Incubus Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page A

boyfriend.”
    â€œIt’s nice that you said if it’s a vamp kill, but if you mean Jean-Claude, then it might not be his people at all.”
    â€œOh, that’s right, you got two vampire boyfriends now.” His voice was ugly.
    â€œYou want to fight each other, or fight crime? Your choice,” I said.
    He made a visible effort to control himself. Hands in fists at his sides, eyes closed, deep breaths. He’d been forced to go through anger management training. I watched him use his newfound skills. Then he opened his eyes—cold cop eyes—and said, “You’re defending the vamps already.”
    â€œI’m not saying it’s not a vamp kill. All I said was that it might not be Jean-Claude’s people. That’s all.”
    â€œBut you’re defending your boyfriend and his people already. You haven’t even looked at the vic completely, and already you say it can’t be your lover boy.”
    I felt my eyes grow cold and said, “I’m not saying it couldn’t have been Jean-Claude’s vampires. I’m saying it’s unlikely. Thanks to the Church of Eternal Life, St. Louis has a lot of bloodsuckers that don’t owe allegiance to the Master of the City.”
    â€œThe church’s members are more straitlaced than right-wing Christians,” he said.
    I shrugged. “They do come off as sanctimonious, I’ll grant you that. Most true believers do, but that’s not why I say it was them, or strangers, instead of the vampires I know best.”
    â€œWhy, then?” he asked.
    My only excuse for telling the absolute truth is that I was pissed and tired of Dolph being mad at me. “Because if any of Jean-Claude’s people did this, they’re dead. Either he’ll turn them in to the law himself, or have me do it, or they’ll just be killed.”
    â€œYou’re admitting that your boyfriend is a murderer?”
    I took in a deep breath and let it out slow. “You know, Dolph, this is getting old. Yeah, I’m fucking a vampire or two, get over it.”
    He looked away. “I don’t know how.”
    â€œThen learn,” I said. “But stop letting your personal shit rain all over the crime scene. We’ve wasted time arguing, when I could have been looking at the body. I want these people caught.”
    â€œPeople, plural?” he asked.
    â€œI’ve only seen two bite marks, but they both have a slightly different pattern to them. The one on the chest is smaller, less space between the fangs. So, yeah, at least two, but I’m betting more.”
    â€œWhy?” he asked.
    â€œBecause they bled her out. There’s almost no blood anywhere. Two vamps couldn’t drain an adult human being without leaving a mess. They’d need more mouths to hold that much blood.”
    â€œMaybe she was killed somewhere else.”
    I frowned at him. “It’s October, she’s outside wearing five-inch plastic stilettos, an inexpensive wool coat, and not much else.” I motioned at the building behind us. “We’re in the parking lot of a strip club. Hmm, let me see, five-inch plastic stilettos, naked woman . . . could this be a clue that she worked here, stepped out for a smoke, or something?”
    Dolph reached into his pocket and got out his ever-present notebook. “She’s been identified as one Charlene Morresey, twenty-two, works as a stripper—worked, as a stripper. Yes, she did smoke, but she told one of the other girls she was going outside for a breath of fresh air.”
    â€œWe know she probably didn’t know the vamps.”
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œShe came out to get some air, not to visit.”
    He nodded and made a note. “There’s no sign of a struggle, yet. It’s like she came out here for air and just walked over there with them. She wouldn’t do that for strangers.”
    â€œIf she was under mind control, she