The Lady of the Valley

TLotV Chapter 35

35.

"Hands off my boyfriend," Astrid snarled as soon as Ari pulled the car out onto the street. She was in the backseat, however, with Drake and Ari in the front, so the effect was less than she wanted.

"He's your boyfriend?" Drake said, peering at her in the rearview mirror.

Ari did the same. "Yes, Astrid. Is he your boyfriend? Have you had the 'Define the Relationship' talk, and somehow forgotten to tell me?"

Heat scorched Astrid's face. "He's mine. Lay off."

Ari smirked. Astrid bared her teeth at her and Ari winked into the mirror.

"I looked into changelings, like you asked," Drake said. "And the two names you gave me."

"Nothing?" Ari asked.

"Not quite. A few minutes after I started digging a rather grave-looking librarian quietly approached me and, let's say, discouraged me from continuing my line of inquiry."

Ari reached over and squeezed Drake's leg. She must have sensed more than his words betrayed.

"So you can't give us answers," Ari said.

"Not yet. But I consider family dark secrets my special passion in life."

They arrived at the scene. The street was dark and silent. No one appeared eager to expose themselves to the empty night.

"What are your thoughts on Ellie's involvement?" Ari asked as they finally climbed out of the car. Astrid huffed.

"Thrilled," she answered deadpan.

"At least it's a sister and not an ex-girlfriend."

Astrid tried to take in some slow deep breaths and calm the raging emotions in her. She watched Ari map out the attack again, watching the shadows for signs of enemies. She could use an enemy to vent some emotion on.

Ugh, that was awful of her. What even was a 'Define the Relationship' talk?

In the distance Ari jumped off the brick border wall to the lot below. They spoke and Ari gestured wildly. After a few minutes they climbed back over and rejoined her.

"Any luck?"

They shook their heads. "No pockets, fae realms, no lingering spells. But I wouldn't expect to find the latter after the storms."

A chilly breeze kicked up around them. There were more storms in the forecast and one day soon the world would wake up and remember it was supposed to be autumn. Astrid was tired. She had class in the morning and it was pushing three a.m. They'd done nothing but allowed a vampire to run loose into the police department, mind-raping officers. Everyone filed back into the vehicle, somber expressions on their faces.

"You're a seemingly immortal man who survives a fire that kills your friends and you start killing people. Why?" Astrid asked as the dark night slipped past the window.

"Why to which part?" Drake asked.

Good point.

"The surviving a fire part," Ari offered. "Personally I feel vampires have the best PR, so if he was on site at the fire--"

"Ellie's file said he had been confirmed there an hour before the fire by a dealer who delivered to them and was interviewed by the police after," Drake cut in.

"So you wake up, very not dead, and assume 'I'm a vampire'?"

"As one does," Astrid said.

"No doubt a number of small things support this, like not aging in thirty years."

"And possibly mysterious powers," Drake added.

"So you assume vampire and just...start drinking blood?" Ari said.

"Could be a kink," Drake offered.

"Or it could be that vampires are really good at cultivating power. According to the file after the karaoke bar he lands a few gigs, mostly at vampire bars."

"So he's drawn to the power," Astrid said.

"And he starts killing people as well," Ari paused. "Because he can. It's socially acceptable in the setting and he is immortal, so he can get away with it. It might even be encouraged."

"But then he kills the wrong person. Ellie's whatever they were." Astrid drummed her fingers on the door.

"I always wondered what drew Derek past the wards to the valley," Ari said quietly. "But how did Sarris get through?"

"Because he isn't actually a vampire. My guess is he's got fae blood and this is a fae haven. Whether he knew that or not. Maybe he's a changeling and the town welcomed him, like it does all fae." Drake shook his head slowly. "The wards wouldn't actually work on him."

"So just like that we have a killer stalking our streets." Astrid rubbed her temples.

"Two thousand and five," Drake said.

"What about it?" Ari asked.

"Mystic Valley's last serial killers, Edward and Jason Grimes," Drake answered.

"Weren't they actually assassins from the Charr Creek pack who tried to take over this territory?" Ari asked.

Drake nodded. "But before that it was Nineteen ninety nine. The Millennial Fae Wars. My point is that the wards aren't infallible. We are plenty capable of growing our own killers in the valley."

"Point taken. But how do we stop this one?" Astrid asked.

"Sarris is targeting fae. He's established a pattern now, right? So we target them too." Ari said. "Except won't the police be doing that too?"

Drake laughed. "The fae won't cooperate with anyone, especially the police. Acts of anarchy are a fae right of passage."

"I see many sleepless nights in my future," Astrid said, gloomy.

"Me too," Ari smirked, "but not because of murders."

Ari pointed to the front door of Astrid's house where Derek opened the door and came out to the porch to greet them. Astrid's lips twisted a little and her heart sped up. Yeah, there was that too.