Page 15 of Spooks & Specters

Set her on fire? As soon as it was out, she regenerated. Shoot her in the head? In the heart? Unless she was decapitated, she regenerated. Drown her? She regenerated. Of course, she kept drowning until she got her ass out of the water.

But that was a horror story for another time.

The banger she had her fangs in sighed softly as he died. Isadora stopped injecting the venom and leaned back to look at her victim. There were tear tracks down his face and snot dripped from his nose.

His lifeless eyes stared back at her. She wondered how many victims he had left looking like this. There would be no more now.

She was hungry, but the venom needed a minute or two to work before she could start feeding. Tissue broke down pretty quick, but it wasn’t immediate. She jerked the knife out of her side and hissed in pain. If the little fucker wasn’t already dead, she’d stab him with his own damn weapon.

Speaking of little fuckers, it was suddenly very quiet. She glanced over at the guy she had pinned with her webbing. “Dammit.”

There wasn’t a heartbeat. Had he died from fear? It was entirely possible, and that was too bad. Fortunately, she didn’t need to feed from both of them, although it would’ve been nice.

She dropped the knife next to her feet. She planned to take it home with her as a souvenir. It was pretty nice. Judging enough time had passed, she reinserted her fangs into the wounds that she had left and started to suck. A couple of minutes later, she stepped away and calmly wiped her mouth.

She dropped the body she had fed from. Her venom would continue to destroy the body until there was nothing left but a greasy wet spot. Granted, there would be bones, but it wasn’t like someone was going to call the police in this area of town. She doubted they would even come.

She yanked the webbing off the guy she had restrained… and ate it. Her type of webbing would break down eventually on its own, but it was better not to leave evidence.

The other human appeared as if he’d died by natural causes, so she planned to leave him there. Nothing would tie her to him. Taking a deep breath, she forced the transformation to reverse.

When she looked human again, she checked her side. There was a slit in her shirt where the knife had entered her. Pulling it up, she examined the wound. It had closed, but it was still swollen and angry looking.

By tomorrow morning there wouldn’t even be a mark left. It also helped that she’d just fed. She wouldn’t have to attend to that for another couple of months at least.

Satisfied with how the night had gone, she picked up the knife and calmly strolled out of the alley. At the mouth, she stopped, surprised at what she was seeing.

The young gang banger who had run away was standing guard over her vehicle. Now that was interesting. She walked toward him, casually flipping the knife in her hand.

The young man’s eyes widened when he saw it, and he swallowed. Isadora watched his Adam’s apple bob. She stopped within a couple of feet of him. He stank of fear.

She honestly couldn’t think of a reason why he’d be standing there. She would’ve bet good money he’d be on the opposite side of San DeLain by now.

“Can I help you?” Because, why not? Things had taken an interesting turn, and she was always up for a little excitement.

“I… I… I….”

Goodness, he was either going to pass out or throw up.

“You…you… you… what?”

The banger took a deep breath, then scrubbed shaking hands over his face. “Please,pleasedon’t kill me.”

Isadora raised her eyebrow. She appreciated when people got straight to the point. “Then give me a reason not to.”

The young man nodded frantically. “A nice ride like this? Imma gonna be honest. It’d be stripped in a matter of minutes. And you were gone longer than a few minutes.”

Isadora checked her watch. The little punk was right. She’d been screwing around with those two for a solid twenty minutes. She’d let time get away from her. Normally, she kept her feedings to under ten minutes, but being stabbed had distracted her.

“I… I protected your vehicle. When other dudes approached, I made it known this was under my protection.”

Well now. How utterly fascinating. What in the world possessed him to not only come back, but to protect her property? “Why? One would think you’d be as far away from here as you could get.”

“I was. Seriously, lady, I was. I don’t know if I ever ran that fast.”

Okay, she could admit he’d snagged her curiosity. “Then why come back?”

“Because you the baddest fucker I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what you are, but I know you’re somethin’ not human. You’re dangerous.”

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