Deep In The Woods

The fates were against me today. A trip that should have taken only thirty minutes to complete, it’s been over two hours and I was still fvcking stuck in traffic. Why today of all days?

In hindsight, it was kind of poetic. I mean, I was already having the day from hell, so why not just add insult to my injury? I tried Josie’s number again while I stewed in the traffic that was at a complete standstill, but she still wasn’t picking.

Forty terribly long minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of Braille enterprises. The original building had been demolished, but after four years of hard work, the right connections and several loans, Arthur Braille had bought not one but two large warehouses and turned them into the company headquarters.




“Good morning Mr. Callahan.” Roxie, the receptionist, smiled when I walked into the office building.




“Morning Roxie. Is Josie here?” I asked impatiently. I was tired and frustrated and I just wanted to get this day over with.




“She already left Mr. Callahan.” Of course she did. That was just how my luck rolled.




I mumbled through gritted teeth, trying my best not to curse my frustrations out on the poor woman. “Did she tell you where she was going?”




“No. But I know she’s grabbing a quick lunch with Miss Woods.”




Miss Woods? "Charlotte is here?” What on earth was Jo up to now?




“Yes she was, but she and Miss Braille left for lunch just a few minutes ago.”




“And you have no idea where they could be having lunch?”




She smiled sheepishly. “I’m afraid not sir. You could call her to find out.”




Gee, why didn’t I think of that before? It’s not like she was avoiding me or something.




“Thanks for your help.”




I walked out of the office, unsure what my next move was. well, I could always send her a voice message detailing what I thought of her childish act of avoiding my calls but that will only send her further into hiding. I would feel better if I vented but it wouldn’t help my cause any.

What was Josie planning? Not knowing her intent made me nervous, and she would never have come to the office a few hours to her meeting with her father’s kidnapper for no good reason. She was planning something, I just knew it, but what? Charlotte had a degree in business management and was currently working for a very prestigious accounting firm but she would be of no help against a vampire on the warpath.

‘Damn it!’ I smacked myself in the head as the true situations of things hit me. I was a fucking fool. I knew that Vladimir was a vengeful vamp but Josie didn’t. As far as she was concerned, she was going to meet an oligarch who probably wanted either money or a share of her father’s company and she was planning accordingly. 

Now if I could only find her before she put whatever harebrained plan she had into action.

My chest clenched when I was hit by a terrible notion. What if Jo decided to take Char along to the meeting? Jo, for all her impulsiveness was not stupid and she understood that she was walking into a potentially dangerous situation and she would have taken a precautionary step probably in the form of Char or god forbid putting her social butterfly RuPaul and the journalists on standby. Oh dear god! It was something she would totally do!

I needed to find her, Now!




Fuming silently at Josie’s impatience -seriously, would it kill her to just wait? She knew I would come to the house eventually- I dialed her number again. And once again, the little brat ignored me. I debated sending an angry text but that would only make her dig in her heels until she had accomplished what she wanted and in this case, I couldn’t let that happen.

Struck by a bout of inspiration, I called Charlotte instead. Char was Josie’s best friend. The two had met in college and struck a fast friendship that had lasted longer than anyone expected. Where Josie was an hyperactive, impulsive chipmunk, Char was as calm as a flowing river. She was gentle and soft spoken, which must have been the result of growing up in a convent. I always thought Jo’s larger than life personality would overshadow her but somehow she always held her own. Maybe that was why their friendship had lasted so long. Jo was the ying to her yang. Where she would think things through-actually, any other person in the world would think anything through before doing it- Josie would just jump in with both feet and deal with the fall out later.




“Hi Grayson.” Char’s soft spoken voice rang out over the speaker of my phone.




“Hey Char. How you doing?” I replied as calmly as I could. I was chomping at the bit to get Josie pon the phone but I didn’t want to rouse Charlotte’s suspicions. She could get very protective of her friend.




“I’m good  …..family?” The clickety clack of a train blared by and drowned out part of Char’s sentence.




“Sorry, I didn’t get that. Where are you?”




“I was just asking about your family. I’m at the train station, I have to go home to my mother.” Her voice caught on a sob.




“Is there a problem Char? Is your mum okay?”




“Yes, I think? I’m not sure. She fell earlier today. Pastor James called to inform me that she was at the hospital. I won’t know how bad it is until I get home.”




“That’s awful. I hope she gets better.” If she was traveling back home to Sandpoint, who was with Josie? “Is Josie there with you?”




“No. She has an important appointment tonight. Actually, I should have gone with but then pastor James called.” Called it! I knew she planned on taking Char with her. A pang of guilt shot through me unannounced. Ordinarily, she would have asked me to go with her but I’d bitten her head off when Vladimir showed up at the house and she’d had no option but to turn to Char. 




“So she’s not with you? Do you know where she went?”




“She went to the appointment. She said it had something to do with getting her dad released. I really think she should let the police handle this but she disagreed.”




Sounded exactly like do it all Josie. “Yeah, she gets ahead of herself sometimes. Do you know where the meeting will take place, or with whom?”




“I don’t know who she is meeting up with, only that it was deep in the woods and very far away.”




Deep in the woods? The Blood shadow’s coven was deep in the woods and was more than three hours away. Josie was going to meet Vladimir all on her own. Shit!




“How long ago did she leave for her appointment?” I growled down the phone even as I jumped into my truck and turned the ignition.




“About ten minutes ago?” She croaked.




Good, she wasn’t too far ahead. If I left now, I could beat her there. “Okay. Thanks Char. I’ve got to go now. Please keep me updated about your mum, and if you need anything, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to call me.”




“Thanks Grayson. That means a lot to me. Talk to you later.”




“Yeah, later.” I hung up and reversed the car and drove towards the Blood Shadow coven.