The murder scenes from the supernatural community had been much less grim. All but the most recent had been washed clean of any sign of violence.
I stepped back into the bathroom. Why hadn’t this place been cleaned? The police would have released the crime scene weeks ago. Someone should have cleaned up the blood even if their only goal was to sell the house.
Something didn’t add up.
The blood. It wasn’t right. It was too new. Not fresh, but also not months old.
Shit. Maybe this place wasn’t empty after all.
There was a sound on the first floor, like something had been pushed across the room. I darted out of the bathroom, keeping as quiet as possible. I found a hall closet and stepped inside, fumbling for my phone and gun.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs and into the hall outside.
The bathroom door creaked as it was pushed open and something thudded. I shifted to the side, trying to see through the crack between the wall and the door. I got the slim image of a body being dragged into the bathroom.
Oh God. Why was he taking one of his victims in there?
I didn’t want to know. I didn’t even want to hazard a guess.
The sharp crack of bone followed by a loud slurp and then smacking lips answered the question. I cringed back, jerking when something brushed against my shoulder. It was a linen. The draugr wasn’t behind me. No reason to have a meltdown or scream loud enough to draw him here.
I hit the contacts button on my phone. Time for back up. Sorcerer, vampire or wolf. I didn’t care which as long as they got here in the next thirty seconds. Being eaten alive had just made it into my top three worst deaths possible.
I held the phone up to my ear as it rang. Please answer.
“You missed your last check in. I told you what would happen if you missed your check in,” Liam’s irate voice said in my ear.
Thank you, God.
“Liam,” I whispered, covering both the phone and my mouth with my hand. “5536 Chesterfield Road.”
“What? Where?” Liam’s voice changed to one of anger as he hissed, “You went after the draugr didn’t you.”
“5536 Chesterfield Road,” I said again, my whisper turning urgent as the sound of chewing stopped. “You need to come now.”
“We are going to have another talk about your inability to follow simple instructions.”
I looked forward to it. If he made it in time, I would gladly listen no matter how long the lecture.
A shape walked into the hallway, its head cocking this way and that. It was human. At least mostly.
“Hello, little vampire.” Its voice wrapped around me, brushing against my thoughts, leaving me with the feeling that maggots were crawling inside my mind. “I had hoped to find you tonight. It’s so good of you to come to me. Why do you hide in that closet?”
That was not good. The call was still live. I could hear Liam snapping orders. I just needed to buy time. I could do that.
Either way, staying in the closet was getting less appealing by the second.
I tucked the phone into my pocket and dropped the hand with the gun to my side before I pushed open the door.
The creature watched with black eyes tinged with a cloudy white as I stepped out of the closet. Gaunt and gray, the flesh hung from its bones in ribbons. Its lips parted in a macabre smile revealing sharp fangs with flesh still caught in them. It was hunched over slightly, its limbs thin and gangly. It was tempting to misjudge it as weak until you noticed its eyes, mad and filled with a darkness that threatened to spill into your psyche at any moment.
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice surprising me with its calmness. Yes, I interrogated monsters on a regular basis.
“Does it matter?”
This thing was much more coherent than it had been in my previous two encounters. Was this the creature’s real body, or was it possible that I had the wrong monster? There was the smallest of possibilities that the human and supernatural community’s crimes were unrelated.
“I’d like to know the name of the person who’s been making such a splash lately.”
