Dracula: Hearts of Fire (Dracula Heart's) (40 page)

    The sheriff went off the trail into the nearby forest. He searched for telltale signs of mo
ve
ment and then finally found it.
There were
broken
branches
where
someone
had approached from the
west. Whoever it was
had torn out a sapling in an apparent fit of rage
.
The murderer
had moved fast. I
t had been over quickly
; she probably didn’t have time to panic.
  Had he been fighting with himself in an attempt not to kill the girl?
That
was certainly just speculation at this point. A crow flew over his head
landing on a nearby branch
where it began to caw
.
It flew to another branch and then returned to the first, as if it wanted him to follow. Some animals acted strange around vampires. Vincent knew that the crow could have been a namuhwoork, a crow that could transform into a human. They spent more than ninety percent of their lives in crow form. The sheriff followed the bird quite a distance
, and when it stopped it cawed repeatedly. When the bird flew down on
to
the forest floor he knew he had something. Sure enough, as he looked down there was a nine inch paw print. A werewolf!
Not a vampire but a werewolf.

    “Hey, did
you see the attack?” The bird
not
want
ing to be involved
further
flew off and out of sight.

    “Damn
.
I h
aven’t seen
a werewolf
in years.”
Vincent remembered how the last one he encountered had taken a chunk out of his left leg.
The paw prints we
re
more than double the size of a normal wolf. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was a werewolf. Unlike vampires, werewolves were few in
numbers. Most of them
left humans to their own machinations, e
xcept for the newly turned. The new ones
were more into a Jekyll and Hyde state
, unpredictable
. In human form they could be exemplary. If they could actually find a pact they would settle into their new lives a lot faster. “Well, this complicates things.”

    Wolves were at home in the forest and after a kill they could remain in wolf form for days, a consequence of the excitement
of the kill.
Vincent hadn’t come face to face with a
new werewolf in a while.
This
was almost certainly a lone wolf, but the
nearest pack that he knew of was almost
a thousand miles
away. He hated killing wolves
they were such beautiful creatures
. He would bring in a trap and hope for the best.
Vincent had several friends that were werewolves but he hadn’t seen them in years
, perhaps it was time to rectify that
.

   
After killing he composes that
odd poetry for whatever reason.
And to write about the killings meant rational thought, not Jekyll and Hyde shit. Where was the pen and paper when he was in wolf form? That part didn’t make sense
, but as of late not much did. All he dealt with day after day was senseless killing.
Irrational vampires were definitely increasing in numbers.

    Vincent
heard a branch snap in the distance, and when he turned his head he realized that it was simply a white tailed deer. He
would not inform the police that they were dealing with a
werewolf. The present vampire onslaught
was bad enough for them to wrap their minds around
.
Just another day in the big mixed up city of New York.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

   
SITTING AT THE CORNELIA STREET CAFÉ
Lauren couldn’t believe that Michae
l hadn’t yet showed up.
It appeared that for whatever reason he wasn’t coming. There was
no point in waiting any longer
.
All her thoughts were unhappy ones, a
nd for all she knew he was bones
.
He better be dead or have a damn good reason otherwise she was going to kill him.

   
A
contented
yellow Warbler was singing and she felt like telling it to shut up.

    The feeling of not being in control was the worst part as she was a bit of a control freak. She had tried to curb that side of her with Michael and had had moderate success. Each passing minute of uncertainty was like an extra arro
w shot into her heart. I
t was time to go.

  
Disgusted
she blurred all the way back to her loft
, restless she paced a little, attempted to read but couldn’t
. She lay on her leathe
r sofa pissed one moment, worried the next
. If Michael never showed up she would of course think that the wizard killed him. Perhaps she would get a call from a mysterious voice to lure her to him and they woul
d both end up dead
.
One thing was for
sure, bones or not she would have to go and get him.
Love could make some peo
ple jump off a cliff even though they knew there was a splat at the end
.

    The sheriff couldn’t relax, couldn’t think straight, and couldn’t guess at what the hell to do next.
She lay on her sofa with her arms crossed.
Lauren closed her eyes and tried hard to sleep. Tired and yet
she
couldn’t reach that blissful state of unconsciousness. A yawn made her eyes water.
Her cell buzzed and it was Michael. “Michael, where the hell are you!” She listened intently with fire in her eyes; half expecting that he had been kidnapped. “You’re downstairs? You’re okay?
You’re not gonna be!
Get the hell up here before I come down there and kill you!”

    Within seconds there was a knock at the door and Michael stood there with a large box of
chocolates. He looked nervous.
He stepped in and she punched him, knocking him right back out the door
. Picking himself up and then the box of chocolates, he held them out for her to take, simultaneously rubbing his jaw. “But I brought chocolates.”

    Lauren was so happy to see him it was difficult for her to remain angry. “Come here. And why didn’t you call when you found your phone?”

   Michael kissed her to shut her up, hoping that she wouldn’t hit him again. They hugged then kissed passionately until they almost tripped and fell over. He smelled her neck and she smelled like heaven.

    “I got something for you. Here open it.”
He gave her the box of chocolates and she threw it down on the coffee table, it landed with a thump. “Easy you might break it.”

    “Break chocolates?”

    “Special chocolates.”

    “I don’t want any stupid chocolates.”

    Michael was anxious but tried not to show it. He hugged her again while whispering into her ear. “Please open the chocolates.”

    “I cannot believe that you had me so worried for nothing.”

   “Open the damn chocolates. Please.”

    Again they kissed and kissed. “Oh, Michael, you taste so good.”

    “Better than pizza?”

    “Much better.”

    “
I got something for you.
Here open it.
”
Michael gave her the box of chocolates and she threw it down on the coffee table
and it landed
with a thump. “Easy, you might break it.”

    “Break chocolates?”

  
“They are special chocolates.”

    Lauren’s eyebrows tightened with curiosity. What was so special about a stupid box of chocolates? She shook them and they sounded like o
rdinary chocolates
.
Smelling the box she could detect the chocolates inside.
She pretended that she was going to put them away. “I’ll open them later.”

    “Lauren please.
”

    “Something special inside huh?”

    “Oh
my GOD. What is wrong with you
? I know you want to open it. I can see it in your face. The curiosity is eating you up from the inside out, and yet you have to play this game. Open it or I’m going to throw it out the window.”

    “Go ahead, throw it out the window.”

   
“Are you going to open them
or not?”

    “I’d rather make out. Wouldn’t you rather make out?”