“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.