Night Owls Read Online Free

hand to the other before returning it to its hook.
    The professor looked almost disappointed. He shook his head and tipped his hat. “I’ll be on my way,” he said, and tottered to the door.
    When his silhouette disappeared around the corner of the building, Chaz let out a growl. “Did you see that? He was watching to see if I could hold silver. Crazy old fuck.” He drained the last of his coffee and tossed the cup into the wastebasket with extra force, then eyed Val’s. “You done sniffing?”
    She slid it across to him as he opened the fudge.
     • • • 
    I T WAS EARLY enough in the semester that the store was dead by closing time. Outside, the street was quiet except for the occasional scatter of leaves drifting across the pavement. The other storefronts were dark, proprietors and customers long since gone home for the night. Night Owls was on Edgewood’s main drag. Were it not for the influx of students every September, the sleepy college town might otherwise be called a hamlet.
    Val walked Chaz to his car, an ancient, ’84 Mustang that looked like it would just barely be able to make it out of the parking lot. But, in the way of well-built older vehicles, it ran like a dream on regular oil changes and tune-ups. Chaz swore it would outlast pretty much everything on the planet in the event of a nuclear war—with the exceptions of maybe the cockroaches, Twinkies, and Val.
    Chaz slid behind the wheel and waved the envelope containing the morning’s bank deposit at her. “You know, usually it’s the man who’s supposed to escort the woman to her car.”
    “I’m bucking the trends. Look at me go.”
    “You’re protecting the profits. Let’s not be coy.”
    Val grinned. “Gotta keep my investments safe.”
    Chaz glanced around. Even the crickets had gone to bed. “Yeah, from all these thugs hanging out in Edgewood. I think someone ran a stop sign the other day. Or rolled through it.”
    Val opened her mouth to retort, but before she could speak, her nostrils filled with the scent of blood. Not a bright, fresh-from-the-vein smell. This was old, congealing, like blood left to pool in a dark place and forgotten. She wanted to retch as her taste buds kicked in and helpfully supplied the rancid companion to the smell.
    “Val?” Chaz started getting out of the car. He squawked as she shoved him back down into the driver’s seat. “The fuck?”
    “Go home, Chaz. Get the hell out of here.”
    “Val, what—” He just barely swung his legs back inside before Val slammed the door shut.
    “GO. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
    He looked ready to argue, but something in her glare made him reconsider. Although she couldn’t hear his muttered curses, his lips were easy enough to read as he jammed the keys in the ignition and started the car.
    Val watched until his taillights disappeared at the end of the street. She turned her face to the wind and braced herself. Then she inhaled deeply.
    Blood and rot and crawling things. Skittering, slithering. Writhing.
The thickness filled her nose and went straight to her brain, to the place where pure animal fear ruled. She realized that the soft whimpering she heard was coming from her own throat.
    Then, just as suddenly as the scent had appeared, it was gone. All the breeze carried now was the dry earthy smell of dying leaves. Her heart slammed; her hands were shaking. Every muscle screamed at her to run as fast and as far as she could.
    No.
Even as she thought it, the fear had begun leaching away. Val willed her fists to unclench. Deep breaths, as much to make sure no traces of that horrible scent remained as to calm herself down. For years, she’d been the scariest thing in Edgewood, aside from finals and dissertations.
    Now it seemed something new had rolled into town. She hoped it hadn’t come here looking for her.
    She’d thought she’d left that all behind.

3
    T HE TEA WAS something herbal, probably one of those ones with bogus aromatherapy claims on