Hunting Karoly Read Online Free Page B

eyes blearily. Without considering what I did, I brushed the dried blood off his neck with the backs of my fingers. I could see no wounds.
    “Fair enough,” said Nick. “Hey, Charlie, any chance of a hand over…? Where’d he go?”
    I looked round quickly, but apart from the three of us, the room was empty.

Chapter Three
     
    “Jennifer! Phone!”
    My mother’s eternally accusing voice cut through my dreams with the force of an axe through butter. Without opening my eyes—I knew how bright daylight was—I shouted, “Tell them I’ll call back!” Or at least I tried to. No sound came out the first time, so I swallowed my dry throat and tried again. This time it worked—up to a point.
    “I can’t!” shrieked my mother. “It’s your work, for Christ’s sake!”
    “Oh shite.”
    How in God’s name was I meant to deal with these bastards in this state? Besides, didn’t I have something very bad to tell them? Or decide whether or not to tell them. Oh yes. The vampire.
    Hysterical laughter caught in my throat as I swung my legs out of bed. I groaned when the dizzy headache hit me full force. How could I possibly tell them that? That not only had I let a vampire feed from at least two of my friends, but that I had sat around getting drunk with him afterward?
    I wasn’t even going to think about wanting him to bite me. Or kiss me. Or worse. No, I wasn’t going there.
    Staggering out of the bedroom, I found my way to the phone in my mother’s room.
    “Hello!” I said into the receiver, with what I hoped was efficient morning cheer. “Jenny Jordan.”
    “You sound dreadful,” came the clipped tones of my boss, Nigel Devon. “Are you ill?”
    “No,” I said, disgruntled at the failure of my cheer to impress him. A moment later, I could have kicked myself. Not only could I have wangled myself an extra couple of days off, I could have avoided the following conversation.
    “Good, because there’s a bit of a situation up there.”
    “Up where?” I asked, since Nigel had a habit of thinking about the whole of Scotland as if it was some sort of village where everything was within walking distance of everything else.
    “Glasgow,” he said impatiently. “You are in Glasgow?”
    “Oh yes,” I sighed.
    “Well, I think you’ve got a vampire.”
    I dropped the phone. This was probably a good thing since it meant that at least Nigel didn’t hear the strangled squawk that escaped from my lips. However, I did have to explain about my clumsiness and endure his contempt again while I desperately tried to fathom how he could have found out about me and the vampire so quickly.
    “Right,” he said at last, “are you holding the phone with both hands?”
    I stuck my tongue out at the mouthpiece. “And both feet,” I said to annoy him.
    Ignoring that, he went on, “There have been several attacks around the city, including one night watchman at Kelvingrove Museum. The worrying thing is, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg, because if this vampire is the one we think it is, then most of his victims never remember they have been attacked. He uses some sort of hypnosis combined with a healing power…”
    “Then he doesn’t kill his victims?” I said eagerly, too eagerly, though fortunately Nigel misunderstood why.
    “Don’t sweat it, Jenny,” he mocked, “I don’t want you to contain the vampire, just see if you can find out roughly the area he’s hiding in. And yes, he does kill, though usually when he’s bored and ready to move on. The rest of the time he prefers a quiet life with as little aggravation from local police and people like us as possible. Do you have a computer there?”
    Struggling to keep up, I floundered, “Yes, my laptop…”
    “Fine. I’ll email the locations of the attacks and you can try to find some likely hiding spots for the vamp. Frank and Hilda will contact you when they get up there tomorrow. I’ll send some notes on vampire lairs as well.”
    “Thanks,” I