Sex and the Single Vampire Read Free Page A

hobbled up.
    “There you are, thought you’d never come. I’m freezin’ my arse off here!”
    “Sorry. I take it you’re Carlos?”
    The man stomped his feet, nodding as he pulled out a key and unlocked the door. “I can only give you twenty minutes. There’s a show everyone from SIP is going to, and it starts at ten.”
    “A show?” I asked as I followed him into the building, pulling the ultrasonic emission detector from my bag and flipping it on. “What sort of a show?”
    Our footsteps echoed eerily as we walked down a corridor paved with broken flagstones, our breath little white clouds of air that puffed before us. I sniffed, then blew out a disgusted breath. The air was thick with stink from the nearby Thames—the whole building clearly suffered from damp, long fingers of mildew creeping up the wallpapered walls. In addition to the smell of a musty, closed-up building, the sharply acidic note of rodent droppings made it clear that although humans might shun it, four-legged residents found it an entirely suitable abode.
    “It’s not really a show, per se, more of a test for psychics. It’s sponsored by a very powerful medium, Guarda White. She’s holding nightly Summonings for a week, trying to assemble a group of proven psychics. Everyone in SIP is mad to try out for a spot on her team.”
    It sounded like a bunch of hooey to me. Dedicated Summoners did not perform in theaters for the amusement of the masses. Still, Carlos was my host. It probably was best I not ridicule his excitement.
    “Why is she assembling a team of psychics?” I asked as we climbed a dark staircase. I had my own flashlight out now, my sunglasses pushed up as I alternated between scanning the ground in front of me for debris and checking the walls of the common room that stretched before us. The ultrasonic detector was quiet. I paused long enough to pop it back into the bag and pull out the ion detector before hurrying to catch up with Carlos.
    “… creating the greatest team of paranormal investigators that Britain has ever seen. It’s all pure research, of course, the team being sent out to hot spots to locate and verify entities and disturbances. The team will be paid from a private fund set up by Mrs. White.”
    In other words, it was a pet project set up by another fan of the unexplained who likely had more money than brain cells.
Ah, well
, I thought to myself as we climbed to the top floor of the building,
her little group of devotees certainly can’t hurt the cause, and might actually do some good if she uses scientific methods to obtain proof that would shake even the most skeptical of critics arguments against the existence of ghosts, poltergeists, and other until-now unexplained phenomenon.
    “This is the top floor,” Carlos said, the light from his flashlight sweeping in an arc around the area at the top of the stairs. “That room over there has had recorded temperature drops of ten degrees. The door at the end of the landing leads to the room where a pig farmer was murdered. He’s seen only on nights with a full moon, so you probably won’t have much luck there. Across the hall is the room where a vicar named Phillip Michaels was set upon by thieves, and left hanging. And to the left”—he turned and shone his light beyond me. I turned my face away. There was no need to scare him—”is the room where the Red Lady is seen.”
    “That’s the one who jumped to her death rather thansubmit to her bridegroom?” I asked as I pulled out the infrared scope, juggling the ion detector, flashlight, and scope not too successfully as I headed to the left.
    “That’s the one.”
    I set my bag outside the door and took a reading at the door. There was nothing. Cautiously, so as not to scare any spirits who might be lurking within, I opened the door. It creaked open in suitably eerie fashion.
    The room had a couple of broken pieces of office furniture and a strong smell of mice, but nothing that looked even remotely