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~ The Point of No Return ~

Oh Jesus

Grady tried to stop Macey, but she was already across the room and at the bed He watched her stark white face as she tore at the bindings on the elderly woht iron bedfraled with the ropes The heavy, sickening scent of too much blood and other bodily fluids filled his nose "Oh, God, Mrs G"

"Macey" He pulled her away, looked into her wide, shocked eyes "Go down and call the police Have them send Detective Linwood And Officer Bailey"

To his relief, she went, still dazed butpurposefully "Linwood And Bailey"

Grady turned back to the carnage on the bed He&039;d seen a lot of senseless violence in his life But the brutality visited on a weak, elderly wohts he&039;d ever beheld Her throat and arhs, had been mutilated, torn and fed upon in the same way Jennie Fallon and the victie of the bed in oone forhell did they need to tie her down like that? The poor wonat He hoped like hell she&039;d died quickly But the way the ropes dug into her wrists and ankles, along with the raw chafing of her paper-thin flesh, told hiht, he used his knife to cut her free When he heard footsteps on the stairs, he grabbed a robe off the chair and flung it over the body

"I called fromher telephone" Macey stood on the threshold of her flat, looking forlorn and exhausted But the dazed expression had eased fro a stake laprief-and so"

Grady wanted to wrap her in his arhtly, bury his face in her soft hair, et, remind himself how easily it could have been herbut there was the h bare thigh through its bottoAnd there were the marks on her neck, faint but unmistakable He didn&039;t care for any of the explanations that came to mind Nevertheless

"You can&039;t stay here I&039;ll help you get soht?"

"I&039;ll do it"

She dug through her bureau and closet, then went into the small bathroom while Grady took the opportunity to look around the flat for clues Not that it mattered-by now he had no doubt the perpetrators were va of alarm trailed down his spine If what he&039;d read in The Venators was even half accurate, these undead beings were evil beyond anything he&039;d encountered, even during the War

The undead could leave bloodstained fingerprints or even a trail to their lair and it wouldn&039;t matter The police-even those feere actually still interested in carrying out justice-would be ineffectual in tracking down a va to arrest or incarcerate one would be absurd

The sound of sirens announced the arrival of the fuzz, and Grady went to theto look down That hen he noticed the rosary, still on the sill He stuffed it in his pocket

The door to the bathroom opened and Macey came out, fully attired at last She wore a soft pink blouse with a high collar over a taupe skirt that went just past her knees, and a wide swatch of floral fabric tied around her hair Blue-black curls winged out around the nape of her neck and jaw Despite her subdued attire, she still looked pale and the tip of her nose was tinged red She didn&039;t look toward the bed

Grady ave them a brief overview as they climbed up As a homicide detective, and one of the few honest ones on the force-along with Gern Bailey, who&039;d accompanied him as requested-Linas already sadly fah Grady hadn&039;t told hi The Venators, or even about Macey and the stake and vampire ash in her flat, he and his uncle had discussed the unsettling possibility that so these murders

When Linas introduced to Macey, he flickered a glance at Grady and lifted a brow Obviously, he reave himent and remained silent while his uncle took her state after spending the night at o into work around noon I didn&039;t speak to Mrs G, but I heard her on the phone when I left I was back briefly last night, around six-thirty I didn&039;t see or hear Mrs G at that time I haven&039;t been back since" She didn&039;t look at Grady

He had just ht, then He&039;d arrived a little after seven and spoken to Mrs Gutchinson at that time-who told him she hadn&039;t seen Macey for days That hen the cold fingers of fear began to tighten around his middle If the nosy landlady hadn&039;t seen her on a Saturday, that was unusual And his suspicions were correct: she hadn&039;t slept in her own bed last night either

"I don&039;t need any further information froht-speaking man, was businesslike but empathetic He nodded a dismissal to his nephew, then turned to join Officer Bailey and the coroner in exao" Grady looked at Macey She didn&039;t hesitate, but as she picked up a valise with her things in it, she glanced toward the bed Then, her jaw shifting visibly, she led the way from her flat

He wondered if she&039;d ever return

Grady debated all the way to the ground floor what to do next He knehat he wanted to dobut there were a lot of unknown factors involved Including theand was obviously intending to return

But when he settled behind the steering wheel and pushed the ignition, he finally had to ask "Where to, Macey? So to eat? A place to rest?"

"I&039;ry Idon&039;t know" She looked down at her hands "I&039;ht now"

And obviously she wasn&039;t intending to return that damned coat any time soon Grady felt a little ht then"

He took her to his place It was, he told himself, reasonable She wanted to rest, she likely didn&039;t want to be around anyone anted to talk, but if she did, he&039;d be there And she hadn&039;t offered any other option-no other friends or fa into a hotel

And maybe, just

Macey didn&039;t let on, but she was relieved when Grady took her hoestion herself, but it was exactly where she wanted to go

Why, she wasn&039;t co to remind herself she&039;d only known him for less than a month, and had only been in his company a few times She had no claim on him or his time and attention Nor could she expend an un over why she had such a connection to hi at her ry claws

Unlike Macey and Chas, Grady didn&039;t live in an upper flat, but a s on a neighborhood street corner By the names on some of the establishments-O&039;Brien&039;s, McFeaster&039;s, Garrick&039;s-she figured they were in the heart of soive herself so to focus on besides the horror of the last twenty hours, Macey looked around his houessed it was about three tie as her flat

Bookshelves lined one wall in the living room, which was furnished with two sofas and an armchair The shelves were filled with books on a variety of topics, and bibliophile that she was, Macey walked over to exa library, broad in subject and yet filled with depth Biographies, atlases, mechanical instruction y, chemistry, and physics-not toDracula and Polidori&039;s short, The Vampyre

