The Blood Moon Feasts on My Dreams: A Noir Urban Fantasy Novel (Alexander Southerland, P.I. Book 6) by Douglas Lumsden

Author:Douglas Lumsden [Lumsden, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-31T22:00:00+00:00

***

Back in my apartment, I climbed out of my clothes and into a robe. I entertained the idea of sleep and dismissed it. I wasn’t keen on giving Ixquic another shot at me in my dreams just yet, not until I had a better idea how to protect myself from the bloodthirsty wayob.

With nothing better to do until morning, I went into the kitchen and poured myself a drink. Lubank wouldn’t be up and around on a Sunday morning until dawn, and that meant I had a few hours to kill. I decided to spend it sitting on my couch with a drink in my hand and empty thoughts running through my head.

Despite my best efforts, I must have nodded off. Later, I would have a vague recollection of wandering through the Tanielu District, ducking away from cop cars cruising up and down the street. I walked past street people lying on the sidewalk or propped up against the walls of stores with barred windows and doors. A whistle pierced the night, rising in pitch and volume, then falling: the call of the lapa, sounding as if it were coming from my own lips.

I woke with a start to utter silence. Had I dreamed the whistle? It seemed so. I rose from my sofa and stretched. I turned on the kitchen faucet and splashed my face with cold water. I dropped to the floor and knocked off fifty push-ups, turned over and followed up with fifty sit-ups. I went into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. I sat back down on the sofa with a deck of cards and dealt out a hand of solitaire. Black jack on the red queen. Red seven on the black eight. No way was I going to sleep again that night. For whatever reason, Ixquic hadn’t invaded my dream this time, and I didn’t want to risk giving her a second chance.

Two hours later, despite my best efforts, I was drifting off when my phone rang. It was Detective Kalama.

“Are you at home?” she asked, her voice tight.

“Where else would I be at four o’clock in the morning?”

“Don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way.”

“What? What’s going on, detective?”

“We found where Sonoma Deerling and her son were staying. They’re in the wind.”

Fuck. So much for having everything in hand. “All right, but what does that have to do with me?”

“You were seen driving away from an altercation downtown with a local agitator called Colton Randolph. He was wanted by the police for creating a disturbance.”

“Okay…. I’m not saying I was and I’m not saying I wasn’t, but—”

“Button it, Southerland. Randolph was found in a basement apartment in the Tanielu. Subsequently, we found out that Deerling and her son had been hiding out there.”

“You’ve got Randolph?”

“Oh, we’ve got him all right. What’s left of him.”

“Wait. You mean….”

“He was murdered this morning. And his body was mutilated. The heart and liver are missing.”

I groaned. “Lord’s balls.”

“We’ll be there soon. I suggest you call Lubank. You’re going to need him.

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