Bare Bones Read online

  “How…?” I couldn’t even formulate the question I was so busy envisioning how a human, psychotic though he might be, could overpower a vampire and manage to skin one. We might be dealing with a team of two or three, of which at least one might be some type of supernatural, but still… My mind boggled at the idea of even three demons skinning a vampire.

  “She was killed no more than four or five hours ago,” Dario commented, casually wiping his hand on his jeans. “Otherwise the body would have combusted.”

  It would have been daylight five hours ago. It got me to wondering if the killer’s trophy, the skin, would also need to be safeguarded from daylight. He had to have known the victim was a vampire. What was driving his choice of victims, though? And why a vampire?

  “How did you find her?”

  Dario seemed pretty emotionless about the whole thing, so I was assuming the victim was a rogue and not a member of his Balaj. Although Dario did seem to turn emotionless whenever it was time for business.

  “Remember the vampire in Towson with the wild story about the college girl trying to kill him? Well, last night a rogue I spoke to mentioned an encounter with a zombie. She said she’d picked up a woman for an evening meal, had even gone so far as to bite her. Evidently she tasted horrible, like a long-dead corpse.”

  “The woman was an orc?” It’s all I could think of, remembering my Anderon game and how I’d been told that orcs tasted terrible.

  “If orcs look like humans, then it’s a possibility. This vampire was completely convinced the woman was a zombie. She said after she bit her, the zombie stabbed her in the back of the neck with something that felt like a sharp awl, then bit down on her arm.”

  “Ghoul?” They were technically dead, and did like human flesh, although there were no reports of them eating live victims. They ate corpses. The older the better.

  Dario shook his head. “Ghouls have fangs. This vampire showed me the bite mark. Dull, flat, human incisors. Clear pattern where the teeth had broken the skin and bruising all around the edges. They weren’t sharp. It had happened six hours prior and the rogue still had the marks. That’s one heck of a bite.”

  That led me back to demons. If they possessed a human, they’d have the same old teeth as I did.

  “Another rogue said a woman of the same description went off with a vampire friend of hers and never came back. She was panicked, thinking maybe we killed her friend. But by the description she gave us, that vampire wasn’t one we’d killed.”

  Was that vampire dead like this woman? Or dead because she’d stayed out too late and couldn’t get underground in time? Or maybe she’d moved on, ditching her “friend” for a different town? Either way, this body must belong to a different vampire or it would have turned to ash by now.

  Unless the killer hid the body during daylight hours, bringing it out tonight. If so, then they wanted it to be discovered. As a warning? Sheesh, the whole thing was just so sick I couldn’t even imagine a motive.

  “That was last night. You said this happened tonight?” I asked Dario. “That’s a potential for two vampire victims. Isn’t it odd for someone to be hunting vampires in the same area two nights in a row?”

  That took balls of steel. Yeah, these guys were rogues and unaffiliated, but they clearly communicated with each other, and formed short-term alliances. Word would have gotten around. I was now more convinced than ever we were dealing with demons. Either that or a human female really had a death wish.

  Human female. No, it couldn’t be. But she’d said something at the Inner Harbor about wanting a vampire. I’d thought at the time she’d meant want, as in to date and have sex with, not skin and assume their identity.

  “Was the human female young? High school age? White, with pink and blue streaks in her hair and lots of black eyeliner?”

  Dario nodded. “That’s how both vampires described her.”

  And now I was rethinking whether the girl seen with Brian Huang and Bradley Lewis was involved or not. Was she also a paranormal creature, or could a human teenage girl possibly have done this?

  Then I remembered Russell, and acknowledged that I couldn’t rule out a human killer. The necromancer had been able to take down more than a dozen vampires using vengeful spirits. There was no saying a crazy girl who’d watched too many Buffy episodes wouldn’t be equally motivated to risk her life this way. But there was the whole skinning component. I couldn’t see a vigilante vampire hunter skinning one, or killing and skinning innocent humans.

  Demons. It had to be a group of demons, but something about the theory just seemed off.

  Dario nodded. “So there’s probably another victim like this one somewhere around if what the rogue said last night is true and all were the same attacker. Although we’ll not find any proof of what happened to the other victim since her body has most likely turned to ash at this point.”

  The two dead, well one presumed dead, as well as the vampire who’d been bitten were all women. The female victim who’d survived had been the one who was convinced a zombie had attacked her and the guy in Towson, although I wasn’t sure that attack was related to these. The attacker had adapted, going from trying to break a vampire’s neck, to stabbing and biting, to…this.

  I looked down at the corpse with her bulging eyes and fangs, quickly turning my head away from the gruesome sight. I’d seen far too much of this sort of thing in the past few days. “Do you have any idea who this vampire is? Was?”

  Dario shook his head. “Not one of ours. I can ask any other rogues we catch, but there’s usually not much of an opportunity for conversation. I’ve only run across six since I’ve been up here who were decent vampires just trying to survive. The others are like berserkers. It’s all we can do to catch them and put them down. This has got to be the most vicious bunch of renegades I’ve ever encountered. It’s not normal, even among vampires who are starving. I can only hope we can catch and kill them all by the week’s end.”

