"You mean... Melbourne plans to turn Sweetland residents into vampires? Which residents?"

  "I can't say for certain, but my guess would be the people he's closest to. Your Aunt Trixie. That girl who worked for him at Coffee Cove. Your friend."

  "Lucy?"

  "That's the one."

  "Is that it?"

  "Just one more person that I can think of."

  "Who?"

  "You."

  * * *

  2 2

  * * *

  "Remind me what we're doing here," Lucy said as we rounded the corner of Melbourne's living room.

  "We're looking for a book. The Last Vampire."

  "And why is it important?"

  "Because everyone wants it."

  Lucy shrugged. "Who's everyone?"

  I looked at her, wondering for the hundredth time whether I should fill her in on Melbourne's reappearance, as well as his duplicitous agenda for Sweetland Cove. She'd been very fond of him when he was alive. That is, when she'd thought he was alive. Maybe I should at least tell her he wasn't really dead. I finally shook my head.

  "You're safer not knowing. Besides, the details are so confusing right now I can hardly keep track of things myself."

  Lucy sighed. "I'm not exactly a frail little pup, you know. I'm better at casting than you plus I grew up around this stuff. Vampires and witches aren't as scary to me as they sometimes are to you. So, I'm gonna give you another day to think it over, then I'm demanding answers."

  "Fair enough," I told her.

  Honestly, I was glad Lucy was setting an ultimatum for me. I had to tell someone about all this before I lost my mind. Trixie knew Melbourne was alive, but I had no intention of telling her that the vampire she loved was a back-stabbing no-good. She'd cried enough over him since thinking he was dead, I didn't want to cause her any more tears.

  When I'd finally let Russell out of the bakery, he'd gone in search of "important information" and told me he'd be back when he had something to report. It was vague but I figured it was one of those things that was probably just too complicated for him to explain. Next time I saw him, I'd see if I could get more details.

  In the meantime, that gave me time to talk to Colt. He needed to know that Russell was alive. Russell agreed but had no idea how to approach him himself. I'd called Colt and left him a voicemail telling him I needed to talk to him. I said it was a matter of life and death. I kept checking my phone to see if he'd texted or called. I didn't want to miss it if he did. So far, nothing.

  "Is it a hardback or a paperback?" Lucy asked, walking over to a bookcase.

  "I have no idea."

  She started going through the rows of books, pulling each one out and carefully checking before moving on to the next one.

  "I've already checked all the bookshelves," I told her.

  "Maybe you missed something," she said.

  "I suppose." For some reason, I wasn't harboring much hope. I had the feeling that if Melbourne had wanted to hide something, he'd have chosen a less obvious spot.

  It bothered me that he said he'd simply forgotten where he'd put the book. I was ditzy sometimes, sure, but that was with things like house keys and paper clips, not books that apparently held the power of life and death within their covers.

  I stopped and turned around, suddenly feeling like someone was watching me.

  "Lucy?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Do you hear anything?"

  She stopped walking around and started listening instead.

  "I don't think so," she said.

  "Are you sure?"

  We stood stock still for several minutes. I could hear her breathing. "Ava, there's nothing there. What is it that you think you hear?"

  I shrugged and tried to play it off. "Never mind. I'm just sleep deprived is all. I'm hearing things."

  Lucy looked at me skeptically. My heart was racing but I tried not to show it. Was I just being paranoid?

  "Maybe we should go," I told her.

  "Go? But we only just got here."

  "Yeah, I know, but, um... well, I'm not so sure the book is here, after all."

  Lucy slammed her hand against one of the open shelves in the bookcase. It made a loud slapping noise. "Dang it, Ava! What in the wizarding world is going on? First you drag me down here looking for a book that you swear is so important that life as we know hinges on finding the thing—"

  "I never said that!" I yelled at her.

  "You may as well have, the way you've been acting. Now, you tell me you've made some sort of mistake? That the book you dragged me here to find might not even be here? Are you on some sort of medication I should know about?"

  "No, it's just... it's complicated."

  "Ava, I'm your friend, not your parent. Just tell me whatever's going on."

