The Polanski Brothers: Home of Eternal Rest Read online

  Fuck, it was quiet here.

  Funny how dead people are like that, eh, Larkin?

  Larkin headed to the suite of offices where Joy said her father might be at this late hour. “Mr. Polanski!” he shouted as he went, opening every door he could get his hands on and sticking his head in to scan the rooms.

  “Mr. McBride?” a quiet, almost solemn voice asked from behind him.

  Larkin whipped around to stand face-to-face with Joy’s father. The look of concern on his pale face made Larkin reach deep for his cop demeanor. Freaking this man out wasn’t going to help Joy. Larkin took a long breath and began, “Mr. Polanski, I’m Larkin McBride. Detective McBride and we -- I need your help.”

  Edgar Polanski cocked his head and eyed Larkin with obvious skepticism. “What’s wrong, Mr. McBride?”

  “It’s Joy. It’s a long story, but you have to come with me.”

  Larkin heard the alarm in Edgar’s voice when he said, “Joy? What’s wrong with Joy? She was just here a bit ago and I don’t have to do anything with you until you explain yourself.”

  Larkin nodded his agreement. “We need to talk, Mr. Polanski, but could ya come with me while we do that?” Larkin heard his own voice, calm and collected, but he really wanted to bark orders at Edgar.

  “Tell me, Mr. McBride. How do you know my Joy?”

  In the biblical sense? No, no, that wouldn’t be a smart thing to say to the father of the woman he was in love with and now had to tell his daughter was in imminent danger. The vampire father who was going to make mincemeat out of him. Well, shit. “I know Joy because we’ve been investigating a string of murders. I’ve been investigating, I should say and, well it’s a long story. We don’t have a lot of time for me to explain.” Larkin struggled to keep his voice even and reassuring. This was just a little different than his average bust. He’d never gone into one against a vampire.

  Edgar Polanski’s face remained passive, but his fists were tight balls by his sides. “Murder? Aren’t you friends with the deceased Alan Perkins? I seem to remember seeing you with Mrs. Perkins.” Now Edgar’s tone was suspicious and Larkin’s cop ears picked up his growing impatience.

  “Yes, sir, I was, and that’s what led me to where I am now. I’m going to have to ask you to come with me, Mr. Polanski, please.” Larkin added the word “please” on and hoped it helped in his plight to get Edgar Polanski to move his ass.

  “I think you’d better explain yourself, Mr. McBride. I’m not going anywhere until you do.”

  Well, of course not. Why would Edgar get the lead out and make this easy on Larkin? That would just be too simple, considering the urgency of things. “Mr. Polanski, Joy and I have discovered that Alan Perkins and several other men didn’t die in tragic accidents, nor did they kill themselves -- they were murdered.” Larkin watched as Edgar’s eyebrow rose and his lips compressed into a tight line, but his face gave no indication that he wanted to kill Larkin for dragging his daughter into this. Good, this was good… Impatience was gnawing at Larkin, giving way to strong-arming tactics that Larkin knew wouldn’t work with Edgar Polanski.

  “You’ve been detecting with my Joy?”

  Well in a word or less, yeah… we detected all right. “Yes, sir. It’s kind of hard to explain, but --”

  “Why don’t you give it a whirl, Mr. McBride?” Edgar had moved closer to Larkin and now was standing in front of him with a menacing look. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

  Shit. “Yes, sir. Joy brought a few things to my attention about Alan and the others which led to me investigating, um, some things…”

  “Do you have jurisdiction to do that in Easton, let alone with my Joy?”

  “Well, no, sir. I don’t, but Alan --”

  “Was your friend, Detective.”

  Larkin’s look was sheepish. “Yes, sir, he was.”

  “That has nothing to do with Joy, Mr. McBride.”

  “Well, actually it does. You see --”

  “No, Mr. McBride, I don’t see. Enlighten me if you will.”

  Larkin gulped. “Joy… well, Joy found a vampire bite on Alan’s --”

  “You know we’re vampires, Mr. McBride?”

  “Um, yeah…” Larkin was almost afraid to admit that. “But don’t get upset. I mean, I understand the whole vampire thing and all… I really need you to come with me, Mr. Polanski.”

  “Where?”

