Freaky fangs, p.15
Freaky Fangs, page 15
part #9 of Mystic Caravan Mystery Series
“He’s not leaving. He’s dying.”
A lump formed in my throat. “What? What do you mean? I didn’t even know he was sick.”
“He’s not. Yet. How much time does he have left, though? Seventy years, if I’m being generous? By then he won’t even resemble the man he is today. Am I supposed to stick with him all that time? When he’s old, gray … and probably incontinent, am I supposed to keep him at my side because I once felt something for him? How am I supposed to grapple with that?”
That’s when it sank in. “You’re thinking of settling down with him and it’s making you realize the union isn’t without difficulties because your kind live so long.”
“Duh! I’m pretty sure that’s what I just said.”
“Okay. There’s no reason to get testy.” I rolled my eyes. “Geez. You really are wound up about this, huh?”
“I’m ... not sure what I am.” Raven dipped a chip in the cheese and popped it into her mouth. “I don’t understand how you people do this.”
“What? Plan for the future?”
She shook her head. “Care.”
For some reason, her response was enough to keep me from mercilessly teasing her. This had to be difficult, and I was never happy when others hurt. That was true even of her, although there were times in the past I would’ve been thrilled if she’d simply taken off in the middle of the night and never returned.
“It’s not easy, but it’s worth it,” I offered.
“If you say so.”
A female tour guide picked that moment to move into our space. She was fixated on the menu, didn’t as much as glance in our direction, but her aura was warm and bright, which meant she was open. I met Raven’s gaze and nodded. This was exactly the sort we needed.
We waited until she’d placed her order and then motioned for her to join us, both plastering bright smiles on our faces as if it were the most normal thing in the world to hang out above a twisting labyrinth.
Her name tag read “Julie” and she was the chipper sort. Her bubbly personality would’ve grated under different circumstances, but it was exactly what we needed today.
“Are you here for a tour?” she asked as she sat down. If she thought it strange that two exotic-looking women had invited her to sit with them, she didn’t show it. “Are you gearing up to see the most fantastic thing you’ll ever see in your lifetime?”
“We’re actually here to get the lay of the land,” I replied. “We’re with the circus in town for a few days. Some of us want to go on tours, but we’re checking out how things work before we make our preparations.”
“That’s smart.” Julie nodded sagely. “That makes a lot of sense. Do you know which tour you want?”
“We haven’t discussed it,” Raven replied. “We were just having a debate. Perhaps you can help us. You have some tours that only skim the opening chambers, correct?”
Julie nodded, her blond hair glinting in the sun. “Those are for the people who want to say they visited the caves but don’t really want to go on an adventure.”
“Do you prefer the adventurous tours?”
“Oh, absolutely.” Enthusiasm lit her eyes as she bobbed her head. “My absolute favorites are the three-hour tours. We take the tourists a long ways back.”
“Are all the routes mapped?”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you ever gotten lost back there?”
“Oh.” Her smile was wide enough to swallow the entire bottom half of her face. “You guys are worried that you’ll get in there and something will happen. Like maybe you’ll get lost or something. You don’t have to worry about that. We know the caves so well it’s impossible to get lost.”
“It’s always possible to get lost,” Raven countered. “What about you? Have you lost a lot of tourists during your time here?”
“We don’t lose tourists.”
“But ... surely someone fell behind at one time,” Raven pressed. “It’s only human nature ... and that’s on top of the individuals who voluntarily try to separate themselves from the group. My understanding is that it’s illegal to remove rock fragments. There are always going to be people who want to take things simply because they were told not to. Those types might purposely fall behind.”
“Well ... .” Julie didn’t look comfortable with the question. “I guess a few people have fallen behind through the years, but it’s not as easy to get separated from the group as you might think. We do head counts in every chamber. Coming and going. I don’t leave a chamber if I don’t have my entire group with me.”
“That’s a very smart way to go,” I soothed. “How do you keep your group straight, though? I mean ... how do you know that everyone present is part of your group and one isn’t a lone tourist wandering about?”
“You have to be part of a group to go inside. That’s simply how we do it.”
That made sense. The liability on the caves had to be huge. Some people would fake a fall in a dark place simply to sue for their jackpot.
“So you don’t do anything to keep your groups straight?”
“I didn’t say that.” Julie seemed on edge the more questions we asked. That couldn’t be helped. If she tried to get up and leave before we finished with her I would have to force the situation ... and I wasn’t looking forward to that. “The tourists wear armbands, which coordinate with a guide. I’m purple.” She pointed toward the brightly colored sash wrapped around her arm. “That way, if someone gets separated, the other guides know which group he or she should be in and it’s not a big deal.”
“That’s good.” My mind was busy. Was it possible the vampires had infiltrated the guides? Anything was possible, but the guides were active both in and outside of the caves. I very much doubted they were conducting tours at night. It didn’t seem likely. And still ... . “What about the tourists? Have you had any tourists go missing and never show up again?”
“Of course not.” Julie appeared scandalized by the insinuation. “What kind of tour company do you think I work for? The tourists are perfectly safe. I swear it. You have nothing to worry about.”
