Baited Blood (21 page)

TWENTY-FIVE

T
he three of them—Doug, Dodie, and Madison—waited for any sign of Hyun and Libby with impatience. Only Samuel seemed cool and collected. He was stretched out on one of the beds without his sunglasses, watching CNN.

Soon after entering their room, they had discovered a connecting door to room 107.

“This is going to help us hear better,” commented Dodie. “The door will be much thinner than the wall.” She pulled a stethoscope from her large handbag and wrapped it around her neck. “This will help, too. We want to hear everything.”

It was Samuel’s idea to get the Dedhams involved. Both of them had sensitive hearing. The first part of the plan was to try to overhear any conversation between Hyun and Libby to determine what might be going on in Lady’s household, including the identity of Lady. The second half involved breaking in on the couple and taking Libby by force.

“I still don’t understand, Samuel,” Doug said after peeking out into the parking lot from behind the drapes, “why we don’t just grab the girl and take her back to your place. We can question her better there.”

Samuel never took his eyes off the TV. “Because she’s more likely to give up information to Hyun when she feels safe. I want to hear as much out of her as possible before she feels threatened or trapped.” From the bed, he looked up at Doug. “Who knows, depending on what we hear, maybe I’ll change my mind about taking her at all. Maybe I’ll let Libby return to the castle so as not to disrupt whatever Lady has in mind. It might bring it to a head faster.”

Madison checked the lock on the connecting door, then went to her bag. Digging out a long, thin metal nail file, she went back to the door and began working the lock. The three vampires watched her with interest but said nothing, choosing instead to shoot silent looks between themselves.

It took Madison a full five minutes of concentration, but finally she heard the lock click. Turning the door handle, she pulled the connecting door open, revealing a room on the other side much like their own but with only one large bed instead of two.

Samuel got off the bed and looked through the door into room 107. “Well, Madison, there’s another talent we didn’t know you possessed.”

“What can I say? Every useful skill I have, I learned in foster care, this one at the hands of Orly Thomas, a master thief by the time he was fourteen.”

Samuel closed the connecting door, then opened it again, making sure the lock didn’t reengage upon closure. “That could come in very handy.”

Doug agreed. “Certainly less noticeable than pounding on the front door.”

When he wasn’t keeping watch out the window, Doug studied the room. While not an expensive motel room, it also wasn’t a dive. It was clean and comfortable, with matching furnishings and dark floral comforters on the bed that matched the drapes. Even the carpet was clean and freshly vacuumed. On the table was a vinyl portfolio containing brochures of various Los Angeles area attractions and menus from nearby restaurants.

“There’s something about being in a motel,” Doug observed. “They always make me randy.”

“Douglas!” Dodie snapped.

“Oh, come on, Dodie. You and I have had some wild times in rented rooms. Even before you became a vampire.” In spite of herself, Dodie giggled.

“Ugh,” Madison said in disgust. “What is wrong with you people? You’re supposed to be my grandparents.”

“Doug’s right. There’s something wicked and fun about motel rooms, especially during the day.” Samuel playfully grabbed Madison around the waist and buried his head into her neck, making wet, noisy kissing sounds. “Maybe we should have gotten two rooms. After all, I am your husband.”

Madison pushed him away, straining to keep a straight face. “Don’t make me pull out the bloodroot.”

“Shh,” Dodie cautioned them. They all froze. “I just heard a car pull up outside.”

Doug peeked out the window. “She’s right. It’s Hyun.”

In two strides, Samuel was next to Doug. “And the girl?”

“No sign of her. Hyun’s heading for the office. Probably going to check in.”

A short time later, Doug reported, “A woman just drove up—dark hair, silver Honda.”

“That’s her,” Madison confirmed.

“Hyun’s returning, and she’s getting out of the car to greet him.” He paused. “She looks very upset.”

Samuel gave a signal for everyone to be quiet. Dodie got into position by the connecting door, her stethoscope ready to be pressed into service.

Even without special hearing, they could all hear Libby saying something to Hyun in a high, rushed voice while he opened the door to the room.

