The Vampiric Housewife (28 page)

    
“Jenny.”

    
“How old are you?”

    
“Nine.”

    
“Where are you going?”

    
“St. Thomas to see my dad.”

 
   
He looked at Valerie. “What does your husband do?”

    
“He’s a businessman.”

    
“What kind?”

    
“Real estate,” she said without missing a beat. “He’s in St. Thomas on business actually. We’re meeting him. It’s kind of a surprise.”

    
He suppressed a smile. She could act. He moved on to John. “I’m your Uncle Ethan, your dad’s brother. You live with me. We’re on vacation, but you didn’t want to come. It shouldn’t be much of a stretch for you.”

    
John just stared at him with his arms crossed.

    
“What’s your name?”

    
“John,” he said.

    
“Stop it,” Valerie cut in. “You’re behaving like a child. Grow up. Now, what’s your name?”

    
He took a deep breath and let it out angrily. “Jason Rogers. I’m being force to go on vacation with my uncle. What else do you want to know?”

    
“Nothing,” Valerie said harshly.

     
“I have one last thing I have to do. Stay here. I’ll be back soon.” He took off across the parking lot with the bloody dress.

Chapter Twenty-six

Bats in Flight

    
Valerie had to admit that she was getting a bit of a thrill out of being Anne LaPierre. It was the first time since leaving Sangre Valley that she hadn’t felt frightened or overwhelmed. Though she wished Ethan wouldn’t have made her a housewife who home schooled her two girls. She would have liked to have been an artist or maybe owned her own store selling lotions and bath stuff. But at least Anne lived in the modern world without girdles and pointy bras. At least she had chosen to marry her husband and got to go to the Caribbean instead of spending all day cooking and cleaning for a dinner party. Plus, Anne didn’t have a crazy doctor after her who wanted to impregnate her daughter with her son’s sperm. She wasn’t running for her life. She wasn’t even a vampire who drank blood. Anne was just a mother with a migraine taking her girls to see their father. She had a simple life.

    
Valerie had gotten some strange looks for wearing the sunglasses at night, but as she kept touching her temples, the looks turned sympathetic, especially when she grabbed onto Harry’s shoulder to steady herself. All the security was a bit daunting—or would have been. But she was Anne. Anne had nothing to conceal. When asked to remove her sunglasses, she complied, squinting and shielding her eyes against the fluorescent lights as she apologized to the TSA man. He was understanding and did not keep her long. No one spoke to the children or questioned Harry’s gender.

    
She was vaguely aware of Ethan and John a couple people behind them in line. She refused to allow herself to look back no matter how badly she wanted to check on her eldest son and Ethan. But she felt safe knowing his presence was there, watching her, protecting her. Part of her liked the fact that he could watch her perform. She was kind of proud of how well she played Anne LaPierre. It was nice to have an audience.

    
This was her first time on an airplane. She had seen them fly over Sangre Valley every now and then. She always wanted to ride on one, see what the world looked like from up above—or really what the world looked like outside of Sangre Valley. She had gotten more than she bargained for when that wish came true.

    
She sat in the window seat with Amelia on the aisle and Harry in between. He kept leaning over her to peer out the window excited by the adventure. Amelia was nearly frozen in her seat, her hands clutching both armrests with her fingernails digging in. If they hit a little bit of turbulence, she closed her eyes. Ethan and John were a few rows in front of her so she could only see the backs of their heads. John was sitting as far away from Ethan as he could get without actually climbing out of his seat.

    
Valerie spent most of the flight staring out into the night watching the wispy clouds pass by like cotton candy. The earth below her was just an abyss of black. Only a few stars glittered in the sky and the moon shone solely on the other side of the plane. It was peaceful, outside the plane’s oval window. Peace, that was one sensation she never thought she’d feel again. Was this it? Would they finally be safe in the Virgin Islands? Would they actually be out of Venjamin’s reach? Was this where she would begin her new life? Tropical beaches of white sand, lazy palm trees, exotic flowers that perfumed the air, the ocean . . . Ah, the ocean, she had always wanted to see it, swim in its waters, taste the salt water on her lips. She would spend her nights on the beach with the kids relaxing in the moonlight or they could explore the alien environment with a freedom they had never known. Harry would run wild with curiosity while Amelia would stay on her beach towel with her sketch pad, and John . . . he would come around and swim in the ocean or toss a Frisbee with Ethan . . . yes, Ethan was part of her new life too.
 
It seemed like a fantasy. It was a fantasy. No matter where they were, they would still be vampires living in a human world. Venjamin may be far away but he would still be out there, and as long as he was out there he would always be a threat. There would be no school to send her children to. She had no skills to get a job to support her family. They had no roof over their heads.

