Blood and Guitars (37 page)

“Please continue Mr. Decker,” Officer Murray
encouraged.

“Just call me Trey.” Trey glanced at me for
encouragement and I squeezed his hand under the table. Then he
recounted the rest of the details, trying his best to ignore the
fact that all of the guys had silent tears streaming down their
faces before he finished.

“How could anyone do that?” Chase asked to no
one in particular. “Crash into someone and just leave them to
die?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
Murray turned to face Trey. “It’s true that someone might easily
mistake Mr. Leavy for you?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s possible.”

“You drive the same car.”

Trey nodded. “His is just a year older than
mine.”

“Your appearances are alike enough that you
might be mistaken for each other,” Officer Brenner added.

“I’d say there are a hundred girls within
five miles of this place who would beg to differ with you on that,”
O’Shea stated, sliding his cell phone across the table toward
Brenner. Brenner looked at O’Shea but didn’t respond.

“You are about the same height, same build.
Without a clear view it might be possible. From a distance, say?”
Murray offered.

“Both our cars have tinted windows,” Trey
stated. “I can’t deny that it would be possible to for someone to
think I was in that car.”

“You’re a big music hot shot,” Brenner added.
“Surely you’ve made some enemies on the road to stardom.”

“So many enemies that we don’t even have
hired security,” Jonas said dryly. It was the first he’d spoken
since we’d come in the room.

“If I were you, I might consider it,” Brenner
stated. Officer Murray rolled his eyes and waited for a
response.

“The truth is, you can’t make everybody
happy,” O’Shea said. “I haven’t heard of any crazy threats or
disgruntled fans lately, especially since we’ve been practically
living in the studio and haven’t been out and about much. But if
anything fishy were going on, Wes would have been the one to know
about it.”

“He wouldn’t have mentioned something like
that to you all?” Murray asked.

“Not if he didn’t feel it was a viable
threat,” O’Shea said in Wes’s defense. “That was part of his job,
and he was good at it.”

“We’re pretty honest with our fans,” Trey
added. “In return, they’re pretty honest with us. As far as I know,
they’re all anxiously awaiting our new album.” I understood
instantly why Trey wouldn’t want the police to be investigating the
disgruntled fan angle. It was one thing to mislead an investigation
to prevent putting more people in danger, but giving the police a
reason to investigate fans for Wes’s murder? That was too much.

Officer Murray passed around a piece of paper
for all of us to write our full names and phone numbers on in case
he had any further questions. Once that was done, he gave each of
us his card and dismissed us.

Trey and I followed O’Shea, Jonas and Chase
out into the hall. We were nearing the front doors when from behind
us, a woman called out Trey’s name. Trey paused and turned around,
causing the rest of us to do the same. It was Lisa, Wes’s
girlfriend. I’d only met her twice. First when she and Wes had come
to The Waking Moon, and then again briefly at the VMA’s, but she’d
been really nice to me. I released Trey’s hand so he could go to
her.

Trey gave Lisa a hug and I heard him mutter,
“I’m so sorry.”

Lisa nodded and stepped back, sniffling. She
studied Trey for a moment. “I … I just can’t believe he’s actually
gone.”

“Neither can I,” Trey said. Then Jonas and
O’Shea and Chase all stepped up to give her their condolences.

“You boys should know that Wes just thought
the world of you.” Lisa sniffled again. “He just wanted to make
sure you were all taken care of.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do without
him,” Jonas said.

“Yeah, he was sort of like a dad who looked
after us.” Chase wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“Wes would want you to know that he was
planning on spending the rest of his life with you,” Trey said.
Lisa looked at him with questioning eyes. “He was going to
propose,” Trey continued. “He uh … he had a ring.” Lisa’s hand went
to her mouth and fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. “He was just
waiting for the right moment.”

“He really told you that?” she asked.

Trey nodded, smiling at her through his
sadness. “He said he was keeping it in the top of his closet …
something about you being too short to find it up there.”

Lisa laughed then, which made everyone smile.
“Thank you,” she said to Trey. “It means a lot to me.”

“Just promise you’ll call us if you need
anything,” O’Shea said.

