Moonlight Burns: (Urban Fantasy) (Daughters of Hecate Book 2) Read online

  I was still working at Haven; slinging coffee meant that I didn’t have to think about anything else. Just like always, it was easier to hide from everything by pretending to be normal. I might have promised myself that I would try to be myself more... baby steps, right?

  Obviously, Lacey couldn’t keep working at Haven, and unless David was going to be willing to open the café for all those midnight coffee consumers, there was no way to make it work.

  I didn’t know what kind of story Lacey had given for quitting, but whatever it was, it worked like a charm. The last time anyone had quit, David and Candace had shown up on their doorstep with a basket of farewell goodies and their signature show of unconditional outpouring of affection.

  I never asked Lacey what she’d said, and she never mentioned it. David asked me to pass on his good wishes and Candace would only squeeze my hand and smile gently. It was weird, but they’d get over it sooner or later. All I had to do was wait it out.

  It hadn’t been hard to convince Bishop that Lacey should have a job at Spiral. The battle between the elder Laudan and the Blood Outlaws had left a lot of vacancies at Spiral and at some of the other clubs that the coven operated. Besides, Bishop owed me... big time. The least he could do was hire Lacey as a bartender. It’s not like she wasn’t good at the job, any idiot can sling beer; she was just a little... chipper.

  “I don’t think Church likes me,” she sighed one morning. It was just before dawn, and I was definitely not in the mood to be awake, and she was obviously not quite ready to go to sleep. I groaned and rolled over, opening one eye to see Lacey seated on the arm of the couch with Suki in her lap.

  “Why do you say that? More importantly, why do you care? He’s just the bouncer,” I said, shutting my eye again and burying my face in my pillow.

  “I know, and Eli said I shouldn’t let it bother me,” she paused briefly and her voice brightened just a little, “Did you know that Church used to hate Eli too? Like back in the 80s when he first started with the band... when...”

  There it was.

  Church didn’t like freshies. They hadn’t earned their place yet.

  “I’m sure you’ll win him over real soon, Lace. It’s impossible not to like you. You are the physical embodiment of ‘kill them with kindness.’ I mean; you won me over, didn’t you?” I lifted my head off my pillow, rubbed my face and sat up.

  Lacey smiled, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. How long do you think it took for him to stop hating Eli?”

  “About thirty-eight years,” I said with a smile. Lacey’s face fell and she hugged Suki to her chest.

  “Oh...”

  “Don’t be like that, Lace. Thirty-eight years might seem like a long time to you right now, but trust me, it’s nothing.”

  Especially now that she was immortal.

  “Before you know it, you two will be the best of friends. I guarantee it.” I knew that I wasn’t really making her feel any better, but it was really early in the morning, and the onset of spring always made me a little antsy.

  I couldn’t explain it, but I always felt a little different around this time of year, and now that my magic seemed determined not to hide in the background, I felt the change in the seasons a little more keenly.

  Lacey stretched dramatically and yawned, her fangs glinting in the pale light. The sun would be coming up over the buildings soon, and she’d have to retreat behind the screens and blackout curtains I’d set up for her in the living room. My apartment was feeling a little cramped with her here, but it wasn’t the worst living situation I’d had to deal with.

  Eli had been away for weeks, working closely with Bishop on Mutually Assured Destruction’s new album. The album release gig was only a few days away, but I haven’t heard how things were going.

  “Did you see Eli tonight?” I asked. My feet hit the chilled hardwood floor and I shivered. I really needed to set some boundaries with these Laudan when it came to my sleep schedule.

  “Oh! Yes! I’m sorry, I should have told you,” she pressed her fingers to her temples as though she was trying really hard to remember what had happened. “He told me...” She paused, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

  I groaned and stood up. Suki jumped down off Lacey’s lap and ran ahead of me into the kitchen. Of course she was the only one unaffected by the change in schedules and traffic in the house. More people to pet her and feed her when she wanted it was the very best kind of arrangement.

