Vampire Memories #5 - Ghosts of Memories Read Free

how you could have run up a six-hundred-and-forty-two-dollar bill in a month,” the woman said, her voice cracking slightly. “Who are you calling?”
    His murmured response was lost as they moved farther away, but Eleisha didn’t care. She kept her eyes on the elevator. A few minutes later, the doors opened again, and a slender woman in her twenties stepped out—alone. She wore black pants, a white shirt, and an apron. Her curly reddish hair was pulled up in a high ponytail on top of her head. She looked like a waitress coming off a late shift.
    “Good,” Maxim said, his dark eyes glittering.
    Sometimes, his penchant for young women with long red hair made Eleisha uncomfortable. But the yuppie couple had vanished by now and the lot was deserted; this was a perfect opportunity.
    She stood up, grasping Maxim’s hand and stepping from the shadows.
    “Excuse me,” she said. Then she turned on her gift.
    The young woman jumped slightly and turned in alarm. But Eleisha’s gift washed over her, through her, dulling her mind until she saw only a small, frightened girl coming toward her, leading a young man with downcast eyes.
    “Can you help us?” Eleisha asked. “My car won’t start, and I have to get my brother home. He’s…he’s special.”
    This was a ruse they’d played over and over—because it always worked. Maxim’s perpetually lost expression often led people to believe there was something not quite right with him. But once Eleisha turned on her gift, anyone caught in the vicinity was driven into an overwhelming need to “help.”
    The young woman’s face shifted instantly to concern as Eleisha’s gift kept flowing. “Oh,” she said, coming closer. “What can I do? Can I call someone for you?”
    “No,” Eleisha answered. “Could you just drop us at home? We don’t live far, and my dad can come look at the car tomorrow.” She took mental note of an old van on her left with a dented, jagged front bumper, but she let the intensity of her gift grow at the same time.
    The woman blinked. “Yes…of course. This way.” She pulled a set of keys from her purse and pressed the UNLOCK button. A shiny blue Ford Focus beeped, and she opened the passenger door, letting Maxim in up front as if allowing strangers into her car was the most natural thing in the world.
    Eleisha climbed into the backseat.
    “I’m Angie,” the woman said. “Where do you live?”
    She was just putting her key into the ignition when Eleisha telepathically reached inside her mind and said aloud, “You’re tired. You need to sleep.”
    Angie’s head dropped to one side, and her eyelids closed. Maxim’s dark eyes were glittering, and he grabbed her wrist.
    “Be careful,” Eleisha warned.
    He didn’t even look at her and sank his teeth into Angie’s wrist, loudly sucking in mouthfuls of blood. But Eleisha wasn’t worried. She’d done this with him a number of times, and he always seemed to instinctively know when to stop. He was not a killer by nature. He was just…damaged.
    Eleisha stayed inside Angie’s mind, keeping the woman asleep—and monitoring her heartbeat—while Maxim fed, but just as she was about to tell him to stop, he pulled out on his own, albeit reluctantly, licking his mouth.
    Eleisha took a jackknife from her skirt pocket and handed it to him. “Here, you do the next part.”
    She wanted him to do as much as he could on his own. Without a word, he took the knife, opened the blade, and carefully used its point to connect the puncture wounds, making the injury look more like a gash.
    Then Eleisha shifted her thoughts inside Angie’s mind, taking her back in time to the moment she’d stepped from the elevator. She’d not met or seen anyone. She’d walked alone toward her car and then tripped, falling forward in front of an old van, cutting her wrist open on the jagged, dented fender. She’d made it to her car and then passed out.
    “You’ll wake up in five minutes,” Eleisha whispered in her