Magic & Memory (21 page)

“That’s a good idea, actually,” Augustine said cheerfully, but Alastair saw there was no malice behind it.

“So, Joey,” Lu said, “Are you saying you
want
to stay here and babysit me?”

“What I
want
,” Joey said through clenched teeth, “is for Satan over there to die a painful, horrible death, preferably in the next three seconds. But since Alastair has apparently lost his mind and is actually cooperating with that psychopath instead of ripping his head off, I guess we do have to drag you out into harm’s way so I can watch his back.”

Alastair ignored that and said, “Joey, take Lu and go get the car. I want to speak to Augustine for a moment, then we’ll meet you downstairs.” His voice radiated quiet authority.

Joey grabbed a wooden stake from the waistband of his jeans and drove it through the wall of the motel room with incredible force, then stormed out the door. Lu followed him.

Joey was furiously pacing at one end of the parking lot when she got downstairs. He pushed his short hair back with both interlaced hands. “I should just kill him,” he was muttering. “I should just stake him and let Alastair be angry with me. If I don’t, something terrible is going to happen to Alastair. To all of us.”

Lu went and sat on the hood of the Impala and let him rant.

Meanwhile upstairs, Alastair plucked the stake from the wall and tossed it into Joey’s duffle bag. Then he turned to his maker. “Am I wrong to trust you around Lu? Are you going to hurt her?”

Augustine said, “I won’t hurt her, I swear,” and Alastair could see he was telling the truth. “I’m done trying to control your life, Alastair. If that human girl is what you want, then by all means, enjoy.”
Besides, she’ll be dead in a few decades because you’ll never turn her into a vampire. But I’ll still be here.
Alastair of course heard the thought as clearly as if Augustine had spoken it.

“Don’t kill Joey either,” Alastair said, and Augustine sighed.

“I won’t. He’s incredibly annoying, but I know he means a lot to you.”

Alastair studied his maker for a long moment. The blonde vampire’s mind was quiet, calm, resigned. And he looked utterly harmless. Alastair knew this was a false perception -- Augustine
was
dangerous. He knew he shouldn’t trust this person. But trusting his maker came as naturally as trusting Joey, with whom he’d immediately felt at ease.

Then Augustine said, “We’re burning moonlight, Alastair. Let’s go catch a werewolf.” And he headed out the door.

The four of them loitered at the back of a crowded bar on Pacific Avenue. Augustine had compelled the bouncer to let them in, since they all appeared under age.

          “So we’re here because this place reeks of werewolf,” Lu said after a while, swirling the ice in her soda glass. “And yet there are no werewolves. How long were we going to wait for one to show up, exactly?”

          “Patience,” Augustine said, his blue eyes scanning the bar patrons. “It’s still early.”

          “And if you can smell them, doesn’t that mean they can also smell you, too? Maybe they’ll steer clear if they catch the scent of vampires,” Lu said.

          “You’re right about that,” Augustine told her. “Which is why I worked a little spell to obscure our scents.”

          “You can do that?” Lu asked suspiciously.

          “Sure, that’s relatively easy. I’m woefully inept at most magic, though. Unless you’re born a witch or warlock, you can never really excel at it. But over the centuries I
have
picked up a little trick or two.” Augustine levelly met her gaze. “I just can’t do anything too complicated. I couldn’t, for example, ever master a spell to wipe a vampire’s memories.”

          Lu raised an eyebrow at him, then went back to fidgeting. After another few minutes she asked, “Is it really going to take four of us to capture one werewolf?” as she shifted impatiently from one foot to another.

          Augustine smiled at her, his eyes sparkling. “I like how you include yourself in that number, Lulu. Are you going to pull his tail while we wrestle him into the trunk of the car?”

          “No, I’m bait, remember?” Lu’s tone was sarcastic. “And by the way, it’s
Lu
, not Lulu.”

         
I see what you like about her. She’s a feisty little thing,
Augustine thought with amusement, and Alastair glanced at him.

          Alastair remained silent, watching the crowd and subtly sniffing the air. Joey meanwhile stood fuming nearby with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, grinding his teeth.

          A few minutes later Augustine said quietly, “Incoming. Seven of them, far end of the bar.”

          “
Seven
of them?” Lu asked.

          “Werewolves are such predictable pack animals. They never do anything alone. Lu, go see if you can cull one from the herd,” Augustine said, eyeing the group of men across the room.

          “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Alastair shifted nervously.

          “Well,
you
could do it,” Augustine told Alastair, “but you’re probably not their type. Then again, maybe you are. You just never know these days.”

          “I can do it,” Lu insisted. “I’ll try to get one outside.”

          “I’ll be in the parking lot.” Augustine headed toward the door.

          “Well, ok. But I’ll be close by,” Alastair said. “If I think there’s any danger I’ll move in immediately.”

          Lu took a deep breath and made her way, she hoped casually, toward the group of men. They were all in their mid-twenties, dressed in sneakers, jeans, and flannel shirts, and appeared to be perfectly ordinary at first glance. But on closer inspection she noticed the way their nostrils flared slightly as they took in the room.

She pushed up beside the youngest looking one in the group and loudly ordered a large black coffee in a to-go cup from the pretty blonde bartender, then made up a quick lie and said to the werewolf, “Scary crowd tonight. Some jerk kept looking at me like I was dinner.”

The man turned to her with a grin. His eyes were dull, animalistic, his teeth slightly elongated and yellowed, and he said, “You can never be too careful. Lots of real monsters out there.” He chuckled to himself as if he’d just said something hilarious.

Ha ha,
thought Lu.
Real funny, werewolf.