  I wanted to, but how was I supposed to tell my best friend that it had just occurred to me that the whole reason Melbourne wanted me to come here might have been not to find this book he was after, but because his place was deserted.

  If he really wanted to turn me into a vampire, where could he have found a more isolated spot? And I had dragged Lucy here with me, giving him an opportunity to take us both out at once. I wondered what it would be like to change into a vampire anyway? What had Russell felt when it happened to him? Had it hurt? Had it changed his body or mind in any way? Were his thoughts still his or did they belong to some retired version of himself now?

  There was talk of the town taking over Melbourne's house if no one claimed it—they had ninety days—but not one person had expressed an interest in buying it. Anastasia Peacock's store was already up for sale, and it looked as though that woman from Florida was about to place her bid, but no one wanted to mess with the house of dead vampire. I wondered about the woman who would be taking over the Alchemic Stone. What kind of person was okay with dark magic and draugar? No one besides the realtor had seen the Florida woman yet, maybe she was as crazy as Anastasia.

  It just went to show how frightened people were by vampires. The town hadn't stopped talking about forming some sort of vigilante group to run all vampires out of Heavenly Haven. Lottie Mudget was helping on the committee to get things started. So far, Sheriff Knoxx had been able to keep people at bay, but he didn't know how much longer he could do it.

  "Ava?" Lucy asked, and I realized I'd been staring motionlessly at her.

  "Sorry. I was just thinking... hypothetically speaking, what if I told you that Melbourne wasn't really dead?"

  "Hypothetically? I'd say you were crazy."

  I smiled uneasily. "What if I could prove it?"

  "How?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

  "What if I wasn’t the only one who'd seen him?"

  She looked at me hard for a second. "Are we still talking hypotheticals here?"

  "Here's another hypothetical for you. What if Melbourne and Vlaski Ambrose were working together?"

  "On what?"

  "On finding a way to enslave the human and paranormal population."

  "I think I'd still say you were crazy." Her fingers started twitching. Her head twitched with them.

  I nodded and tried to smile. "Don't worry, Luce. It's just hypotheticals." I could see she was freaked out and didn't want to keep going down this line of conversation. My phone rang just then, giving me an easy out. I picked up.

  "Hello?"

  "Ava, it's me." Colt's voice rang through the line. Until I heard it, I didn't realize how much I'd missed him. It had only been a few days, but so much had happened in that time and I missed not being able to share it with him. Especially since so much of it concerned him.

  "Thanks for calling me back," I said.

  He grunted. "It sounded important."

  "It is."

  We sat on the line in silence. Lucy was mouthing words at me, asking me who it was and what was going on. I told her it was Colt.

  "Um, I just... I was hoping we could get together. Maybe this evening?"

  "Just tell me what it is that's so life and death important."

  "I can't talk about it over the phone," I said.

  He paused, considering. "Is it to do with Melbourne?"

  "Yes."

  He sighed. "Okay, fine. Meet me at Riggin's Ice Cream Shop at seven."

  "Great, thanks, I will." Melbourne's cuckoo clock went off just then, blasting my ear drums.

  "What is that?" Colt asked.

  "Nothing," I said, "just a cuckoo clock."

  I could hear him breathing. "Are you at Melbourne's?" he asked angrily.

  "No," I lied. The cuckoo clock went off again, repeating its first warning that it was three o'clock.

  "Yes, you are." He waited for me to respond.

  "All right, I am. Look, I know you didn't want me coming down here, but it's important."

  "I can't believe you. You're calling me from a break-in. I gave you a chance, Ava, you just blew it."

  "What does that mean?" I asked, alarmed.

  "It means forget about the ice cream shop. I don't have anything to say to you and don't care what you want to say to me. Goodbye."

  He hung up. The cuckoo clock chimed a third time.

  "Oh, shut up!" I yelled at it and stormed out of the house.

  * * *

  2 3

  * * *

  So far, everything I was doing seemed to be wrong. I had a continuing list in my head of all the things I'd messed up as of late. At the top of it was Colt. Just beneath that was trusting Melbourne. And below that was not finding that darned book.

