As for the students, they were located in the former servants’ living area, several wings lined with rooms. They’d come furnished with musty twin beds and moldering dressers, all of which we were replacing in order to provide the kids with the best dorm experience. And—bonus for them—they’re near the kitchen and the dining area, a fact that proved out when Timmy zipped his trike in there. He was well ahead of me, but I was certain he was riding circles around the very expensive commercial ovens and stovetops.
“Out of the kitchen, mister. You know the rules.” I heard thesqueak squeakof the wheels on his trike as he turned his vehicle around, then the faster squeak as he pedaled madly. A moment later, I saw him cross the huge dining room — which we had furnished with three long dining table — and emerged back into the entry hall to join me, grinning like a fiend.
“He really is a demon,” Laura said from behind me. I turned to face her and she cocked her head. “He reminds me of those two creepy girls inThe Shining. And honestly, this house reminds me of that hotel.”
As if to punctuate her comment, she looked down at the huge tiles inlaid with all sorts of strange symbols that, hopefully, aren’t part of a ritual to summon demons.
“Thank you,” I said. “Thanks so much. That’s just what I need to hear before I move my family into this place.”
She shrugged. “At least you’re a family of Demon Hunters.” She grinned at me, and I rolled my eyes. “Hey, I’m just saying. I mean with this place’s history, anything’s possible.”
To be honest, I can’t say that she’s wrong. The house had a somewhat checkered past, what with once being occupied by Theophilus Monroe, a dabbler in the occult, who was apparently inclined to bring the house into his obsession as well. “It’s been checked out,” I assured her. “TotallyForzaapproved.”
“Glad to hear it. I have enough demons in my life. Don’t need them in my workday, too.”
“Except now your workday actually is about demons.”
She frowned, considering. “Good point. Guess I should’ve taken that job at Walmart.”
“You’re a hoot.”
“I really am, but nice of you to notice.”
I rolled my eyes. “Where are the kids?” I’d been so busy with Timmy and fixing up Stuart’s room, which primarily consisted of me trying to get his television to work since I thought the sound of voices would help bring him back to himself, that I’d lost track of Allie and Eliza and Mindy. “They’re not bothering the assembly people, are they?”
“I doubt it,” Laura said. “Those guys are in the dorms putting together the desks. I can’t imagine they want to hang out in their dorms with the workmen.”
“Good point.”
The dorms had been repainted, carpeted, and almost completely furnished over a month ago. But the company we bought the furniture from had forgotten the student desks. Now they’re here, with a team of nine doing the assembly work.
“So where are they?” I pressed.
“Allie and Eliza are supposed to be training with Jared in the studio. And Mindy’s in the tech center on the computer.”
“There’s a whole tech team from the Vatican coming to make sure we have access to all theForzadatabases on a secure line,” I reminded her. “What’s she doing now?”
“Something for Jared. I think they’re trying to figure out where Celia could be based on the various visions he had.”
“Good luck with that. From the way he described it, he didn’t see many landmarks.”
“I know. But she said she wants to try.”
“Poor guy.” I meant what I said, but I was also worried about what might happen if we did find Celia.
Jared’s a good guy, despite the whole being a vampire thing, but I wasn’t certain about his sister. For one thing, she was only ten when she was turned. And while I knew that a vampire’s mind continued to develop even when its body didn’t, in my experience the vamps turned when they were young children never developed the kind of judgment that older vampires have. At seventeen, Jared would have been considered a man in the last century. But Celia—well, she would have still been a coddled child.
Add that to the years of torture that Lilith put her through, and I was worried.
Even more, I was concerned that—if she even was alive—that Lilith’s minions were feeding her human blood. Vampires can survive just fine on animal blood, but they crave human blood. And, like an addict, when they drink it, they crave more. Some can fight the urges until they pass. But to others, the longing becomes so intense they lose themselves to nothing but the blood and the kill.
I feared that Celia would fall into the latter group, and I was afraid that even Jared would be unable to wean her off to the point where the students would be safe around her.
Still, I supposed it was too early to worry. We didn’t even know if the poor girl was still alive, much less where to find her. Which pushed Celia way down on my very long list of Things To Do and Worry About.
“She’s got to have issues,” Laura said, apparently having followed my thoughts.
“I know. It worries me. But if we do find her, I don’t think we could refuse to bring her in. I mean, she’s Jared’s sister, no matter how much it would make me nervous.”
