Casa Dracula 3 - The Bride Of Casa Dracula Read Online Free PDF

enjoyed a meal of foods that had been gathered in the wild; they imbibed/smoked/snorted some natural potion that led to an evening of shape-shifting and mind-blowing revelations.
    The audience was more focused than a lobbyist on a drunken politician. Don Pedro’s knowledge of plants was disappointing. He claimed that the Aztecs had used Copelandia cyanescens, or Blue Meanies, to establish a state of communion with their gods. A former F.U. beau, devoted to exploring altered states, had informed me that that particular ’shroom was native to Australia.
    I snuck out early, thrilled that I could completely fictionalize Don Pedro’s memoir because there had seemed to be no border between fact and fantasy in the adventures he’d just recounted.
    I hied myself over to the closest main thoroughfare to grab a cab. I was surprised to see Joseph Alfred closing the trunk of his car while the traffic zoomed by him. He moved into the street and was about to open the driver’s door.
    “Joseph Alfred!” I called, raising my arm.
    He looked up, and when he saw me, he walked back around the car at the very same moment that a black sedan raced by, gathering speed as it approached. Joseph Alfred jumped out of the way and onto the hood of the car behind his, setting off a blaring alarm. There was a long painful screech as the black sedan scraped along the side of his car.
    In the few short steps it took me to get to him, the black sedan was gone, hidden in the crowd of cars that followed.
    “Are you all right?” I said.
    Joseph Alfred slid off the car’s hood to stand on the sidewalk.
    After he finished a long stream of curses he said, “Huh? Yeah, I think so.”
    “Damn, that was close. Did you get the license plate number? We can call the police.”
    He blinked and said, “Forget about it.”
    “You could have been killed!”
    “Nah, I don’t think so.” He smiled and said loudly over the car alarm, “I think she just wanted to scare me.”
    “She?”
    “It was my bitch of an ex-girlfriend,” he said with a shake of his head. “So where you going, cookie?”
    “Back to Hotel Croft. I was going to grab a cab.”
    “Hop in. I’ll give you a lift.” He went out to the driver’s side and I followed to examine the long, shallow dent. “This is gonna cost me.”
    “I can’t believe how blasé you are about this.” We got in his car and he merged into traffic. “You should bring charges against her.”
    “No way. She’d love the attention. Look, I don’t feel like dwelling on it right now. Do you want to get some coffee or a drink?”
    “I can’t. I’ve got two appointments to interview wedding planners. My fiancé and I are getting married at the end of summer.” “Fiancé” still sounded like a joke word to me, like “fricassee” and “fiduciary.”
    “All the sane ones are taken.”
    I was flattered that he considered me sane. “So why does your ex hate you so virulently?”
    “Because she’s a psycho.” He let out a sharp snort of laughter. “I had to chew my arm off to escape that trap.”
    “Everyone has her quirks.” What would he think if he knew about mine? “Was your girlfriend also a plant biologist?”
    “She’s in the medical field and was interested in my work on transgenic plants and recombinant DNA. I was checking out her body and missed the crazy behind the eyes.”
    “That will teach you to look at a woman’s face.”
    “I’m a man. I can only focus on one thing at a time. Sometimes two,” he said with a wolfish grin.
    We were discussing bioethics when we arrived at the Croft. I thanked him for the ride, urged him to contact the police, but he just laughed and grabbed my hand, sending a little zing through me. “So when am I gonna see you again?”
    “What part of ‘engaged’ didn’t you get?”
    “That’s what makes you more…interesting.” He turned his body toward mine and continued grinning. “It’s the chase. The rush of the deer bounding away, trying to