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“Do you want me down there? Maybe I can help.”
I thought. Camil e and Tril ian were spent. Morio was out of commission. Vanzir was at home protecting Iris and Maggie. Smoky and Roz were gone. Delilah was stil recovering from her injury.
It was either wait for Shade to get here or . . .
“Yeah.” I gave him the address. “Hurry.”
“Chase!” I slapped my phone shut and hurried over to the detective. “I know why he’s kil ing them. I know who we’re looking for.”
“Who is he?” Chase whirled, a look of relief on his face.
“I don’t have a name, but I’ve got his profile. Wade remembered that the guy who seemed odd
—that he was wearing a clerical col ar.”
Chase shook his head. “And?”
“Ten to one our suspect was a priest or other clergy member while alive. We think his sire was posing as a prostitute. This would explain why he’s targeting hookers with similar looks. His sire probably has long brown hair and was around that age when she was turned.”
Il umination washed over Chase’s face. “Crap. And when he was turned . . .”
“Right—he had a psychotic break. His conscience couldn’t reconcile his old beliefs with his new state of being. Wade’s on his way to help. Now that we know what his motives are, maybe we can track him.”
Chase nodded. “Got your drift.” He put in a cal to Yugi. “Listen, check on any priests or clergy members that have gone missing over the past six months for me, would you?” He glanced at me and added, “Also, any who have died in that time period. I need the info ASAP. Find out the locations of where they died or went missing, too.”
As he hung up, we came to the girl. She was splayed out like the others, her skirt ripped away from her, her private areas bloody and maimed. He was getting worse, that much was apparent. I averted my eyes, wanting to give her privacy, though I knew she would never have privacy again until she was in the grave, and then she’d have an eternity of it.
Chase hung his head and let out a long sigh. “He sure hates hookers. Probably women in general.”
“I’m so tired of this shit,” I whispered, turned away.
“So am I.” Chase slid a hand on my shoulder. I glanced at it, considering shaking him off—I real y wasn’t in the mood to be comforted—but realized he meant wel .
“I can tel by the smel , even from here, that we’re dealing with the same vampire. The scent of death and mold and . . . mold . . .” Wait a minute. “I smel mold.”
I hurried to her side and knelt down, sniffing near her neck. “Chase, there’s only a residue of the scent, but she’s been around viro-mortis slime. And I guarantee you that she hasn’t been prowling around in the tunnels. This verifies it, he’s using Underground Seattle—the hidden part—as his base. He must have brushed up against a wal . This smel s like green viro-mortis slime, so it wouldn’t be too dangerous to him.”
“You mean we have to go back down there? With those ghosts?” Chase paled.
“No. I mean I have to go back down there. You stay topside. I’l wait for Wade, though. Maybe together, he and I can trace our vamp. At least Ivana Krask ate up a lot of the ghosts . . . at that one particular juncture.”
Chase’s phone rang and he flipped it open. “Yes? What?” He shifted to pul out his pen and notebook, jotting something down as he listened. “Right. Where was he last seen? . . . Good work.”
After he hung up, Chase scribbled on another sheet and tore it off, handing it to me. “We have our man. A priest named Charles Shalimar disappeared two months ago. Guess where he disappeared from?”
“The Greenbelt Park District?”
“Bingo. There’s a Catholic church near the park—Our Lady of Mercy—and several priests live at the rectory. Charles didn’t come home from a late-night visit to the hospital where one of his parishioners had asked for him. From what Yugi said, someone looked into the disappearance but nothing was found, and for some reason, nothing more was ever done or said.”
“Where was he last seen?”
“He said good-bye to the night nurse after his charge died and mentioned something about walking home. The hospital is about ten blocks from the church and the quickest route would have taken him right through the park.”
Chase held up his phone. Yugi had e-mailed him a picture of the priest. He looked to be in good shape for his age and physical y fit. But not fit enough to fight off a vampire.
“The park . . . where we’ve found most of the victims.”
“Yeah. Apparently he’s returning to the scene of his own murder.”
