Playing With Vampires - An Izzy Cooper Novel by Kendra Ashe Page B

“And to answer your question about Polly. She was a blood donor, and a nice girl. What happened to her is a shame.”
    “Do you know what she was doing on Anchor Avenue at that time of night?” I asked.
    “I sent her down there to recruit more donors, I still have a few openings, if you’d like to join my staff,” he offered, a hint of a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
    “Please!” I held up my hand as if to ward him off. “Don’t they have some kind of bloodsuckers anonymous or something?”
    “Just asking,” he came back with a shrug.
    “We’ll be in touch again,” I told him before turning away, but what he said next stopped me in my tracks.
    “You’ve grown into a beautiful woman Izzy Cooper. It was good to see you again.”
    When I looked back to ask what he meant, he was gone.
    The room was completely empty.
    I knew vampires were fast, but I didn’t think they were that fast.
     

Chapter Nine
     
    Still reeling from Zane Dupree’s high strangeness, I went in search of Tim. I found him out back, watching some construction workers dig a hole for the new pool.
    “Did you get any info?” I asked.
    Tim shook his head. “Not really. “Olsen claims to have been on the mainland until this morning. He does have a ticket stub for the ferry. That doesn’t necessarily prove anything, but it gives us something to check out. He should be on video surveillance.”
    “Dupree says he was with Missy Rogers all night.” I frowned. “We’ll have to check out his alibi.”
    Tim started walking toward the front of the property where I’d parked Lady Luck. “Even if these two have alibis, where there is one vampire, there are probably others,” he pointed out.
    “So you think there are more vampires here?”
    “It is a possibility. In my experience, you either have one vampire, or you have a nest. We know there are at least two vampires here.”
    Once we were in my car, I asked, “How do you know so much about vampires? I know why Ayden does, but I didn’t think you knew that much.”
    Tim smiled. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. When I first joined the ACMU, I was involved with a taskforce that did nothing but round up wayward vampires.”
    “Wow! How exactly do they punish vampires who break the law?” I inquired, suddenly realizing that I really didn’t have a clue how some of these supernatural lawbreakers were punished after being prosecuted. “Do they like have a special prison for vampires or something?”
    He nodded. “Actually there is a facility for special convicts. It’s designed to contain all kinds of supernatural beings.”
    “Dupree admitted to being a vampire,” I told him.
    Tim’s expression was one of shock. “Really?”
    “Well he didn’t actually admit it, but he didn’t deny it when I told him I knew what he was. Also … he said something very strange.”
    As I drove, I told Tim about what Dupree had said, and how he’d seemed to vanish into thin air.
    Judging by the frown on Tim’s face, he was as disturbed by the incident as I was.
    “Maybe it’s time we do some digging into Dupree’s background,” I suggested.
    “I agree. Vampires can do a lot of things, but as far as I know, they can’t disappear, nor can they withstand sunlight for long.”
    Just as I slowed Lady Luck to maneuver the dirt road through the cemetery, I saw a blue Ford truck coming our way. It looked just like my sister’s old truck.
    “Hey! I think that’s Annabelle’s truck. What’s she doing here?” I asked, though I knew Tim had no more idea than I did.
    As expected, he shrugged.
    Hugging the right side of the road, I rolled down my window when Annabelle stopped.
    “What’s up sis?” she asked.
    “Just doing my job. What are you doing here?”
    “Didn’t you hear? Dupree wants me to open another pub on the resort. He’s converted one of the ballrooms, and is letting me open up a branch of the Sandbar. We’re going to call it The Sandcastle.”
    “No one