Thirst

By Jeff Brown

When high school football player Jason McNeill discovers an unusual grave in an old cemetery one night after a game, a series of events begin to unfold as the vampire held in the ancient grave is released to terrorize the small town and resume his plan to conquer the world. Soon, another, older vampire arrives in the town, posing as a dancer at a local strip club. She begins turning customers and employees alike, building her own force to secure the town as a sanctuary for her kind. The two vampire armies eventually collide and fight for the town while a group of humans learn the truth and seek to stop them both before the town is destroyed and everyone in it is turned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Brown
• Release date: Oct 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393464907

Jeff Brown

Jeff Brown created the beloved character of Flat Stanley as a bedtime story for his sons. He has written other outrageous books about the Lambchop family, including Flat Stanley, Stanley and the Magic Lamp, Invisible Stanley, Stanley’s Christmas Adventure, Stanley in Space, and Stanley, Flat Again! You can learn more about Jeff Brown and Flat Stanley at www.flatstanleybooks.com.

Book preview

Cover Photo courtesy of DeAnna Allen

SPECIAL THANKS

The author would like to thank the following people for their continued support through numerous writing endeavors. It has not gone unnoticed:

John C. Brown, Kim Chancelor, Frankie Crechale, Paul Dancsisin, Angela Dunaway, Susan Duncan, Wanda Faircloth, Dee Freeman, Lynn Greene, Ray Hamilton, Angela Jones, Judy LaBorde, Sharon Laird, Jason Marsalis, Roxanne Mitchell, Lynn Sattesahn, Susan Solomon, Dixie Thames, Jimmy Turner, and Chris Waller.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work would not have been possible without the input and cooperation of the following people. As always, thank you.

Lindy Allbritton

DeAnna Allen

Suraya Birkhoff

Ramona Burrow

Faith Cooper

Samantha Cummings

Cleve Langston

Magan McClellan

Reginald Matthews

Scott McGehee

Jennifer Miller

Brittany Ollie

Lindsay Pendleton

Sydney Woodson

OTHER WORKS BY JEFF BROWN

Vampire War: Nemesis

Vampire War: Corruptor

Dead Time Book I

Dead Time Book II

Seven Wishes

Storm Warning

Campus Crusade

The Revolt

Reunion

Finding Suraya

The New Kid

Second Chances

––––––––

All are available at the following website:

www.lulu.com/spotlight/vampirewar

Thirst

CHAPTER ONE

ONE

Brilliant klieg lights bore down on the verdant field at the center of the Cambridge High School stadium late on a Friday night near the end of August. The heavy Mississippi humidity was almost palpable as two high school football teams faced each other under those glaring white lights and the sound of the capacity crowd roaring approval and support for both teams rose above the high fence surrounding the stadium and filtered out into the surrounding town. People moved around the stadium, some visiting the decrepit restrooms while others sought relief from the heat and the length of the game at one of the three concession stands. A cluster of teenagers stood at the end of the raised aluminum bleachers, Cambridge High students that were ready to leave and begin the real festivities of the night. A group of eight cheerleaders on the home side pulsed tiredly through a routine that had in previous years served to incite the crowd into greater support of the team. Their motions were performed by rote and there was little enthusiasm in them. It was too hot and the game had stretched on much longer than anyone had expected.

On the field, quarterback Jason McNeill stood with his back to his own endzone as his slate gray eyes looked down the length of the field to the secondary scoreboard mounted behind the gold-painted goal posts. There was little time left on the clock, just over a minute, and the Cambridge Cavaliers were behind by four points. He knew that only a touchdown would win the game for them, but they had to move the ball eighty-seven yards to achieve that. Their opponents, the Perkins Tornadoes, had been extremely tough on defense that night, something that the coaches hadn’t expected, and it had been a major struggle for the Cavalier offense to move the ball at all. The running game had been almost completely shut down, especially after a minor injury to their lead running back, Rick Reed. He’d been out almost the entirety of the third quarter, returning in the fourth with a renewed enthusiasm, but the slightly twisted ankle he’d sustained at the beginning of the second half had slowed him down a bit and made his on-field maneuvers a bit sluggish. Jason knew that they would have to rely on the passing game and his right arm was starting to grow tired, but he knew he had reserves and would get the job done.

Lowering his gaze, he looked around the huddle and the eyes of his teammates looking at him expectantly and tiredly. They’d all been giving maximum effort and had nearly reached their limits. He just hoped that they would also be able to draw on their own reserves and finish the game with a victory.

