Kade's Dark Embrace

Chapter Eleven

Sydney locked the door to her bedroom and started searching for her phone. Logically, she knew a locked door was not enough to keep a vampire out of her room, but it gave her a small comfort knowing she wouldn’t make it easy for them. Even though no one had tried to bite her yet, all the strange vampires milling about the house made her a little nervous. Finally locating her cell in the mess she called her purse, she dialed Adalee at the lab. Sydney wanted to get the latest autopsy results and hoped they’d get an additional clue to help stop the killings.

“Hi ya, Sydney girl,” Ada said cheerfully as she picked up on the other end.

“Hey, Ada, sorry I didn’t make it into the station last night.”

“Yes, I heard all about it. And are you just gonna act like you aren’t down in New Orleans with that fine piece of vampire who you’ve been working with? I mean really...do tell. I heard from the captain that you're down there with him. And what did he call it? Oh yeah, consulting? Is that what they call it these days? I’d like a consulting job in a romantic city with a hot, hunk of vampire goodness.” Sydney could hear Adalee laughing hard on the other end of the line.

“Hardy, har, har, Ada. I guess I should have expected some razzing for this one. But seriously, I nearly got killed back in my condo, and Kade brought me down here to...ugh...help him. I'm the detective on this case. And yes, I am consulting, that’s it.”

“Whatever you say, Syd. You just keep telling yourself that, okay?” Ada chuckled. “Now listen, I’m glad you finally called in. Got some new information on the second girl. Same cause of death, exsanguination. Again, no marks indicating fangs. No sexual assault either. This girl was tortured though. Looks like someone was using her for a pincushion, and I’m not talking tiny push pins either.” There was a pregnant pause before she continued, “Syd, I've never seen anything like this. I can’t be sure what made these holes, but I'm guessing right now maybe knitting needles or possibly large, surgical needles. There are two holes in the chest region, two in the stomach, and one behind the ear. It looks like these were inflicted antemortem.”

“Shit, the girl was alive during it. Anything else?”

“Yeah, we found traces of lemongrass oil again on the head and also on the wrists. Also, there was trace of human hair and hemp embedded in her wrists. Syd, I'm not sure what's going on down there but the person who's doing this...it is downright disturbing.” Ada sounded disgusted.

“I know, Ada. Isn’t this some shit? Kade thinks he knows who's doing this. We're following a lead tomorrow night, so hopefully that will yield some good results. In the meantime, text or call me with any updates. Thanks, Ada.”

“You take care, Syd. Talk to you soon. And hope you enjoy your...um...consulting gig,” Ada teased.

Sydney considered getting some more sleep after the call, but then she thought she’d better go tell Kade about the needles. Why the hell did the killer use needles on the girl? It had to be related to Voodoo. Was Simone making some kind of human Voodoo doll? Sydney didn’t know the least bit about Voodoo dolls except for the fact they sold the little trinkets in the tourist shops. She knew a little bit about the background of Marie Laveau, the renowned Voodoo priestess of New Orleans. Sydney and a friend once took a walking “Voodoo tour” on one of her many vacations to the Big Easy, and they toured a Voodoo museum, even visited the mausoleum where Marie Laveau was buried. But aside from the legends, she was no expert on the subject. She suspected Kade knew more than he was telling her. Why would Simone use living Voodoo dolls?

Leaving her room and quietly descending the large, spiral staircase, Sydney heard familiar voices in the great room. As she entered, Kade, Luca, Xavier, Etienne, and Dominique were sitting around discussing the witch. No time like the present to interrupt the family fun. She thought about being serious, all vampire like, but then decided that flippant was more her style. “Hey guys. Forget to invite the human to the party?” They all looked up at her at once as if she had three heads. Maybe serious would have been the best approach, grumpy vampires.

