“Okay, but, like, is he moving in with a family? Is he alone?” Natalie was giddy, and I too was eager to know more.
“No idea. I just know this Lukas guy is now the island’s resident. Like I said, I amworking, and I have other things to do.”
“Fine, fine. Well, maybe tomorrow we can investigate.” I shrugged. I supposed one day would be okay.
Ben frowned. “Can’t. Emily’s parents are visiting. We’re telling them she’s pregnant.” Upon saying it out loud, his face brightened. Ben was the only one of the three of us who’d gotten married, and now he was going to be a dad. He was good-looking in a nerdy way, which people totally dug. Curly brown hair, bow ties and all that.
“Oh, that’s exciting!” I reached out and squeezed his arm. “No problem. Nat and I will do some detective work and let you know what we find.”
He nodded. “I don’t work Tuesday. Maybe we can meet for lunch and put together everything we have.”
“Plan.” Nat put her hand on the table. I covered hers with mine and we waited for Ben. A beat later, he rolled his eyes and laid his hand on mine. “The power of three,” we all cheered in various tones.
“You’re dorks.” Ben stood, but he smiled. “See you later.”
When he was gone, Nat and I faced each other, and she spoke. “Wanna see if Clark’s taking his fishing boat out tomorrow morning and snag a ride?” That was a brilliant idea.
“Yes!”
We had the beginnings of a plan. It was exciting and mysterious. I had a bucket list, and one thing on there was to solve a mystery. This was totally going to have me scratching that off.
CHAPTER TWO
Lukas
Small towns were troublesome,and Brookridge wasn’t the exception. I’d taken the boat here six hours ago, and I could already feel the buzz from the townsfolk:Lancaster manor had been vacant for twenty-plus years. Who is the new person?
I stared out the large window in the grand room that faced the shore. It was early Sunday morning, fishing boats were casting out, and the sleepy town was waking up. I sipped my coffee, boredom settling in my bones. I’d moved from Portland, Oregon, all the way to Brookridge, Connecticut—not because I’d wanted to, but because I’d had to.
Every twenty years, give or take, it had to be done. And the move had to be far. I hadn’t been on the East Coast in over a hundred years, so it was the most logical destination. Either way, I didn’t care where I was, so when the council’s location had come through, I’d simply walked out of my home in Oregon and headed here.
I glanced at a fishing boat getting rather close to the island; with my superior eyesight, I could make out five people. Two ofthem were gawking at my house, pointing and jumping.Ugh…humans.
My phone vibrating in my pocket pulled me from the exuberant people. I answered with a grunt.
“Oh, Lukas, you sound so chipper. I see the move has lifted your dark spirits.” Vincent was loud and obnoxious but through our many years, he’d become sort of like a brother…an annoying one, but always there, whether I wanted him to be or not.
“Vincent, what can I do for you?”
“Do for me?” He laughed; it was deep and full of too much happiness. “I’m checking up on you. Heard your new orders came in and that you’re residing at Lancaster Island…nice.”
“Is it?”
“Look, Lukas.” I heard some rustling, and a door shut. Vincent was currently living in Valencia, Spain, and was the owner of a wildly popular nightclub. Likely where he was making the call from.
“I don’t need some pep talk, Vincent. I wasn’t going to be happy anywhere the council sent me.”
“You need to find something to bring back that spark in you.”
“Do I? Why?”
“Because you’re a vampire, one of the oldest. I remember a time when you smiled, lived, felt joy…hell, even loved sometimes.”
“And now I’m bored. Nothing in the last two hundred years has made any of it worth it.”
There was a pregnant pause before Vincent asked the question I knew he was dying to ask: “Is that why you sent a termination request to the council? You don’t want to exist anymore because you’re bored?”
That was exactly what the head of the council had said when I’d been summoned. Boredom was not a reason to become ashes.
