Page 82 of Dark Obsession

Zenona laughed quietly. “Hundreds of years. And, yeah, it was a hell of a read. He kept dozens of these journals. I haven’t had the energy to read through them all.” She looked at them in turn, then gestured to her own head. “I keep reading them in his voice, you know?”

“He had a great voice,” Clarabell said. “That accent.”

“He was really smart,” Tracey added, still rubbing Zenona’s back as she nodded to Clarabell. “He’d seen so much history.”

“He was hot, too,” Ollie said, then blushed when everyone looked at him. “What? He was!” He saw Dave’s raised eyebrows and leaned into him. “I mean, he was no data analyst, but he was attractive in his own way.”

“Hell of a save, Ollie,” Cody said, shaking his head.

“Is that where you learned about Marlowe and her bar?” Demmy asked, getting the conversation back on track, as usual.

“Yes. And I was curious about it. Michael had found comfort in the bar, in knowing Marlowe and meeting someone who had the same beliefs as him.”

“What beliefs?” Agatha asked.

“Marlowe, like Michael, is what the vampire community calls a vegetarian.”

“No meat?” Jugs said with a frown.

“No human blood,” Zenona said.

“Oh.” Jugs paled slightly.

“I came to know Marlowe and some of the regulars pretty well. Like I said, she has strict rules and enforces them. We all saw it just last night.” She waved toward him and Demmy, and everyone looked at them.

“You went there?” Dave said. “To a vampire bar?”

“Why didn’t you take us along?” Ollie asked.

“It was kind of an impromptu trip,” Demmy said. “We hadn’t planned it.”

“Tell us about these rules,” Clarabell said. “Are all the regulars at this bar vegetarians?”

Zenona glanced between Cody and Demmy before meeting Clarabell’s eyes. “Some are. But…” She took a deep breath and let it out. “But it’s also a place where people who want to provide for the regulars are able to do so, with a lot of guidelines.”

“Wait, provide what?” Agatha said, then her eyes widened. “Blood?”

“What?” Ollie and Dave said together.

“I…” Zenona trailed off, a muscle in her jaw clenching and releasing.

Demmy released Cody’s hand and took a step forward. “Marlowe has it set up well. We saw it. And she protected us when there was a…an incident.”

“What kind of incident?” Tracey said. “And how does she have it set up?”

Demmy looked at Zenona before continuing. “Humans who want to provide blood voluntarily go to the bar. They mingle with the vampire regulars…” He looked at Zenona again. “Please correct me if I’m getting any of this wrong.” She nodded, and he continued. “The humans are allowed to visit once per week. The donations, I guess you’d call them, happen twice a week. There’s to be no contact between the vampires and the humans outside of the bar.”

“Does that actually work?” Ollie asked, eyes wide behind the lenses of his glasses.

“I don’t know that,” Demmy replied.

“It has worked for a very long time,” Zenona said. “But a vampire not in the group has been recruiting others from Marlowe’s bar to his own cause. These vampires have been turning people and taking others.”

“Taking them?” Jugs asked, then he said simply, “Oh.”

“His name is Bastian,” Cody said. “And he’s an asshole.”

“There’s always one,” Dave said.