  Little opportunist.

  “OH!” Lacey cried, remembering suddenly. I leaned against the counter, resting my head against the cupboards.

  “Whaaaaat?”

  “He said you should come to rehearsal tomorrow night! They’re having some kind of celebration.” Lacey was still such an innocent when it came to what went on behind the scenes at Spiral. With the Blood Outlaws gone, things were different, and I wasn’t sure that Bishop had really taken enough time to straighten everything out.

  I gritted my teeth. If the ‘special celebration’ was what I thought it was, Mutually Assured Destruction was about to acquire its next permanent member. Grady, the drummer, had been the lone human element of the band for the last year, but I knew how Bishop worked, and his contracts came with a lot of fine print.

  “Do I have to?” I said wearily.

  “Um... I mean, I don’t think Eli would give you orders, Fee... but he seemed pretty serious about it. I mean, he’s really proud of the band’s new material, and they’ve been working so hard on this album...”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I waved my hand at Lacey, silencing her. “I know. I’ll be there.”

  Lacey clapped her hands delightedly and bounced off the arm of the couch. “Eli’s been really great with me, Fee, he’s teaching me so much. Bishop too. I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable, y’know, with... everything.”

  Everything. Specifically meaning the whole drinking blood and staying out of the sunlight stuff. In the first few days of her transformation, Lacey had been inconsolable as she’d realized that some of her favorite activities had been summarily deleted from her life without her knowledge or permission. I still felt bad about that, but the guilt had faded somewhat. One day I’d tell her the real reason why she’d been turned. For now, I was happy to have her believe that she’d been a casualty of the Blood Outlaw battle.

  She didn’t have to know that it was my fault that this was her eternity. She could point her anger elsewhere for now. I’d get to it... eventually. To her credit, Lacey had taken a few different lessons away from her experience with the goddess who had inhabited her body... the first was that it was a bad idea to be a tourist in the dark arts, and second, that dwelling on the past was an even worse idea. Lacey had eternity ahead of her, and if she played her cards right, she’d be set. At least I’d done that much for her.

  Small mercies.

  Eli was teaching her to be Laudan, and I was grateful that he’d intervened. Bishop was still bitter that I’d left him no choice but to turn her, but I was sure he’d forgive me in a few decades. Eli had told me that Lacey was like the little sister he’d never had... annoying, yet oddly endearing. Plus, she was learning quickly; taking to her new life with an eagerness that he hadn’t expected.

  I still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She hadn’t killed yet, he’d assured me of that, but that didn’t make me feel any fucking better about the whole situation.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” I said. And I really was. I’d been worried that the news of her new... status... would have been too traumatic, too life altering. But after a reasonable adjustment period, well, reasonable for Lacey, she’d seemed to be okay. Visiting her ruined apartment had been traumatizing, sure, but she seemed to have bounced back without too much trouble.

  Once or twice I’d caught her staring silently at the wall, clearly lost in a memory that was all too real, but still a little foggy... but all things considered, she was doing great. Real great.

  At least, I hoped she was.
/>   On the day of Mutually Assured Destruction’s album release I dragged myself through my shift at Haven. The buddy system that David had put in place since Halloween had been working nicely for the younger members of the staff, and I was just happy to have someone to lean on when I needed to spend most of the day in the milk fridge trying to pretend that I wasn’t hungover or running on about three hours of sleep.

  Having a vampire as a roommate might seem like an easy thing... she worked nights, I worked days, what’s the big deal, right? But I hadn’t been sleeping well this week, and Lacey’s 24/7 supply of bubbly energy was wearing on me.

  I could shrug most of what I was feeling away on seasonal adjustments. Spring had hit New York state with a vengeance this year, and while I didn’t have allergies, it kind of felt like it. Headaches hovered behind my eyes at all hours of the day, waiting to strike, and I felt like I was constantly on edge. It wasn’t cute, and I seemed to always be in a bad mood.