Frustration bubbled up and grabbed me by the throat. We would never get anywhere if she insisted on spouting the company line of crap. I would have to push her ... and fast.
As if reading my mind, Raven nodded and whipped up a shadow veil. It hid us from prying outside eyes while making it appear we were sitting together, engaged in pleasant conversation and enjoying our day. It hid the reality of what was to come.
“I’m really sorry about this,” I offered.
Julie’s eyebrows drew together. “Sorry about what?”
I didn’t respond. Instead, I planted my hand firmly against her forehead and unleashed my magic. “Stay,” I ordered when she started to struggle. “This won’t take long.”
A dreamy look replaced the worried expression she’d sported only seconds before and she nodded as she stared into nothing. “Okay.”
“Tell me the truth about the tourists,” I prodded. “There’s no way you guys are running twenty tours a day and nobody is going missing. It’s impossible.”
“People are going missing from every tour now,” Julie replied in a monotone. “I mean ... every single tour. It used to be, a few months ago, we only lost one a week. Then it progressed to one a day. Now it’s twenty a day.”
Raven shifted on her chair. “And nobody has noticed? How is that possible?”
“It’s the woman.” Julie shuddered. “It’s the red woman. She shows up when someone goes missing and talks to the family. When she’s done, they don’t seem to care that they’ve lost someone ... even if it’s a child.”
My stomach constricted. “They’re taking children?”
“Not all the time. I heard them talking. The red woman and another guy. I don’t know their names.”
“We know who you’re talking about,” I prodded. “Tell me what they said.”
“The red woman said it wasn’t smart to take the children. She said that even though they were explaining to the families what was going on it was possible the disappearance of a child could draw unwanted attention ... especially if we’re dealing with a broken family.
“Like, for example, say a mother and stepfather take two kids through the caves,” she continued. “The red woman can tell them that everything is okay, but there’s likely another father somewhere that she can’t control.”
That made sense. “So they only take children from complete families on the tours,” I mused.
She nodded. “Yeah. Then she makes the families forget they had another child. It’s ... weird.”
“I’ll say,” Raven muttered, shaking her head. “That’s not a vampire power.”
“Is it a strigoi power?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Somehow Zurie is more than a vampire but less than a strigoi. I don’t know how, but it’s as if she’s a whole new species.”
“That makes sense.” I turned back to Julie. “Is nobody else questioning these disappearances? What about the cops?”
“They don’t come out here unless the tourists start fighting with one another. Even then ... they don’t care.”
“Because most of them are deeply entrenched in what’s happening,” Raven surmised. “They’re collaborators. I’m telling you. They think they’re doing what’s right for their families: surviving. That’s going to change when everyone else is gone and only their families remain to feed an army of vampires.”
I agreed. “Where are the vampires hiding, Julie? What chamber? Do you know?”
She giggled, taking me by surprise. “Vampires aren’t real. If you watch movies, they sparkle, though.”
My temper got the better of me. “What is it exactly that you think you’re dealing with? Obviously there are monsters living in the caves. You realize that, right?”
“But they’re such pretty monsters. I’m hoping they make me one of them.”
My stomach rolled again. She was a delusional little girl making excuses, and I’d had enough of her. “Now you listen.” I leaned close and pinned her with my eyes. “Those monsters don’t want you. They’ll eat you alive. I mean ... when they will literally start chowing down on you. You’ll be screaming and they’ll devour you.”
Julie audibly gulped. “But ... no. I’ve seen some of the ones after they were taken. Not all of them, but some of them. They’re perfectly fine.” She leaned close and offered in a conspiratorial whisper, “And some say they’ll be pretty forever. I want to be pretty forever.”
I wanted to smack her head against the table, but I couldn’t risk it. Instead, I planted an image in her mind. It was an ugly one. I plucked it out of my dreams, pushed the snapping teeth and a river of blood into her memory and grabbed her wrist.
“They’ll eat you alive, Julie. You have to run from this place, from these caves and from this town. You’ll die if you stay.”
“But ... .”
“Run,” I repeated, pushing with all my might. “Run, and don’t look back.”
16
Sixteen
My mind was a jumble of thoughts when we returned to the fairgrounds. I set about making lunch with the others, my attention split. By the time I sat down between Kade and Luke, I was in my own little world.
“I think we’ve lost her,” Luke noted, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
Kade’s smirk was sly. “Absolutely. And it’s a shame. I was rather fond of her.”
I forced myself out of my reverie and focused on the two of them. “You guys are a laugh a minute.”
“I like to think I’m a laugh every half-minute,” Luke corrected. “I’ve always been an overachiever.”
“Good for you.” I rubbed my forehead. “What were we talking about?”
“How distracted you are,” Kade replied.
“I’m not distracted. I ... .” There was no reason to finish the sentence. I was definitely distracted. “I’m sorry.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t get what the tour guide said out of my mind.”
“That the local police department is complicit or the part about the tour guides know what’s going on and still keep leading people down there?” Cole asked.
