This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

many varied flavors of barbecue in the city. Or maybe that was just me. Feeding from the sealed bags containing Bones’s blood keep me
nourished, but I still liked to vary up my palate a bit.
My cell phone vibrated in the side pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out, recognizing the number before I answered it.
“Reaper.” Ed’s voice, lowered enough that it was hard for me to hear him.
“You got something?” I asked at once, straightening. He and Scratch were across town at another popular watering hole; hopefully one more
fruitful than the dive Mencheres, Vlad, and I were in.
“Maybe,” Ed said, still so low I had to strain. I’d tell him to text me if he was worried about being overheard, but as I found out before, that was one
modern skill Ed hadn’t mastered yet. “Some bone-munchers came in earlier,” he went on. “They had a nasty vibe coming off them, too. I overheard
one of ’em mentioning the Falcon drive-in, and about ten minutes ago, they all left.”
A drive-in? “You mean theater, right?” I asked, just to be sure it wasn’t slang for something else.
Ed snorted. “Of course. I looked it up before I called you. It’s on Summer Avenue near I–40.”
Ed might not be able to text, but luckily, MapQuest wasn’t beyond him. “Good. You head on over there, but not for at least ten minutes in case
you’re being watched. I’ll start out now.”
“See ya there,” he grunted, and hung up.
“We’re in the wrong place,” I announced to Mencheres and Vlad as I signaled the bartender. “Let’s settle up and get out of here.”
Vlad’s brows rose. “Do elaborate,” he drawled.
I lowered my voice. Texting might be quieter, but it was also senseless with both of them right there. “Ed’s heard of some strange activity at the
Falcon drive-in, as though the words activity and drive-in in the same sentence weren’t strange enough.”
Mencheres gave me a quizzical look. “Why?”
I was about to say, Because they’re obsolete, but then I reminded myself that for someone as old as Mencheres, drive-ins would still seem like a
new form of entertainment.
“Because progress is a merciless bitch” was what I settled on, followed by “The bad news is, if the place is still open, not abandoned, we’ll have
human bystanders to worry about if Ed’s right and anything does go down.”
“Drive-ins,” Vlad said, his lip curling in a way that said he hadn’t been a fan of them even when they were popular. “I suppose that’s better than a
regular theater. Less people at drive-ins, and if they’re anything like I remember, most of the humans there won’t be concentrating on anything but
fornicating anyway.”
His disdainful tone almost made me laugh. Who knew the reputed scourge of the underworld looked down his nose at drive-in nookie?
“Not everyone had their own castle to go back to when they were young and horny,” I said, my lips twitching.
The look he threw me was more than cynical. “My youth was spent in constant war, not the pursuit of tender seductions.”
Privately I thought tender was the last word I’d associate with Vlad, but we had places to be, ghouls to track down, and all that. I glanced at my
watch. Ten forty-five. That helped, but it was a Friday night, so the drive-in would be as populated as it was going to get.
“Well, boys,” I said, placing some bills on the table. “Let’s go to the movies.”
Chapter Twenty-three
The drive-in wasn’t abandoned, as the cars lined up in front of the four large outdoor screens attested to. I heaved a sigh even as I crept around
the back of the first projector. Of course we wouldn’t be lucky enough for this place to be closed down. Hell, from the number of people here, either
I’d underestimated the drive-in’s appeal, or they were giving away free popcorn and condoms with each show.
I crouched low as I crept along the bushes, making my way toward the less populated screening of some horror movie, it looked like. With all the
headlights, I’d stand out like a sore thumb if I straightened and just walked there, but we weren’t about to all cruise in through the main entrance.
Even with our power levels cloaked, if this was some sort of secret ghoul meeting place, three vampires showing up would be enough to stir trouble,
no matter if they thought we were here just to watch some flicks.
Hence the sneaking around while we sought to find out if we were the only pulseless people here. We’d split up to cover more ground. I couldn’t
see or sense Vlad or Mencheres, so they were doing a good job at being stealthy. I hoped I was being equally furtive.
Then I stopped. That was odd. A van was too far off to the side of the viewing area of the closest screen to even see the movie. It didn’t rock in a
telltale way, either, leaving the possibility of being out of viewing range of the movie for a romantic reason doubtful. It still might be nothing insidious,
true, but there was only one way to find out.