Fear glued me to that bed. Not fear of Cassandra herself, but fear of offending her. I’ve never been very good at respecting my elders. Everyone deserves my basic respect, but to earn extra requires more than just having lots of candles on your birthday cake. My mother raised me to be Coven Leader, meaning I grew up knowing that my “elders” would someday be my subordinates. Yet there’s a big difference between kowtowing to a seventy-year-old witch and showing respect to a three-hundred-year-old vampire. I couldn’t just walk out there and say, “Hey, Cass, I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’re dying, so get over it.”
Something had to be done. It made my gut churn to admit that my mother may have made a mistake, but if she had, I couldn’t perpetuate it simply to avoid disrespecting her memory. If Aaron wanted a place on the council, then he should have it. I wouldn’t tell Cassandra that now—that would be kicking her when she was down. But we did need to talk.
Cassandra stood in the living area, staring out the window. She didn’t turn when I walked in. As I watched her, my resolve faltered. This could wait until morning.
“Bathroom’s all yours,” I said. “You can have the bedroom, too. I’ll pull out the sofa.”
She shook her head, still not turning. “Take the bedroom. I don’t sleep very much anymore.”
Another sign of a dying vampire. I watched her stare out the window. She looked…not sad, really, but somehow smaller, dimmer; her presence was confined to that corner of the room instead of taking over the whole of it.
“Can we talk, then?” I said.
She nodded, and walked to the couch. I took the chair beside it.
“If you want to speak to John again, I’ll help you,” she said. “I will warn you, though, that he’s likely to send us on a wild-goose chase.” She paused. “Not intentionally. He simply puts too much credence in gossip.”
“Well, maybe Aaron can help us sift through John’s bullshit. Aaron seems to have a good network of contacts.”
Cassandra stiffened, almost imperceptibly, then nodded. “Aaron was always very good at that, immersing himself in our world. Helping others. Keeping order. It’s what he does best.” A small smile. “I remember, we were in London when Peel began recruiting his bobbies, and I told him, ‘Aaron, finally, a career for you.’ He’d have been horrible at it, of course. If he caught a hungry child stealing a loaf of bread, he wouldn’t have arrested him, he’d have helped him steal more. He’s a good man. I—” She paused. “So we’ll talk to John again, then. Aaron should be able to get an address for us later today.”
“I can probably get it tonight. If he owns the Rampart with Brigid and Ronald, then one of them has to have their address in the public record system. I’ll also call Lucas, tell him I won’t be coming back to Miami just yet, see whether he wants to join us.”
Finding John’s address was even simpler than I’d hoped. It was in the phone book. Just to be sure, though, I hacked into public records and double-checked. It may seem that supernaturals, particularly vampires, would avoid leaving a paper trail and, in most cases, they do. Few supernaturals will list themselves in the local phone books, as John had. Yet when it comes to such highly regulated matters as the issuing of liquor licenses, it’s more dangerous to provide false information. Vampires carry valid driver’s licenses and file their taxes like everyone else, though the name on their paperwork may or may not be their true birth name, depending on how they prefer to keep their identity current. Some pick a victim in their age range and take over his identity for a while. Others pay supernatural forgers to create fresh documents every decade or so. Like Cassandra, John apparently chose the latter route.
Next I called Lucas. As I’d expected—and hoped—he did want to join us. We discussed whether Cassandra and I should wait for him before visiting John, but he didn’t think his presence would help. He’d catch the next flight to New Orleans, and we’d meet up after lunch.
By this point, it was after six, so sleep was out of the question. I fixed a fresh poultice for my stomach and cast a fresh healing spell. It helped. A few hours of sleep might have helped more, but I didn’t have time for that. The