Always the Vampire

“Yes, but he phoned me every day, and never mentioned any major problems.”


Of course, not all the vamps wanted to abandon the nest system, or even transition from nests to corporate entities. Gotta love capitalism, but apparently some vampires were more resistant to change. Maybe Saber hadn’t mentioned big problems because he didn’t want me to worry.

“Whatever it is that’s eating him, wring it out of him soon, will you?” Maggie rose and patted my shoulder. “He spooked the caterer when he did his bodyguard thing on Saturday.”

“It wasn’t me and my terrifying vampire gaze?”

She snorted just as footsteps stomped in the mudroom. We turned to find Neil all smiles, Saber scowling.

Maggie was so right. I needed to find out what was bugging my man.

But even with that forbidding expression on his face, my stomach did the dipsy-do it always does when I see Deke Saber. Drool gathered in my mouth, too, because Saber looked extra yummy with his bright white polo shirt and brown cargo shorts showing off his bronze tan. Hubba!

My body might automatically respond every time I looked at Saber, but I gave him my stern face instead of my sunny smile. “Is the volume adjusted now?”

“Down to a dull roar, and the outside siren is permanently cut.”

“Saber here threatened to feed Sam to a hungry vampire if the system failed again, so I think we’re good.” Neil sidled up to Maggie and put an arm around her waist. “You have anything to hail the conquering heroes?”

Maggie wiggled closer. “You’ve had a beer. What more do you want?”

Neil gave her an exaggerated leer, and Saber cleared his throat.

“Come on, Cesca. We have an appointment to keep.”

“We do?” I frowned at him. “But Maggie and I haven’t finished with the mail yet. Or talked about the girl’s weekend.”

“I’ll manage the mail,” Maggie jumped in, “and I know you have everything under control for this weekend. You go ahead.”

Go manage your man, her narrowed-eyed look plainly said.

In seconds flat, Neil shoved my binder into my arms, and Saber all but dragged me out the back door and across the yard.

“Since when do we have an appointment?”

“Since yesterday.”

“And when were you planning to tell me about it?”

“When I got around to it,” Saber said without so much as a glance at me.

I ground my teeth but held my tongue until we were in my cozy living room. That’s when I dropped the wedding binder on my computer desk with a whap and turned to eye Saber closely. Signs of strain bracketed his beautiful mouth, and lines I hadn’t noticed now furrowed his forehead.

I took his hand and tugged him to the plush coffee-colored leather sofa.

“Come talk to me.”

Saber pulled away. “We don’t have time, Cesca. You need to change clothes, and I need to make a call.”

Fists on my hips, I stared into his cobalt blue eyes. “Not until you tell me why you’ve been as snappy as a starving gator in a feeding frenzy.”

“I haven’t been that bad.”

“Trust me, you have. For five long days, and that’s not like you.” I threw myself onto the couch cushions. “I’m not moving until you spill.”

He paced away from me, raking his fingers through his military-short black hair. When his shoulders slumped on a soul-deep sigh, I knew I had him.

“I told you about closing the vampire nests,” he said, his voice low and rumbling. “I told you I ran into a few problems. The last two head vampires left in my territory were already so infected by the Void, I couldn’t interrogate them, and I couldn’t arrest them.”

“You had to execute them?”

“Yeah, Rico in South Beach, and Martinique in Tampa.”

I shuddered because I knew how far gone Rico had been with the infection. I’d seen him through the memories of another vampire, one who now lived in Daytona Beach and ran a club there. Ray, aka Ramon, had been in the South Beach nest and had witnessed Rico being slowly devoured by an oily fog blob that oozed ankle high in Rico’s throne room. It drained Rico, not of his blood, but of his life force. Ray called the formless mass la oscuridad. The darkness that was, in fact, the Void.

That no one seemed to know what the Void was, much less how to stop it, made its threat all the more ominous.

“The thing is,” Saber said as he continued pacing, “it wasn’t just the heads of nests I saw affected. The infection has spread from the big nests to the small groups and even to vampires who’ve lived solo for years. They’re all showing symptoms from fatigue to paranoia to violent outbursts.”

“How about Ray and his gang? Did you go through Daytona to see him?”

“Yeah. They’re drinking more bottled blood but are lower on energy.” His hands fisted at his sides. “Cesca, I thought you were sick, too.”

“Saber, I’m fine. The same as always.”