Chapter Three

Madelyn walked into Something Old and Something New antique store with a large smile. She glanced around noticing that was place was pretty full. But it was a Friday morning. She threw a smile at Dana as she walked to her little office behind the counter. She knew Dana would give her an ear full for being late but that was the good thing about being the owner.

She sat down behind her desk to see if anything needed taken care of at the moment. Luckily, Dana had kept on top of things. She pulled out her cell phone. Alcide had only left three hours ago, so she knew he was nowhere near home. She turned to the door when she heard it open. Dana was standing there with a silly grin.

"So I am to assume that you and Jackson made up for some lost time this morning?" Dana asked.

"You are not getting details so get back to work," Madelyn said without looking up.

"Oh come on," She said. "You are two hours late."

Madelyn looked at her with a smile. "Well, he left this morning."

Dana laughed and looked at her. She noticed a picture sitting on the desk that may not have been there recently. It was of Madelyn and Alcide. Madelyn was smiling and holding up her hand. Alcide had his arms around her and with his chin resting on her shoulder. As Dana looked at the picture she could see why Madelyn had her hand up.

"You didn't tell me you were engaged!" Dana said, glaring at her.

Madelyn held up her hand to show her the clean, shiny ring. "Just a few months now."

"Months! You can't even tell your best friend."

"I'm sorry. I wanted to keep it a secret for awhile."

Dana rolled her eyes and sit back in the chair. Madelyn had always kept secrets but it seemed odd to keep one about a man like Alcide. Dana couldn't deny though, she would have kept that man a secret too. She would have to admit though that Madelyn had found a great man.

"So when is the date?" she asked.

"We haven't set one yet."

"Are you moving to Jackson?"

Madelyn looked up with a sigh. She still hadn't answered that question. She didn't know where they would live. A comprise would be somewhere in between but that couldn't work. Now, that her Grandmother was gone, Madelyn was free to go other places except for her business.

"I don't know yet. Alcide and I will burn that bridge when the time comes."

Dana nodded. She heard the door to the shop open and went back to the counter. Madelyn breathed out a sigh of relief. The third degree about her engagement was getting old quickly. She had a lot of questions to answer, but right now things kept getting in the way. She knew that would stop soon. She went back to her paperwork and found her necklace hanging down. She started to stuff it into her shirt when she thought back to the dreams.

Eric. She shivered at the mere thought of the name. There was something about the man that she kept seeing that just made her wonder who and maybe even what he was. She forced herself not think about him. She was getting married to the most perfect man she knew. Even if he was a werewolf. She ran a hand through her hair, thinking about him and this mystery man. In the dream, she didn't seem to feel anything for him, but she knew that there was something there. She quickly shook her head on that front. The man was a Viking from a thousand years ago, they really couldn't have a relationship.

Suddenly, there was a crash from in the store. Madelyn was on her feet and out of the office in seconds. She came out to see three men standing around one of her displays. Dana was talking to them, and she was furious. Madelyn moved closer when the man turned. She jumped back a little, feeling a little surprised at herself. The man was just dressed a little different than most of her customers. He wore a leather jacket and ragged jeans.

"What's going on here?" Madelyn asked.

The man looked at her and licked his lips. Madelyn shivered involuntarily. The last man who had done that to her had nearly got what he wanted. He started walking toward her when Dana stepped up.

"Twiddle Dumb and his buddy over here broke the vase," Dana said with a glare at them. "And now they want to deny it."

"We got bumped!" the other snapped, causing Madelyn to look at him.

"By who? There is no one else in the store but you."

Madelyn looked around. It was true. The place had cleaned out a while back. She didn't notice when she was in her office. She looked at the two men and could see that they would have no probably causing more trouble if she didn't call Dana off.

"Just leave," Madelyn said. "I doubt there is anything for you here."

The man that had been eyeing Madelyn so hard stepped back a little. She watched him more than the others. She felt like she knew him. She inclined her head toward the door. Dana had reached over and pulled out her phone. Madelyn knew she was getting ready to call the police.

"You have a lot of nice things," the man said. "I'm sure my employer will want to come and visit."

"Just don't come with him," Madelyn replied.

"Now leave!" Dana snapped.

The man gave Madelyn a little kissing noise. Madelyn looked away and hoped they were gone. She heard the door close. She looked up, finding that the men were gone. Dana was standing there still ready to kill someone. Finally, she went over and got the broom.

"When did they come in?" Madelyn asked.

"About ten minutes ago," Dana said.

"I wonder who their employer is."

Dana growled as she finished cleaning up. "Who knows. I hope they don't come back. They made me really nervous."

Madelyn nodded. "Yeah me too."

"They didn't sound like they were from around here."

"They weren't," Madelyn said as she surveyed the damage. "They were from Jackson."

Dana almost knocked over a set of dishes when she heard that. Madelyn heard the clatter and looked over at her. She quickly made it look like she had just bumped the table while sweeping.

"Jackson huh?" she said with a fake smile.

"Their accents. I have spent too much time with Alcide."

Dana laughed with a little strain. "You have an accent too when you are not trying to hide it."

