Harper’s eyes widened incredulously. He was amazed that she’d managed to get into the house and up the stairs without their realizing it. The house was old, the stairs creaky. They should have heard something. Of course, they’d been a bit distracted at the time, he acknowledged with a grimace, thinking it was a good Goddamned thing that Leonius hadn’t been behind this. The man could have slaughtered them that night before they’d realized he was there.
“I wanted you both dead then,” Susan finished dully. “You shouldn’t live and be happy when Jenny is dead. I went home and fixed up another bottle. I was going to come back and set the house on fire, but I was afraid you’d just get out and heal like you’d done the last time, so I waited. I heard you saying you would go to the gas station, and I knew that was perfect. If it exploded. . well, you couldn’t survive that. So I followed you there, but she got out and went inside. I almost threw it anyway, but by then I wanted her to suffer too.”
“So you waited until I came out,” Drina said, sounding impatient now. “Only he caught it, and you fled. So when you heard the search had been called off, you came here to watch the house, and when everyone went to bed, you came in intending to blow his brains out and presumably mine too. All because your stupid, selfish sister decided to steal Harper’s one turn and basically killed herself.”
“She wasn’t stupid. And she was dying, she was desperate,” Susan said at once.
“She wasn’t dying yet,” Drina said coldly. “It was a benign tumor. They were trying to shrink it and then planned to remove it, but she thought it would be more fun to be a vampire. Young and pretty forever, banging any guy she wanted and then getting them to give her whatever she wanted by controlling them. Don’t bother denying it, I’m in your head. I can read your thoughts,” Drina added coldly.
“That was just wild thinking: She wouldn’t have done that,” Susan muttered.
“The Jenny I knew would have,” Teddy said dryly, making his presence known, and Harper glanced over to see him in the doorway, with Anders, Tiny, and Mirabeau crowded behind him. The police chief shrugged, and explained, “I’m an old man, don’t sleep well, and have to get up ten times a night to take a leak. I was in the bathroom when I saw Susan creeping around the backyard headed for the door. I woke Anders, and we came down to see what she was up to. Decided not to interfere, though, till we knew what was what.”
When Harper’s gaze slid to Tiny and Mirabeau, it was Mirabeau who spoke.
“We weren’t asleep yet,” she said with a shrug, but the color that crept up her cheeks gave him a good idea of what had been keeping them awake. That bedeviling new-life-mate horniness, he thought wryly, as she continued, “We heard someone going downstairs and thought Anders was trying to pull a fast one, so came to investigate.”
Anders rolled his eyes at the words but slipped past Teddy and into the room to take the gun from Susan’s hand, saying, “So, no Leonius this time.”
“Does that mean I don’t have to go to Toronto?” Stephanie asked quietly. She had apparently been awake to hear what was going on as well. Harper watched her sit up on the couch, and then turned to Anders, along with everyone else, waiting to hear what he had to say.
“Well, answer the girl. There’s nothing worse than not knowing,” Teddy said grimly when Anders didn’t respond right away. He then turned and marched out of the room.
“No,” Anders said simply.
Stephanie frowned, “No, I don’t have to go? Or no, it doesn’t mean I don’t have to go?”
“Lucian wants you in Toronto,” Anders answered.
“It’s all right, Stephanie,” Drina said quietly, and Harper noticed she’d relaxed now that Anders had Susan by the arm. She was no longer bothering to control the woman. “I’m sure it will just be temporary. Once Elvi’s place is fixed up, we’ll come back.”
Harper hoped she was right but knew they’d all do everything they could to ensure that was the case. Stephanie had gained herself four champions during her short stay in Port Henry. Five if you counted Teddy, he thought, as the mortal returned to the room with a cordless phone pressed to his ear.
“Yeah, I need you down here at my place. You need to take Susan Harper into custody,” he said into the phone as he handed Anders a pair of cuffs. “I’ll explain when you get here.” Teddy hit the button to end the call, and then raised an eyebrow at Anders. “What are you waiting for? Cuff her. She’s under arrest.”
