Chapter 28

Remy greeted Merrow as he jumped out of his car. "Sheriff."

"What's going on?"

"Birdie isn't gone, just Ephie. I found Birdie tied up, drugged, and locked in her own trunk, but she's doing better now. She's sitting in the back of my patrol car." Remy had given her a bottle of water from the supply in his trunk. "Thanks to her exceptional metabolism, the drug wore off pretty quickly once I got the rest of it off her face."

Merrow frowned as he walked toward Remy's vehicle. He crouched down by the open door and took her hand. "Aunt Birdie, are you all right?"

She nodded and looked up at Remy. "Thanks to that young man, I am."

Even at two hundred years old, it was sweet to be called a young man. Remy shook his head. "I just did what anyone would have done."

"Aunt Birdie, I want you to go with the paramedics and get checked out. Especially that burn mark on your neck. And I'd like them to do a tox screen so we can get more intel on what was used to drug you."

She nodded. "Whatever you need." She glanced at Remy again. "I'm sorry I couldn't help Ephie. That was the whole reason I was here, and I failed."

Remy quickly shook his head. "I'm sure you did what you could." This shouldn't have happened. Turner was dead. Had one of his crew decided to carry out his boss's wishes anyway?

The sheriff cleared his throat. "Why don't you tell us what happened from the beginning? If you can remember."

She stared at the back of the seat in front of her like she was remembering. "I think I can."

"Take your time," the sheriff said.

"Pandora dropped Ephie off. I was already here, in my car. I got out when they pulled up. We talked for a minute in the driveway. Ephie showed me a necklace she'd bought at the coven meeting. A special stone that was supposed to enhance her powers. Then she got her key out, unlocked the door, and we went in."

Remy gestured toward the front of the house. "Was the porch light out when you got here?"

Birdie narrowed her eyes. "Yes. I believe it was."

The ambulance arrived. Merrow held his hand up to let them know to hold back a moment. "What then, Aunt Birdie? After you went inside?"

"It all happened so fast. I went in first, Ephie behind me. The next thing I knew she hit me, like she'd been shoved into me. We both fell to the ground." Her hands went to her face. "I hit my cheek."

"You have a bruise," Merrow said softly. "Then what?"

"I tried to get up, even though Ephie was on top of me. But something bit me on the back of the neck. It hurt for a second, then I passed out. When I started to come around again, I got powder blown into my face and almost instantly, I went numb. Paralyzed head to toe. Then I passed out again."

Remy nodded. "That's the powder I wiped off of you. There could be more stuck to the duct tape that was on your mouth, but I saved as much as I could in the handkerchief." He flexed his hand. "My fingers went numb when I touched it, but that didn't last long."

Merrow looked up at him. "Vampire metabolism probably works a little faster than werewolf. Or maybe it didn't affect you the same way, seeing as how you're technically dead."

"Could be," Remy answered. "It was still potent stuff. Probably voodoo-related."

Merrow patted his aunt's hand, then stood. "Turner."

"I'm sure," Remy responded. "Don't know if you heard, but he was killed in a prison riot."

Merrow frowned. "Then this shouldn't have happened."

"Could be one of his men trying to make a name for himself. Or exacting revenge."

"Possibly." Merrow beckoned the paramedics forward. "You did a great job telling us what you remember, Aunt Birdie. Now let's make sure you're all right. You remember anything else, you call me."

Birdie sighed. "I will."

Remy had never heard Birdie sound so deflated or defeated. She didn't seem like herself at all, but he understood she was in shock and obviously feeling bad because of Ephie.

He wasn't doing so great in that department, either. He was equal parts sick to his stomach and filled with rage, but acting without a plan wasn't going to help. "We need to set up roadblocks on both sides of town in case they try to run with her." He thought for a second. "They might be planning on using Ephie to draw her mother out. Leonie is most likely their true target."

Merrow pinched the radio on his shoulder and called the roadblocks in, then put his hands on his hips. "We should talk to Pandora, see if she saw anything unusual and find out what other vehicles were on the street."

"There's blood in the house, too," Remy said, just remembering. "I'm pretty sure Ephie's cat scratched the attacker."

Merrow's eyes narrowed. "You sure it's not Ephie's blood?"

"No. Doesn't smell like it, but it's only three drops. Also, there's blood on the cat's foot. He wouldn't scratch Ephie. For one thing, making that kind of contact would take serious effort on his part. For another, he loves her too much to hurt her."

Merrow made a face. "Why would it take effort for a cat to scratch someone?"

"He's a ghost," Birdie murmured from the stretcher the paramedics had her on. "I can't even see him unless he materializes."

Merrow glanced at his aunt, then back at Remy. He tipped his head toward the house. "Show me the blood."

He walked with Remy toward the house, not saying another word until they were on the porch.

Remy stopped to put gloves on before opening the door.