Madelyn smiled. She walked over to behind the counter and started going through the mornings receipts. Nothing seemed out of place or exciting. Then, she noticed one from the night before. She stared at the large amount of the purchase and the time. It was about thirty minutes before they closed.

"Nice sale last night," Madelyn said with a smile.

"It was a vampire."

Madelyn sighed. She had no real problem with vampires on a personal level, but on the business level, they sucked. Antiques was a business that most vampire wanted to be a part of, which meant that she had stay open longer into the night. And most of the time they were rather demanding.

"I really wish we could just refuse them service," Dana said. "He made me so nervous. I kept waiting for him to jump across the counter and rip my throat out."

Madelyn nodded. "Yeah, but then the American Vampire League will cause a lot more problems for us. And they do spend a lot of money."

Dana nodded and went back to work. Madelyn spent the rest of the day working on things that she had left undone. She also had some paperwork for her Grandmother's. She would have to put the house up for sale soon, which meant cleaning it out. She sent Dana home after three so she could work on things alone. She was getting ready to close up when she heard the door open. She looked up, noticing the two men from that morning. She swallowed hard and wrapped her hand around the baseball bat. They looked up at her, and the one smiled at her. He started toward the counter.

"Cob!" a voice from the door.

Madelyn looked up to see an older man standing there in a nice suit. He had the air of a very rich man, but he made her skin crawl. He walked into the store and looked around. The men with him stepped back as if they were dogs. She swallowed at that thought. The man walked in and looked around. She noticed that he had a nice pocket watching hanging from his suit.

"Can I help you?" she asked as he started toward a cabinet with her most expensive and exquisite pieces.

"I'm just looking, darlin'," he said with a smile.

The smile made her blood run cold. She shivered. She picked this night to be at the shop alone and her boyfriend on the road. She watched as he looked at one of her scrolls. It was an older Egyptian piece that probably should be in a museum. She thought of offer to opening the cabinet, but she hoped he would just leave. She looked down at the register and looked up to find the man standing there.

"You have some very rare and beautiful pieces," he said, staring right in her eyes.

Madelyn felt a strange pull on her mind. She looked up suddenly and knew what the man was. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Glamouring was hard to do on her. She had spent months training herself when she opened the shop. She never wanted some vampire to be able to come in and charm her into giving stuff away. The vampire must have sensed it because he stepped back a little.

"Thank you," Madelyn finally said.

He stood there another long moment and pulled out his credit card. Madelyn gave him an odd look. He inclined his head toward his two stooges.

"For the damage they did," he explained.

"That won't be necessary, Mister…"

"Edgington. Russell Edginton."

Madelyn smiled a little at him and started to run the card. She bent over the machine and her necklace fell from her shirt. Russell looked at it for a long moment and felt his fangs pop out. Madelyn looked up at hearing the strange noise. Russell quickly got control of himself as he looked at the necklace.

"That piece around your neck is amazing," he said a little breathlessly.

"It's not for sale," Madelyn snapped.

"Everything has a price."

"It was my Grandmother's, and she just died."

Russell looked at her for a long moment. Then, he seemed to relax a little. "I'm very sorry."

Madelyn didn't let her guard down when he said that. She simply nodded and ran the card. She keyed in the prices and handed it back. "Thank you for that, but I really need to be calling it a night."

Russell nodded. "You have a few scrolls that I would to look at again. Perhaps I could come back."

Madelyn had to bite her tongue to keep from saying in the daytime. She nodded a little and looked over at the men. They almost looked like they were guarding the door. That made her really nervous. This vampire was not afraid of anything that included the law.

"We stay open a little later tomorrow night," she finally said.

Russell nodded and walked out. Madelyn quickly ran to the door and locked it. She wished like Hell that she lived there too. Then no vampire could come in unless they were invited. She watched as Russell disappeared down the road in a flash. She ran to the office and found that Alcide had called her twice. She quickly returned his call. She didn't notice until he picked up that her hands were still shaking.

Russell stopped outside of Madelyn's grandmother's house. He stared at the black windows and growled a little. The old witch had had the necklace all this time. He growled a little and thought of that woman. Her granddaughter was beautiful. It was a shame that she had terrible taste. He could smell the werewolf on her.

Victoria Townsend had hid herself well. She had also kept that granddaughter a secret. He had only found her by accident tonight. He had been searching antique stores all over the northeast. That was the only place he knew Victoria would go. It seemed that she had kept Madelyn there too. But he knew that wasn't right. Madelyn smelled of the south. She smelled like Jackson. He wondered then who the wolf was. He pushed the gate open and walked up to the porch. He knew that he wouldn't be able to go in.

"Cobb!" he called out.

A red wolf came loping up, slobbering as if he had just found a t-bone steak. Russell looked down at the dog and sneered. How he hated his most faithful guard. The wolf sat, awaiting orders.

"Follow the girl," Russell ordered. "I want to know who she is seeing."

"She's with my wolf," a whiney, female voice said from behind Russell. "I smelled him in town this morning."

Russell grinned. "Well Debbie, it looks like your wolf has moved on. She was wearing a nice ring."

Debbie growled. "Just let me find her and you'll have that necklace."

Russell shook his head. "Not yet. I want to see how much like her grandmother she really is."