Odd Melody (Odd Series Book 2) (28 page)

“Perhaps a fairy engagement is not the best idea considering your siren nature.” My mother looked grim as she conceded to my point.

Avery sported a split lip.

I suppressed a grin. I had ruined her party.

“Unless we engage her to a redcap or a goblin? Maybe a hob.” McNair touched my mother’s arm and looked at her hopefully.

I glared him down, and he shut up. My mother waved a hand at him, either to discard the idea, or to discard it in my presence. Either way, I had won for the moment.

“So you rescind the engagement?”

“You fulfilled your end.” Her dainty jaw clenched with tension. “You nearly broke him too many times in only one week, however, for it to be a wise selection.”

Chance took my hand.

I pushed her for undisputable clarification. “So we can leave and you will stop with the kidnap attempts?”

She waved a hand in a gesture that encompassed the ballroom. Broken glass, spilled wine and rose petals littered the floor. I think she saw dollar signs.

I spun against Chance and he popped us home before she could change her mind. Once there, he kissed me goodnight, for once without a lengthy debate. He could sense the distracting nature of the things on my mind.

The conversation with Vance weighed on me. My mood turned dark and even all my Christmas decorations could not lighten it. I put on the Van Morrison CD that Vance had made me and got the book with the human flesh cover he had given me. It was a book of Sirens from some old vampire library. I ran a hand across the cover and could not believe I was sentimental over a skin bound book. But he had given me it.

I flipped through the book and tried not to cry.

When I found the passage about the Hammer, I snapped up in my seat. I curled my legs under me and stroked the page. It was a ghost. I read the passage on the yellowed page and thought to myself that I had the answer, had it this whole time and that Vance had given it to me. I read from the book.

Old Harold’s Ghost

Lady Fair, Lady Fair,

Skin so fair you could see each vein;

This was definitely written by vampires.

By her came a pale, pale ghost,

Who took her thoughts and made her insane.

‘Are ye my brother or my son?’ says she,

‘Or are ye my friend that’s gone?’

Or are you my true-love, Old Harold,

From the grave newly come?

‘No, no, nor your friend nor will I be one;

But I’m your true love, Old Harold,

From the very grave I have now come.’

After the lyrical old rhyme, the author told of the history of leap year, which apparently started way back with Julius Caesar. Caesar added the day to make up for an oops in the number of days in the calendar.

Then, in 1582, Pope Greg the 13
^th
, maker of the Gregorian calendar, realized they were still off by about ten days. So he said the leap would only happen in years divisible by the number four. The people around in those days did not like being robbed of fifteen days of their lives. Arising from that era and stretching to today, superstition about this change has abounded.

For example, the one that had caused the story of Old Harold. Old Harold was poor and sounded quite mad…er, nuts. The superstition claimed that on leap year, a lady may propose marriage and if the gentleman declined, he would be cursed with bad luck if he should turn her down.

I smiled. Who would believe something that stupid?

Apparently Harold did. According to the book, February twenty-ninth is strange and odd, an anomaly, like Christmas and Halloween. Normal rules do not apply on that day. No one should get married on that day. But since Harold had declined his lover’s offer of marriage, he had been cursed with bad luck.

How had he known that, exactly?

When he realized what had happened, he had asked for her hand to try to break the curse, but he was too poor to wed. He began to save the money to marry her but one day, on the dock in Ashtabula, a hammer fell in a stroke of bad luck and killed him. Ever since then, each leap year he had come back to try to break the curse and get enough money to marry his lover and win back his luck.

I stared at the book.

Harold had conked people on the head to get money for his girlfriend. To go by the book, the vamps had known about him for…well, the book wasn’t big on dating things. Apparently, for the vampire author, who had an unlimited lifespan, dates were not terribly important. But I had identified my ghost. I still had to figure out who he was hanging out in. And I thought I had an idea on how to get him out. I figured I would try to sing him out. If Old Mother thought me up to the task, as a siren, well, that’s the only skill that set me apart from everyone else. So singing must be the key.