  The walk from the subway to Spiral seemed especially long tonight, and I tried to focus on something positive.

  After tonight, you wouldn’t have to hear about the new album anymore.

  Bingo. Positive.

  The club didn’t open for a few hours, but Church was waiting in his usual spot. He tilted his chin at me and held out his hand.

  Drink tickets.

  “How did you know,” I murmured with a smile.

  “I’d rather give them to you than make you think that you could steal them without me noticing,” he chuckled and tried to cover his amusement with his signature glowering stare.

  Never change, Church.

  “Steal drink tickets from your pocket? Wouldn’t dream of it, Churchill,” I said as I breezed past him.

  “Don’t call me that,” he growled as I passed.

  I looked over my shoulder and smirked at him. I’d call him whatever I damn well pleased. Besides, if he got any fatter, he’d look exactly like Winston Churchill, and that wasn’t my fault.

  As I descended the stairs into the club and let my eyes adjust to the red lighting, I could see just how much the purge had affected the ranks of the Laudan who inhabited Spiral’s background. Before Halloween, I could come in here before opening and count at least three unfamiliar faces each time... and I was good with faces. By the time All Saint’s Day had dawned, the Laudan’s numbers had been cut by more than half... and all that remained were the elders... and those contractually bound to them.

  The band was on stage, getting ready for sound check, and Eli was seated at a booth with Bishop. Eli’s snakeskin boots were up on the table and I grimaced, hoping that behavior wouldn’t follow him into my apartment. It was bad enough that Lacey had managed to rescue some of her printed scarves and Stevie Nicks CD’s from the ruin of her apartment and her ‘spoopy’ aesthetic was starting to take over what used to be my living room. The last thing I needed was an immortal band guy exerting his supernatural posturing on my space.

  I knew what I’d signed up for when I got mixed up with Eli, but a girl has her limits, and I was getting really close to them.

  On the stage, the other members of the band were testing out their instruments and monitors with the sound guy... something Eli should really have been worried about too, but he didn’t seem to care. There was something so effortless about how he managed himself on stage. Eli had an air of confidence that came from someone who knew that he could blow the doors off any club even if his microphone wasn’t working properly. Easy. Arrogant. Perfect.

  Bishop had hit front man gold with Eli, and he knew it. Bishop had a nose for talent, there was no denying it. I didn’t know shit about music, and even I could tell you that there was no member of the band that didn’t belong on that stage.

  * * *

  The club wouldn’t open for a few hours yet, and Lacey was behind the bar getting set up. Flyers for this show had gone out all over the country... Mutually Assured Destruction’s appeal was something I didn’t quite understand, but this gig electrified even Eli, who rarely showed any kind of visible enthusiasm. It had been almost forty years since their last album release... the night Eli had signed Bishop’s contract to be precise. It was an anniversary of sorts, but I wasn’t sure that Eli wanted to be reminded of that.

  I walked up to the bar with a smile on my face as Lacey set down a bottle of my favorite imported beer on the wooden bar.

  “I have a feeling you could use this,” she said, sliding the perspiring bottle towards me. I grabbed it and took a long, grateful swig.

  “How many people are supposed to be coming tonight?” I asked. I wanted tonight to be a success, not just for Eli, but for Lacey too. Bishop had been pleased with how quickly she had picked everything up, and he had put her in charge of the bar tonight. She didn’t have to tell me, I knew that she was nervous.

  “Church said we’ll be at capacity tonight, with more lined up outside. ‘Pack ‘em like sardines!’ he said.” Lacey looked at me with wide eyes, “How many sardines are in a can, Fee? I feel like I’m going to get quizzed on it later... is packing people into a place like sardines a good thing?” She wrinkled her nose delicately, no doubt thinking about sardines more carefully than she normally would.

  “It’s a good thing, Lace. Just make sure your fridges are stocked and everything will be okay. I promise.” I smiled at her reassuringly. She didn’t look convinced, but it would have to do.

