Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (26 page)

She
immediately nodded her head
, taking
a long moment to stare into
his
eyes
.

“This is a Sword of Moartea.
It’s
s
ss
a death sword.”

My stomach
emptied, became a hollow pit
.
I had been so close to a sword
so full of evil;
it
was used to take
a
life with an immoral and revolting intent.

“Would this be used in a human sacrifice in the vampire culture?”

“Yessssssssss
.
It can be used to cause death in any culture.
”

Nausea consumed me.
I
needed f
resh air.
The
incense
was so
thick;
it
made
my throat feel sore again.
The painted snake above the register on the ceiling seemed to have moved locations slightly
, but I was most likely disoriented from
the smoke
and black lights
.
The time had come to leave.

“Thank you, Desde.
You’ve been a
great help.
Have a great day,”
the detective
exclaimed as he ushered me out of the store.

We
exited
the store
;
the gloomy weather appeared bright in comparison
to the inside of the store
.
I shielded my eye
s from the
weak
sunrays
sprinkling
down
from the gray
,
cloudy sky.
I inhaled as much of the clean air as my lungs could hold to rid my body of the incense smoke.
My nausea
quickly
faded.

As
Detective Chase drove me home
,
I stared pensively out the windshield, reeling in my disordered thoughts.
Snapping out of my trance,
I
sent text messages
to
my team to
schedule a club meeting for Monday morning
at the school lab
,
as
we needed to meet and discuss the case
—
we were stronger as a team.

With Agent Bronson standing
watch in
front of the house, I gr
abbed a soda and brownie
and set off for the living room to watch
television
.
M
y father was in his office working
,
and my mother was busy working on her newest dollhouse in the room we referred to as
Dollhouse Plaza.

Grabbing the remote,
I flipped on the television
to t
he news.
A
n
excited
reporter
announced
a
charitable event
was being hosted at the civic center by a
southern charitable organization
called
SVA
.
Openly nervous, she w
as
interviewing none other than Dimitri LeMorte.
After his release from jail, he
had
rallied the Southern Vampire Alliance for support, and
was fundraising
for Damien, Victoria and Sydney
’s bond money
—proclaiming they were children being held against their will with no evidence against them in a murder case
.

I was
shocked
a
popular
alternative rock band,
Tooth ‘n
’
Nail,
was set to
perform
at
his event
.
Dimitri
was
collecting
a sizeable amount per ticket.
With the amount of supporters
standing behind
him
in the newscast
, I came to a quick realization how popular the vampire culture was.

It was quite o
dd
he referred to his organization as
the
SVA with no explanation
and
never mentioned he
was a leader
of
people who believed they were
vampires
, however, anybody who saw him knew he wasn’t an astronaut, teacher or dentist
.
He
portrayed the SVA
as
philanthropic
, but I knew better
.

Lauren had received my text and called.

“Hello, Lauren! Please say you’re in for Monday morning!”

“When is the meeting, I’m in.”

“
Oh, I guess I forgot the time, oops.  6 AM, tha
t will give us
two
hours and if needed
, we can also meet after school.”

“Sounds good to me.
I spoke to Wolfe, by the way.”

“And?”

“He said
you kicked him out of the club.”

My heart
tried to
burst from my
rib
cage
.
I
hoped he would see reason and stay away from Camber.
I suppose this was my answer, he chose her over the club.

“I had to
,
and I only suspended him, not kicked him out.”

“Well, he said his friend Camber is in a lot of danger
.
He’d like for you to know s
he is trying to get out of the vampire cult
,
and
they
said if she wants out, they will cut
out
her tongue
,
so she can never speak of them.”

“That’s so gross.
But it’s kind of what she gets for being associated with them in the first place.”

“Fiona, that doesn’t sound like you.”

“I apologize.
I agree, that was completely mean
,
and I did
n’t
mean it.
I’ll notify
the detective
she is being threatened, and he can report it through the proper channels.
Do you know who told her this
?
Damien Lee?”

“No, I think it was that oth
er guy, the one that leads the O
rder.”

“Dimitri LeMorte?”

“That’s him.”

