Baited Blood by Sue Ann Jaffarian Page A

pocket, Jesús squatted down next to the decomposing body and went to work. After slipping on work gloves, he ran his hands up and down the limbs, testing their brittleness. Starting with the long legs, he began dismembering the corpse by snapping the body apart at the joints as if breaking kindling.
    When Doug and Dodie went into the other room, Madison looked at Pauline with raised eyebrows.
    “Would you want to watch,” the housekeeper replied, “knowing that’s what’s gonna happen to you one day?”
    Madison shivered. “It is really creepy.”
    While Jesús worked at breaking up the dead vampire, Pauline unpacked the various containers of animal blood from the cooler. She handed several to Madison. “Here, put these in the freezer.” Pauline read the label on one container and set it aside. “I’ll keep this one out for their supper tonight. It’s wild boar’s blood—a particular favorite of Mr. D’s. Might make them feel better.” Pauline handed Madison the boar’s blood, instructing her to place it in the refrigerator. The last several containers went into the freezer along with the first bunch.
    When Jesús was done, the body of the once large and bulky vampire had been reduced to the size of two days’ worth of kitchen garbage. “At the rate he was going,” the knacker noted, “this bag will be filled with nothing but dust by early tomorrow.”
    Madison couldn’t stop her morbid curiosity. “What will you do with him … with the dust?”
    “Depends on whose it is,” the odd little man explained. “If friends of the deceased request it, I return it once it’s fully decomposed. Otherwise, I scatter it in my garden, in the woods, or sometimes in the ocean. I return it to nature, where it belongs.”
    When Jesús was done and gone, the Dedhams returned to the kitchen hand in hand. “If you don’t need us,” Doug told Madison and Pauline, “we’re going back to bed.” He looked pointedly at Madison. “And you, young lady, should be heading to school. You’re not late already, are you?”
    Madison glanced at the clock on the wall. If she skipped her shower, she’d make it. “No, I’m good.”
    “You want something to eat first?” Pauline asked the Dedhams. “Jesús brought some fresh boar’s blood.”
    Doug looked at his wife. Dodie shook her head slowly. It was clear that the Dedhams were truly dead on their feet. “No, thank you, Pauline,” Doug said for them both.
    “Madison,” Doug said, turning to her just before he disappeared into the next room. “Please leave Samuel a message about what happened here today. I’m sure he’ll be wanting to discuss it later tonight.”
    “Should someone wake him?” Madison asked. “I can call Hyun to do it.”
    “No, let him sleep. There’s nothing anyone can do right now, and I doubt any more bodies will show up in broad daylight.” Doug ran a hand through his silver hair. “If it’s another vampire doing this, as we suspect, he is—”
    “She,” Dodie corrected.
    Doug glanced at Dodie. “He or she will be tucked in for the day.”
    “What about Notchey? Should I tell him?”
    “Vampires killing vampires is out of his jurisdiction.” Doug shrugged in reconsideration. “But if he has the time to give it some thought, run it by him. Never know, he might see something we’re missing. And it sure wouldn’t hurt to give him a heads-up.”

SIX
    A nyone know this vampire?” Samuel asked the members of the council seated around the Dedhams’ dining table.
    Before leaving for her class, Madison had taken Doug’s sketch, scanned it, and sent it to Samuel in an e-mail. As soon as he saw the e-mail, he forwarded the likeness off to the other council members with a request to meet at the Dedhams’ promptly at ten o’clock. Before the council meeting, Madison had printed off enlargements to pass around the table, hoping the larger picture might jar some memories.
    Madison attended some council meetings to record certain