  On the stage, the band had completed sound check, and Eli left his spot at Bishop’s table to join them. Eli never bothered to check his mic, and no one expected him to either. If the guy assigned to his mic didn’t do his job right, he’d be Eli’s next meal. Everyone knew that to.

  Grady was behind the drum kit, looking just the same as he always did and I wondered if Bishop had scheduled the ‘contract meeting’ that would make him a permanent member of the band yet. Eli had been turned after the last album release party, maybe the history would repeat itself. It wasn’t my problem, but I couldn’t help feeling a little bit angry that Bishop was up to his old tricks. When time meant nothing, maybe self-awareness faded away right along with it. Predictable.

  I slid into one of the booths and rubbed my hand over the black velvet upholstery. Without Oren and the rest of his creepy entourage around, there was no one at Spiral to challenge my presence here. And there were more free seats, which was always a bonus. There was nothing I hated more than not being able to find somewhere to sit and make the space my own.

  I wasn’t big on concerts at the best of times. Crowded spaces made me nervous, and I liked to know where my exits were at all times. Just in case. I’m not saying I’m paranoid, I’ve just found that having access to a getaway can come in handy when you least expect it, and I always expected things to go sour.

  Eli had taken his place at the microphone, and was guiding the band through the opening bars of their newest song. I’d heard bits and pieces of the new album, and it was good... I wasn’t any kind of connoisseur, but to my untrained ear it sounded a little darker than their last album, but that’s the kind of impact becoming an immortal vampire against your will could have on a songwriter.

  As the bass player pounded on his instrument and Eli swayed in front of the mic, I took another sip of my beer and tried to will my headache away. On random occasions over the last few months I’d been teetering on the edge of agony every time a headache loomed at the edge of my brain. I was usually able to push it away with the help of my magic, but I was beginning to resent using it as a replacement for good old-fashioned drugs.

  Sometimes it was just easier to let T3’s and a bottle of wine take the wheel.

  I leaned back against the cushioned booth seat and put my boots up on the table. As long as Bishop didn’t see me, it didn’t matter. I’d apologize later if he said anything. Better to beg forgiveness. I’d just taken another swig of my beer as Eli launched into the chorus of the song and the guitar cords crashed against my eardrums when I felt it; a magnetic pull that seemed to yank at the middle of m
y spine and making the lip of the beer bottle click against my teeth.

  “Ow,” I muttered, setting the beer down and glaring at it as though it was the cause of my discomfort. The magnetic pull thudded against my spine again, and I turned towards the stairs that led up to the street and peered into the smoky darkness of the club.

  There was a young woman on the stairs. She had dark hair, shaved on one side; it gave her a hard look that made her seem older than she probably was. She barely looked old enough to come into the club, and I’d bet money that she wasn’t. But there was something else about her... something different. The girl locked eyes with me, they were pale and cold, and my headache flared suddenly, making me wince.

  “Hey!”

  Church. He hated it when these little shits snuck by him. Band groupies used to sneak into the club all the time, so this wasn’t anything new, but Church took it personally each time. The bouncer thundered down the stairs and grabbed the girl roughly by the elbow.

  “Fuck you!” She yelled, yanking her arm out of his grip. “I have a ticket! I bought it fair and square!” She pulled something out of the pocket of her Army surplus military jacket and shoved it into Church’s face. “I have a right to be here.”

  She was tough, I admired that.

  “If it escaped your notice, madam,” Church said through clenched teeth, “the doors don’t open until nine, show starts at ten.”

  “And?” she challenged him bravely, and I took another drink, watching them with an amused smile on my face. Lacey was frozen behind the bar, and I hoped she was taking notes. This was the way you dealt with Church if you wanted to get anywhere at Spiral. He liked a challenge. Especially when a smart mouthed chick that didn’t know any better delivered it.

  “And I ain’t babysitting you ‘till then! You paid for one show, you don’t get two,” he bellowed, snatching the ticket out of her hand.