“She just told him something bad is going on at the castle,” Doug reported in a whisper. “He pushed her inside and shut the door.”

Dodie applied the stethoscope to the flat surface of the connecting door. “She is very upset,” she whispered. Doug, Samuel, and Madison gathered close to Dodie. “He’s trying to calm her down.”

“Is it about Lady?” asked Samuel.

Dodie held up a hand, telling him to wait a minute. “Yes, something about new vampires at the castle … several new vampires showing up last night.” She listened in again. “Libby told Hyun he was right, something bad is about to happen, but she doesn’t know what. She also told him she’s sure Lady killed Parker and Duff.”

Samuel straightened with interest.

Dodie listened several moments more before reporting again. “Oh, that poor child.”

“What?” asked Madison in a frantic whisper.

“Hyun is very angry because Libby has several bad bite marks on her neck. She said last night the new vampires got out of control when there weren’t enough consorts for them all.” She listened again.

Madison grabbed Samuel’s arm. “We can’t let her go back there.”

“I quite agree with Madison,” added Doug. “Mike’s our friend. We have to protect Libby.”

Samuel indicated to Dodie to get out of the way. Putting one hand on the doorknob, he quickly pushed open the connecting door and rushed into the next room, fangs bared and ready. Behind him were Dodie and Doug, also in attack mode. With catlike reflexes, Hyun jumped over the bed where Libby lay crying, to get between her and the threat. In his hands was a large handgun trained on Samuel’s heart.

“No!” yelled Madison. She rushed into the room on Samuel’s heels.

“Do what you want with me,” Hyun said, his voice even and under control. “But leave her be.”

Samuel put away his fangs, but his eyes never left Hyun’s face. “We’ll discuss you later. Right now, I want to know everything about Lady and her plans.”

Dodie and Madison helped Libby get up and sit in the chair by the table. She was weak and pale, and one of the bite marks was oozing. Dodie went into the bathroom and returned with a warm, wet facecloth and soap. “Let me see them, dear.” She shot a stern look at Samuel. “In spite of Mr. La Croix’s bluster, we are here to help you.”

Libby looked up at Samuel, focusing on him for the first time. “You—you’re Samuel La Croix?”

“That I am.”

“I … I overheard your name last night. I was going to tell Hyun.”

Dodie tugged gently at Libby’s V-neck sweater. “You’ll need to remove your top, Libby, if I’m to clean your wounds properly.”

Hyun moved over to Libby. “Why don’t you let Mrs. Dedham take you into the bathroom and fix you up. Then you can answer questions.”

“No,” said Samuel. “She’ll remain here and do both at the same time.”

Hyun straightened and faced Samuel, his face hard with defiance. “I’ll not have you all ogling Libby like a piece of meat. She’s had enough of that.”

“No, Hyun, it’s okay. I’ll stay.” Libby lifted her sweater and, with some effort and help from Madison, managed to pull it over her head.

When she did, everyone, vampire and beater alike, gasped. Unlike her neck, which had two large, nasty bites, Libby’s chest, including her full, round breasts, was covered with small pairs of fang bites like multiple nicks made by a small, sharp knives held parallel. The cups of her pink bra were dotted with bloodstains.

“Libby,” Dodie asked gently. “Are there bites in other places, too?”

Her eyes cast downward, Libby nodded.

Hyun’s jaw tightened and his eyes blazed. He pointed the gun back at Samuel. “I should kill you all for this.”

“No, Hyun.” Madison wedged herself between Samuel and the gun. “They really want to help. Libby is Mike Notchey’s sister.”

Keeping his gun on Madison and Samuel, Hyun asked, “Is it true, Libby? Is Mike Notchey, the LA cop, your brother?”

“He was,” she answered, dissolving into more tears. “But he’s dead.”

Dodie stopped dabbing at Libby’s wounds. “No, dear, he’s not. And he’s a very good friend of ours.”

“But Gus said he was killed—shot because of me.”

