Moon Shadow (Vampire for Hire Book 11) (10 page)

Chapter Nineteen

I spent the next twenty minutes knocking on doors and getting cold shoulders—and promptly warming cold shoulders with my fancy mind tricks, until I found Raul’s house, who most certainly didn’t live on a corner.

Raul did have a collection of lawnmowers and, according to his wife, Raul had been helping the missing boy. By helping, he’d loaned one of his older lawnmowers to Luke. Raul, unfortunately, was in Mexico for the week, helping a sick brother, and I suspected Raul wasn’t that bad of a guy. His wife didn’t know anything more about Luke and his clients. I asked if Raul had a cell phone. She said Raul was seventy-eight years old. I guessed that meant no.

I thanked her for her time and headed back to the vampmobile—my 2002 Toyota Sienna with a dent on the passenger side panel. A dent had been placed there by Anthony’s soccer ball a few months back. A dent that would set me back $500, according to my insurance agent.

A dent that would just have to stay there.

***

I parked high up on a winding road that led to the nicer and newer homes, all of which seemed to sport a magnificent view of the lake below. At least, it was magnificent to my eyes.

To mortals, the water would be nothing more than a black swatch in the center of town. But to my eyes, oh, to my eyes, the lake was teeming with life and energy and vibrations, with flowing particles of light that pulsated along the surface of the water—and just under, too. Light that wasn’t really light. It was energy, I knew. The energy that powered this Earth, this universe, energy that flowed over everything and anything, constantly, unendingly, flowing, flowing. From where it came, I did not know, but I had my ideas and a single word appeared to me now as I sat there in my front seat.

God. Or something close to God. The Creator, the Source, the All That Ever Was. And each light particle was, I suspected, a part of God, to be used and gathered and collected as we see fit, to be harnessed as we see fit. It is the driving force of creation. It is the thing that holds our world together, keeps its place in its orbit around the Sun, and the Sun in its place in our Galaxy, and our Galaxy in its place in the known Universe. It is creation and love, and it flows and is there for all of us to be used, or not used, to experience or to not experience. It is inspiration. It is love. It is life. It is health. It is great ideas. And it is always there, flowing, moving, adapting, growing.

And I can see it.

Lucky me.

Within this energy, I see other fragments of light. Brighter fragments, and sometimes, duller fragments, too. Spirit energy. Such energy weaves through the constant bombardment of universal love, which is what I think of it as. Spirit energy sort of rides the waves of these eternal, flowing particles. Surfing the cosmos.

It all made for a spectacular light show, especially when combined with the chaotic, zigzagging lights that skimmed the surface of the lake—insects would be my guess. Even from up here, I could see them swarming over the lake. Brighter objects darted just below the surface, especially along the billowing reeds. Fish. Slower, pulsating light seemed to indicate frogs, especially on the north side of the lake. All of it pulsating, emitting light, flowing with the light of the Universe, merging and blending and giving depth and profundity to the night.

I stepped out of my minivan.

Up the street behind me were rows of backyard fences and elaborate decks, all designed to give the owners magnificent views of the lake below. Magnificent
daytime
views. Now, not so much. Some of the decks sported outdoor grills big enough to feed an army, or Anthony, and long stone counters that put my own kitchen to shame. Hell, my family could live comfortably on most of those outdoor decks.

A Porsche whizzed past, clearly going faster than the posted 35 MPH speed limit, and headed to the really big homes higher up. Yes, there were Porsches, even in the desert. I briefly considered following him home and feasting on him. Maybe that would teach him not to speed.

As they say, speed kills.

The day’s events had permitted my inner bitch witch to slip out more than I was comfortable with. Her influences always permeated into my life in negative and hateful and angry ways.

Maybe if you weren’t such a bitch
, I thought as I began to disrobe right there on the side of the road, my minivan shielding me from the majority of the homes above me,
I would let you out more. Something to think about, lady.

Another car came by, this one slower and a little closer to the posted speed limit. The mom in me approved of the safe driving. The vampire in me could give a shit. Still, I suspected Elizabeth had heard me. I suspected she was mulling over my offer. Or not. Maybe she was seething deep inside me, wherever it is that she resided. Seething and planning a very hostile takeover.

