Page 55 of Dark Obsession

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Demetrius was trying to keep up with all the information, but his brain felt laggy. It was as if Zenona’s words took a minute or two to penetrate the fog inside his mind. She was talking with Cody about their mutual first time meetings with Marlowe, explaining how she’d gone to The Rusty Screw on her own, before sundown, and found the place empty except for the bartender.

But Demetrius wanted to understand something they’d skipped over that was important. Then it came to him, and, afraid he might lose the thread if he didn’t ask right away, he spoke over Zenona.

“What about the people at the hospital?”

She and Cody stopped and looked at him.

“Sorry?” Zenona asked.

“The people receiving blood,” Demetrius said. “The ones lying on gurneys. The two people Cody saw in the waiting area. What was going on with them?”

Silence. Demetrius’s head felt light, as though it might float up and away if it wasn’t attached. He kept his eyes on Zenona as he spoke. “They weren’t attacked, were they? They offered themselves up inside the bar didn’t they? But maybe something went wrong during the, whatever they call it, feeding session. Maybe their assigned vampire drank a bit too much or bit too deep.”

Zenona straightened her spine, hands clutched in her lap.

“Is that what’s been going on?” Cody said. “Is it some kind of vampire kink club?”

“No. Of course it’s not a…a kink club.” She wrinkled her nose and drew her brows together.

“What did Michael write about Marlowe in his journal?” Demetrius asked. “What did you know before you went to the bar?”

“All he said was Marlowe was also a vampire, that she’d been in the area a long time and he felt he could trust her.” She ran her palms down her thighs.

“Why did you go there?” Demetrius inched forward on the sofa. “I know Michael’s journal said he trusted her, but why did you go there?”

“I wanted to meet her, talk to this woman who had known him for what he was, known him longer than me. I wanted to see what she knew about everything that had happened, if she knew about his…if she’d heard about Michael.”

“Did she know about Xavier and Aldrik coming into town?” Cody asked. “Did she have anything to do with them?”

“No.” The word came fast and firm. “She didn’t interact with them at all. She knew about them, of course, through Michael, but she had no contact with them.”

“So, she stayed out of it?” Cody said, an edge to his tone. “She just stayed there behind her bar and let them run amok?”

“Yes, she stayed out of it. Wouldn’t you have?”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Cody said.

“Exactly,” Zenona shot back.

Demetrius wanted to get back to the topic. “You’ve been going back to the bar since that first visit. What keeps pulling you back?”

“I don’t know.” She tugged at the hem of her shirt. “It’s a bar, and I know the bartender who also knew someone I cared about. Why all the questions?”

“Zee,” Cody said, his voice more gentle now. “We need to understand what’s going on. It feels like Halloween is happening all over again, and we’re scared. When I was at the bar, I talked with a man we all went to school with whose sister just up and disappeared after feeling rundown the days before. Others have died with marks on their necks.” He gestured toward Demetrius. “Demmy found a vamp roost where someone had staked one of them. And while he was inside the house, they carved little fangs into the door.”

“What?” She turned to Demetrius, eyes wide. “Fangs?”

“Yeah, just two freshly carved marks I didn’t notice on the way in.” His fingers were tight around his knees, but he didn’t think he could loosen them in that moment. “Whatever is going on in or around that bar is escalating. People are being turned or killed. We need to know what you know, all of it.”

“It’s not…” She groaned and sat back, hands covering her face. After a pause, she lowered her hands and lifted her chin. The corners of her mouth pulled down, making her look older. “It’s a hangout for vampires, yes. But it’s not what you think. It’s not a roost, as you guys call it. It’s not like the DPW basement.”

Demetrius pulled his shoulders forward and the back of his neck tightened. “What is it then?”

“It’s a bar, that’s all.” She paused. Her hands seemed to wrestle together in her lap before growing still again. “Yes, it attracts a certain kind of person.”

“What’s that mean?” Cody said, frowning. “You already said vampires hang out there. Who else?”