Royal Blood by Debra Dunbar

Author:Debra Dunbar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Debra Dunbar

Chapter 13

I’d formed a mental picture of Richelle that was completely wrong. The name conjured up a tall, elegant, dark-haired woman with a French accent. Instead Richelle looked like the sort of woman who would sit you down at her kitchen table and serve you a big slice of buttery pound cake with fresh berries and a cup of strong chicory coffee by its side. She had a round, dark-skinned face with huge dimples in her cheeks and eyes that squinted into happy lines when she smiled. Her body was equally round with soft curves on a short frame. When she spoke, her soft accent conjured images of warm rain on a tin roof and lush green ferns swaying lazily in a hot summer breeze.

She was a vampire, and I knew she was as fast and deadly as any of them, but I still half expected her to launch into a story about last week’s church bake sale and potluck.

“I took the liberty of askin’ Fidel to join us later as he’s taken to socializin’ in this part of town,” she told Dario with a cheerful smile. “I’m hopin’ that’s okay with you, Sir?”

“Thank you, Richelle.” Dario grimaced. “I’m thinking it might be a good idea to keep track of who tends to hunt where so we know what sections of the city are being monitored.”

The unspoken part of that was if a vampire went missing, the Balaj would know where to target their search.

“It’s been a fair bit,” Richelle commented as she looked around the street corner where Tremelay had told me the man’s body had been found. “Might not be able to pick up much of a scent.”

“I’m not getting even a trace of blood,” Dario said. “Even with the other odors and twenty-four hours, there should have been a few drops at least.”

My eyebrows went up. I knew vampires had a great sense of smell, probably equal to that of a bloodhound, but I hadn’t stopped to think what exactly that meant.

“Maybe he was killed elsewhere and dumped here,” I said. “This is a mixed use area, with commercial buildings a block away from the residential ones. Warehousing, manufacturing, distribution, a deli, a parking lot—there are all sorts of businesses as well as the park nearby. If they were quick about it, they could have left the body on this corner to be found and gone before the residents across the street even noticed they were here.”

Richelle glanced over at me. It was the first time she’d done so since we’d arrived, and I got the impression that she would have rather I remained silent and let the adults, or vampires, take care of this.

“Your detective friend said he was found here?” Dario pointed to the sidewalk.

I nodded. “This side of the power pole, head facing toward Bush Street.”

There wasn’t any crime scene tape, no chalk outline, nothing to indicate a dead man lay here less than twenty-four hours ago. But it wasn’t like the area could

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.