Under Raoul’s direction Aaron had dumped his red-tinged bucket of water outside and dried the floor, and was sweeping up wood chips by the time we returned to the front entryway. I had to work to hide my relief, and it didn’t help to recal why. The last time I’d seen my lover’s blood spil beneath his body, it had been because my fiance, Matt, had taken a knife meant for me. Though he’d been gone for over a year and a half now, I missed him every day. I never wanted to feel that way about my vampire.
Raoul stil sat on the stairs, scratching Jack under the chin just the way he liked it while Astral oversaw al the action from the top of a fourlegged humidor that bridged the gap between the front door and the entry to the bil iard room to its right. Vayl had once kept a large fern there, but after the cat had planted herself in the middle of it for the third time, he’d taken her hint and moved it. Since then she’d commandeered four other spots in the house. The fact that they gave her excel ent views of the entire floor was, we decided, no accident. Bergman took his security far past the bounds of paranoia, and we had no doubt he’d programmed safety measures into Astral that had yet to be tapped.
Vayl and I approached Aaron with the same purpose, but with polar-opposite attitudes. I reminded myself to keep al my fun on the inside.
“We need to ask you a few questions,” Vayl began. “Please join us in the conservatory.” He motioned to the music room, where several glittering bits of light fixture stil lay scattered on the Persian rug. As Aaron walked into the room he looked at them, glanced up at the chandelier, and back down at the mess Vayl and I had caused.
I pointed to the dropped glass and said, “
He stopped just as he reached the sofa and turned to me, his eyes shuttling nervously between me and Astral, who’d provided the perfect soundtrack for me as she came into the room. Drowning Pool’s song “Bodies” pounded into Aaron’s ears—“Let the bodies hit the floor/Let the bodies hit the floor”—making him shiver as the robokitty sauntered past him, blinking sleepily as she went. She jumped onto the fireplace mantel, placing herself so close to the middle she could’ve been confused for a figurine if she hadn’t chosen that moment to do a test cycle, which made her click like the dial of a washing machine.
“Can’t you make her stop?” Aaron demanded.
I shrugged. “She’s programmed to respond to my mood,” I lied. “And right now…” I let myself trail away, smiling dreamily as the song howled through the room and Aaron hunched his shoulders like he thought somebody was about to jump him. Al the girls inside my head shrieked with laughter.
Raoul was having no problem keeping it serious. He’d stayed at the edge of the conservatory, leaning against the archway, while Jack sat at his feet, both of them content to observe first and judge later.
Aaron had noticed my attention wandering. He asked, “Is that your dog?”
“Why?”
“You don’t seem like the type who’d like dogs. Or… anything… real y.”
“You got that right. The mutt belongs to my boyfriend.” I patted Vayl on the back and said, “He’s such a softy,” as he crossed to Aaron’s side and motioned that they should sit on the couch beside each other. I stood behind the chair opposite them. At my height it’s tough to loom, but I did my best to seem as if I were the kind of person who, having already broken a light fixture and a display cabinet today, wouldn’t hesitate to toss an easy chair into his lap.
Vayl settled into the corner of the sofa, making himself comfortable with his arm across the back and one ankle propped on the other knee as he asked, “This haunting you spoke of. I do not understand why my death would end it. Most ghosts simply need closure. Some require a gifted person, such as a medium, to help them ful y cross over. I have never heard of one demanding a sacrifice in order to—” He stopped, grimacing at me as I pul ed Aaron’s .38 Special out and laid it on the top cushion of the chair. “Must you?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, nodding grimly. “Because you and I both know that Junior here is lying through his teeth.” I waved him off as he started to protest that Aaron was probably under a lot of pressure. I stroked the gun lovingly. “Whoever sent him should’ve told him he’s got the lamest cover story since my brother told my parents he was going waterskiing with his buddies and not one of them owned a boat. Lucky for him our dad wasn’t able to track him down until he’d already enlisted.” Aaron stared, predictably thrown off by my detour into family history. He final y responded by saying, “I don’t have a brother.”
“Yes, you do,” Vayl said.
“No,” Aaron insisted. “My sister—” He stopped, gulping slightly when Vayl set both feet on the floor and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped between them. I felt the familiar cold caress of his power as it swirled away from him. He could’ve rammed it down Aaron’s throat, made him tel us every detail of his life right down to the brand of popcorn he preferred. But the possibility of Badu floated over al our heads, and he’d never mind-blast his own son. So he simply told the truth and backed it up with a press of magical assurance so that Aaron would know in his heart that Vayl’s words were genuine.
He said, “The fact that you are alive and here now proves that your brother’s soul may also be present in this world. The fact that you, of al people, have been sent to kil me, bodes il for whoever Hanzi is in this lifetime. Because if you fail, your handler wil most certainly send him to complete your work. This puts him in terrible danger, both from the people who have trapped you, and from us.” He glanced at me. “We are trained to act first and think second. We may kil him in self-defense before we have the chance to save him.”
“You’re crazy,” Aaron muttered. “Talking about me like I was actual y alive hundreds of years ago. I’m a lawyer. Almost. I deal with facts. Case histories. Precedents. I could never buy some wacko theory like that.”
“Bul shit,” I said. “You’re the one who thinks he needs to kil a vampire to stop a haunting.”
“Nobody needs an excuse to smoke vampires!” Aaron exclaimed. “Ask around! I’d be applauded in the streets for flicking another parasite off the ass of humankind!” Then, as if realizing that he was sitting right next to one of the parasites he’d just insulted and maybe he should’ve just kept his big fat mouth shut, Aaron pressed his lips together so hard they looked like a single entity.
But not soon enough for me.
I picked up the revolver in one smooth motion and took a shot. Boom! Aaron screamed as the pil ow under his arm jumped and a couple of feathers fluttered into the air. I found myself wishing he’d brought a shotgun. Now that would’ve made a big splash!