  I stood behind the cash register at Mystic, trying to keep my eyes open. I'd barely slept through the night. Snowball came running into the bakery, followed by Rocky and Tootsie. They sat staring at me. It was just after ten and our morning rush had dipped down for a bit. Eleanor and Trixie had taken the opportunity to run out and pick up some new baking sheets, leaving me alone out front and my father in back frosting cupcakes.

  "Can I help you three with something?" I asked them. They looked awfully cute and fluffy this morning, which only made me suspicious. Tootsie looked at Snowball and nudged her forward. Snowball was basically a full-grown cat now, at least physically. Mentally, I suspected she would always behave like the kitten she was when I found her.

  Snowball stepped forward, looking around to make sure we were alone. "Snowball, Tootsie, and Rocky smell vampire," she said, then settled back on her haunches as if this covered everything.

  I looked from one to the other of them. They were nodding in agreement.

  "Well," I finally said, "there are vampires around Heavenly Haven. You three know that."

  Snowball stood up and started wagging her tail. "Yes, but we smell them on Mama. Snowball smells Melbourne. Mama has been near vampires. And the town talks of vampires as bad. Snowball is worried."

  She nodded her head emphatically, and I realized that this was a sort of an intervention. The three familiars in my life had banded together to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid.

  "Mama is fine," I told Snowball, coming out from behind the counter and scratching behind her ears. She purred loudly. I went down the line and scratched each of their heads. Rocky, Eleanor's wolfhound, let out a surprisingly loud "yip!" and thumped his tail on the floor.

  Tootsie arched her back. "Tootsie loves Ava. Tootsie smells Melbourne on Trixie, too. They have been together." Tootsie's eyes widened questioningly. There was no putting anything past these guys.

  "You don't have to worry," I told them.

  Rocky's deep voice cut me off. "Sweetland wants to kill vampires. Will witches with vampires be hurt, too?"

  "Sweetland is not going to kill any vampires," I said. "Well, not all vampires. Trixie and I will be fine. You guys are sweet to worry, but you don't have to. I promise you that Trixie and I will be safe."

  Snowball looked at the others. "Snowball said so. A witch's promise is binding." With that, the three of them turned to go.

  "Just don't mention this to anyone else," I told them before they were out the door. "Please."

  "Familiars will say nothing," Snowball assured me. Eleanor and Trixie came through the front door just as the three of them were walking out. They said hello and Tootsie informed Trixie she would be having tuna for lunch today. Snowball informed me of the same. Rocky told Eleanor that he was still working on his bone from breakfast and did not need tuna. Yuck.

  They stepped outside and a tourist nearly tripped over them. "Sorry," Tootsie said and carried on. The tourist, a large woman in a muumuu, watched them walk together down the sidewalk with her jaw hanging open. She blinked, shook her head, then continued on her way, certain that she was imagining things. There were no such things as talking cats.

  Sheriff Knoxx was with Eleanor when they came in. They were discussing wedding plans.

  "I hope Mayor Thomas's new plan doesn't affect ours," Eleanor said. She seemed upset.

  "Now, Eleanor," the sheriff said, laying one hand gently on her arm. "Mayor Thomas is just blowing a lot of smoke. That's all."

  "Tell that to Mistmoor." Trixie laughed.

  "Are people still talking about his Mayor-for-All Rule?" I asked them.

  "That's right," Eleanor said. "The word around town is that Mistmoor is as unhappy about it as you might have predicted. They're talking about war."

  "War?" For some reason, I just couldn't take the threat seriously. People went to war over dictatorships and crazed religious beliefs, not who was or wasn't going to be mayor of a small island off the coast of Florida.

  "It's not funny," Eleanor said, eyeing Trixie who was shaking her head and trying to keep a straight face.

  "I'm sorry," Trixie said. "The whole thing seems ridiculous."

  "I agree," I told them. "Can't Mistmoor just let Tazzie Singer stay mayor, if worse comes to worst?"

  Sheriff Knoxx shook his head. "Tazzie Singer is currently acting mayor. The only way to make it official is to run an election."