“Yeah,” Trey added. “And we’ll all be in
touch. Just don’t hesitate to call. Okay?” Lisa nodded and I
stepped forward.

“I’m really sorry,” I said to her. “I know
what it’s like to lose someone you love.”

“Thank you,” she said, forcing a smile. Then
she turned to look at Trey and the guys again. “Wes wouldn’t want
you guys to lose momentum on the album over him,” she said, trying
to be strong. “He was really excited to see the record finished.
Promise me you’ll stay focused, for Wes.” They all nodded
agreeably. Then Lisa put on a pair of sunglasses and let an officer
I didn’t recognize walk her out to the parking lot.

Trey sighed and put an arm around my
shoulders. “You ready to go?”

But I’d just smelled something on Lisa that
made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Another
vampire. “Just a second,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

He looked at me curiously but didn’t argue as
I stepped back toward the hallway. I followed my nose until it led
me to a small office not far from the interrogation room we’d just
been in. The officer sitting behind the desk looked up in surprise
as I stepped in the doorway.

“I’m going to assume that you know who I am,”
I said slowly.

He gave me an amused smile, looking me over.
“I’d have to be a complete idiot not to recognize you. You and your
human are quite notorious now. Please come in.” I stepped inside
and closed the door behind me. “It’s Aurora, isn’t it? I’m Mike. I
admit I’m a little surprised you came here. Our kind usually avoids
the police.”

“Apparently not all of us,” I said. “You know
just as well as I do that vampires are responsible for killing
Weston Leavy,” I stated.

“You’re right, of course,” he said with a
heavy sigh. “But if you’ve come to me looking for information, I’m
sorry but I’ll have to disappoint you. I overheard a phone call
from the Medical Examiner citing the man’s cause of death as a
broken neck, but that does little to narrow the gap. There are a
lot of vampires out there right now who would like to remove the
human threat, as they’re calling your boyfriend.”

“Then you can help me spread the word,” I
stated. “The Synod has been informed that he’ll be one of us on the
next full moon.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re changing
him?”

“Yes, and he is under my protection. Our kind
would do well to leave his friends alone unless they mean to
incriminate themselves. Attacks on humans like this will do more to
risk exposing our kind than anything I might have done by dating a
human. I’m sure you can see how we’d all benefit if the vampires
responsible were caught and brought before the Synod.”

“That is true,” he answered.

“I will be keeping a close eye on the
investigation, as the Synod will expect of me. I’ve already
reported the situation to the Emissary.”

“Then we have an understanding,” I said. He
nodded and I opened the door and went to find Trey.

Trey was waiting alone for me in the lobby of
the police station. He gave me a curious look as I approached.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you in the car. Where did everyone
go?”

“They took off. Everyone needs time to deal
with this.” Trey led me out into the parking lot. Several policemen
were trying to ward off photographers who wanted a shot of
Catalyst’s front man and his girlfriend leaving the police station.
Trey attempted to shield me from the cameras, but I doubted it was
possible to hide completely. I didn’t care at that point. The
damage had been done days ago.

“There’s a vampire in the police,” I said
once we were back in Trey’s car. “But he doesn’t know any more
about who did this than we do.”

Trey sighed. “A vamp in the police?
Really?”

“The Synod strategically places vamps all
over in order to keep an eye on things. It makes sense that the
police force would be one of those places.”

“Did he know anything else?”

“The medical examiner determined the official
cause of death.” I hated being the one to break the news to him,
but he deserved to know the truth.

“What? What did he say?”

“Wes’s neck was broken,” I said, hoping he
could see in my eyes how sorry I was.

“My neighbor said Wes was fighting the guys
who pulled him from his car,” Trey said. “Do you think they
realized he wasn’t me and panicked?”

“It stands to reason,” I admitted. “Maybe
they’d shown themselves to him. They wouldn’t have been able to
wipe his memory of them if the sun was up, unless they’re really
old. Doing stuff like that during the day only comes with the power
of age. The thing is, older vamps don’t usually do things like
this.” I’d already considered abandoned fledglings as a
possibility, but since it wasn’t likely there was a group of them
running around together, it didn’t quite fit.

