Stray Fears - Gregory Ashe Page 0,25
wished somebody would slay—slew?—me.
“Good morning,” a young woman said. She was black, her hair in tight braids, and she was beautiful in a bright yellow dress. “May I help you?”
“Do I look that out of place?”
“Just a little lost.”
Pointing at the sign, I said, “Slay or slew?”
“Slew is the past tense. Why? Did you slay a chaos lord?”
“Just ten or so.”
She smiled. “That’s very impressive.”
“I try to keep my hand in.”
“All right,” she said, “If you need anything—”
“Actually, I’m doing some research on monsters.”
“Monsters?”
“Yeah. Can you point me to the books?”
With a grin, she waved a hand around us.
“Very funny. The monster books.”
“Well, you’ll have to tell me a little more. Stories about monsters? There’s this really great gay vampire series. Something like that?”
“No, not—wait. Maybe. Just, you know, for research.”
“Of course.”
“But really I’m looking for, I don’t know. Legends, I guess. Or history. Something like that.”
“Cultural anthropology, folklore, that kind of thing?”
I shrugged. “Sorry. When you’re this pretty, you don’t have to learn big words like that.”
“Oh Lord. All right, I think we can find some stuff. What monster?”
“Don’t you just have a—I don’t know. Like a Wikipedia on them. But in book form.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Like, an encyclopedia?”
“Sure, that’s a thing.”
“Uh huh. Well. We actually might have a monster encyclopedia. Or something similar. And that’s a good starting place, I guess. Let’s see what we can find.”
“First, you have to tell me your name.”
“Kennedy.”
“All right, Miss Kennedy: to the books.”
“Uh huh,” Kennedy said to herself as she led me to a computer.
A few minutes later, after roving the shelves, Kennedy sat me at a table and laid down three books. A Beginner’s Guide to Monsters, Monsters A-Z, and what was clearly an illustrated book for children called Sneaky, Scary, Bump in the Night.
I tapped the cover.
“I was worried,” Kennedy said. “These others have some pretty big words.”
“Miss Kennedy.”
Shrugging, she opened A Beginner’s Guide to Monsters to the table of contents. “What were you looking for in particular?”
“It’s like a blue fire that floats around. Maybe it comes out of someone’s mouth. Maybe it’s in their eyes.”
“Uh huh,” Kennedy said again, so quietly this time that I barely heard her. “Is this something you saw?”
“Oh no. I mean, just on TV. I don’t know what it’s called.”
“What show?”
“I don’t even remember.”
“Well—”
“Oh, maybe it’s like a firefly. Is there a firefly monster?”
Kennedy paused, and then she flipped pages. “There’s something called a will o’ the wisp. Have you heard of that?”
I shook my head.
“It might look like a firefly.” She found the entry in the table of contents and turned to the entry. The illustration was a pretty lame glowing blue ball. “People thought they would lead you astray, maybe even lead you to your death if you followed them. It was probably swamp gas or bioluminescence.”
I scanned the entry. “It doesn’t say anything about possession. Or bringing people back to life.”
Kennedy was staring at me now.
“It was in the TV show,” I added.
“Well, let’s try the index in this one,” she said, grabbing Monsters A-Z. She ran her finger down the page. “Possession. Ghosts, vampires. Ok, what about reanimation. Blech. It’s just got zombies.”
“What if I told you it was local?”
Kennedy closed the book slowly. “The TV show?”
“Right, the TV show. Would it make a difference if the TV show were set in Louisiana?”
“Maybe,” Kennedy said. “If it were relying on regional folklore.”
“Let’s go with that.”
A few minute later, Kennedy came back with a massive book that looked at least a hundred years old. The leather binding was flaking in places, and the lettering looked like genuine gold leaf. When she set it down, dust floated up from the cover. New Orleans and La Louisiane: Chorography, Ethnology, and the Native Episteme.
“Uh.”
“Lots of big words in this one.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“Better take this one too,” she said, laying Sneaky, Scary, Bump in the Night on top. “Just in case you need reference material.”
“That seems like a good idea.”
“Great. Let’s check these out. Do you have your library card?”
“Uh.”
“Ok,” she said. “We’ll do that too.”
“Thanks, Miss Kennedy.”
“Uh huh.”
“Oh, um, Miss Kennedy?”
“Yes?”
“You did say something about a gay vampire book.”
DAG (4)
I got to Mills Diner on time for my meeting with Kade, snagged a booth, and considered calling the whole thing off. Asking Kade to look into Mason’s life was one thing; Mason was dead, and it couldn’t hurt him. Asking Kade to investigate Elien was something else entirely. Instead of leaving, though, I put my earbuds in and listened