Page 85

Story: The Gloaming

“Erin is makin’… ah, beverages.” Nicholas’s rich brogue was still silky-soft, and he took an unhurried step back.

“Right,” Tom said coldly. “Well, we need to get started, so hurry up.”

I glanced through the glass doors to the living room and saw Isabel and Adam had arrived. Nicholas’s presence had distracted me more thoroughly than I’d realised. I rushed to pour out the drinks and hid a smile as a reluctant Nicholas followed me through.

Adam was drawing the curtains against the early evening, shutting out the wind that whistled through the bay window. The radiator ticked over beneath the windowsill, fighting back the winter chill that was almost as pervasive as the silence.

I settled myself in my favourite armchair, and without a word, Nicholas perched himself beside me on the arm of the chair. He leaned back into the wing, close enough that his pine-and-earth scent made it hard to focus. It was all I could do to resist resting my head on his shoulder.

“Shall we begin?” Isabel asked, removing diaries from a leather duffel bag. The deep red silk of her blouse caught the lamplight as she moved, highlighting the warm tones in her loose hair.

Tom’s chair wheels scraped against the floor as he reached for his mug. I caught the tension in his jaw – he clearly didn’t like being told what to do by a vampire, but Isabel didn’t react.

“Izzie, perhaps you should update us all on exactly what you’ve learned since we last spoke, before anything else.” Adam appeared at my elbow, settling himself beside Isabel on the faded velvet sofa. His blue eyes found Nicholas’s in silent communication.

“What? What have you found out?” My heart picked up speed.

“It is nothing of great consequence.” Isabel’s fingers traced the edge of a diary, her short, clean nails stark against the leather. “Though it brings us no closer to unveiling the truth, it may be of interest.”

My eyes darted between the three immortals, waiting for an answer.

“The body they found in your car.” Nicholas’s lilt softened his words. “Twas a woman named Lauren Truelove. She was the same age as you, of a similar height and build,” he added, looking to Isabel for confirmation. “No too dissimilar to the other woman who was left at Adam’s.”

Tom reached up to touch the half-healed wound at his throat. “I know that name from somewhere. I’m sure I do.”

Isabel handed a piece of paper to Adam. It looked like a police report.

“You may,” Adam agreed, taking the paper and glancing at it. “While social media might not be my forte, Izzie has done a little research, and it would appear she had a brief dalliance with Jonathan last year. She also applied for the manageress role at Jolt.” He frowned at the photo on the paper, then looked up sharply. “Wait. Nick, isn’t this…?”

Nicholas took the paper and went very still. A muscle in his jaw tightened.

“You fed from her at the club,” Adam murmured. “Last week.”

Tom’s chair creaked as his head snapped up. “What?”

“And the woman on your doorstep,” Nicholas said, his voice hollow. He passed a hand over his face, almost human in the gesture. “I thought I kent her, but I couldnae be sure. I left them both alive.”

I tried not to react to his words, but my fingers tightened around my mug. The idea that he’d still been feeding, after everything… but I knew what he was, didn’t I?

“Had you interacted with Jon or Maggie before they died?” Tom pushed away from the desk to face him straight on. “If the killer’s targeting people you’ve been in contact with…”

Nicholas shook his head. “I never met either of them.”

“But there might still be a pattern,” Isabel said, inching forward. “Was there anything notable about how they died? Similarities?”

Tom gave me a long, questioning look. If there was ever a time to trust them with what we knew – what he’d found out – now was it. I held his gaze, and he nodded. Turning back to his laptop, the blue light from the screen cast shadows across his face as he pulled up the older files with a few taps. “Jon was isolated in that hotel room for days. The staff said he wasn’t eating, didn’t respond to calls or knocks, never left his room. We’ve got no idea if that was down to him though, or if he was kept there by force. And Maggie…” He swallowed hard, his throat working. “Brad said her death was weirdly precise. The water temperature controlled to stop her blood from clotting.”

I watched Nicholas’s face as Tom spoke. He’d gone pale, his hands gripping the knees of his jeans until I thought he’d rip right through the fabric.

“Three redheads who look like Erin,” Tom said slowly. “And Jon being Nicholas’s descendant… but the methods seem all over the place. Different kills, different styles.”

“Unless the point isn’t the killing itself,” Adam murmured, his gaze fixed on Nicholas. “The precision, the drawn-out nature of it… Perhaps they merely intend to make Nick watch as people connected to him are systematically destroyed.”

“But I haven’t even opened the applications for the job yet,” I said, pushing back against my chair. “So how did they know Lauren had applied?”

“It seems they have been watching more carefully than we thought,” Isabel said. “And of course, there is still the matter of the bridge incident. Suspicions will have been aroused with the police – particularly now they know you are alive, Erin.”

Tom set his mug down with a loud clink. “They haven’t been to speak to us at all. I’d have thought they would.”