You catch more flies with honey
, I thought, and tossed the last of my clothes onto the back seat. I double checked the hide-a-key. It was still there, just inside the front left wheel well, magnetically secured and ready for action.

Once the minivan was locked, I headed over to the guardrail. The drop-off down into the gulch wasn’t too steep. Maybe twenty feet, maybe less, at a slight angle. Not straight down, but it should be sufficient. Especially these days. I was getting faster at transforming, at summoning Talos.

I stood up on the slightly dented guardrail, proof that it had served its purpose at one point in time. Although twenty feet wasn’t much free-fall space, it would have been a helluva long drop for a mom in a minivan. Or a speeding Porsche.

The wind was mild and warm and brought with it the fragrance of the ancients: dusty hills, dusty plants, dust of the forgotten. All sweeping past me, for my senses only.

Yes, it was time to get to the bottom of this lake monster story, once and for all. And to the bottom of the lake, too.

I balanced easily on the thin lip of the guardrail. Perched might have been more accurate. But I am a lady. I don’t perch. But I do stand naked on the side of the road, my black hair billowing around me, my arms now spread, my head tilted back... a single flame now appearing in my thoughts.

And there, in the flame, is the beast.

I leapt out into the night as far as I could, away from the sloping earth that came at me quickly...

Chapter Twenty

The transformation was faster than usual.

A good thing, because the stony, scrubby ground was coming up on me fast. But in one instant, in one mind-boggling, supernatural, super-incredible, super-cool moment, I went from falling... to gliding.

From gliding to now racing over the curve of the sweeping drop of the hill, the very contour of the Earth itself. I altered in mid-flight, defying physics and natural laws, to bank right, to drop down into a gully, then flapped hard to climb over a rocky protrusion, skimming scrub brushes and elderberries and twisted junipers, scattering jackrabbits and kangaroo rats and skunks. I shot down a narrow ravine, my wingtips just missing the rocky protrusions on either side. A hawk screeched from a dark crevasse, probably scared shitless.

I grinned and flapped and picked up speed and, like a cannon blast, shot out into the night sky.

***

Greetings, Talos,
I thought.

Greetings, Sam,
came the voice in my head, so strong and sure and calm.
A lovely night for flight.

Oh, we will be doing more than flying. Care for a swim?

Your wish is my command, m’lady.

Is that another idiom you picked up from my thoughts?

Indeed.

I circled the perimeter of the lake far, far below. In this form, my eyesight is many times better. Maybe up to fifty times better. From up here, I was certain I could see the lights of Los Angeles, over a hundred miles away.

Below, the glowing fish in the lake took on actual form and shape. The bigger bugs, the dragonflies and mosquito catchers, grew legs and wings. I was hundreds, if not thousands of feet up. I appreciated Talos and all he could do, all over again.

And I appreciate you, Sam.

For what?

Your company. Your wit. Your eagerness.

I don’t bring you down?

With these wings? Would take a lot to bring me down.

I laughed, although the sound came out more of a roar, with a chaser of smoke.
Who knew dragons had a sense of humor?
I thought.

Perhaps you are rubbing off on me.

A scary thought,
I said. I continued banking around the great lake, looking for signs of something bigger on or under the surface. I saw a group of brightly lit people on a short dock. Some of their laughter reached my ears. Or Talos’s ears, which were much better than my own ears. Lots of laughter. Good friends and liberal libations... and not necessarily in that order.

I continued my slow sweep around the lake, flapping occasionally to maintain altitude, but mostly allowing the warm updrafts to keep me aloft and to keep my wings full.

The stars were bright up here. Who would have thought that Southern California, with its smog and bright lights, could have access to so many stars? Of course, it took coming out into the desert, and gliding many thousands of feet up, to actually see the stars... but still. They were here.

There wasn’t much on the surface of the lake, or along the perimeter, to suggest that a young boy might soon be a late-night snack to a creature from the deep. On this night, at this time, the lake was quiet. At least, on the surface.

You ready, Talos?

I am all yours, Samantha.

And with that, I tucked in my massive wings, and shot down toward the phosphorescent lake... with its millions and millions of bright little lights...

Chapter Twenty-one

The splashdown was smooth.