Just to his right stood Wyatt Kane, his best friend and star wide receiver. He and Wyatt had been the only two members of the previous year’s team to be selected for the all-district team and, as seniors, were looked at by the others to save the day.

Okay, he said and drew in a deep breath, feeling a slight hitch in his left side after a rather hard hit he’d taken near the middle of the third quarter. Eighty-seven yards and a minute to go. We’re going to throw the ball.

He turned his gaze to Rick, directly across from him, and said, Rick, you’re the decoy. Fake handoff then head to the flats if I need a dump off.

Rick nodded and Jason looked around the circle as he continued, Goal line push. Deep read right. Middle read left. Slow count, on three. Got it?

The others nodded and the huddle broke with a single unison clap. As they trotted into position, Jason held back a second and looked over the defense. Wyatt stayed with him and looked him, wide brown eyes almost sparkling with the mischief Jason knew was behind them.

How far? Wyatt asked.

Without looking at him, Jason shrugged and said, I think we can take the fifty.

Deal, Wyatt nodded and took a step away from Jason. I’ll be there in a flash.

Jason shook his head, but he didn’t doubt Wyatt’s speed. He was the fastest guy in school and, in the spring had taken a few medals as part of the track team. Jason just hoped he’d be able to throw the ball that far so late in the game.

As Wyatt trotted into position, Jason walked slowly toward the line as it formed and the largest players on the team dropped into their stances. He set his jaw and the left side of his lip curled up in a bit of a snarl as he convinced himself that it was just another play, that it wasn’t vital to the outcome of the game, and that he still had the strength and wits to pull it off.

He stopped behind the center and looked over the defensive set of their opponents. He was glad that their uniform colors were in such sharp contrast to his own, making it much easier for him to tell them apart. The Tornadoes wore maroon and black where the Cavaliers uniforms were gray and light blue.

They were set in a formation that his coach, Chad Berkley, called a scared set. It showed Jason that they weren’t entirely committed to one particular option and would shift according to what the offense did. The linebackers were a little close, ready to move forward for a running play, but were in a stance that suggested they would spread out in case of a pass. Jason and Rick had become very proficient at faking a run and he believed that the Tornadoes would fall for the fake hand off. If not, they would see Rick then sprint toward the sideline a few yards downfield and would most likely go after him in an attempt to intercept the ball close to their own endzone. It was all Jason could do to suppress the confident smile that wanted to spread across his face.

He dropped into his usual crouch, hands between the center’s legs, and started barking the slow snap count that he’d called.

TWO

Felicia Barksdale sat anxiously in the stands. She’d opted for a traditional, general admission seat rather than one in the student section. It cost a little more, but it was a better position and she didn’t have to worry about the antics of the other students while surrounded by the somewhat more sedate crowd of adults. A number of them were on their feet, feeling the tension of the close game nearing its end, but she remained seated on the topmost row of bleachers at the end of the row beside the wide stairway separating two sections. She leaned slightly to her right for an unobstructed view of the field.

She’d dressed more conservatively for the game than the other students. Where most of them wore jeans or shorts with light blue t-shirts depicting the school’s mascot, she wore a blue skirt that reached almost to her knees and a loose white blouse. Her coal black hair framed her lean, angular face in soft curls and the bit of makeup she’d applied was just enough to give her deep hazel eyes a slightly exotic appearance. Her full lips were covered with pale pink lipstick, barely a shade darker than their natural color. She didn’t quite fit in with the adults around her, most of which wore some variation of school-related clothing, but she didn’t care about fitting in. She only cared about what was happening on the field, one person on that field.

Her attention was focused on Jason, watching him carefully and hoping that he would perform as she knew he could and wouldn’t be injured in the process. Her dark hazel eyes were open a little wider than usual as she’d watched the Tornado defense get closer and closer to him with each successive play.

With each passing second, she regretted her position in the stands. A year earlier, she’d been the girlfriend of the star quarterback, the junior that had won the spot over the senior that had moved up. She’d finally been socially accepted and had been invited to a number of events, just because she’d been dating Jason McNeill. Of course, he’d had little free time during football season, with the games, travel, extended practices, watching game film, working out, and the intensity of the classes he’d been taking. She accepted that, knowing that there would be more time once the season was over.

