“Charles Sheppard if my memory serves me.” Casey added and she air once more. “We are a little overzealous peach-pie. We o shower so the world doesn’t know that we have been rolling in sex all day.”

  Relutly, Sylvie reversed her path to the front door and headed to the bathroom. “Yeah, You have a point there. Shower, then we hunt, then we find the fu skull.”

  “Ahem, my line.” Casey walked into the bathroom with Sylvie.

  Roughly an hour after they got into the shower, Sylvie had finally made her way to her motorcycle with a sheepish grin on her face. “You said shower. I didn’t know that was code for sex.” She ughed and turhe ignition. “I thought we were supposed to be getting the sex smell off of us.”

  Raising one devilish eyebrow, Casey o her lover, “We got the smell off. Nothing said we couldn’t add to it while we got .” Snuggly fitting one of the helmets to her head, Casey slid her arms around Sylvie’s waist. “So, straight to the uy?”

  Donning her protective gear, Sylvie nodded and drove out of the driveway and onto Brander’s Bridge road, taking the opposite route she was used to. “I figure that we go find the professor and charm the man into giving all of his researd the skull to us.”

  “Sounds like you have it all pnned out.” Casey quipped as she spotted a couple walking with headmps walking out of a small nature park. Smelling their delicious blood, Casey felt the hunger rise like a tidal wave. She suddenly didn’t want to wait until they were in the neighb city of Petersburg, so Casey quickly developed a pn and impleme.

  When Sylvie felt Casey’s arms slide away from her waist, She gnced back to see her partanding on the seat and ging into her predatory bird form. “What the..” Sylvie spotted the two hikers aled down. “...This should be iing.” Watg as Casey jumped high into the air, Sylvie smiled as Casey shifted fwlessly. “Good girl…You go get them my blood-dove.” Swinging the bike into the parking lot of the park, Sylvie shut off the engine and waited.

  A few mier, Casey came out of the woodline dragging the two people. “Charmed, so I figured I would share dinner.” She winked and looked down at one of the people. “Don’t worry, yoing home soon to eat. I am just helping you both to your car.”

  Both of the people looked up with a gze in their eyes and nodded. “Home, we are going home. Thanks for the help back there. We are very hungry…aren’t we?”

  Once Casey gently pushed one of the people to Sylvie’s waiting arms, She let her fangs drop into pd with a swiftness punctured the man’s throat, drinking gingerly.

  -Oh my, he’s not hungry for food.-

  Casey thought to herself as she ted to ten and licked the wound closed. She pulled the helpless man into her arms and stared him in the face, before blowing her radiant breath right in his nose. “You won’t recall much of anything. You two will sit here for a couple mihen leave for home.” Casey rolled her eyes and added, “You will be gentle and kind to her tonight, uood?”

  Nodding in an almost druupor, the man smiled. “Mmhhmm, I always am.”

  Sliding the man to the backside of a tree, Casey wiped her mouth and waited for Sylvie to finish up. “That was a quiack before the park. I saw them and couldn’t help myself.”

  Closing the holes in the woman’s neck she’d been feeding from, Sylvie scooped the woman in her arms and pced her beside the man. “I am not upset, Casey.” She poio the seat on her bike, “The acrobatics were not really necessary, I would have stopped.”

  “It was more fun that way.” Casey ughed, “I got to show off my lovely vampire skills, I have to impress my maker you know.”

  Getting ba the motorcycle, Sylvie half-smiled and started the engine once more. “You have already impressed me, Casey. I have never seen a newborn adapt like you have.” Sylvie looked into the woods as she heard more voices. “You know, I bet it would be fun to gather up all the folks in the park, drag them out here and after feeding from all of them, make up a story. I mean imagihem ing out of the stupor and going, ‘Why are we in the gravel?’ - I think it would be hirious.”

  “You are cruel as yeous.” Casey kissed Sylvie on the neck. “I suppose you would fill them full of UFO sightings too?”

  Sylvie kicked her bike into gear and once again headed for the border of their town. “Not the UFO type, more like I would leave ghost stories.” She giggled and paused, “You know I am winning.”

  Holding Sylvie tight around her waist, Casey leaned on Sylvie’s bad asked, “Winning? Whatever are you talking about moon-muffin?”

  “Damnit.” Sylvie responded. “We are gonna run out of binations at some point.”

  Casey squeezed Sylvie’s waist, “We have ay to think of more, so I am not overly ed about it, peach-puppy.”

  “Damnit!” Sylvie excimed a sed time in thirty seds. “How I pete with that speed? My wonderful sugar-snookums.”

  Casey rubbed her lover's bad ughed lightly as they sped down the road. It was only after Casey spotted a myriad of red and blue lights, mixed with fshing e ohat she said anything. “Sylvie, I am sure you see that mess down there.”

  “Yeah, I do. Now I wish we’d looked at the news before we left.” She cleared her throat and focused on the tacts in her eyes. “Code are you online?” She sehe tee to life and the green bars circled in her vision for a few seds.

  “Querry?” The little AI chip asked.

  Pulling over to the side of the bridge overlooking the mess of overturrucks and police tape, Sylvie answered her little puter. “We are crossing the Saint Christopher’s iy bridge and there are lots of polid fire trucks present, you tell us what is going on?”

  “W.” Sing all for all sources, a few seds ter Code answered. “..Associated press release yesterday, bined with twenty-four ce from broadcast stations…” It paused, “...han seveurrucks with court records were fouerday m. Rescue workers saved two people of the twelve in the vehicles. Further news indicates there are two more victims of ‘The Cross Killer’. One is identified as Charles Sheppard, a tenured professor at Tri-city unity Uy. Listed missing over trior. Stop. Associated press release, Sed victim of ‘The Cross Killer’ named Noah Osborn, Clerk of Court for the city of Petersburg. Stop.” Code went silent for a few seds. “Would you like to know the means of their deaths?”

  Unbug her helmet and hanging it on her handlebars, Sylvie sighed and answered Code. “No thank you. You did well, we thank you.” She turo Casey. “What a mess. I hope An isn’t bming this on me, I wasn’t anywhere close to this mess.” She rubbed her temples, “With the professor dead, we are going to have a hell of a time getting the skull and the he man took.”