  I winced. The Balaj didn’t take prisoners, and I couldn’t see a rogue vampire consenting to a question and answer session before execution. Thankfully Dario was willing to ignore Leonora’s orders and let the “decent” solitaries go free.

  The whole thing was just bizarre. I mean, the idea of a taxidermy-inclined demon team was strange enough, but a demon who went after not just one, but four vampires? “How did the woman kill her?” Our usual methods included beheading or destroying the heart, neither of which appeared to have happened to this victim.

  “Her heart is gone, but it happened after the skinning.” Dario shot me a wry glance. “Don’t ask me how I figured that out.”

  Ugh. “So she incapacitated her somehow, skinned her while she was still alive, and then destroyed her heart?”

  Skinning while alive… I didn’t want to really think too much about what that must have felt like. The humans had been dead first, exsanguinated, no doubt to make the skinning a cleaner process. The humans had all been left with internal organs intact, too. The fact that the killer had taken this vampire’s heart meant she knew about them—and knew how to kill them. That fit with the demon theory.

  Dario ran a hand over his short dark hair. “I don’t know how the killer incapacitated her. Vampires don’t go down easy. This vampire clearly fought with her attacker and lost, but I’m not sure how. Oh, and another thing—I’ve got no idea why, but the attacker took quite a bit of the vampire’s blood as well as her skin.”

  “The human victims were drained of blood, but we’re not sure if the murderers are doing anything with it. The M.E. thought it was to make the skinning process easier.”

  Dario reached down and turned the woman’s head again, pointing to a hole at the base of her neck. “Did the others have this?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. That’s the same mark the humans had. The killer had to have known this was a vampire though. I mean, even before she attacked her. There’s no way either a human or a supernatural creature would go into a fight with a vampire unaware and w
alk away, let alone actually manage to kill one.”

  “Well, kill one she did, although I’m not ruling out that there may have been two attackers. Perhaps the female lured the vampires in, tried to incapacitate them, then the other joined her once the vampire was down.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to sort through all this. “So if this is the girl then she’s not the innocent accomplice we thought. All three took skins and, if the girl is doing the same as the two boys, all three assumed their skin’s identities.”

  I squinted and thought through my research. There was still a chance this was a really freaky demon possession, but I was leaning toward either a skinwalker or a shapeshifter. If they were to collect enough skins, they’d have myriad disguises and a variety of skills—and powers in the case of this dead vampire.

  Three theories was two too many. I felt like throwing my hands in the air and walking away from the whole tangled mess.

  Dario turned and jerked his head to the side for me to follow him. I made my way carefully down the dirt path, noticing the two vampires left behind were wrapping the body in a tarp. Normally I’d insist on the police being involved so this latest victim could help provide evidence that might lead to the killer, but the vampires wouldn’t want the medical examiner seeing those fangs. I wasn’t sure I would either. Some things were better left in the dark, in the realm of nightmares.

  “So it looks like the intriguing not-paranormal serial-killer case has landed in your lap after all.” Dario paused once we were clear of the dumpster, the two employees still watching us as they smoked. How long was their break time?

  “Yeah. Now I just need to figure out what these things are. I wonder if the blood means anything? Although from what I’ve read of demons, skinwalkers, and shapeshifters, none of them drink or do anything associated with blood.”

  “We’re not the only bloodsuckers,” Dario commented. “Maybe these three are something else—something that drinks blood as well as takes skins.”

  The world was filled with supernatural beings who enjoyed a liquid meal. The skin taking and assuming the victim’s identity was the most limiting factor in all of this. I needed to concentrate on that and assume the blood thing was irrelevant, or an anomaly.

  I rubbed my face. “Guess I need to do more research. Do you think the skin wearing…whatever who is wearing this vampire’s skin would try to team up with the other renegades or form her own Balaj?”

  “Not likely.” Dario glanced behind him up the trail. “Solitary vampires are suspicious. She might try to find a partner, but other vampires would notice the slightest thing that was off about her and run for it.”

  It would take forever for the rumors of an “off” vampire to reach Dario’s Balaj, especially on the outskirts of their territory. It might be easier to track through the other two killers instead.

  “What about the skin? Will it survive sunlight exposure? Can you all locate it somehow through smell?”

  “Yes, if any of us meet someone posing as this vampire by wearing her skin, we’ll know. And no, the skin will not survive sunlight exposure. The vampirism mutation is at a cellular level. I’m assuming if the killer knew enough to take the heart, then she knows enough to preserve the skin appropriately.”

  But what the heck was she? The other question running through my head—what would have happened had she not removed the vampire’s heart—was far too gruesome for me to even ask.

  “She would have recovered if the killer hadn’t taken her heart.” Dario shot me a grim smile. “We regenerate. Limbs, most organs, skin. It would have been a long and painful week, but she would have recovered had she kept her heart.”

  Ew. I really didn’t need to have that visual, but it did make me think about something else.

  “What about the blood? Let’s assume that the killer is drinking it and not just draining the body to make skinning easier. Is there any reason to drink a vampire’s blood?”

