Elsa made her way home after a long afternoon at the local Botanica. Her studies in the old family collections of spells and remedies hadn’t been of great use.  Apparently, her family was not, nor had they ever been, adept at dealing with vampires.  She needed to find help from another source.Her family still spoke their native language when gathered together, but she’d made it a point to be fluent in English, since it was the language that had settled the lands she now lived in. It never ceased to amaze her how others didn’t make the effort to fit in as best they could in the country that they chose to make their home. The old man who operated the Botanica barely spoke a word of English.  Since she spoke minimal Spanish, it was a very long afternoon of energy draining communication until she felt she’d satisfactorily managed to acquire the few things she needed.By the time she’d reached the steps of her house, her limbs f

I had decided to go with Shen to pick up the voodoo priestess, Elsa Prescott, at the airport.  I had limited knowledge of voodoo or religions of such, but from what I saw on the television and movies, the priestesses were always called “Mambo”. From what I was told by Shen, this woman went by the name of Elsa.  Elsa, the African high priestess. How very odd.  I hoped she was legitimate in her claims.Sky Harbor airport was uncommonly crowded, or so it seemed to Shen and me as we picked our way through the mass of people toward the US Airways arrival area. We’d barely settled in the waiting area when the plane eased its way to the terminal.It didn’t take long for the passengers to debark the plane.Elsa gave Shen a brief description of herself, but even if she hadn’t she’d have been easy to find. Her rich ebony skin against her deep purple tunic was a sight to behold.  It was only surpassed by the combinati

Nandru eased himself onto the fainting sofa that he’d brought with his from the old country. Hidden in the Big Horn Mountains, not far from Tonopah, his den made it easy for him to govern the vampire kingdom in Arizona, as well southern California, lower Utah, and all of New Mexico. He’d recently been approached to take over Nevada, a state that had always been immune from governing vampires while Wadim had reigned over the city of Las Vegas. Repelled by Wadim’s cannibalism, but respectful of the fact that he was the son of Count Dracula, Nandru and his associates had avoided any confrontations or interactions of any type with him or his den.  Now, with him gone and the den in ruins, the state was open territory for those eager to expand their reign.A knock on the door to him study caused him to sit upright and call for entry. He smiled softly when he saw that it was his favorite mistress, Lucinda, seeking an audience.“I&rsqu

Even though the pounding on the door was loud enough to awaken the dead, Shen still had a difficult time rousing himself enough to get out of bed and answer it. He glanced at the digital alarm clock.  Its brilliant numbers illuminated the time in the darkness of the room. It was one o’clock in the morning.  Who did we know who’d be pounding on our hotel door at such an hour?Keeping the light off, he reached over to the bed next to him and shook me vigorously.  I sat up with a start, but remained quiet as I gathered my wits about me.I slipped out of bed and stood flat against the wall behind the door while Shen slowly opened it.“I know it’s late boys, and I’m sorry, but we have a situation here that can’t wait,” Elsa blurted as she pushed her way past Shen. I let out a grunt as her powerful thrust of the door sent it crashing into my chest. She stopped and looked at me quizzically, but said nothing. &ldq

It took Shen and Elsa the better part of an hour to convince me to join them in their scheme to secure Tatyana’s safety and penetrate Nandru’s den.  Since Elsa was no longer catching a flight back to San Diego in the morning and it was too late to return to Millie’s house, Shen rented a hotel room for her and we all settled down to catch some good, solid, sleep. Both vampires and werewolves rested during the day and roamed at night. This meant that we’d have the daytime to replenish our strength. This was something Shen couldn’t have been more grateful for. It was well into the afternoon before we surfaced and joined each other outside the hotel restaurant.  The lunch shift had ended and the kitchen was closed until dinner. Since we needed to stretch our legs, we walked into Old Town Scottsdale and selected a sidewalk cafe’ for our dining and conferring.“I sure am glad it isn’t the middle of