Dating for Demons (Book 3: Half-blood vampire series)

Chapter Five

“How did you… ?”

“Vampire hearing, Colby.” He tapped his ear.

“Ah, well, sorry about that.” I was a bit embarrassed being caught acting like such an obnoxious brat by the boss man.

“I believe you two have a bit of a blind spot about each other.”

“Why, Mr. Holloway,” I declared, doing my best Scarlett O’Hara impression. “Whatever do you mean?” I fanned myself lightly.

He chuckled. “My dear, you are amusing. I’ll give you that. Now what news have you brought me?”

I settled into the chair he offered and debated the best way to begin.

“I had an unusual encounter this evening. Not my typical kind,” I rushed to assure him be- fore he could tell me to take it up with Thomas and dismiss me. “But with a different type of vampire.”

“Go on.”

“Well, you see, these vampires were kind of squishy. Sort of decaying. In fact, if I had to call it something, I would say they were zombie vampires.”

I peeked up at him through my lashes, ready to be thrown out of his office for wasting his time.

“I see,” he said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his torso. My eyes were immediately drawn to his right hand, where he wore his vampire license. I could see the scar under his ring at the base of his finger where he’d cut it off so many years ago and then put it back to knit together.

Shaking my head, I continued with my story. “They also smelled bad. I mean really bad. Like rotten eggs, expired dairy bad. And when they were staked, a white mist escaped into the air.”

“How many have you encountered so far, Colby?” He didn’t seem the least bit surprised by my description. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.

“There were five total, all dead now. And I mean really dead, not like Undead,” I felt the need to clarify, then coughed to clear my throat.

“I understand the distinction.”

“I was kind of hoping you could shed some light on what these guys were.”

Please don’t say zombies, please don’t say zombies, I chanted in my head. “They are demon-possessed vampires. Zombies, by a more common name.”

Crap, I asked you not to call them that.

“Do they want to eat my brains?” I had to know.

“I wouldn’t think so. Zombies have no need of sustenance, so have no desire to consume anything. They are merely a vessel being used by the demon possessing them. They have no agenda of their own.”

Well, there’s another great horror-movie myth shot down by cold, hard fact. I mean, I was glad there weren’t zombies roaming the earth eating brains but at the same time, I wanted to believe pop culture got some things right once in a while.

“I don’t understand. Why would demons want to possess a vampire if they didn’t want to eat my brains? I have rogue vampires trying to kick my butt on a regular basis—why do demons want in on the action?”

“The Prophesy, of course.”

“I thought you didn’t take stock in the Prophesy. You said it was a bunch of superstitious nonsense.”

He stood up and walked around the room. “Colby, it doesn’t matter if I believe the Prophesy. It doesn’t matter if you believe it either. What matters is that they believe it.” He swept his arm out toward the window, with its breathtaking view of the city.