Incubus Dreams - October 30th

[anita_blake]

Anita sits on Jean-Claude's bed, frowning at her cell phone. She knows she's going to get chewed out by Zerbrowski if she calls, but she needs him. Taking a breath and letting it out slowly, she dials Zerbrowski's cell number and listens to it ring a couple times. When he answers, she doesn't bother with niceties.

"Zerbowski, it's Blake. I need to know if you've received any missing persons reports for lycanthropes."

Comments

[ab_npc]

Zerbrowski snorts when he hears the voice on the other end of the line. "Hi, Blake. I'm doing great, thanks for asking."

[anita_blake]

Ignoring Richard's snoring form, Anita stands up from the bed and starts for the bathroom. She'll need a shower. Shower and clean clothes. Her shoulder was sore, but mostly healed. Anita shuts the bathroom door and sighs.

"You're welcome, now answer my question."

[ab_npc]

"Missing lycanthropes? Let me check." Zerbrowksi sighs heavily as he pulls up the department case search. "What have you gotten yourself mixed up in now that you haven't told the police about? Or do I not want to know?"

[anita_blake]

"I'm just missing a couple of people, Zerbrowski," she says, rummaging through Jean-Claude's cabinets for shampoo and soap. "I wondered if anyone else might be missing. Professional curiosity, you know."

[ab_npc]

"Curiosity, riiight. Okay, results are coming up now. Umm... nope, no missing lycanthropes. A missing vamp, but that's it."

[anita_blake]

Anita pauses as picks up the shampoo.

"A missing vamp? Who? From where? Jean-Claude's vampires are all accounted for."

At least, they had been last time she'd checked, unless her boyfriend was keeping things from her. Which wouldn't surprise Anita, but still...

[ab_npc]

Zerbrowski scans through the report for the particulars.

"Joanna Saunders. Name ring a bell? According to this, she's a new convert at the Church of Eternal Life. She's only been a vampire for six weeks. Her 'sponsor' filed the report. Said she didn't turn up for a required check-in two days ago."

He reads a little farther down and chuckles. "MacDonald took the report, apparently. He seems to think she either got what she wanted and skipped town to get away from the church's rules, or else screwed up and toasted herself by accident one morning."

[anita_blake]

Anita sighs, rubbing her eyes as she leans against the sink.

"I doubt that's what happened. Something... is off in all this. A swanmane goes missing a few days ago, and now a new vampire. A new vampire would be easy to pick off."

She chews her lower lip a little, considering.

"Can you keep your ear to the ground and see if anyone new comes up missing the next day or so? I don't like this, and I'm sure it's not going to end well."

[ab_npc]

"Well, gee, Anita, I don't know. It's not like I'm a cop or anything. Oh, wait. Tell you what, I'll even run it past a buddy in missing persons and see if they've got anything that might fit, too."

[anita_blake]

Anita gives the toilet a foul look, imagining it was Zerbrowski.

"You'd be shuddering at the look I'm giving you. Just thought you should know that."

[ab_npc]

He laughs. "You can make me shudder any time you want, Blake. I'll even bring the wine."

[anita_blake]

"Pervert."

Anita scoffs.

"Call me back the moment you know anything more, all right?"

[ab_npc]

"You got it." Zerbrowski hangs up -- 'bye' fell out of his vocabulary about three months after working under Dolph. He looks around the room and spots his prey. "Hey, MacDonald! C'mere; I need to talk to you about this missing vampire."