Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,24

for.

"Lady Blackwell." The three of them paused to place their hands over their hearts and bow. "You are needed."

My first thought was of Yuki. In a panic, I stood. Chief did, too, and was rewarded with a brief but firm hiss from the three of them. "It's okay. Let me see what's going on." I put my hand over his arm, hopefully in a calming manner. Yuki? I didn't shout, I just wanted to make sure she was okay, even though I would have been the first one to know if she wasn't.

I can feel it. I'm on my way. Master? Don't do anything until I get there.

Nodding at the three vampires, I motioned toward the door.

"Everything okay, Dot?" Tabby called from across the diner.

Sighing, I nodded. It wasn't busy, but I had hoped to escape without being noticed by any of the other customers at all. Never knew which one was working for the paper and which ones weren't. "Yep. Just some friends of mine."

"Our apologies, Lady Blackwell," one of the vamps mumbled as he held the door open for me.

"Not your fault. I'll give you my cell phone number for emergencies," I answered as he shut the door behind me. "So? What's up?" I wanted to get to the root of the situation as quickly as possible while I was still in Chief's line of sight. He might have let me go, but that didn't mean he was happy about it.

"Sorry to bother you." The most powerful feeling one in my head bowed again. "We need your judgement."

"Oh. Well, I don't know if I can give you any advice that would be helpful…" I stopped talking when the ones closest started snickering. "What?"

"We are not seeking…advice. One of ours has committed a digression. We leave him to you to be judged."

"Oh. Oh! Wait a minute. I'm hardly–"

"The lord of our clan?"

Yuki. Hurry.

Almost… "Here," she finished as she suddenly appeared before a blast of wind nearly bowled me over.

"Princess Yukina," they said reverently and bowed to her. I smiled. It kind of made me feel like her mother. Or big sister. I found the latter thought more comforting.

She stared at them for a moment, tilted her head, and frowned. I don't know what she was sensing that I wasn't, but she didn't like it. "What?"

"Can't you feel it?"

My vamp powers weren't…engaged. I couldn't feel, sense, or smell shit. But as I was staring at them, it made more than a few of them more than uncomfortable. It was just enough for that tiny sliver of fear to make my mouth start watering. Then, I felt it. One of them had killed a human.

"Fuck." The paranormal population of Cedar Falls had enough trouble brewing without the vampires turning the residents into Big Gulps. "Why? You guys don't have to pay for blood anymore. Why the fuck would one of you kill a human?"

The fear wafting from the little group was enough to bring out my fangs and an evil sounding hiss at the end of my rant. They dropped to the ground and writhed, afraid for their lives. Yuki put a calming hand on my back.

"Maybe we should question the accused, Master."

"Get up," I told them, trying for a calm soothing voice.

Chief stepped outside. "Everything okay?"

"No. But come with me. This involves you, too."

"You would alert the human authorities?" Alpha vamp sneered, but was looking at Chief, not me.

Yuki tried, but failed, to stop me from grabbing a fistful of his leather jacket and dragging his face to within an inch of mine. "Somebody has to let the human's family know they won't be going home again. Ever. He is also my mine. You will show him respect."

"Yes, Lady Blackwell!" He was all piss and vinegar, the fear coming from him was twice as strong as any of the others. The smell might actually have been piss, though. I could only imagine what my face looked like.

"Dot?"

"Come on. We'll take your Jeep. Where are we going?" I asked the group instead of their self-proclaimed leader.

"The mall," one of them answered meekly.

"The mall is closed. That's trespassing," Chief said firmly.

It was going to be a long night.

∞ ∞ ∞

Vampires made it look easy. I, however, usually tripped going down the stairs. There's no way in hell I was going to drop into the center of the food court and trust in my vampiric abilities. They were sketchy at best. Instead, I pulled Nana's broom from the thong around my neck and