That decided, I felt unreasonably better about all of it. Sure, Vance had dumped me, but, in dumping me, he had helped me save the day. I felt like Sculley and Wonder Woman or Superman again.

Maybe tomorrow I would get lucky and be the hero rather than mess things up.

CHAPTER Sixteen

I woke with a refreshed outlook, ready to go. The day marked the beginning of the rest of my life. I stretched. I jumped in the shower and then went in search of coffee. I would find the bad guy and solve the murders. Not only that, I would free Harold, the secret bad guy in the bad guy. If I were in the Mystery Machine, I would know who wore the mask. It promised to be an easy day.

I should never wake up with that kind of attitude. It’s terribly dangerous.

I spent a reasonably quiet day with my daughter. We Christmas shopped and hung out with Mia around the store. Strangely, Sven was nowhere to be found. Mia and I made plans for that night and our Hammer hunting. Vickie had her own plans. Being a weekend, she wanted to go to her friend Jordan’s house with a couple of other girlfriends.

“So, Carmen, Justice, Jordan, and I are going to rent that vampire movie and it should be awesome. Mom, he
sparkles
. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

I smiled a little. Actually, I liked my vampires to smell medium rare, but that was just me. I exchanged a knowing glance with Mia. There were some things we were not telling the kid yet.

As night fell on the county, I watched the lift bridge rise and lower and thought the lights lovely when Chance popped into my bedroom.

I turned to him with a smile.

“What, no screams? No arguments? I had gotten used to the girlish squeals of ‘what are you doing here?’”

I shrugged. “You’re growing on me.” I walked to him and yanked on his shirt to pull his face down to my level.

When we were face to face, he rubbed noses with me. “Like mold.”

I nodded with a grin. “Like mold.”

“I smell better than mold.”

I smiled more. “Slightly.”

“Feeding before or after you go out?”

He had given me options. He sounded reasonable and treated me like an adult. His skin felt feverish with the need for me to feed, and I could sense it. I stroked a hand down his chest. “Both?” He wasn’t the only one who could be a grown up.

He ran hands down my arms, and I repressed a shiver of reaction. “Both?”

“A little now, enough to get by.” I tried my hand at being a tease.

He nuzzled at my neck and emitted a growl. In his head, he thought a little wasn’t enough to hold either of us for long.

“After we go out maybe you could come back and…” I faltered and got shy, which was stupid. The man practically lived in my head. I had no reason to be insecure or doubt him. One would think I would get over the divorce issues sometime soon. Apparently not.

“I could come back and give us both what we are hungry for.” He finished the thought I hadn’t been brave enough to voice, but I heard a hesitation in his voice.

Did I make him insecure, too?

“Or we could feed and get it over with.” I became frustrated with us both and waved an arm. At the same time, I backed away both physically and mentally.

He wasn’t having either. He took my mouth in a long hard kiss. When he stopped, I sagged a little and had to drag my eyes open to meet his gaze. “Nah, I liked your plan.” His voice roughened and his face challenged me to revoke the offer.

A wave of his power came when his lips dropped to sear mine again. It tasted of him, but he cut it off after the briefest of moments. I clung to him, and he pressed my forehead tightly to his, his fingers holding my face in place. “Do we have to hunt your Hammer?”

I nodded.
That taste had not been enough.
 

“Okay. Well, then, let’s do it now while I still have the willpower to let you go.”

I smiled, “You are not in charge. I am.”

He nudged me with those lips and sent another sizzle of power that made my knees go weak. “Do you think so?”

Argument seemed not in my best interest. Ripe with power, like some big, juicy fruit, he tempted me, and I was too hungry to resist taking a bite out of him.

We headed out to find ourselves a ghost. We went downstairs in the traditional manner. I spent far too much time with him lately. To walk seemed a slow mode of transport when Chance had the ability to zap us in and out of wherever we wanted to go. He should teach me that neat little trick. It would be handy for when Vickie missed the bus.

“About that.” He grinned a sheepish grin, and the expression seemed awkward on Chance. We had gotten into the store and Mia had shut down the shop early. Her head popped up when we entered.

