Trail of Blood

Eileen Nicholas is our guest blogger, and she is contributing the first few pages of her vampire detective novel, Trail of Blood.

The speeding Camaro lost it on the rain-slick blacktop. They were going to crash, Tally realized--no time to brace herself or even scream.

Bam! The car ricocheted off the wall of blasted rock toward the right side of the road, and Tally’s head whipped backwards, then forwards into the windshield. Jeremy twisted desperately at the wheel, but the car had a mind of its own, plunging toward the soggy bottom of the wide ditch to the left. Thorn bushes and pine saplings snagged at the muscle car’s undercarriage and whipped its windows.

Tally’s head snapped backwards again as they continued halfway up the other side of the embankment. Finally the car reached the end of its momentum and stopped, rolling slowly back to nestle itself at the bottom of the incline.

Waaaalk like an Egyptiaaaan-- The stereo was still on, and the mis-angled headlights cut odd, jagged shadows through the tree branches. Wiper blades beat like drumsticks on the crazed windshield three inches in front of Tally’s face. She breathed deeply and looked across at her boyfriend. "You okay?”

"Yeah, I think so.” He coughed a couple of times, turned off the ignition, and experimented carefully with moving his head from side to side. “You?"

“I’m cool.” Tally hurt all over, but she wasn’t bleeding anywhere she could see. Crossing herself—up, down, right, left--she murmured thanks to Blessed Jesus and the Ever-Virgin Mary. This must be her lucky day, she thought, although all her days seemed to have been lucky lately, ever since she had been in the hospital last year.

She closed her eyes for a long second and felt her body restoring itself. Her mind was clear now, and her headache was going-going-gone. Looking out the window, she realized the rain had let up completely, a small blessing now that she and Jeremy were going to have to hike all the way back to Minetown in the dark. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long. She had to get home quickly because she was suddenly more hungry than ever, and the only thing she seemed to be able to keep down these days was Grandma’s oxblood soup.

Thinner, thinner, blood for dinner.

(Continued tomorrow)