My mind raced. If Rodrick Barclay personally killed Gallagher, which seemed likely, then all of Gallagher’s children and their children—in other words, all his followers—immediately became Barclay’s. That threw the balance of power in the city heavily to Barclay’s side. The message to Eileen Montgomery was clear. She could no longer sit on the sidelines. She needed to choose either Barclay or Flynn.
But what I didn’t understand was what happened to Michaela and Gallagher’s other dhampir. She was the only one who was actually his child—and in the normal sense. All the others were… I had no idea what their relationships were with any of the vampires. Were they even aware of who their fathers were?
“I was told he was coming back from seeing you when he was ambushed,” she said. “He came to ask for your help and you turned him down.”
“Uh, who told you that?”
“That’s not important.”
“Well, I don’t remember him asking me for help with anything. What I do remember is him attempting to seduce me using a compulsion charm. He didn’t seem to need my help, or my consent. He was perfectly content to just help himself.”
She studied my face, then looked down and shook her head. “That sounds like something he’d do.” She sat there for a while, then suddenly asked, “Are you really a Hunter?”
“Do you really think a Hunter would be working here?” I asked in return.
She looked thoughtful. “My father and George Flynn, and probably Rodrick Barclay, think you are.”
I sighed. “Barclay accused me of that once, and yes, I think Flynn believes it. Ms. Gallagher, I don’t own a sword. Not even a pretend one that people play games with.”
“Call me Michaela, please. I’m not sure using my surname is a good idea at the moment.”
I glanced down the bar and saw Jenny waiting for me to take a drink order, so I went over to her.
“We have some of the strangest people show up since you started working here. What in the hell is she doing in here?” Jenny asked.
“Mourning, I think,” I said, glancing back at Michaela, who was sipping her drink and staring off into space. “They found her father’s head this morning, and Barclay’s taken his followers. I’m not sure she even has a place to go.” I looked Jenny straight in the face and said, “You asked me once where I would have gone if not for Rosie’s.”
Jenny bit her lip. “Aye, I did.” She gave me her drink order, and I loaded up a tray for her.
“You seem much better tonight,” she said.
“I am,” I said with a smile. “It must have been something I ate.”
Michaela finished her drink and ordered another.
“Do you have a place to go?” I asked her when I delivered it.
She gave me a startled look, and then her eyes grew wide. “I haven’t even thought about it.”
I certainly couldn’t offer her a place. Sam’s apartment wasn’t mine to offer, and my apartment was being watched by everyone, except possibly the CIA, and I couldn’t discount their possible interest.
“If you can stay awake,” I said, “you can hang out here until sunrise. Rosie’s doesn’t close.”
“What time do you get off?” she asked.
“Two, but I’ll talk to Jill, my relief. There won’t be any problem.”
“And you’re going home?”
I shook my head. “I have a safe place, but I can’t take you there.”
“You’d be a fool to, anyway. Barclay might have sent me.”
I gave her a small smile. “I’m not afraid of you. In fact, I may be one of the few people who understand what you’re going through. But I would strongly consider where you want to go next. No matter how any of this vampire crap shakes out, you’re never going to be safe in Westport.”
When I came down for breakfast the following morning, Michaela was still sitting on the same barstool. She had taken off her coat and was drinking coffee, but other than that, she looked exactly the same, only exhausted. I saw Jill walk over and fill her cup with fresh coffee.
“Michaela, do you have any spare clothes with you?” I asked as I sat down next to her.
She jerked, spun to look at me, then looked down at herself, “No, I don’t. Why?”
“Because you look wildly out of place in the daylight. I can offer you a place to take a shower and a nap now that it’s light outside, but there’s no way any of my clothes will fit you.” She was around six-feet tall, and definitely curvier than I was.
“Thanks for the offer,” she said, “but I should probably go home. I called my sisters, but they’re still worried. We should be safe until nightfall, and we need to figure things out.”
“You would all be better off getting out of town until things settle down.”
“Why haven’t you left?” she countered.
“No place to go, and no money to get there.”
Michaela laughed. “We’ll be all right. Perhaps long term you’re right, but I have a score to settle first.”
She slid off the barstool, picked up her coat, and tossed several hundred-dollar bills on the bar. I thought Jill’s eyes would pop out of her head.
