Page 4 of Cuddling Sucks in Coffins
A rustling noise sounded from behind some bushes up ahead, like a plastic bag caught in a windstorm. Close, I realized as I came upon the back of the Appelt mausoleum. A black trash bag had been taped over what had been the stained glass window I’d jumped through, and it rustled in the chilly breeze. The window had been my only way out since that was the day I’d lost my ability to open doors. The doors inside that mausoleum anyway. Could Detective Appelt open them?
Once I’d cleared the far wall of the mausoleum, I peered into the cemetery through the iron fence. My breath hitched. Deep within the shadows near the center hovered two red eyes close to the ground. Had my imaginary cat turned into a vampire? Doubtful. This was a newly risen vamp who was climbing out of a fresh grave.
With my stake, shovel, flamethrower, duffel, and hubcap gripped tight, I sprinted around the graveyard to the front gate, already unlocked since I broke it earlier. Detective Appelt might come back with a new lock, but hopefully not right away. Once inside, I flung down everything in my arms and then slipped the stake free from my bun. My gaze on the vampire, I charged. But before I reached him, his blood was already spraying the ground. A dark figure hunched behind what was left of him, the bloodied end of a sword held high in a gloved hand.
I blinked and then blinked again. This was highly unusual. Last time I’d checked,Iwas the slayer. Naïve and inept at times, but still the slayer. I got a golden letter informing me of my new dutywhen I was nine years old, with no return address and no instructions for a confused, terrified child on how to fulfill this “destiny.” But it had explicitly stated there was only one chosen to do the dispatching. So what the fuck was this?
“Who are you?” I demanded.
The figure rose, the head-to-toe black leather creaking. They wore so much of it, I couldn’t be sure if their frame belonged to a man or woman, and their face was obscured by a black hood. I couldn’t even see any eyes to see if they were a vampire who was hunting its own kind for shits and giggles. Or another slayer, as impossible as I thought that was.
He-She-It took one look at me and visibly shuddered in repulsion.
My blood simmered. I didn’t do rude behavior from strangers, especially when that vampire had been mine to bag. “Oh, my sweet summer child, don’t make me ask you again.”
He-She-It strode past me toward the gate, pretending like I wasn’t even there.
“Hey!” I drew two more stakes for maximum flaying, one from my boot and the other from my belt loop, and turned and marched after them.
But they’d already gone. Poof, just like that.
I crashed my back teeth together as I spun in a circle, searching the entirety of the graveyard.
One thing about my nightly patrols—they were becoming increasingly crowded.
Chapter Two
Ijerked my thumb inthe direction of the graveyard. “Pretty sure I just saw another vampire slayer.”
My three favorite heads shook disbelievingly. We were all gathered in the kitchen, a plate of apple pie and a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. After my patrol, I’d told Jacek who’d been practicing judo in the living room, and once he recovered from the shock, he’d gone to get the others.
“That’s not possible.” Sawyer shook his head from the seat next to mine, his black silky curls flirting with his bronzed jaw. “There’s only been one slayer at a time for as long as I’ve been around. Probably longer.”
Sawyer was almost nine hundred years old, so he should know. Still, I couldn’t deny what I’d seen.
“But there was slaying of vampires, and not by me,” I said.
