He tittered, his laugh high pitched and grating on the ears.
“Yes. Yes. Everyone should know my name.”
He sounded crazy. If he’d been human, I would have said he was high or clinically insane.
“You should tell me so I can share it with the rest of the city. It’ll let them know who they should fear. Give you some credit for all your hard work.”
“I deserve it. Yes, I do. They didn’t even give me my name in death.”
“Right.” Looked like he was one of the soldiers in the prison camp as I’d thought. He could be buried in an unmarked grave. It might be what kept him clinging to this world long after death.
“Eric Miller,” he said abruptly, the person he used to be showing through for a moment with all the vulnerability and sorrow I’d expect in someone who suddenly found themselves back in the land of the living. “Or was it Jackson Baker.”
He gave me a sly smile.
“Charlie Flannagan. Victor Dubeaux. I just can’t bring myself to remember.”
He crept forward a few steps. I edged back. Shit, looked like my attempt to build rapport with him had failed.
“I remember you, little vampire. They said you have my treasures.”
“Who said?”
“Filthy little thief, taking what’s not yours. They’re mine. Didn’t you take enough from me during life? They were the only things I had left. Give them back.”
He was frothing at the mouth and screaming by the end.
I held up my hands. “Wait. Wait. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar,” he roared.
He was working himself into a state and would attack at any moment. I needed to keep him calm.
“Tell me what you’re looking for and maybe I can help you.”
He paused, his head swinging back and forth.
“A watch.”
“Good. What does it look like?”
I held my breath. How long had it been since I’d called Liam? I didn’t know how much longer I could hold this line of questioning until he exploded.
“My grandfather gave it to me. It’s gold, which you know since you took it from my grave. You also took my locket. It held my love’s photo. I want it back.”
I was losing him. “Okay, okay. We’re going to get you the watch and locket back. I didn’t take it, but I can find them. I have contacts who will help me. Just tell me who told you I had it.”
His tongue flicked out to lick his lips. It was black and swollen.
“Or I could just eat you. What use are you if you don’t have my keepsakes? Not much.” He grinned, the darkness of his mind rushing towards mine, bringing madness in its wake.
Without thinking, I pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. It recoiled in my hand, again and again until it clicked. Empty.
The creature fell, its head half gone. I darted toward him. Already, its head was regenerating, bone and brain growing back. It staggered to its feet, its bony fingers clutching at my shirt, tearing it.
Ki… you… Kill… you.
The words weren’t something heard with my ears, instead inserting themselves into my mind. Panic rose, sharp and hot. I burst through the master bedroom’s window, glass shattering around me and sharp pain lashing my arms and legs. Then I was falling, falling, landing with an abrupt jolt, my knee cracking hard against the ground.
