“Mercy doesn’t run from anyone,” I said.
“Don’t refer to yourself in the third person,” Hailey said. “It’s over-dramatic.”
“I can’t believe she called the spirits of Nico and Ramon to help hunt us. It’s just wrong.”
Julie sat down next to me. “She knew it would affect you. Seeing them again.”
“Of course she did,” I said. “Such a sadistic bitch.”
“And you aren’t?” Hailey said, smirking.
“Fair enough,” I said. “But I don’t mess with people’s heads.”
“Or their hearts?” Hailey asked. “I mean, there was that nurse…”
“Rutherford?” I asked. “I guess I see your point. But when you’re messing with people who are still in mourning, that’s a whole other level of fucked up.”
“I won’t disagree with you there,” Hailey said.
Julie huffed.
“What?” I asked.
“Well I’m the one who cursed a whole village to death. Emotions associated with mourning… Perhaps I’m not the best person to offer counsel.”
Fred plopped down on my opposite side. “So, should we start running?”
“We?” I asked.
“Come on,” Fred said. “Don’t make me try to fend for myself. Let me run with you.”
“Are you sure that running is something you’re up for?” I asked.
“I’m still a vampire,” Fred said. “I’m fast.”
“Fast food doesn’t count,” I said.
“Come on, Mercy. If he doesn’t come with us, he’ll probably get caught in the hunt.”
I sighed. “Alright, you can come. But if you slow us down…”
“I won’t,” Fred said, springing to his feet. He started doing jumping jacks for no apparent reason. I could hear plates rattling in the cabinet and floorboards creaking with every jump.
“Fred!” I said. “I get it. You can move. You don’t need to prove anything.”
“Plus,” Fred said, “we could go with you and pile in your hearse, or we could take my car.”
“What do you drive?” I asked.
Fred gestured toward the front door. “Take a look.”
I opened my phone and took a look at the doorbell camera. A cherry-red sports car was parked outside. The thing was pristine. I didn’t know my cars all that well, but it looked fast. “Looks nice. What is it?”
“Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. That baby boasts seven hundred horses. Hits a top speed of two hundred and eleven miles per hour.”
“Damn,” I said. “How did you come up with the money for that?”
Fred smiled. “Frederick invested wisely back in the day.”
I nudged Hailey. “See, I’m not the only one who refers to myself in the third person.”
“It’s different. Frederick is a completely different person than Fred.”
“Not it isn’t,” I said. “He just seems like a different person.”
“I agree with the youngling,” Fred said. “I’m not the same person I was back then. But maybe… I could be again?”
“Lay off the chocolate-covered clots and feed like a normal vampire. That would be a start,” I said.
“And give up the video games,” Fred said. “You can keep my gaming console, Julie.”
“Thanks!” Julie exclaimed. “Sounds like we won’t be playing for a while, though.”
I nodded. “I think we’d better take the Morrigan’s advice and start running.”
“Where to?” Fred asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Ever been to Rhode Island?”
“Nope,” Fred said.
“Me neither,” Hailey added.
Julie shook her head.
I hadn’t been back to Rhode Island since shortly after I was turned. But I knew, first of all, we needed to lead the hunt as far away from New Orleans as possible. The closer we stayed to New Orleans, which had the densest vampire population in the United States, the more vampires they were likely to gather into the hunt. But we could have chosen any number of destinations if just getting away from New Orleans was the goal. There were probably even fewer vampires in places like North Dakota or Utah. But there was a reason why I wanted to go to Rhode Island. It was where the Order of the Morning Dawn was strongest. I knew it was a risk to try and get the Order involved—but if they knew a pagan hunt with vampire hunters was on its way through town, they might get in the way or slow them down. And if they knew Moll—the witch that Dennis had confirmed the Order still considered infamous in the bigoted organization’s lore—was involved, you could know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’d take interest.
The key was going to be hiding that I was coming to town. Certainly it was a risk, and an even greater one if the Order was still utilizing nightwalkers—vampires the Order made from their own membership in order to hunt other vampires—in the region. But I doubted there were many nightwalkers in Rhode Island. The vampire population was thin there. The witch population, however, was fairly populous. Maybe we’d find someone there who knew something. Someone who could help.
We piled into Fred’s Aston Martin. He revved up the engine. The car was sexy. Fred, not so much. Not like he used to be. But I had to admit, the leather interior, the new car smell, and the rumble of the engine were somewhat intoxicating. It certainly beat the hearse—which, truth be told, I wasn’t even sure could make the drive to Rhode Island. The thing was desperately in need of an oil change. I figured I rarely needed to drive, anyway. It could get by. Until it couldn’t.
Fred cracked the windows as we merged onto Interstate 59.
“Think we should find a motel on the route, something we’ll reach before sunrise?” I asked.
Fred shook his head. “The window tint will block any sunlight that can hurt us.”
I raised my eyebrow. “What kind of tint is that?”
“It includes solar film. Blocks all infrared and ultraviolet rays. It’s like the stuff they used on the space shuttle. Premium stuff.”
“And how much did that cost you?”
Fred shrugged. “I don’t know. I just charged it to my account.”
“Must be nice to have more money than you know what to do with.”
Fred chuckled. “It is. And it’s nice to actually have some friends to share it with now.”
I smiled. It was sweet he thought of us as friends. I felt kind of bad for being a bitch to him at first. But Fred, I hated to admit, actually had some style. Not in the way he dressed himself—though he used to be quite the dashing gentleman back in the middle of the last century. But his car… it was a thing of beauty. And something about him, sans the video games and eating habits, was actually sort of cute.
Chapter Seven
Fred’s window-tinting was brilliant. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard about this stuff. When this was over and we got back home, it was going on all the windows at Casa do Diabo. Yes, Fred said it was pricy. But we’re vampires. Fred isn’t the only vampire with access to a hefty bank account. One of the advantages of living so long is that you eventually manage to amass enough money that you make more in interest than most humans make while working forty hours a week. And I’d inherited all of Nico’s accounts. I couldn’t give you an exact figure, but we certainly weren’t hurting.