“Great.
That’s not a guy I would
mess with
.
He’s
influential
, it seems.
Tell her to
call the police and let them know she has been threatened with bodily harm.
Don’t think they’ll do anything
,
but she might be able to file for a restraining order against him.”

“I will tell Wolfe to tell her.
I think you should reconsider allowing
him
back in the club
.
I think it is a silly reason to kick him out.
Plus he is the only major eye candy we have, girl.
”

“You cannot associate personally with suspects and also investigate
them;
i
t’s just how it is.
And we shouldn’t refer to our fellow lab member as
eye candy
,” I restrained a laugh
, “
See you on Monday!”

“Bye
,
Fiona!”

I hung up the phone, even more frustrated
with
him
than before.
Why did he have to tell Lauren and not me?
I was the club leader, not her.
I had always been the closest one to him.
It tore me apart to have our friendship ruined.
I despised Camber for no other reason than for taking my place in
his
heart
.

After watching enough television to rot my mind, I
dashed down the hallway into the
pink palace
and threw myself on
my
bed.

After a long night’s rest, t
he sunrays beamed energetically
though my window.
It was Sunday and Janice
was coming
home.
I popped out of bed and got ready as fast as I could
move my body
.
As I brushed my teeth, I noticed that my pale skin had become
insipid
, probably an effect
of
strep throat
.
Grabbing a makeup brush,
I put some color back on my cheeks
so my mother wouldn’t worry.

I rushed into
the
kitchen and met up with my mother
who was
gathering
her things to leave the house.

“Janic
e is coming home today, Fiona!”
she said in a loud, musical voice
, swiping her
hand
bag from the counter
.

“I know, I’m
going with you to pick her up!”

She
studied me for a moment as she held a conference in her head about whether or not she wanted me to ride with her to the hospital.

“You can ride in the car, but you’re not going in
side
.
The hospital is filled with germs.”

She always worried
, but I was happy to ride in the car so I could see Janice’s rosy cheeks walking out of the hospital.
O
nce the positive force of
Janice
Parke
r was back in my daily
routine, nothing could go wrong again.

The car ride to the hospital seemed like it took forever.
The
agent, a tall, gray-haired
man,
assigned to my
mother,
trailed us
at every turn.
It wasn’t long before w
e pulled into the circle drive
of the Godley Grove Hospital
. S
he
parked in the loading zone, instructing
me to lock the doors
.

As I gazed
out
of the back window
,
our assigned black suit
waved at me.
T
he front of the hospital was bustling with people rushing about.
Pregnant
women
,
elderly
folks, and small children seemed like the majority of the cases headed inside.
About an equal amount of
former patients
were headed out to their cars with release papers in hand.

After about ten minutes of playing a game of
hangman
on my phone, I
caught sight of
the
sapphire eyes and
perfect white bun.
I rushed out of the car
and gave her the biggest, tightest hug I could muster.
She
giggled as she hugged me back
.
As
my mother would do,
she stepped backward,
check
ing
me over from head to toe.

“How are you feeling, Fiona?
Are you all better now?
”
s
he anxiously gazed into my eyes, searching for any signs of illness.

I
was
technically still
sick
as I was still on medication
.
However,
I didn’t
feel
the
re
mnants of strep throat anymore
and
was
myself again
.
I knew
I didn’t look
my best
, however, and
she’d
know something was off with me.

“
I’m great but even better now because
you are coming home.
I love you, Janice!
”
I purred, giving her a second hug.

“I love you too, Fiona
!
I’m so glad to
come
home.
The
hospital
doesn’t serve cookies, you know,
”
Janice giggled as she ushered me toward
s
the car.

We caught up
on everything
during the car ride home and as we pulled into our garage, I got an email from Detective Chase.
The email stated the
pink envelopes
from
Gerald Smith
’s
prison
cell
were
a match
to
blank envelopes
that were found
in
Victoria Newsted’s
bed
room.

Great
, I mused.
Now
the insane vampires, the murder
er
,
and the crazed escaped prisoner trying to get my family were linked together in some way.
This was not
pleasant
news.