Page 4 of Vampire Lee

Lee pulled in a breath. Coffee. This room had seen a lot of coffee. Vampire noses weren’t nearly as good as shifters’, but he could smell some things. The guy could be a bear. Maybe. He’d know for certain when they were closer together.

“Murrie, your ten o’clock is here.”

The man looked up and blinked at the group. “I have a ten o’clock?” He was quiet for a second. “With all of you?”

“This is Lee Dowell.”

Murrie got to his feet, walked toward Lee, and offered his hand along with an easy smile. “I’m sorry. I haven’t prepared for our meeting.” He glanced at Devin. “I must’ve missed the appointment on the schedule.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I only need a few minutes.” He only wanted to tell someone with the power to do something about what he’d heard. Five minutes, tops, then he could go back to pouring drinks and not think.

“No, no, we’ll do this right.” He looked at the group surrounding Lee and frowned. “Let’s sit in the kitchen where we don’t disturb anyone.” Then he turned to Devin again. “Can we have the kitchen?”

“Sure.”

Mars, Devin, Rei, and Faelan parted ways so Murrie could pass, and Lee followed. Before they reached the door, Murrie snatched a pen and a notepad from one of the desks.

Once they’d stepped out of the office, Murrie closed the door behind them and looked at him. “So…what do you do?”

“Eh…I’m a bartender at The Rambling Rogue.”

Murrie looked confused but gestured toward the kitchen. As they walked in, the man, Dillon, made a sound and backed up against the island across from the big table in front of the windows.

“Oh, sorry, Dillon. Is it okay if Mr. Dowell and I sit here for a bit?”

Dillon didn’t reply, and Murrie let out a low sigh. Lee could hear it, but he doubted Dillon could.

“Please sit.” He gestured for Lee to move toward the table. Once he was seated, Murrie moved to stand between him and Dillon and gestured toward the door.

Dillon more or less ran out of the room without a word.

Murrie turned to him, grimaced, and pulled out the chair across from him. “PTSD, making progress, but…”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Murrie shrugged. “It took Devin three years to dare to be around us without flinching. I’m not giving up on Dillon for a long time yet.” He smiled. “So…”

Lee wanted to ask what had happened, and why they kept traumatized humans in the house, but it wasn’t his place.

“I didn’t know we had a vampire coming in. Was it a last-minute decision?”

Silence spread while Lee tried to formulate an answer. “I…eh…spoke to Faelan—”

“You know Faelan? That’s good.” He made a note on the notepad.

“I don’t know Faelan. I asked him to put me in contact with you because…” He trailed off, and Murrie nodded.

“Diversity is important to us, and I’m gonna be honest and say we’ve been hoping to find a suitable female to fill the position, but we’ve been lacking vampires for years. Mars is our only one, and it makes it risky when we have to do undercover work. We’ve always been a majority of wolves, which of course reflects the community as a whole, but it can lead to some conflicts. Pack animals versus non-pack with everything it entails. Not to mention shifters sticking together against vampires, and now we have humans to think of too.” He rubbed his neck. “You’ve done anything similar to this kind of work before?”

Lee stared. Had he ended up in a job interview? “I’m sorry. I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Murrie stared at him. “You don’t want the job?”

“I’d love the job. I’m not sure what it entails, but believe me, I’m ready for anything where people don’t shout for Vampire Lee all through the night. It’s not why I’m here though.”

“It’s not?” Murrie looked baffled.

“I heard something I wasn’t meant to hear.”

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