Blood Moon (Vampire Vigilante 1)

“Before we go, though, I was hoping I could ask you a couple of small questions.” Asher flashed another smile. “If it’s not too much of a bother.”

Olivia stopped mid-stride, on her way to shut off the shop’s lights again. “It’s no bother at all. I’ll answer to the best of my abilities.”

“We’ve heard a couple of rumors around town,” Asher started. “Could be just that, rumors, but it’s clear that your family liked to collect unique artifacts. Have you heard of something called the Filigreed Masque?”

Again, smart boy. I’d almost forgotten to ask. Olivia’s face positively glowed when Asher spoke the artifact’s name. She really was at her loveliest when her eyes lit up with excitement. I slipped my hands into my pockets.

“I’ve heard so many stories about it. My favorite is how wearing the Filigreed Masque on a full moon is supposed to make you the most beautiful person for miles and miles around.”

“You wouldn’t need any help in that department,” I said, tilting my head. “I guess it really is just a rumor.”

I could hear Asher roll his eyes. But Olivia blushed.

“Such a charmer. The both of you, really. But yes, a rumor. I don’t believe there is any record of the Masque actually existing. But anyway. We really should be going.”

“Right,” I said, letting her close down the shop, Asher and I heading for the door. Outside, I lifted my head to the sky, waiting for her to lock up before I spoke again. “Beautiful night. Moon’s gorgeous. I wonder how Silveropolis looks during a blood moon.”

The jingling of Olivia’s keyring stopped. She glanced at me, like she wanted to say something, then went back to locking the front door. I blinked at her, feigning ignorance.

“Sorry, Olivia. Was it something I said?”

She shook her head. “No, no. It’s – well, anyway, it’s nothing. It’s very silly, really.”

“You can tell us if anything’s bothering you,” Asher said, seeming so skinny and boyish behind the enormous book hugged to his chest. He really knew how to work that angle, make people trust him by seeing him as something harmless and inoffensive. In a way, I thought it made him the most dangerous of us all.

Olivia glanced to either side of her, as if making sure that no one was around to hear what she had to say.

“Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but the locals are very superstitious about things like the blood moon. All this talk of absolute nonsense. Wolves in the woods walking on two legs, the dead rising from their graves. Just complete – excuse me for cursing – complete bull pucky.”

Adorable.

“Then you don’t believe them?” I said. “All these rumors going around town?”

“I truly don’t. But still, it makes me nervous. The people of Silveropolis are putting on happy faces what with the night market still going on and all, but we’re all on edge. It’s not like we’ve forgotten that there’s a killer on the loose. The community isn’t exactly safe.”

“So you’re not worried about alleged werewolves, then.” I grinned, trying to tease her, to make the mood a little lighter. “No concerns about the walking dead?”

She looked at me quizzically, as if I’d asked her something completely insane.

“I have no reason to fear the dead, Mr. Sterling. I fear the living.”

I blinked at her in surprise, following at a careful distance as she and Asher led the way back into the night market. To fear the living, huh?

Sometimes I did forget, you know? For all the creepy crawlies lurking in the darkness – vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts – mankind could still come out to be the absolute worst. Vampires didn’t invent weapons of mass destruction, and as far as I could remember, no vampires had ever been responsible for genocide.

No sense rationalizing all that, though. Silveropolis was small, but the killings were a huge and disproportionate problem for what by every account was supposed to be a sleepy mountain town. I never even considered the possibility that other humans might have been behind the forest murders until Olivia had brought it up.

But what were they doing? Ritualistically carving people’s faces up, to make them look like grotesquely realistic animal bites? Too much work. But you never did know when it came to serial killers. I was simmering with questions I wanted to discuss with the boys, things best talked about out of earshot of the normals.

Strolling at an easy clip, we reached the fruit stand in no time at all. We couldn’t have been gone more than twenty minutes total, but by the look on Timothy’s face you’d think we’d disappeared to have a threesome in the bushes. His cheeks were flushed. He was angry, but I was hungry. All that blood so close to the skin? Very distracting. Very distracting indeed.

He and Gil looked like they were in a contest to see who could be the stoniest and quietest between them. Both stood with arms folded. Gil seemed a little bit pissed himself. Just a little.

“We should get going,” I said.

Gil pursed his lips. “Finally.”