BloodGifted (11 page)

‘I’m so sorry
, Aunt Judy. Matt knows everything.’

Her face betrayed both s
hock and disappointment. ‘You had better come in then.’ She moved away from the door so we could enter and make our way into the living room. ‘Please, be seated.’ She pointed to a cream linen sofa. ‘How much do you know?’

Before Matt had a chance to answer, I told her what had happened at our meeting, including the way he found me. Aunt Judy sat tensed on the edge of a recliner, near me.

‘I see.’ She paused for a moment and appeared to be thinking.

‘I thought you wanted me to do the talking,’ Matt whispered.

‘Couldn’t help it!’ I shrugged.

‘And he changed in front of you?’
Aunt Judy asked.

‘A
t my urging, so it’s not his fault. I didn’t realise it would affect me like that. It was probably silly of me to ask it of him, but I wanted proof.’

‘There’s no need to defend the guy, Babe
.’ Matt pressed my knee, then turned to my aunt. ‘How long have you known this Alec Munro?’

‘Over fifty years.’

‘Quite a while. And in all that time, have you ever known him to be part of any organisation involving vampires? He ever talk about taking blood or killing, for instance?’

I guess there was
no way to be subtle about that, and for the first time I saw Matt, the policeman, in action.

She turned narrowed eyes onto him. ‘
He’s a doctor, Matthew. He often takes blood from patients! And he’s a member of many organisations, all medical and reputable!’

I didn’t lik
e the sudden chill in her voice but Matt seemed to ignore it and said, ‘Unfortunately, some of the most respectable people have been known to be killers.’ He briefly glanced at me. ‘We’ve had a string of murders lately. Bodies covered in puncture marks entirely drained of blood. So far we’ve managed to keep it from the media.’

She paled and her eyes widened even further. ‘I heard about those horrible murders,’ she said. ‘
But nothing about them being drained of blood. Is that why you’ve come here? To interrogate me?’

‘
I’m sorry, Judith, but after finding Laura distressed and bearing the signs of being manhandled by someone who claims to be a vampire, you can understand why I’m here!’

‘
That’s perfectly natural,’ a voice said.

I turned to see a tall, blonde-haired man enter the room and my jaw dropped. Not only w
as he extremely attractive, he looked young enough to be her son. Early to mid thirties perhaps? Carrying two steaming cups in his hands he walked over to my aunt, handed her one, then seated himself on the soft arm of her recliner. It was a casual, yet very intimate gesture.

So, this is the man Aunt Judy’s been hiding all these years!
My parents knew she had someone in her life, but nobody had ever met him. He was one of those open secrets, the one everyone knows about but doesn’t mention. Why? Was she worried about their obvious age difference? In this day and age? If I could have a younger boyfriend, why shouldn’t she?
Good for you, Aunt Judy
, I felt like saying.

He turned his head and smiled warmly at me
; his lavender eyes sparkled. My chest constricted. Should I tell Matt or let him make this wonderful discovery all on his own? I glanced at my aunt to see her looking poignantly at me, as though begging me to say nothing.

‘Ah, I’m forge
tting my manners,’ the man said and in one fluid motion, he rose, took two steps toward Matt and extended his hand. ‘My name is Lucien Lebrettan. My friends call me Luc. I’m a close friend of both Judith and Alec. We’ve known each other for many years,’ he said.

I stared up at him, open-mouthed.
This is the man who transformed Alec Munro, and he was my aunt’s boyfriend!
How old must he be
, I thought,
if he was my grandfather’s guardian!

I took a good, l
ong look at him as Matt rose and leaned forward to return the shake. ‘Detective Inspector Matthew Sommers.’

Odd, but
there was something strangely familiar about Lucien Lebrettan, yet I knew I’d never met him before and I had a pretty good memory for faces.

Next to me Matt tensed, t
he colour leached from his face and a bead of sweat appeared on his upper lip. His voice shook slightly as his eyes flicked between the three of us. Matt had just worked it out. ‘Your eyes! They’re the same colour. What is this?’

‘I tried to tell you, Matt.’

He shook his head. ‘There’s no such thing!’

‘No such thing as what, Detective?’ Luc asked as he resumed his seat next to my aunt.

‘Vampires! It’s a delusion.’

‘Interesting,
’ Luc replied. ‘You’d never contemplate the possibility of their existence?’

Aunt Judy and I exchanged looks. She was probably wondering
where Luc was headed with this as much as I was.

‘No! From my experience everything has a logical explanation and there are enough monsters in human form out there
without having to blame it on the supernatural.’

‘Very true. On the other
hand, it’s not good to have a closed mind.’

Matt’s eyes turned
icy-blue. ‘I don’t think I have a problem there.’

‘
I think you do and it’s clouding your judgement, so much so, that you’re questioning Laura’s intelligence and accusing my wife of either being a liar or delusional!’

Wife
!

Matt’s lips thinned.
‘I’m not questioning Laura’s intelligence nor her aunt’s belief in vampires. Clever charlatans can fool even those with the highest IQs and unless someone can show me to the contrary, that’s exactly what I’ll go on believing!’

‘Is that so?’
Luc’s eyes lightened and turned reptilian, while two pointy, white incisors slid down from his upper jaw.  ‘Time you believed, Detective!’

‘What the hell?
’ Matt jumped up and his hand went automatically to his hip—where his gun would be. He had to leave it at work when off duty.

‘You’re in no danger here, Detective
,’ Luc said. ‘Unless you threaten my family. Please, sit back down.’

Matt was breathing heavily and his
wide eyes stared into Luc’s before he did as he was asked.

