Page 30 of Cuddling Sucks in Coffins
Jacek grinned as he sat next to me, his short dark hair still slightly damp from his shower. “Okay, Slayer. Time to spill about last night and why you came here in a police uniform. Did you interview to be a policewoman while everyone was trying to kill you, or did Halloween come late?”
Eddie flashed him some fang as he took his spot opposite us. “Why does everything have to be a joke with you? We were trying tokillher.”
“I haven’t forgotten that, Smiley,” Jacek snapped. “I’m just trying not to drive myself insane with guilt. Humor is how I cope. You have your books. Sawyer bakes when he’s not crushing steel with his bare hands. If you’d pay attention, you could keep up.”
“The uniform, Belle. How did you get it?” Sawyer came around to the chair on the other side and kissed my cheek before he sat.
A pleasant shiver rolled through me at the chilled contact from his lips. “Well, it all started when I got arrested.”
They froze.
“Interesting,” Jacek said with a lifted eyebrow. “Do go on.”
“It turns out that Podunk City’s police department is like any other in that when a dead body shows up, someone has to get arrested. My phone was at the crime scene, which just so happened to be the cemetery.” I dipped my head, my world feeling suddenly too heavy to keep myself upright. “You remember I told you about Tim.”
They nodded.
“Well, Detective Appelt arrested me, the same Appelt as the name on the mausoleum with the trapdoor no one can get open. A few nights ago, I saw him coming out of it while talking on the phone about getting something done.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what.”
“Appelt... Does that name ring a bell?” Sawyer asked Eddie.
Eddie shook his head and tapped his temple. “There’s a lot up here to wade through, though.”
Jacek slapped the table in front of Eddie and then leaned back in his chair. “Wade faster. Pretend there are sharks.”
“What else, Belle?” Sawyer said.
I sighed. “Of course I couldn’t explain everything I knew about Tim, so Detective Appelt sent me with a policeman to a cell. Only I’m not so sure he was a real policeman despite the very real uniform I stole. He punched a policewoman in the face for one thing, and for another, he slapped some roofied handcuffs on me.”
Jacek’s amber eyes narrowed. “Then this guy must’ve known you were the slayer if he wanted to keep you loopy.”
“Maybe,” I said. “He led me to a cell, painted all in black, and I passed out. When I was starting to come to, I swear I saw golden flecks of light leaving my body.”
“Your power?” Eddie straightened his glasses, half hidden behind his hair.
I shrugged.
Sawyer rubbed his chin. “This Appelt character definitely knows who you are if he took your power, but why?”
Eddie sat up straighter, his eyes widening slightly. “Unless he can’t open the trapdoor either.”
“Well, maybe I’ll get a chance to tell him sometime soon since I broke out of his jail,” I said. “I’m sure he’s probably pissed about that.”
“But without your slayer powers, you wouldn’t necessarily have to leave this house, would you?” Jacek asked. “You could hide out here.”
“I mean, I still have my job at The Bean Dream...” I said, frowning. “Hiding isn’t exactly in my nature, though. Neither isnotslaying. I can’t just do nothing while brand new vamps run amok at and around the cemetery. Someone could get hurt and...” Someone already had. Worse than hurt. Whether I had my slayer powers or not, I refused to let there be any more Tims. One was enough, and it had wrecked me. Still did.
Sawyer nodded, understanding in his gaze. “So you escaped your cell, stole the policeman who wasn’t really a policeman’s clothes...”
“Right before that was when Paul started strolling,”—I held up my hands—“as dark unknowns tend to do apparently, and really shook things up. You three can probably explain that part better than I can.”
Eddie smoothed his wild blond hair out of his face, which did little good, and his mouth pinched as if the memory left a sour taste. “It started out as a bad headache, like I had a head full of angry, buzzing bees. Soft, at first, so I thought I was only imagining it.”
Sawyer clasped his hands on the table and stared down at them. “And then rage and thoughts of violence.”
“All directed toward you,” Eddie said. “I had no idea where it was coming from, but I knew it definitely wasn’t coming from me. I could never feel those things about you, Sunshine. Not ever.”
Jacek put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed. “Same.”