“He was shot,” explained Doug. “But he lived through it. After he got out of the hospital, my wife here nursed him back to health.”

Libby looked up into Dodie’s face for confirmation. The older woman nodded, her face full of kindness. “He’s fine, Libby. And he’s been looking for you all these years. Even Samuel here has tried to help him.”

Ignoring Hyun’s gun, Samuel moved from behind Madison and knelt in front of Libby. He took her hands gently in his own. “We’re going to take you to Mike, but first we need to know what Lady has planned.”

Madison left and went back into the other room, where she retrieved a piece of folded paper from her bag. It was a printout of Julie Argudo’s photo. After dinner with Chuck and Joni, she’d done more research on the vampire database and had printed out the profile to show it to Samuel. She’d brought the photo today to show Libby.

“Is this Lady?” Madison unfolded the paper and showed it to Libby.

Libby studied it a long while before answering. “It looks sort of like her, but it’s not. That’s Julie.”

Samuel squeezed Libby’s hands. “How do you know Julie Argudo?”

“I … I worked for her for a short time, right after Gus died. Not as a consort but as a maid. When she died, King Leopold hired me as a consort for his court. The pay was much better.”

“Are you sure Julie’s dead?” Doug asked.

“Yes,” Libby answered, looking from Samuel to Doug. “I saw it happen.”

Hyun put a hand on Libby’s shoulder. “You never told me this.”

“It was before we met and something I wanted to forget.”

“How did Julie die?” urged Doug.

Everyone could tell Libby didn’t want to talk about it. Samuel stared into her eyes for several beats of her heart, then said, “It’s okay, Libby. We don’t need to know. She’s dead, and that’s it. It’s Lady we’re interested in now. Tell us, please, what name does she go by?”

“We’re not allowed to speak it. She insists we call her Lady. She’s told us all if we ever tell people about her, she’ll kill our families.” Libby looked over at Hyun. “Or anyone we care about.”

“Is that why Keleta won’t say anything?” Madison asked. “Because he’s afraid for his family?”

“Yes. Lady tracked his family down and showed him photos to prove she knew where they were. I know because he once told me when we were together. She does that to all the new vampires and consorts to bind them to silence. But that’s no different than other vampires. You all hold our tongues with death threats of one kind or another.”

It was true. As Madison stood in the motel room listening to Libby, she remembered being threatened with death if she betrayed the vampires. Threats from the very creatures she lived with, worked for, and almost made love to.

Samuel asked, “Does Lady know about you and Hyun?”

She shrugged, then winced from the bites. “I don’t know. He and I have been very careful about our relationship, both here and at Leopold’s, even before I was employed by Lady. But she could have spies. She’s never said anything to me about it, but I think she’s aware Hyun is your bodyguard.”

Samuel scrunched his brows and kept his eyes on Libby. “How do you know that?”

“Because of what I heard last night. It sounds like she’s been following you. If she has, she knows who your driver is.”

“What else did you hear last night, Libby?” asked Samuel with intensity. “I know you heard something. Let’s start with what you heard about me.”

Libby swallowed. “I was outside Lady’s room on my way to my assignment for the evening. I overheard her joking with Adam, one of her new favorites. She told Adam she was close to exposing you—that it would happen soon and that she’d be killing two birds with one stone. That’s exactly how she put it. She also said she was going to draw names to see which of the new vampires would die next.” She paused. “They both laughed. Adam’s as crazy as she is. He’s the one who did this to me.” She started sobbing. “He and a new guy named Coby.”

The muscles in Hyun’s neck nearly popped from anger. He tried to intervene, but Samuel stopped him.

“It’s okay, Libby, tell us.”

Libby’s nose was running. Dodie dashed into the bathroom and returned with a wad of tissue. Libby blew her nose.

“This morning,” Libby continued, “when most of the vampires were asleep, Adam came into my room and did this.” She indicated the hundreds of tiny bites. “He said it was like snacking on peanuts—once you started, it was hard to stop. Then he called in Coby and he joined in.”