The real problem with the relationship had been her mother’s attitude. Felicia had gone into it knowing that Jason wasn’t from one of the rich families in town. His father worked as an electrician and his mother was a receptionist. Her own parents weren’t quite rich, either. They owned a somewhat upscale restaurant in town, one that they’d opened upon arriving in Cambridge five years earlier, and struggled to keep it afloat. Still, they provided for her the best they could and there wasn’t much else that she could want.

Her mother thought that Jason should be providing more for her. He didn’t own a car and had to schedule the use of a family vehicle for dates. He didn’t have time for a job and was constantly low on funds. He’d taken her to movies and dinners, but he’d only been able to afford dining at her family restaurant on very special occasions, ones that he’d saved up for over a period of months. In fact, the only time they’d visited the restaurant had been the night of prom.

Afterward, her mother had begun insisting that she was too good for him. He was just a high school football star and, without the finances to take care of her, he would never get very far. She thought Felicia could do much better. She’d continued saying such things until near the end of the school year when Felicia had ended the relationship Her mother had finally convinced her that there was someone more suited for her, somewhere beyond high school. She only had a year left and her mother thought she should spend that year developing her own social skills and start making her own way in the world.

Felicia had bought into it and broke up with Jason rather unceremoniously, though she hadn’t done it in public as her mother had suggested. That had been her mother’s idea to show the others that she was available and wasn’t going to take the treatment Jason had given her.

But Jason had treated her with respect and trust. He was the most loyal guy she could’ve imagined and she knew that it had devastated him when they’d broken up. It had also destroyed her social status. The few girls that had befriended her while she’d been dating him had broken contact with her when they learned that she’d dumped him. She’d become something of a social pariah. No other guys talked to her, not even the couple that had flirted with her before finding out that she’d been dating Jason.

She wanted to rekindle that relationship, but not for the purpose of restarting her social life. She thought she might actually be in love with Jason, but she wasn’t sure. She’d never felt anything like it before. She just wasn’t sure he would be willing to give her a second chance. It appeared that he’d already moved on and that made her think the relationship hadn’t meant as much to him.

She wasn’t completely sure, but from what she’d seen she thought he might be dating the head cheerleader, Tracy Kurtz. Felicia didn’t know Tracy very well, but she didn’t seem to be Jason’s type. She was a typical cheerleader, not too bright and rather superficial, but that could just be Jason trying something different. She didn’t know and wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

The issue was that they all lived fairly close to each other. The subdivision wasn’t far from the campus, an area of decent houses spaced rather closely together. Felicia’s home was in the same block as Jason’s, on the opposite side of the street and near the other end of the block. Tracy lived just a street over, her back yard almost connecting with Jason’s.

She clasped her long-fingered hands together in front of her chest as she watched the play start on the field, anxious about the outcome of the game as much as Jason’s safety. All thoughts of attempting to restart their relationship fled her mind as she focused on the game.

THREE

The ball slapped easily into Jason’s hands and he was already in motion, backpedaling from the line as the play began. The defenders rushed forward as Rick shot forward like he was launched from a cannon. He turned as Rick moved close enough to him that the sleeves of their jerseys brushed each other and Jason extended his left hand, almost slapping Rick in the stomach as he hoped his body was positioned correctly to mask the move from the oncoming defenders. To further sell the move, he slowed his pace and held the ball against his right hip. Glancing back, he saw that the linebackers had bought it and were moving forward, ready to stop Rick before he gained much yardage. A smile flickered across Jason’s face as he turned and watched as Rick spun past one of the linebackers, sprinted between two of the linemen, and angled to the left into the flats. He held his hands up as if ready to catch a pass and that drew the linebackers toward him.

Along the right sideline, Wyatt had trotted a couple of steps, faking a cut to the inside that shifted the stance of the cornerback covering him, and that freed him to sprint past him. Wyatt was incredibly fast and left the cornerback in his wake as he quickly accelerated to full speed.

Jason nodded to himself and risked a glance at the line, making sure that the five guys were able to contain the defenders trying to get to him. He glanced at Rick, making sure at least two of the linebackers were following him, then toward the center of the field where the tight end, Dante King, was crossing. Another of the linebackers was trailing him while the safeties moved closer, obviously thinking that a pass across the middle would be the greater risk and the easier pass to complete. Jason risked only a glance at each then focused on Wyatt.

