La Vida Vampire

“What happened at Scarlett’s?”


At Sandy’s nod, I went through the scene from the time Cami came out with the Starbloods bottle to the time I had it taken off the couple’s bill. Maybe repeating the story several times already had desensitized me, because I even got through the part about Yolette’s pass with relative ease. Relative being I didn’t stammer when Saber arched a haughty brow.

“So Stony threatened the victim,” March said. “What did he say exactly?”

“Close as I remember, he said, ‘I’ll kill you before you screw a vampire in my town.’”

“He said ‘in my town’? He lives here?”

“That’s the impression he gave. He sounded like a sheriff in an old B Western.” I smiled. “No offense.”

March flashed a tired grin.

Saber pushed up from his chair, and the legs thudded on the thin carpet. “Are you homophobic?” Saber shot at me. “Did the victim’s pass humiliate you?”

“Humiliate, no. Surprise, yes. I mean, a threesome on their honeymoon? Call me old-fashioned, but that’s just odd.”

“All right,” March said, “let’s go through Tuesday’s tour.”

I told him about the writers, about Yolette wanting Stony kicked off the tour, and about the apparent tiff between the newlyweds. Saber glowered and paced.

“So the guy you call Stony didn’t cause trouble Tuesday?”

“Not a bit. He and Gomer hung at the back of the group.”

“Who the hell is Gomer?” Saber snapped.

“One of the tourists reminded me of Gomer Pyle. His name is Holland Peters.”

“He on both tours, too?” March asked.

I nodded. “He told me Stony had been in Palatka and Hastings recruiting for the Covenant.”

March shot a glance at Saber, who shrugged and said, “First I’ve heard of it.”

Saber pulled a small square from his inner jacket pocket and shoved it toward me. It was a snapshot of a brunette woman with a pointed chin and flashing eyes.

“You know her?” he asked. “Look carefully before you answer.”

I gazed at the picture long enough to satisfy him. “I can’t be absolutely sure I’ve never seen her on the street, but she’s not familiar. Why?”

“She was murdered in Daytona Beach last Friday.”

“I haven’t been to Daytona.”

“She was a vampire in the nest there. Ike’s second-in-command. You heard from Ike lately?”

“First, nests are supposed to be illegal. Second, I’ve never heard from Ike, never met him, and I’ll be fine if I never do.”

“He hasn’t contacted you at all?”

“Why should he? Vampires don’t do Welcome Wagon gift baskets.”

“Detectives,” Sandy said, “we’ve been at this for close to two hours. My client has been more than open with you. She obviously had no reason to be involved in either of these women’s deaths.”

“But can she account for her movements since Tuesday night?” Saber asked.

“She can. What’s more, the GPS tracker has recorded her movements for months now.”

March cleared his throat. “The tracker should do exactly that, Counselor, but Ms. Marinelli’s tracker stopped sending signals on Monday night.”

“It what?” I blinked at March, touched my right upper arm. “That was three days ago! I’m supposed to be notified if I fall off the radar for more than an hour.”

“Apparently there’s a glitch in the system,” March said.

Sandy turned to me. “No wonder your arm ached. Stony must’ve damaged the tracker.”

“By doing what?” Saber scoffed. “Manhandling you a little?”

I gaped at him, and maybe March and Sandy did, too, because the room fell silent.

“You know,” I said steadily, “I could have filed assault charges if I’d known Stony’s real name. Just because I heal quickly doesn’t mean I can’t be hurt.” I stared at Saber’s sunglasses a long moment and added, “If you prick me, I will bleed.”

“I’ve pricked you this evening, Ms. Marinelli. You plan to bleed me?”

“Hardly. Pay attention, Mr. Saber. I. Don’t. Bite. People.”

“Why not?”

“Because you never know where they’ve been.”

I looked pointedly away from Saber to Sandy. “Resign as my counsel if you want, but I’m done. Detective March—” I cut my gaze to him. “I believe the phrase is charge me or let me go.”

“I’m not prepared to charge you.” He sighed and dug into his jacket pocket. “Here. The VPA sent this by courier.”

March handed me a small disc sealed in plastic. A new Vampire Protection Agency tracker.

“Thank you,” I said. “To show good faith, I’ll leave you with a few facts.” I leaned forward and tapped on his tablet. “You might want to write this down, since your hotshot preternatural investigator apparently hasn’t filled you in.

“First, in addition to a lot of other information, the VPA has a cast of my fangs on file. Call Dave Corey at the Jacksonville office to access them. They won’t match the victim’s marks, because my teeth are wider.”