  "So why haven't they yet?"

  The door to the bakery chimed and Natalie Vargas stepped inside. Her kids weren't with her today, and I was grateful not to have to try and talk them out of each buying their own cake.

  "Did I hear someone mention Mistmoor?" Natalie asked brightly. How she could have heard that from outside the bakery boggled my mind, unless she'd been listening in.

  I looked around for a voice bumper. The higher end models were as tiny as an ant and could easily be used to listen to conversations without anyone ever finding out. But why would Natalie be listening to our conversations?

  "Hello, Natalie," Trixie said, cutting off Eleanor before she could say something she might regret. Eleanor didn't care much for Natalie. "We were just discussing Mayor Thomas's plan to rule Mistmoor."

  "Oh, I think it's a great idea," Natalie said. "It's about time this island of ours come under one rule, don't you think?"

  Eleanor gritted her teeth together. Sheriff Knoxx grabbed ahold of her hand and squeezed. "I think that part of what makes Heavenly Haven so great is that we have two distinct and diverse towns."

  Natalie nodded. "Well, that's certainly one opinion." She turned to me. "Ava, I hear your friend's sister has applied for Rachel Sessler's old position. I hope she knows what she's getting herself into. Things didn't work out so well for Rachel."

  I cocked my head to the side. "My friend's sister?" My mind shot into overdrive trying to figure out who she was referring to. "You don't mean Megan Lockwood."

  "But of course. I assumed you knew."

  "No. I didn't."

  Natalie looked momentarily disappointed, and I realized she'd been hoping she could pump me for information. She brightened again when she realized that meant she got to fill me in on the gossip. "Megan applied for the position a few days ago. She's been hounding Mayor Thomas's office ever since then, from what I hear. She seems quite intent on getting what she wants."

  I wondered what could have possibly made Megan decided she wanted to work for the mayor. She had a perfectly decent job at Coffee Cove, but maybe she didn't want to work there forever. "When you see Lucy later, make sure you tell her to keep an eye on Megan, especially if Mayor Thomas selects her as his new aide. I wouldn't want to see her get hurt."

  "Thanks. I'll tell her," I said, already wanting to run in back and grab my phone so I could call Lucy. Since when was Megan interested in politics? Did Lucy know about this? Why hadn't she said anything?

  Natalie bought a dozen bagels and headed back to wherever she'd come from and declared her next stop was Coffee Cove. She had a craving for a latte. I was pretty sure her real craving was gossip.

  The afternoon rush hit us soon after Natalie left, followed by the afternoon lull. My father had gone home early to get ready for a date with Sadie. Sheriff Lincoln Maxwell came into the shop around three. Felicity Redfern was with him.

  "Felicity!" I said, giving her a hug. Her red hair hung well past her shoulders now. It was getting really long. "Hi, Lincoln," I said, turning to him.

  He smiled politely.

  "Is Sheriff Knoxx around?"

  Eleanor answered, "He was here earlier but left some time ago. I think he's at the station."

  "Just checked there," Lincoln said. "He must be out making the rounds. I know how that goes."

  "Something we can do for you?" Trixie asked. She made up a plate of chocolate chip comfort cookies and handed them out.

  "Thanks," Lincoln and Felicity said, each taking one.

  "Is everything all right?" Eleanor inquired.

  "Sure, nothing to worry about."

  Eleanor and I exchanged a look.

  Felicity sighed and shook her head. "When you say it like that, it makes it sound like you have bad news," Felicity told Lincoln.

  "Why? I said it wasn't anything to worry about."

  "Precisely." She looked at me and my aunts. "We just wanted to let Sheriff Knoxx know that Mistmoor is running its mayoral race this week."

  "Oh? That's great news!" Trixie cried. "Maybe now Mayor Thomas will settle down about this silly rule of his."

  "Well, that's why we're here," Lincoln said. "There's only a few days left before the Mayor-for-All Rule is supposed to go into effect. We should have our new mayor elected before then, but he should know that if something were to happen, well... Mistmoor won't go quietly."