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~ Coincidences and Mistakes ~
Macey Denton woke abruptly, bolting upright in bed
Her heart was sla so loudly the sound filled her ears, and cold sweatfast and hard, and felt as if she&039;d been running for hours
She had been running-scra the shadowy streets, across grassy backyardsin her dream
"It was just a drea it aloud would dispel the last vestiges of the terror
Moonlight cast wrinkled silver bealanceded in a wry sentle spring breeze wafted through the s by, distant shouts and even sounshotsjust the nor was out there Nothing with glowing red eyes or gleas
It was just a dreaht reflected off the face of her alarm clock It was hard to clearly read its nuue shape of the hands Three o&039;clock
Drat it She had to get up for work in three hours and she&039;d already stayed up too late reading that old book It sat on her bedside table, beckoning tely-just as it had when it appeared at the library office yesterday
The Venators by George Starcasset
The slender book was ragged and worn, its leather corners bue listing a publisher or even a copyright page It appeared crude and inexpertly made That hy she hadn&039;t put it on the pile to be catalogued at the libraryyet She was curious The printing ard and imperfect, unlike the neat rows of letters that came from her typewriter Clearly, it was h she had no idea who or what a Venator was, Macey had been coes, taking care not to crack or tear the delicate paper, and saw unfamiliar words like vis bulla and Tutela
And then she shoved it into her satchel to bring the book home For research
It turned out to be about a family of vampire hunters And despite the fact there was, of course, no such thing as vampires, she found herself swept up in the world of the s
That was the reason for her night the busy sidewalk, Macey tugged the felt hat down over her ears,sure its little brim curled up saucily in the back
Well, she would have been hurrying, glad to be on her way home from work, if her feet weren&039;t so darn sore The new shoes she&039;d sprung for with her first paycheck-shiny black Mary Janes with sassy black and white organza boere still a little tight, and Dr Morgan had had her running errands in theh she loved books and absolutely adored her job at the Harper Meo, Macey nor sent out of the office as a break froue cards-but it had been drizzling since noon today,it chilly and messy outside
AndZJ- because she&039;d overslept again (thanks to those darn dreaotten her u house in a rush Thus her hat and stockings had gotten damp and stayed that way for the rest of the day Even the rabbit fur around her coat collar had wilted Thank goodness it was reton Hotel, where Al Capone lived and reigned, were visible over the rooftops She&039;d walked past the luxurious brick and terracotta building on Michigan Avenue many times-and had even delivered an old book there once (She counted herself fortunate she hadn&039;t seen Capone hi the hotel, Macey couldn&039;t help but look for the gangsters with the so-called Touns that were rue that Snorky, as Capone was called, owned the city-from the mayor on down to half the police force, as well as a variety of businesses Nightclubs, restaurants,facilities, funeral homes, and illicit ones-like breweries-as well
He was, some said, more powerful than the president of the United States And despite the violence and countless illegal activities he controlled, Chicagoans were fascinated by him Capone liked to present that he was a sort ofservices to the overnment-and there were some who lauded this position
Macey didn&039;t have ht o and was still enas, countless shops, and variety of entertain as Capone, Torrio, Moran and the like didn&039;t bring their violence to her, she intended to ignore them
An old, open-style Model T trundled past her on the street She dodged when it drove through a shallow puddle, but she wasn&039;t fast enough and the autos
"Drat!" sheto twist around and look down at the back of her flesh-colored stockings They were speckled with dark flecks of oin&039; in such a big hurry?" An adlanced down the alley at acrates Her landlady, Mrs Gutchinson, was always co just below the knee and sheer stockings, seeive men per, she continued along,her way on the sideith scores of other people heading ho more quickly than usual because of the da unloaded in another alley and two skinny kids trying to woo a cat out fro on one corner with a tin cup on the ground as he sang long and low and sad Occasionally, so ahead of her, holding the hand of a young blond girl in a darling pink coat She danced and chattered, twirling around on the end of his hand, and pointed at things as they walked along Her father smiled down at her and nodded, and once even paused to crouch and look at soe of your great-great-grand the dull, farief
