Desire After Dark. Amanda Ashley

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      He quickly read the account, noting that there had been no sign of rape or physical abuse, no signs of a struggle. One of the women had been a resident of Pear Blossom Creek, the other a transient. Both had been single, both had been redheads, both in their early twenties. According to the newspaper account, the police suspected a serial killer, but Duncan knew better. It wasn’t the work of a serial killer, but a vampire. And he had a sneaking suspicion he knew just which of the Undead was responsible.

      After checking the time, he picked up the phone next to his bed and put in a call to Edward Ramsey.

      Ramsey answered on the second ring. “Yeah?”

      “Hey, Edward, it’s me.”

      “Duncan! It’s good to hear from you. How is everything?”

      “Same as always. Listen, have you heard anything about Falco lately?”

      “You mean Dimitri Falco, slayer of innocent women and children?”

      “Yeah.”

      “He was one of Kristov’s, as I recall? Hunted only redheads, right? Always took a lock of their hair for a souvenir.”

      “That’s him.”

      “I haven’t heard a word about him since he gave us the slip four years ago.”

      Duncan grunted softly. He and Ramsey had spent six months hunting for Dimitri Falco. They had scoured Russia, but the wily vampire had managed to stay one jump ahead of them the whole time, and then it seemed like he had vanished from the face of the earth.

      “Wait a minute,” Ramsey said. “Didn’t Adams claim he destroyed Falco in South America last year?”

      “Well, if he did, there’s another vampire out there following the same M.O., and he’s turned up in a little nowhere town in the Midwest called Pear Blossom Creek.”

      “Are you there now?”

      “No, but I’m headed in that direction.” Duncan paused. “So, how’s life, or death, treating you these days?”

      “It gets easier every night.”

      Duncan remembered talking to Ramsey after they had destroyed Khira. He had asked Edward what he missed most now that he was a vampire. Ramsey had replied that he missed his humanity, the warmth of the sun on his face, the ability to have a son to carry on the Ramsey name. He had said the worst of it was the aloneness he felt sometimes, the sense of being separated from the rest of the world. And then he had smiled. It wasn’t all bad, Ramsey had said. His senses were sharper, he didn’t have to worry about catching the flu or growing old, he could read minds and control thoughts, move from one place to another almost before he knew he wanted to.

      Duncan thought of that now as he asked, “Do you ever miss the hunt?”

      “All the time.”

      “How’s Randolph working out?”

      “He’s doing all right. You would have done better. Oh, Kelly says hi.”

      Duncan grinned. “Hi to Kelly. What do you hear from Marisa and Grigori?”

      “Not much. Last I heard, they were in New York. Listen, Tom, call me if you need me.”

      “I will. So long.”

      Hanging up the phone, Duncan packed his gear and checked out of the hotel.

      Twenty minutes later, he was on the highway headed for Pear Blossom Creek.

      Chapter 5

      Vicki had never liked funerals and counted herself blessed that she hadn’t had to attend many of them. The last one had been three years ago for her great-grandmother. It hadn’t really been a sad occasion. Great-grandmother Althea Neff had enjoyed good health all her life, lived to be eighty-nine years old, and died peacefully in her sleep. But this…Vicki glanced at Sharlene’s family. Sharlene’s younger sister, Donna Jean, sat between her mother and father trying not to cry. Sharlene’s fiancé, Ron Garcia, sat beside Mrs. Tilden.

      The chapel was full, the pews crowded with Sharlene’s friends from high school and just about everyone else in town. Dozens of bouquets and wreaths made bright splashes of color in the front of the church. Sunlight filtered through a stained-glass window, washing over the closed casket in streams of variegated colors.

      Drawing her gaze from the coffin, Vicki glanced discreetly around the chapel. Was the killer here? She saw Ned and Arnie across the aisle, looking somehow out of place in dark suits instead of their uniforms. Gus was there, along with Bobbie Sue and the other waitresses from the diner. She saw Maddy Malone and Rex Curtis and Judy West. Bert Summers was standing in the back. He was writing something in a small notebook and she wondered if he was there as a friend of the family or in his professional capacity as owner and reporter of the newspaper.

      Vicki turned her attention to the front again as the organ stopped playing and the minister stepped up to the pulpit. After offering a prayer, he read the eulogy, and then he offered words of comfort and assurance to Sharlene’s family and friends.

      Vicki was glad when the service was over. Stepping out of the church into the sunshine, she thought how good it was to be alive on such a glorious day and then felt a rush of guilt for thinking such a thing when Sharlene was gone and her family was grieving.

      Sobering, Vicki got into her car and followed the procession to the cemetery.