(My favorite chapter so far. Includes an ectoplasmic reconstruction…it's explained in the chapter, but if you have further questions please feel free to ask. For those of you who are strictly show watchers, this is done twice in the books. Enjoy…you especially LBJ.)
It's Not Her
Her body tensed when she approached the office. The door was open. The door was never open during business ours. Lucy couldn't decided if she should slow down or speed up. In the end she ran to the door.
Her fears were realized as she entered to find a disgusting pile of what use to be a vampire. She fell to her knees, red tears streaking down her face.
"Lucy," a voice called from the hall. "Is she…" Eric stopped in the doorway.
"Gone," she cried. "Or dead. I don't know. Oh god," she said looking at him. "I don't even know if it's her. How do I know if it's her?"
She began digging through the remains, searching, praying, longing to find a scrap of clothing. Something to tell her if this was all that was left of her little girl.
"Stop," he said stilling her hands. "Lucy…stop. Look at me. It's not her. It's Charlotte."
"How do we know," she pled, "how can we be sure?"
"Did you feel anything?"
She looked at him.
"When your maker meet his true death," he said, "you felt it right? Like a piece of you was being broken or stripped away? It was the connection, the blood bond that exists between two vampires of the same linage. It works the same for your progeny. If she had been killed you would have felt it. Did you feel anything?"
Lucy shook her head, unable to speak anymore.
"Then she has not met her true death."
Lucy just stared into nothingness. The news should comfort her but it didn't. Where was she? Who had her? What were they doing to her? What was she doing to them? Lucy felt sick.
Jessica gasped as she came in the room. Beside her Pam's face showed a concern Lucy had never seen.
"Is it?"
"Charlotte," Eric answered. "Penny is missing."
"You don't think," Jessica started. "Do you think she could have done this?"
"No," Lucy said firmly. "She liked Charlotte, they were friends. She would never have hurt her."
"She's right," Eric said. "Besides, it's a little too much of a coincidence that she disappeared during a police raid. Someone wanted to cause a commotion so they could take the child."
"But who," Pam said. "No one knows about her but the people who work here."
"No," Lucy said. "That's not true. The delivery man from the grocery store has seen her, and the lawyer and the social worker from St. Louis. The employees at Anubis saw a child sized coffin, they could only assume a child was inside. Other than that no one but vampires and employees here know about her.
"We need to call the Queen," Eric said. "She'll have to start a full inquiry. If she's not found before sunrise she may decide to involve the human authorities. Vampire or not she is still a child and needs protecting."
Eric left, already talking on his cell phone. Pam knelt beside Lucy, who was still staring blankly at what remained of Charlotte Mason, the woman trusted with the care of her daughter. Protection was never part of the deal. She never asked Charlotte to give her life for Penny. She never expected it to come to that, but now it seems it had. Charlotte had paid the ultimate price in order to keep Penny safe.
A sting of guilt struck her. In recent weeks Lucy had found herself becoming jealous of the time Penny was spending with Charlotte. She was starting to fear that Penny would start to love the woman more than her. She realized this was selfish and petty. It was also insane. No stronger bond exists in nature than that of a vampire and it's maker. But now Charlotte was dead, really dead, and all Lucy could think of was how she wished she were alive to give them some sort of clue to who had taken Penny.
"Lucy," Pam called as if it weren't the first time she'd said it. Lucy's eyes met hers. "Come on, lets go clean you up."
Lucy allowed herself to be led to the ladies room, a room in the bar she'd never had cause to use. Pam wet a paper towel and washed the blood from her face.
"It'll be easier for you to wash your own hands," she instructed. "I'll go get you a clean shirt and see if anyone has a skirt or pants you can wear.."
Lucy looked down, noticing for the first time how much blood had gotten on her cloths. She couldn't be sure how much was from Charlotte and how much was from her own tears.
She washed her hands and stripped down to her underwear. It was the first time she could remember blood repulsing her. It was her life force, her sustenance, but now it just made her sick.
Pam returned with a Fangtasia shirt and a pair of bright pink yoga pants. "One of the human waitresses had these in her car."
Lucy thanked her and dressed.
"She'll be okay," Pam said. "She's so strong and so smart, she can protect herself."
"That's sort of what I'm afraid of."
"You did good with her," Margo said entering the bathroom. "She won't kill unless she has to. Whatever she does to protect herself will be understood. The Queen has arrived with some of her best trackers. We're going to start the search, but she needs you to help with something first."
"Anything," Lucy said hurrying out of the bathroom.
Lucy met Queen Mia outside of the office. She was standing with group of seven people. Two of them, she could smell, were some sort of shifters, though what they shifted into she was not skilled enough to tell. The remaining five were human, regulars from the bar.
"Why are they here," Lucy asked excitedly, "did they see something?"
"Not yet," the Queen said. "Lucy these are a few members of a local coven. I have asked them here to do an ectoplasmic reconstruction."
Lucy looked at them in confusion.
"It's a spell," one girl she knew as Trista said. "It will replay the last moments of someone who has died."
"Will it work for a vampire," Lucy asked. "Technically she was already dead."
"A coven leader in New Orleans has reported using the spell for both a vampire and a werewolf. Best we can tell it works on anyone until they are finally dead."
"What do I need to do?" She asked.
"Just observe," the Queen said "and tell us if you recognize the person who killed Ms. Mason."
The Witches began chanting and the air in the room began to shiver and move. Suddenly the ghostly figure of Charlotte Mason appeared sitting at the office desk. A second version of the desk appeared over the actual one.
"Wait," Lucy said. "Where is Penny? She's already gone."
"You can only see things that the person is in physical contact with," Trista said as the others continued chanting.
Charlotte was talking to someone, laughing. It must have been Penny. Charlotte's head jerked towards the door. She'd heard the commotion outside. She motioned someone to her then wrapper her arms around empty space. Penny appeared in her embrace and they ducked behind the desk.
Charlotte continued to stare at the door, covering Penny's ears. With a jump her arms flew back around Penny. Her fangs dropped. Someone was coming at them. Silently she mouthed a threat. Invisible hands pulled at Penny trying to rip her from Charlotte's grasp. Charlotte held on tightly as Penny fought against the pull. Then Penny vanished. Charlotte leapt at the invisible figure fists flying at vamp speed. In an instant she was on the floor, a net lay over her, silver Lucy guessed, though it wasn't apparent from the apparition. Then a man knelt over her, one hand closed around her throat, the other holding a wooden stake. With a firm down stroke he sunk it into her chest. The vision flickered then faded to nothingness.
Lucy stood silently, eyes wide, hands over her mouth in disbelief.
"Did you recognize him," the Queen asked.
Lucy couldn't speak.
"Ms. Bloom." Silence. "Lucy!" She met her eyes finally. "Did you recognize him?"
Lucy nodded slowly. "He was a customer a few weeks ago. He asked me for jumper cables."
