Page 5 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

‘Don’t piss me off,’ I said absently then frowned. ‘Still, it’s a good thing she was paying attention because he could really have hurt her.’ We supernats healed fast but that didn’t mean that getting hurt was a walk in the park. For one thing, it reallyhurt.

When I’d been shot, I’d nearly died. Of course, that was back when we didn’t know I was a hybrid with a heartbeat, and Connor and I still didn’t know what that meant for my immortality. Living forever was the main perk of being a vampire; I’d be so pissed off if I guzzled blood and still aged and died after a normal lifespan. The thought of leaving Connor…

Danny picked up his sandwich. ‘I heard we have a new TAC officer coming in tomorrow to replace Polk.’ TAC stood for Training, Advising and Counselling. Polk may have been okay atthe T part, but he sucked at the A and C. Hopefully the new guy would be better.

‘Good,’ I grunted. ‘I don’t like how Polk picks on Jones. It’s not the first time he’s done it.’

‘I talked to him about it,’ Danny admitted.

My eyebrows shot up. The balls on this guy! ‘Really? What did he say?’

‘I don’t think Polk is a bad guy. He said he thinks it’ll help Jones if he pushes him a little. I don’t agree with his tactics but his heart’s in the right place.’

I was impressed that Danny had called him out. Like me, Danny was already working in the Nomo’s office in the other supernat village in Ugiuvak. That supernatural community was far smaller than Portlock, but Danny had the confidence of a man who knew his job and knew it well. His attendance at the academy was pretty much a rubber-stamping exercise; he sure as hell knew his shit already. I guessed he’d got the same vibe from me because we’d fallen into step from the beginning. I liked the taciturn man’s hum of power; even Thorsen stepped carefully around him – another reason to hang out with Danny.

‘Any idea what the new instructor will be teaching us?’ I asked.

‘I’m not sure but get this…’ He looked around to make sure no one was listening. ‘I heard he’s ex-MIB.’

That caught my attention. The Magical Investigation Bureau was a wing of the alphabet agencies and largely made up of humans; they were the bogeymen who lived in our closets and under our beds. Supernat children were told toe the line or they’d be reported to the MIB, and if that happened the chances were you wouldn’t be seen again, or so the stories went. However, Gunnar had a friend in the organisation so they couldn’tallbe bad – just most of them.

I licked my lips nervously. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Who told you that?’

‘I overheard Lieutenant Fischer tell Sergeant Marks.’

I couldn’t suppress a shudder. I was supposed to be tough and scary, but the MIB terrified me. A dark government entity with the job of ‘watching’ supernats, among other things, it felt creepy and stalkerish. I hoped the ‘ex’ part about the new instructor was accurate. Would he know what we were? Would he care?

I changed the topic, though I resolved to be on my guard. ‘Sidnee and I are going to go look for Jones’s missing notebook after we eat. Are you game?’

‘Sure, I’ll join in. I like the guy. He’s scattered but he’s smart, and he’ll make a good trooper.’ Like me, Danny didn’t give a fuck that Jones was human; he was a good guy, no matter that he wasn’t supernat.

‘I appreciate that. Thanks, Danny.’ I took another few bites of my sandwich. ‘Since you’re sneaking around and overhearing stuff, did you happen to hear any scuttle on what the next squad challenge will be?’

He laughed. ‘I wish. Sorry, Bunny, I didn’t hear anything useful.’

I finished my sandwich and started on my soup, glorying in not having to tip the spoon away and eat it daintily – in fact, I finished by slurping it directly from the bowl, much to Danny’s amusement. ‘Were you raised by wolves?’ he asked.

I grinned. ‘The opposite. My mum is the biggest control freak going.’

‘Got it.’ He paused. ‘So slurping is a “fuck you” to your mom?’ His grin widened. ‘You know she can’t see you, right?’

‘It’s the rest of us who are suffering,’ one of the other squad members muttered.

I sniffed. ‘It doesn’t matter.Iknow.’ I signalled Sidnee, Jones and Danny and the four of us set off to find the missing notebook. It was exciting to do something other than train; therepetitive nature of our activities was getting to me big time. I needed an adventure or I’d crack faster than a phoenix egg.

There was twenty minutes of lunchtime left and I intended to use it to solve the mystery of the missing journal. Okay, so maybe I was engineering a mystery because I was bored stiff but I didn’t care.

I wanted to solve something – now. My mystery muscles were in dire need of a flex.

Chapter 5

We hastily searched the common areas then split up. Danny went to look in Jones’s room, I took the classrooms, Sidnee took the gym and the mat room, and Jones scoured the break room. Nothing.

When we reconvened outside, Jones looked more downhearted than usual. It seemed increasingly likely that someone had deliberately taken the notebook to mess with him.

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