La Vida Vampire

“Maybe,” I said, poking my key in the lock, “but it’s not happening.”


I was tired, stressed and, where Saber was concerned, too interested for my own good. Plus, maybe I’d watched one too many mysteries, but Cat was spooking me out more than she had on Monday. I couldn’t stop her from showing up, but I sure as heck didn’t have to follow her.

Cat stalked back and rrryyyow ed pitifully as she sat near the stoop.

“Come on, Princess, where’s your sense of adventure?”

“It’s Cesca and, hello, finding a dead body is enough adventure for one day.”

He glanced down at Cat. “Is she always this prickly?”

I swear Cat shrugged her shoulders. “Rrryyyow.”

As the door shut, I heard him say, “See you tomorrow.” Oddly, it sounded more like a promise than a threat, but that would be civil bordering on mannerly. Saber was only setting a trap. He had to be, after the way he’d acted at the sheriff’s office. That or he had one hell of a Jekyll-Hyde complex.



“I talked to Sandy tonight,” Maggie said, after giving me an exuberant hug as soon as I walked in the penthouse. Ever supportive, that’s my friend. Dressed in mint green sweats, she pulled me to the couch with Neil looking on from the kitchen.

“She said you were brilliant in the interview. Composed and thorough in your answers.”

I shrugged out of my cloak and toed off damp slippers before sitting beside her. “Did she say anything else? Like when things would get back to normal?”

“Not exactly,” she said, suddenly more somber. “She will try to be there while you work with the artist in the morning, but she has to be in court at nine. She also got the scoop on Deke Saber.”

My stomach flip-flopped with renewed nerves. “What scoop?”

“He’s a former creature hunter,” Neil said flatly as he moved into the living room. “He’s credited with killing more werecreatures and vampires than anyone in the country.”

“Uh-oh.” My fluttering stomach clenched. Talk about the wrong man to let under my skin. Maggie took my hand. “Don’t worry. He’s a consultant now, not a hunter.”

“Then he must’ve been fishing tonight, because he showed up on my tour.”

Maggie stared, and Neil plopped on the coffee table in front of us. “Did he interrogate you?” Neil asked.

“Not precisely, but I couldn’t shake him afterward. He walked home with me.”

“That should be police harassment. Sandy can slap a suit on him first thing tomorrow.”

“I doubt that would stop Saber,” I said before Maggie wound into full-rant indignation.

“Why didn’t you—” Neil snapped his fingers. “—warp speed yourself home?”

Neil didn’t know I was a speed novice, and I wasn’t fessing up, so I shrugged. “Seemed kinda pointless since he knows where I live.”

Plus I’d rather win a battle of wits than speed any day, especially now that I knew what Saber was. Should I let on tomorrow? Maybe he wouldn’t even be at the sheriff’s office at eight. I might work with the sketch artist and never see Saber. Until the next time he popped up unexpectedly.

An experiment shouldn’t feel warm and fuzzy about seeing the mad scientist again, so why did I?

“Well, if he corners you again,” Maggie was saying, “talk to Sandy immediately.”

I agreed and changed the subject. “You two have fun tonight?”

Maggie and Neil exchanged one of those glances that spoke volumes. I thought of Saber ’s body brushing mine, but that was just lust. Sex was intimate, but Maggie and Neil had more than sex and a much deeper intimacy.

“Hey, Fresca,” Neil said, snapping his fingers in my face. “Are you laying off surfing till you get your board back?”

“Actually, I think I’ll buy a new board.”

“The queen of cheap is buying a new board?” He gripped his chest. “You mean brand-new? Retail?”

I snagged a decorative pillow and smacked him. He might’ve smacked me back, but the phone rang. No one calls Maggie after ten at night except her dad, so we all blinked at the white cordless unit before Maggie answered. A moment later, that one eyebrow arched halfway to her hairline.

“Wait a sec,” she said and turned to me. “It’s that Saber character. I’m putting you on the speaker so we can be witnesses to this.” She punched the speaker button, and I said hello.

“Marinelli, is your truck parked in the bank lot?”

I glanced at Maggie. “What?”

“Damn it, where is your truck parked?”

“It’s in the lot. Why?”

“You’d better get down here.”



The lot was only partially lit by security lights, and shadows danced across the asphalt. Saber stood by the bed of my SSR. I could tell my truck wasn’t its pristine aqua blue metallic color anymore but couldn’t see exactly how bad the damage was until I drew level with him. Black spray paint spelled the word DIE on my tailgate, and that was only a fraction of the destruction.