Chapter Twenty

Peter was getting used to traveling the Dark Road, but the screams and cries made him place his hands over his ears and Boe moved so fast that Peter had to half run to keep up with the tiger. A tiny point of light appeared in the darkness when Peter smelt something with a coppery scent then stopped after coming out of the darkness and bile slowly rose in his throat.

"Aw fuck," he sighed as he looked at Mama Bella's body and the blood that was pooling around her. The sun had gone down as he balled his hands into fists and the anger he was feeling caused the blood to pound in his ears. Walking closer, he looked down at the blood near her hand when he titled his head to one side and saw RORY written in bloody letters. "Rory, you sick son of a bitch!"

Boe sniffed the floor while Peter stood stone still then heard Boe grumbling and saw that the tiger was pawing at the carpet under the wooden table. Blinking his eyes a few times, Peter remembered something as he watched the tiger tip the wooden table over and lifted the corner of the carpet. Slowly walking closer, Peter looked down when he saw a trap door in the floor and flexed his fingers in and out. Having spent many hours sitting in the dark of the root cellar after doing something Mama Bella didn't approve of, he wiped his hands against his thighs and Boe titled its head, looking at him. Bending down, he placed both hands on the handle of the trap door then grunted and the trap door opened. The blackness looked back at him as Peter looked down then frowned and knelt down on his haunches.

Suddenly something moved in the darkness as he backed up while the tiger growled when a pair of dirty and blood covered hands appeared on the wooden steps and he looked around for a weapon. Whatever was in the darkness was coming slowly up the wooden steps then rose into the room and Peter softly smiled, holding out his hand. A pair of red eyes looked at his hand then at him when whatever it was smiled in recognition and Peter wrapped his fingers around the trembling, bloody, dirt covered fingers.

In the last two hundred and thirty years, Angie had had more lovers then she could count, but Remy was different than all the rest. It wasn't that he wasn't as handsome as the others, far from it, but it was the freedom and recklessness he had that made him stand out more. She had never known a freer spirit and it was true about finding one's soul mate. Her mother had told her that she would find hers and she remembered the look in his eyes when she told him what she was. He just smiled and told her that it didn't matter.

When she offered to make him a vampire, he was excited and did scream when she bit him. She also remembered what happened three days later. She had buried him between two trees out back and had been worried that she had taken too much blood. She had earned the nickname "Mantis" from the other vampires she ran around with because she seemed to kill her male victims after having sex with them. After Remy failed to reappear, she thought she had killed him then someone knocked on the back door and…

Angie jumped when she heard the sound of knocking coming from the back of the shop as she walked by the beaded curtain and the knocking came from the bedroom. The door was closed as she saw the light from under the door and frowned, slowly moving closer. She knew she hadn't turned the light off as she placed her hand on the door handle when the door swung open and her eyes widened.

"Miss me?" Remy asked with a crooked grin on his face when he titled his head to one side and held his arms out.

"Hell yeah!" she said as she ran into his arms, she had noticed his arm and eye had somehow grew back, and he held her against him, kissing the side of her head. It didn't matter that he was covered in dirt and blood as she looked over at the bed and smiled. She saw Peter sitting on the bed with Boe sitting on the floor in front of the bed and she whispered "Thank you".

"Ah, that feels better," Remy sighed as he walked in the room wearing only a towel and Angie smiled, rolling her eyes. His hair was wet and plastered to his head as he strolled toward the counter and hopped on top of the counter, tucking the towel between his legs. Peter was leaning against the counter as he looked at Remy then at Angie and she shrugged as he pointed with his hands toward Remy.

"You could have gotten dressed," she said as Remy grinned and wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Ah, it's not like he hasn't seen me in a towel before," Remy said as he gently shoved Peter and Peter gave him a blank look. Both of them laughed when the bell over the door rang and Cassandra, carrying the doll, and the young women walked in as the door closed behind them. Peter had called Cassandra and asked her bring the doll to the shop and he walked toward her, his eyes locked on the young women.

"I thought my bitches were going to spend all night hitting the jazz clubs," Peter teased and Tamara sighed, folding her arms under her breasts.

"We got bored," Tamara said as he nodded his head then slid his arm around Cassandra's waist and pulled her closer. "Uh, Boss, that's the vampire dude."

"Now, Cheri, that is just plain rude. I am more than "the vampire dude"," Remy said as he hopped off the counter and slowly walked toward them. "I am Remy Louie Nocturneaux."

"Shit!" Tamara said when Remy made a little bow and the towel tumbled to the floor. The young women were smiling after he straightened up then looked down and a big grin spread across his face.

"Excuse us!" Angie said as she grabbed his hand then led Remy to the back of the shop and a loud door slam made them softly laugh. A few moments later they walked back in the room and Remy was wearing a black leather jacket, a white t-shirt, tight jeans and black leather boots and he wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Are you going to tell them what's going on, Mon Ami?" Remy asked as Peter sighed and looked at the young women. He knew they accepted him and the things he got into, but getting them involved with Misty was something he didn't want to risk and he felt Cassandra tightening her hold on his arm. He saw her slightly nodding her head as he took a deep breath and told the young women what was going on. All of them were stunned to hear that Mama Bella was dead as the doll growled and he saw the anger in the doll's eyes.

