if the recipient vamp had an open mind, then they could do a little silent communicating. But to read another’s thoughts…
They just couldn’t. Could they?
Yes. No.
Or maybe this was an isolated incident. Maybe for some insane reason, he could read my thoughts. Just me.
And this would be because?
I don’t know. Maybe we were cosmically linked. Maybe we were completely and totally in sync with each other. Maybe we were soul mates.
And maybe I was just a major drama queen, a sappy romantic, and desperately horny. The three obviously didn’t mix.
I clung to the last thought and focused on the words flowing from his mouth.
“The local authorities didn’t think much about it when the first victim turned up missing.”
“So you’re from Los Angeles?” You try focusing with so much man candy just an arm’s length away.
“Texas. She was a single twenty-something who’d answered an ad from a local singles paper,” he went on. “She went out to meet her date on a Friday night and never came home. She wasn’t reported missing until the following Wednesday when her landlord went by to collect the rent. He thought she’d skipped out on him, but when he opened the apartment and found all of her stuff inside, he started to wonder.”
“I’ve got family in Louisiana. Whenever I visit my cousin Charlene, we usually pop on over to Texas—Austin specifically—and see what’s up on Sixth Street.”
“Good for you.” He nodded. “Then he called a nearby restaurant where she waited tables. When they said she hadn’t shown up for work or called in, he phoned the cops and—”
“Where exactly in Texas are you from?”
He stared at me long and hard. “Skull Creek. It’s a little hole in the wall north of San Antonio.”
“Skull Creek. I can’t say as I’ve heard of it.”
“You and most everyone else. Look, can we talk about the kidnappings?”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“I’m talking about them. You’re talking about me.”
“No, I’m not. I was asking, not talking. Big difference. Besides, I don’t like talking to strangers. You’ve been following me, which means you already know quite a bit about me. I know nothing about you except that you’re a bounty hunter vampire from Texas.”
“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?”
Everything. The minute the thought struck, I drop-kicked it back out. The more I knew, the more I wanted to know. Which was crazy, because I already knew enough.
Made vampire.
And the fat lady sings…
I fought back my curiosity and concentrated on the matter at hand. “So what did the cops say when the landlord called them?”
“People go missing all the time in a city that size, and so no one thought too much about it. But by the time the third woman turned up missing, the cops started to see a pattern. The second woman was around the same age, single, no immediate family. She worked as a gofer at an investment company. Number three was early thirties, single, no immediate family. She answered phones for an ad agency. All three fit the same profile: young, attractive, single, and lonely. They’d all answered ads in local singles magazines. And all three disappeared the night they were supposed to meet the men from the ads.”
“Did they answer different ads or was it the same ad? In the same newspaper?”
“Different ads. Different papers. But the feds think it was the same guy who placed all three ads, even though they can’t prove it.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think. I know. The same man placed the various ads. The same man who met with each of the women handcuffed them and killed them.”
“Wait a second. You said the women were missing, not dead.”
“As of right now, the feds are after a serial kidnapper. No bodies have been found, and so the authorities have to assume there’s a small chance that the victims are still alive.”
“But you think they’re dead?”
“A traditional kidnapper isn’t really
They just couldn’t. Could they?
Yes. No.
Or maybe this was an isolated incident. Maybe for some insane reason, he could read my thoughts. Just me.
And this would be because?
I don’t know. Maybe we were cosmically linked. Maybe we were completely and totally in sync with each other. Maybe we were soul mates.
And maybe I was just a major drama queen, a sappy romantic, and desperately horny. The three obviously didn’t mix.
I clung to the last thought and focused on the words flowing from his mouth.
“The local authorities didn’t think much about it when the first victim turned up missing.”
“So you’re from Los Angeles?” You try focusing with so much man candy just an arm’s length away.
“Texas. She was a single twenty-something who’d answered an ad from a local singles paper,” he went on. “She went out to meet her date on a Friday night and never came home. She wasn’t reported missing until the following Wednesday when her landlord went by to collect the rent. He thought she’d skipped out on him, but when he opened the apartment and found all of her stuff inside, he started to wonder.”
“I’ve got family in Louisiana. Whenever I visit my cousin Charlene, we usually pop on over to Texas—Austin specifically—and see what’s up on Sixth Street.”
“Good for you.” He nodded. “Then he called a nearby restaurant where she waited tables. When they said she hadn’t shown up for work or called in, he phoned the cops and—”
“Where exactly in Texas are you from?”
He stared at me long and hard. “Skull Creek. It’s a little hole in the wall north of San Antonio.”
“Skull Creek. I can’t say as I’ve heard of it.”
“You and most everyone else. Look, can we talk about the kidnappings?”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“I’m talking about them. You’re talking about me.”
“No, I’m not. I was asking, not talking. Big difference. Besides, I don’t like talking to strangers. You’ve been following me, which means you already know quite a bit about me. I know nothing about you except that you’re a bounty hunter vampire from Texas.”
“Okay, fine. What do you want to know?”
Everything. The minute the thought struck, I drop-kicked it back out. The more I knew, the more I wanted to know. Which was crazy, because I already knew enough.
Made vampire.
And the fat lady sings…
I fought back my curiosity and concentrated on the matter at hand. “So what did the cops say when the landlord called them?”
“People go missing all the time in a city that size, and so no one thought too much about it. But by the time the third woman turned up missing, the cops started to see a pattern. The second woman was around the same age, single, no immediate family. She worked as a gofer at an investment company. Number three was early thirties, single, no immediate family. She answered phones for an ad agency. All three fit the same profile: young, attractive, single, and lonely. They’d all answered ads in local singles magazines. And all three disappeared the night they were supposed to meet the men from the ads.”
“Did they answer different ads or was it the same ad? In the same newspaper?”
“Different ads. Different papers. But the feds think it was the same guy who placed all three ads, even though they can’t prove it.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think. I know. The same man placed the various ads. The same man who met with each of the women handcuffed them and killed them.”
“Wait a second. You said the women were missing, not dead.”
“As of right now, the feds are after a serial kidnapper. No bodies have been found, and so the authorities have to assume there’s a small chance that the victims are still alive.”
“But you think they’re dead?”
“A traditional kidnapper isn’t really
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