Phantom Kiss (Chicagoland Vampires 12.5)

“Chocolate therapy is a tried-and-true method,” I said.

“I certainly hope so,” he said. “You want to fill me in on what happened down there?”

We gave him the rundown. Ethan was generous about my skills in the battle, even though he hadn’t actually seen any of it.

Lindsey came in with a smile, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, and a spoon. I realized I was hungry, might have whipped it out of her hand if it hadn’t been intended for a wounded soldier. And still I thought about grabbing a pint before heading back to the library.

“There’s a ghost in Cadogan House!” Luc said as Lindsey approached him. His eyes, I realized, had gone a little hazy.

“It’s the drugs,” Lindsey said. “Took one for the pain and vertigo right before I went downstairs, and it’s probably hitting him.”

“Maybe it’s just all a big mistake,” Luc said, smiling goofily. “Maybe we’re all just crazy.”

“We may be crazy,” Ethan said, worry furrowing his brow. “But there’s no mistake. A specter is haunting our halls, and I want it gone.”

My phone rang, and I pulled it out, checked the screen. It was Annabelle. Concern lit through me immediately. I turned away from the bed, answered it.

“I’ve found another grave,” she said.

• • •

We didn’t want to leave the House. But we didn’t feel like we had much choice.

Kelley, another guard, was in charge of the corps while Luc was down. Since Catcher and Mallory were at the medical examiner’s office, my grandfather and Jeff would meet us at Almshouse Cemetery. Again.

This was becoming an unfortunate habit.

Annabelle stood outside the gate, leaning against her car in jeans, boots, and a dark structured tank top. She looked absolutely furious. She was gorgeous in her anger, her eyes nearly glowing with it. Put a sword in her hand, and she’d have made a fantastic vampire.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Ethan said when we climbed out of the car.

Annabelle’s nod was as fierce as her ensemble. “This guy is starting to piss me off.”

My grandfather pulled up behind us in the van, and he and Jeff joined us.

“Another skull stolen?” my grandfather asked.

“Not quite yet,” Annabelle said. “Let me show you.”

We walked to a different part of the cemetery, but it bore the same mix of old graves, industrial markers, and minimal landscaping. We traveled more slowly this time, matching my grandfather’s speed. He’d been injured in a battle with anti-vampire marauders, and although he’d healed a lot, the attack had knocked away a bit of his sprightliness.

“What section is the grave in?” I asked, trying to recall the plot map I’d reviewed.

“It’s from the same era as the last one,” Annabelle said. “Twenties and thirties.”

I nodded, wondered if that signified anything.

She stopped when we reached a new pile of dirt, a new rectangular hollow beside it. The same type of metal marker, this one bearing 4-CCU78-443. The bones were jumbled in their wooden coffin but didn’t seem to have been moved around, or at least not overly so.

“I interrupted him,” Annabelle said.

“Talk about burying the lede,” Jeff said, eyes wide.

“You interrupted him?” my grandfather prompted.

“I was concerned the magic would create a spiritual cascade—call back even more spirits than they’d intended. So I was patrolling the grounds again.” She pointed to the east, to the crest of a low hill. “I came over that hill, saw the dirt, realized the grave had already been dug up. When he moved to climb down into it, I called out. I figured he was about to start stealing.”

My grandfather nodded. “Quite likely. Did you see any accomplices?”