"The one thing I don't understand is why the police are allowing you do just go about doing all this," Tamara said and the young women nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, isn't what you're doing interfering in an open police investigation?" one of the young women asked.

"Not exactly, Rory did…" Peter said as Remy growled and his eyes shimmered in a red light. He knew that Remy was pissed off as Angie stroked Remy's hair and he smiled, sliding his hand up her shirt and stroked the side of her breast with his thumb. "Uh, I was asked to help out with the investigation."

"And how did you…?" Cassandra asked as she walked to Remy and he slid his hand out of Angie's shirt and grinned at Cassandra. "Uh, how did you get better? You were a mess."

"Oui, I was a mess. Peter told me while we were coming back from Mama Bella's that he placed me in a death coma and Mama Bella had taken me home. She, um…," Remy said then trailed off, but the young women nodded their heads for him to go on and he wiggled his eyebrows up and down while grinning at them. "Mama Bella, see, she buried me in the root cellar under the house, but I have no real idea why. I guess there is some sort of healing power to the dirt, but, even in the coma, I still felt broken and very tired. I drifted in and out of sleep when I heard something like thunder and this red light flickered behind my eyes. I was sure what I heard was thunder when this sticky rain started falling and the red light started to grow brighter. That was when things really started hurting and all I wanted to do was move. It took all I had to move my hands and dig myself out of the dirt. It felt like the day I was sired and had to dig my way out of the grave. When my fingers broke out of the dirt, I just pushed myself up and looked around. It was pitch dark down there, but I can see in the dark. I was shocked to see with both eyes and my arm was back. Hungry and needing a shower really bad, I headed for the stairs. Imagine my surprise when the door opened and there was Peter with a shocked look on his face. That was also when I saw Mama Bella lying on the floor covered in blood. Peter told me he found her like that and…."

"You didn't," Angie whispered and Remy slowly nodded his head. She stroked his hair as he sighed and she held him against her. "Hush, Honey, you were hungry."

"No, I could have waited until I came home." he growled and his eyes shimmered in a red light.

"Hey, Count Suck-a-lot, chill, ok?" Tamara asked and Remy laughed, placing his head on Angie's shoulder. "So, Boss, when do we go after the witch bitch?"

"What is it with this "we" shit?!" Peter asked with wide eyes. "You lot are going back to the caravan and are going to bed!"

"You better let them come along, Mon Ami, or you will never hear the end of it," Remy said as Peter looked at him then the young women and sighed.

"Fine," Peter sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands and looked at the doll. "You want to come, too?"

"Oui," Shade said when one of the young women raised her hands and made a soft coughing sound.

"Um, Peter, don't you think we should go to the cops?" she asked, lowering her hand.

"Like they would believe us," he sighed and Remy nudged him, making him look at him.

"I think I can help you with the cops," Remy said and Peter arched an eyebrow.

"You can?"

"Oui," Remy said, nodding his head. "Follow me."

Shrugging, Peter held Cassandra against him as they headed for the door and the door closed behind them after they left the shop.

"What did you do with Mama Bella's body?" Cassandra whispered while they walked down the pavement and he slid his arm around her waist.

"We set the cabin on fire with her body inside. The odd thing was there was this flash of blue flame and the cabin was gone." Peter said as she placed her head against his arm and he sadly smiled, kissing the top of her head.

The soft hum from the overhead lighting droned in his ears as Captain Henry Du'Vane sat at his desk and looked at the files. The Franklin murder case, along with the murders of Nurse Thomas and Doctor Miller, had the D.A.'s and the mayor's offices calling him nearly every day for news and he sighed, placing his chin in his right hand. He didn't believe for one second that Katie couldn't have possibly killed her father or the nurse or the doctor, but someone did and he was stumped as who could have caused so much damage.

"Uh, Sir," a voice said as he looked up and Ruthie stood in the doorway, looking back into the other room with a slightly puzzled look on her face. "Um…Remy's here."

"Fuck," Captain Du'Vane said as he got up and the chair scraped on the floor. Walking by Ruthie, he walked into the squad room then saw Remy, Peter, Cassandra, Angie and the young women and Captain Du'Vane frowned, blinking his eyes a few times.

"Evening, Uncle," Remy said with a slight bow then looked at Peter and Remy smiled, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "Oh, that's right. You don't know that I found my family."

"What do you want, Remy?" Captain Du'Vane asked as Remy strolled over to him and leaned against one of the desks.

"It's not what I want, Uncle, but what you need," he said and Captain Du'Vane glared at him.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the witch," Remy said with a sly smile and looked around, seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces and crossed one ankle over the other.