Chapter Four
Sylvie
Obudai Island, Hungary
All haste must be made to reach
the corpse before it stiffens.
If you arrive too late, be sure
you order the relatives to leave
before you begin breaking the
joints and snapping the sinews.
~ The Bloodwalker’s Book
“No. This absolutely won’t do,” Aunt Cosmina said as soon as she set foot inside the Obudai Island public restroom.
Sylvie and the other two brides peeked in.
Footprints from a hundred muddy shoes covered the tiled floor, the mirrors hung crooked and broken over the sinks, and the smell was enough to make even the bloodwalkers screw up their faces in disgust—and that was a rare thing. Working with dead bodies tended to drum out any squeamishness early in life.
The security guard, a fat, middle-aged man with a face as sour a
