“Madre de—It is la oscuridad, Saber. The darkness. I can say only two more things. Do not be surprised if the account disappears.”
“Yeah, we’re figuring that’s a good possibility.”
“I would call it a certainty. Tell the princess that I allowed her to see into my memories so she will recognize the black fog. The darkness. Do not let it consume her.”
“Black fog?” Saber paused. “Ray?”
The line was dead.
I collapsed back on the couch as Saber shut the cell phone and then pulled me into his arms.
“What the hell did you see?”
“Rico killed at least ten vampires and their human mates, but he looks almost emaciated. Like something is draining his life force, not just his aura energy.”
“The black fog?”
“I saw it in the room, sort of spread out over the floor.”
“Is that why you’re shaking?”
I took a deep breath. “No, I’m shaking because I forgot to tell you that I got info out of Triton. He called this darkness thing the Void. He said it preys on the power of vamps and magical beings.”
“Humans, too?”
“He didn’t say, but the black fog in Rico’s house looked similar to the dark shadows Kevin caught on video last week.”
I felt Saber’s lips in my hair. “I noticed Kevin wasn’t on the tour tonight.”
“I know. When I realized he wasn’t there, I figured he’d left town. He told me he had a limited time here. A few weeks, I think, but I don’t remember more than that.”
“And now you’re afraid he’s, what?”
“I don’t know. He wore enough silver crosses to ward off most any vamp, but my little voice is screeching that something is wrong.”
“Did he give you a card? Tell you where he was staying?”
I thought back to the first time I’d met Kevin, then sprinted to my closet. The pirate outfit. If I’d kept the card he’d shoved at me, it had to be in the pocket.
It was, and it listed Kevin’s address, phone number, MySpace page, and a paranormal investigation website. Another number was handwritten on the card.
“Find it?”
“I did, but it’s too late to call if he’s gone home. I’ll check his MySpace page first.”
“How will that help?”
I activated my laptop screen. “He told one of the groups last week that he’d upload his videos to some Web page or MySpace. I can’t remember which one, so I’m starting with this.”
The page came up in pieces, and I gave a quick glance at his blog titles.
“There.” From over my shoulder, Saber pointed at Kevin’s last blog entry. “St. Augustine Shadow Man?”
I clicked, brought up the blog dated Thursday morning, and scanned it. Basically, he wrote about the amorphous shadow he’d caught on video and mentioned the differences between it and a typical shadow man. He gave a link to his video, and, when I clicked it, the two videos of the shadow and the light entities played across the screen.
“Is this the shadow you saw when you were reading Ray?”
“It’s similar, but the one in the vision stayed low to the floor. It didn’t loom up behind Rico or Ray. Or if it did, I didn’t see it.”
I tapped a nail on Kevin’s card where it lay next to my laptop and stared at the scrawled phone number. I recognized the exchange as a local one. His hotel? It went against every mannerly instinct I had to call so late, but what was the worst that could happen if I called? I’d wake him up? I’d disturb a tryst between Kevin and Leah, or Kevin and Caro? Heck, the hotel operator might tell me Kevin had checked out, and I could shut my little voice up entirely.
“I’m calling,” I said, and scooched away from my desk to go grab the cordless in the kitchen. I stood in the kitchen doorway, biting my lip as I punched in the number.
“Is Kevin Miller still checked in?” I asked when an operator answered.
The woman who was either sleepy or bored out of her skull asked me to hold, and then the line rang. Once, twice. I let it ring five times before I hit the Off key and put the unit back on the charger.
“Not there, huh?”
“No, but he’s apparently still checked in.”
“Maybe he’s out with those girls he hooked up with.”
“Maybe. I wish my little voice believed that.”
Saber sighed and scooped his keys off the coffee table. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To Kevin’s hotel.”
Night clerk Beth Gravis wasn’t happy when Saber introduced himself, showed her his badge, and asked her to let us into Kevin’s room. Nope, not happy even when Saber flashed his sexy smile.
“Is he a scam artist? I just upgraded him to a patio room two days ago, and I’ll be in trouble if he’s skipped on the bill.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Saber said. “We’re concerned he’s had an accident.”
Alarm flared in her hazel eyes. “Should I call an ambulance?”
“Let’s see if he needs one first.”
Beth didn’t grumble as she led us to Kevin’s first-floor room, not with her lips pursed in a thin white line. She jammed the card key in the slot and pushed hard on the lever handle.