He was at full speed racing along the sideline. The cornerback had recovered and was in pursuit, but he was more than five yards behind Wyatt, giving Jason plenty of room and time to get the ball to him. With a quick move, Jason raised the ball and drew his right arm back. Taking a second to zero in on his target, he let the ball fly.

As it left his hand, a cheer began to rise from the crowd, but it barely registered with Jason. He watched the ball as it arced over the other players toward Wyatt. Jason almost winced as he watched it and hoped that he’d been able to match Wyatt’s speed. For a second, he thought that he’d dropped too far back in the pocket, roughly eight yards, making the throw forty-five yards in the air. He’d thrown that far before, but never in such a tight situation.

The ball sailed easily over the heads of the other players and dropped perfectly into Wyatt’s waiting hands. He pulled it in almost casually, cradling it quickly, without breaking stride. It had been a perfect throw and with the perfect angle. Wyatt crossed the fifty yard line and kept going as the safeties broke off pursuit of the tight end and angled toward him. He knew almost instantly that they would overtake him, but he could gain several more yards before they could reach him. He pushed himself as much as he could, trying to increase his speed, but he was already at his maximum.

Finally, he lowered his head and just plowed ahead while keeping an eye on the safety moving closer and closer. He knew the cornerback was too far behind him and wasn’t fast enough to catch him.

Then he saw an opportunity. He knew that if he continued along the sideline, the safety would intercept him and either tackle him or force him out of bounds, but he believed he was fast enough and agile enough to make a move that would give them the score and the victory. If it didn’t work, they still had a timeout left and they would be in good position to complete the drive before time ran out.

He took the risk. As the safety neared him, he suddenly slowed a bit and cut to his left, toward the center of the field. The safety had committed to tackling him or driving him out of bounds and hadn’t considered the possibility of such a move. He continued forward as Wyatt made his move and cut behind him. It was almost enough to allow the cornerback to catch up, but he put on a burst of speed and pulled away easily. With that move, the crowd rose to its feet and a rumbling cheer rose from their collected voices.

That cheer rose to an almost painful level as Wyatt easily crossed the goal line and gave the Cavaliers the score they needed.

FOUR

Tracy Kurtz had stopped cheering as the play began. She’d also turned away from the crowd and faced the field. She knew enough about the game to realize that the team needed some serious yardage to set up a final score before the clock ran out and that meant that Jason would throw the ball. He would be the one to win their first game of the season and she wanted to witness the moment that would make her even more proud of him.

She was a short girl, just a couple of inches over five feet tall, with shoulder length chestnut brown hair that was thick and lightly curled, framing a soft-featured face and wide, brown eyes. The activities of being a cheerleader kept her body in great shape, though she was still hoping for a bit more development in a couple of areas. Still, her muscular and tanned legs were plainly visible below the short skirt and she liked the tone of her legs. Her bare arms, equally tanned and toned, didn’t seem quit as acceptable to her, but she accepted it as part of her position.

She held her hands clasped together at her waist so tightly that her knuckles were white and she bounced lightly on her toes as the play began and progressed. She did relax just a bit as the ball left Jason’s hand and the nervousness about his throw was replaced with a nervousness concerning Wyatt’s ability to catch the ball. She let out a light squeal once the ball was in his hands and she began chanting a bit as he ran, urging him to move faster and just get to the endzone.

When he crossed the goal line, she leapt up and let out a loud yell that blended in with the hundreds of others in the stadium. That segued into the band playing the school’s fight song, the field goal following the touchdown, and the ensuing kickoff.

The Tornadoes received the ball at the twenty yard line with just over thirty seconds to go on the clock. Fortunately, Tracy saw, the Perkins team had used all their timeouts and wouldn’t be able to stop the clock other than for an incomplete pass or getting out of bounds.

Three plays later, the Tornadoes had only moved the ball four yards and had to choose whether or not to punt the ball with only ten seconds left on the clock. They opted to go for it and moved the ball three yards before being brought down in the open. The clock did stop, with four seconds remaining, as possession changed hands. The Cavaliers offense took the field one last time and Jason dropped to one knee with the snap and the clock rolled to zero. The final buzzer sounded and the Cambridge Cavaliers had won their first game of the season.

CHAPTER TWO

ONE

The throbbing modern dance music filtered through the thick blackout curtain separating the back of the club from the runway of a stage. Nora Burton shook her head in disgust as she walked along the narrow walkway from the prep area to the stage, knowing that the younger girl on stage was doing her best and happened to like that sort of music. She was older, having turned forty a couple of months earlier, and knew she had better taste in music. Also, the slightly older crowd that frequented the Pleasure Principle wasn’t quite the audience for the kind of music the short girl with the massive natural boobs preferred. They put up with it because of her body and how she moved without clothing.

