Vampire’s Descent: Willow Harbor - Book Two Page 4

  “Excuse me?”

  Twice Claire had piqued my interest on two different subjects. She knew a lot about not only the people in this town, but the supernatural world as well.

  “Exactly what I said.” She popped the top off her coffee cup and blew on its contents to cool it before taking a sip. “Everything about Cherry Hardegree is meant to pull in guys. It’s what she does. She’s a succubus, Mason.”

  I nearly dropped my coffee. Claire caught sight of it, but she was kind enough not to call me out on it.

  “A succubus? You’re serious?”

  I’d heard of succubi before, but I’d never come across one.

  Until now it seemed.

  An image of Cherry smiling at me flashed through my mind. I could see how she was what Claire claimed. Something about her oozed sexuality and seduction. It was in her voice and the way she carried herself.

  “Of course I’m serious. Couldn’t you tell by looking at her? Didn’t you feel seduction oozing from her?” Claire insisted.

  “I felt something, but I wasn’t sure that’s what it was,” I admitted.

  Claire rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m sure you felt something. Men always do when they’re around Cherry. Danny sure as hell did. Numerous times.” Bitterness laced her words.

  “You don’t like her?”

  “You think?” Her stormy-blue eyes locked with mine. She was pissed.

  I held up a hand in surrender. “Okay.”

  “No, I don’t like her. She’s always gotten under my skin. Maybe it’s because of the way Danny adored her. Or maybe it’s because I seemed to be the only one who cared he was among the long list of admirers she chose to spend time with.”

  “You think she was dating him while dating other guys?” That had to be where all the animosity toward her was coming from.

  “She was. I know for a fact she was. I also know she was feeding off my brother and the others too. Danny didn’t seem to care, though. No one did, even though it’s against the rules of the whole damn town.”

  I knew I should say something; I just wasn’t sure what. This was one time where being awkwardly silent might pay off in my favor.

  “God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get all bitchy.” She lifted her cup of coffee into the air. “I guess this isn’t going to get me out of my funk like I thought. Generally, it does. I swear.”

  “It’s okay. I get it. You’re having a crap day. Crap month, really.” Jesus, that was insensitive as hell. “I’m not going to hold it against you,” I said, tossing her a friendly smile, hoping she didn’t go off on me.

  “Thanks,” she whispered.

  My gut twisted at the sight of her. There was something so broken about her now, so fragile. I wanted to comfort her. Maybe place a hand on her delicate shoulders or pull her into my side. I didn’t though because I figured she didn’t want to be touched. At least not by me. I liked her, but taking advantage of her wouldn’t be right. Claire didn’t need some guy coming on to her. What she needed was a friend.

  And I was going to be that friend.

  “No problem. So, do you really have to meet up with your dad, or are you planning to search for that book Danny mentioned?” I asked.

  “I really need to find that book.” Her gaze became thoughtful.

  “Need any help?”

  “Are you serious?”

  I shrugged. “Well, yeah.”

  “Okay, sure. There’s something I want to show you, or at least tell you anyway.”

  We continued down the sidewalk. Had she found something already? Was that why she was so upset last night? I steeled myself as best I could, unsure what she was about to say. Would it make me believe Danny had been murdered? I didn’t know. What I did know was that Claire believed he had been, and if I was going to be her friend through all this, then I needed to at least keep an open mind.

  Four

  Claire

  Mason followed me into Danny’s apartment. Part of me wanted to fill him in on what I’d experienced the night before right away, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to make myself sound crazier than he already thought I was.

  An hour passed and the timing still didn’t feel right. Thankfully, he hadn’t asked what I’d mentioned wanting to tell him. Instead we’d been searching my brother’s closet, filtering through the massive amount of filing boxes of old tax returns and receipts for the bookstore Danny had collected. Apparently, he never threw anything away when it pertained to the bookstore business. He seemed to have inherited our dad’s papers and folders relating to the store as well. I chuckled, thinking the organization gene had skipped me entirely.

  An old, dusty box in the back captured my attention. It was off to the side on one of the highest shelves. I stood on the tips of my toes and stretched to reach it. My fingers brushed the cardboard multiple times before I finally gripped hold.

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe Danny still has this,” I gasped the instant I realized what the box was. I took in the duct tape binding the corners and the bottom of the box to help hold the thing together. The box had definitely seen better days.

  “What is it?” Curiosity flared through Mason’s voice as he stepped to my side.

  “It’s our treasure box.” I opened the lid and peered inside while I started toward Danny’s bed. “Our mom loved to travel. We went all over as a family during the summers. Each place we visited, Danny and I would find a souvenir to remind us of where we’d been. This is the box I made so we could store everything in one place. It’s an old shoebox I decorated with glitter-glue and stickers one summer.” I grinned as I ran my index finger along a thick line of green glue, remembering how mad I’d been when it came out too fast there.

  “And duct tape.” Mason chuckled. “I think that’s all that’s holding it together now.”

