“None. Were you expecting some?”
“I’ve never used our tat ink on an indentured vampire before.”
“Formerly indentured,” Ronan corrected him.
“Right. So you’re transitioning to functioning in the daylight just fine?”
Ronan was getting suspicious. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“That unknown attacker last night may have been a mutant vampire hybrid.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Bruce said Sierra was asking about a previous owner of the house. Gregori Dimitrov owned this house for four years. He sold it to Hal in 1923.”
“Were you here then?”
Pat nodded. “I’ve been in this area since Abe Lincoln’s time.”
“You were a vampire when my family lived here?”
“I had nothing to do with the deaths in your family,” Pat said curtly.
The possibility hadn’t occurred to Ronan until that moment. He hadn’t discovered that the area was known as Vamptown until his return several days ago. Since then he’d been consumed with the search for Voz’s key and his growing attraction to Sierra.
Voz had held back Adele’s soul from moving on. Had he lied? He’d sworn on his family’s coat of arms but did that make it real or true?
“What is the connection between vampires and spirits or ghosts?” Ronan demanded.
“Normally there is none,” Pat said. “But Master Vampires are different. You know that already.”
Ronan nodded.
“They are more powerful than other vampires and have more abilities.”
“Is this mutant vampire hybrid a Master Vampire?” Ronan asked.
“No. I think it could be Gregori. I ran my suspicions by Simon, Damon’s sire and a longtime Demon Hunter. He agrees with my analysis. Rumor had it that Gregori wasn’t turned properly. When his vampire brother Ivan refused to turn him, Gregori may have ended up with a defective transition.”
“Damon thought it could be a demon plasma consumption attempt last night. He didn’t say anything about mutant vamps.”
“He didn’t know. We only heard back from Simon a short time ago.”
“Was Gregori a vamp when he bought this house?”
“Not when he bought it, no. But by the time he sold it, we knew something was off but didn’t know what. He was never included in our clan the way you were.”
“What happened to him?”
“I’ve been trying to track him down. He was in the South around New Orleans for some time. Then he disappeared. He could be continuing to deteriorate.”
“So he’s what … part vampire, part demon?”
“That’s a simplified way of putting it.”
“How can he be annihilated?”
“Beheading. I fear his demon portion makes fire useless in destroying him.”
“Zoe did a protection spell for Sierra last night. Will it work against him?”
“We don’t know for sure,” Pat said. “One would hope so.”
“I don’t deal in hope,” Ronan said flatly.
* * *
“I heard that Hal’s casket was empty,” Zoe said. “Do you think that’s why he’s haunting this house?”
“You dug up a casket?” Daniella’s voice reflected her surprise.
Sierra shook her head. “Not personally, no. I didn’t do that.”
“My family owns the local funeral home. We tend to frown on digging up graves without proper legal authorization,” Daniella said.
“We’re dealing with a dangerous poltergeist ghost here,” Sierra said. “That calls for unusual measures.” Then Daniella’s words sank in further. “How long has your family owned the business?”
“Several generations.”
“So it’s possible that they may have handled Hal’s funeral arrangements?” Sierra asked.
“Probably. We keep the records going way back.”
“Can you get me in to see them?” Sierra asked. “Maybe if I can locate Hal’s final resting place, it will help solve the problem.”
“What problem?” Ronan said as he joined them.
Sierra, Daniella, and Zoe were all wearing winter coats but Ronan was just wearing his customary black sweater and black pants. The weather didn’t seem to affect him the way it did others. So camping in the backyard shouldn’t have been a problem for him when Sierra had suggested it at their first meeting. But of course his ability to manage that would have raised the red flag that Ronan wasn’t just another guy.
“Did you know that Daniella’s family owns the local funeral home?” Sierra said. “They may have records about the real location of Hal’s body.”