“If you are still bonded with him when the deadline comes, then I get you too,” Voz told Sierra. “Two for the price of one. Well done.” Reading the fear on her face, he added, “Not feeling so smart now, are you? You should have run away the minute you saw Ronan in the house. But hey, it’s your funeral. One of the lines from your book, I believe?” Voz mocked. He tugged on his cuff. “Not that I read that kind of pulp fiction.”
If Sierra wasn’t so scared, she’d be really pissed right now. How dare he insult her work. As soon as she could breathe, she was going to tell him a thing or two. He disappeared before she could do so.
Ronan instantly turned to face her. “I had no idea.”
“He insulted my book!”
“Forget that. You are at risk because of me.”
“I was already at risk from Hal.”
“Hal is a flea compared to Voz.”
“Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration.” Looking at the spirits regathering all around, watching them, she said, “Let’s get out of here.”
The spirits moved forward.
“Don’t even think of following us,” she warned them. “This guy is a vampire and he doesn’t like ghosts.”
Ronan bared his fangs and the place cleared out. Except for Johnny. His image was weak but his voice was strong. “Tell Ruby I love her.”
Sierra remained quiet for most of the drive home. Ronan was so tall he barely fit in Zoe’s red Mini. She doubted he even had a license. No way was she letting him drive. At least that had been her intention until they’d gotten to the car and her hands shook so badly she couldn’t open the damn door.
So here she was being driven by a surly vampire back to a home haunted by violent ghosts. What joy. Not.
Sierra was a mess. Confronting her father that way had taken more courage than she thought she possessed. And then she’d had to face Ronan’s nemesis.
She’d let her defenses down once Ronan had assured her that he wasn’t going to turn her into a vampire. The other vampires in Vamptown had backed up his claim and made a similar one themselves.
But they didn’t know about Voz.
Finally she spoke up. “You need more help than I can give you,” she said bluntly.
“I’ve got the map,” Ronan told her. “I found it in the lining of the casket.”
“Goody for you,” she said sarcastically, angered by the way he’d ignored her comment.
“Don’t you get it? This will lead me to the treasure and the key for Voz.”
“How do you even know that the key is connected with Hal’s treasure?” she said.
“It has to be. What are the odds of the house having two treasures?”
“About the same as the entire neighborhood being populated with vampires,” she shot back.
Ronan was quiet for a few minutes. “Our vampire bond was an accident,” he reminded her.
“Don’t bother. I’ve heard it before.” She drew a deep breath, fighting the urge to curl up into a fetal position. “Listen, the bottom line here is that you have to have your vampire friends help you with this because I am not joining your vampire gang.”
“We aren’t a gang. It’s more like a clan—”
“I don’t need to hear the details,” she said as he parked in front of their house. “I am not going to become a vampire. I refuse to allow that to happen. End of discussion. Show me the map out here where Hal can’t see us.” She dug in her purse for her flashlight and aimed it at the piece of paper Ronan handed her.
She looked it over. It was drawn in dark ink with no identifying information, such as “X marks the spot” or even north/south. “Something isn’t right with this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It looks like it’s been cut in half,” she said.
Ronan swore as he took it from her and studied it himself.
“Are you sure the rest of it isn’t still in that casket?” she said.
“Yes.”
“Hal was probably too smart to put all his eggs in one basket or all his map pieces in one place. Although we still have no idea where his body actually is.”
“Maybe that’s where the rest of the map is. With his body.”
“Well, you’ve got forty-eight hours to find it and the treasure. I don’t have superhuman powers.”
“You speak to the dead.”
“And I yell at the undead!” she shouted at him. “It doesn’t seem to be doing me any good.” She’d been roped into this mess against her will. Her stomach rumbled with hunger pains. Maybe that was why she was so dizzy. “If I don’t eat, I’m going to pass out,” she said, getting out of the car.