Blood in the Marsh Page 19

“I told her she had to tell Michael about it. Naturally, when she did, he went nuts. I didn’t blame him. It worried me, too. Anyway, we decided that the first thing we had to do was get Cari somewhere safe. So we took her to his uncle’s house in Brunswick, and then went back to Washington to try to find out who was making the calls.

  “About three or four days later we get a call from the hospital in Brunswick. Michael’s uncle was in real bad shape. No one would say what was wrong, they just said he should get there as quick as possible.

  “We left Washington that same afternoon, hopping a military flight out. When we got to Brunswick, no one knew anything about his uncle being at the hospital. We left and went to his uncle’s and there he was, sitting on the porch. He was surprised to see Michael and asked what he was doing there. Cari had received a call from him early the previous morning telling her to come back to Washington and had left. “We raced back to the airport and headed for Washington. We had gone about halfway when Michael started having a bad feeling. He told me that this one was really bad, and his whole body was shaking and sweat was pouring off him.

  “As soon as we landed we rushed to his house. That’s when we found Cari and Melinda. They were both dead. Cari had been badly abused, her throat cut and her body drained of blood. The baby…”

  Nick’s voice failed for a moment and he shook his head. Lyra put her hand on his arm. “You don’t have to say any more. I’m so sorry, for both of you. I know that sounds trite and meaningless but I really don’t know what to say. I just wish it had never happened.”

  She looked at Michael and saw tears running down his face. After a moment, he brushed them away and cleared his throat. “What Nick didn’t tell you was that there was a message left for us. It said, ‘this is for the child you took from me on the dark sea. Remember the old rule—an eye for an eye. Stay away from my children. Do not interfere or more will die’.“

  A chill ran down Lyra’s spine. “And you think that it’s the same people who are doing all these things now?”

  Nick turned to her. “What we think is that this vampire or demon or whatever it is, is after you, Lyra. Think about it. It changes bodies every hundred years or so and according to the dates Lucius gave, it’s time for another transfer. And, to make the transfer it needs the blood of a virgin. I don’t want to embarrass you, but there aren’t many of those around anymore and I think this thing has fixed its sights on you.”

  Lyra felt as if someone had just pronounced her death sentence. She swallowed hard, trying to stem the swiftly rising panic. “So what do we do?”

  Nick squeezed her hand then looked at Michael. “We find him and deal with him once and for all.”

  “By whose book?” Lyra asked.

  Nick turned to her and the look in his eyes made her cringe. “Mine.”

  Monday—Sea Island

  Michael was already up when Lyra went downstairs. He turned and looked at her as she walked into the kitchen. “Lyra, I really wish you’d reconsider this trip to North Carolina.”

  Lyra shook her head. “I need those files and my books, Michael. That’s the only way I’m going to figure this out.”

  “Well, couldn’t you just get someone to send the stuff to you?”

  She poured a cup of coffee and sat down. “I don’t know. Is it really so vital that I stay here?”

  “Let’s just say it is for my peace of mind.”

  Lyra sighed and stared at him for a moment. “Okay, tell you what. I’ll call and ask my roommate to have the stuff Fed Ex-ed to me. But I’ll still need access to a major library which means I’ll have to go to Atlanta and use the facility at Emory or Georgia Tech.”

  “Let’s just wait and see if you can find anything in what you already have. If you need more maybe we can work something out.”

  “Okay.” She got up and called to cancel her reservations. “I’ll call Cathy later and have her box everything up.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled at her as she walked by.

  She patted his shoulder and sat down. “Michael, why didn’t you tell me about Cari and the baby?”

  He looked down. “It’s not an easy thing to talk about.”

  “I know and I wish there was something I could say, but there isn’t. It does make me have questions, though. Does your Uncle Miquel not like Nick? When his name came up the other day, Miguel got a very strange look on his face.”

  Michael looked up at her. “Uncle Miguel thinks Nick went over the edge after Cari and the baby died. He kind of lost himself in his work and he’s not really the same man he used to be.”

