Page 53 of Bloodhunter

“Baby hunter,” he said. “Let’s go. Follow my lead, learnwhat you can, and don’t get in my way. I’ll have this scum in a body bag beforemidnight.”

I pulled a plastic bag from my jacket pocket. “I have tolatch onto his scent.”

He threw back his head and heaved a sigh at the dark sky.“You haven’t done that yet?”

“Obviously not.” And still I held it, strangely hesitant. Itwas my first time trying to catch someone’s scent. I wasn’t even sure whatwould happen when I sucked the vampire’s invisible residue up my nose. And ifit didn’t work and I was proven a fraud, I was not going to live that down.

“Captain Crawford is going to call me if there’s anotherdead female,” I told him, delaying the inevitable. “He hopes I might pick up ascent to follow from the corpse before the trail disappears.”

He crossed his arms and leaned against his truck, a batteredblue pickup, and simply stared at me.

“The vampire serial killer,” I went on, “is not mad like theone I killed in New Gravel. He doesn’t have the virus. He’s controlled.Deliberate. What do you think he’s gaining from these deaths?”

Shane lifted an eyebrow and remained silent.

I hefted the shirt. “I should wait until we get to thecity,” I said.

He leveled a cool look at me. “You’re going to be a pain inthe ass. I knew you would be.”

“Shit,” I whispered, then held the shirt to my nose. Iclosed my eyes and inhaled, deep, deeper still…

Nothing.

I lowered the shirt and looked at him. “Huh. I got nothing.Maybe the scent has dissipated.”

“Or maybe,” he said, disgusted, “we’re going to have to dothis the old fashioned way. Get in the truck.”

But then…

The scent hit my brain.

It wasn’t a smell, exactly. It was a…knowing. Something slidinto my brain, and Lucy’s killer was part of me. I saw him in the colorfulstreamers of fog snaking across the ground. His trail was dark gray with swirlingbits of off-white weaved into the smooth darkness, like lazily rising smokefrom an unmoving cigarette.

I had his scent.

All I had to do was follow it.

When I opened my eyes Shane was watching me withmaybethetiniest bit of interest. It was something other than his usual contempt,anyway.

“Can you track from the truck?” he asked.

“I think so,” I told him. “With the windows down.” Then Ishrugged. “We’re about to find out.”

“Get in.” He barely waited for me to sit down before heslammed the door shut and jogged around to climb in under the wheel.

“The trail is dim here,” I told him. “He’s not in Bay Town.”

He grunted. “Just keep your nose to the wind. We’ll have toleave the truck sooner or later but I’ll take us as far as I can.”

I nodded, then reached down to squeeze the comfort ofSilverlight at my belt. The trail completely disappeared as Shane pulled outonto the highway, but before I could panic, I picked it up once again.

It would be a hell of a lot easier to track vampires whenall I had to do was follow my nose straight to them.

They couldn’t hide from me. Not even in the city.

But the scent didn’t lead into the city. By the time Shanewas forced to stop the truck, we were surrounded by swamps, woods, and long,deep hollows. We were still in the county, but the city was miles away.

The gray tracks swirled mistily in the moonlight,disappearing into the woods, and we couldn’t drive into the woods. I lifted mynose to the air and Gray’s scent was there, floating along the ground on thosemisty colors, urging me on.