“I don’t get it,” Jessica said. “Why lie about it? Why not just tell me you would be the one looking for the vampire?”
“I was worried you would want to continue interacting with me about the matter, and that was the very last thing I wanted.” Jessica pulled back from him, looking wounded. “It is nothing personal,” he assured her, holding up his hand. “It was for your own protection. It is not good for anyone to be linked to me in any way, not even remotely.”
Jessica looked like she was about to ask another question, but Dara interrupted her. “The GPS says we’re here, guys. But, um, are you sure this is it, Nathan? ’Cause it looks like a donut shop.”
Lucy saw she was right. Dara had pulled the SUV up in front of a storefront in a strip mall, where a pink-and-white striped awning stretched above a glass door. A neon pink donut with the word “FRESH” flashing intermittently in the center dangled in the window, and the words “Endless Donuts” had been stenciled on the glass in jaunty script. The interior of the place was dark, and a Closed sign hung on the door.
“This is it,” Nathan said.
“We’re asking a donut fryer for help hunting a vampire?” Jessica asked, unbuckling her seatbelt and hopping out.
“The donuts are but a front,” Nathan said as he and the others exited the SUV. “And Kiefer is more than a mere donut fryer. He has an office in the back here, where he practices magic, selling potions to paying customers, and monitors the area for paranormal disturbances. Here, I will show you.” He stripped off his gloves and shoved them into a pocket of his sweatshirt. From a different pocket, he produced a key ring and fit one of the keys into the shop’s deadbolt. The group eased inside, and Nathan locked the door behind them. He flipped on a light.
As the neon stuttered to life overhead, Lucy glanced around at their new surroundings. Directly across from her, she spied a glass display case, sitting empty at the moment, with a cash register perching on one end. A few small, spindly tables and chairs stood scattered around the center of the room, and a long counter was bracketed against the back wall. A drink cooler hummed in the corner, and a delicious smell of sugary baked goods hung in the air, coaxing a growl out of Lucy’s empty stomach.
“This way,” Nathan said, leading them behind the display case.
He murmured a string of strange phrases, and a panel in the wall slid away, revealing a hidden door behind it. Nathan touched the door and paused, gathering his brows in skepticism.
“What is it?” Jessica asked him. “What’s wrong?”
“This door ought to be warded, but I do not feel anything. The protective magic that ought to surround it appears to be…missing.”
Jessica gave a worried frown. “That’s probably bad, right?”
Instead of answering her, Nathan pushed open the door and charged inside. Immediately, it was obvious that something was wrong here. The cramped office they’d entered had been ransacked, and most of the furniture was broken, laying in disarray. Bookcases had been overturned and half their contents ripped to pieces. Papers were scattered everywhere.
“Oh, no,” Lucy said when she spotted something else that made her heart seize. The others looked where she was pointing and saw the bloodied pant leg sticking out from behind a desk across the room.
“Kiefer?” Nathan rushed forward, and the women followed after him, picking carefully through the debris littering the floor. “Kiefer,” he repeated, and fell to his knees beside the body. He rolled it over, and Lucy found herself staring down at a young man, maybe in his mid-to-late-twenties, in jeans and a navy t-shirt, who looked like he’d been beaten with a baseball bat. His hair was sandy blonde and matted with blood, but it was impossible to know what color his eyes were because they were both shut, the right one horribly swollen.
“Oh, no,” Lucy said again, and covered her mouth.
“Is he dead?” Jessica blurted with characteristic tact.
Nathan lifted the young man’s wrist, feeling for his pulse. He touched his neck and frowned. “It…it would appear so,” he said in a rasping voice. He brushed the young man’s hair back from his forehead and touched his cheek with a shaking hand. A quiet, mournful sound came out of Nathan, and he bowed his head.
“I’m so sorry, Nathan,” Lucy said, swallowing down the sick feeling that had arisen in her throat.
“Great. What now?” Jessica said.
“Jess,” Lucy admonished her.
“What?”
“His friend just died. Could you maybe show a little sympathy?”
“I am sympathetic,” Jessica said, and turned back to the vampire. “Really, I am, Nathan. But I’m guessing the master vampire killed your friend here. Which makes our mission of catching her all the more urgent, right? We have to stop her before she hurts anybody else.”
“A vampire did not do this,” Nathan said, getting back to his feet. “Nevertheless, Jessica is correct. We must…we must determine what happened here and…and...” He trailed off, looking dazed and disgusted, and Lucy felt terrible for him.
“Look,” Dara said, pointing. “There’s blood on the floor.”
“There’s blood everywhere,” Jessica reminded her.
“Yeah, but it looks like maybe Kiefer was trying to spell something here.” She gestured at a spot on the floor near the body that had been swept clear. Three letters had been written in blood on the floorboards. C-E-L. There was also a dot next to the L, as though maybe Kiefer had intended to form another letter.
Nathan groaned when he saw the writing. “I think he may have been trying to spell ‘Celia,’” he said through clenched teeth.
“Who’s Celia?” Lucy asked. “Another