In fact, I suspected we barely made a splash at all, so aerodynamic was Talos and his giant, torpedo-shaped, fire-breathing, winged body. And my own night vision, combined with the dragon’s super-deluxe sight, well, it made it possible to see into the murky lake.

A good team,
came Talos’s thought.

Yes,
I thought, and oriented myself. After all, Talos gave me complete and total control over his body. In fact, I suspect he just sat back and watched. I imagined a bemused expression on his giant dinosaur face; if, in fact, that’s what he looked like.

Close,
came Talos’s thoughts, as I flapped my wings smoothly, pushing through the water with ease.
Your original image of a giant bat isn’t too far off either.

A giant dragon-shaped bat?

A small chuckle inside my head.
Something like that, Sam.

Okay, now that’s a scary thought.

Welcome to my world,
he said.

And to mine,
I added, grinning inwardly.

I flapped my wings and felt less like a giant dragon bat and more like a giant manta ray. My eyes felt clear and protected, and I suspected Talos sported a sort of natural shield over his eyes. A clear lid perhaps.

Indeed, Sam. Protection from water and heat.

Your own heat?

And the heat of others.

Now, I had a picture of two giant dragons battling in the skies high above, blasting each other with great gusts of streaking fire. Talos chuckled in my head.

Perhaps long ago, Sam. We are a little more evolved now.

So, you are telling me that in your history, you have had dragon wars?

Many wars, Sam. But all long, long ago. Every world has an evolutionary process. You are just emerging from the beginning of yours.

The beginning?

Humans have a ways to go.

I couldn’t argue with that, so instead, I focused on the task at hand, flapping his wings and gliding through what surely would have been impenetrable black water to anyone other than, well, us.

Yes,
I thought,
a good team.

The lake was big by Southern California standards. To the rest of the world, not so much. Still, at over three thousand acres, and just over six miles long and nearly two miles wide, I had plenty to explore. Thankfully, the lake wasn’t particularly deep. Rather quickly, I was skimming over the lakebed with its seemingly moving floor of flowing and waving plant life. I wasn’t expert enough in lake plants to know what the hell I was looking at, but my general impression of them was that they looked... well, icky. Slimy and alien, too.

More chuckling from Talos.

There was also enough debris down here to shame all lake-goers. Beer cans and bottles, and plastic wrappers of all sorts. I saw more than one Starbucks cup. I also saw two or three shipwrecks. Or boat wrecks. Whatever. Mostly small dinghies and rowboats. One was a damaged Jet Ski lying upside down. There was more: a toilet seat, a baby stroller, a mountain bike, car tires, a paperback novel fluttering in the current, a desk fan, men’s shoes, a lifejacket (which made no sense), and countless other tidbits that I ignored, but all of which made me sad. The lake needed a good dredging. A damn good one.

What I didn’t see was a giant, snake-like lake monster. At least, not yet. There was still more lake to cover...

I flapped and glided and banked and searched, ignoring the debris and focusing on the beauty around me. Lake Elsinore had a surprisingly large fish population. Maybe that was common knowledge to fishermen. I didn’t know, but small schools of fish scattered continuously before me. Bigger, lumbering fish patrolled the lake’s bottom, fat catfish that freaked even me out. Some were quite large, well over three or four feet, mostly hidden in the deeper regions of the lake, and looking about as alien as a creature could look. I considered one large creature in particular, bigger than any fish I’d ever seen. It moved slowly in the darkness, almost majestically, easily the biggest fish in the lake. The sensors or whiskers around its snout quivered in its search for its next big meal. I circled it, dipping a wing and flying around it, and watched as it pounced on a rotting bass hovering along the lake floor. It attacked it heartily, voraciously, and not very prettily. Fish bits floated in the water around it, and soon, it was moving again, scanning and searching, not aware that a much larger predator was presently watching it. Or maybe it did and didn’t care. Surely nothing messed with this big boy.

But was it big enough to consume a twelve-year-old boy? It might just be. And it also just might be big enough to pull free a limb or two. There was, of course, one way to find out. I could catch the fish, gut it, and see what was inside it.

Or... yes, I had another way. A way that wouldn’t kill it, although killing it and gutting it would have excited the thing within me. Except, except... I couldn’t feel her excitement. In fact, I couldn’t feel her at all. I thought about that as I continued to circle the lumbering and yet somehow graceful beast.

