Page 17 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

‘I hope so.’ He sounded beyond weary. He’d been working all night as well and would probably continue into the day. He took his job as vampire leader very seriously; regardless of his dad’s threat hanging over him, he’d work himself to the bone for one of his missing vampires.

‘You need to rest too,’ I cajoled lightly.

‘Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. Now, tuck yourself in and dream of me.’

I laughed. ‘I’ll wait until I’m home, but after that you know I will.’

‘Good. I’ve gotta go. Love you.’

‘Love you, too,’ I said, but he’d already cut the call.

I decided to ring Liv while I was travelling home. ‘Hi, Bunny,’ she answered, and this time her tone was surprisingly warm.

‘Hey,’ I responded cautiously. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m all right,’ she said, sounding upbeat. ‘Gunnar rang me earlier.’

‘He did?’

‘He askedme to arrange for Sally to scry for the girls.’ As head of the magic users, Sally fell under Liv’s protection.

I blinked. ‘He did?’ Dammit: why hadn’tIthought of that? ‘Well? How did it go?’ I asked.

‘Not too badly. We can tell they’re still in Portlock though we couldn’t get a more precise location. Sally said their images were dark, like they were in a cave or somewhere with no natural light. They were moving, though, so they’re still alive.’

Relief washed over me; finally we had something to work with. The girls hadn’t been taken away and they were somewhere with no light. I knew from recent experience that there were a number of local caves and mine shafts that could account for what Sally had seen. This was an honest-to-goodness lead.

‘That’s such a relief. Thanks so much Liv.’

‘You’re welcome,’ she said. ‘Got to run.’

‘Okay. Speak soon.’

She hung up and I dialled Calliope. She didn’t have any new information but she promised she’d get her people to join the search and focus on dark areas.

In case Sally hadn’t updated Gunnar, I texted him and Sidnee the latest news and that Calliope, Stan, Connor and their people had joined the search.

When I finally arrived home, the brief surge of adrenaline had faded leaving me even more tired than before. Daylight exhaustion was crushing down on me and bed was calling my name. I was done resisting.

The phone jarred me awake. I rolled over to grab it just as Shadow decided to use me for pouncing practice. He landed squarely on my gut, forcing the air from me in anooof. At around ten kilos, he was no featherweight.

When I answered the phone, my voice was still breathy. ‘Bunny,’ I croaked.

‘Oh sorry!’ April said. ‘You sound half-asleep. I thought for sure you’d be up by now. I didn’t mean to wake you. I know your shift doesn’t start for an hour yet, but I thought you’d want the heads up that Donovan is loose and prowling.’

‘Thanks for letting me know. Don’t worry about waking me – I should have been up already. I was so tired I slept through my alarm. I expect that’s what Shadow was trying to tell me when he pounced on me.’

‘That rascal,’ she said, affectionately. She adored the lynx. ‘Your drunk and disorderly just got bailed by his wife.’

‘Okay, no problem. Given his relationship to the mayor, I didn’t expect he’d stay put for long.’ I sighed. ‘He’s a total wanker, though.’

April laughed. ‘He sure is. He’s been nothing but trouble. I can’t believe that Haavale has stayed with him.’

‘That’s the mayor’s daughter?’

‘Yeah. I hopeshe wakes up and divorces the creep before they have any children.’

Mafu had said Haavale was divorcing Donovan, but the arsehole had seemed confident it wouldn’t actually happen. Then I remembered what Sidnee had told me; it sounded like divorce was on the cards whether Haavale wanted it or not.

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