Chapter 3

Brigid waited for Carwyn and Natalie's voices to dissipate before she spoke to Baojia again. "And how is she really?"

"Natalie?" He let out a huffed breath. "Frustrated. She doesn't have a job anymore. And she's always had a job. The kids only keep her so busy. Jake is very… twelve." Baojia almost growled it. "Sarah is seven and delightful, but they're busy with school and their friends and sports now. The nannies do a lot of the work during the day, so there's only so much to do at night."

"And she's not working."

He shook his head. "She had to quit full-time writing once she turned. Too many smart, curious people working in close proximity to the new vampire wasn't a good idea."

"Does she have any desire to work for Katya?"

"None." He looked out the window. "This case is actually really good for her. She loves having a problem to solve, and she's thrown herself into this."

"She could assist you."

He winced. "I think the two of us working together is a recipe for disaster. We're not like you and Carwyn."

Brigid raised her eyebrows. "Sorry, were you under the illusion that we always exist in a blissful state of euphoria? We fight all the time."

He shrugged. "I don't know. She needs to find… something, because she's not happy now. She's happy with family life—except when the almost-teenager is being especially rotten—but she needs to be able to work."

"Are the two of you planning on coming with us up to Humboldt?"

"I wasn't," Baojia said. "I need to stay here. But Natalie could. She grew up hiking and camping in that area, and she's spent more time up there since her change. She's pretty familiar with the place." He seemed to warm to the idea. "In fact, that would probably be really good for her."

"Excellent." Brigid smiled. "And then we'll have a local with us."

"You'll have more than one." He stretched his arms up. "Have you met Katya before?"

"Your boss?" Brigid asked. "The frightening teenager?"

Baojia smiled. "She's not that young, but she does play up the innocent kid image when it suits her."

Katya had a reputation for an angelic face and a ruthless appetite for power. She was young, but she'd taken over the Pacific Northwest when she was mere decades immortal.

"Is Katya involved in this?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Very. It's not something she likes to talk about," Baojia started, "but she's from that area originally. Well, born in Russia, but she came to California as a child, so it's home."

"Why doesn't she want anyone to know where she's from?"

"You know older vampires." He shrugged. "They're possessive about their personal information. I had to nearly pry the truth out of her, and she trusts me about as much as she trusts anyone."

"So not much?"

He smiled. "Only to the extent necessary. You don't become a regional power as young as she did without creating a tough shell."

"True."

"So… Strictly between the four of us, Katya is from the area where the girl went missing, so attacking humans there would not be acceptable. Her father and her sire still live there, and she'd be—"

"Her biological father is her vampire sire too?"

Baojia opened his mouth, then paused. "Uh…"

"If you can't tell me, I understand." Brigid scribbled a quick note in her book. She'd grown up around immortals and knew how tight-lipped they could be about their former human lives. "I know when to stop being nosy, unlike either one of our mates."

Baojia smiled. "If that's not the truth, nothing is. And about Katya? I want to tell you, but I don't know if she'd want me to share it, and the details probably aren't pertinent to solving the case."

"Leave it then." Brigid waved a hand. "I trust you to know what is and isn't important to finding these kids."

"She'll be in the area. Just know that. This time of year, she's usually at her house on the Russian River, and she has another place she likes up around Ukiah in wine country. I'll drive up to her place with you tomorrow night, then let you two and Natalie go on ahead."

"Are we interrupting her holiday with this?"

"No. The river house is more of a remote office; the winery house is for holidays. She goes to the city if she needs to but stays at the river house for about a month every fall."

Brigid tapped her pen on her lower lip. "Will she be looking over our shoulders?"

"I doubt it; that's not her style. Unless you mess something up, then all bets are off."

"So we're fine." Brigid set her pen down. "We'll find these kids, Baojia. Don't worry about that. Carwyn is like one of those great long-eared dogs."

"A bloodhound?"