Trey didn’t comment, but he pulled out into
the road and two different vehicles containing photogs pulled out
behind us.

“Can we lose them?” I asked. Being followed
made me more than a little uncomfortable, even if it was by a bunch
of harmless humans.

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all
day.”

Trey was looking for a distraction. The last
thing he wanted to do was to go back home to watch the ongoing
investigation into Wes’s murder. I would have suggested my place,
but I had a feeling that Trey needed something a little more
therapeutic than a vampire dwelling.

“How about we take a little ride?”

“You got it.” Trey took a sharp left, cutting
off another car and nearly causing an accident. He checked to make
sure I was okay, but he wasn’t exactly apologetic. He took another
left at the next road. I was starting to think he was getting that
I wasn’t nearly as fragile as he’d always believed.

“Careful Andretti,” I said, seeing that the
photogs were no longer following.

“What? You scared?” he looked at me then,
with the first glimpse of a smile I’d seen for most of the
morning.

“I drive like this every night, but I have
the reflexes to back it up.”

A reckless grin spread across Trey’s lips and
he turned his attention back to the road. If this was his way of
dealing with Wes’s murder, who was I to tell him different? “Just
do me a favor and don’t get yourself killed. I’m sort of getting
used to the idea of keeping you around for a while.”

He laughed then and I couldn’t decide whether
to be relieved by the familiar sound or worried. Trey turned the
car stereo on and we drove for quite a while. I smelled the sea
salt long before we pulled into a parking lot near the beach. Trey
parked but didn’t get out. Instead he sat there, watching the waves
with a vacant look behind his eyes that both scared and saddened
me. It was like the fight was going out of him. I climbed out of
the car, determined not to let that happen. Trey just watched me
for a moment as I went around to the driver’s side and opened his
door.

“Come on, the fresh air will do you
good.”

He took my hand and let me pull him to his
feet. I led him down to the water where I kicked off my shoes. I
looked at him expectantly and he only hesitated briefly before he
did the same. We wandered along the shore, hand in hand, like you
see people do in the movies. There was a comfortable silence
between us, joined only by the squawking of seagulls and the
crashing of the rolling waves.

“Lisa’s right, you know,” I said after a
while. “Wes would have wanted you guys to keep working. I don’t
mean today, but after you’ve had time to deal with everything.”

“I know.” Trey’s footsteps paused. He pulled
me around to face him, sighing as he gazed over my head at the vast
ocean. He wanted to ask me something, but I got the feeling he was
afraid of the answer. He pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it
before holding it against his chest. His heart hammered in my ears
and against my palm.

“Hey,” I said, cupping his face with my free
hand. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch, lowering his
chin. “You know you can tell me anything, right? Things are going
to be hard enough if we’re not keeping stuff from each other.”

He furrowed his brow, studying me intently.
“Am I going to have to quit the band?” he asked.

I considered his question for a moment before
I answered. “Actually, the best thing for the other guys will be to
have you nearby,” I said. “Once you’re a vampire, you’ll be better
able to protect them, and now that our worlds are colliding they’ll
probably need it. I’m sorry all of this is happening because I
wasn’t strong enough to walk away from you in the beginning, but
I’m going to do everything in my power to help you keep things as
normal as possible.” Trey nodded, and I wondered if he was thinking
that our definitions of normal might not match up exactly. If he
was thinking it, he didn’t say it. “You would not be the man I know
and love if you weren’t making music,” I said, forcing him to meet
my gaze. “It’s what you were born to do. You wouldn’t even be
yourself without the band.”

“It makes me sick to think about having to
leave the band, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I
have no idea what I’m getting in to. I don’t know the first thing
about being a vampire, let alone trying to hide it from the guys.
I’m a musician, not an actor. I still don’t know how you hid it so
well from me.” Trey sighed again, his frustration radiating off of
him. “Even if you tried to teach me everything I need to know to
survive in your world, we’ll be going on tour soon and I don’t know
if I could go out on the road like that. I just don’t know how I
would pull it off. I don’t think I’m strong enough.”