Vampire Uprising Read Free Page A

him.”
    Prophet let out a wary sigh. “From what I heard of the Mind Singer’s voice, I don’t blame you one bit for not wanting any more of that shit. So that covers this job. What about the journals?”
    “I didn’t distract you enough to forget about them, huh?”
    “Nope. I also didn’t forget how you said they were supposed to be a secret. If Paige is your partner, maybe you should tell her.”
    “I did. She’s the one who wanted me to read through them before anyone else. I’ve already transferred as many of his computer files as I could to my laptop. Took the whole hard drive.”
    “And?”
    “And,” Cole grumbled, “for a man who’s supposed to be old school in every sense of the phrase, Lancroft knew a whole lot about encrypting files. The journals were the first things I found, but there were other things too. Formulas for chemical compounds, techniques behind rune writing that verge on black magic—”
    “Oooh,” Prophet hissed. “Don’t use the M word around Paige.”
    Cole smiled as he shifted his eyes toward the general direction of Philadelphia. “She still insists those runes are a set of ‘complex rituals that tap into natural energies,’” he said while using the appropriately placed finger quotes. “Not magic in the slightest.”
    “Guess I see what she’s saying there. When someone calls me a fortune-teller, I damn near wanna rip their head off.
    Cheapens the craft, you know?”
    “Call it whatever you want, there’s some scary stuff in that computer, and there’s got to be more I haven’t found yet.”
    “Not to mention whatever’s squirreled away in that house,” Prophet said.
    “Exactly. Ever since we put the word out that Lancroft was killed, the other Skinners have been coming out of the woodwork to loot that place.”
    “Why’d you mention anything about it if you’re so worried about them?”
    When Cole removed the shovel from where it had been stuck, he started walking toward a ridge that overlooked a stretch of peaceful terrain to the south. “Between the nymphs and all the folks who were infected by that flu, there’s too many out there who already knew something was going on. Someone would have done some digging and found out about the house in Philly eventually. As long as there’s an Internet, there’ll always be someone out there using it to dig stuff up that shouldn’t be found.”
    “Kind of like those specs for
Hammer Strike
2?”
    Hearing someone from his new life make a reference back to his old one was jarring. It took a moment for it to sink in, and when it did, Cole still had to wonder if he’d heard the other man correctly.
    Obviously enjoying the jolt he’d given Cole, Prophet laughed and swung his shovel over his shoulder. “I heard about it on a forum. Ever since you claimed to leave Digital Dreamers, I been keeping an eye on what comes out of there.”
    “I didn’t just claim to leave. I was fired.”
    “I saw your name attached to some smaller projects that are supposed to be in the works. Or was that more Internet bullshit?”
    “Damn, you really have done your research.”
    “Part of my day job is knowing what phone calls to make and which names to run searches on.”
    Since the alternative was to try to deceive a man who was not only experienced at dealing with liars, but legitimately psychic to boot, Cole said, “It’s not bullshit. I’ve been knocked down to a minor consultant. Every now and thenJason will farm out some work to me. Jason’s my boss.”
    “I figured.”
    “Compared to what I used to do over there, I might as well be fired from Digital Dreamers.
Hammer Strike
and some of my other stuff is still doing well enough to earn royalties, so that sends a check my way every now and then.”
    “What’s with that wistful tone in your voice? Don’t tell me you seriously wanna go back to designing video games!”
    “And give up the glamorous life of a monster hunter?” Cole said while holding up a dirty shovel