Page 63 of Death is Familiar

“Sunlight.” Todd was getting it.

“Sunlight?” Jack swung his attention in my direction.

“When the familiars died, the vampire hunters thought they were turning. That the adrenaline had failed. So, they laid the victims out in the shape of a cross, on hallowed ground, where they would be subject to sunlight, at sunrise. The spire being in the shape of a cross and pointing right where the familiars’ bodies were found is also way too much of a coincidence.”

“Jesus.” Jack’s gaze followed me as I continued my pacing. “So, whoever killed the familiars thinks they were saving them. Trying to, anyway. And they have no idea they are at fault for killing five people?”

“They probably think of themselves as heroes. Blameless. That they couldn’t stop what was already underway. They think the familiars—the victims—died because of what the vamps did, not them.”

“If they think they’re heroes, and they failed⁠—”

“Then they are angry with themselves, and even angrier at the vamps.” Jack pulled his phone out, tapped the screen a few times before bringing the device to his ear, as he strode towards the exit.

“What are you doing?”

“We need to get the rest of the team up to speed. We’ve had cyber looking in the wrong place.” Jack pulled open the door and stepped into the hall. “Hi, it’s me⁠—”

Well, I couldn’t say he wasn’t an effective communicator. From my observation, Jack was responsible for keeping an increasing number of balls in the air. Juggling one task after the other, he was in a constant state of updating someone, passing a piece of information along to keep progress with one of the other agents from stalling, or having someone dig a little deeper in light of new evidence.

Although, the abrupt departures left me wanting, especially when I had more to say.

Either my face or my body language must have given my feelings away, because Todd chimed in, “I’m here. I’m listening.”

“I guess he’ll hear the rest of it later.” I kicked off my shoes and adjusted the thermostat, lowering the temperature in the room, while I also worked to cool my displeasure. “What I was going to say, was that the vamp hunters would have had to map out the space so they’d know where to put the bodies to align with the spire’s shadow at sunrise. They wouldn’t have been able to see that at night.”

Much to my chagrin, I yawned. Again.

“You look like you are going to fall asleep where you stand.”

I plopped myself down onto the foot of the bed, still yawning. “Will not.”

“You are going to make me—” Todd covered his mouth stifling a yawn. For some reason, the fact that he caught the yawn from me tugged at the corners of my mouth.

“Now, you are going to fall asleep where you stand.” Feet still on the ground, I laid my upper body down, and oh did it feel good. Growing more content as I rested in the comforter’s embrace, I patted the space next to me in invitation.

Since it was Todd, I expected resistance, at the very least an eye roll, but he didn’t hesitate. Not one second. He simply joined me, the bed shifting beneath his weight as he sunk onto his back. “For the record, you made us get out of bed at an ungodly hour.”

“I didn’t make you do anything.” I yawned again. “How long were you out there waiting for me?”

He huffed, but there was a glimmer of warmth in his expression. It was longer than he’d like to admit then. Both agents had woken up early just to prove a point, and waited for me.

“Was it worth it?” I was beaming now.

“Of course,” Todd smiled. “I made five bucks.”

We both laughed at that, then laid in comfortable silence, just looking at the textured ceiling, processing the mornings events, and the questions it brought to mind.

Questions that needed to be asked aloud.

“Why would anyone think vampirism was real?” I turned to Todd, who hands were folded over his stomach, listening. “And how did the vamp hunters know about the fang ceremonies? Come to think of it, how did vampire hunters know about the vamps at all?”

He took a moment, a crease formed in his brows, before he faced me and said, “Where one exists, so does its opposite.” His next movements were slow, purposeful. “And opposites attract.”

Surprisingly deep, there was something about Todd’s words that tugged at me, wrapped itself around my mind, and pushed me to think of any and all reasons the vamp hunters existed.

Maybe it was spite. Someone who hadn’t been able to reach the rank of full vampire and decided to create an oppositional group. Maybe that same someone took the vampire-thing a little too seriously à la Daemonica. Or maybe someone lost a loved one to the vamps, and formed a group of vamp hunters as a retaliatory response.

But if that were true, there would have been a string of bodies left in the wake of Lenore’s vamps, which wasn’t the case—Daemonica excluded.