“Thanks to both of you. You’ve been kind, and that’s not something I’m used to.” She headed toward the door, shrugging on her coat.
“Who is she? What is she?” Jill asked. “Besides spectacular, I mean. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so perfect. Like a movie star or something.”
“Dhampir. That’s Harold Gallagher’s newly-orphaned daughter.”
“Daywalker,” Jill breathed, a tone of awe in her voice.
Chapter 11
Thankfully, Sam hadn’t been there to witness my meltdown. I told him about it when he came in, minimizing it as best I could, and showed him the pendant Gallagher had given me.
“And the lesson in this would be?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Don’t trust vampires bearing gifts?
“Don’t trust vampires. I’d sooner trust the Fae,” he said. “Or a banker.”
He took the top off a salt shaker, poured the contents into a glass, filled it with water, and dropped the necklace into it.
“And don’t trust charms. Even if you think it’s dead, finish killing it.”
After I finished my conversation with Sam, I went out for my morning run, following the jogging path by the creek all the way to downtown. A hotdog stand provided my lunch, then I ran back to Rosie’s. When I went downstairs after my shower, I found Lizzy sitting at the bar playing with her phone.
“Do you have that many friends?” I asked, planting my butt on the stool beside her. “Or are you playing games?”
“Huh?” She looked genuinely puzzled.
“Your phone. You’re always looking at it and tapping on it.”
She turned the screen so I could see it. Mathematical formulae and calculations. She scrolled the screen, and it went on and on. I had no idea what any of it meant.
“Homework,” she said.
“Oh. So, what else is going on?”
“My mom said that you need to stay away from vampires.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder.” She got a very earnest expression on her face, and I could see the concern in her eyes. “Seriously, Erin. The Fae are fed up with all the crap going on. Gallagher’s burning car ended up on the TV news.”
That wasn’t good. Mages and witches might have been something that normal humans could understand. Vampires and werewolves were familiar from mythology and literature. The Fae were something else again, many of them being the stuff of nightmares. From what I knew, the Fae were even more fanatical about keeping their existence secret than the rest of us were.
She continued. “A couple of the Fae living here in the city were attacked. That has everyone riled up.”
“Vampires attacked Fae?”
“Well, they were glamoured, so the vamps didn’t know who they were,” Lizzy said. “But still. Some of the Unseelie Court are talking about going hunting.” She leaned closer and whispered, “You know, vampire-skin lamps were all the rage about five hundred years ago.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trevor says some of the rich mages in town already have declared a bounty on them.”
Lizzy snorted. “Good luck to them if they try and outbid the Fae.”
I took her word for it. I had learned more about the Fae from the little bit that Lizzy had told me than I had ever known before, but it still wasn’t much. I just knew they were scary.
“Uh, what happened to the Fae that the vampires attacked?” I asked.
Lizzy shook her head. “I didn’t ask what happened to the vampires, but my mom heard the story directly from her friend who the vampire tried to bite.”
As nice as the apartment above the bar was, I didn’t feel comfortable in it. I felt as though I was living in a museum, afraid to touch anything or to get anything dirty. Either Sam, or possibly his friend Eleanor—my landlady—had laid a layer of spells on the place so that it magically cleaned itself. Or maybe they prevented uncleanliness. In spite of the place sitting empty most of the time, I couldn’t find a single cobweb, and there wasn’t any dust. Even on top of the cabinets—I checked. It was sort of eerie.
So, I chafed at having to stay there. I missed my own apartment, bare and ill-furnished as it was. It was mine and the largest space I had ever been able to call my own.
My cell in the Palace of the Illuminati had a narrow cot, a small bathroom with a shower, and a cabinet for my limited wardrobe. All of my personal belongings consisted of my weapons and a single brooch that was the insignia of the Hunters’ Guild.
I was usually provided a larger wardrobe when I was assigned a mission, and I took most of my meals either with one of my Masters or in the Guildhall. At least half of the time I slept in a bed other than my own—in my latter years mostly in Master Benedict’s bed. The bed in my Westport apartment—purchased from Goodwill—had never had a second occupant. It was mine alone, and I could sleep right in the middle if I wanted to.