“Okay, guess the party is over. I have some news, if you're interested.” Not waiting for an invitation, Sydney deliberately sat next to Luca, knowing it would irritate him. He seemed to have a stick up his ass, and she was about to dislodge it. “Hey, Luca, how’s it shaking? What, no big hello for me?” She smiled up at him, knowing he was itching to remove her from his side.

Kade grinned. “Sydney love, please refrain from poking the bear.” Both Xavier and Dominique laughed.

Okay, things were loosening up a bit...at least with a couple of these vamps. Sydney decided to keep pushing. “Let’s play a game, Luca, you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”

Sydney could see that his hard exterior was showing a few cracks. Luca lifted one corner of his mouth suppressing a grin. “I guess as long as Kade doesn’t mind, I have no problem showing you mine.”

“As if half this town hasn’t seen it,” Dominique snorted.

Kade stiffened at the thought of Sydney showing anything to anyone else but him. He shot her a look and decided it was time for business to continue. “Sydney, we were just discussing Ilsbeth. It appears that instead of Luca and Dominique escorting her tomorrow night, she will be arriving within the hour with her own escort. Ilsbeth said she has important information for us, and feels it is a bit of an emergency. I would like you to meet her so you can review the evidence that was found on the two victims. She should be here soon.”

“Okay, sounds good. Any information we could get from her would help at this point. I talked to Ada and have some news of my own to share.”

“Sounds good. Now Sydney, if you would like to show me yours, I would be happy to see it. You do understand that in my home, I can assure you, you will only be showing yours to me.”

Kade words were not lost on her. Possessive? Jealous? Maybe she misread what he was saying? Definitely not. She almost made love to him earlier in the sunroom, and he knew damn well that she wanted to show him...well, everything. But, he had no problem dismissing her upstairs in lieu of Dominique and business. “Kade, you had the opportunity a few hours ago to see all of mine, if you recall and you chose business. You snooze, you lose. Luca on the other hand needs some loosening up.” She looked up at Luca to find him actually smiling at her. She patted Luca’s thigh and stood up. This was going to be fun.

Kade did not look amused. Good. She thought of pretending like she was going to remove her clothes just to tease Kade a bit more, but remembered there wasn’t much time. She stood with one hand on her hip, rubbed her forehead with the other hand and then pushed a stray hair out of her face. “Okay, here it is. Ada said the last vic had the same hemp and human hair fibers and same lemongrass oil on her. This time, there were no whip marks on the body. But what is really sick is that someone was playing human Voodoo doll with this girl. She had five holes in her. Ada thinks they were made with knitting or surgical needles. To be honest, they are not really sure yet what made the holes. And to top off the shit sandwich, all the needles were inserted antemortem, which means she was tortured good and well before dying.”

The vampires appeared to know something as they looked at one another. Were they able to talk to each other without speaking? Sydney would have to ask Kade later. Before she got a chance to insist that they needed to get a Voodoo expert in on the case, the doorbell rang. The witch was here.

As Ilsbeth entered the room, Sydney felt the air lighten; it was almost dizzying. She was surprised by Ilsbeth’s nearly ethereal arrival, her escort trailed behind. Ilsbeth’s long, platinum hair flowed well below her waist accentuating her petite figure. She was dressed in a purple, velvet blouse that was complemented by a fitted, black, leather jacket and pants. Ilsbeth walked gracefully into the home, taking Kade’s hand as they headed toward the dining room. She seated herself at the head of the table, as if she’d been there before, gesturing to Sydney to sit beside her.

Not sure about witch etiquette, Sydney followed Ilsbeth’s nonverbal cue and sat down next to her. She couldn’t help but admire Ilsbeth’s deep, violet eyes. Sydney was not sure what she thought a witch would look like, but she certainly wasn’t expecting this. Maybe a green nose and a broomstick? No, but she was expecting someone a little scarier looking, certainly older. But, Ilsbeth was anything but scary, or old. She looked barely twenty-one years old with an angelic face.