  “Everyone handles loss differently. Some people withdraw inside themselves and build this safe little shell where they can hide and not deal with it. Other people can’t do anything but feel angry and they let that rage control them. And others learn to accept the things they can’t change and try to go on with their lives and deal with the pain.”

  Michael nodded. “And some go through all of it and end up pretty much numb and empty.”

  “Is that how you feel?”

  “I did, for a long time. It’s not as bad as it was, but it still hurts like hell. I won’t get the chance to grow old with Cari and watch our grandchildren playing in the yard, and I’ll never see my daughter take her first step or start kindergarten or learn to drive—or anything. It was all taken away.”

  Lyra reached over and took his hand. “I wish I could take all your hurt away, Michael. I don’t understand why it happened and I wish so much it hadn’t. Since I can’t, all I can offer is me. If there’s anything I can do, all you have to do is say so. I owe you a lot and I’d like to repay some of your kindness.”

  “You don’t owe me anything.”

  “Yes. I do,” she said softly.

  Nick walked in and saw them sitting at the table. After pouring a cup of coffee Nick leaned over to kiss Lyra on the cheek then sat down and looked at Michael.

  “What time you think you’ll get back?”

  Michael gulped down the rest of his coffee and stood up. “Hopefully around six.”

  Lyra looked over at Nick. “I canceled the trip. Michael convinced me to get my roommate to ship my things to me. If I need more information, I’ll try one of the state colleges.”

  Nick nodded. “Okay, maybe I better call Mac and tell him I’ll be around.”

  He went into the den and returned a few minutes later. “I called Mac and told him I still needed the day off but he’s kind of backed up and needs me to get caught up in the dark room. All the wedding stuff’s starting to pile up. I’m going to try to get out of there around four, but Dick wants me to help him out at the restaurant tonight. He’s kind of short-handed.”

  Michael looked over at Lyra. “Do you remember how to set the alarm?”

  She nodded. “Yes, you’ve explained it three times and I’ve got it. Don’t worry. No one even knows we’re here and I promise Chelsey and I won’t stick our head out unless a bomb falls on the house.”

  Michael smiled and pulled on his jacket. “Okay, I’ll see you guys later.”

  Lyra got up and walked with him to the garage door. “Michael?”

  He turned and she looked up at him. “I just wanted you to know that I do think of you as my friend and I am aware how hard it was for you to talk about what happened. I’m sorry I’m the cause of you having to relive all that and I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, more than I can say.”

  “That’s okay. It’s my job,” he replied then shook his head. “Well, I guess it’s really more than that.”

  “You mean Chelsey?”

  Michael looked away from her. “Yeah, Chelsey’s great.”

  Lyra smiled and reached out to squeeze his hand. “She’s very lucky. . You’re not only handsome but you’re a good person inside.”

  “You know, Lyra, if you didn’t have all those stars in your eyes for Nick I just might be tempted to give him some competition.”

  Lyra looked away and released his hand. “Flattery will get
you everywhere, Detective Santera. Now, go to work so you won’t be late. I’d hate it if you had to be late getting home and miss the fantastic dinner we’re going to have fixed.”

  Michael smiled and walked out. Lyra returned to the kitchen to find Nick standing at the door watching Michael’s car pull out of the garage. “Maybe I should call Mac and tell him I can’t make it.”

  “Nick, you can’t do that. He’s depending on you. And we’ll be fine. My gosh, we’ve got an electric fence and enough security to protect Fort Knox!”

  “Well, okay. But I’ll call when I get there and check on you. You remember what we decided about answering the phone?”

  “Yes. Let the machine answer then pick up if it’s you or Michael. I’ve got it.”

  “All right, then I guess I’ll go.”

  She walked him to the door and he stopped and pulled her to him to kiss her. Lyra closed her eyes and tried to summon up the emotion she knew he hoped to elicit. Sadly, it wasn’t there. Nick pulled back from the kiss and looked down into her eyes. “You make it hard on a man to leave.”

