Incubus Dreams Read Online Free PDF

would.”
    â€œSo one of our vamps is an old one.” Dolph was still making notes.
    â€œNot necessarily old, but powerful, and that usually means old.” I thought about it. “Someone with good mind control powers—that I’m sure of—age,” I shrugged, “I don’t know, yet.”
    He was still writing in his notebook.
    â€œNow, can I move the Dumpster and move the body around, or do you still need the techies to get back in there and do their thing first?”
    â€œI had them wait for you,” he said without looking up from his writing.
    I looked at him, tried to learn something from his face, but he was all concentration and business. It was a step up that he’d had the techs wait for me. And that he’d called me at all. Before his time off, he’d tried to get me barred from crime scenes. It was a step up, so why was I still wondering if Dolph was capable of letting his personal life go long enough to solve this case? Because, once you’ve seen someone you trusted lose it completely, you never truly trust them again, not completely.

4
    T HERE WAS A matching set of bite marks on the other side of her neck. They were so close to the same size as the ones on the left-hand side, that I wondered if the same vamp had bitten twice. I didn’t have my ruler with me. Hell, I didn’t have most of my equipment with me. I’d been planning on a wedding tonight, not a crime scene.
    I asked if anyone had something to measure bite radius. One of the techs offered to measure for me. Fine with me. She had a pair of calipers—I’d never used a pair of them before.
    Measurements do not lie. It wasn’t the same vamp. Nor was it the same vamp at each of her inner thighs or her wrists. Counting the bite mark on her chest, that made seven. Seven vampires. Enough to drain an adult human being dry and leave very little blood behind.
    There was no obvious evidence of sexual assault, according to a CSU technician. Glad to hear it. I did not bother explaining that the bite alone can be orgasmic both for the vic and the killer. Not always, but often, especially if the vampire is good at fogging the mind. A vampire with enough juice can make someone enjoy being killed. Scary, but true.
    After I’d seen every inch of the dead woman, when I knew that her pale flesh might dance through my dreams in their plastic shoes, Dolph wanted to talk.
    â€œTalk to me,” he said.
    I knew what he wanted. “Seven vamps. One has to be good enough at mind control to have made the vic enjoy what was happening, or at least not mind it. Someone would have heard her screams otherwise.”
    â€œHave you walked into the club?” he asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œMusic is loud, lots of people inside,” he said.
    â€œSo they might not have heard her, even if she did scream?”
    He nodded.
    I sighed. “There’s no sign of a struggle. They’ll look at her nails, but therewon’t be any sign of a fight. The vic didn’t even know what was happening, or at least not until it was way too late.”
    â€œYou’re sure of that?”
    I thought for a second or two. “No, I’m not sure. It’s my best educated guess, but maybe she’s one of those people that doesn’t fight back. Maybe once seven vampires surrounded her, she just gave up. I don’t know. What kind of person was Charlene Morresey? Was she a fighter?”
    â€œDon’t know yet,” Dolph said.
    â€œIf she was a fighter, then vampire mind tricks were used. If she wasn’t, if she was real docile, then maybe not. Maybe we’re looking for a bunch of young vamps.” I shook my head. “But I’d say not. I’d say at least one, maybe more, were old, and good at doing at this.”
    â€œThey hid the body,” he said.
    I finished the thought for him, “And then exposed it, so that someone would find it.”
    He nodded.