Nora didn’t particularly care for the girl known on stage as Tempest, but she hadn’t really made an effort to get to know her. She just knew the girl wasn’t much of a dancer, but she had the assets that guys wanted to see, and she had no problem showing them off. Nora didn’t mind showing herself off, though she was considerably less endowed. Where Tempest relied on her boobs to draw the attention and money from the men in the audience, Nora relied on her dance skills and what she’d been told was the perfect ass. She would show that off every night and always pulled in the bills.

As she neared the curtain, the music reached a crescendo and Nora knew that only moments remained before she would be taking the stage. She’d grown accustomed to the thick, acrylic heels over the years and adopted her seductive strut as she neared the curtain, setting her jaw and face in the bitchy expression that she knew the customers expected. Her long, dark brown hair was styled the best she could, but her hair had become rather limp and she’d taken to touching up the color occasionally to keep the gray from showing. Her body remained slim and lean and she worked out on a regular basis to keep the toned legs, thin waist, the perfect ass, and solid tan. The club was a full nude establishment and the owner, Pete Baker, wanted no tan lines. A few of the younger girls spent a great deal of time at a local salon in a tanning bed, but Nora liked her tan to be more natural. To do that, she spent at least an hour or so each day sunbathing completely nude.

Nudity never been a problem for her. She’d grown up in a household where it was almost the norm. Her parents hadn’t quite been nudists, but they’d never been ashamed of their bodies. They’d always slept in the nude and encouraged her to do the same from a very young age. She’d never thought it was out of the ordinary until she’d gone to a friend’s sleepover in fifth grade and the others had been shocked when finally preparing for sleep and she’d completely disrobed. It had been then that she realized that not everyone slept that way.

After high school, where she’d been rather promiscuous, she had no idea what to do with her life. She’d done a bit of dancing, taking classes until finances prohibited it. Her grades hadn’t been the best in the world and the only college option she saw was the local community college and it had no appeal for her at all. She looked for a job, but she had no real skills and there were few opportunities in that town. Then she’d been introduced to the Pleasure Principle, the strip club on the edge of town. She’d applied, interviewed, and auditioned. By the end of that process, she’d been offered a job and she accepted it immediately. She’d been eighteen at the time and twenty-two years later, she was finally thinking it was time for her to do something else with her life.

The problem was that she still had no skills and hadn’t saved enough money to consider retiring. In fact, her financial situation was little better than living paycheck to paycheck. She had a little money saved, but it was earmarked for her car. She owned an old Toyota, one that she’d bought used a year after high school, and it was on its last legs. It would cost more to repair the car than it would be to buy a new one, but because of her credit rating and her job, banks and dealerships were reluctant to offer her credit. She would need a massive down payment and would still have a huge note each month. After doing a little math, she figured out that she would be better off saving money for a decent used car rather than go through the five or six years of monthly payments. She had a bit saved, but it was far from enough to buy something decent. Fortunately, there was a side job, not officially part of the club but connected, that allowed her to make more money. It had been going on since she’d started, but it had expanded a bit in the previous few years once the club had been sold to its new owner. She’d been participating in the program for several months and had finally become a bit more comfortable with the idea of prostitution.

She shook her head, tossing her hair across her lean shoulders, and approached the small lectern which the stage manager, Colleen Harper, sat behind on a high stool with a ledger and cash box in front of her. It was Colleen’s job to keep the dancers on schedule and count their take from the stage. Nora didn’t particularly like it, but the system wasn’t too bad.

She received an hourly wage, but all of her tips required that a percentage go to the club. Ten percent of what was given to her on the stage went to the house, but she kept the remainder and it wasn’t reported as income. She also had to contribute fifteen percent of the fifty dollar lap dance charge and twenty-five percent of the back room specialty charges. The exception was the illegal prostitution operation. If she recruited her customer, she gave the house ten percent. If a request came from the house, typically a customer requesting her, she gave them house twenty-five percent. It wasn’t great, but she knew it was better than having an independent pimp.

The real issue was the stage manager. Nora trusted Colleen, but there was always the possibility that she could do something to cheat them out of their takes. She was in charge of handling all the money and it was her accounting that gave them what they’d earned.

