I stow it away for examination later and Colt turns to us.
“If you two are causing trouble in my club—” he starts.
“We need your help,” I interrupt. “Can we go someplace private to talk to you? And Lacey?”
He stares a little longer before he leads us up to the office on the second floor.
The chaos on the floor below disappears and leaves only the thud of the bass when he shuts the door. Lacey grins at us from her perch on the desk.
“It’s good to see you alive. Not well, though?” She draws in a breath and I stop, rooting to the floor.
She’s…no.
She’s gone full vamp. Her skin is smooth and pale, her features nearly perfect outside of the mischief in her gaze. It’s too human.
Colt scoffs and shoos her off the desk. “Move.”
Lacey pouts and hops down. “What are you guys in for? RJ said she got you out, Mandi.”
I shake off the confusion and the nerves gnawing away at my gut. Whatever those two chose to do, it’s their business. It’s also not my problem that they made it out of the vampire castle, and I’d been caught.
“The moon madness.” Grayson speaks for both of us.
Colt and Lacey freeze in place. Lacey shivers and wraps her arms around her chest to shatter the stillness but the unnerving quickness of their movements get under my skin. There’s no in-between, no ticks, no unconsciousness twitches.
It’s movement, or silence. Nothing else.
“We don’t have much in the way of new information on that,” Colt says. “All the old books refuse to go into detail about the cause. We know there were moon-mad wolves used in the wars in the past, but they were careful not to say what made them, or how to fix them.”
I glance at Grayson, staring ahead as though the wall has more interesting things to say. “We might have found someone, actually. A Shaman. According to the witches, he knows how to handle the moon madness.”
“Convenient timing.” Colt settles near Lacey, their shoulders brushing. “Why haven’t we come across anything about a shaman before?”
“No clue. Things happen when they’re supposed to.” I gnaw my cheek. “Weak excuse, but I’ve got nothing else.”
It’s one of those strange facts of the universe, timing and synchronicities. No matter how it pisses me off, I guess we weren’t supposed to know any of this until right now.
After it’s almost too late to save me and Grayson.
“What about this shaman makes him so special?” Lacey asks.
“I guess we’re going to find out. He travels with a circus show, the Vanishing Mile. They never announce where they’re going, they pop up in random places, and no one is ever able to track them.”
Grayson scoffs, like the reminder is a personal remark on our powerlessness.
“I’ve heard of them.” Colt stands up straighter. “They’re dangerous.”
Lacey turns to him. “You’ve heard of them and you didn’t think about telling us about the shaman?”
She rubs her arms and I wonder if the scars from her previous attacks linger under the surface, tormenting her with the latest mention of cursed wolves.
“They get new acts all the time. How would I know if the shaman has been there for a while or if he’s a new addition? But the Vanishing Mile…it’s run by a traveling vampire gang. They lure humans in with their acts and drink from them. They’ve been doing it for centuries.”
We came here to borrow a car and get on our way.
Instead, Colt and Lacey deliver a new level of dread.
It compounds the other layers, pressing them into an unbearable tightness. I struggle like my lungs have decided the pressure is too much and they’d rather be crushed. Gladly.