Page 56 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

Thorsen had taken advantage of the momentary lapse in our concentration, stumbled to his feet and run out. In all the screaming and drinking, neither of us had remembered to secure him. I wasn’t worried because I knew he wouldn’t get far, but before I could chase after him, Shadow bounded off. I tried to call him back but no words came out.

We checked Margi and Sidnee; they were both unconscious but their ears weren’t bleeding. ‘How come Aoife’s scream didn’t hurt them?’ I asked Connor.

‘You have to be conscious for a banshee wail to work.’

There was a piercing cry from the corridor and we ran out to see what was going on. In the dim light I saw Thorsen sitting on the floor, cowering; in front of him, between him and the stairs, was a gigantic lynx.Mygigantic lynx!

I grinned. Shadow was huge, at least ten times the size of a normal full-grown lynx, and closer to two hundred kilos than ten. He was standing menacingly, eyes glowing gold and silvery fur standing up in all directions. Even his little stub tail was a puff of fuzz. His growl was low, serious – and utterly terrifying.

I beamed. ‘What a good boy,’ I praised. Shadow gave a happy purr but in his current form it came out as a rumbling roar. Cool.

‘Got any more flex cuffs?’ Connor asked me.

I looked down at my hand, surprised I was still clutching the cuffs I’d taken from the lieutenant. ‘Yeah, here.’ He bound Thorsen tightly. To be honest, Thorsen looked relieved to be dragged back to the other room away from Shadow.

I looked back to see my kitten shrink back to his regular ten-kilogram self. Once he was his correct size, his shadow oozed back onto his fur. It looked like it came from inside his skin and I shuddered:he could use his shadow to increase his size?He was a pure supernatural anomaly, an unknown cryptid. I guessed it was up to me to unlock his secrets and his connection with the beast beyond the barrier. Whatever, he was my very best boy.

Connor and I weren’t done yet: we had to stop the remaining MIB assholes from injecting my friends and somehow disable them. The lieutenant had said there was a submarine waiting, which meant there were more MIB out there. He must have had some type of communication device to signal them to send a boat or a skiff to get everyone to the sub. Our time was growing short.

‘We have to search them,’ I said to Connor. ‘One of them – probably the lieutenant – must be able to get in touch with that sub.’

The lieutenant did indeed have a communication device – and so did the other men. We confiscated them all; with their ruined eardrums, it wasn’t like they’d be using them anytime soon.

Connor and I plugged the devices into our own ears; they were already switched on and an occasional smattering of conversation came through.

‘We have to leave with the tide. You have forty-five minutes. Acknowledge.’

Connor and I looked at each other, then he clicked the button to speak. ‘Acknowledged.’

Nothing else came through. ‘Guess it worked,’ he said.

‘I hope so. We need to save the others,’ I said.

The adrenaline was receding now, leaving me feeling more tired than ever. My hands started to shake and suddenly everything hit me. Why were these people so angry at supernats? I was likethem: I wanted to go to work, earn a living, enjoy my pets and my boyfriend, and live a comfortable life. I wanted to go home to Portlock and curl up with my pets and Connor and a cup of tea – a proper one not like the crap they had here. How was my vampirism hurting them? How was my best friend being a mermaid a risk to national security? The fact that we were different changednothing.

It always came down to fear. Since we had a different sort of power to them, they had to take it from us and eliminate us to feel safe. And that meant we supernats had to stay hidden. Well, screw that.

Connor must have noticed me spiralling because his comforting hand at the small of my back grounded me again. We had a mission to stop this mess, save the supernats and the academy, then help the state by taking the financial papers to people who would know what to do with them.

‘Take a deep breath, Bunny,’ Connor said gently. ‘We’ll get to the others, then we’ll expose these fuckers so they can’t continue their little supernat disposal plan.’

‘How? How do we do it while keeping our existence secret? We can’t expose the whole supernatural world.’

‘We won’t. We’ll use the law,’ he said confidently.

‘How?’ I asked again.

He held up the syringe, clasped in a scrap of paper so he wouldn’t leave fingerprints. He must have picked up the one that had been left at Margi’s feet. ‘Evidence.’

He was right – and I needed to pull myself together. I was an officer of the Nomo’s office of Portlock; I was the law. I was also a recruit at the State Trooper Academy and I could recall every single lesson we’d had. We would bring them down ashumans.

I straightened up. ‘You’re right. I just needed a moment. The Shadow-cat situation threw me for a moment, but I’m totally fine.’

My half-grown kitten rubbed against my legs and I leaned down to stroke his silky fur. ‘You are a rascal. We’ll figure you out some day … but in the meantime, please stay here and stay out of trouble! Go watch over Sidnee. We’ll be right back.’

For once Shadow did as I asked and he walked down the corridor to the plant room. I hesitated. I didn’t want to leave Sidnee and Margi if any of those assholes were conscious.

It didn’t take much to bend my morals a little, and I went back into the room and hit each man over the head so they passed out. Better. I removed Sidnee’s cuffs and moved her to the anteroom so she wouldn’t be with them when she woke up, then Connor and I removed Margi’s restraints, lifted her off her chair and laid her down next to Sidnee.

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