d think we’d both learn that finding an unopened bottle of tequila doesn’t mean we have to make a pitcher of margaritas and then drink them down in one sitting. But we know that’s not going to happen. We’re both unbalanced as hell and we probably always will be.” I scrunched up my nose at her. “So now, tell me why you thought of Durholm Hall.”
“Well, I was trying to think of all the best places on the island for a vampire to hide out. I realized there are far more than I could possibly come up with, so I began correlating what we knew. Rachel, as much as she’s a vampire, doesn’t seem the type to want to hide out with the worms and bugs in a cave. She probably wants to be near your house, given the object of her obsession is there. And did you forget? Aegis and the band are playing at a benefit for the Arborview Society for New Year’s—they’ll be right there in the hall.”
I blinked. How had that slipped my mind? “I’ve been so focused on the bed and breakfast that I haven’t paid much attention to his band schedule. If she’s there, it means easy access.”
“There’s more. I decided to do a little digging, since I had some free time this morning. I searched for Rachel on Wyrdwix.”
Wyrdwix was a Pretcom-oriented search engine. While it rivaled the other big ones, it also gave higher priority to the Pretcom and nature and focused on information not readily available to humans. Most of the humans hadn’t even caught on that it existed, though a few diehard ghost-busting types had, and word was slowly leaking out.
“What did you find?”
“Rachel tried to buy Durholm Hall seven years ago. There was a scuffle between her and Sheila Durholm that resulted in Rachel being ousted from Bedlam. Apparently, Sheila threatened to stake her if she didn’t leave well enough alone, and Lena ordered Rachel to leave the island. Rachel didn’t belong to Lena’s court, of course, but she acquiesced.”
“Do you think Essie knows about that?”
“I don’t know, but Rachel isn’t supposed to even be here, given nobody lifted Lena’s sanctions against her. I think Linda has to know this. She and Lena were actually friends.”
“So, if Rachel wanted to buy Durholm Hall, there had to be a reason. I mean, there are a lot of estates on the island and some of them have been sitting empty for a few decades. Why not buy one of the other ones if she couldn’t buy Durholm?”
Sandy consulted her notes. “I think I can answer that. Durholm Hall is built over a vortex—a land vortex. That’s why the Arborview Society was so grateful that Sheila willed it to them. The earth energy there is strong. But it also acts as a gateway, from the bits and pieces of information that I found. There are rumors of something buried in the tunnels. A powerful artifact or gem, perhaps. I don’t know. But there’s something down there that amplifies power. Rachel is all about power.”
That made sense to me. “Maybe it’s something that would help her fight Essie for control. If Rachel is looking to oust the vampire queen and take her place, she’s going to need help. Essie is too strong, otherwise. And Essie has a small army behind her. Not just the members of her nest here, but the members of her court.”
“Do you think that they might be working together?” Sandy’s question jolted me out of my thoughts.
“Why do you say that?”
“Consider this: Essie tells us that Rachel is out for control. The coven’s concerned enough that we turn our attention in Rachel’s direction. Rachel, of course, stirs up trouble and we take her out. That leaves Essie free to move, to start her revolt while everybody’s focused on Rachel.”
I thought about it for a moment, but it didn’t track. “Unless Essie’s the best damned actress there is, that doesn’t track to me. But the idea that Rachel could be searching for something buried below Durholm Hall makes sense. I wish I’d asked Aegis more about her last night.”
“Well, do you want to go out to the hall?” Sandy’s tone was on the verge of a dare.
I thought about it for a moment. “Don’t you think that members of the Arborview Society are there right now? It’s only 1:00 p.m.”
“No, they’re closed for the holidays except for a Solstice bash and a New Year’s Eve party. We can sneak around the grounds and have a look, if nothing else.”
Laughing, I capitulated. “Remember, we have an Esbat meeting tonight that we need to get ready for.” I glanced at the clock. “We’ll go, but we have to leave there by four o’clock at the latest. If Rachel is hiding out, I don’t want to be around when she wakes up. Sunset falls at 4:18 today.”
“You know to the exact moment, huh?” Sandy let out a snort.
“Hey, I like to keep tabs on my boyfriend’s schedule.”
“Let’s get a move on, then. You dressed warm enough for this?”
I nodded. “Yeah, unfortunately I am. You know, the last time I went along with one of your bright ideas, I bought the house.”
Sandy laughed as she leaned back in her seat. “See? I know what I’m doing. Besides, you know our pact.”
“By heart. I still think we’re a couple of fools.” But I joined in as she started to sing. We had thought up the chant centuries before when we had sealed our friendship in a blood-bound oath, binding ourselves as sisters of the heart.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
To the adventure, we always aspire.
Though the flames may be harsh and the smoke may be thick,
Whatever may come, together we stick.