On the block ahead, she saw the shill who regularly enticed passersby to stop and play dice or shell games His normal croas nonexistent, for today there were only two victi to outsmart the con as he shuffled the upside-down cups and kept up a patter designed to distract fro to work at University of Chicago&039;s library, Macey had been lured in by his invitation Ten minutes later she&039;d walked away-a dollar poorer and late to work on top of it
Since then, she&039;d avoided getting too close to that side of the block, even though he regularly called out to coax her back But one day she was going to try it again, and she&039;d win
By now, Macey was alht foot That would teach her to wear new shoes without giving them a chance to stretch out first And there see toe on her left foot
Double drat That was going toShe&039;d be hobbling instead of shiht
She rounded the corner onto Quincy Street in order to avoid the insistent shill and his cups, and plowed into athere
"Oh, pardon me," she said as he reached out to catch her arm and steady her
"I&039;m sorry,at a sign posted in a bulletin board on the brick wall "I should have been watching" Beneath his fedora, he had strong, dark brows and blue-gray eyes that were sharp and intelligent They seemed to take in every detail of her with one sweep
"I wasn&039;t watching either" Instead of continuing on, Macey took the opportunity to give her sore feet a rest
And aside from that, he was an attractive man, probably in his late twenties What little she could see of his hair appeared dark under the shadow of his hat, and he had a solid, square chin that looked as if it had been a day since it was shaved Taller than she-but what man wasn&039;t?-he wore a dun-colored trench coat that had a button hanging loosely froloves, she could see his ink-stained hands ell forive the i for a bus or for the traffic to clear so she could cross the street, Macey glanced at the board to see what had caught his interest
There were so with several posters proo&039;s on Vashner, and soo see The Armbruster Trio?" she asked
"Not at all I was actually looking at this one" He stabbed a finger at a hand-lettered sign off to the sideAnd thenyou hunt vampires sly
Its ink had run, but Macey could still read it Missing: Jennie Fallon Last seen March 29, 5 o&039;clock, at Vashner and Michigan
The description of the young woman of twenty was partly obliterated by weather and dah March 29 was o Her stomach soured and she looked up
"Do you know her?"
"No" He snatched the paper fro it into a ball "And no one ever will again Her body was found this ht The woe "Oh, that&039;s terrible What happened to her?"
Hiscare, miss," he said, and for the first time she noticed a bit of the Irish in his voice "It&039;s not safe for a young woman out alone, especially after dark I don&039;t know you, but you look just like the sort of girl Jennie Fallon was: young, pretty, one that likes to go out dancing in the clubs and getting into trouble in the speakeasies-"
"I beg your pardon," she said, suddenly a little nervous Was he a police about speakeasies?"
He looked at her, his eyes ayour innocent protestations for the cops, e"
"Well, I nev-"
"Her body," he continued, speaking over Macey&039;s breathless indignation, "was mutilated Throat and chest torn to ribbons"
"My God, that&039;s horrible" Her annoyance evaporated "The poor, poor wo like that?"
"I can only assume that by &039;they,&039; you one "As if they have ti wosters to be cared for But no, no one is certain what caused such a terrible death"
"Maybe it was aor some other wild animal Orora vampire" This last came out as little more than a mumble, but heat her with the sa with mortification that such a ludicrous comment had come from her lips "Did you say vampire?"
"I" Macey fumbled for an explanation She had no idea why those syllables had co," she said la to say" She shook her head, miserable and mortified As it tended to do, herbefore her brain caught up She had va, vas in everydayBy the ti at her differently now In a way that , were you? I wonder why you&039;d be joking about so like that"
Just then-and Macey was to be forever grateful for the interruption-someone called, "Grady!"
They both turned to see a unifor It was obvious he&039;d been hailing the hted to have the opportunity to edge away as the policeman, as quite a bit older, walked up He looked at her, then at Grady, and said, "Is everything all right here? Miss? Is thisyou?"