  Lyra smiled up at him, relieved he hadn’t clued in on her real feelings. “Then hurry up and get your work done so you can come back for a while before you have to go to the restaurant. I’m fixing dinner.”

  “You can cook?”

  Lyra pretended to be insulted and tossed her hair. “I’ll have you know that I’m a—well, I’m a halfway decent cook.”

  “I can hardly wait. Lock the deadbolt and set the alarm.”

  “Yes sir. See you later.”

  After locking the door and reactivating the alarm, Lyra cleaned up the kitchen then walked into the den, flopping down on the couch and staring across the room. She wasn’t used to being idle all day, and not being able to get out and run made her edgy. But she had promised Nick and Michael she would not leave the house, and after the incident at the beach she wasn’t about to tempt fate.

  She got up to get the remote for the television and the phone rang. Walking over to where it sat on the desk, she listened to Nick’s voice asking the caller to leave a message. A beep sounded then the connection was severed. Thinking that it was probably a wrong number she paid it no more attention and went down the hall into the room she had set up as an exercise room. Without equipment, there wasn’t much she could do but jog in place and do aerobics, so she put some music on and started her workout.

  An hour later, she was hot, sweaty, and bored. Turning off the music, she started upstairs and met Chelsey on way down. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

  “Where’s Michael?”

  “He already left for work. So did Nick. And we’re under strict orders not to leave the house.”

  “I know, I know,” Chelsey grumbled.

  “Chels, listen. I know this is a pain but remember what happened the last time we ignored what Michael told us. I think this time we should do like he said.”

  “Okay!” Chelsey stomped down the stairs.

  Lyra ran up to her room and took a shower then dressed in a pair of cut off jeans and a T-shirt. She started downstairs and heard the phone ring. Pausing, she listened for the machine to pick up, but instead she heard Chelsey’s voice.

  “Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Fine, then don’t talk!”

  Lyra bounded into the room fussing at her. “Chelsey! What are you doing? We’re not supposed to answer the phone!”

  “I know, but the damn thing’s been ringing off the hook ever since you got in the shower. Oh, by the way, Nick called and I told him everything was fine. He said he’d call later. Anyway, someone just keeps calling and hanging up and I got tired of it.”

  “Well, maybe it’s just some kid,” Lyra said as she walked past Chelsey toward the kitchen.

  She had just walked in the door when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. The knob of the door leading to the garage was turning. Swallowing an impulse to scream, she turned and ran back into the den and grabbed Chelsey’s hand in one of hers, covering Chelsey’s mouth with the other as she pulled her toward the stairs.

  “Someone’s trying to get in the house!”

  Chelsey’s eyes widened and she nodded, running as fast as she could up the stairs behind Lyra. Lyra dashed down the hall and jerked open the door to the attic. Chelsey tore up the stairs as Lyra locked the door from the inside and raced after her.

  She found Chelsey at the top of the stairs looking around in fear. “Lyra, we’re trapped up here!”

  “Where’s your cell phone?”

  “In the bedroom.”

  Lyra chewed her lip for a moment then grabbed Chelsey’s hand. On the far side of the attic, an old service elevator door was hidden behind a stack of crates. Pushing the crates far enough away from the wall to squeeze by, Lyra opened the elevator door.

  It was small, only about two and a half feet wide and about three feet high, but large enough for Chelsey to get in if she crouched down.

  “Get in!”

  “But there’s not enough room for both of us!”

  Lyra shoved her toward the opening. “Just get in! And don’t make a sound!”

  Shaking with fear, Chelsey crawled into the elevator and Lyra closed the door. Pushing the crates back in place, she looked around for a place to hide. The sound of footsteps on the stairs made her heart pound in her ears as panic rose. Running away from the elevator entrance, she frantically looked around, spotting a long rectangular object beneath an old tarp.