  “Danny must’ve added it over the years,” I said as Mason reached in and pulled out a magnet we’d gotten in Savannah, Georgia. It was a 3-D image of a cobblestone street, some buildings, and a horse-drawn carriage. Instantly, the memory of our trip there flooded my mind. “We got that one when we were around ten. It was right after we took a horse-drawn carriage through the historic section of the city. I fell in love with the horse and didn’t want our ride to end. I actually begged our parents to buy him so I could take him home, save him from the heat, and love him forever. Of course, it didn’t happen, but Danny bought me the second-best thing. This magnet. He’d searched for nearly twenty minutes in the souvenir shop trying to find one that resembled the horse I loved.”

  It had been such a good day. Mom and Danny were both alive and happy. We were all happy then. We’d eaten so much ice cream that day to stay cool in the heat our lips had become stained various colors, and I’d laughed so much my cheeks had been sore the next day.

  Tears of grief built and I blinked, fighting them back. The same cold sensation from the night before gathered on my shoulder, and I snapped out of my old memories.

  Danny was here.

  I could feel him. He was watching me go through our treasure box, probably even trying to give me a sense of comfort with his touch.

  “You were the best brother, Danny. The best.” The tears I’d been fighting to hold back slipped free. They dripped from my chin and landed on my brother’s bedspread, creating dark spots on the fabric with their wetness.

  “The two of you were close. I don’t doubt he knew how you felt about him, Claire.” Mason reached out and placed a hesitant hand on my shoulder. The same shoulder Danny’s touch chilled. I shrank back, feeling too cold at the sudden addition of Mason’s vampire chill.

  All too soon, both of their touch was gone. Mason cleared his throat and a gentle icy breeze fluttered through the room, sending my dark hair flying.

  “What was that?” Mason asked.

  I lifted my gaze to him. All the words I’d wanted to say built on the tip of my tongue, but they froze when his eyes locked with mine. Confusion twisted his features. He’d felt something, but from th
e look on his face, he wasn’t sure what.

  “What do you think it was?” I asked. Would he be able to guess without me having to mention anything?

  “I’m not sure. I don’t know how to explain what I felt just then.” Mason stared at his fingertips as though a visible clue rested there for him to make out.

  “Try,” I pressed. I couldn’t sound crazy if he came to the conclusion my brother’s spirit was here with us on his own.

  Mason ran a hand through his hair. His gaze dipped to the floor as he worked out a way to describe what he’d felt. “Okay, um. I could have sworn I felt something cold when I touched you. Seconds later there was a blast of chilly air flowing through the room. I know you felt that much because I saw your hair move.”

  “I did.” I nodded as I placed the magnet I’d been holding back into the treasure box. Now was the time to tell him everything. I licked my lips. “It’s not the first time either. Last night I had a horrible dream, and when I woke up I could’ve sworn my brother was here with me. As in inside the apartment. I whispered something to him, and I know this might sound crazy, but I swear he answered. He didn’t speak, but I felt exactly what you described—a coldness. It centered on my shoulder just like a second ago.” I paused for a second to gauge his expression. It was hard to decipher whether he believed me, so I pressed forward. “I think Danny is still here. In spirit form. As far as my nightmare goes, I think it might’ve been a clue about what happened to him.”

  Mason didn’t speak. His eyes lifted to mine and I could see what I thought was skepticism pooling in them.

  “I know how all of this sounds,” I insisted. “You probably think I’m making it up or that I’m nuts, but I swear to you I’m not.”

  “I don’t think any of that. I believe you. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the whole spirit thing, but I believe you. I mean, a second ago I wasn’t a believer in ghosts...”

  “But, you are now?”

  “I think so.”

  The breath I’d been holding released. I was glad he believed me. I needed someone to.

  “What was your nightmare about?” he asked.

  Clips from the nightmare filtered through my mind. The fear and emotions attached to it chilled my veins. Everything had felt so real. My gut told me, even now, Danny wanted me to take away something from the nightmare. A clue of some sort. Only I couldn’t figure out what.

  My gaze drifted to Mason. Maybe he could help me figure it out. After all, he was helping me search through my brother’s things when he didn’t have to.

  “It was crazy. It was dark out. I was alone, running toward the bookstore. The sidewalk beneath my feet was made out of a treadmill. I couldn’t get anywhere no matter how hard I tried. All I wanted was to reach the door of the shop. Danny was in there. I could hear him screaming. He was scared and in pain. There was something in the store with him, something hurting him. An animal. I don’t know what type it was, but when it growled, it was unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. There was something dark and dangerous, almost demonic about it.” A chill swept across my skin at the memory, creating goose bumps. “I woke with the gut feeling there was a message in the nightmare from Danny for me, but I don’t know what.”

  Mason rested his elbows on top of his knees and steepled his fingers together in front of his lips. “There could be. I’ve learned enough about the supernatural world lately to know it would be foolish to discredit anything.”

  “I wish I’d seen something in the nightmare. I mean, I never even made it through the door. The instant I touched the knob, I woke. I don’t know what Danny could have been trying to clue me in on.”

  “You heard something, though. A dark and demonic growl. If Danny meant for the nightmare to show you a glimpse of what happened to him that night, then hearing the growl at least means he wasn’t alone. If that’s the case, then you were right. Danny didn’t commit suicide.”