“Both.” I was rueful. “I’m angry. I know it’s not good, but I feel like shaking someone.”
“May I suggest Raven?” Luke’s smile was mischievous as the lamia in question pinned him with a dark look. “She always needs a good shake.”
“I think I’ll pass.” I sipped my water. An emotional explosion would help absolutely no one. “So ... what do we want to do for the rest of the day? We have to be here when darkness falls, but that gives us several hours to play with.”
“What do you want to do?” Kade’s expression was neutral.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. We could see a movie or something. We haven’t done that in a long time.”
“We haven’t, but I’m not sure a dark theater will be good for any of us. I was thinking we’d go to Guntown Mountain.”
I was taken aback. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “You’ll enjoy it more than Dinosaur World and we can’t do what you want to do.”
“I’ve always told you that caves are dank and dark messes,” Luke said primly. “But do you listen? No.”
I shot him a scorching glare. “What an odd way to kick me when I’m down,” I muttered.
He held up his hands and sighed. “I’m sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. I’m not trying to be difficult.”
Sometimes he didn’t have to try. Still, they were right. Hanging around the circus and dwelling on what was to come was a bad idea. It would wear on all of us, the last thing we needed. An outing that occupied our minds was the perfect thing ... even if it meant visiting a cosplay western town.
“I don’t have to dress up, right?” I asked.
Kade’s lips curved into a sly grin. “No, but if you wanted to dress like a saloon girl I wouldn’t be crushed. I’ve always had a crush on the saloon girls I saw in movies.”
“You realize that in the real world those saloon girls were missing teeth and rarely bathed, right?”
He frowned. “Are you going to be salty all afternoon?”
I let loose a sigh. “No. I’m going to be sunshine and light.”
He laughed. “Don’t go overboard selling it. As long as you’re open to fun, we’ll be fine.”
Really, what did I have to lose? We had seven hours until darkness fell, and the circus was set to open the following day. There was nothing to do but wait. I figured I might as well make the men in my life happy while doing it.
I WASN’T A BIG SKIER. IN TRUTH, we were never in cold climates. The nature of our business meant that we traveled from place to place when it was warm. We visited locations in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and even California for a second go-around when the rest of the country was mired in mid-winter blues. I’d seen snow, of course. It simply wasn’t a regular occurrence.
That’s why the sight of the ski lift that carried us up the mountain was cause for alarm.
“It looks a little ... rickety,” I hedged as we waited in line for our turn.
Kade shot me a sidelong look, amusement evident. “It doesn’t look rickety. You’ll be fine.”
“How do you know?” I challenged. “You’re from California. They don’t ski in California. This thing could be falling apart and you wouldn’t even know the difference.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can tell you’re going to be a true joy to hang around with today,” he drawled, shaking his head. “As for being a California boy, we have mountains there. I grew up skiing. I know a little bit about lifts.”
That was news to me. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” He prodded me forward with a hand on my back. “It’ll be fine. I’ll keep you safe. You have absolutely no reason to be frightened.”
I shot him a dirty look. “Who said I was frightened? I’m not frightened. Good grief.”
“Then you have nothing to complain about.” He shoved me forward when it was our turn and I quickly stepped into what I’d deemed my designated spot. When the chair came around it seemed natural to sit on it, and my stomach gave a small lurch when my feet left the ground and we started climbing.
“Oh, geez.”
Kade was normally the patient sort and it was on full display when he slid his eyes to me. He looked perfectly relaxed as he reached over and grabbed my hand. “See. We’re fine.”
He looked happy, exhilarated even. I, on the other hand, could not stop looking at the ground that blurred beneath us. “We wouldn’t survive the fall if this chair came loose and we plunged to the ground. We would die.”
“Knock it off,” he warned, his eyes flashing with annoyance. “You’re going to have fun up here if it kills me. You’ve been warned.”
His serious reaction was enough to make me smile. “I guess that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It’ll be fun,” he insisted. “Trust me.”
The ride up the mountain didn’t take long. Once I relaxed and gave myself over to the process, it was almost enjoyable. When we landed on top of the mountain it felt as if we’d been transported to another world.
“What the ... ?” I was dumbfounded as Kade led me away from the lift. “Did you know this was up here?”
“Did I know a replica of an Old West town was up here waiting for us to enjoy it? Why, yes, I believe I did.”
“Yeah, but ... this is Kentucky.” I was having trouble wrapping my mind around the hard-packed earth, the kitschy buildings, the horses ... and the people dressed in garb I’d only ever seen in movies. “I don’t understand why they have a town based on the Old West in Kentucky.”
“I don’t either.” Kade slung an arm around my shoulders and slid his gaze to Cole and Luke, who had been on the lift behind us. “That’s half the fun. Basically we’re going to spend the entire day in another world.”
Our current world was such a mess I was actually fine with the theatrics and surreal nature of our afternoon location. “Okay, but I’m not dressing up.” I was firm on that, right up until I saw one of the saloon girls walk by. The dress she wore displayed her ample assets as she garnered attention from every male within a two-hundred-foot radius, including the gay ones. “At least probably.”