“About what?” I took a step away from him, creating distance between us.

“Vickie.” He stopped with the mind-to-mind talk, so I assumed the topic wasn’t personal. Yet his expression said he walked on eggshells. “Do I get to meet her?”

I studied him and then glanced to Mia in askance. “You met her the other day didn’t you?”

“Not actually. I know it will be awkward for you after what I did. But, well, she was never in harm’s way. And you know now that I would never hurt her. You can see in my head.” And he stopped and brushed a hand through his hair in a gesture as uncharacteristic as I had seen. He seemed nervous.

“You want to meet Vickie? Why?” I stopped dead and stared at him.

“Because she’s yours and because she means so much to you and, well that is it really. In your head, she’s huge. And, well, I thought—” Again he stopped and in a gesture that mirrored one I used often, he waved a hand in the air helplessly.

I stared at him. “I wasn’t keeping her from you. You pop in so much—I guess I figured you had met her.”

“No. I was very careful. I knew it would upset you. The only times she saw me were when I was too distracted to pay attention to where she was. I am still sorry about her being here after I brought you back from Peaches.” He reached out a hand to trace across my face, moving a lock of my hair from my forehead.

I stared at him. “So you only came when she wasn’t around. So you wouldn’t upset me? Everything else you have done has upset me, but that you avoided so you wouldn’t upset me?”

Mia quirked a brow and put on her coat when I turned to her. I had hoped she had some sage advice as to what to say but her expression claimed her at a loss, too.

“You would have found it a deal breaker.”

“You put thought into this?” I bit my lip as he continued to wait for my verdict.

“Yeah.” He still seemed patient.

“I’m never that considerate of how you feel and probably won’t be. Just so you know in advance.” I figured I should get the warning out there.

“I picked up on that pretty quick.”

I took his hand. “Yeah, you can meet her. At least you gave me the option.” I thought of Vance then I reminded myself I couldn’t do that anymore. “And I have a feeling you’re going to be hard to get rid of anyway.”

“You have no idea.” His words were soft and, with that, we headed out onto the street.

Frank waited on the sidewalk. I have no clue why this did not strike me as a surprise. “Let me guess.” I laced my tone with bitterness. “You are going to inspire us to find the Hammer?”

“Sure.” Frank’s smile was amiable. “We’ll go with that.”

“I think we should go find Julia and go from there.” I waved a hand to the assemblage.

“I think we should go that way.” Frank pointed toward the lift bridge. That was the direction I had gotten attacked by the weird monster with Avery as well as the direction my eyes had wandered only a few minutes ago before Chance had showed up in my room. It wasn’t the first direction I would have chosen.

“I think you shouldn’t lead.” My lips were drawn in a tight line.

“I vote Frank picks the plan.”

I glared at Mia.
Loss of ten best friend points for disloyalty.
 

“I vote Janie.” Chance touched my shoulder as he spoke in my favor. Gain ten hottie points for the creature who supported me.

Vance appeared on the scene right then.

“Hate to sway the vote against you, Janie, but I have to vote with Frank.”

I hadn’t heard him approach. We really had to get him a bell or something.

“Where is Sven when I need him?” I grumbled the question more to myself than anything. As I had just been outvoted, I didn’t really expect a reply.

“Excellent question, siren. Off we go!” The muse chirped cheerfully and off we went.

We made, as usual, a strange procession down Main Street of Ashtabula. We trotted across the lift bridge. Too much snow slowed our progress and the temperature hovered below freezing. Why had I decided to move here rather than, for instance, Miami? I debated the logistics of a move to someplace warmer against staying close to friends and family when I saw something move. I, again, had slacked at the back of the pack. I hate snow, and I hate the cold. Frank seemed good at distraction for the group. Except for me. He sucked at distracting me.

When I saw the movement down the alley, I glanced at everyone else and realized I was probably the only one who saw it. I had a moment to decide. Investigate or call out? If I investigated and it was nothing, I would seem less stupid if I did not draw attention to myself. If it turned out to be a valid lead, well, I would call for help. Chance would follow either way.