Nancy A Collins-Vamps 02 Read Online Free Page A

through her mind.
    “No,” she lied. “I was just thinking about what you said about your grandfather. I never knew there was so much bad blood between the Van Helsings and the Todds. It sounds like the vendettas that go on between vampire families. You must really hate the Todds.”
    “Just the ones who deserve it,” he replied.
    As Cally entered the lobby of her apartment building, she spotted Mr. Dithers, the chairman of the condo 25

    association, emptying his trash into the incinerator chute. She walked as fast as she could toward the elevator, praying it was sitting on the lobby level for once instead of hanging around on the seventh floor. She punched the call button and, to her relief, the doors parted instantly.
    “Miss Monture—! A moment, please?”
    Cally turned to find Mr. Dithers standing at her elbow, his Coke-bottle glasses making his over-magnified eyes appear to be hovering in front of his face.
    “We’ve been getting complaints from the tenants on either side of your unit—and those on the floors above and below as well, to be frank—about the noise from your home entertainment center. I’ve already sent two warning notices to your mother. . . .”
    “I realize that, Mr. Dithers,” Cally said apologeti-cally. “I’m really sorry. I’ll talk to my mother about keeping it down—”
    “It’s not that I have anything against you personally, Cally. I know you try the best you can, but the noise ordinances are built into the covenants of the condo board. If this continues, we’ll have no choice but to fine your mother two hundred dollars for each new complaint.”
    “There’s no need to get drastic,” Cally assured him.
    “I’ll take care of the situation, I promise.”
    “I certainly hope so, Miss Monture.”
    26

    * * *
    As the elevator doors opened onto her floor, Cally was relieved she could not hear whatever movie her mother was watching from halfway down the hall. She unlocked the door and stepped inside the apartment. The combination kitchen-dining area was dark, save for the faint bluish-white light from the living room.
    “Mom—? I just ran into Mr. Dithers again,” Cally announced as she set her purse on the breakfast bar.
    Cally’s mother was seated on a red velvet chaise lounge, watching the hi-def plasma flat screen hung on the living room wall. As she entered the room, Cally realized why everything was so uncharacteristically quiet: her mother was watching F. W. Murnau’s classic silent film Nosferatu .
    “Mom? Did you hear me? We need to talk.”
    “Damn right we need to talk!” Sheila Monture said as she turned to glare at her daughter. “I want to know where you’ve been sneaking off to at all hours, young lady! You’re seeing someone, aren’t you?”
    “Mom, you’ve been drinking,” Cally said in a matter-of-fact voice. “You know I won’t talk about things like this when you’re drunk.”
    Sheila pushed herself up off the chaise lounge, tee-tering for a moment until she regained her balance. She was dressed in a long, flowing black velvet dress with tight-fitting long sleeves that ended in a point above 27

    the hand, with lace finger loops affixed to the cuffs.
    Cally recognized the outfit, and the long black wig that went with it, as the Morticia Addams look her mother favored whenever she obsessed about their social standing in the vampire community. This was a real laugh, seeing how her mom was a human.
    “Just because I’m asleep by the time you normally come traipsing home doesn’t mean I don’t notice things!
    You better not be messing around with that no-account Johnny Muerto! I won’t have you ruining your chances of finding a proper husband by fooling with that newbie trash!”
    Cally rolled her eyes in disgust. “Mom, I despise Johnny Muerto! I got sent to Professor Burke’s office for punching him in the throat when he tried to kiss me, remember?”
    “Well, if you’re not sneaking off with him, then which one of those Varney Hall