Natural Foods and be back here to meet up with the terrible trio.” Sven unlocked his cell phone, checked the time and pointed to the glowing face to emphasise his point.
I groaned. I forgot. Not only are there vampires, but I’m supposed to go play ghost hunter with a trio of nut balls. I dropped back onto the bed.
Vance rolled over and landed on top of me. I looked up at him. “What?”
Vance stared down at me. “I will go with you.”
His breath smelled a bit like steak. Don’t get me wrong, I like my steak, especially if there is some beer and sharp cheese in the area. Although steak dinners are romantic, steak breath was not. I put a hand up in a stop gesture. “Not so fast, Romeo.”
There, my voice was not nearly as unsteady as I felt. He responded by jumping off the bed in one snake-fast move and opening the closet. Hehe, now there was a monster in the closet. Vickie’s movie about doorways and monsters popped into my head. At least it wasn’t under the bed, like that one Fred Savage movie when I was a kid… Oh, that’s right. I am insane now. I no longer make sense.
“We need to make another stop on our way,” Vance casually informed me, as if him tagging along had been decided. “Everyone thinks I am dead. As this is not so, I need to let them know. Mia cannot be charged with my murder if I am alive, so to speak, and so she must be cleared of the charges.”
Briskly removing clothes from Mia’s closet and tossing them aside, Vance did not spare a glance back at me to see my shock. “Mia? What are you talking about, charged with murder?”
Vance turned to Sven. “Does she know nothing?”
Sven shrugged, and smiled. “She just got into town. The kid was around, and I didn’t want to freak her out. Can I watch you change?”
“Get out, lover boy, and take the screamer with you.”
“As if I wanted to stay.” I huffed and tried to ignore the expanse of creamy white chest Vance exposed as he removed his shirt. The hole from my steak knife had closed and left no mark to show he’d been recently stabbed. Another wave of dizziness came and went in my head.
Stomping into the kitchen, I opened cupboard doors at random. No liquor. Damned health nuts. I pulled out a bottle of water instead and took a good long chug. Lurking against the far wall, Sven watched me. “Honey, when they say you can kill a vampire with a stake, they don’t mean a steak knife.”
“Shut up. What was he talking about when he said that Mia was charged with murder?”
“Oh, Mia had to leave town for something else, too. You see, yesterday at, like, noon? They found Vance’s body in a dumpster in the back of an abandoned building. Lucky for him it took them hours to clear the scene and do all of their stuff, or they would have brought him out in the sun and, poof, no more mega-old-hunk. Anyway, he looked dead. I mean, it was daylight. He was kind of dead, but not murdered. The last person seen with him alive was Mia, so she became the prime suspect. But, like, how do you prove that you didn’t kill a vampire? I mean, he is kind of dead.”
“I see.” Okay, I didn’t see, exactly, but I had read a few books with vampires, so it made about as much sense as one could expect.
“I brought tall, dark and undead back here and stuffed him in a closet, figuring we could fix the whole thing tomorrow, once Vance was in better shape. But, right before you got here, they found another body. It was Madame Zulu, and she is this psychic friend—”
“Like a real psychic friend?”
“No, she is a friend of Mia’s who is also a psychic. Stay with me, honey. Anyway, she was found murdered in the same way. Well, not the same way, since Vance is alive, well, undead…” Sven puttered off for a minute, apparently considering the complexity of the situation. “This is harder to explain to an outsider than I thought it would be. No wonder Mia had a hard time with the police.”
I nodded. Yup, if I was
I groaned. I forgot. Not only are there vampires, but I’m supposed to go play ghost hunter with a trio of nut balls. I dropped back onto the bed.
Vance rolled over and landed on top of me. I looked up at him. “What?”
Vance stared down at me. “I will go with you.”
His breath smelled a bit like steak. Don’t get me wrong, I like my steak, especially if there is some beer and sharp cheese in the area. Although steak dinners are romantic, steak breath was not. I put a hand up in a stop gesture. “Not so fast, Romeo.”
There, my voice was not nearly as unsteady as I felt. He responded by jumping off the bed in one snake-fast move and opening the closet. Hehe, now there was a monster in the closet. Vickie’s movie about doorways and monsters popped into my head. At least it wasn’t under the bed, like that one Fred Savage movie when I was a kid… Oh, that’s right. I am insane now. I no longer make sense.
“We need to make another stop on our way,” Vance casually informed me, as if him tagging along had been decided. “Everyone thinks I am dead. As this is not so, I need to let them know. Mia cannot be charged with my murder if I am alive, so to speak, and so she must be cleared of the charges.”
Briskly removing clothes from Mia’s closet and tossing them aside, Vance did not spare a glance back at me to see my shock. “Mia? What are you talking about, charged with murder?”
Vance turned to Sven. “Does she know nothing?”
Sven shrugged, and smiled. “She just got into town. The kid was around, and I didn’t want to freak her out. Can I watch you change?”
“Get out, lover boy, and take the screamer with you.”
“As if I wanted to stay.” I huffed and tried to ignore the expanse of creamy white chest Vance exposed as he removed his shirt. The hole from my steak knife had closed and left no mark to show he’d been recently stabbed. Another wave of dizziness came and went in my head.
Stomping into the kitchen, I opened cupboard doors at random. No liquor. Damned health nuts. I pulled out a bottle of water instead and took a good long chug. Lurking against the far wall, Sven watched me. “Honey, when they say you can kill a vampire with a stake, they don’t mean a steak knife.”
“Shut up. What was he talking about when he said that Mia was charged with murder?”
“Oh, Mia had to leave town for something else, too. You see, yesterday at, like, noon? They found Vance’s body in a dumpster in the back of an abandoned building. Lucky for him it took them hours to clear the scene and do all of their stuff, or they would have brought him out in the sun and, poof, no more mega-old-hunk. Anyway, he looked dead. I mean, it was daylight. He was kind of dead, but not murdered. The last person seen with him alive was Mia, so she became the prime suspect. But, like, how do you prove that you didn’t kill a vampire? I mean, he is kind of dead.”
“I see.” Okay, I didn’t see, exactly, but I had read a few books with vampires, so it made about as much sense as one could expect.
“I brought tall, dark and undead back here and stuffed him in a closet, figuring we could fix the whole thing tomorrow, once Vance was in better shape. But, right before you got here, they found another body. It was Madame Zulu, and she is this psychic friend—”
“Like a real psychic friend?”
“No, she is a friend of Mia’s who is also a psychic. Stay with me, honey. Anyway, she was found murdered in the same way. Well, not the same way, since Vance is alive, well, undead…” Sven puttered off for a minute, apparently considering the complexity of the situation. “This is harder to explain to an outsider than I thought it would be. No wonder Mia had a hard time with the police.”
I nodded. Yup, if I was
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