As he did that, Merrow spoke. "Tell me now about why it would take effort for the cat to scratch someone."

"What Birdie said. The cat's a ghost." On a hunch, Remy reached up to the porch light and turned the bulb. It came on the moment it was tightened.

"So that wasn't the drugs talking?"

"No. He can materialize into a solid being, but it's not his usual state. That light bulb might have prints on it."

Merrow wiped a hand over his face. "A ghost cat. Okay."

Remy opened the door and reached in to flip the lights on. He checked the area immediately inside for any evidence. Footprints, scuff marks, debris. Anything that hadn't been there when he'd left. He found nothing.

He stepped inside and pointed. "Blood's right there."

Merrow stood beside him. "Get your evidence kit. The sooner we can run this down, the better."

"Agreed. I'm sure I can collect a strand of hair from Ephie's brush to compare the DNA against."

"Good. I'll lean on the lab to rush it."

"Thanks." Remy stared at the blood. He hadn't really considered until now that it might be Ephie's. That it might be indicative of something more. Jean-Luc could have scratched the attacker, but Ephie could have been hurt, too.

Merrow frowned. "I'm sorry about this."

"Me, too."

"We'll find her."

"We have to." Remy refused to think about the alternative.

"You going to contact her mother?"

Remy grimaced. "That won't go well."

"You want to wait until morning, fine by me."

"Maybe we'll have her back by then." That was something to shoot for. But they were going to need all the help they could get. "Any chance you're picking up the attacker's scent? Enough that you could track them?"

Merrow's nostrils flared. "Nothing's standing out to me. I smell the blood, the presence of vampire, werewolf, food odors, the sort of general scents of male and female bodies. Nothing I can pinpoint. Maybe Birdie could, though. She had contact with the attackers. Might be worth giving her a crack at it."

The fact that the sheriff was willing to offer up his aunt's help after everything she'd been through spoke to how desperate he knew this situation was.

Remy looked outside. Birdie was in the back of the ambulance now, being tended to by the paramedics. He turned back to the scene. "If you want to ask her, that would be great. I'll start collecting evidence."

"Roger that." Merrow clapped him on the shoulder before leaving.

Remy snapped pictures of the scene, getting different angles of the blood, before going to his trunk to get the evidence-gathering equipment he needed, the sense of urgency pushing at him. The sooner this could be processed, the better.

He needed a lead. Something to go on. A direction. With that in mind, he called Pandora.

She answered, sounding a little sleepy. "Hey, Remy. What's up?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, but there was an incident at my house after you dropped Ephie off. Long story short, Birdie was hurt and Ephie was taken."

"Hurt? Taken?" Pandora sounded completely awake now.

"Yes. Birdie's going to be fine, but Ephie's gone. Did you see anything in the neighborhood that looked out of place or unusual when you were driving in?" He took the evidence kit back into the house.

"No, nothing that stuck out to me."

"What about cars on the street?"

"Um … let me think. There were some, but I didn't really pay attention to them."

"Think hard, Pandora. We don't have a lot to go on right now."

She blew out a breath. "There was some kind of silver sedan, at least I think it was a sedan, but it might have been one of those crossovers, and two SUVs. A white one for sure. The other was either black, dark blue, or dark green."

His grip on the phone tightened. "Where was the dark SUV in relation to my house?"

"Down the street a bit. Two houses down, same side. I think it was a Tahoe. I actually remember it better because I drove past it on my way home."

"Do you remember anything about the license plate? What state it was from? Any of the numbers? Did it look like there was anyone inside?"

"I don't remember any of that. I'm sorry. Do you have something that's near and dear to Ephie? I could cast a location spell. I can come over immediately."

He glanced at the blood. "What if you had a blood sample from one of the attackers? Could you do anything with that?"

"Blood magic is not my specialty. Besides that, it's a gray area. Not white magic but not exactly black magic, either. I know in this context, it would be used for good, obviously, but…"

"But what?" He wasn't going to ask her to do something she was uncomfortable with, but he still wanted to know more.

"Doing that kind of magic while pregnant isn't a good idea."

"Oh. I didn't realize."

"It's okay. Look, I'll call Alice. I'm sure she'll help. She met Ephie tonight. They talked, just briefly, but Alice knows who she is. Give me a couple minutes."

"Okay. Thank you."

"You got it."

As he hung up, Merrow yelled for him. "Lafitte."

Remy jogged outside. "What's up?"

Birdie was sitting up on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance, paramedics on either side of her. She reached her hand toward Remy, an IV line dangling from it. "I remembered something. Hank asked me about what I smelled, and after that powder, I don't recall anything, but before that? Something came to me."

Remy took her hand. "What was it?"

Birdie gazed up at him, her eyes red-rimmed and weary. "Based on what I picked up, I feel very strongly that the person who attacked us was female."