Once Bitten, No Longer Shy by Julie Steimle (chrome ebook reader txt) 📕

don’t deserve him.”

“But you’re dead,” Deidre said, groaning. “That guy killed you.”

Nicole stared at her. “Dead?”

Deidre nodded. “Yes. That guy Connor, you said he killed you.”

Nodding, Nicole’s eyes went wide. “I saw Connor on the street. He was asking me what was wrong. I was upset because Troy broke up with me—said we had to take some time off. He saw me with Marcus. Troy… I’m so sorry.”

“What about Connor?” Deidre looked to the door, sure someone would come in. She needed Nicole to attach to her or all was lost. “What did he do?”

Nicole wiped her ghostly eyes. Her tears were like watermarks in the air. “Connor asked me what was wrong. But I knew he was faking. He didn’t really care. I tried to go to my apartment to get away from him, but someone grabbed me from behind. I didn’t see who. The next thing I know, I hit my head and I was on my back. Connor was on me. I was bleeding.”

“Were you on the street?” Deidre asked. Now they were getting somewhere.

Shaking her head, Nicole-the-ghost said, “No. A dark place. An alley, I think? It hurt. All of it hurt.”

“Did you see where Connor and the other one went after they killed you?” Deidre hoped Nicole had answers.

But the ghost shook her head. “No. Connor got up and left. He was laughing at me. There was blood on his mouth. The other one carried my body and left it on the street near my apartment. Someone else found me and called the police.”

That was what Deride needed to know. She had to call her cousin.

Nicole floated down next to her watching her on her cell phone. “You are trying to help Troy?”

Deidre did not look to her as she sent JJ the text: *I spoke with Nicole. She says Connor and some vampire had attacked her. What should I do?*

“Do you like Troy?” Nicole asked.

Detecting jealously in the ghost’s voice, Deidre looked to her. “He’s Matthew’s friend. And Troy is their only suspect to your murder.”

Nicole stared. “But Troy didn’t do it. He put me on the subway and sent me home. He didn’t come with me.”

“We need to be able to prove that,” Deidre said seeing Nicole now focused on her. “Right now, we’ve got nothing.”

“It was Connor,” Nicole said again. “He is jealous of Troy. He’s mad I said he had a small dick.”

Deidre paled. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Nicole shrugged.

Her ghost followed Deidre out of the morgue. By the time she got into the hallway, several police from the station marched up to her with the mortician. Her police escort was not far behind. He looked breathes and apologetic.

“You are not supposed to be here,” one of the cops said, reaching to escort Deidre out.

Deidre lifted her chin, pulling back from his reach. “Actually, I am. I found out who killed Nicole Collins. And it wasn’t Troy Meecham.”

“It wasn’t,” Nicole said, nodding feverishly. “He’d never hurt me.”

“You have no authority—”

“Her ghost has told me who killed her,” Deidre bit out.

 Her police escort drew in a breath, pushing through them. “Who?”

The other policemen shook their heads, gazed savage on her. “Inadmissible as evidence.”

“You can’t prove anything,” another said.

“Give me a break. Ghosts.”

Deidre rolled her eyes. The world was so full of closed-minded people.

“I want to see Troy,” Nicole declared, looking to the ceiling again.

Glancing to her, Deidre felt a shiver was she going to lose this attachment already? She needed to prove Nicole’s ghost was there. JJ said they had a legitimate paranormal photographer who was able to actually photograph ghosts. He had seen a number of them.

“I don’t think they’ll let me,” she said to Nicole, hoping she would stick by her.

“Are you talking to her ghost now?” one of the policemen mocked. The others laughed.

With a scathing look, Deidre noticed Nicole floating up again. Then it hit her. Troy was in that building. Nicole could sense it. She probably was drawn to him. He was her new fixation. So she said for her benefit, “What cell is Troy Meecham in?”

Nicole’s ghost listened intently.

“No,” the cop said. “You can’t see him.”

“We put him in solitary,” one of the others said.

Nicole looked up then nodded to Deidre. “I will see you there.”

She shot through the roof. Almost immediately, they felt the hallway warm up. Without Nicole’s ghost, the chill was gone. All felt it. But damn. Deidre only hoped that Nicole really would find him. Otherwise she was short one ghost. Yet Deidre lifted her chin as the men felt the undeniable change in the hallway as well. “You were saying?”

They shuddered. Her escort nodded.

“Hey! I got it!” JJ marched in with the paperwork. Brandon’s ghost was still at his shoulder, his eyes fixing lustfully on Deidre. The ghost’s smile twisted when he saw that she could see him. He wolf-whistled at her.

“I saw her.” Deidre ignored Brandon, talking to JJ. “I think she’s gone to look for Troy. She was here just a second ago.”

All the policemen parted for JJ, especially staring at the paper which gave JJ permission to work on Nicole Collins’s murder case.

“Who killed her?” JJ asked, yet guessed the answer with a peek to Brandon who was now angling his head to see down Deidre’s shirt. The police around them listened, realizing the familial similarity between them quick enough

“Connor Davis and some vampire,” Deidre said, shoving Brandon’s ghostly face away from her. Ghost Brandon blustered, calling her a prude.

The policemen stared—especially at how JJ nodded and said, “That’s who Brandon says got him.”

“Do you have evidence?” her police escort asked them with hope.

JJ shook his head, looking to him. “Not enough. I just informed forensics about the bloodstain I found in the alley just outside the place, but it’s already contaminated. Brandon Turner was haunting the strip joint he was murdered in. We have to find Connor Davis before he kills again.”

“Who would be his next target?” Deidre asked, shivering.

Brandon smirked at her. “I’ll tell you if you show me your boobs.”