  Larkin had had enough. It was time to get tough -- well, not tough or Polanski might hurt him, but insistent. Yeah, insistent. “Joy’s in trouble, Mr. Polanski, and I don’t have time to talk about it while we stand here, sir. Do you remember Liam?”

  Edgar’s eyes narrowed. “I do…”

  “Well, he’s part of the problem, sir.”

  Edgar cocked his head. “Where is Joy, Detective?”

  Christ and a sidecar, he was in for it now. “Liam has her and we need to roll, sir.”

  “That pig has my daughter?” Edgar’s face remained pale, however his eyes blazed with unspoken fury. Hoo doggie this was going to get ugly for Liam.

  “So you’ll come with me, sir?”

  “Yes, I’ll come with you and while I do that you’re going to explain to me exactly what’s been going on with my Joy.”

  Larkin nodded as he led Edgar Polanski to his car. “Yes, sir. I’ll do that, but first we have to find them, sir.” Larkin could no longer keep the urgency out of his voice. Joy had said Liam would be gone about an hour -- time was a wastin’ here.

  “What kind of detective can’t find his suspect, Mr. McBride?”

  The fucking kind that hasn’t quite adjusted to a suspect that only drinks blood for breakfast? “Well, sir, I have to say that you vampires are pretty crafty and I’m still having trouble with the whole mind reading thin -- er…” Jesus Christ. Shut up, Larkin! he scolded himself mentally.

  Edgar took long strides alongside Larkin, but his forehead wrinkled. “Have you been intimate with my daughter, Detective?”

  Could this get any worse? Play stupid, Larkin. It’s the only way… “Um, sir?”

  “You heard me, young man. Only a lifemate can hear the thoughts of another vampire -- this also rings true if the person hearing the vampire’s thoughts is a human.”

  Well, would you look at that… he should have known… Larkin would have stopped and scratched his head, allowing himself a “what the fuck” moment if he had time to ponder this. Larkin opened the car door for Edgar and asked over his shoulder, “I thought you could only smell your lifemate, sir?”

  Edgar nodded as Larkin climbed in beside him and sheepishly removed the soda can from the dashboard, chucking it in the backseat. “That’s true in some cases, but in others, lifemates can read each other’s minds. Some come into this world with the ability to smell their lifemate and others with the ability to read their minds -- or in the case of Joy and yourself, an obvious role reversal. Has she begun to read yours yet, Detective?”

  Holy vampire…

  “I suspect this clears many things up for you, Detective?” Edgar asked.

  “Well, um -- yes, sir. Yes, it does.” Had he just basically admitted intimacy with Joy? Shit, what a first impression he was making on his woman’s daddy. Cheerist.

  Edgar’s eyes narrowed again. “So you have been intimate with my daughter… I do believe you owe me some explanations, Detective.”

  Oh yes, this was going to be a long trip to wherever…

  Chapter Thirteen

  Joy held her breath as Ethan stirred, then settled back on the table again. At least he was alive and that was something. She exhaled long, thinking it was probably the first breath she’d allowed herself since Liam had dumped her here.

  Joy struggled with the bonds that held her hands captive. What the hell was keeping her from breaking them? Christ, she felt like a newborn baby.

  And what the hell had allowed her to hear Larkin in her head?

  She had too many questions she needed answered. First of which was where in the
devil she and Ethan were and how to get that information to Larkin without freaky Liam knowing? He couldn’t know they could communicate or that Larkin could read her mind, could he? And now she could hear Larkin in her head too. What the frig was going on?

  Joy tried to shimmy up the wall of the basement and ignore the spiders scurrying around at her feet. As she struggled to walk her back up the cement wall, her legs buckled and shook. What the hell was wrong with her?

  The door to the basement jiggled, then swung open, leaving her staring at Liam.

  Groovy. Ladies and gentleman, the freak has officially entered the building…

  Liam was as crisp and as cool as ever as he scanned Joy, still struggling to stand upright. He snickered. “I see you’re not giving up. I like a good fight,” Liam mocked as he came to stand before her. He grabbed a fistful of Joy’s shirt and hauled her up, scraping her back along the cement wall.

  Joy’s head swam, but she refused to look away, no matter how eerie Liam’s eyes were. “What the hell is going on, Liam? You went to an awful lot of trouble to get me alone,” she cracked wise.

