Page 26 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

In response, she rose up from the car park like a disgruntled mole. Her fine, twig-like hair shed gravel as she ascended, and she twitched her long pointed ears to free them of dust.

Her eyes flashed with delight as she spotted the pink box in my hands and she snatched it from me as if it held a vital organ that would save her life. Her steel fingernails shredded the cardboard like lethal knives. Yeesh. I stepped back a little.

She devoured the doughnuts in less than a minute and handed back the box, which now resembled hamster’s bedding. Unsure what to do with it, I held the shreds in my hand while we talked.

After licking her metallic fingernails clean of sugar, she huffed, ‘Matilda no find vampire girl and friend.’

Myheart sank. I’d really been hoping for something more. The girls were being kept somewhere dark and I’d so hoped that meant a cave system that Matilda could find in a heartbeat.

‘Need more time,’ she said when she saw my dismay. ‘More places to search. Just searched here, but nothing.’

I perked up as I realised I hadn’t told her the results of Sally’s scrying. I was spinning too many plates. ‘If it helps, the kidnappers were traced to the south end of town. And the girls were somewhere dark.’

She looked at me. ‘Dark is Matilda’s friend. Matilda look. Will find.’

‘Do you know where I live?’ I asked her suddenly. I’d invited her to my house but hadn’t told her where it was. ‘So you can tell me what you find.’

She cocked her head. ‘Can find Rabbit Girl.’

Oh-kay. That wasn’t weird at all. ‘Matilda, howdoyou find people?’

She shrugged and some more dirt and gravel fell from her animal-skin dress. ‘I know Rabbit Girl, can find anywhere.’

Well, that was clear as mud. I hoped she could find the girls, too, but she didn’t know them like she knew me. I’d shown her their photos so I had to hope it would be enough. ‘If you find them, please come to my house.’

‘Matilda come. Also, come in for …tea?’

I smiled. ‘Yes, you are welcome to visit. We can have tea and biscuits.’ I’d better buy a whole case of them; Matilda’s sweet tooth was insatiable.

She gave a bright smile full of needle-like teeth then sank into the dirt and was gone, not leaving a single trace to indicate she’d ever been there. If she wanted to, she could become one helluva thief.

I dumped the shredded bakery box in Kamluck’s bear-proof bin then dragged myself to Connor’s office, bracing myself for whatever he was going to tell me. When I opened the door, he was on the phone. He held up a finger and I stepped back so it looked like I wasn’t eavesdropping, but my sharpened vampire hearing meant I still heard the call. It wasn’t very exciting: for once, it was actually a call about lumber.

Connor finished and moved towards me. The pull of our bond was intense and I also moved forward without thinking until I was in his arms. We kissed – but before it became too heated, he pulled back. He ran a hand through his hair and his curls tumbled.

‘All right, hit me. What has you so freaked out?’ I asked.

He sat back down and I took the chair across from him. ‘My father isn’t coming.’

My breath caught and I sat up straighter. ‘That’s great news!’

I spoke too soon because he was shaking his head. ‘Robertson has requested help from some of his old colleagues and Dad agreed. He’s sending one of his deadliest teams here.’

My stomach sank. ‘Deadly doesn’t sound good.’

‘It isn’t,’ he agreed grimly. ‘They pretty much have a 100% success rate for any task they’re given. Failure isn’t an option – they’ll do anything my father commands them, at any cost. They’re fanatically loyal and they all have daylight charms so there’s norespite from them. Next to Father coming here personally, this is the worst thing that can happen. My father and his men once destroyed a whole paranormal town. Just murdered everyone in it. Women, men, children.’

'Why?' I whispered. Though there could be no justification.

'They slighted him. Refused him entry. He's not a man that takes "no" well.'

He studied his desk, not meeting my eyes. He clearly didn’t want to say the next words. ‘We can’t let them know about your status, Bunny. They’ll have you in cuffs before you can say “illegal hybrid”.’ Finally he looked up at me. ‘I’m working with some of the magic users to get a charm to muffle your heartbeat because that’s your biggest tell, but it’s not ready yet. Until it is, you have to stay away from me – and them – until they leave town.’

‘I can act like a normal vampire,’ I argued. ‘No one suspects me here.’

He sighed. ‘They don’t suspect you because they don’t know about hybrids. This groupdoes, and they’ll recognise the signs – your reluctance to drink blood, your heartbeat. Dammit, Bunny. You're my father’s ultimate prize. He’d…’ He trailed off.

My mate was clearly scared – and that scared me shitless. In all the times I’d known Connor, in all the danger we’d faced together, never once had he looked so pale-faced with fear. And it was worse because it wasn’t fear for himself but for me. That served me a dollop of guilt so thick that I nearly choked on it. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said softly.

---