Don't Want to Be Your Monster by Deke Moulton

Author:Deke Moulton [Moulton, Deke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tundra
Published: 2023-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

18

ADAM

Oh no oh no, oh no. The vampire hunter couldn’t have tracked down our family!

Did Sung write something in a paper that sounded too vampy? Maybe they dropped in a “mortals” when they meant every-person-who-is-not-a-vampire. They only went to see their adviser when it was dark.

No, calm down, Rossi. Sung takes all of their classes online. Even if the vampire hunter thinks they’re on campus, Sung is home. They’re safe. I take a deep breath. They’re safe.

“It’s over here,” Luis says, walking to the murder scene. We follow the sidewalk skirting the woods. Students with giant backpacks walk past us, hardly glancing up from their phones to give us a second look.

The trees break, opening to a giant field. I know immediately where the murder last night took place. It’s not a smell, or a vibe, but a huge pile of stuff. I can see it from clear across the field.

Fake flowers. Real flowers. Flags. Toys. All the same kinds of stuff I noticed in the cemetery. This must be a mortal mourning practice, to give the dead presents when they die. Everyone must have really loved this girl who died, because as we step into the parking lot, I realize the murder scene is now buried.

Candles burn. Posterboard signs are propped up with messages to the girl who was killed. There are cards. Stuffed animals. And flowers. So many flowers. Her name was Ashley— it’s written on so many of the messages. And it creeps me out. It makes this so much more real.

I look down at my hand. It’s starting to tremble. Just under my skin, Ashley’s blood is still pumping.

I step away as a wave of weird feelings I have no words to describe washes over me.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Shoshana says. “Murdering someone in a parking lot. It seems so…random.”

“Might’ve been the only victim he could find,” Luis says. “The vampire hunter did the murder in the middle of the night, so no witnesses, you know? Plus, vampires. Nighttime. Look, believe me, my dad is a professional. If he says it’s a vampire hunter, it’s a vampire hunter.”

My chest deflates. “Your dad knows a lot about vampires?” I ask hesitantly.

“Obsessed,” Luis moans. “You should see his horror movie collection that I’m ‘not allowed to watch.’ ” He uses air quotes around that last part.

A shiver runs down my spine. All we know about the murders is that the victims were “young,” they happen on rain-free nights, and the victims bleed a lot before they die. It seems really weird that Officer Espinosa would jump to “vampire hunter” as the explanation just based off that.

I’m not about to say anything, but I’m beginning to worry that maybe the guy obsessed with vampires is also obsessed with catching us?

Maybe the reason he’s told Luis not to be outside is because he knows Luis might try to catch the killer on his own…and he doesn’t want his kid to know it’s him?

I glance at all the vampire hunting stuff Luis has with him and the thought tugs at my mind.

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