She looked up as Nora walked up, bitchy expression fully in place, and Colleen smiled.

Pete was just back here, she said. He has a customer for you.

Nora nodded, Okay. Once I get a shower.

Of course, Collen returned the nod and beamed. We want you smelling fresh for the big money.

Nora heaved a sigh and said, Of course. Now if we can get this little tramp off the stage.

Colleen shook her head, Give her time. She’s still learning.

Nora took a deep breath and heaved a sigh, looking at the curtain as the music began to fade, I’ll think about it.

Then the curtain was shoved aside and the girl known as Tempest, Mary Lee, strode through confidently and naked except for the requisite platform shoes. Her long, light brown hair was damp with sweat and her exquisitely done makeup was running a bit. She was breathing hard and her chest heaved, droplets of sweat falling from her distended nipples.

Rough crowd, she said between gasps. Not a lot of money.

She then leaned forward, her back to Nora, and pulled a wad of crumpled and creased dollar bills from the dark blue garter belt around her left thigh. Nora just shook her head and moved to the curtain as the intro to her first song began. She took a deep breath and strode onto the stage.

TWO

Chelsea Daniels was tired. It had been a long day, working a double shift behind the bar at the Pleasure Principle. The lunch shift hadn’t been too bad, but it definitely took its toll. She’d been on her feet since ten that morning, an hour before the club opened, and she’d had no break.  When she’d started the job almost six years earlier, it had been fairly easy. The afternoon crowd had been fairly small and it had been simple for her. Two years after she’d started, a new owner had taken over, adding a kitchen and a lunch menu. Now, she was responsible for taking food orders, entering those from the bar and from the tables into the system, as well as fulfilling drink orders. The lunch crowd had grown almost impossible for her to manage on her own. There was now a waitress, but the food was good and the prices were reasonable. It didn’t hurt that there were naked girls on stage the whole time.

That day had been one of the worst so far. The crowd had been at capacity and every one of them wanted food and drinks. Very few settled for beer or soft drinks, the easier things to prepare. It was a Friday and there was a home football game. That should’ve dropped the crowd to almost nothing, but there were apparently a large number that would rather see naked women dancing than watching high school kids beat up on each other. It had kept her busy all afternoon and into the dinner shift. Now, that was over and she was sure the game was over, meaning that the night crowd would be coming in shortly. Fortunately, the kitchen had closed at eight and there would be no more food orders for her to deal with. There would still be plenty of drink orders, almost enough to compete with the lunch crowd, and she needed a break, but that didn’t seem to be in the cards.

At the moment, there were only a half dozen people at the bar and she’d recently served each of them a drink. Those at the tables had been served as well. She thought she had a few minutes and considered going outside for a quick breath of fresh air, but she also had to go to the bathroom and that took precedence over her need for a moment’s relaxation.

But just as she was walking toward the bar’s exit to find the waitress, Lindy, to cover the bar long enough for her to go to the restroom, the owner walked out of the back and stopped at the exit. Chelsea stopped short, her soft brown eyes opening wide at the shock of his sudden appearance. She blew a strand of her curly, chestnut brown hair out of her eyes and took a breath to control the surprise.

Now what? she asked, trying to sound as exasperated as she felt.

He smirked, I hope you don’t use that tone with the customers.

Nope, she shook her head. Just you. I’m nice to them.

Good, he said and nodded, his unkempt coal black hair bouncing around his oval face. Now, I need you to do something for me.

Okay, she said and placed her hands on her hips. But I need you to do something for me first.

He frowned, his thick eyebrows almost touching, and asked, What is it?

Watch the bar while I go pee.

He nodded, Sure. Go ahead. I’ll tell you what I need when you get back.

Before he could say anything else, she pushed past him and turned the corner, walking quickly to get to the bathroom. She wasn’t in that much of a hurry, but she wanted to get out of the bar before Pete came up with something else to keep her there. She took her time once she was there, made sure her hair and makeup were in good shape once she’d taken care of business and looked at herself in the mirror over the sinks for a moment.

She shook her head slowly, wondering just what she’d gotten herself into with the job. She’d never considered being one of the dancers, and she never would. She just didn’t know what else to do. She was thirty-five years old, living alone after a horrific divorce, with a nine year-old son that was in the custody of his father.

