The Mississippi rolled by thick and dark as he stood on the levee downstream from New Orleans. Ghostlike, Spanish moss drooped from the branches of the live oaks planted near the river’s banks.

Vlad drew in a deep breath, smelling the damp earth mingling with the overpowering odor of the slow-moving water.

He was alone on this remote stretch of riverbank, yet he felt it still too exposed. If the bodies were to float to the surface, to be discovered, things could get dangerous, and he still had so much work to do.

For her.

Always for her.

He closed his eyes and thought of her.

So perfect.

So beautiful.

A woman who, beyond all others, heated his blood. He could hardly wait until he saw her again…watched her from a distance, feeling himself grow hard at the thought of her warm body and the blood…always the blood.

He ran his tongue across his teeth in anticipation. A surge of excitement sped through his veins and need coursed to his soul.

Discarding this spot as his dumping ground, he walked swiftly from the rise, through the long grass, and into the trees where his van was parked. He climbed behind the wheel and turned around, then drove out the long lane and onto a back road that cut into the bayou.

Here, the sound of crickets chirping and toads croaking cut through the stillness. Every once in a while there was the soft, nearly inaudible splash of an alligator slipping into the water.

He parked by the dilapidated cabin, walked to the back of his van, and pulled on hip waders. He slid a miner’s helmet onto his head, then switched on its light. In the bright beam, he worked quickly, yanking on a pair of gloves, then pulling out each body from the back of the van. Wrapped in tarps, weighted with bricks strapped to their torsos, they had begun to thaw, but each was a deadweight as he carried her firemanlike, over his shoulder. Down a deer trail to the edge of the water. He unwrapped the first and stared down at her face and her naked, frigid body for just a second. In the harsh glare of his light, Dionne stared sightlessly up at him, her black skin taking on a bluish tinge, ice crystals in her hair beginning to melt.

He hadn’t wanted to leave them all together. That would make things too easy should anyone discover one of the bodies, but he was running out of time. He’d waited too long, putting off this part of his mission. He’d wanted to keep them near him forever, but, of course, could not. “Eternal rest,” he said as he pushed Dionne’s smooth body into the water. Once she submerged, the bricks ensuring that she sank to the bottom, he returned to the van.