They are all about UFOs.
Specifically, newsletters from a UFO foundation.
FOFFlying Objects Foundation.
What happened to the unidentified? I don't care. All the newsletters are addressed to Linda Clairee. She was definitely a member of this group, and it is the only wrinkle in her ordinary life that I have found. Holding the papers in my hand, I return to the living room and Bud. He is, in fact, finishing a can of Budweiser as I walk in. I turn off the TV without asking his permission and sit down across from him.
"Hey," he says, annoyed.
I catch his eye and burn a tiny hole in his frontal lobes. It will probably do him good, in the long run.
"Where did Linda say she was going?" I ask.
He replies in a flat voice, staring straight ahead. "Phoenix."
"What's in Phoenix?"
"A convention."
"A UFO convention?"
"Yes. FOF."
"Did Linda often attend such conventions?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He could be hypnotized. "She likes UFOs."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Are you interested in UFOs?"
"No."
"Does Linda believe UFOs exist?"
"Yes."
"Is she an alien?"
"What?"
"Is Linda an alien creature?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure."
"When did you meet Linda?"
"Three years ago."
"Where?"
"In a bar in Fullerton."
"What does Linda do for a living?"
"She works as a secretary."
"Have you ever been to her place of work?"
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
"In Fullerton. On Commonwealth and Harbor.G rays DP Office."
"What is Linda like?"
"Nice. Boring. Sexy."
"What is it like to have sex with her?"
"Fun. Always the same."
"What's your name?"
"Bill."
"What do you do for a living,Bill?"
"Drive a truck."
"Have you ever noticed anything unusual about Linda?"
"What do you mean?"
"Besides attending UFO conventions, does she do anything else odd?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"She stares at the sky at night a lot."
"How often?"
"Every night."
"Does she tell you why?"
"No."
"Do you ask?"
"No."
"When do you expect her back?"
"In two days."
"The convention runs until then?"
"Yes, I think."
"Does Linda have any family?"
"No. They are all dead."
"Every one of them?"
"Yes. Everyone."
"Bill, I am going to leave now but I might be back later. Until I return, I want you to forget I was ever here. I never existed. If someone should ask you if a stranger was here, just say no. Do you understand?"
"All right."
"Also, if Linda should fail to come home, don't worry about her. Get yourself another girl. She is not so important. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Good." I stand and step over and turn the TV back on. "Goodbye, Bill."
He glances up from the game. He doesn't even realize I interrupted it. "Goodbye," he says.
There is a plane leaving for Phoenix in fifty minutes and I get on it. Linda's newsletters have told me where the FOF convention is being heldaHoliday Inn beside a busy freeway. Once in Phoenix, I rent a Jeep and drive to the hotel, but all the rooms are taken. Taking a room at a nearby hotel, I shower and then go for a walk in the desert. Perhaps the UFO freaks took a hotel near the edge of town so they could look at the night sky. It is lateIstudy the stars as I walk, but nothing flies down from the sky to whisk me away. Yet I feel no pleasure beneath the heavens. A past I cannot remember haunts me.
"We are of an ancient tradition. Our line is mingled with yours, and with that of others. We hold all powers."
Still, Linda wanted more of my blood, if she had any of it to begin with. Yet she must have had something unique. She was fast and strong, more powerful than virtually any vampire Yaksha made. Plus she had technology that put the government's most secret toys to shame. But so many of her answers had made no sense. What did she want to initiate me into?
"But to join us you must sacrifice him. It is part of your initiation."
It was almost as if she wanted to introduce me to the black mass.