"Poor Sarah!" she exclaimed. "We're going to find that witch and we're going to break this stupid curse."
"That would be a good thing," I said. "It's a little inconvenient."
"Luckily the sun sets before six o'clock these days."
I summoned a weak smile. "Hooray."
"Why are you still wearing those sunglasses?" she asked.
"Oh, just because." I released her and pulled the shades away to show her my black eyeballs.
Her eyes went wide. "Yikes." Then her gaze moved down to my hand. "You have a new ring! Ooo! Did Thierry give it to you?"
I nodded. "An early Valentine's Day gift."
"It's beautiful!"
"Sarah must now be invited into a home before she can enter," Thierry said aloud as if he were talking to himself. "She has uncontrollable thirst for blood and sunlight burns her."
He shared a glance with Barry.
Barry studied me for a moment with a smile still curling up the corners of his mouth. "A very interesting curse indeed."
I eyed him. "Thierry says you were cursed, too."
"I was."
"What was the curse?"
"That's a little personal."
I sat down heavily on a wooden bench they had in their front hallway. Beside it was a shoe rack that held Amy's top twenty pairs of heels. One, I noticed, was a nice pair borrowed from me a year ago that I'd totally forgotten about.
"Barry was cursed to be unable to speak for a hundred years," Thierry said.
I snorted at that. "Why did you have to break a helpful curse like that?"
Barry scowled at me. "It wasn't funny."
"Neither is this."
"The curse was broken by getting the witch to remove the spell. It is as simple as that,"
Thierry explained. "Barry, I've made some headway. I know she lives in the city, but her phone number is unlisted."
"I will help you with whatever you require, master."
I rolled my eyes. It just creeped me out that he called Thierry "master." He also got a little peeved when everyone else didn't follow suit. I guess I could understand a little. Three hundred years ago Thierry had rescued Barry from being on display as an abused and exploited miniature vampire in a traveling fair. Hearing about that had softened me toward the guy, but not as much as I would have thought.
"Butch called earlier to say that he will be back on the job today," Thierry said. "I told him to come directly here."
Well, that was a relief. As much as I didn't like having a bodyguard around, it did lessen the stress. A bit.
"I'm not sure if you've heard," Barry said. "But Gideon Chase is dead."
Thierry nodded. "I did hear that."
Barry went into the kitchen and returned with a piece of paper. "I printed this off the
Internet this morning."
I looked at the paper. It was Gideon's obituary on the VHA (Vampire Hunters of
America) website. Alongside it was a striking picture of Gideon wearing a tuxedo and smiling for the camera. He'd been a very handsome man with chiseled cheekbones, a strong jaw, hair almost as dark as Thierry's, and piercing green eyes that seemed to stare out at me even through the poor quality of the printout.
My eyes narrowed at the picture. Better luck next lifetime, creep.
Amy peered over my shoulder. "Holy cow, he was hot. Too bad he was evil."
"Any hunters in town with affiliations with Gideon are currently at his funeral," Thierry said. "It's quiet right now in the city. It will help not worrying about that so much as we search for the witch."
"You will totally find her," Amy said brightly. "I'm sure of it."
She'd turned her attention away from her husband and the picture of hot-but-dead Gideon to stare up at Thierry. I personally witnessed a small but disconcerting amount of eyelash fluttering.
Thierry cleared his throat. "Your confidence is appreciated."
She beamed.
Right. Her crush on my boyfriend was going to have to be addressed very soon.
"What can I do to help?" I asked.
"The best thing for you to do would be to stay here with your friend until we return."
In other words, I'd get in the way. No big surprise there. I decided not to argue. It had been a hard enough day already.
"Okay, I'll stay here if you can do something for me," I said. "Can you swing by George's and pick up my high-school yearbooks? I had my parents send them a week ago so I could freshen my memory of who's who before the reunion. Maybe if I go through them again I can remember Stacy better."
He nodded. "I'll get them for you."
"Is it okay if we go shopping later?" Amy asked. "I need a few things."
Thierry appeared to mull that over. He looked at me. "If you're feeling well enough when
Butch arrives, and if it's after sunset, then you may leave this house. I've informed Butch of the situation, and he will be on the lookout for any unusual signs."