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Chapter Ten

I parked ht-iron fence, where I sat and studied the grounds beyond Even to hts, I couldn&039;t see ed into some deep, dark woods

Well, as deep and dark as they got in the hills above Fullerton

I understood Detective Hanner&039;s heartache I understood how much she missed her own son, but I wasn&039;t about to sentenceadolescence Not if I could help it

According to Detective Hanner and her neighbors, the old h fence but also by dark icks, and she shrugged and said she was only reporting what she&039;d heard frohbors Hanner added that she wouldn&039;t put anything past the creepy old man who may or hborhood was this?

Except this really didn&039;t feel like a neighborhood Not anyh fences and apparently black icks In fact, I felt like I was in a fairy tale A Brothers Grimm fairytale, as twisted and dark as they co for me at the end of this cobblestone drive No, only an ancient master of the black arts, who may or may not be a vampire Whoback, but instead I got out of the ate I could have scaled the fence easy enough, but the "protected by dark icks" part had me a little nervous And curious

So ould happen if I broke in? Would a wart appear on my nose? Would a she-devilive me a make-over? I shuddered I didn&039;t know, but noas not the time to find out

So I did it by the book, and pushed the red intercom button above a cobwebbed touchpad I had no sooner released ot a proly-accented voice through a speaker

"Saain "Please turn around"

"Excuseslowly, knowing there was a ca up

"The left side of your neck, just below your jawline, is "

"Excuse me?"

"It shows up asempty on my monitors Are you a vampire, Samantha Moon?"

I touched the area in question, and sure enough, I had missed a spot there Damn "Nohat kind of question is that to ask - "

"Are you a vampire or not?"

"Perhaps we can discuss this inside, where we can have a little irl Let ain, I ask: are you a vao around blurting my super-secret identity The man in the house, whoever he as obviously privy to the ways of the undead How much so, I didn&039;t know But I needed help for uess you could say I&039;h I really don&039;t think ofhere, va rituals"

Morning rituals? I didn&039;t like the sound of that I suddenly had an iraination In fact, as I thought about it, I wasn&039;t getting any psychic hits fro his thoughts

I said, "I&039;m here because I need help with my son"

"What kind of help?"

"Can we please talk inside?"

There was a long pause, and then the speaker went dead and the iron gate swung open on silent hinges I got back into the ate shut immediately behind me

I was a vampire, dammit I shouldn&039;t be afraid

But I was

Chapter Eleven

There&039;s a reason why they don&039;t make roads out of cobblestones any nearly to mush, I soon pulled around a massive fountain that featured three rather robust mermaids, each more endowed than the next Men and their daht As I turned off the minivan, I actually paused to wonder if mermaids were, in fact, true

Hell, why not?

The house was huge, co aoff the hook, but it was letting er here, perhaps not necessarily of the physical kind, butso

I stepped out of the ht air Crickets chirped nearby and the waxing reens that marched around the property

The house was aAmerica&039;s forefathers Our very rich forefathers I followed a ceh what appeared to be crushed seashells, and then stepped up on a cement veranda, and foundsyste Nothing would har warned to stay alert and cautious

No problem with that

I pressed a doorbell button inlaid within an ornate brass fixture that see resonated froly everywhere, followed shortly by footsteps on a wooden floor Soon, the right door swung open and I was greeted by a wide-shouldereda tissue He studiedhis red nose, which could have used another wipe or two, but that was probably just theand what few stray hairs he had ildly askew Was he the butler? I didn&039;t know, but I suspected so My only experience with butlers ith Franklin, Kingsley&039;s wildly disproportionate butler

Finally, he nodded and wiped his nose - thank God - and said, "This way, madam"

And like Franklin, he didn&039;t sound very happy about being roused to service in the ht But like a trooper he led me down hallways and around corners, past ot, thewas different Very different

It was the energy in the house It was ed randoy spiraled in seely slow motion, as if the very house itself had slipped out of the normal flow of time And the particles thees and blues and violets