A Girl's Guide to Vampires

damage that was done, and the fact that there's not a drop of blood to be seen, the only one who could have killed her is a…'

'Vampire?' he asked, squatting down to examine something on the ground.

I nodded, realized he wasn't looking at me, and added, 'Yes. I know you don't believe in them—God knows I didn't before I came here and had my mind invaded—but even you have to admit that her death looks like just what you'd expect from a vampire.'

'Yes, it is,' he agreed as he examined the ground around the tree. I had no idea what he expected to find, since the soft bed of pine needles wasn't conducive to footprints or other helpful clues, but still he looked.

And suddenly that struck me as odd. 'What exactly are you doing?'

He ignored my question, tapping his finger on his chin for a moment before marching over to put both hands on my shoulders, his eyes alight with concern and worry. 'I know it's asking a lot of you, but could you stay here by yourself for a few minutes until the police arrive?'

I blinked at him. 'The police?'

He nodded. 'They should be here shortly.'

'You called them?'

'Of course. I know it won't be pleasant for you to stay here by yourself, but I have to leave before the police get here. I… er… I have to let Dominic know what's going on.' The words were stiff and halting. 'You won't be in any danger; I will only be a few minutes.'

I stared at him for a moment, then glanced over at Tanya's body. I didn't really want to be alone with her, but it was clearer than ever that Raphael wanted to avoid contact with the police. While I didn't think running from a problem was the answer, now was not the time to give him a lecture about facing up to his past. Or whatever it was that was bothering him. 'OK. I'll stay.'

He looked a bit surprised by my easy acquiescence. 'You don't mind? You won't be frightened?'

I shook my head. 'No. Tanya isn't going to do me any harm, and certainly her killer won't.' After all, he'd sworn earlier that evening that he'd never hurt me. 'Go ahead. I'll wait here for the police.'

Raphael opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again with a little shake of his head. 'You and I are going to have a very long talk just as soon as I can manage it.'

'Good,' I said, wrapping my arms around his waist and giving him a hug. 'I have a lot of questions I'd like answered.'

He shook his head again, told me what to tell the police when they arrived, and strode off into the night.

As I watched him walk away, the questions kept running through my mind. What were you doing out here instead of watching over things at the fair? What did you pick up off the ground near Tanya? What are you hiding about your past? And how did you find out about poor Christian?

Poor Christian. The words echoed in my head as I glanced over to Tanya's lifeless body. Poor Christian had done that to her. Poor Christian had viciously ripped her throat open and drained her dry. I shuddered at the thought of it, sickened by the stark reality of a Dark One's true nature. His feeding on her wasn't romantically erotic as he described it in his books—Tanya's life had been stolen from her in an act of brutal savagery, animalistic in its butchery. My stomach lurched unpleasantly as I recognized the undeniable truth: Christian was extremely dangerous, a killer without remorse.

And he was insanely jealous of the man I loved.

The police arrived before I worked out a solution of what to do about Christian. Black-and-white police cars swarmed the far end of the hotel parking lot, their lights flashing as they formed a semicircle around the area where I stood. I was surprised to see so many police there, figuring Raphael might only have left a warning that there was a body to be found; then I felt guilty for thinking so poorly of him. He might be no stranger to the police, but that didn't mean he would shirk his duty.

An older man with salt-and-pepper hair and a big mustache sauntered over to me. He asked me something in Czech. I shook my head and pointed to Tanya, answering him in German. 'Raphael, the man who called you, told me to stay here with her while he went to the fair to let the owners know what is going on.'

'Raphael?' the man asked in heavily accented English. He consulted the notepad one of his cohorts pushed in his hand. 'Raphael Saint Johan?'

'St. John,' I answered. 'It's pronounced 'sinjun' actually. He's British, you see.'

The man stared at me.

'They do things like that. With their names, I mean.'

He stared a little more, then with deliberate movements pulled a pencil from his pocket, licked the end, and made a notation. 'I am familiar with the British, madam. I attended Oxford University in my youth.'

'Oh. Sorry.'

He inclined his head in acceptance of my apology. 'I am Inspector Jan Bartos of the Brno police. Your name?'

I told him. He took down the information that I was staying at the hotel, my home address, and what I was doing in the Czech Republic, then warned me that he would check the information against my passport.

'Fine, I have nothing to hide,' I said, glancing over my shoulder to see if Raphael had returned. 'I was on my way back to the hotel to take a bath when I found Tanya. Raphael ran into me after calling you guys. That's all.'

'Tanya? You know the victim?'

'Just slightly. That is, I've met her, and talked to her a couple of times'—if you could call the threats and curses she tossed at me talking—'but I didn't really know her. She worked at the fair. I'm just here as a tourist.'

He made another note. 'You do not work with the fair?'

'No.' As soon as I said the word, I felt the need to explain, just in case the police questioned people attending the fair who'd had me read the runes for them. 'That is, I don't actually work for them, but I did read rune stones there tonight.'

'You read—?'

'Rune stones. They're little stones with runic graphics on them. It's kind of like reading tarot cards, only different. Here, I have my set, I can show you.' I pulled the black velvet bag out of my purse and plucked an amethyst stone out. 'See? These are amethyst. I was reading these at the fair tonight, but I haven't done it there any other time. Well, except a couple of nights ago, but that was special.'

'I see.' He didn't look like he understood, he looked like I had a neon light over my head blazing PRIME SUSPECT for everyone to see.

'It was a wager, just a stupid bet my friend had with Tanya.'

Inspector Bartos frowned at the tip of his pencil, tucked the pad of paper under his arm, and patted his pockets until he extracted a small black object. Carefully he inserted the tip of the pencil into the sharpener, rotating the pencil with exacting precision. His tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth as he worked. I had to bite my lip to keep from giggling.

'Now,' he said, having finished with the task of sharpening his pencil. I waited for him to lick the sharpened end. He looked like he was going to, then thought better of it. 'You will tell me, please, about this wager you had with the victim.'

I looked again over my shoulder, hoping to see a large man with beautiful amber eyes charging up the hill from the meadow, but there was nothing but the police swarming the area, roping off a large section around Tanya's body.

'It wasn't my wager, it was my friend Roxy's. Roxanne Benner. We're traveling together. Tanya was saying some nasty things about me, so Roxy bet all of her money that I could read runes. It's as simple as that.'

'Is it?' he asked, taking notes. It was a weird feeling knowing that everything I was saying was being taken down.

'Yes.'

'Tanya lost a great sum of money to your friend, no? She was angry?'

I gave him a wry smile. 'Not with Roxy, no. It wasn't really between the two of them, you see, it was because of—' I closed my mouth on the word 'me' and swallowed nervously.

'Yes? Who was the cause of the wager?'