Circus of the Damned Read Free Page B

dawn.”
    â€œWhen did the woman find the body?”
    Dolph checked his notebook. “Five-thirty.”
    â€œIt’s still hours until dawn. They didn’t panic.”
    â€œIf we’ve got a crazy master vampire, what exactly does that mean?”
    â€œIt means they’ll kill more people faster. They may need blood every night to support five vampires.”
    â€œA fresh body every night?” Zerbrowski made it a question.
    I just nodded.
    â€œJesus,” he said.
    â€œYeah.”
    Dolph was silent, staring down at the dead man. “What can we do?”
    â€œI should be able to raise the corpse as a zombie.”
    â€œI thought you couldn’t raise a vampire victim as a zombie,” Dolph said.
    â€œIf the corpse is going to rise as a vampire, you can’t.” I shrugged. “The whatever that makes a vampire interferes with a raising. I can’t raise a body that is already set to rise as a vamp.”
    â€œBut this one won’t rise,” Dolph said, “so you can raise it.”
    I nodded.
    â€œWhy won’t this vampire victim rise?”
    â€œHe was killed by more than one vampire, in a mass feeding. For a corpse to rise as a vampire, you have to have just one vampire feeding over a space of several days. Three bites ending with death, and you get a vampire. If every vampire victim could come back, we’d be up to our butts in blood-suckers.”
    â€œBut this victim can come back as a zombie?” Dolph said.
    I nodded.
    â€œWhen can you do the animating?”
    â€œThree nights from tonight, or really two. Tonight counts as one night.”
    â€œWhat time?”
    â€œI’ll have to check my schedule at work. I’ll call you with a time.”
    â€œJust raise the murder victim and ask who killed him. I like it,” Zerbrowski said.
    â€œIt’s not that easy,” I said. “You know how confused witnesses to violent crimes are. Have three people see the same crime and you get three different heights, different hair colors.”
    â€œYeah, yeah, witness testimony is a bitch,” Zerbrowski said.
    â€œGo on, Anita,” Dolph said. It was his way of saying, “Zerbrowski, shut up.” Zerbrowski shut up.
    â€œA person who died as the victim of a violent crime is more confused. Scared shitless, so that sometimes they don’t remember very clearly.”
    â€œBut they were there,” Zerbrowski said. He looked outraged.
    â€œZerbrowski, let her finish.”
    Zerbrowski pantomimed locking his lips with a key and throwing the key away. Dolph frowned. I coughed into my hand to hide the smile. Mustn’t encourage Zerbrowski.
    â€œWhat I’m saying is that I can raise the victim from the dead, but we may not get as much information as you’d expect. The memories we do get will be confused, painful, but it might narrow the field down as to which master vampire led the group.”
    â€œExplain,” Dolph said.
    â€œThere are only supposed to be two master vampires in St. Louisright now. Malcolm, the undead Billy Graham, and the Master of the City. There’s always the possibility we’ve got someone new in town, but the Master of the City should be able to police that.”
    â€œWe’ll take the head of the Church of Eternal Life,” Dolph said.
    â€œI’ll take the Master,” I said.
    â€œTake one of us with you for backup.”
    I shook my head. “Can’t; if he knew I let the cops know who he was, he’d kill us both.”
    â€œHow dangerous is it for you to do this?” Dolph asked.
    What was I supposed to say? Very? Or did I tell them the Master had the hots for me, so I’d probably be okay? Neither. “I’ll be alright.”
    He stared at me, eyes very serious.
    â€œBesides, what choice do we have?” I motioned at the corpse. “We’ll get one of these a night until we find the vampires responsible. One of us has to