Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series #1) Read Online Free

well-walked route by hikers and ramblers. Those footprints could have been left here by anyone. And so what if there aren’t any tracks leading to and from the murder scene? As far as we know, it could have been a really hot day and the earth could’ve been as dry as a bone.”
    I wanted to tell him, that in the cool shade of the trees, it was very unlikely that the ground would’ve been rock hard, but I knew there was little point. He didn’t want some newbie coming into his town and telling him how to do his job. So, however much it pained me, I kept quiet.
    I was damp from the rain and cold. Not being able to hide my shivers any longer, Luke approached me, and wrapping an arm about my shoulders, he said, “C’mon, let me get you to your room.”
    Without any resistance, I let Luke guide me away from the mutilated body of the boy. As I went, I looked back to see Potter lighting up another cigarette. Looking at me, he smiled and blew a cloud of smoke up into the night. I watched the smoke rise upwards, and as it dispersed, I noticed something. Aiming Luke’s torch up into the trees, I could see that the branches above the boy were snapped and broken as if someone or something had crashed through them.
    Turning away, I let Luke lead me to my car. Ten minutes later, I was pulling up outside the Crescent Moon Inn.
    “Is this it?” I asked, looking out of the window at the weary-looking building. It almost seemed to lean to the right, as if at any moment it was going to topple over. The roof was thatched and the windows were lattice in design. Wild ivory climbed over the front of the Inn, and up across the roof like a giant green claw. The windows glowed orange from within and a sign which read The Crescent Moon Inn wailed back and forth in the wind.
    Swinging open the passenger door, Luke went to climb out, but then stopped. Looking back at me he said, “You weren’t making that stuff up back there were you?”
    “No,” I said.
    “So how did you figure it all out?” he asked, staring at me again and making me feel uncomfortable. “How did you know how tall they were, the fact that one of them had arrived before the others, his brand of cigarettes and that the female had black hair which she had dyed blonde? You musta been guessing some of that.”
    “I wasn’t guessing,” I told him. “What then? Are you some kind of psychic?” and he half laughed. “It doesn’t matter,” I told him, and climbed from the car.   Putting his helmet onto his head and pulling the collar of his police coat up about his neck, he said, “So long Kiera Hudson. I’ll see you tomorrow night at seven.”
    Then turning towards the Inn, just wanting to get out of the rain, I stopped. Seeing as I now knew where the Inn was, I should really have offered him a lift back to the police station. But as I turned back towards him, I was surprised to see that he had already gone.

Chapter Three
    Carrying the little belongings that I’d brought with me, I went into the Inn. A crescent-shaped bar stood along the far wall. The Inn wasn’t very busy, and those that huddled around the small fire and the tables fell into a hushed silence and looked at me. As I crossed the floor to the bar, I could feel their eyes staring at me. It was so quiet that I could hear the wood snapping and crackling as it burnt in the fireplace. I looked across at it and noticed that someone had engraved a five-pointed star into the plaster above the fireplace. Then in the far corner, I noticed a figure. He sat alone at a table which was lit with a candle and he warmed a glass of whiskey in his hand. The male had a hood pulled so low over his head that it concealed his face. Although I couldn’t see his eyes, I knew he was watching me.
    Trying not to make eye contact with those gathered in the Inn, I reached the bar. I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life, and I wondered why Sergeant Phillips had decided to rent me a room in such a godforsaken place. When I