"Slightly shorter ears, but yes. And I mean that literally. Give him some personal items from the two humans, get him in the general area, and he'll be able to find them, even in the densest woods. As long as they're touching the ground. He can't do much in the city, but on open ground, it's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"I have every confidence that you're going to find them." Baojia grimaced. "I just hope they're alive when you do."

They abandoned the van for the night and took one of Baojia and Natalie's guest rooms, which were double-locked and secured from the inside to keep guests safe. The room was dug into the ground under the original farmhouse, and Natalie and Baojia's bedroom suite was at the other end of the long hallway.

"How was your deer stalk?" Brigid stretched out on the bed, propping her arms and chin on Carwyn's chest. "Was it very exciting?"

"It was lovely," he said. "And Natalie isn't a bad hunter. A bit messy on the final killing bite, but overall—"

"Please stop." She put a hand over his mouth. "I immediately realized I made a horrible mistake even asking."

"You are so lucky you were sired this century," Carwyn said. "You'd have starved in the Middle Ages."

She could feel the slight tug of dawn, but she knew she had at least a half hour of coherent thought left. "I'm perfectly comfortable having less pox and more bagged blood, thank you very much." She smiled. "I don't even like antiques except for you."

He was holding back a smile. "Ah, my gentle rose. What a kind heart you have."

"I tell you who's going to be sorry they crossed this gentle rose is whoever has been taking kids in the forest for the past five years."

Carwyn sat up a little. "Five years?"

She nodded. "Baojia's instincts are good. When we went through the missing-person reports, we started to notice a pattern. The majority of traffic on the Lost Coast Trail is during the summer months, right?"

"Logical," Carwyn said. "Between summer holidays and good weather, May through August is likely the busiest time."

"By far," Brigid continued. "But the trail is passable going into September. There are a few more unexpected storms, wind, that kind of thing. But there are only a quarter of the permits given out in September versus May or July on average."

"And?"

Brigid leaned forward, inches from his face. "So why does September give out a fraction of the permits but produce the majority of missing hikers?"

Carwyn's eyebrows went up. "The majority of the missing hikers on the trail are reported missing around September?"

"Not just along that trail either. It's across both Mendocino and Humboldt Counties. People go missing in September more often than any other time of the year."

"Chance?"

"Over five years?" She shook her head. "It can't be random."

Carwyn stared at the ceiling. "This is a marijuana-growing area, correct?"

"It is. But that's legal now. A grower would have no reason to kidnap a workforce."

"Oh, my love, there are still many, many illegal farms." Carwyn turned his eyes to her. "There are permits and fees. Licenses to sell, perhaps? And then after all that, you'd still have to pay taxes."

Brigid nodded. "All true."

"Locals in this area have been growing marijuana as long as cattle have grazed the hills. There are likely more than a few old-timers and more than a few younger growers who don't like the idea of the government in their business."

"What time of year is marijuana harvested?"

"You're asking me?" Carwyn grinned. "Sure you know if any of that shite worked on us, I'd walk around smelling of it. But it doesn't, so I've no idea, my love."

"We need to find out." Brigid tapped her chin and stared at the wall. "Maybe Natalie knows some of the older growers up there. I imagine there's quite a bit about that area that humans keep to themselves."

Carwyn tweaked the tip of her nose as she started to drift into sleep. "I think, darling girl, your instincts on this may be right on the nose."

The following night, Carwyn and Brigid sat at the kitchen table again as Jake and Sarah, Natalie and Baojia's offspring, helped their parents set the table for dinner. It was one of the traditions that Natalie had been keen to continue when she turned.

Since Natalie and Baojia didn't wake until sundown, they had to grab the time they could with their children.

"Sarah?" Natalie turned from stirring something on the stove. "Did you meet your new math teacher today?"

"Yeah." Sarah was a freckle-faced girl with dark brown curls and a piquant expression. "I mean yes." She was staring at Brigid, her eyes taking every inch in. Brigid was trying not to squirm.

