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We are the only ones sitting at the end of Water Cove Pier, where Sliuns and unbreakable handcuffs It is too cold for most people to eat outside, but we are bundled up We eat fish and chips and feed the birds The sun is bright and reflects off the calm water, and the chilly air is heavy with the slasses and a hat I like hats, red and black ones

The first time I ever saw the sea I was already a vampire So I don&039;t knohat it looks like to a mortal The many fish, the seaweed, and the shells-I see thee aquariu with visible life, food In moments of extreme thirst I have drunk the blood of fish, of sharks even Once, in the seventeenth century, off the coast of what is now Big Sur, I even killed a great white shark, but not for food The thing tried to bite off s

And I ask myself the impossible question

Could he still be alive?

Joel holds in his hand the papers he obtained from the coroner, the details on Edward Fender-Eddie I will relieve him of the papers in a few minutes But first I want to talk to hi Honestly, I do not want to kill hi hu applauded But to convince him to keep his mouth shut, I have to tell him even more about the enemy, and myself And then I will have even more reason to kill hined it that way I believe I s I never should say to any mortal Because I aives me reason to be reckless

"Do you often co to Water Cove, which is twenty o down to Seaside?"

"No" My weakness haunts me like a second shad?ow If I do not drink soon, and a lot, I will be in no shape to return to Los Angeles tonight "Why do you ask?"

"I was just thinking how you told e coincidence there was a group of violent murders in Seaside at that same time I believe they occurred a day before you said you lost your house, if ood memory"

He waits for me to elaborate, but I don&039;t "Were you and your friend connected with those h my dark lenses "Why do you ask?"

"One of the people killed at a gas station in Seaside was a wo person The coroner told me about it He said it would take a monster to do what had been done to her" He pauses, adds, "Thein Los Angeles"

I offer a bird one of enerally likethem "Do you think I&039; my questions with questions"

"But one answer always leads to another question" I shrug "I&039; ht those people died in Seaside?"

I pause "Yes"

He sucks in a breath "Did your friend kill that woman?"

A white dove takes my fry I wipe off my hands on my skirt "No My friend sent that woman to kill hs "I&039; nowhere with you Just tellto tell me and be done with it"

"Eddie Fender is our man"

"You don&039;t know that"

"I do Tois - I like you and I don&039;t want you to get hurt You have to leave Eddie to ht Thank you, Alisa, but I can take care of h lasses "You don&039;t understand what you&039;re up against You don&039;t understand ers slide over the sleeve of his jacket I hold his hand DespiteEven without trying, aze weakens him Better to kiss him, I think, than to kill hi soon The sun nears the horizon The orange glow lights Joel&039;s face as if he were sitting in a desolate purgatory, where the judgment of the damned and the saved had already been coo He sits so close to me, but I cannot welco his, as I did Ray&039;s But I do have to scare him, yes, and deeply I add, "I was the one who killed that woman"

He smiles nervously "Sure How did you do it? With your bare hands?"