  “Skinning a vampire would be just as much of a bloody chore as skinning a human. If she’s drinking the blood…” He shrugged. “There are some healing properties transferred to humans who drink our blood, but they’re not substantial. I can’t imagine any creature choosing to drink vampire blood. It doesn’t have the same life-giving qualities of human blood. Technically we’re dead. There’s no life-force to transfer with the blood.”

  Yet another mystery to add to the pile. Dario walked me to my car and I looked at the horizon, calculating about six hours left until sunrise.

  “How much longer are you going to be up here?” I grumbled.

  He smiled, opening my door for me, bypassing the lock as usual. “What, Ramen noodle dinners not doing it for you? You’re wanting me to hurry this up so you can eat decent food once again?”

  Yeah. It was the food, not him I missed. Right. “If you don’t get back soon, I’m going to start losing weight. It’s taken me a month to get some hint of curves going on here. Don’t put me back to square one, malnourished and without my daily red wine.”

  Dario wedged me against the door, his hands in his pockets. I could have edged around him, scooted aside, but I froze, enjoying the feeling of having him so close. We stood there, silent. Each breath I took brushed my breasts lightly against his shirt. Every cell tingled. If only he’d bend his head down and kiss me, press himself against me, run his hands down my body.

  “Hopefully just a few more days.” His breath was cool on my forehead and I swayed against him. “Think you can hold out until then?”

  No. I swallowed and tried to get my traitorous, sex-starved body under control. “Extra cannoli when you get back?”

  I felt the rumble of his laughter against me. “Of course.”

  He stepped back, but not before placing his lips on my forehead for a quick kiss. “Try not to wind up in Philadelphia this time.”

  And with that he was gone, vanished with a blur of vampire speed while I stood against my car door. I managed to make it home in record time, for once not losing my way and circling the beltway multiple times. It was quiet at my apartment, the parking lot vacant as other tenants enjoyed their night out. I was the only one home early, climbing the steps and thinking of my tangled mess of theories instead of drinking and partying with friends.

  I was so engrossed in thought that I almost missed the white box right in front of my door. A hastily penned note sat on top of it.

  Boss said to bring this by, but I can’t get in your house. Did you magic it or something? These are for you, so you don’t starve to death in the next two days. Please call if there is anything you need and I will provide. Aaron

  Below the name was a phone number. I carefully lifted the box, untied the twine and peeked inside, even though I knew what it held. Cannoli, neatly in a line on top of parchment paper.

  Dario had sent a Renfield to bring me cannoli. And he’d told the man to put himself at my disposal. All thoughts about our doomed future, about Giselle, about Zac, vanished. He missed me. All the little, as well as the big, things he’d done for me suddenly fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

  I unlocked my door and walked in, carefully placing the cannoli in the fridge. It wasn’t just the food and the wine, it was everything. This was more than business, it was more than friendship, and it sure as heck was more than just lust.

  I wasn’t falling in love with Dario, I already was in love with him. And as tragically as this might end, there was no turning back.

  Chapter 19

  THERE WAS A message on the whiteboard when I woke up. I wasn’t sure it was in English, but it was definitely a message.

  Peterson’s buok. Soot in mybxk. Lolgru.

  “Your penmanship is disgraceful,” I told the fox figurine. “Seriously, Raven. I can’t make any of this out beyond ‘Peterson’s.’”

  My cup shattered in a flying whirlwind of pottery, the air around me crackling. I quickly moved books out of the way of the spreading coffee and grabbed a roll of paper towels. “All right. I get that you’
re frustrated, but I’m trying to bring some humor to this situation. We’ll work it out. Just have a little patience.”

  Words bloomed in lime green on the white board. Suorg

  Sorry. Okay, so G’s might be Y’s and U’s might be O’s and O’s might be R’s. That made her previous statement even more confusing.

  “I’ve got a better idea.” Out came my laptop. I opened the word processing program and put the resin fox in front of it. Typing had to be easier than trying to write without movable hands.

  The curser blinked, but no words appeared—either on the laptop or on the whiteboard. Had she worn herself out? That burst of temper had been pretty impressive.

  I finished cleaning up the coffee, and made myself a fresh cup, but there was still no further communication upon my return to the table. The little fox’s eyes seemed a duller red. I reached down and rubbed my thumb across the resin head. “Rest. Try again when you feel able to. I’ll leave the laptop here and if it’s in sleep mode or something when you’re ready, just bust up another coffee cup to get my attention, okay?”

  The eyes glittered red before dimming once more. I smiled, knowing that my friend was starting to regain her usual humor. This was progress. From rolling around the floor to this? She’d managed to identify herself to me, and although the words on the whiteboard were gibberish, I had a feeling they soon wouldn’t be. Just a few more days, and I was certain Raven would be able to communicate in at least short, choppy sentences.

  But did I have time to wait? Russell had said she was angry, and I had just experienced her frustration. There had to be something important she was trying to tell me—something that could be life or death. Or she was telling me I was leaving the stove on. Or that I had black mold in the kitchen.