Vampire's Hunger Read Free

to the hand wash station.
    Kimber put both hands on Whitcomb. Her palms tingled from the supernatural energy animating his body. It surged toward her like before. This time she was prepared and tamped it down with her own magic. She stared into his ruined face and intoned, “Richard Whitcomb, I consign you to the grave. Your soul is released once more to its everlasting journey.”
    He continued to struggle and curse, but there didn’t seem to be as much strength behind his efforts as before.
    “Go to your eternal rest, Richard.” Kimber ignored the curses he flung her way. She focused all her energy on him and felt the tingling in her hands begin to decrease. It was working. She caught sight of the fresh blood tingeing his mouth and realized she could use that. “By blood and magic, I consign you to eternity.”
    The fight went out of him like the strings cut to a marionette. Kimber kept her hands on him a few seconds longer, just to be sure. Once she was certain there was no more magic flowing between them, she withdrew her hands and blew out a breath. Now that she was no longer a magical conduit, exhaustion dragged at her. All she wanted to do was go home and climb into bed. She knew, like always, she’d have nightmares after tapping into the Unseen. She just hoped this time they weren’t worse than normal.
    She looked around the room, meeting the gaze of the other occupants. Forcing gaiety into her voice she said, “Phew! That was something, wasn’t it?”
    The stenographer stared at her with accusation in her eyes then without a word gathered up her machine and left. The two security guards glanced at each other and followed her out. That left Kimber alone with the M.E., Detective Bishop, and the newly re-deceased Richard Whitcomb.
    “That was not normal.” Bishop’s troubled eyes searched hers. “What the hell was that?”
    She lifted her hands. “I don’t know.” At his skeptical expression, she insisted, “Bishop, seriously. I have no idea. I’ve never had that happen before.” She glanced at Whitcomb. “But it’s over now, so all’s right with the world. He told you who killed him, so…” She looked at Bishop again. “Go get ’er.”
    He shook his head, but she saw a smile tug at one corner of his mouth. He looked over at the M.E. “Doc? You okay?”
    The doctor waved at him without turning around. “I’m fine, though it’s the first time I’ve been bitten by one of my…patients.”
    It wasn’t the first time a zombie had gone after someone like Whitcomb had the M.E., but it was certainly the first time she’d seen one take a bite out of anyone.
    “Good. I’ll see you later.” Bishop looked down at Kimber. “You look tired. This one really took it out of you.”
    “I’ll be all right.” He was a nice guy, the real deal. Why she couldn’t feel anything romantic for him was beyond her. But then, who had time for romance when there were the dead to raise and put back down? She sent him a smile. “Take care, Bishop.”
    “You, too. Time to go save the world.” He gave her a jaunty two-fingered salute and sauntered out of the room.
    Kimber walked over to the M.E. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She placed one hand on his upper arm.
    He finished taping the gauze wrapped around his hand and held it up. “I’m good to go,” he said. He met her eyes. “This is my own damn fault for getting within biting distance. But, hell, girl, none of ’em’s ever done that before.”
    She shook her head. “No, I’ve never seen it happen, either.” And it had never been as hard to put one back to rest. She needed to talk to another necromancer, or maybe a few, and see if they’d ever experienced something like this. Or was she the lucky one?
    She made sure Whitcomb was really still dead and said her good-byes to the doctor. She grabbed her handbag from the chair by the door and left the room. As she exited the building, she saw a man sitting on the trunk of her twenty-year-old POS