Then there was the guy. He was a cop, a plainclothes investigator named Paul Mathis. He was a great guy, a few years older, and the one bit of stability she saw in her life. He was always there for her and she knew he would do anything she asked, but she didn’t like asking. Though he’d never said anything, she could tell that he was interested in a relationship. She’d told him that she wasn’t ready for another romantic relationship again and he’d accepted that. He’d never pushed anything and never asked her out on an actual date, but he had asked her to do things with him. He wanted to spend time with her, as much as she could afford, and she appreciated that. They’d been to a couple of concerts, a few movies here and there, and the occasional dinner. But the thing that impressed her the most was that he frequently visited the club and sat at the bar, paying attention to her completely and not even looking at the girls on stage. That definitely counted for something.

He was thirty-nine years old, and had a stable job. He was good at his job and had the respect of the community. He’d never been married and she just didn’t understand why he would be so interested in her. She was a mess and was far from having her life together. She knew that she needed some stability in her life, something to hold her on whatever course she decided to follow, and she’d begun thinking that Paul might provide that stability for her. She just wasn’t ready to commit to something like that.

She’d been through enough with her failed marriage. She thought she’d been in love with him, but he’d been one of those muscular, tattooed, bad boys and he’d been just like all the rest. He’d been overly self-centered, verbally abusive, and he’d only ended up with custody of their child because he’d hired a tough lawyer that had agreed to take payment in installments and she’d been unable to do the same after having supported him for a few years. He’d cheated on her repeatedly, relied on her income during that time while he stayed home and drank himself into a stupor, and had finally become physically abusive after he’d become addicted the crystal meth. That had been the last straw. When he’d hit her just one time, so hard that she’d collapsed, she knew that it was time to get out. She’d packed up her things during the night while he’d been passed out on the living room sofa and drove away with her son just before sunrise, going to the one friend she had in the town where she’d moved after the marriage. That friend had moved a short while later, leaving her in the house with her son, until he’d been taken away from her by the courts.

Paul was different and he definitely wouldn’t treat her that way, but there was something odd about a police investigator visiting her at a strip club. A large number of locals knew her, considered her the best bartender in the area, and apparently liked the way she treated them. She just wasn’t sure that her position wouldn’t be a detriment to his job if the populace found out that she was involved with the strip club’s bartender. She didn’t want to put him in that position.

But she did really like him. He was the greatest guy she’d ever met and she frequently wondered what it would be like to actually be in a relationship with him.

She finally shook her head and stood up, taking a deep breath to get her mind off Paul and back on her job then made her way back to the bar.

Pete was still there, taking care of it the best he could. Thankfully, the orders hadn’t piled up and he could handle it. He did know what he was doing behind the bar, but he wasn’t really prepared for the stress that came with a heavy rush. That would happen before long and she was thankful, for the sake of the customers, that it hadn’t happened while she’d been away.

She walked into the rectangular space once again and said, Okay, Pete. I’m back.

He was standing in the far corner, talking to an older guy seated there that hadn’t been occupying that stool when she’d left. The man had a bottle of beer in front of him and Chelsea nodded, thinking that Pete had actually served a customer during her absence.

As he turned around at the sound of her voice, he waved her over and said, Come here, Chelsea. There’s someone I want you to meet.

She nodded and walked over, stopping beside Pete, but careful not to touch him. She didn’t want to give him any ideas.

Pete gestured toward the man and said, This is Ed Sanders. He owns the new furniture store in town.

Chelsea nodded and smiled, Nice to meet you.

Pete continued, He’s here to meet Nora when she’s ready. I want you to introduce them and make sure Ed’s taken care of.

Chelsea nodded, I can do that.

It was nothing new and was definitely the worst part of the job. She’d known about the prostitution service some of the dancers offered and she’d been through the process of getting the customer together with the dancer, though that duty typically fell to Lindy. She didn’t like it at all. It made her feel dirty and almost made her want to quit the job. She even wondered about the legality of her position in the transaction and she was afraid to talk to Paul about it. She didn’t want him to know that she had anything to do with it. She couldn’t afford to go to jail and lose her job and any possibility of getting her son back, much less the credibility she’d developed in the town. The only thing that made her at all comfortable with the situation was that Pete had personally vetted the customer. Pete was good at reading people and getting to the truth. That meant that the guy wasn’t an undercover cop and was just looking to get laid. She would help him with that, no matter how much she disliked it.

