“I believed him, though,” Dreven said. “I also knew his words were dangerous though. The fool boy. I tried to get him to stop harping on about it, to wise up. He wouldn't stop. I wanted to help him, but we couldn’t prove it.” He seemed to consider his words. “Quill liked everyone equally. I believe he was open to all kinds of new experiences and after a long talk, Bryan and I felt like Quill was attracted to Bryan. We believe that’s why he Turned him. Because he wanted to keep him… forever.”
Carol let out a choked sob. I put my arm around her. “That’s disgusting,” I said, not able to hold myself back. Poor, poor Bryan!
“Agreed,” Dreven said, shaking his head. “I might be a vampire, but if someone did that to a human I cared about…” his last word was almost a growl, which made me like the man just a little more.
“No wonder Bryan didn’t want to come back to Mystic Hollow.”
“I didn’t blame him either,” Dreven admitted. “But I actually think it was more dangerous for him to come back here, especially if he was going to continue targeting Quillan. He might have been right, but it just wasn’t smart.” His gaze met mine. “Which is why I wasn’t exactly surprised by what happened.”
“Do you know where he is?" I asked as I tried to soothe Carol.
Dreven shook his head. “Bryan coming back to town pissed off a lot of vampires. People loyal to Quillan, who did love him. He had his enemies, but more than that, he had a lot of friends. They didn’t like hearing Bryan’s version of how he was Turned. That being said, I don’t think Bryan killed Quillan.”
Well, at least that was something. The more I learned about these vampires, the more confident I became that Bryan didn’t, and wouldn’t, hurt anyone. The problem was that I was also eliminating suspects too, so I felt no closer to figuring out whohadcreated this mess.
“Where is he?” Carol asked through clenched teeth. I could tell just from the way she spoke that she wasn't buying half of what Dreven was saying. I was, however.
“I suspect it’s very likely Bryan will stay gone until the next leader is chosen. If I’m right, Bryan has some dirt on someone, and they want him quiet until maybe they get the top spot.”
“Aren’t you most likely to get the top spot?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the vampire.
It wasn’t that I entirely thought it was him who took Bryan. Hearing his disgust about Quillan made me feel like at least he wasn’t some sick animal, but my words were logical, all the same.
“I hope I am,” he answered honestly.
“How do we know the people who took him won’t kill him?” Carol demanded
Dreven ducked his head. “We come down pretty hard on murder. It’s likely only the person who killed Quill would resort to murder again.”
“But what if that’s the same person who has Bryan?” Carol cried, and now her harsh exterior was starting to fade away.
Come on, Carol, hold it together. Just for a little longer. Just until we get all the answers we need.
Dreven shook his head and shrugged. “We can only hope.”
Carol kept arguing with him, and I used the distraction to try to reach a little tendril of my magic out, ready to probe Dreven. It was an odd feeling, pushing my magic into someone, and not one I was sure I wanted to feel again after all this was over, but I'd do what I had to so that we could find Bryan and Carol's heart wasn't broken. Again.
There was a cool, collectedness to Dreven. One that was almost enough to have me looking elsewhere for the murderer, but there was something there like fish under the ice on a lake. I couldn't make sense of what I was feeling, only that he was withholding. Even knowing that though, I didn't know whether pushing for more information or answers was a good idea. After all, we were just karma and a witch versus a whole coven of vampires if it came down to it.
"May I ask what you're doing?' Dreven looked directly at me.
Oh boy, I guess he could feel my magic. Not that I was even entirely sure what I was doing.
I smiled at him. "Just making sure you're telling the truth."
He spreads his hands to each side as though he's trying to show there's nothing up his sleeve. "What reason would I have to lie?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know you and I have no reason to trust you. If our situations were reversed and you could tell if we were lying, wouldn't you use it?"
"We're vampires. We can tell when you're lying. Your heart rate picks up." Dreven looked bemused by my argument.
"Then you already know I told the truth when I said I was just double checking things." I shrugged and tried to think of calming things, so my heart rate didn't betray me. I did the same thing when my doctor took my blood pressure, not that I had any idea if it worked or not.
An awkward silence fell between all of us. Surprisingly, Trista was the one that broke it as she appeared in the doorway, “If you’re ready to go, I’ll take you out to the car.”
“I think we are,” Carol said, standing up with a little too much gusto.
I stood up more slowly. “Well, thanks for the information. Hopefully things work out the way they think they will.”