It is because she is not with us, Sam,
came Talos’s words.
In this form, you are free of her. But you gain me.

A welcomed relief,
I thought.

I’ll take that as a compliment.

You should,
I thought, grinning inwardly.
I assume she is with my physical body?

You assume correct. She is there, waiting, and she is not happy about it.

Do I still have some of my vampiric powers, Talos?

You have your night vision, do you not?

Yes.

Then that should answer your question.

I nodded his great head and closed my eyes and projected my thoughts out around us, using a trick I had used to see through cave walls and homes, and now
into
a giant catfish.

My range is limited to maybe twenty feet, and it acts as a sort of sonar that returns clear images to me. How it works, I don’t know, but I could see why it would have been of great use to Elizabeth and her posse of highly evolved dark masters. To know where the enemy was at all times, to spy and watch and creep and control.

Well, it was serving a purpose now, even if it was a weird and gross purpose, for the images that came back to me now, as I circled with my eyes closed—but yet, seeing everything around me at the same time—made me want to lose my lunch. Or Talos to lose whatever lunch he’d eaten.

Now, as I projected out, I focused my attention on the meandering, powerful catfish, the obvious king of the lake. If ever there was a lake monster, he was it.

Correction...
she
.

Almost immediately, as I plunged through the powerful, rippling pink muscle, I saw that the creature was heavily laden with a thick cluster of blood-red eggs—within which I could see hundreds of smaller movements.

I shifted my focus to her other organs, each pulsating and quivering with the flow of life and power, all in perfect harmony and rhythm, flowing, churning, pumping. Each organ pulsed with its own inner light: bright blue for intestines, red for the heart, bluish for the liver, bright white for the brain, and a pulsating, throbbing yellow for its massive stomach, which ran along the bottom length of the fish.

I plunged into the yellow light.

***

It was later, and I was perched high above Lake Elsinore, on a rocky ledge along Highway 74. Below me, the lake was iridescent and alive, and if I looked hard enough, I could probably see the great, lumbering beast swimming in its deepest depths.

The catfish.

Color me a city girl—or a suburban girl—but I didn’t know much about catfish. Or, more accurately,
anything
about catfish. I knew they were bottom feeders, but that was about it. I had seen the pictures of the giants caught in lakes and rivers, and this giant was nearly as big. Certainly big enough to drag a boy below the surface and keep him below the surface... until said boy drowned.

But its stomach was the giveaway, and then, later, its teeth, which were nearly nonexistent. Its stomach had been full of reeds and smaller fish (and even a duck or two). No arms, no legs, no shoes. Just a fish that appeared opportunistic. I suppose there was the off-chance it could have gripped an arm or a leg, and sort of done a death roll, but there had been no evidence of the limbs being twisted off and, more important, there hadn’t been any evidence of limbs in the creature’s stomach.

Are we okay sitting here a while longer, Talos,
I asked.

He knew my meaning, and answered from deep within me, his voice booming and comforting at the same time.
You are safe in my home world, Sam. You are with me.

What are we doing there?

We are sitting on a ledge much like this one, but much, much higher up, enjoying the view, sometimes watching the flying shadows below us, and sometimes looking up at our cities.

That is so weird.

Maybe.

I never remember any of it.

But you can.

I thought about that, and looked down at another city, a human city, and wondered again what could be in the lake, what had killed the boy, and what the hell was going on.

It was then that I sensed something high above—or perhaps Talos had sensed it. I looked up and saw something pass beneath the stars. Something massive. Something winged. It wasn’t quite as iridescent as the lights below, as the living creatures in the lake. It emitted a softer light, and I was reminded of some of the spirits I sometimes saw and their sporadic energy.

The winged shape blotted out the stars and now the moon, and banked gracefully and I could see its long neck and diamond-shaped head.

I tensed until I felt Talos’s soothing touch on my mind, reminding me I was safe with him, and that, perhaps, I was safe with this other.

The winged creature angled down, flapping glowing wings. Dust and hot wind swirled around me, rising up like a living thing to form around me, as the creature turned tighter and tighter circles, and finally alighted on the ledge next to me.

A moment later, a very naked man was squatting next to me. A man I recognized all too well.

Dracula.