  A chilly blast of air swept through the bedroom, blowing my hair around my face and chilling me straight to the bone. Danny agreed with what Mason said. A part of me could sense it.

  “Okay, yeah. There’s no denying your brother is here in spirit,” Mason muttered. “I hope creating a cold wind is all he can do, though. Also, it would be nice if he was confined to his apartment and the bookstore. Nowhere else.”

  My brows furrowed. “Why?”

  “Because the thought of a ghost floating around my apartment, watching my every move, creeps me out.”

  “Says the vampire.” I laughed. “Things don’t get much creepier than vampires.”

  The smirk on Mason’s face vanished as his face screwed up into an expression I didn’t understand. I knew he harbored some resistance to what he was, but the look on his face had me thinking things ran deeper than that. I’d upset him.

  “I’m only joking,” I said as I nudged his knee with mine. “You know that, right?”

  He nodded, but his jaw remained tense and his eyes dark. “Yeah, I know.”

  An awkward silence fell between us I couldn’t handle.

  “Anyway, spirits are normally attached to things that held meaning to them in life. While I’m sure my brother thought you were a decent guy, I don’t think you had much meaning to him.” The second the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. They didn’t make the situation any better. Instead they made it worse.

  “I get your point,” Mason muttered. “Maybe we should focus on the noise you heard. If we could determine what type of creature it was, it might help narrow things down as to who might have murdered your brother.”

  “We?” Was he offering to help? I’d assumed him searching through Danny’s things with me today would have been enough. I didn’t think he’d hang around to help me solve the mystery.

  The corner of his lips quirked into the hint of a smile. “Yeah, we. You didn’t think I was going to leave you to figure this out on your own, did you?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said.

  Mason barely knew me. Hell, I didn’t think he knew my brother well. He had no reason to help. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t accept it.

  “Well, I am. Your brother was a decent guy. I mean, what little I knew of him I liked. Besides, if he truly was murdered, you and your father deserve to know and the person responsible needs to be brought to justice.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “You’re welcome,” Mason said, holding my gaze.

  Charged tension built between us. I tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear and dropped my stare to the box in my lap again. A moment was building between Mason and me, one I wasn’t sure I was ready to have develop. I stood to place distance between us and return the box to the closet, deciding I’d look through its contents later. When I was alone and could ugly cry without an audience.

  After I placed it back on the shelf, I exited the closet and glanced at Mason. My hands crammed into the back pockets of my jeans. “I think we’re done today. I need to head to my dad’s. The book isn’t here. I’ll look for it later tonight at the store. That’s the only place I can think it might be.”

  “Yeah. I think we’ve managed to scour this entire room.” He stood, but didn’t move for the door. “Would it be okay if I swung by the bookstore and helped you?”

  “Sure, that would be great.” I knew I wouldn’t be able to step into Danny’s office alone.

  Not when that was where it happened.

  “All right, I guess I’ll see you later then.” He started for the door. “I should probably get to work.”

  I followed him through the apartment to the front door, swiping my purse and keys off the kitchen counter along the way. “Work? You work during the day?”

  While it wasn’t odd for a person to work during the day, I thought it was odd to meet a vampire who did. I couldn’t imagine Mason doing anything that involved the outdoors.

  “You sound like you’re surprised,” he said as he paused, waiting for me to lock the door.

  “No
t that I didn’t think you worked. I just figured, if you had a job, it would be during the night shift, considering.” I gestured to the length of him.

  A slow smirk spread onto his face. “I know. Having an affliction to sunlight does put a damper on a lot of different career choices. I was lucky, though. Before this happened, I already had my foot in the door of a booming online business.”

  “Online business?” I wrinkled my nose. “That makes me think nerdy thoughts.”

  He laughed. It was a rich, beautiful sound, something I wished I could hear more often from him. “I wouldn’t call it nerdy. I’m not into computer programming and IT stuff. I’m a graphic designer. It was something I dabbled in while in college to help pay bills and buy meals. I’ve made a few logos for a couple online businesses and redid some websites. Mainly, I do book covers for independent authors, though.”

  Shock rippled through me. I had no clue Mason had an artistic bone in his body. He didn’t seem like the type.

  “That’s awesome. I’d love to see some of your work.” I meant it. Knowing he was an artist of sorts had piqued my interest. Would his work be dark and gloomy or sunshine and rainbows? I could take a guess, but wanted to know for sure.

  “I can show you some right now if you’ve got the time?”

  I glanced at my cell; it was nearly ten in the morning. My dad was expecting me, and I couldn’t put off visiting him any longer. “I don’t. But can I take a rain check?”

  “Sure. Absolutely. Let me know when you want to cash it in.” He turned to head toward his apartment, but paused. “What time should I meet you at the bookstore later?”

  “Is eight o’clock okay? I need to help my dad with some stuff, but I also want to make sure he eats a decent meal before I leave him for the night.”

  “Eight works. I’ll see you later.”

  I exhaled a long breath and headed for the stairs. It was time I visited my dad. There were arrangements for Danny to be made.