Thirsty by Tracey Bateman

Author:Tracey Bateman [Bateman, Tracey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-45716-5
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2009-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

As it turned out, the General was already in bed and wouldn’t open his door. Nina slipped back into Markus’s car and waited for him to fold his large body into the driver’s seat and close his door.

His eyes lit with amusement as he turned to her. “Well, so much for doing the right thing.”

Nina laughed. “I can’t believe he yelled at us for waking him up. At eight-thirty.” She sobered. “You don’t think he’s in bed early because he’s depressed, do you?”

Markus started the engine. He shook his head as he slid the gearshift into place. “I don’t think so. He didn’t sound depressed, just really, really irritated.”

Nina sat quietly for a moment while Markus drove down the General’s gravel drive. “These killings are so strange,” she said. “The blood draining especially. Don’t think I’m crazy, but it almost seems like something is draining the blood to drink it.” Nina shuddered.

Markus’s lips twitched. “You mean something like a vampire?”

She shrugged and felt stupid. “Not the kind with stakes and crosses and holy water, but maybe a vampire-wannabe cult or something. Or maybe black magic that uses blood sacrifice.”

“You could be more right than you imagine.”

“Stop teasing me. I’m just trying to look at all the possibilities. I know the police are considering witchcraft or Satanism. They’d have to be.”

He eyed her silently, then turned back to the road. “There have been rumors of vampires in these parts before.”

Nina laughed. She hadn’t honestly been talking about vampires in the mythical sense. And even though she’d been raised here, she’d never heard anything about vampires. On the other hand, there were all sorts of ghost stories and other oddities in the Ozarks, so why not vampires too? “More of your research?”

“Something like that.” His tone didn’t hold a hint of amusement as his gaze stayed on the dark, winding road.

“You mean it?”

He nodded. “Do you want to hear the lore?”

She shivered. “I suppose.”

“It started in the 1700s, not many years before the American Revolution. Of course this area wasn’t under British control. The French owned all of this land until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.”

He gathered in a deep breath. “The story goes that a young trapper named Alexander Lafitte lived somewhere in the woods above the river. He and his bride ran a trading post for the other trappers and Indians in the area. He maintained a good relationship with the Osage and other Sioux tribes.”

“Let me guess,” Nina said, forcing humor into her voice. “He was bitten by a bat or an ancient vampire and became the undead?”

“No. Vampires aren’t turned that way. Vampirism comes through the bloodline like any family curse.”

Nina stared at him. He acted as though he truly believed what he was saying.

Markus tilted his head and grinned. “Or so the Ozark legend goes.”

A breath of relief pulsed through her throat. “So no undead vampires making other vampires with their poisonous bite?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” He gave her an indulgent smile.

She settled into the seat and tried to relax.

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