Lead Me Astray

Original Edition: CHAPTER 52 - AURIE

Now, I was alone with them—my murderer and the rapist who had drugged me the night I was killed. This didn't bode well.

"Master Cyprian," a male voice said from the stairs.

So, we weren't entirely alone. Good.

I regarded the second landing and discovered a young man dressed in black and white livery. He could have stepped out of the nineteenth-century. In fact, the whole house had the feeling of time standing still. The servant wore a blank expression and held a thick leash. I sucked in a breath at the large black-grey wolf nosing at his feet.

Darcy cupped an arm around Tegan and me and whispered conspiratorially, "Are you sure you don't want that drink now?"

"The room for the sacrifice is prepared," the servant announced. 

~*~

The artwork on the bedroom walls had to be worth a fortune. The Persian rug under my bare feet was probably worth double that. Everything in the elite country estate screamed grandeur. I sat on the satin-covered high canopy bed watching Tegan gnaw her fingernails and frantically pace.

"It doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense," she whimpered.

"It does if you accept Overlay City is real, but you never accepted that, did you? You honestly thought Zyr was a little fucked up in the head," I sighed, knowing she couldn't hear me. "And you thought Darcy was indulging him in some way."

"Vampires!" She grunted a laugh. "Oh, God, help me. I've gotta get out of here."

"But you knew I was haunting the cabin. I showed you!"

She looped back to the window and stared out at trees battered and thrashed by the storm. I was right next to her, and she had no idea. Groaning, I fell backward to the mattress and thumped the pillows in frustration. Tegan jumped and stared at the bed.

"Aurie?" she stuttered.

I sat up. "No shit, Sherlock."

"Aurie, if that's you, give me some sort of sign."

I marched over to the delicate white Chantilly lace dress hanging on the chifforobe. Darcy had asked me to wear it to dinner, which would be served within the hour. Given I had only the kimono to cover me, I was happy to oblige. Tegan had already changed into a long pink chiffon wrap courtesy of the vampire.

I lifted the hanger and turned to her. "Is this enough of a sign?" I asked as I tore it off the hanger and started dressing. Once the fabric settled over my skin, it disappeared. Because it was transmuted by contact with Supernaturals, it conformed to my type, and since I was invisible to her, the dress became invisible.

Tegan backpedaled, covering her mouth.

I rolled my eyes. We didn't have time for this. If there was some way out, she could find it. The pathways of salt that crisscrossed the house kept me bound to where Darcy wanted me, but not her. She just couldn't disturb it violently. Although he had locked the front door from the inside and secreted away the key, the detective had the freedom to snoop for other exits.

I searched the escritoire and came up with a pen, but no paper. Swiveling, I saw a novel on the table by the bed. Perfect! I grabbed the pen and dashed across the room to grab the book. With each move, Tegan gasped.

"I thought it was some kind of trick," she whispered. "The-the table, the door slamming—there had to be a l-logical explanation."

Exasperated, I turned to a blank page at the back of the book. It wasn't a trick, I wrote. My name is Aurie Edison, and you have to help me. I turned the writing toward her, and she came closer to read it.