Free Blood & Spirits by Dennis Sharpe Page B

information that could harm us all.
    Jacobi stands and the murmuring and accusing looks all stop. “I will look into this matter personally, as a favor to you, Veronica. I should hate to put it to a vote of the Council and have you find little support. I do not wish you to lose face here, but I must also advise that you keep a lower profile. Your name keeps coming up in all the wrong places and not just on my nephew’s lips.”
    He looks to Serena. “Do you wish to inform me of your findings in this matter as well?”
    She nods, and looks at me. She and I both know that this means I owe her. I know my place here, but I will never stop hating it.
    Jacobi‘s tone changes and he smiles at me. “It is no secret that I favor you, but there are those here who do not share my thoughts and feelings when it comes to you. Do not forget that what binds us as a council is more than what we are, but who we are. This is why you are not afforded a voice. You are an orphan in a room of three families. While we all respect the one who made you, you are not his family, only his blood. That will only carry you so far on our good graces. Tread lightly, child, the ice is thin.”
    ***
    The business of pleasure is in full force, and proving to be quite lucrative this evening. Julie has gone through all the wine she had prepped for the night, and now she’s heading down the stairs to the basement to get a few more bottles.
    Looking over her list she hits the bottom step and turns right, fumbles with her keys, finds the right one, and opens the door to the climate controlled wine storage closet.
    She thought it was funny that the thirty by thirty pressurized room, with its stainless steel skin, was called a closet. She knows the contents of this closet, as well or better than the contents of her clothes closet, so it takes only a few scant moments for her to load an empty wooden box with the eight bottles on her list.
    A smile breaks across her face as she thinks about what she’s doing, the responsibilities she has. It’s a long way from the high school dropout, country girl turning tricks at truck stops she’d been, not all that long ago. Fine wine and designer clothes trump beer from the discount bin and motel towels every time. This place, her work, and V. Smiling seemed like the natural thing to do.
    She closes the door behind her, ready to head back up, and starts looking for the key to lock back up behind her, when she feels a tingle up her spine. Her breath puffs out in front of her, as the temperature takes a sudden dip.
    She has a feeling of eyes on her, and the hair on her arms stands straight up. She stands motionless and listens.
    There’s a ripping sound behind her, making her whip around and freak out a little at the ghostly form standing before her.
    Waving her hands, she tries to fight off a panic attack. “Lucy, why do you sneak up on people like that?”
    Lucy tilts her head slightly, considering the question before ignoring it, saying that she was here to talk to Veronica. Julie explains to her that V had a ‘family meeting’ to attend tonight because she thinks a new bloodsucker may be in town. This news only seems to add to Lucy’s terse mood.
    “I need you to deliver a message to Veronica.” She says it with such sternness that Julie feels compelled, to her core, to do what is being asked of her. “I now have reason to believe that Rachel actually is being hunted by a veritable army of unquiet spirits. I have confirmed through sources in the Baron’s service that these spirits are definitely the ones who killed Rachel, and I now know that they have also been looking for her, ruthlessly.”
    The room starts to fade for Julie, lost completely in the glow Lucy is radiating, her face becoming the only focus of vision, her words overpowering the ability to think.
    “I believe that this Paco creature has Rachel.” Lucy’s contempt at even the sound of his name is palpable. ”Perhaps to help hide her, perhaps to