Chapter Two

The diner was a welcomed change from the long night before. The delicious smells of cooking food blended together and drifted through the air. The hot smell of burgers sizzling on the grill in the back mixed with the smell of fresh fries and seasoning. The mix of scents floating around them and the bright white lights made even that dreary day seem bright. Amara and Stephanie sat near the window nibbling at their breakfasts and watched the raindrops stream down the foggy glass.

As Amara sipped her coffee, she noticed a familiar figure walking through the door. It was one of her contacts. The man walking toward her was tall and lean. His short, auburn hair was messy, but styled that way. As he walked over to Amara, Stephanie looked a little puzzled. His skin was too pale to be human, his eyes too deep a shade of blue. It took a moment for Stephanie to recognize him.

“You cut your hair,” she said as she scooted over in her booth to make room for him and moved the plate and glass down as well.

“I got tired of it being long,” the vampire said with a light smile. “Hello, Amara,” he added with a nod to the hunter.

“What brings you out here; in daylight hours?” Amara asked curiously. Generally only the older, more powerful vampires could go out in direct sunlight. Then again, with the stormy weather outside shielding him from the sunlight, even a vampire as young as Steven could be out—if one considered one -hundred fifty years young. It was still risky though, if the weather cleared on his way home, Steven could be rather toasty.

“Well, I have important news and didn’t think it should be told over the phone. It couldn’t wait until morning,” he said, leaning over to pick up a piece of Amara’s bacon from across the table and took a bite.

Amara lifted her eyebrow invitingly, urging Steven to continue.

“An old friend of an old friend of yours is in town. He’s looking for his cousin. I thought I should let you know, because wherever he goes, he has that…special talent to destroy things. Kafele flew in about a week ago.”

Amara paused for a long moment and her eyes widened at the news.

“Kafele? You mean Alexander’s cousin?” She shook her head. This was bad news.

Alexander was the vampire who killed her family. Kafele had been his right hand man for as long as the two were dead—and probably while they were living as well. As far as anyone knew, they weren’t insane serial killers while they were living. Thousands of years later, Kafele and Alexander split up, although no one she had ever spoken to knew why, or they wouldn’t tell her. After a while, things died down. Kafele disappeared, and Alexander started making business investments and work through other vampires rather than do any dirty work himself.

Years of killing people established him enough power to control the vampires younger and weaker than himself. Sure, they were apart for nearly one hundred years, but a reunion didn’t seem like it would bode well for humanity either way.

“Who is Kafele?” Stephanie asked when she saw the unsettled look in Amara’s eyes.

“It’s too long of a story for right now,” Amara said to her quickly, “I’ll get you the file later. Any idea where he’s staying?”

“I’ve been trying to find out, but so far, no one is willing to give anything away.” Steven shook his head. “Not even for a price—which I assumed you would reimburse me for.”

Amara nodded. Of course she would. He was her outside contact, her leak into the world of dangerous vampires.

“I’ll keep looking then. Watch yourself. I don’t want to see anything happen to you,” Steven said. Oddly enough Amara believed he meant it.

As a general rule, she didn’t trust vampires. Steven was one of the exceptions. He gave her information and kept her alive more than once by covering for her. Amara would likely do the same for him at this point. Likely. Not definitely.

“Thanks,” she said and watched him get up, then called out to him again as a thought occurred to her. “Steven, Kafele’s animal to call, the form he can take. What is it?”

Steven thought for a moment before he responded. “A hyena.”

“Thanks. You’re a world of help.” Amara wasn’t at all surprised by his answer.

“Glad to hear it,” he smiled to her. “If you get tired of it here, a friend of a friend of mine just opened a new diner across town. You might want to check it out rather than eat here breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

He disappeared back out into the rain and to his cab.

“Why’d you ask him what animal Kafele can become? Are you even sure he can transform? Not every vampire can,” Stephanie asked and continued eating.

“Absolutely.” Amara nodded and sipped her coffee. “He’s a master vampire, nearly as powerful as Alexander. If the bite comes back to match a hyena, we know who we’re looking for.”

Stephanie nodded and looked to Amara’s purse. The high- pitched beeping of Amara’s generic ring tone filled the air. Amara answered the phone while Stephanie continued to eat. When Amara hung up the phone, she looked at Stephanie and nodded.

“Back to the H.Q. Apparently they haven’t located the thing responsible for the murder last night, but they have a few other things they want to go over with us.”

“Maybe some exotic jaw impressions?” Stephanie asked as she sipped her orange juice.

“It’s possible. Finish eating so we can get there. It sounded like they have an abundance of information to go over with us.”

Stephanie continued eating at her own pace. Amara watched her and decided Stephanie must be thinking if they still hadn’t caught the monster, then a few extra minutes in the morning wouldn’t make a tremendous difference. A monster out that late killing people would probably sleep during the day.