  Throwing back one side of the tarp, she saw an old prop, the disappearing lady trick. It was sitting on top of several long crates. Wishing it was real magic, she opened the lid and crawled inside, letting the lid slam shut.

  No sooner had she laid down she felt the bottom of the box give way. She rolled sideways, landing on her face beneath the box. Fear of being discovered made her consider changing hiding places but a splintering, shattering noise made her change her mind.

  She heard footsteps, then a voice. “Find the blonde but don’t hurt her. He wants her unharmed and intact. If you find the other one, kill her. We’ll get rid of the body on the way.”

  Lyra held her breath, sure she could be heard as footsteps sounded around the box she was trapped in. She heard the sound of the lid being raised and knew that at any moment she would be discovered. The man pounded on the sides and bottom of the box but could not find any hidden panels. He kicked the sides and walked all around it, then stopped and grabbed one end and lifted it up.

  “Hey! Over here!”

  Lyra felt tears stream down her face. She was so afraid she felt as if her heart was going to explode at any moment. Lying as still as death, she waited to see what was going to happen.

  “What it is?” The second man asked as he walked over.

  “I think we might have something here. This thing’s too heavy for an empty box. Maybe our little pigeon’s found a roost.”

  Lyra wished she could just disappear. She braced her hands out by her sides, hoping that if she remained very still they would think the box was just made of heavy wood when they lifted it.

  The men positioned themselves at either end of the box and lifted it up. Lyra felt the box move then suddenly the bottom opened up and she plopped down into a bed of straw. Blinking, she realized the false bottom of the box had deposited her into the crate below it which had no lid.

  Digging into the straw, she burrowed her way to the bottom, feeling as if she would suffocate. The men were arguing about the box, one saying it wasn’t heavy and the other insisting it had been heavier before.

  They turned it over on its side, checking the bottom, but could find no way in or out of it. At last, they moved on. Lyra could hear them as they moved around the attic. It felt as if she lay beneath the itchy straw, listening to them for hours. At last, they walked back to the stairs.

  “Looks like we were wrong. They must’ve sneaked out. Call Carl and have him check it out again. They’ve got to be somewhere on this island and we better find them fast.”

>   The other man agreed. “You got that right. If we don’t produce this goddamn virgin before long then we’re all going to be looking at the sky from the bottom of the marsh.”

  Lyra listened as they left the attic. She could hear them on the stairs then there was silence. Afraid to move in case they decided to come back, she stayed where she was, praying that Nick or Michael would come back.

  After several hours, she heard the faint ring of the phone. She couldn’t tell if the answering machine picked it up but felt better knowing that at least the phone was working.

  Inside she was still scared to death. The things the men had said made it all too clear that they were after her. Lucius wasn’t lying! All those things he wrote were true. There is some kind of ageless vampire out there and it needs to make the transference from its old body to a new one. And it wants to kill me! Oh god, Lucius, I sure hope you have a trick to get me out of this.

  Chapter Eight

  Michael stopped the car with a jerk and jumped out. He unlocked the door and ran in the kitchen. “Lyra!”

  Getting no response, he started searching. The downstairs was empty, but there was evidence someone had been in the house. Running upstairs, he checked every room as he proceeded down the hall. He saw the shattered door to the attic stairwell and raced up the stairs three at a time, stopping in a low crouch at the top step.

  Pausing, he listened for a moment, and then began making his way through the attic. Things were turned over and moved as if someone had been looking for something. He saw the uncovered magic box and the tarp lying on the floor and stopped.

  Opening the lid, he looked inside. “Lyra?” A muffled reply came from beneath the box. Michael pushed it so it sat crosswise on the crate beneath it. “Lyra!” he whispered again.

  “Michael?” Movement came from the straw in the crate.

  He started digging in the straw as Lyra jumped up and grabbed him around the neck, straw clinging to her clothes and tangled in her hair. “Oh, Michael!”

  “Are you okay?” He held her at arm’s length, looking her over.