Night's Master (Children of The Night 3)

With time on my hands, my thoughts again turned toward Raphael. What was it like to be a Vampire, to sleep all day, to hunt for prey at night? I remembered the hurt in his voice when he talked about the woman he had loved and lost. It was hard to imagine a Vampire having a love life, getting married, sitting around the house watching satellite movies. Or reading Jordan Montgomery murder mysteries, I thought with a grin. I had always thought of Vampires and Werewolves as monsters so consumed with the lust for blood that they had little time for anything else.

Thinking I had a lot to learn, I turned back to my computer and checked the store inventory, looking for anything I could find on Vampires. Nothing came up on the screen, but I knew I had at least one book on the Supernatural. Before moving to Oak Hollow, I had bought up all the stock from a used bookstore that was going out of business. If I remembered correctly, there had been a book on Vampires in one of the boxes.

I finally found what I was looking for. It was at the bottom of a box in the back room, mixed in with a bunch of books I had decided were too outdated or too beat up to put out front.

Book in hand, I poured myself a cup of coffee and settled down in one of the chairs to learn what I could about the care and feeding of the Undead.

In ancient times, Vampires had been blamed for anything and everything that went wrong or couldn't be explained, whether it was a mysterious illness, a loaf of bread that failed to rise, cows that didn't give milk, or chickens that didn't lay eggs.

Fascinating, I thought, and before I knew it, I was caught up in the life and lore of Vampires. The author, Carl Overstreet, had done more than just list the ways to detect and destroy Vampires, he named names. Mara was listed as the oldest living Vampire. It was said that no one living knew how old she was, when she had been made, or who had made her. It was believed that she had been turned in the valley of the Nile during the reign of Cleopatra. It was rumored that she was truly immortal, that she was impervious to blade or stake, and that the sun's light no longer had any power over her.

I read the name again. Mara. Wasn't that the name of Raphael's godmother? Could it be the same woman? I'd have to ask Raphael the next time I saw him.

The book reinforced what I already knew: Vampires needed blood to survive and couldn't abide the sun's light. As Raphael had mentioned, the touch of silver burned their skin and weakened their Supernatural powers.

Reading on, I learned that unless they were very old, like Mara, or very powerful, they were rendered unconscious during the day.

Vampires possessed a number of preternatural abilities. They could change shape, influence the weather, dissolve into mist, move faster than the human eye could follow, scurry up the side of a building like a spider, and compel others to do their bidding. It was this last ability that bothered me the most. It was disconcerting, knowing that Raphael could mesmerize me with those beautiful, dark eyes. I had been told that when under hypnosis, you couldn't be forced to do anything against your will, but we weren't talking about ordinary hypnosis here, we were talking about preternatural power wielded by Supernatural creatures.

Detecting the Undead was not so easy, which gave me pause to wonder how I had known Raphael was a Vampire when I first met him, or how I had recognized the Vampires he had sent to my shop. Obviously, I had some kind of Vampire radar that had been dormant until recently. Either that, or I'd never come across a Vampire before I met Raphael.

Business picked up a little late in the afternoon. I have to admit, every time the door opened, I felt a flutter in my stomach, even though I knew that, at this time of day, it couldn't be Raphael.

Just before dusk, Susie McGee and her brood trooped in. The boys headed for the children's section, punching each other along the way.

“I promised to buy the boys new books if they behaved at the doctor's office,” she said, leaning against the counter.

“They aren't sick, are they?” I asked, thinking I had never seen such active, healthy-looking kids in my life.

“No, the appointment was for me. I thought I had a bad case of indigestion. Turns out I'm pregnant again.”

Since I wasn't sure if this was good news or not, I didn't say anything.

“I'm not ready for another baby.” She blew out a sigh. “I sure hope this one's a girl.”

I smiled, but I couldn't help thinking that a little girl wouldn't stand a chance against three older brothers.

“So,” she said, changing the subject, “how's the book business?”

“Picking up a little, but it's still slow.” It was easy to see why there wasn't a Borders or a Barnes & Noble in town. The only thing keeping me afloat was the fact that the store was paid for, thanks to a tidy sum my great-aunt had bequeathed me.

“Maybe things will get better in the fall,” Susie remarked. “We get a lot of tourists then.”

“Really? Why?” From what I had seen of Oak Hollow, there wasn't much to attract visitors.

“Don't you know? Every autumn our town hosts a big Halloween Haunt. People come from miles around to see it.”

Funny, that hadn't been in the brochure I'd read.

“It's held the night before Halloween out at the old Carrick place on Cross Creek Road. They have a pumpkin patch, a really scary haunted house, and games for the kids. They give prizes for the most original costume, stuff like that. It's really fun.”

Some people believed the Carrick house was inhabited by the ghost of the last man who had lived and died there. It seemed like the perfect place to hold a haunted house. No doubt any Vampires and Werewolves in attendance would feel right at home. I was pretty sure that any Supernatural creatures who showed up would have some really great costumes.

A few minutes later, Susie's kids came running up to the counter, each one waving a book in one hand and punching the nearest sibling with the other.

As loud and obnoxious as her boys were, the store seemed quieter than usual after Susie and her brood left.

Since I kept the store open until nine on Fridays, I went over to the café a little after five for a quick dinner break. I ordered a turkey club sandwich, curly fries, and a chocolate malt. I know, too many carbs, too many calories, but hey, I deserved it.

While waiting for my meal to arrive, I glanced around the café, wondering if coming to Oak Hollow had been such a good idea after all. A Vampire lived here year-round. At the moment, there were a number of other Vampires in residence, which meant there were probably an equal number of Werewolves somewhere in the vicinity. I wondered if they were having a war council or a paranormal conference of some kind.