Page 49 of Starved Until Sunset

“You joke, Mr. Bower, but that’s about what it comes down to,” Dr. Graham said.

“Call me Cody.”

“All right. Please call me Michael.”

“How do you know this?” Lucia asked. “And why haven’t you let me know about it?”

“Well, that’s where it gets a bit sticky. You see, I’m here because of the vampires. Well, because of two vampires in particular.”

“Are you some kind of vampire hunter?” Deputy Walsh said. “Like that guy in Dracula. What’s his name?”

“Van Helsing,” Zenona said, and she and Michael shared a smile Cody noticed looked like it carried a lot of private jokes and personal attraction with it. That was interesting.

“Right, Van Helsing.” Deputy Walsh lifted her eyebrows. “Are you some kind of blood descendent of his or something?”

“No, nothing like that. I just have a personal connection with a very old and very powerful vampire who, it turns out, has set his sights on your wonderful small town.”

At that moment, a buzz sounded from a back corner of the room, startling all of them. Michael excused himself and walked past the stacked coolers to a metal roll up door Cody hadn’t noticed before. The doctor pressed a button and the door slowly opened, allowing two ambulance attendants to wheel in a stretcher with a black body bag on it.

Cody’s stomach dropped to his feet, and he exchanged a nervous look with Demmy. He was glad to see a healthy dose of discomfort in Demmy’s expression as well. At least he wasn’t the only one feeling queasy about the arrival of a corpse as they talked about vampires.

Dr. Graham spoke quietly with the attendants, signed some kind of electronic device one of them held, then helped them shift the body bag to a long, wide stainless steel gurney. The ambulance attendants glanced curiously at their group before wheeling the stretcher back through the opening, which Michael closed behind them.

“Apologies for that,” Michael said. “Just be a moment.”

He crossed to the sink, washed his hands, and then stopped at a counter to type some notes into a computer setup on a wheeled cart.

“Zenona,” Lucia said. “How have you been involved in all of this?”

“Michael and I have gotten to know each other very well since he arrived. Our casual conversations took a more serious turn over the summer with all of the, um, unusual occurrences.”

“Zombies and a murderous, shape-shifting water sprite?” Clarabell offered, then turned to the rest of their group and said, “Oh, by the way, just to be safe: nix!” Everyone stared back at her, and Clarabell gave a satisfied nod. “Just making sure.” She turned back to Zenona and gave a wave. “Sorry, Doc. Go ahead.”

“Right, yes,” Zenona said. “Those conversations led naturally into his suspicions about, well, vampires, but there always seemed to be some new and more immediate monster threat or staff shortage to deal with. And we didn’t have any proof that what he suspected was happening was really happening. Not until just recently.”

“That’s when she contacted me,” Clarabell said. “And asked for information.”

Michael returned. “Again, my apologies. Business first, I’m afraid.”

Cody glanced uneasily at the body bag lying in the shadows across the room. Who was inside that thing? Could it be someone he knew? Someone he cared for? With this recent revelation about vampires in town, would this new arrival to the morgue be back up and running around again soon, biting people on the neck and draining them of blood?

“So, what brought this vampire to Parson’s Hollow?” Demmy asked, bringing Cody’s attention back to their group.

Michael exchanged another look with Zenona. He grimaced slightly, but then met Demmy’s eyes. “Me, I’m afraid.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The chill air in the morgue seemed to suddenly turn much colder, and Demetrius couldn’t suppress a shiver.

“You?” Lucia said. “Why would this vampire be so interested in you?”

Demetrius heard a quiet sound from across the room, and he squinted into the shadows gathered near the roll up delivery door. Had something moved? As he watched, the recently delivered body bag shifted. The little light available glided across the slick surface like moonlight on a lake.

“What…?” he said, then pointed and shouted the only word he could think of. “Vampire!”

Things happened fast after that. Everyone looked at him, then to where he pointed. Lucia and Deputy Walsh drew their guns. Clarabell took a couple of steps forward as she dug into the bag slung around her shoulder. Cody put himself in front of Demetrius and reached back to hold on to Demetrius’s arm, backing them both up a couple of steps.

The body bag slowly zipped open, a long, eerie sound. A man sat up from between the sides of the bag. He was pale and handsome, with long, dark hair tied back into a ponytail, thick, dark eyebrows, and a strong, prominent nose. He ran his gaze over them all, full lips parting in a wide, friendly smile that revealed long, sinister fangs. Demetrius’s previous shiver turned into a full on shudder at the sight.