The Vampire and the Goth Ch. 19

Dmitri was quiet for a moment, then he kissed her again. "It does bother me, but not for the reason you might think. I hate that you went through that, but I'm proud that you survived. I love who you are. Everything that's happened to you, even the bad stuff, is part of you. You're my mate, and I love you," he said and kissed her again.

Helen laughed. "I don't know why, but I think I might love you too," she said. "Now let's finish going through these files so we can find out what Brother Humble has been up to."

About an hour later, I heard footsteps on the basement stairs as Alex and Patrick came up to the living room.

"How's it going down there?" I asked.

Alex smiled. "We found out where DJ took Janek, so that's good." Before I could ask, Alex said, "He took them up to the Higley Caverns."

My heart dropped. The Higley Caverns were part of a multi-state cave system. It could be days before I saw my sister again, if ever.

I asked, "Did you get anything more specific? That park is huge!"

Alex smiled at me, and said, "Yes, it's huge. But there's only so many places he can go on foot with a captive. And we have the best trackers the world has ever known on our side. We'll find them, Stosh. Please don't worry about that."

I rubbed my brow. "You know, there's such a thing as a cellphone these days."

Alex gave me a sympathetic smile. "Look, there are a million ways Janek could have contacted someone to help him. If you start worrying about that, you'll just drive yourself crazy. We're going to find them, Janek is going to pay for everything he's done, and your sister is going to come back to you."

"I want to believe you. But..."

"But nothing. If you give up, your sister will stay gone and Janek will get away with everything," Patrick said.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and rubbed my temples. Suddenly, I heard Father Clem's voice.

"You know, for a fictional creature, you sure don't have a lot of faith."

I had to laugh at that. "It's true, I don't."

Father Clem said, "You might be a lapsed Catholic, but you've got some good friends right here. If you're going to believe in anything at all, you should believe in them."

"Okay," I nodded.

"And if that doesn't work, we'll pray to Saint Andrew for intercession. He's the patron saint of vampires, you know."

"Werewolves too," Patrick said.

Father Clem laughed. "Everyone knows there's no such thing as werewolves!"

Patrick stood up and asked Father Clem, "Hey, you got any beer?"

Father Clem smiled. "Don't you think it's a little early for that?"

"Not if you haven't been to sleep!"

Father Clem sighed in mock exasperation. "Let's go see what I have in the kitchen."

As Father Clem and Patrick walked off in search of beer, Dmitri and Helen came in, carrying a manila folder stuffed with papers.

"Is that the information from DJ's laptop? What did you find out?" Alex asked.

Helen smiled and said, "Mostly, we found banking records. I think this is the stuff that you wanted Carlos to dig up. Brother Humble is up to his neck in all kinds of sketchy stuff, including state politics." Helen handed the folder to Alex. "These are printouts of all of his recent transactions with his financial accounts, along with incriminating emails and spreadsheets. This should be enough to shut him up for good for a long time," she smiled.

"He was going to run for Governor," Dmitri said. "But my mate found out. She's so smart. Sneaky, too." He smiled at Helen with almost palpable pride

Helen kissed him, and then said, "I couldn't have done it without my mate encouraging me the whole time."

Patrick came back into the living room and practically beamed at the couple. "I am so happy for you two!"

"The best part is we found financial records of a cabin Brother Humble owns near the Higley Caverns. So now we have a good place to start looking for Janek," Dmitri said.

I felt overwhelmed. Alex was right, the wolves would find Janek quickly and Jadwiga would almost certainly be nearby. I was lightheaded with relief.

David opened the door, followed close behind by Carlos and Mateo.

"Hey, what's the word?" David asked. Before anyone could answer, Dmitri shouted, "Thunderbird!"

We all looked at him strangely. "Hey, I can have layers," Dmitri said, with a laugh.

"We have a bunch of information about DJ and we think we know where he took Jadwiga and Janek. So, if you want to kill him, you can have at it," Alex said.

Carlos nodded. "That's cool. I'd rather have my girlfriend back, but this is a good start. When do we go find Jadwiga?"

Patrick said, "DJ took them to the Higley Caverns. And, since the sun's coming up in a couple of hours, there's not much the vampires can do yet. The Scottish wolves will be up here in the morning, and they'll take point. They'll go scent out where they were left and the vampires can catch up to them at that point. As for us, here and now, we have to do something about DJ's car, and uh... well, do something with Helen..." his voice trailed off as he looked at her.

Helen shifted uncomfortably. "Me?"

Dmitri looked at Helen. He grabbed her hand and said, "I'd like you to come to the den with me. You can meet the rest of the pack."

Patrick and Dmitri looked at each other for a moment, and Helen said, "Dmitri already talked to me about becoming a werewolf."

"What do you think about it?" I asked.

Helen chuckled. "Well... it's different. But it doesn't seem that scary. I think I should be scared, but I'm not. Is that weird? I don't know."

"Stosh lived with my pack when we were in Denmark," Dmitri said.

"It's true. Wolves live differently than humans, and vampires for that matter. But it's not a bad thing. Werewolves are good people." Helen didn't say anything, so I continued, "My mate's sister, Laura, is mated to one of the Scottish wolves. You should talk to Laura. She can give you a human perspective."

Helen said, "I'd like that. I appreciate your experience, but I'd like to talk to another human, too."

Patrick smiled at her. "I'll make sure she talks to you. You can also meet my mate, Marcia, and David's mate, Angus, and..."

Helen looked confused. "David's mate is a werewolf? And her name is Angus?"

"Hoo boy," Mateo said, lifting his eyebrows high.

David ignored him, and, in a defensive tone said, "Yes. My mate is a werewolf. His name is Angus."

Helen blushed and looked down in embarrassment, so I said, "Werewolves aren't worried about race or gender. A person's mate is their mate."

"Being a mate is about hearts, not parts," Dmitri said, with surprising insight.

Helen blinked for a moment, then she smiled and shrugged. "Okay. It's not the way I was raised, but then again, I wasn't raised to believe in werewolves or vampires. I'd love to meet your mate, David. And Laura, too."

David smiled. "Good."

Carlos looked at Mateo and said, "Now I have some vengeance to reap. Want to come with me?"

Mateo grinned at his brother. "Sure!"

"David, why don't you go with them, in case, there are any problems?" Alex suggested.

Carlos rolled his eyes, but David looked at him and said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to interfere with your fun. I'm just going to be an extra safety net in case something happens that we're not prepared for."

Carlos, Mateo, and David headed for the basement stairs, and Helen sighed deeply.

"Are you okay?" Dmitri asked.

"Yes, I'm okay. Or I will be," she smiled. "I know DJ deserves whatever happens to him, but it's weird to think of that happening downstairs from us."

"I understand," Dmitri said, with a soft smile.

Father Clem said, "You've been through a lot in the last few hours. Why don't you take a nap in the guestroom for a while?"

Helen nodded. "That's not a bad idea."

Helen and Dmitri walked to the guest room holding hands. Father Clem sighed and said, "I've tacitly endorsed physical assault, murder, and now fornication. I must be the worst priest in the world."

"You might be a bad priest, but you're a good person," I said, with a smile.

Father Clem chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, okay. I'm going to go read the Bible and pray for a while."

"Would you mind if I make myself a little breakfast while you do that?" Patrick asked.

"Help yourself, just leave some for me. You can find ham and eggs in the fridge door."

As Father Clem walked out and Patrick went to the kitchen, Alex turned to me and said, "The Catholic Church has come a long way."

"Yeah, it doesn't make me want to go to Confession or anything, but Father Clem seems like a good guy," I said.