"What did you see?"

"Cragnow wouldn't let us look. He kept us inside and commenced with his ranting. He was already well sauced, so he yelled like there was a fire in his asshole. He blamed us for the trouble."

"Us, who?" I asked.

"Everybody. Me. Niphe. The girls. His guards. Cragnow said he'd do anything to protect himself. That's when he admitted to killing Rebecca Dwelling and Fred Daniels. To shut them up."

"And Katz?"

"That's what bothered him the most," Rosario replied. "Katz was his property. Who had done her in? The same people who knocked off Roxy Bronze?"

"Cragnow worried about who had killed Katz?"

"And you don't know?"

I shook my head.

"Before Niphe and I left, Cragnow let us in on some news," Rosario said. "He had another way to corner Journey into cooperating with us."

"Which was?"

Rosario paused and gave a grin. "You won't believe this. Journey's girlfriend was coming to see Cragnow. Some broad by the name of Lara Phillips."

That stunned me. "Journey's girlfriend? Are you sure?"

Rosario chuckled. "I couldn't make up something like that."

"Why would she see Cragnow?"

"Apparently she wants him to back off Journey."

"How is she going to do that?"

"Probably by sucking Cragnow's dick, for starters." Rosario laughed. The sweat dribbled over the rolls of his neck. "Of course Cragnow has no intention of easing up on Journey. In fact, he'll use Lara to humiliate the preacher. Take his money and his woman. What a naive bitch."

Naive didn't describe Lara. I saw her as guarded. Volatile, even. Lara had cruel words for Roxy and her life in porn. Lara had to have known Cragnow's part in Roxy's past.

"Do you know Lara?" I asked.

"Never met her."

How could Lara hope to reason with Cragnow? He was a vampire. She had no chance. Maybe she went with Journey's blessing to work a deal. Cragnow couldn't resist the irony of Roxy Bronze's sister kneeling before him.

But I couldn't see Lara doing that. Nothing about this made sense.

Rosario blotted his forehead with the kerchief. "Isn't this some twisted shit?"

Rosario had told me plenty. But I needed more.

"When was Lara going-" I heard a noise, like the rattle of thunder. The reverberations grew louder and deeper, then turned into the baritone rumbles of two big-bore motorcycles roaring up Vermont Canyon Road.

I didn't need a sixth sense to know this sounded like trouble.

The two motorcycles-custom Harleys-turned up the twisting road, moving fast. Sun glinted off the chrome. One rider was lean, the other heavyset and bearded. Neither wore sunglasses or goggles to hide their fierce gazes.

I whipped off my sunglasses. Orange auras burned around them. Vampires.

I kept my face averted to hide my eyes from Rosario. I pushed him toward his car. "Hurry. Don't hesitate to shoot. And put your sunglasses on."

"My sunglasses?"

"Trust me." One zap and these vampires would snag Rosario's corpulent ass.

Rosario grasped his .45 and let the newspaper fall away. He scrambled for his Porsche, like a fat horse accelerating into a gallop.

The motorcycle riders separated. They reached into the leather panniers and each pulled out an over-and-under sawed-off shotgun. If their goal was to get the drop on me, these loud bikes were a poor choice. A deaf man could have heard them approaching.

Unless.

My fingers buzzed another warning.

I glanced over my shoulder. Orange auras lurked in the underbrush of the hillside.

The motorcycles were a diversion. This was a trap, and Rosario was the bait.

I thumbed the safety on my pistol, whirled around, and popped four rounds into the shrubs.

A screech like that of a wounded beast echoed above the roar of the motorcycles. One aura behind a bush flattened to the ground and dimmed.

The skinny rider rolled past and panned me with his gun, the muzzle looking like a metal figure eight.

My nerves were raw and I sensed everything at super vampire speed. Fire blossomed out of the top barrel of the shotgun. A swarm of pellets whooshed out, the wadding peeling back. The silver pellets bounced against one another as they sailed toward me.

I dodged the volley and centered the sights of my pistol on the vampire.

His denim vest wrinkled where the three slugs tore into him.

He tumbled backward off the motorcycle. The Harley T-boned a parked Lexus. The vampire landed on the asphalt, squirmed, and quit moving. Smoke curled from around his sides. The alarm in the Lexus shrieked.

I reloaded my Colt automatic.

Rosario rushed for the driver's door of his Porsche. The hairy-faced rider swerved around the rear of the Porsche and leveled his shotgun.

Rosario dropped and crawled around the front bumper. The shotgun blast shattered the windows of the Cayenne.

A bullet whizzed past my nose. Another stabbed the ground by my shoes.

I dove to the right onto the grass.

More bullets hunted me.

My shooters were three vampires advancing down the hill. They carried Uzis. I fired a wild shot and they ducked for cover.

I sprang to my feet. More bullets peppered the dirt around me.

The three vampires crouched low to the grass, two males flanking a brunette. My arm panned right to left, my index finger squeezing the trigger with mechanical precision.

The first vampire took a shot in the forehead. His head snapped back and he collapsed.

The next vampire caught one in the sternum, as if the slug couldn't help but go between her boobs. She tumbled forward and the Uzi dropped from her hands.

My sights hovered over the face of the last vampire, a wily-looking bastard with the expression of a starving ferret. His gun jerked rhythmically, the spent casings whirling in the air.

A searing pain hacked my side and I sank to my knees.

My aim drifted off target and I centered the sights again. My bullet cleaved the shooter's nose. Blood sprayed across his cheeks like the pulp of a smashed tomato. He clutched his face and fell, howling in agony.

I struggled to get up. A silver bullet wormed inside of me, the poisonous metal burning flesh like a hot poker.

Rosario knelt by the front of his Porsche. He saw that I was wounded and scrambled toward me. Great, let's bunch up and make it easier for this vampire bastard. I waved that Rosario stay back.

Hairy-face gunned his bike forward and angled the muzzle of his shotgun at Rosario. The raging glow of the vampire's aura froze like a muscle tensing.

I tired to shout a warning but the words came out as a groan. My reactions were sluggish from the pain. By the time I brought my pistol up to fire it was too late.

The vampire's shotgun barked once. Blood spurted from Rosario's back. His arms splayed forward and he fell prone on the ground.

I fired at Hairy-face. He had no problem ducking at vampire speed.

Hairy-face looked at me. His gaze focused on my wound, and he smiled. Long fangs spanned the gap between his mustache and beard. His red eyes glared a message. Go ahead and waste your ammunition.

With a jerk of his arm the shotgun broke open and ejected the two empty shells. He snatched fresh shells from a vest pocket and reloaded.

A pistol shot rang out. Hairy-face's aura lit up from the shock of sudden pain. He grabbed his side and jerked his head to the right at Rosario.

Rosario pushed off the grass. His aura burned with defiance. Blood ran from his shirtsleeves and over both of his wrists and hands. He tore the sunglasses from his face. His hand left bloody streaks on his cheeks. He kept his .45 trained on Hairy-face and fired. The big slug ripped the vampire's shoulder.

My turn. I shot again and hit Hairy-face in the center of his chest.