Hell's Belle by Karen Greco Page B

appeared that each body had a hole in the chest. It looked like the hearts were missing.
    Another swipe, and there was close up on a weapon, but not just any old weapon. Against a blood-spattered snow background, a dagger exactly like the one Marcello used to attack me was painfully obvious.
    I closed my eyes and feigned disgust. "Nasty. Why are you showing that to me?"
    I hoped I sounded appropriately horrified. But my heart was racing. The dagger. Why was that damn dagger at a crime scene? And why would Marcello drop it? Could there be more than two out there, and this was just a really bizarre coincidence? I knew that was a giant stretch, but I really wanted to believe in coincidence right now.
    "That dagger," Max began, his voice so damn even that it was unnerving me. "Is that the dagger from last night? The one that did this?" He ran his finger lightly over the scar on my neck. My stomach flipped and my skin tingled at his touch.
    "Is there something you are not telling me?" Max asked, just as evenly as before. "Or not telling the cops?"
    The sound of glass breaking was a welcome relief. "Holy CRAP!" Alfonso bellowed, but the words were slurred from one too many beers and sounded more like holly carp. "Open your eyes, people! Don't you see what that fucker is doing?"
    I looked up at the television, and I saw Ami Bertrand leading a massive group of people up on the lawn of the state house.
    "Al, it's just a demonstration," Babe rushed out of the stock room. The sound of shattered barware brought her out of hiding. "Remember, we did that when we were kids."
    Alfonso continued, his voice rising. "It's happening now. It's all happening, and we ain't ready. We ain't ready at all. It wasn't supposed to be now. We ain't ready for this yet. Not yet."
    Babe went over to Alfonso and held his face in her hands.
    "Al," she said firmly. "I am taking you home. Now."
    She looked directly into his eyes, which were filled with tears. Then she whispered into his ear, he nodded and looked down, exhausted.
    Babe grabbed her coat off the hook, and led Alfonso out the door. He was pretty drunk and leaned heavily on her narrow shoulders. Babe was even smaller than me, and she didn't have vampire strength. I was impressed that she didn't buckle under Al's near dead weight.
    "I'll tag along. You know, safety in numbers," Dr. O said. Then he extracted himself from his conversation and nodded at Max as he shuffled past. "It's a rough neighborhood, right, Agent?"
    Wait. How the hell did he know Max was FBI?
    Max nodded slowly, his eyes following Dr. O.
    "Do I know him?" Max muttered to me.
    I couldn't respond. My focus was on Dr. O's half-drained beer.  I felt a little light-headed, but probably because my nerves were shot. I swayed a bit.
    Frankie suddenly appeared in front of me, catching me before I fell over. Of course, this made me feel even worse. Goddamn vampire speed wasn't exactly subtle.
    "And you are?" Max glared at Frankie's hands, holding me firmly by the waist.
    I was scanning my brain for a logical explanation for all this bizarre behavior, and came up empty.
    "Frankie," he said, lowering his voice just a little. I caught a slight snarl at the corner of his mouth. Shit. He was showing off his fangs. Here. In my bar.
    "Frankie, this is Max," I said weakly. "From the FBI."
    "Feds?" Frankie dropped his snarl, looking slightly interested.
    My ears started to ring.
    "And where are you from, Frankie?" Max's question sounded almost like a challenge.
    "At the moment, Nevada. Just flew in. To see our Nina." He grabbed me around the shoulders and squished me into him.
    "And you two know each other from?" Max questioned.
    "Oh, we've known each other for eternity." Frankie smirked.
    "Eternity is a bit dramatic," I squeaked out. "We sort of grew up together."
    My face flashed hot, and the bar began to spin. As ringing in my ears grew louder, Casper from the hospital appeared and stood by Dr. O's chair. He waved and then made a beeline towards me,