"Thank you for using proper grammar." Baojia squeezed Sarah's shoulder as he walked past her chair. "What do you think?"

"About grammar?"

He smiled. "About the new math teacher."

Sarah shrugged and kept her eyes fixed on Brigid. "She's okay, I guess. Brigid, are you carrying a gun right now?"

"Sarah!" Natalie turned. "That's none of your business."

"Yes," Brigid answered directly. "When I was human, I was a highly trained markswoman, so I figured I'd stick with that instead of turning to swords like most vampires."

"But a vampire can only be killed by cutting off their head or lighting them on fire." Sarah leaned forward. "Guns don't kill them."

"Sarah!" Natalie's eyes were like saucers. "Where did you—?"

"Who told you all that?" Baojia asked. "Was it Lucien? I swear, we really need to talk to him about age-appropriate—"

"That's an excellent question." Carwyn spoke over all the clamoring voices and shot Natalie and Baojia loaded looks. "As the father of over a dozen children, let me assure you that if they're old enough to ask the question, they're old enough to hear an honest answer."

Baojia raised a single eyebrow.

"Age-appropriate answers, of course." Carwyn turned to Sarah. "What makes vampires immortal?"

"Amnis," Sarah said simply. "It like… connects you to the elements, right? And since the earth lasts forever and water lasts forever and all that, the amnis makes you live forever."

"We don't know exactly how it works," Carwyn said. "But that's as good a guess as others if you ask me. Amnis runs through our bodies in our nervous system. Like blood runs through vessels and arteries, right?"

Sarah nodded. "I learned about that in science class. About the circulation system."

"Good. So the nervous system is similar, but even bigger than the blood-circulation system because we have nerves all over and through our body, right?"

"Yeah." Sarah was getting excited now. "I learned that too. We have five senses, and that's part of our nerva… nervous system. Like all our skin is part of it even."

"And amnis runs in our nervous system. So the reason vampires kill bad vampires by cutting off their heads—"

Natalie winced.

"—is because that cuts off the brain from the rest of the nervous system,"

Brigid said. "And that breaks the amnis, like cutting a vein or artery cuts the blood system."

"Ohhhh." Sarah's mouth formed a small o. "'Cause the brain is like the boss of the nervous system. I get it."

"But if you're a good enough shot," Brigid continued, "you can use a firearm instead. Especially with the right ammunition, a well-placed shot in the neck—"

"Okay, I think that's enough detail." Baojia put a pan on the table. "Who wants macaroni and cheese?"

"Me!" Sarah had completely forgotten morbid curiosity at the promise of noodles and cheese. "Jake, you can't have any yet."

Jake had been sitting sullenly in the corner. "Shut up, Sarah. I know."

"Mom!"

"Jake, don't tell your sister to shut up." Natalie looked at Sarah. "And Sarah, don't tell your brother he's not allowed to eat. That's rude."

Jake looked at Brigid. "So are you, like, working up here or something now? I thought you lived in England."

"Ireland. And we're independent now. We work on more of a contract basis."

"So you're, like, mercenaries or something?"

Carwyn was trying not to laugh. "Mercenaries, darling girl."

Brigid smiled. "We're closer to private investigators. Right now we're helping your dad with something."

"Oh." Jake slumped back in his chair. Apparently private investigators weren't as exciting as mercenaries. "My dad is a mercenary."

Baojia blinked. "Where did you even hear that word?"

"In history class. We were learning about the Hessians during the Revolutionary War."

Sarah reached for her glass of water. "Russians?"

"Hessians, stupid!"

"I'm not stupid. Mom!"

Brigid turned to Carwyn and spoke in Irish. "We're not getting any of these, are we?"

"Why would we when we can simply borrow the ones belonging to our friends and give them back when they get annoying?"

She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. "I knew I loved you for a reason."