In a blur of movement,
Luc appeared at the long glass cabinet where my aunt kept her knick-knacks, assortment of souvenirs, drinking glasses and brandy. He poured a glassful, came back and held it out to Matt. ‘Here, drink this. It’ll help.’ The fangs and reptilian eyes were gone.

Matt
’s eyes widened even further. He hesitated then took it from his hand and downed it in one go. ‘What the hell are you?’

‘What you refuse to believe in.’
Luc resumed his seat on the arm of the recliner he shared with Aunt Judy. I clasped Matt’s shaking hand.

‘It’s not possible!’ Matt exclaimed.

‘There’s no such thing,’ Luc retorted.

‘It’s a trick! It’s got to be.’ Matt stared hard at Luc’s face.

‘Would you like me to show you again, hang upside down from the ceiling, perhaps?’

‘Luc! That won’t be necessary.’
Judy placed her hand on his arm.

He could do that?

‘I know how difficult this is for you, Detective,’ Luc said. ‘But, “there are more things in heaven and earth” as Shakespeare so wisely put it!’ He smiled.

‘Knew him personally did you?’ Matt sarcastically asked.
His colour returned and although his hand shook slightly in mine, I could see him recovering his temper.

‘Actually—
’

Matt held up his hand, ‘I don’t want to know.’

Luc shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. Now, regarding these murders. They have nothing to do with my kind. For one thing, there are enough people in this city who give their blood voluntarily, so we don’t need to kill. This city is our home and I would like to keep it that way. We don’t need publicity as I’m sure you understand.’

‘Right now, I’m having trou
ble understanding what the hell you are! And I’m still not sure it isn’t all just a clever trick; some sort of illusion,’ he said.

‘In your line of work, you rely on evidence as well as your gut feelings
. What do they tell you?’

Matt stared at Luc for several minutes before lowering his head. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Yes, you do, but fear is holding you back.’

Matt’s he
ad shot up.

‘You’re having difficulty accepting what you don’
t understand and can’t control,’ Luc said.

A
unt Judy placed her hand on Luc’s arm, again. ‘I’m sorry you had to learn of this, Matthew, truly sorry.’ She gave me that disappointed look once more. If I could have crawled under a rock there and then, I would have. ‘This has been a secret among the Dantonvilles for generations, Laura. How could you have divulged it to someone who is not a member of the family? Wasn’t my warning enough?’

Again I cringed. What could I say?

‘It’s not Laura’s fault,’ Matt stated. ‘I insisted she tell me everything and she was in shock.’ He looked accusingly at her.

‘Understandable,’ Luc
said.

‘Matthew, you sim
ply showed up at the wrong time at the cathedral and in another few minutes Alec would have explained everything, I’m sure,’ Aunt Judy said.

‘Yeah well, he didn’t!’ Matt retorted.

My aunt had no reply.

‘You know the truth now, Detective,’ Luc said. ‘How are you going to use it?’

Matt sat in thought for a while. I squeezed his hand and he turned his head toward me. ‘I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. Guess I’m caught between that proverbial rock and a hard place!’

‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.

Matt squeezed my hand in return and looked up at Luc. ‘You know I can’t tell anyone. It would ruin my reputation.’

And my life,
I felt like adding.

Luc nodded.

‘Laura, dear, I think it’s time you went home. Matthew has a lot to think about.’

That was an understatement, but
she was right. It had been a long day and now it was developing into a long night as well. We’d had enough shocks to last a lifetime and the impact was only now beginning to settle.

‘
C’mon Matt, let’s go.’

He looked down at me. ‘
Yeah, we need to talk.’

We rose from the settee. ‘I may need to
question both of you further, in an official capacity. Please don’t leave the city,’ he said, his eyes on Lucien Lebrettan.

Aunt Judy remained seated
with Luc’s arm still around her. She hadn’t touched her drink. Neither of them moved as we made our way towards the front door.

‘Matt, I can’t just leave like his. Hold on a minute.’

Without waiting for his reply I went back to the living room. She and Luc looked up as I entered. ‘Aunt Judy, please don’t be angry with me…’

She rushed toward me with open arms, remorse etched on her face. ‘Oh, Laura dear, forgive me for that. I could never be angry with you
.’ She hugged me. ‘You were frightened and it’s perfectly reasonable that Matthew would want to know why.’

‘If only I hadn’t insisted Alec show me. I really a
m my own worst enemy sometimes.’

‘You always were the curious one.’ There was no hint of accusation. ‘But, never mind that now, dear. It’ll be all right.’ She glanced behind me. ‘Matthew’s waiting. I don’t envy you the drive home.’

I let out a deep breath and closed my eyes. Neither did I.

It was quiet in the car and Matt’s hands
clenched the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles gleamed white in the eerie dashboard lights.

‘Laura?’

‘Yes?’ I swivelled my head in his direction.

‘Sorry I didn’t believe you, Babe. I just…’

‘I know. You can’t help it. You’re so used to dealing with tangible evidence that when anything as weird as this comes up you need to find a logical explanation.’

We were driving through the centre of the city when Matt stopped the car in a loading zone.

‘Why are you stopping? You’ll get a ticket.’

He banged the steering wheel so har
d with the palm of his hand I jumped.

‘
My judgement has never been affected before! But this… this isn’t a normal situation!’ He reached out and placed his hand over mine. ‘I’ll never question you again.’

‘I’ll remind you of th
at.’

‘I
wanted to kill him, Laura. Shit! I was scared, and that’s just not me.’

‘I know, but
you’re only human, Matt. Who wouldn’t be affected being confronted by—well, the unnatural.’

He banged the steering wheel
again. ‘They’re real, they’re fuckin’ real!’ He rubbed his face with both hands. ‘And responsible for these murders.’