Fangs for Freaks (Book 2: Half-blood vampire series)

Chapter Fifteen

After several hours of close scrutiny and one swimwear fashion show later I declared Thomas fit as a fiddle. We left my room and walked down the stairs. I wondered aloud, “I bet Margaret is the inside guy at the Tribunal.”

“Colby! Do you have any proof?” Thomas was shocked.

“Well, none other than the fact that she hates me. But you have to admit, it’s fishy. She’s a known bigot and she’s in a position of power. Aren’t you always telling me not to provoke her because she would be a powerful enemy?”

I led him down the stairs.

“I meant she could screw up your paperwork and get you in hot water with Holloway, not she would try to use her connections to have you killed,” he said, exasperated.

“Oh.” I was a bit disappointed by his confession. “I still think she’s up to something.” She had screwed up my paperwork in the summer and told Mr. Holloway she thought I killed Tina. She was far more dangerous than Thomas suspected.

We stepped onto the main landing and headed around the stairs to make our way to the library.

“Well, that may be, but you can’t go around accusing her without any proof. Anyway, who says Lucy didn’t bribe Tribunal Security or hypnotize them?”

“Hmmph.”

We opened the secret door and I said saucily, “You know, you were much more agreeable upstairs.”

We joined the rest of the house in the recreation room.

“I still don’t understand why Lucy killed Tina,” Sage said.

“Probably read her e-mails online,” Ileana said to no one in particular, as she painted her toenails.

“How’d you know?” I said.

“Tina used the same computer Lucy did the day she was killed. I suspect Lucy never logged off her e-mail account. You can just click through the history tab and go right back into the mail if it’s still the same day and you don’t log out first.”

She looked up at our shocked faces.

“What? You think since I live in England in a family manor I don’t have broadband or know how to use a computer? Tina always looked at everyone’s history cache. She was nosy. It’s how I figured out Lucy was the killer. Not that any of you bothered to use deductive reasoning.”

Ileana turned to Sage and said, “I’m sorry, I know you two were close and all, but she was nosy.”

Sage nodded slowly, “Yes, she was. And she had the worst habit of borrowing my clothes without asking. Even so, I do miss her. Our summer togetherwas one of the best.”

I looked at her, surprised. “Just one summer? This summer?”

“Oh yeah, remember she said she wished she could be a vampire and it came true? Lance was really hot for her and kept hounding her. She’d blow hot and then cold. She really couldn’t decide how she felt about him. Finally she refused to come out of her room at night, would only be up during the day so she didn’t have to see him.”

“And Cookie was okay with this?”

“She wasn’t thrilled, but she still had me to keep the party going. She loved Tina and only wanted her to be happy. Remember, at this time Tina wasn’t Undead yet. She knew about all of us but she didn’t care. Cookie took her in out of the kindness of her heart. Tina really wasn’t cut out for the vampire life, being vegan and all.”

“What about Lance?” Piper prompted.

“Yeah, anyway, he finally managed to get Tina to go for a walk on the beach with him and he changed her. Cookie was pissed. I’d never seen her so angry before. But when Tina woke up, she was so happy. It was really weird. I think she glamorized the whole vampire thing in her head.”