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"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
She shook her head. "Door-to-door vampires. How" - she wiggled her hands back and forth -
"convenient."
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"Yep," I said. "Let's go see who's minding the office."
Broad white steps led up to huge double doors. One of the doors was open; the other had a sign that
read, "Enter Friend and be at Peace." I fought an urge to tear down the sign and stomp on it.
They were preying on one of the most basic fears of man - death. Everyone fears death. People who
don't believe in God have a hard time with death being it. Die and you cease to exist. Poof. But at the
Church of Eternal Life, they promise just what the name says. And they can prove it. No leap of faith.
No waiting around. No questions left unanswered. How does it feel to be dead? Just ask a fellow church
member.
Oh, and you'll never grow old either. No face-lifts, no tummy tucks, just eternal youth. Not a bad deal,
as long as you don't believe in the soul.
As long as you don't believe the soul becomes trapped in the vampire's body and can never reach
Heaven. Or worse yet, that vampires are inherently evil and you are condemned to Hell. The Catholic
Church sees voluntary vampirism as a kind of suicide. I tend to agree. Though the Pope also
excommunicated all animators, unless we ceased raising the dead. Fine; I became Episcopalian.
Polished wooden pews ran in two wide rows up towards what would have been an altar. There was a
pulpit, but I couldn't call it an altar. It was just a blank blue wall surrounded by more white upsweeping
walls.
The windows were red and blue stained glass. The sunlight sparkled through them, making delicate
colored patterns on the white floor.
"Peaceful," Ronnie said.
"So are graveyards."
She smiled at me. "I'd thought you'd say that."
I frowned at her. "No teasing; we're here on business."
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
"Just back me up; look menacing if you can manage it. Look for clues."
"Clues?" she asked.
"Yeah, you know, clues, ticket stubs, half-burned notes, leads."
"Oh, those."
"Quit grinning at me, Ronnie."
She adjusted her sunglasses and did her best "cold" look. She's pretty good at it. Thugs have been
known to shrivel at twenty paces. We would see how it worked on church members.
There was a small door to one side of the "altar." It led into a carpeted hallway. The air-conditioned
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hush enveloped us. There were bathrooms to the left, and an open room to the right. Perhaps this is
where they had . . . coffee after services. No, probably not coffee. A rousing sermon followed by a little
blood, perhaps?
The offices were marked with a little sign that said "Office." How clever. There was an outer office, the
proverbial secretarial desk and etc.... A young man sat behind the desk. Slender, short brown hair
carefully cut. Wire-frame glasses decorated a pair of really lovely brown eyes. There was a healing bite
mark on his throat.
He rose and came around the desk, hand extended, smiling at us. "Greetings, friends, I'm Bruce. How
may I help you today?"
The handshake was firm but not too firm, strong but not overbearing, a friendly lingering touch, but not
sexual. Really good car salesmen shake hands like that. Real estate brokers, too. I have this nice little
soul, hardly used at all. The price is right. Trust me. If his big brown eyes had looked any more sincere, I
would have given him a doggie biscuit and patted his head.
"I would like to set up an appointment to speak with Malcolm," I said.
He blinked once. "Have a seat."
I sat. Ronnie leaned against the wall, to one side of the door. Hands folded, looking cool and
bodyguardish.
Bruce went back around his desk, after offering us coffee, and sat with folded hands. "Now, Miss. . ."
"Ms. Blake."
He didn't flinch; he hadn't heard of me. How fleeting fame. "Ms. Blake, why do you wish to meet with
the head of our church? We have many competent and understanding counselors that will help you make
your decision."
I smiled at him. I'll just bet you do, you little pipsqueak. "I think Malcolm will want to speak with me. I
have information about the vampire murders."
His smile slipped. "If you have such information, then go to the police."
"Even if I have proof that certain members of your church are doing the murders?" A small bluff,
otherwise known as a lie.
He swallowed, fingers pressing the top of his desk until the fingertips turned white. "I don't understand. I
mean . . ."
I smiled at him. "Let's just face it, Bruce. You are not equipped to handle murder. It isn't in your training,
now is it?"
"Well, no, but . . ."
"Then just give me a time to come back tonight and see Malcolm."
"I don't know. I . . ."
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"Don't worry about it. Malcolm is the head of the church. He'll take care of it."
He was nodding, too rapidly. His eyes flicked to Ronnie, then back to me. He flipped through a
leatherbound day planner on his desk. "Nine, tonight." He picked up a pen, poised and ready. "If you'll
give me your full name, I'll pencil you in."
I started to point out that he wasn't using a pencil, but decided to let it slide. "Anita Blake."
He still didn't recognize the name. So much for me being the terror of vampireland. "And this is
pertaining to?" He was regaining his professionalism.
I stood up. "Murder, it's pertaining to murder."
"Oh, yes, I . . ." He scribbled something down. "Nine tonight, Anita Blake, murder." He frowned down
at the note as if there were something wrong with it. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]