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vampire.”
    Something flickered across her face, like maybe I’d finally done something interesting. “How do you know it’s faster than a vampire?”
    â€œNone of the boys tried to get away. All of them died where they stood. Either it’s faster, or it has some amazing mind control.”
    â€œIt’s not a lycanthrope, then?”
    â€œEven a lycanthrope isn’t that fast, and they don’t have the ability to cloud men’s minds. If a lycanthrope came in there with a sword, the boys would have screamed and run. There would have at least been signs of a struggle.”
    Freemont just stood there looking. It was a very serious look, like she was weighing and measuring me. She still wasn’t happy with me, but she was listening.
    â€œI can help you, Sergeant Freemont. I can help you figure out what did this, maybe, before it does it again.”
    Her quiet, confident mask crumbled around the edge for a second. If I hadn’t been staring at her neutral brown eyes, I’d have missed it.
    â€œShit,” I said, loud. I walked back over to her and lowered my voice. “That’s it, isn’t it? These aren’t the first killings.”
    She glanced down at the ground, then met my eyes, jawsort of thrust forward. Her eyes weren’t neutral now; they were just a little bit scared. Not for herself, but for what she’d done, or not done.
    â€œThe State Highway Patrol can handle a homicide.” Her voice was the gentlest I’d heard it.
    â€œHow many?” I asked.
    â€œTwo before. A couple of teenagers, boy and a girl. Probably necking in the woods.” Her voice was soft, almost tired.
    â€œWhat’s the M.E. say?”
    â€œYou’re right,” she said. “It was a blade, probably a sword. The monsters don’t use weapons, Ms. Blake. I thought it was the girl’s ex-boyfriend. He’s got a collection of Civil War memorabilia, including swords. It seemed pretty cut-and-dried.”
    I nodded. “Sounds logical.”
    â€œNone of his swords matched the blows, but I thought he’d ditched the murder weapon. I didn’t think . . .” She looked away from me, hands shoved so hard into her pants pockets I thought they’d split the cloth. “The first scene wasn’t like this. They were killed with the first blow; it pinned them through the chest into the ground. A human being could have done that.” She looked back at me as if wanting me to agree with her. I did.
    â€œWere their bodies cut up beyond the death wound?”
    She nodded. “Disfigured faces, her left hand missing. The one that had worn the ex-boyfriend’s ring.”
    â€œWere their throats cut?”
    She frowned, thinking, then nodded. “Hers was. Not much blood either, like it’d been done after she died.”
    My turn to nod. “Great.”
    â€œGreat?” Larry asked.
    â€œI think you’ve got a vampire on your hands, Sergeant Freemont.”
    They both frowned at me. “Look at the body parts that are missing. The legs of the one boy were cut off after he died. The femoral artery is in the thigh near the groin. I’ve seen vamps take blood from that in preference to the neck. Cut off the legs, and no fang marks.”
    â€œWhat about the other two?” Freemont asked.
    â€œMaybe the smallest boy was bitten. His neck was sliced twice for no reason. Maybe it was just a little extra violence like the disfigurement of the face. I don’t know. But a vamp can take blood from the wrist, the bend of the arm. All parts that are missing.”
    â€œOne of their brains is missing,” Freemont said.
    Larry swayed gently beside me. He wiped a hand over his suddenly sweating face.
    â€œYou going to be alright?” I asked.
    He nodded, not trusting his voice. Brave Larry.
    â€œWhat better way to throw us off the track than to take something a vamp wouldn’t be interested