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running for obvious statement
of the year. It looked like papers had exploded out of it—they were
strewn about the table, save for the few dozen on the other side in
neat, overlapping columns. Nick lingered a moment, reading a few of
the non-redacted lines before Lucky spoke.
    “Say, what happened with Nancy?”
    Nick looked at him, remembering Lucky was the
one who had set that whole thing up.
    “What do you know about her?” he asked.
    “Nothing. She wanted the vampire experience.
She contacted me through my website. Did you do the do?”
    Nick narrowed his eyes. Lucky didn’t appear
to notice.
    “She tried to kill me.”
    “What?” Though Lucky looked legitimately
shocked, Nick couldn’t say he knew him well enough to know if he
could fake such a reaction. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, she led me upstairs and… we started
to do things when she told me her husband was coming home.”
    It was Lucky’s turn to narrow his eyes.
    “She has a husband? Then what the hell did
she want with you?”
    Nick gave him his best ‘you tell me’
face.
    “Okay, so she’s some kind of swinger. Did you
misunderstand her or something?”
    “No, no. It was perfectly clear. Fenton has
always wanted to kill somebody and they thought I could be a treat
for the both of them.”
    “That’s sick! So you did it or no?”
    “Hello? Am I not walking and talking right
now? I almost got shot!”
    “Almost?” Lucky raised an arm and pointed at
something on Nick’s body. He looked down at himself, his hands
reflexively rising to pat down him down. There was something wet
and thick and tacky between his fingers. When Nick looked, he saw a
big patch of red high up on his thigh that he was certain hadn’t
been there before. He felt a buzzing sensation in his head and his
fingers looked a thousand miles away. It didn’t seem as if he was
looking at his hand, like he was in the passenger seat of his own
brain.
    His vision blurred and he felt the brief rush
of wind in his ears.
    Night wrapped a blanket around him and for a
brief flash, the stars came out.
     
    * * *
     
    “Holy—I did that?”
    “Shut up and get over here and help me.”
    “Where’d I get him?”
    “In the thigh there. It went clean
through.”
    “Nice—I mean, dang.”
    “Earl, if he dies, we’re in it huge.”
    “Well, yeah. If there’s a body. Okay, okay.
So, you say it went through, right? Then all we have to do is feed
‘im and he should come right out of it. At least, that’s what I
read.”
    “We’re not supposed to feed them.”
    “Come on, Lucky. You’re the connection man.
Even if you ain’t done it before, I know you know how to get it
done.”
     
    * * *
     
    He climbs out of the cab of the truck and
gently closes the door. He takes a moment to sniff the crisp night
air. It is thick with life. He can smell them all, believing they
are safe inside their cozy little homes. They are sleeping, or
eating, or watching TV.
    Though they all smell delicious, there is
only one he wants. He tips his head back and breathes deeply,
employing a sense beyond smell. An extra canal opens in one ear and
he can feel the low susurrus of heartbeats, conversation,
footfalls, and many other routine actions going on. One by one, he
begins shutting them out as he searches for her.
    This is as much natural sense as it is
preternatural, evolved over a course of centuries to make finding
humans easier. He has never used this sense before, but it feels
natural. He pulls himself deeper into the sense, becoming
completely still save for the shallowest of breaths taken only
every fifteen to twenty seconds. He could go on in this state for
hours if necessary, but at tremendous risk. It is a near hypnotic
state, leaving him highly vulnerable to physical and percussive
attack. If someone were to scream in his face at this distance he
would be deafened and probably would lose this extra sense
forever.
    That will not happen tonight. The curfew
keeps the cattle off the