  Liam pressed his slender body against Joy’s more petite one. “Oh, no, Joy. I don’t want to be alone with you. I want to kill you…”

  Good, very good. This was going rather well, considering death was a part of the “alone time” package. They were off to a good start. Shit. “Where are we, Liam? Couldn’t you think of a more original locale for our first date? I mean, you’re creepy and all and I get the whole dark brooding thing, but just once I’d like our little get-togethers to be about me, ya know? Maybe next time we could try a nice sidewalk café --”

  Liam cupped her jaw and dug his fingers into her cheeks, mushing her lips together and effectively cutting off further verbiage. “Shut up, Joy.”

  “But don’t you vant to talk?” Joy asked between her lips, lips that were puckered and fish-like.

  Liam squeezed harder, making Joy cringe. “I said, shut up, Joy.”

  Joy reared her head up and pulled from Liam’s tight grip, smacking her head against the hard wall, but she ignored the pain. She had to find out where they were and communicate that to Larkin. “Where are we, Liam?”

  Liam pressed his forehead to hers and grazed her lips with his own. “Your final resting place,” he said with the calm arrogance that Joy had come to hate.

  Joy glared back at him. “Well, could you share that just so I know? I mean, like my last death wish or something?”

  Liam clucked his tongue. “You’re in my cabin, Joy. Out in the sticks of Easton. No one knows it exists, so it doesn’t matter. So, Joy, how would you like to die today?”

  Didja hear that, Sherlock? I’m somewhere in the boondocks of Easton. I’m guessing somewhere north of I-36. There’s a dirt road off of exit twenty-two. Take it and you’d better hope that car doesn’t break down or I’m going to have it repo’d. Got that, Kreskin? Would you hurry up, please? Tell Daddy. He’ll be able to smell me… Crap, Joy hoped Larkin had heard her because the straits were becoming dire and she was too afraid to focus enough to see if Larkin sent her a message back.

  “Answer the question, Joy,” Liam demanded with a curt tone.

  Joy shrugged her shoulders. “Can I have my options, please? Do you have death packages? Ya know, like package A is the virtually painless death package. No gore, no nasty entrails. Oh, wait. I don’t have entrails, do I? Can I have the options for package B, Liam?”

  Liam was not amused. It was obvious from the way his almost always unlined face began to crack. “You talk too much, Joy. I can’t imagine what that human detective finds so interesting about you. You’re rather droll,” he quipped sarcastically.

  Like that statement was an arrow to her heart, especially coming from freak boy… Hurt me, why don’t you? “But you have to admit I’m rather likeable. I mean, you did want to be my lifemate, didn’t you? I couldn’t be all bad, Liam.” Joy smiled wickedly at him, pushing her envelope of death just a bit further. If Larkin didn’t get his ass here soon, she’d run out of stall time and then she’d have to haunt Larkin for the rest of eternity.

  Liam gave her that look.

  Joy nodded her head in complete understanding. “I know, ‘shut up, Joy,’ right?”

  Liam cocked his head back and bobbed his head. “In a nutshell.”

  “Just one more question,” Joy squeaked. “Well, maybe two…”

  Liam narrowed his eyes. “By all means…”

  “You wrote that letter to Alan’s mother, didn’t you? To make it look like he’d killed himself over losing his girlfriend. You were afraid the police would find out he was gay and that he was involved with you. Alan found you after he and Ethan broke it off, didn’t he?”

  Liam clucked his tongue. “Poor Alan, he was so distraught over losing Ethan because he was too afraid to come out of the closet. Bummer for him, eh? It’s my personal opinion that there’s nothing like a rebound affair to cheer you right up.”

  Joy wanted to gag. He’d preyed upon Alan when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable, but she couldn’t harp on that now. She had to keep stalling him. “Why did you kill Alan and the others and what does it have to do with the Polanskis?”

  Liam gave Joy that cool smile that sent a shiver down her spine, like a wet willy in your ear. “I found out the Polanskis were morticians -- morticians who had Alan’s body. It was only a matter of time before they found out that Alan, Brian and Eddie had vampire bites. A vampire knows another vampire’s bite. So I thought it best to find out what the Polanskis knew -- if they knew anything at all. When I smelled you and you didn’t smell me back, well the conclusion was logical. I decided to pretend you were my lifemate and get the information from you by wooing you -- or killing you. Whichever came first.”