On the kitchen table was a typewriter and sheaves of paper, which Grady tidied into a neat stack as she looked around Notebooks and pencils littered the counter and coffee table A stack of newspapers sat on the floor next to the armchair A camera with its strap looped around it was on a side table next to the chair, along with a telephone There was mail addressed to "Mr J Grady" (well, that answered the question about his name) On a compact table in the corner was a jumble of mechanical objects and tools: padlocks, keys, handcuffs, timepieces, and wires of all shapes and sizes

"I wasn&039;t expecting co and then a pair of shoes "But I&039;lad you&039;re here"

"It looks coered at the shelf over a fireplace, exa aard

The pictures were a welcome distraction Many were city streets that definitely weren&039;t Chicago There was one of Grady with his Uncle Linwood and a pleasant-looking woster crossfire Then Grady with two othereach other with beer ht, dressed in an Ar next to a broad-shouldered, muscular man who looked fanized hireat Harry Houdini Next to it was the photo of a bride and groo party Most of the i edges, stuck behind others

So different froht By contrast, Chas had nothing in his living space except furnishings, food, and whiskey He&039;d offered her his bed, but she opted for the sofa, and once she was settled, he told her he was going out

"There are a lot of hours left of the night," he told her, yanking a hat do over his forehead the United States govern a stake

This esting toast for breakfast, and infor her he&039;d be awake by noon To Macey&039;s surprise, her half-drunk glass of whiskey was still on the counter next to the e

She had no idea when Chas came back; he must have been incredibly stealthy And she had no desire to wait for hih she hadn&039;t told hi Al, for, in a blast of desperate hope, it had occurred to her she ht have been mistaken about Chelle So she&039;d scrawled her intention on the botto into her thoughts "Do you want anything?"

You

The thought popped into her head so unexpectedly and with such ferocity Macey blinked She realized it was true on many different levels, and the certainty of it baffled her

"No" She went to theand looked out, wondering how the group of children in the courtyard could be playing tag so innocently when there was sothem

Couldn&039;t they feel it? Couldn&039;t they sense it?

"You&039;re involved in soht, you can&039;t deny it anymore Tell me, Macey"

She shook her head There was simply no way to explain it and not sound looney She didn&039;t want to talk about it She wasn&039;t even ready to think about it Chelle was dead Mrs G was dead Not just dead, but tortured In Macey&039;s bed, which had been a clear and obvious warning And Flora-

She spun from the"Grady My friend, Floraoh, God, what if she&039;s next? What if they got to her?" She started for the door, but he moved swiftly and intercepted her

"Tell me her name Her address I&039;ll have Linwood check, ht" He took her shoulders, his long-fingered hands steady and warht I don&039;t knohere I haven&039;t heard froet her too" She pressed her lips together "Or Dottie" It was all she could do to keep fro to her? To her life?

"Where is she working?" Grady&039;s voice was calht her to the sofa, then picked up the telephone receiver

"I don&039;t know"

He handed her a paper and pencil "Write down her name and address I&039;ll call the station and have Linwood or sohts, she should be hoht?"

Macey took the paper and wrote Flora&039;s information on it with a shaky hand, and then Dottie&039;s as well "Will you have your uncle check both of therave "Sit down There isn&039;t anything you can do right now"

But that wasn&039;t true Not at all

Macey was a Venator The person who could make a difference, who could hunt down the bastards who&039;d killed her friend Wasn&039;t that her calling? Her responsibility?

According to Sebastian and Wayren and Chas it was But, despite the vis bulla, the training, her encounter with Iscariot, the concept was still unfathomable

Utterly exhausted-physically, mentally, emotionally-Macey wandered around Grady&039;s holance out thetold her it was many hours until dark Until the evil ones would come out She had time

She had a reprieve before she had to act Her fingers treain at the young boys playing outside, Macey noticed soo still The sill beneath her fingers was made of wood And it had a trio of silver crosses embedded in it She looked ed the three plus-shaped figures in the woodand it looked as if silver had been poured into the indentations

Startled, she spun and found Grady watching her, just as he settled the telephone receiver back into place "I did that teeks ago On everyand the threshold of the doors There&039;s the flathead screwdriver I used, right there" He pointed to the table with the tools "I ed to my aunt Had it blessed at the church, too"

Macey could only nod

"I&039;m not about to take any chances The Venators claims an undead can&039;t enter your home uninvited, but I&039;m fairly certain you didn&039;t invite in the vah your " His srave

"No But Mrs Gutchinsondid" She choked a little as she was assailed by thein her own blood Despair settled heavily over her, weighting her insides like a stone in the pit of her belly "I tried to warn her, to explain not to let anyone she didn&039;t know into the house"

"But you can&039;t really explain that to just anyone Can you? Macey You know I know You know you can tell me I have my suspicions, but I&039;d rather hear it from you"

She looked away The desire to tell hi in her heart and ant hands and sharpshe could taste it But the truth was bitter and unpleasant, and she kneould change everything between them Soht" His voice was taut

That she could do "All right"

He relaxed visibly and gestured to the sofa "Sit?"

Macey shook her head "I went to see Flora and she wasn&039;t home That&039;s part of why I&039;m so worried about her But her landlady said she was at work, so I left As I alking away, an auto, the door opened and someone jumped out from behind a bush They shoved me inside There were three vampires in there"

Her stomach pitched and roiled at the ht of Chelle&039;s torn body, and the feel of the va her immobile

"They attacked estured to her neck, thankful the"But fortunately, the auto had parked in an alley, and soot me out of there"