Page 99 of Taming the Beasts

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“Because there are actually two people missing.”

“So maybe it was a coincidence?” Emma said.

“Maybe,” Grudge said. “Give me a second to read the article.”

I started tapping my foot.

“Do the names Raymond Davis and Patrick Anderson ring any bells?”

“Yes, Bennett’s contact that went missing was named Ray. That must be Raymond Davis.” My stomach dropped at the name Patrick. It couldn’t be their other friend, could it? “Does it say what happened to Ray?”

“No, only that he’s missing. And you haven’t heard about the Patrick guy?”

I pressed my lips together. Patrick was a very common name. It wasn’t necessarily the Patrick. “Maybe. Does it say anything about his profession?” I asked.

“Apparently he’s an archaeologist. He was on a dig site.”

Crap.This was not good at all. “Are you sure that’s what it says?”

“Yeah.”

Emma and I looked at each other. There could only be so many coincidences.

Fuck.“Bennett’s other contact that he was waiting to hear from was an archaeologist. Currently on a dig site. Named Patrick.”Damn it!

“Maybe it’s a different Patrick,” Emma said. “Who’s also on a dig site in Egypt.” She looked less convinced with every word she spoke. “It really could be someone else.”

“Or maybe it’s not someone else. And everyone that Bennett reached out to has been murdered.”

“It doesn’t say murdered,” Grudge said. “It just says they’re missing.”

“When did the archaeologist go missing?” Emma asked.

“Um...it wasn’t reported until this morning. But authorities think he could have been missing longer thanthat. He was living alone on site. And the first guy was last heard from early Saturday morning.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Right after he texted Bennett.”

“Weird.”

“What?” I asked.

“Well early Saturday morning is the same time Kebe disappeared.”

Wait.I did remember him saying that. That’s why he’d called me last time. To let me know Kebe had made the cameras “glitch” again. “What time did you say that Kebe disappeared again?”

“It was around 3 am that morning.”

“Shortly after Ray was last heard from.”

Grudge laughed. “But that is definitely a coincidence. Kebe is too hot to be a serial killer.”

“She’s a vampire, Grudge! How many times do we have to go over this? She’s very dangerous. She could have easily done this.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “You said she has super speed. Does that apply to crossing oceans quickly? She was only gone for like an hour and a half that night. It certainly wasn’t enough time to find two random guys, murder them, and come back before anyone missed her. I get that she’s fast. But no one is that fast.”

“Grudge. She’s a vampire! She’s totally capable of this.”