Once everyone was seated at the table, Ilsbeth spoke a protection prayer. Sydney guessed it was your basic, ‘keep evil spirits out of this house prayer’ from what she could tell. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she believed in witchcraft mojo, but in order to catch the killer, she would give angel girl the benefit of the doubt. Sydney was getting anxious, but could tell that Ilsbeth was running the show. All the vampires at the table stayed silent as they listened to Ilsbeth finish her prayer.

Sydney nearly jumped out of her seat as Ilsbeth’s eyes flew open and all the candles on the table and along the shelves in the room flared to life. Okay, nice trick. Ilsbeth glanced at Sydney and then to Kade. “My dearest friends, there is a great evil in our city. She may have initially come for you Kade, but now she is here for all of us. I felt it a week ago when I was working in my shop. It was a rumbling at first, but now there is a constant state of unease. As you know, most witches can sense good and evil. And the wind of evil has blown throughout our streets. It has stayed. Something bad is coming for all of us…something that wants to take over this city. I will help if I can Kade, but I must know why this evil woman is here for you?”

Kade told Ilsbeth the story of Simone, her banishment and of the recent killings in Philadelphia. Sydney filled in the missing pieces with regards to the oil, the rope fibers, and needle marks. Ilsbeth listened carefully and spoke with great seriousness, “If all that you told me is true, there must be someone helping Simone, a witch or mage perhaps, or possibly a Voodoo priestess. Simone may have some of this knowledge, but a practitioner would need supplies to help to carry out these killings and spells. It is possible that Simone is experimenting...using a living girl as a Voodoo doll. She seeks the assistance of evil spirits to help her with her goals.” Ilsbeth stared deep into Kade’s eyes. “Kade, Simone may have started off with a simple goal of revenge, but the darkness of her practices points to a monumental goal, perhaps to have power...power over all the supernaturals in the city. If her experiment showed any promise the first time, she will kill again until she takes over this town.”

Kade blew out a breath. He knew Simone was capable of the most heinous torture he’d ever seen. So in some way, it didn’t surprise him that she wanted to control all the supernaturals, but she would fail if he had anything to say about it. “Thank you for your insight Ilsbeth. As always, you bring profound knowledge and perspective to the problems we face. Tomorrow night, we are going to follow a lead on Simone. Do you have any recommendations about how to proceed with regards to the witchcraft? Do you know who in the witch community would want to help her? Someone must know. It is hard to keep secrets within covens.”

“You are correct in your assumptions. I plan to scour the books, seeing who made the purchases necessary to create the oil and rope. These ingredients are widely available online, but any self-respecting witch or mage from New Orleans would buy them in our shop. We certify the authenticity of ingredients for all our products and supplies, which includes Van Van oil as well as hemp and hair. And if a vampire attempted purchasing these supplies at any stores in the city, I am confident someone would remember. That would not go unnoticed.”

“Thanks, Ilsbeth. Look back a year or two in your records, just to be safe. We aren’t sure how long she’s been in the city. If you send us the list of possible suspects, Kade and I can check it out from there. We really appreciate your help on this. If you saw what was done to those girls...well, we’ve got to stop it,” Sydney interjected. While she didn’t understand witchcraft, Sydney had to admit that she felt glad the witch was helping them. It was possible Ilsbeth could lead them to tangible clues so they could nab the killer.

Ilsbeth nodded. “I will contact you if I find anything. Like I said, I have been with my coven the past week. I will need to go back to the shop for the records. My escort, Zin, has been with me. He is my cousin, a practicing warlock, but most importantly, he’s trained in security. I will be going everywhere with him. We cannot be too careful. Okay, I must go. I will be in touch.”

After everyone said their goodbyes and thank yous, Sydney quickly retreated to her room. She wanted to give in to her desire to be with Kade, but she was on business and had to get up early. Being around Kade was beginning to cloud her judgment. If she could only get some sleep and shopping therapy, she’d be good...okay, maybe not good, but she’d be ready to go out tomorrow night. They needed to catch a break on this case.