Blood Lines

you're interested in her when you're really only interested in what she knows."
    Celluci shot a furious look at Vicki, who winced and said hurriedly, "Low blow, Henry. Mike had to do that, he didn't want to."

    Henry moved into the kitchen, which put the two men, although in separate rooms, less than ten feet apart with Vicki, still sitting at the table, squarely between them. He inclined his head graciously. "You're quite right. It was a low blow.
    And I apologize."
    'The fuck you do."
    'Are you calling me a liar?" Henry's voice had gone deceptively soft; the voice of a man who had been raised to command, the voice of a man with centuries of experience behind him.
    Celluci couldn't help but respond. His anger didn't have a snowflake's chance in hell of making an impression against the other man and he knew it. "No," he forced the words out through clenched teeth, "I'm not calling you a liar."
    Vicki looked from one to the other and had a strong desire to go out for pizza. The currents running between the two were so strong that when the phone rang she felt she had to fight against their pull to answer it.
    'Hi, honey. It's after eleven and the rates are down so I thought I'd give you a call before I turned in."
    Just what the evening needed. "Bad timing, Mom."
    'Why? What's wrong?"
    'I've, uh, got company."
    'Oh." While not exactly disapproving, the two letters carried a disproportionate amount of conversational weight.
    "Michael or Henry, dear?"
    'Uh…" Vicki knew the moment she paused that it was a mistake. Her mother excelled at reading silence.
    ' Both of them?"
    'Trust me, Mom, it wasn't my idea." She frowned. "Are you laughing?"
    'I wouldn't think of it."
    'You are laughing."
    'I'll call you tomorrow, dear. I can't wait to hear how this comes out."
    'Mother, don't hang…" Vicki glared at the receiver, then slammed it back down onto the phone. "Well, I hope you're happy." She shot up out of the chair and kicked it back out of her way. "I'm going to be hearing about this for the rest of my life." Glaring from Celluci to Henry and back, she raised her voice an octave. "' Don't say I didn't warn you, dear. Well, what do you expect when you're seeing two young men … I'll tell you what I expect, I expect you both to act like intelligent humans beings and not like two dogs squabbling over a bone. I can't see any reason why all three of us can't get along!"
    'You can't?" Henry asked, mildly incredulous.
    Vicki, recognizing sarcasm, turned on him and snapped, "Shut up, Henry!"
    'She always was a lousy liar," Celluci muttered.
    'And you can shut up, too!" She took a deep breath and shoved her glasses up her nose. "Now then, seeing as we're all here together, I think we should be discussing the case. Do either of you have any problems with that?"
    Celluci snorted. "I wouldn't dare."

    Henry spread his hands, his meaning plain.
    They moved into the living room, all three of them aware this was only a postponement. That was fine with Vicki; if they had things to work out between them, they could do it without her in the line of fire.
    * * *
    '… so there's no obvious reason why it murdered Trembley and her partner but only mind-wiped the people at the museum." Celluci took another swallow of coffee, grimaced at the taste, and continued. "The only difference between the two cases is that the people at the museum spent three days close to it while Trembley saw it for maybe three minutes."
    'So maybe it takes time and proximity to mess with someone's head." Vicki chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pencil for a moment then spit it out and added, "I wonder why it killed that custodian?"
    Celluci shrugged. "Because it could? Maybe it was just flexing its muscles after being cooped up for so long."
    'Maybe it was hungry." Henry leaned forward to make his point. "The custodian just happened to be closest when it came fully awake."
    'Then what did it eat?" Celluci sneered. "There wasn't a mark on that body and there sure as shit wasn't anything missing."
    Henry sat back and let the shadows in the corner of the living room cover him again. "That's not quite accurate. When the custodian was found, he was missing his life."
    'And you think this mummy ate it?"
    'Mortals have always had legends of those who extend their own lives by devouring the lives of others."
    'Yeah, and those are legends ."
    The shadows couldn't hide Henry's pointed smile. "So am I. So, for that matter, are mummies who walk. And demons.
    And