Page 42 of Grave Robbing and Other Hobbies (Grave Concerns 1)

Kase peered down at the picture, his lips pressed together in atight line before he handed it back. “I wasn’t aware he’d started seeing a human.” His tone was low, careful. “He was always impulsive, but I hadn’t expectedthatfrom him.”

“That? Like humans are beneath you?”

He tilted his head, as if I’d missed the point entirely. “Humans are different from us. They pose dangers to vampires, and it rarely ends well.”

“We’rethe dangerous ones?” I didn’t bother to stifle the laughter.

“We are dangerous to one another. Vampires are able to kill humans without meaning to, but we are also weaker during daylight hours. Incorporating humans into our lives, into the times when we are vulnerable, also gives them an ability to do us harm. Such relationships are frowned upon.”

His words confused me. I was sure that last time, in his place, he’d looked at me like something more than just friends.

Maybe it was just lunch time…

I shook away the thought. Why did it matter, since I wasn’t planning on anything with Kase? He was what a gambler would call a losing hand. Other than the way he filled out his suits, he had zero positives. Judging from the whispers around him, he’d killed more than his fair share of people, he drank blood to live, he couldn’t go hiking on a nice sunny day and… what was that last one?

Right, he wasdead.

So getting offended that he thought it was as bad an idea as I did was altogether stupid.

I tucked the picture back into my pocket.

“Have you ever done this before?” He nodded toward where I’d drawn a circle in salt.

“No. It should be easy enough, though. Gran gave me everything I needed, went over the basic spell. I’m not a medium, so it isn’t quite as easy as it would be for one, but with the right tools, anyone can manage it.”

“I will stay,” he said as if we had already discussed and come to a conclusion about it.

“No, you actually have to go. Spirits, even echoes, don’t care for vampires.”

He lifted an eyebrow as though that were the worst excuse he’d ever heard. “I doubt spirits care much.”

“Oh, they do.” I fought the shudder at those whispers. I had to think that it wasthosethat warned off spirits, that they could hear them as I could. To be fair, it was a warning I should probably heed as well.

Spirits had a better sense of self-preservation than I did.

“Perhaps you are the one who is actually afraid,” he pointed out.

“Shouldn’t I be? I am chasing down some crazed vampire who killed at least one woman I know of. Seems worthwhile to be wary of vampires.”

Kase folded his hands together behind his back. “Not of me, no. And seeing as you are chasing a killer, despite what I’ve said, I don’t feel you have enough good sense to be afraid.”

I licked my bottom lip, not even bothering with trying to sort out my feelings. Since when did fear and arousal become so fucking similar that I couldn’t tell them apart?

I dropped my gaze. “I’m not kidding, Kase. Something about vampires scare spirits off, and it might make it harder to catch an echo.”

He took a step backward, as though he realized I needed the space. “Okay. I’ll go. Let me know what you find out.”

I nodded, relieved when he did as he’d said and left. Why was it that it was so much harder when he was there to think?

It left me alone in the room with just the salt and the candles. I could have called someone to come over. Not a regular friend—I didn’t have many of them—but one of the many new friends I’d accumulated.

Hunter might have come, if I’d had any idea how to actually contact him. Instead, he seemed to show up whenever the fuck he wanted. That didn’t make him overly useful.

Plus, after Melinda’s reaction to him, maybe he wasn’t a great companion when dealing with spirits.

Besides, I didn’tneedanyone else.

I was tough. I’d been knee-deep in death all my life. A little seance was the least of what I’d dealt with before.

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