“Teddy,” Susan said with dismay. “You can’t arrest me.”
Teddy arched his eyebrows as he peered at the girl. “Four counts of attempted murder is serious business, Susan. I certainly am arresting you.”
“But he killed Jenny,” she wailed. “And he’s a vampire. Not even human. He’s a monster.”
“Jenny’s death was an accident, one it’s sounding like she brought on herself,” he said, and then added sternly, “As for his being a monster, Harper never intended her to die, and it wasn’t his fault since she didn’t tell him about the tumor and chemo. You, on the other hand, have been deliberately cutting brakes and firebombing Elvi’s house and apparently the gas station. If I were you, I’d rethink who the monster is here.”
“You can’t arrest her,” Anders said quietly.
“What the hell do you mean?” Teddy asked with amazement. “Of course I can. The woman’s a menace. She needs to be locked up, probably in the hospital, but the courts will decide that.”
“You can’t charge her with trying to kill Harper,” Drina said quietly.
“They’re right,” Harper said, when Teddy opened his mouth to protest. “How are you going to explain that we didn’t die from any of the attacks? And what happens when she starts squawking about vampires and Jenny’s dying during the turn?”
Teddy’s troubled gaze slid to Susan. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do with her then? We can’t just let her loose. She’ll just try again.”
There was silence for a minute, and then Anders quickly cuffed Susan and urged her across the room. “You can lock her up, but I suspect Lucian will want her in Toronto as well.”
“Teddy,” Susan cried, jerking around and looking at him pleadingly.
He frowned, but sighed, and asked, “What will Lucian do?”
Anders shrugged. “Depends.”
“On what?” Teddy asked at once.
“Does she have family here?”
“She and Jenny were all that was left. Grandparents were all gone by the time they were out of grade school. The mother died while they were in high school, and the father had a heart attack a couple years back.” He paused, and then added, “I think they have an aunt and a couple of cousins in London, but they weren’t close as far as I know.”
“Then he’ll probably have her memory wiped and relocate her to the other end of Canada or somewhere down in the States,” Mirabeau said quietly. “Give her a job with someone who can keep an eye on her and a new home. The works.”
“Memory wiped? Like she won’t know who she is?” Teddy asked with a frown.
“No.” It was Drina who answered this time. “They’ll wipe her memories of Harper and vampires in general, alter her memories of Jenny’s death so she believes she died from the tumor alone, and probably put it in her head that Port Henry is full of bad, sad memories for her, and she doesn’t want to return.” Her mouth tightened, and she added, “They’ll probably veil her sense of loss over Jenny too so she can move on.”
Teddy grunted at this and shook his head. “So she tries to kill Harper, nearly kills you and Stephanie along with him, and gets into the immortal version of the Federal Witness Protection Program?”
“That’s about it,” Mirabeau said wryly, and shrugged. “She isn’t wholly in her right mind, Teddy. Jenny was all she had. She’s grieving.”
Drina made an impatient sound, and Harper squeezed her fingers gently, knowing she wasn’t too pleased by this outcome. Not that Teddy looked as if he thought it was a fair deal either.
“And she calls you guys the monsters,” Teddy muttered, shaking his head. He scrubbed one hand through his gray hair, then sighed and stepped back out into the entry when they heard the crunch of snow under tires. Glancing back into the room, he gestured Anders forward. “My deputy’s here. He’ll take her down and lock her up until Lucian can send someone for her.”
“Teddy?” Susan said unhappily, as Anders walked her to the man, “please don’t let them-”
“I don’t want to hear it, Susan. I’m tired and heartsick. You did this to yourself,” Teddy said sternly. “And you’re getting a hell of a good deal. If it were up to me, you’d be locked up for what you’ve done. You tried to kill the man, caused no end of pain to all three of them, damned near burnt down Elvi’s house. . and you could have