  Liam shook his head as he pushed off Joy roughly and paced the basement floor. “Sadly, Joy, you didn’t want to be wooed. You wanted a human.” He shook his head in disgust. “What is it about your family and humans, Joy? Anyway, now you have to die because you know far too much. And then, I’m going to drain Ethan and then we’ll go about the business of making vamps what they should be. That certainly doesn’t include a bunch of human lovers,” he sneered at her. “You know, I really will never understand what happened to the old ways, when a vamp was considered a force to contend with. Now you can’t tell who we are unless you drag us out under the midday sun! We should be feared, not invited to the neighborhood barbeque, and I kept thinking to myself, how can I change that? I want to know why the humans of this world should be anything more than a snack…”

  Joy shrugged, her big mouth open and spewing tough talk before she could shut it, knowing full well the “quiet place” was best right now. “Maybe because there are more humans than there are vamps, asshole? We’re outnumbered, you dipshit. When in Rome and all.”

  Liam stopped pacing and hauled Joy up by the front of her shirt, slamming her against the hard cement of the basement wall. He stuck his face in hers, the perfect planes of it contorted with anger. “Fuck Rome, you dumb bitch. It’s because of vampires like your daddy that we are who we are today. I plan to change all of that.”

  “Like how, pansy ass?” Joy threw back in Liam’s face, daring him to become further enraged. If Liam were going to kill her it wouldn’t be without a Goddamned fight. She struggled against his fist, tightly clenched in her shirt. Her legs dangled against Liam’s stronger ones.

  “You have a sharp tongue, Joy, and I’ll cut it out of your head if you don’t watch who you aim it at. I plan to drain anyone and everyone I can come in contact with, thus turning them into revenants. I’ll have my own little army of vampires. I guess it isn’t just your nose on the blink, eh, Joy? I want a super race. I want a legion of vampires who do my bidding. Poor souls that have little purpose on this earth but to serve me. They go off and bite, then drain some more poor souls and so on and so on…”

  Joy’s eyes were wide with horror. Revenants. Oh, Jesus Christ in a miniskirt! Zombies… Li
am wanted minions to do his bidding without question. A race of brainless, dead servants. “What are you? A maniac? Do you really believe that you can take over the world? You sick, motherfucking freak!”

  Liam jammed a knee into Joy’s gut with force. Joy fought for air, gasping as pain seared her ribs and roared through her ears. “That’s exactly what I intend to do, Joy. Alan and the others didn’t work out. Though, gay vamp that I am, I did enjoy their company, if you know what I mean. I just haven’t found the right balance in draining a human to the right degree. They all end up dead… but I’ll figure it out and besides,” he stopped mid sentence and licked his thin lips, “I’m having a helluva time in the process.”

  Joy heard the crash of the basement door just as she was about to give in to the dizzying black hole that called her.

  “Let go of my daughter, Liam, or I’ll see you in the fires of hell!” Edgar Polanski roared as he erupted into the basement of Liam’s cabin and grabbed Liam by his collar, lifting him off his feet.

  Liam dropped Joy to the floor as Edgar ripped him into the air. Joy saw the arc of Liam’s slender frame as she scraped to the floor. Her head slapped the cement wall again and again as she slid down the wall and fell to a heap of limbs.

  Larkin ran to her side and said out of the corner of his mouth, “I think Daddy Polanski is pissed.”

  Joy was so grateful to see Larkin and her father that she found herself smiling. “You heard me… thank God.”

  Larkin tore at the duct tape that held Joy’s hands together. “I heard ya, and your dad heard lots of things too. We have some splainin’ to do, Lucy,” he joked. “Are you okay, you look… well, you look paler than usual.”

  “I’m fine, but I’m so weak… I think Liam drank from me.” As Larkin freed a hand, Joy ran it over her neck. Yep. He sure did. Just enough to keep her weak. The chicken shit!

  “Does that mean you have Liam cooties now? I can’t have a chick with cooties.” Larkin grinned, kissing her on the tip of her nose and pulling her into the shelter of his strong arms.