JJ slapped him, knocking the ghost back. “Shut it.” He nodded to Deidre as Brandon rubbed his ghostly nose for the second time then turned and ‘mooned’ JJ. “Their friend, Joshua Miller—or quite possibly Dalton Hayes.”

Nicole descended through the ceiling again, sobbing loudly. “He can’t see me! He can’t even hear me!”

“Nicole?” Brandon’s ghost stared up at her.

Automatically, like someone who just stepped into dog droppings, Nicole huffed with complete disgust. “You? Ugh. Stay away from me!”

Brandon flinched. “You… Ah come on. We’re both dead now. Let’s be dead together.”

Nicole’s ghost huffed louder, floating behind Deidre for protection. “I wouldn’t choose you, even if you were the last ghost on the planet. You still are nothing compared to Troy.”

Deidre and JJ exchanged looks.

“That’s hurtful,” Brandon snapped, sulking. His ghostly shoulders hung like sacks. “I gave you a few hours of pleasure. You wanted it. If it hadn’t been for that vampire, you still would have wanted it.”

She made a face. “I don’t care. I found someone better. He actually wanted to talk with me. He wasn’t always after sex. In fact, I had to persuade him. And for the record. I’m glad he almost broke your arm at that party. I wish he had.”

“No, you don’t,” JJ said meaningfully, overhearing it all with growing admiration that Troy wasn’t such a sex maniac due to his vampirism as had been guessed. “You know what kind of trouble that would have caused Troy.”

“You can see me too?” Nicole’s eyes widened. She looked to Deidre. “Who is he?”

“My cousin.” Deidre noticed several of the policemen flinching.

“Oh…” Nicole nodded. Then she eyed JJ’s crotch.

Brandon rolled his eyes. “Is it big enough?”

JJ colored, covering himself.

Deidre stepped in front of Nicole’s view. “I thought you said you loved Troy?”

Nicole shrugged. “It’s just a game.”

Groaning, Deidre continued to block Nicole’s view, muttering, “I hope Troy doesn’t know about it.”

“He does,” Nicole said, shrugging again. “Kind of. He wouldn’t let me check out his friend Rick.”

Once more Deidre and JJ exchanged glances. He had heard Nicole was a nymphomaniac from Matthew, but now he knew to what degree.

“But Troy is king,” Nicole-the-ghost sighed with a grin.

Brandon groaned, nearly moaning.

“That’s enough,” Deidre said. She then looked to the police on duty who had heard their half conversations with open horror. It was clear to them that they were definitely arguing with ghosts.

“Can we see Troy?” JJ asked.

The policemen on duty looked likely to argue, though the superior officer in the group said, “Alright. But only for a moment. If this is real, then we have to find the true culprit.”

Both JJ and Deidre nodded.

They were escorted to the cell block.

 

Troy had fallen asleep in his cell, exhausted emotionally and also fighting a certain degree of physical drain as they had not given him lunch. It was like they believed he could live without food. Clearly they did not understand vampirism. We woke up when he heard keys in the lock. Almost immediately the room got colder.

JJ and Deidre walked in with a police escort.

Something really cold rushed next to him, like before. He didn’t know what it was, but the chill shivered down his back then oddly to his front as the air seemed to whisper, ‘I’m sorry,’ to him.

“There are ghosts in here,” Troy said, looking to JJ.

JJ nodded. “We found Brandon and… Nicole.”

Tears welled up in Troy’s eyes. “Nicole is really dead?”

JJ and Deidre nodded together.

Troy broke down into sobs, covering his face with his hands. He shook his head. “My fault. All my fault. If I had just taken her home with me…”

Deidre sighed, looked to the space next to him then said, “She wants to talk to you.”

“She’s here?” Troy looked up then to the cold next him. It was her. It had to be. 

Nodding, Deidre remained where she was though she looked like she wanted to sit next to him to give him comfort. However, that chill remained in that spot, which apparently Nicole was in. “She says she’s sorry she lied to you—”

Troy waved it away. “I know why. Marcus was blackmailing her with revenge porn.”

“She wants you to forgive her though,” Deidre said.

Nodding as his head seemed to weigh like a sand sack, Troy continued to cry. “Of course I forgive her. I forgave her last night. I was going to come over and see her this morning. I was going to invite her to move in with me.”

He felt a cold impression of lips on his cheek. Frost formed there and melted. He could hear her breath. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Troy said, weeping. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to die. Some vampire is still on the loose—” He saw the look between JJ and Deidre. “You know who it is. The vampire.”

“One vampire,” JJ said, nodding. Then he looked to his cousin. “And someone else.”

“Who?” Troy rose. His fists clenched.

“We can’t tell you yet,” JJ said, averting his eyes.

“Connor,” Nicole’s breath said.

“If you were to find out, it would infuriate you.” JJ shook his head thinking.

But Troy listened to that whispering voice. He could hear it again, hissing, “Connor killed me.”

Deidre looked sharply to the ghost, her eyes widening. She then grabbed Troy, seeing what he was thinking. It was all over his face. “No! We have to get evidence first! I know you heard her, but you can’t leave here!”

Troy shook his head, his teeth clenched. “Connor Davis killed Nicole? The jerk who flirted with the idea of being a vampire?”

“You knew about that?” JJ stared at him.

Nodding, Troy said, “Yeah. Everybody in the group knew he had a weird fixation. And he blamed me for Brandon’s death.”

“He killed Brandon too,” JJ finally admitted. “I believe that someone from the Order of Blood is using Connor to target you. This is why you need to stay here.”

“But Connor might strike again,” Troy murmured, panicking.

Both Deidre and JJ nodded.

“But I would not be out there to blame…” Troy said, thinking