    
Her family still included Charlie. That was not something that would ever change. He was the father of her children. He would always be part of her life. Was he still alive? For her children’s sake, for Charlie’s own sake, she wanted to believe so. He was the only link Venjamin still had to them. Hopefully that alone would extend his life. For all his deceit, Charlie hadn’t abandoned them. He had sacrificed himself for them. Valerie wouldn’t abandon him either. She would work with Ethan’s organization and do everything she could to rescue him from Venjamin’s clutches alive. That she vowed. But their relationship, their marriage was over. Eventually she would be able to forgive him for what he had done to her, but never in a million years would she be able to forget the lies or the manipulation. Valerie knew that she would be okay without him. She wasn’t some scared eighteen year old who was all alone in the world. Hell, she had handled herself pretty damn well. She was successful in her Sangre Valley life and in the human world she had already saved the lives of her husband and children. That was no small feat. Life may not be lying on a beach in the moonlight or swimming in the ocean, but she would be alright.

    
Sitting on that quiet plane, staring out at the velvet night sky with its diamond stars and heavenly clouds, an empowering resolve filled her. She would save Charlie. And not only that, she would take down Venjamin and Sangre Valley. She may not know how yet, but she would find a way. She wasn’t just some vampiric housewife who was helpless and naïve in the world of humans. She would give her children a safe, happy home, continue to protect them, and raise them to be good people. And she, herself, would be fearless and brave and take advantage of every opportunity to be happy—perhaps that meant Ethan. Perhaps not. But she would find out. This was her mission, her purpose on this earth, she was certain of it. Now that she had realized that, she could not wait to get off this plane and start living her new life.

Chapter Twenty-seven

The Bloody Dress

    
The driver of the semi truck was dead, his throat ripped out in a bloody mess, and his body tossed carelessly on the damp, black road. The truck’s headlights were still shining, the driver’s door swung open. Hidden in the cargo of his trailer bound for Canada was the scent that they had been tracking. Drew had said it was a faint and old trail. But at least it was something, a lead. As it turned out, it was a much older lead than they had believed. They had followed it right out of the city losing any trail that might have still existed there.

    
“Goddamn it!” Rhett swore and threw Amelia Murray’s bloody dress on the cement.

    
“Now what? We can not go back to Venjamin empty handed,” Drew said. His head hurt, his muscles felt weak and shaky even though he had been feeding. But the blood he drank left him unfulfilled. He didn’t give a damn about Venjamin finding the Murrays. Drew needed to find Amelia. He needed to drain her dry, and maybe then the phantom singing in his ears and this feeling of malaise would vanish.

    
“You think I don’t know that?” Rhett snapped. This was all Drew’s fault. He let the bitch bluff him into running because the sun was rising. He let them get away without a trace. Drew’s mind was clouded with the drug of Amelia Murray’s blood. All he wanted was a fix. Rhett had no delusions about that. Dr. Venjamin knew it too. Drew was just too stupid and cocky to realize that once the family was found, his usefulness would expire, and he would be put down. Rhett couldn’t wait to be the one to do it.

    
“What do we do?”

    
“We go back to New York. We find out who the hell this vampire helping them is.” This goddamn mystery vampire, he was driving Rhett insane. He managed to kill two newborn vampires with amazing speed and ease so Rhett knew he was a skilled fighter. He couldn’t wait until they finally met up. He had always known he could take Charlie in a fight. Charlie who on their hunting trips used to boast about what a strong, agile fighter he was. Since they had first become friends, Rhett had wanted to take him on. Put him in his place. Now he had. This mystery vampire with his unique scars would be a true competitor. He just might be on Rhett’s own playing field. He couldn’t wait to find out. But the son of a bitch was also a ninja when it came to disappearing without a trace. “Fuck!” he cried out into the night.

    
“We don’t even know if New York is his hunting ground. He could have been passing through. He could be a nomad.”

    
“Somewhere someone has to know him. He killed two vampires. He’s not a newborn. He’s been around for awhile. You didn’t see him anywhere when you had them cornered in the alley? He must have met up with them, taken them some place safe. Valerie’s resourceful, but not enough to give us the slip all by herself.”

    
“No, I told you a million times. The sun was coming up, we had to bolt.” Drew’s eyes got large. “Wait. A black car. Don’t ask me the make or plate number, but I remember passing a black car.”

    
“And how many black cars do you think there are in New York City? The one vampire who recognized him on the street with the family, he said that the mystery vampire was stalking a dying homeless man.”

    
“Yeah, so?”

    
“Who do you usually prey on?”

   
“Women, young and drunk, a little feisty but not too much.”

    
“I like a bit of a fight. I usually prey on strong men.”

    
“Again, so?”

    
“What if this vampire likes to prey on the dying? We all have our own tastes. We might find someone who knows him or has heard of him or as seen him hunting somewhere else.”

    
“That’s not a half ass bad idea,” Drew said.

    
Rhett smiled showing his white teeth. “And if they haven’t gotten too far, maybe we can use another resource—the humans. What if we unearth that human they killed on the run? ID Valerie Murray as the woman on the side of the road, the last person to see him alive? If we have humans looking for her, we have a lot more eyes.”

    
“We make a great fucking team,” Drew said.