Page 23 of Haunted Eclipse

Crystal put in a call to her friend, and then — in a few minutes — turned back to us. “There’s a free bed at the shelter. The key is to get you over there without being noticed. I’m not going to tell you where it is, because we don’t want — what’s his name? Your attacker?”

Devon cleared her throat. “Marcus. His name is Marcus.”

“We don’t want Marcus to know where you are. And until you’re safe there, we don’t want him knowing where a bunch of…Well, what are essentially sitting ducks…are. Psychic vampires are charismatic as hell. They can charm info out of just about anybody.”

“Crystal is right,” I said. “Where is he now? Do you know?”

“He should be at work. He’s a customer service rep for Justine’s Employment Service. That’s how we met. I was looking for a job, and he matched me with Ever After.”

I glanced at Crystal. “Well, that’s a good place for him to work if he’s looking for victims. With unemployment so rampant, he’ll have a steady supply of victims who are too desperate to notice him infiltrating their lives. And he would see them week after week.”

“That’s true,” Crystal said. “All right, now we have to figure out how to get Devon to the shelter. We can’t chance that he might show up next door in the next hour.”

“While you think about that,” I said, “I’m going to call my aunt.” I put in a call to Astra and a moment later she answered.

“Is anything wrong? I haven’t had a chance to call Ona Sera yet.”

“Auntie, I know I said not to worry about coming home early, but if there’s a chance you can, it would be helpful. We have another problem, and this time it doesn’t involve me, but it involves someone I know.” I quickly ran down the situation. “We could use your guidance.”

“Teran is feeling better, and January is home from her trip. She and Killian said that Teran can stay with them until she’s better. They have plenty of room. I’ll pack up and come home this afternoon. I’ll text you once I’m on the road.”

As I hung up and turned back to Crystal in Devon, I said, “the cavalry is on the way.”

An alley ranbehind our line of shops, so Crystal decided she would pull up to the back door of Married At First Bite. That way we could sneak Devon into her car. She could hide in thebackseat with a coat thrown over her. As she went to get her car, I turned back to Devon.

“I’ll tell Kevin that you can’t come in for a day or two. I’ll make sure he understands it’s an emergency. And I’ll also warn him not to say anything if asked. Meanwhile, the moment my aunt gets home, we’ll get to work on what to do about Marcus.” I folded the cards, shaking my head. “Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking he’s out for your best interests. He’s dangerous, Devon. And I’d rather see you stay alive.”

Devon paled, looking sick to her stomach. I offered her a bottle of sparkling water and she sipped on it. A moment later I got a text from Crystal that she was waiting out back. Making sure no one was watching us from the front window, I escorted Devon back to the break room, where the door to the alley was.

Crystal opened the back door. She had a thin blanket in there. Devon hurried into the back seat and laid down, with Crystal covering her up with the blanket. She shut the door, and turned back to me.

“I’ll let you know when I’ve dropped Devon off at the shelter. Ping me when your aunt gets home. Psychic vampires are far more dangerous than traditional vampires,” she said. “Their natural predators. At least the traditional vampire has been human at one time, and sometimes they retain some of their humanity.”

“I’ll text you. Meanwhile, I’m going to do some research on this guy and see if I can find anything on the net. Maybe I’ll call Stuart and ask him if he has any record.”

“Stuart?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I met Stuart Waterline at the supermarket. We haven’t seen each other in years. And now that he’s the sheriff, well, he can be a valuable contact.” I shut the door as Crystal slid behind the wheel, and waved to her as she droveoff. Then, shivering as a gust of wind blew past, I headed back inside.

A few moments later, I went next door, managing to catch Kevin between clients.

“Kevin, are we alone?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Two of my consultants have clients right now. Why?”

“Can you come over to my shop for a moment? It’s important.”

A quizzical look on his face, he followed me out the door and back to my shop. When we were inside, I locked the door and turned back to him. “Devon’s not going to be at work for a few days. At least, I hope it won’t be longer than that.”

“What’s going on?” He asked. “Is she okay?”

“This is important. Promise me that you won’t say a word.”

One look at my face and he sobered. “What’s going on, Maisy?”

“Her boyfriend is a psychic vampire. My aunt’s coming home early so that we can try and do something about him. He’s got his cords into Devon, and we’re trying to remove them as best as we can. Until then, she needs to stay someplace safe and warded against his eyes. Don’t ask me where she is, because I can’t tell you.”

“Psychic vampire?” He sat down with a thud. “I didn’t know we had any in town. At least, if you’re talking about —”

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