Page 23 of My Road Trip with a Vampire: Season One
“I like the hair,” he says. “And the outfit.”
I touch my hair. It’s a deep plum color now, nearly black. I love how it makes my eyes pop, but I know my mom would absolutely flip, considering she lost her shit the last time I cut it.
“Thanks, I’ve always wanted to try something fun like this.”
He smiles, and his eyelashes flutter. They’re so long and dark against his pale skin that they make his features seem softer than they really are. I know there are fangs behind those full lips.
“And things went well with Barb?”
“Yes, she said I’ll see her again.”
“I’m sure you will. We have quite the backlog of spirits to put to rest. Shall we cross another one off our list?”
“I’m ready for it.”
12
LUMS POND: PART 1
Iwatch the city fade away behind us. I won’t lie—I was kind of hoping to meet some ghosts in Philly.
“I can't believe we’re leaving before we see any real action," I say, looking out the window with Darling curled up on my lap.
Dennis lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug.
"There are plenty of restless spirits in Philadelphia, but most of the well-known ones are tourist traps with no paranormal activity.”
“That seems to be the norm. When I first started dealing with this…gift, I tried to hit up a bunch of the places listed inThe Most Haunted Spots in America.”
“And what happened?”
“In most cases, absolutely nothing. That’s why I called bullshit on the whole Suscon Screamer thing. I guess I need to just feel a place out to know for sure,” I murmur, still a little salty that we’re leaving a big city already.
He hums his agreement.
“We can’t help them all, Bea. We follow leads from our boss and put as many to rest as we can.”
“And why is our boss so invested in this?”
I’m trying to wrap my head around how ghost-hunting operates as a business entity.
“Let’s just say this vampire is a philanthropist of sorts,” he says so darkly that I have to look to make sure it’s him speaking. His jaw is tense, and he’s got the steering wheel in a death grip. He catches me looking from the corner of his eye and shakes his head. “Why don’t you do some research for our next site? We’re heading to Lums Pond in Delaware; we’ll be there in about an hour.”
I’m tapping away at my phone the moment he says it. I like to do my research.
“From what I can see, it looks like a beautiful state park,” I say, scanning the park’s information as fast as I can read it. “Beautiful, except a young woman was brutally murdered there in the late 19th century.”
I glance at him, but his eyes are fixed on the road now. He doesn't have anything to say about that.
“Are you always going to take me to haunted places where young women were murdered? Because that’s pretty dark.”
“Ghosts tend to spawn from dark stories,” he says lightly. “But no. I wasn’t sure of the Suscon Screamer’s origin before I took you there.”
“Alright, just making sure. It says here the young woman had run away from home. There are state records of her murder, but I'm having trouble finding those. We'll have to get there and check out the vibe ourselves."
“The vibe?”
“You know, that feeling you get in certain places. Some ghosts have that dark, creepy vibe. Some are friendlier or confused. You have to feel it out."
