Page 62 of Death is Familiar

The agents’ renewed questioning of the cemetery staff didn’t reveal many more answers, aside from pointed insights about the mausoleum, the hidey-key, and frequency of access.

It turned out staff did leave the hidey-key in place. Though no one could quite agree on why it was there. Some claimed family members of the deceased asked that a key be left for any visiting members of the family. Others claimed it became practice to leave a hidden key at the mausoleum because of one too many ‘misplacements’ of the original.

Though all of the stories conflicted, the hidden key was common knowledge.

During the original investigation no one thought to say anything to anyone about it. The key had been there for years. The staff didn’t check if it was in place. As far as they were concerned, it wasn’t their job—the investigating was up to the police. And for the handful of people who had noticed the key was missing, they believed the police had taken the key into evidence.

It seemed strange to me they thought the key had been taken into evidence but not its rock-like container.

When all was said and done, the only real leads we had were those Jack, Todd, and I had found from our snooping. Our pre-dawn search had given me enough to work with to realize who was at fault for killing the familiars, and why.

“You’re certain?” Jack unfastened another button on his dress shirt.

The three of us were back in my hotel room, away from prying ears. On the ride back, Fawzy had called to confirm that in the last four years there were only two ambulances called to Spring Grove, only one of which was for anaphylactic shock, and that had occurred nowhere near the mausoleum. So, I’d explained part of my vampire hunter theory to the agents.

“You’re taking this all much more easily than I expected,” I said, fighting off an inopportune yawn. The early morning was catching up with me, but at least I wasn’t nauseous, which was a gift in and of itself. “I thought I would have lost you with the whole ‘it’s vampire hunters’ thing.”

“We are dealing with a vampire cult, Delilah. The fact that there are vampire hunters isn’t ranking on my top ten list of strange at the moment. And you, both of you,” Jack gestured to Todd, who was working out a crick in his neck, “agreed Lenore had some concerns around people against the vamp lifestyle, and there were crosses in the lawn at the fang ceremony.”

“That and Delilah’s usually right.”

“And that.” Jack leaned against the desk across from my bed. “But if we’re going to get the rest of the investigation on board, I’m going to need a few more of the dots connected.”

Good thing I had the words.

“Both attacks have only happened after fang ceremonies. The familiars who were bitten by their vamps at the ceremonies became the victims. They’re found dead a day later, laid out, arms outstretched, feet together.”

“Like a cross.”

“Like a cross,” I agreed. “And in a cemetery no less, with adrenaline, or other drugs found in their systems. Now, I don’t know how much you both know about vampire lore,” they both shook their heads, which I took to mean that they didn’t know very much, “but vampires can’t go on hallowed ground. Crosses, same thing, can’t really go near them. And depending on which lore you are following, they are also heavily used in vampire… exorcisms.”

“Vampire exorcisms?” Curious, rather than questioning, Todd leaned against the far wall, crossing his arms.

“Isn’t that only for demons?”

“Pretty much any ‘bad spirit’.” Despite the presence of the agents, I was tempted to lay down in the bed, and relay my thoughts while horizontal. But I knew that if I so much as sat down, I wouldn’t want to get back up, so paced the room to keep my blood pumping and thoughts flowing. “Demons, djinn, ghosts, you name it, there’s probably an exorcism for it.”

“And you think the familiars were exorcized?”

“I think the vampire hunters were trying to save the familiars. At least that’s what they thought they were doing. They wanted to keep the familiars’ hearts beating, to push out whatever they thought was bitten into their veins at the fang ceremony, so the transformation didn’t take place—exorcising the vampire out of them before it could take hold.”

“The adrenaline…”

“Part of the cure. But also cause of death.”

“You’re saying these vampire hunters injected adrenaline—lethal amounts of adrenaline—into the victims in order to keep their hearts beating.” It wasn’t a question. But I could sense Jack didn’t quite grasp why the familiars’ hearts needed to be keep beating.

“To become a vampire, your heart has to stop,” I clarified. “You have to die first.”

Jack cocked his head. “Lenore’s vamps aren’t dead.”

“No, but they are extremely rich, hyperaware, and keep to themselves, so plenty of assumptions can be made. We know that Lenore uses the fang ceremonies to announce the new vamps, but unless you’re in the know, you could easily misinterpret the fang ceremony.”

“It would look like the familiars are being turned.”

“Exactly. And what better way to stop people from becoming vampires than to keep them from turning?”

“But when that didn’t work, and the victims died, what?” Jack questioned. “They laid them out on the cemetery lawn in mourning? In remorse?”