CHAPTER THREE

ONE

The crowd outside the field house was much larger than Felicia had expected. She stood off to the side, at the back of the crowd that consisted mostly of girls and a few rabid fans. The cheerleaders were clustered close to the entrance with Tracy at the front of the group. Felicia knew Tracy was waiting for Jason and that the two of them would walk home once he was completed with his post-game shower. She could see the excitement on Tracy’s face, a sign that told her that there was something more between Tracy and Jason than she’d hoped.

Felicia watched the girls for a few moments and, though she couldn’t hear what they were saying over the mingled conversations of the people around her, it appeared that they were all somewhat excited for Tracy. It appeared to Felicia that they were talking about the party that would start soon at the river camp on the south side of town owned by the family of Rick Reed. She’d been there with Jason a couple of times and knew that it led to a bit of sexual activity. From the way Tracy was beaming expectantly, it appeared that she was expecting to have sex with Jason that night.

It was that idea that changed Felicia’s mind about trying to talk to Jason. He wasn’t going to listen to her, especially if Tracy and her friends pulled him away the instant he walked out of the field house. She stood there a couple of minutes longer, until the first of the players started exiting the building. A loud cheer erupted from the crowd as they did and Felicia took that as her signal to leave. She turned around and walked away.

She walked quickly away from the field house and the lighted area in front of it. Beyond that field of light, darkness filled the air, but Felicia didn’t mind. She felt like walking in the dark, being unnoticed as she had been by Jason since she’d mistakenly ended their relationship. Though the night was hot and the humidity at a record high, Felicia felt almost comfortable walking through the night air. It felt to her almost as if the darkness was accepting her and she liked it.

By the time she actually left the campus and entered the residential section across a wide street from it, she began to realize just how much she’d lost when she’d ended things with Jason. She wanted to get him back and just didn’t know how to make that happen. Now that she was sure he was going to the after-game party with Tracy and it looked like Tracy was expecting to have sex with him, Felicia didn’t think she had even a remote chance of rekindling anything.  It depressed her and tears began to flow down her cheeks after walking just a couple of blocks.

She couldn’t think about anything else as she continued walking slowly with her arms folded across her chest. She thought about the things they’d done together and replayed the things she’d said when she’d broken up with him. It felt like a knife twisting in her gut as she thought of that, but she couldn’t get her mind on anything else. It was highly frustrating and that frustration continued to build as she walked, following the path from school to home that she knew without really thinking about it. Her surroundings didn’t enter her conscious thoughts until she reached the old cemetery.

It wasn’t an overly large area, enough to cover the ground between the street she was walking along and the one that she needed to reach over the course of roughly six blocks. Even in her present state, she was still afraid to go into it at night. She was afraid to go into it during the day and absolutely terrified of it at night. She knew there was nothing in there that could harm her, except for maybe a transient using one of the large memorial benches spaced along the winding path that meandered through the cemetery, an old gravel path that hadn’t been upgraded in decades. She didn’t think anyone had been buried there in at least twenty years and the few massive mausoleums and headstones that she could see from the opposite side of the street, through the tall iron fence that surrounded it, were old and fading from their pristine white marble to a dingy gray with runners of moss and mold growing over them.

It would’ve taken her just a few minutes to reach her home by cutting through the cemetery, but she just wasn’t willing to do it, especially not that night and the way she felt. She would take the long way around and avoid the place completely.

TWO

Jason beamed as he walked out of the field house wearing the gray team t-shirt that the entire team wore after each game over a pair of neatly pressed jeans and white tennis shoes. He carried a slim backpack over his right shoulder, his thumb hooked under the strap, and his damp hair swept back to reveal his high forehead and sharp features. Wyatt was a half-step behind him, his slightly longer dark blond hair was a little darker with the remaining water from his shower. Unlike Jason, Wyatt raised both hands above his head and accepted the cheering of the crowd. He was the hero of the night, having scored the winning touchdown, and accepted the glory the best he could, with a broad smile and a growling cheer of his own. Jason just shook his head and walked toward Tracy as she waited just a few feet away.

She held her arms out wide, ready to wrap around him, and her smile was as wide as he’d ever seen it. He didn’t really feel comfortable about it, but he accepted it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, looking to him as if she was ready to kiss him. He wasn’t ready for that and wasn’t sure he ever would be. Thankfully, she just gave him the hug and released her grip.

As she pulled back, she looked up at him and asked, You ready to go?

Yeah, he nodded. Let’s go.

Behind him, Wyatt moved off to