Lu thought about flirting with him -- but she actually had no idea how to flirt. So instead she said, “I’m just on my way out. Not to sound paranoid or anything, but would you mind walking me to my car? I’m kind of worried about that guy lurking around outside.”

The bartender gave her the coffee and Lu handed over a couple bills, then took the lid off the cup and left it on the bar.

Meanwhile the werewolf, obviously thinking it was his lucky night, said with a lecherous grin, “No problem, babe. I’ll make sure the big bad wolf isn’t waiting to eat you up.”

Oh yeah,
thought Lu,
this guy’s a riot.

“Be back in a few minutes,” he told his companions, who eyed Lu up and down before grinning at their pack mate. He steered her through the crowd with a palm on her back, then slid his hand lower and copped a quick feel as they reached the door.

Lu’s hackles raised, but she said nothing as she led him to the parking lot at the back of the building.

“Which one’s your car?” the werewolf asked as they rounded the corner into the lot.

“The blue one,” she lied, stopping and pretending to adjust the zipper on her boot.

The werewolf took a few more steps into the parking lot, saying, “Which blue--”

He stopped talking abruptly as something alerted him. Realizing it was a trap, he spun on his heel.

The werewolf intended to run right past Lu. But she flung her steaming hot coffee directly onto the front of his jeans and he went down like a sack of bricks, curling up in a ball as he cried out.

“That’s for grabbing my ass, you jerk,” she told him, then stepped back and let the three vampires that were suddenly at her side haul him off the ground. He remained curled up in a fetal position as Joey and Alastair stuffed him in the trunk of the Impala and Augustine doubled over with laughter.

As they quickly piled into the car, Augustine was saying, “That was classic. I will never underestimate you again, Lu, I swear. Nor will I ever try to cop a feel. Scout’s honor.” He continued to chuckle as he dabbed his eyes with one hand and flashed a perfect Boy Scout hand signal with the other.

“I’m glad I amuse you,” Lu said. “And when were you ever a scout?”

“Just a few years ago, actually,” Augustine grinned. “Funny story.”

“Never tell it to me,” she frowned.

Joey swung the big Chevy out of the parking space and gunned the engine, launching right past the rest of the pack. The werewolves were seconds too late, since all of them had doubled over and taken a few moments to recover when they’d felt their pack mate get taken down by that cup of coffee.

They pulled up in front of the motel a few minutes later to drop Lu off. The werewolf was going to be taken somewhere secluded and questioned to find out who’d hired the weres outside Bryn’s house, and they’d all decided that Lu really didn’t need to be a part of that.

          “You’re not going to kill him, are you?” Lu asked.

          “Yes,” said Augustine, at the same moment that Alastair said, “No.” Alastair stared down his maker and repeated, “No. We’re not.”

          “Fine.” Augustine rolled his eyes.

The were in the back of the vehicle had obviously gone full wolf judging by the growling and thrashing emanating from the trunk. “And how are you going to get him to turn human again so he can answer your questions?” Lu wanted to know.

          “There are several ways to accomplish that -- none of which you probably really want to hear,” Augustine told her.

          “Yeah, I probably don’t,” Lu said. “And I’m glad I don’t have to watch you play bad cop/bad cop either.”

“So who’s going to stay and babysit the human while we’re off getting some answers?” Augustine asked.

“As if I need a sitter,” Lu grumbled.

          Augustine grinned at her and said, “While it’s true that you could just brew a pot of coffee and take out a whole army of monsters, you still shouldn’t be left alone. The rest of the wolf pack is probably looking for you, and what if they somehow track you down?”

Lu found she had to remind herself that Augustine was, in fact, one of the aforementioned monsters. Everything about him was so utterly disarming. She knew that he had done truly unspeakable things. But even knowing that, there was something about him that made it seem you could trust him. And she knew that made him incredibly dangerous.

           “I’ll stay with Lu,” Alastair said. “It’ll really only take two of us to question the werewolf, and that can be Augustine and Joey…assuming they can avoid killing each other.”

          A look of alarm registered in Joey’s eyes for just a moment, but then he said, “Sure. I’ll go.”

          Lu was watching him closely and asked, “Is this a good idea?”

          “I’m not going to kill the little vampire,” Augustine reassured her, “no matter how annoying he is. It would only upset Alastair, and I’m obviously trying to get in his good graces.”

          Joey reached over and gave Lu’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll be fine. You and Alastair hang out for a bit, this won’t take long.”

          The situation made her nervous, but she nodded and said, “Ok. See you soon, Joey. Be careful.”

          Alastair turned to her when they were in their motel room, his brow creased with concern. “Was that a mistake? I shouldn’t have sent Joey off with Augustine, should I?”

          “I think Joey can take care of himself,” Lu said. “And besides, you’ve been watching Augustine closely, and you obviously don’t see him as a threat right now.”

          “But that’s wrong, isn’t it? I
should
see him as a threat. Everything I’ve been told about him says he’s not to be trusted.” Alastair paced nervously.

          “What’s Augustine doing? How is he now that those two are alone?”

          Alastair stopped pacing and was quiet for a moment before he said, “Augustine’s calm. Relaxed. Joey is really nervous. His senses are all heightened, as if he’s expecting something bad to happen.”

          “Well, that’s probably a good thing. Augustine’s not going to catch him unaware.” Lu sat on the bed by the window, pushing the pillows up against the headboard and leaning against them.

After a couple more minutes spent pacing and listening in, Alastair came and sat beside her. She put her arm around him and he leaned against her and let out a ragged sigh. “I guess it’s going to be ok,” he said. “Augustine’s behaving, and Joey’s not doing anything to provoke him.”

“Where are they headed?” Lu asked.

“North, up Highway One. Apparently the beaches are deserted up there this time of year, and Augustine thinks it’ll be a good place to question the werewolf.”