Trying to think about anything other than death soon became exhausting. I had witnessed the excruciating last moments of someone's life, and it shook me to the core. Lately, each reading from the murder victims came at me more powerful, more vivid, and much more intense than the last. The feelings and images kept getting stronger. Now I struggled to separate myself from the vision as it felt like it all happened to me.

I decided not to drive the freeway home, needed to relax a little before taking a bunch of negativity home with me.

To relieve my mind of things I thought about my childhood visits to the city. The downtown area buildings once filled with shopping, eateries, and a flourishing nightlife scene now stood empty and dark. The Capital Theatre designed to be the grand entertainment theater had become office space. Many ideas about renovating the place to its former glory had been tossed around but so far no one wanted to invest the money. Metropolis, my favorite college hangout party spot, was now VAMP, the hottest club in Flint. Many of my other childhood favorites were vacated or reincarnated as new businesses like the oncebustling mall Windmill Place, the spot to shop in my youth. Autoworld, Flint's sad attempt at a tourist attraction, was another place I had loved as a child, now completely gone. Torn down several years ago and replaced by new buildings for the University of Michigan, which now owned much of downtown Flint. At least they brought some life back into the area.

Business owners hoped Flint would become a bustling college town like Ann Arbor and Lansing, full of restaurants, clubs, shops, and college hangouts. Between the colleges and the vampires, downtown Flint was being revitalized. Too bad it didn't reach the outskirts of the small city.

As soon as I crossed out of U of M's reach Saginaw Street went downhill fast. University signs gave way to graffiti, boardedup buildings, and other symbols of urban decay. Combined with the thickening fog, the sight appeared straight out of a horror movieat least that was what my overactive imagination said.

Driving through the hood wouldn't make my mood any lighter. Especially with the fog swirling across the streets in creepy patches. Once I passed under the last set of Vehicle City arches, fog completely coated the outer areas of Flint.

I thought about turning back and taking the freeway but was already halfway home. I could handle a little bit of fog.

Right?

Maybe not.

The dark and foggy outer city gave an impression of sleeping, but it did not rest. I saw human forms wandering the streets passing in and out of the fog even though it was after three o'clock in the morning. They looked human but I knew most of them were nonhuman predators prowling and stalking prey. Many creatures preferred the cover of darkness and roamed these sad streets without the need to stay hidden in the shadows. Discontent hung in the air as thick as the fog. The economic and spiritual unease of the area invited negativity and plenty of demonic beings who fed off despair and hopelessness. Demons are probably out there right now in the darkness and fog.

I became thoroughly creeped out by taking the 'scenic' route home. Not that I feared the area, but the fog hid things I didn't want to encounter. Normally I seemed to be in a protective bubble when it came to Others. Witch blood was not exactly a delicacy; in fact, it gave many demons a severe case of indigestion. Adding my dad's reputation to the mix kept me safe as well, even though he'd been gone for years.

He had been a Tremaine, a warrior from a long line of nottobemessedwith warriors. As a witch, I followed my mother's matriarchal lineage and took the last name of her people, Rose, but I was still a Tremaine. They all knew it.

I drove as fast as I dared and soon the ghetto gave way to bigger, betterkept pieces of property with the occasional cornfield or scattered piece of farmland lingering among the subdivisions and suburban sprawl. The farms were remnants left over from another time. Some fields and barns remained in use while others held old and rusty farm equipment not moved in decades. The fog thinned out in the country. Thank goddess. I was tired of straining my eyes to catch sight of anything creepy lurking in the swirling mists.

I pulled into my driveway and walked up to my small house that sat on the last remaining acre owned by my family, the only piece of my grandfather I had. The man had died before I was born. My grandfather once owned over a hundred acres of land in this area but over the years my grandmother had to sell off parcels of it. I held onto the house even though the neighborhood was quickly going downhill.

I unlocked the door, stepped in, and tossed my keys onto the table. I strode into my bedroom where I flopped across the bed exhausted. Images of the beautiful woman and a faceless vampire flashed through my head as soon as I lay down. I could still feel him inside me, her. Awful the way she died but what a way to go.

Geesh, I was disgusted by my rebellious libido. Perhaps if I had a playmate my libido wouldn't be so aroused by things that shouldn't be arousing. It had been too long since I had a boyfriend, and I'd gotten to the point where just about anything made me licentious.

I gave up on fighting the need and slid open my nightstand drawer