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You there, Moon Dance?

The IM box appeared on s in my room I quickly tossed my unfolded sweater in as was cold in February

To what do I owe the pleasure, Fang?

I need to talk to you

In person?

Maybe No I don’t know

What’s going on, Fang?

There was a pause, and I was suddenly alarmed to discover my normally dorainstheart went unnoticed, which wasn’t too surprising since these days it generally only beat about five ti could potentially be wrong Or so seemed unusually closed toup onon?

The little pencil icon appeared in the IM box, whichA moment later, his words appeared:

I recentlymet someone

Would this someone happen to be a female?

Yes

This wasn’t horrible news At least, not forI appreciated his friendship and help But I had always felt he had an ulteriorfroo

He wanted h I didn’t doubt that he loved inated Was it for ht suddenly occurred to me, and I voiced it Or, rather, wrote it:

Is this woman avampire?

Yes

A real vampire?

A real vampire, Moon Dance

May I ask her na insideI exhaled a steady stream of cold air, and wrote: Detective Rachel Hanner

Yes

How did you two ht, sat at the bar Ordered a glass of white wine, same as you

I read his words and would have held my breath, except I was never sure when I held my breath these days He went on:

There was sootherworldly The way she stared at me Her s before I suspected what she was

I waited, re-reading his words, thinking hard, puzzling through this What did this mean? I didn’t know yet

It wasn’t until later, after her second glass of wine, that I realized she had been reading my mind Her intrusion wasn’t obvious Not like the way I knohen you’re in there I mean, I can always feel when you’re indown here and there

He paused and I was truly feeling sick Down the hallway, I heard Anthony snoring lightly Music came from Tammy’s room The house was locked I always kept it locked What was Hanner up to? I didn’t know, but I had that creepy-ass feeling of being watched Of course, with

I stood and walked over to my mainand looked out into the cul-de-sac No one was out there At least, not that I could see All the cars on the street I recognized But with Hanner - the only other vampire that I knew personally - she could be anywhere She could be sitting on my roof, for all I knew I shivered

Jesus, I thought

I sat back down and Fang’s next e appeared almost instantaneously: I think within a few minutes, she knew allmeant The man had some killer secrets Literally The kind that would send him back to jail - or a mental institution - for the rest of his life