Page 17 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

When we went into the locker room to return our helmets, Leif was waiting for us. ‘She did it, didn’t she?’ he asked eagerly.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so – and as we said previously, the inspector might not have been murdered. We’ll know more when we get the autopsy results.’ I looked at Thomas, wondering ifI should mention the skulls to Leif. He gave a tiny shake of his head.

‘She wants a box of doughnuts delivered to that cavern daily,’ he said. ‘I’ll set up the order if you can have someone drop it off.’ I noted that Thomas didn’t ask Leif so much as told him.

Leif made a sound that was suspiciously close to a growl. ‘Fine.’ He stalked off.

‘Did I put him in a bad mood by not believing him about the hag?’ I asked.

Thomas looked amused. ‘Nah, he’s always like that.’

‘Don’t worry, Bunny Rabbit. Dwarves don’t like anyone,’ Gunnar added. ‘It’s nothing personal.’

‘I’m picking up on that,’ I said wryly.

I followed my boss out to the SUV and we drove off. Through the rear-view mirror I watched the mine disappear, relieved that I wouldn’t need to go back into the bowels of the earth again for quite some time.

The journey home seemed to fly by, mostly because the adrenaline from the adventure had receded and I was beyond bone weary. It was after my bedtime and then some. Gunnar dropped me at my house, idling at the curb until I was inside safely with the doors locked. When I waved to him through the window, he roared off.

The TV was on but Fluffy and Shadow were asleep on the sofa. I sighed. Reggie hadn’t lasted long in human form. I scrubbed my tired eyes and tried to feel like I wasn’t failing him.

I woke and fed them and let them out to do their business, then I made myself a glass of warmed blood and a much-needed cup of tea and slice of toast. I was the walking dead in more ways than one. Finally I put the animals to bed again and gratefully collapsed onto my bed.

Tired as I was, my mind was spinning round and round. I needed more information about hags; I had a tiny bit of knowledge from my time at the academy and hints from the dwarves, but that was all. Even Connor and Gunnar knew little about them and they were both old. I only knew three people who were older: Mrs. Wright, the oldest original resident of Portlock; Calliope Galanis, an ancient water dragon that had pissed off Homer, and Liv Fox.

Liv and Calliope were so ancient that they might know something; they were also on the suspect list for Helmud’s death because they could both have killed him without leaving a mark. Calliope could just have shifted and scared the bejasus out of him.

I sighed. Neither woman was currently on Team Bunny because I’d accused Calliope’s lover of being a drug dealer and I’d arrested Liv for attempted murder. Admittedly,Liv had reached out to me recently for help in earning Gunnar’s forgiveness; maybe she’d be willing to talk to me.

I yawned and reached up to stroke my new daylight charm, an emerald pendant that Connor had given me for Christmas. I smiled a little as I thought about him. I’d have called him, but it was firmly daytime and I didn’t want to wake him up.

But I fell asleep with him on my mind, and I definitely had sweet dreams.

Chapter 12

I woke when Shadow, all ten kilos of him, landed firmly in the middle of my guts. ‘Oof.’

He yowled, soundly telling me off, then gave me his characteristic lynx bark, ‘mrow’, which was easily translated from cat to the English equivalent of, ‘Get up and feed me now, you lazy human oaf!’ The half-grown lynx was probably in the middle of another growth spurt because he was always hungry, though the vet insisted I was feeding him enough.

‘I’m getting up!’ I yawned and tried to ignore his weight. I closed my eyes again for a moment and he let out another yowl as close to my ear as possible.

I cracked open one eye and stared at him. ‘You’re not letting me fall back to sleep, are you?’ I huffed loudly, picked him up and set him down next to me so I could get out of the covers. Damned cat. He accurately read my movements and jumped down to run to the kitchen to wait for me. Pussy-whipped usually meant something else,but in this context it meant that Shadow had me exactly where he wanted me. I couldn’t help feeling that he’d trained me far more than I’d trained him.

Meanwhile, a sleepy Fluffy had padded in. Seeing that there were no villains making his companion screech, he turned and trotted back to the kitchen. Presumably he wanted to give me some privacy as I got dressed – but it could also have been to wait for his own food.

I needed a shower to blast away the sleep, so I turned the water to hot and luxuriated in the new vanilla-scented body wash that Connor had given me. The bottle had cost a wince-inducing amount but it made my skin feel buttery soft so I tried to ignore the price tag. I shouldn’t have Googled it. Live and learn.

I dried my ash-blonde hair and dressed in sensible clothes, then went to deal with my impatient pets. As soon as I entered the kitchen Shadow wound through my legs, purring loudly and asking politely to be fed.

‘Purring is a much nicer way to wake me,’ I grumped. ‘Jumping on me is not. Just for future reference.’ Even so, I hurriedly filled their bowls and changed their water before I switched on the kettle for my tea. I yawned as I prepared a cup of blood, then plugged my nose and glugged it back. I was starving, so I made breakfast and settled in to eat it with my first glorious cuppa of the day.

My phone rang as I was cleaning up. Because I’d assumed it would be Connor, I was surprised when the screen said that it was Gunnar. Uh-oh. ‘Hey, Gunnar, what’s wrong?’

He was silent for a moment then he sighed heavily. ‘We’ve had a murder. A definite one this time.’

‘Any details?’

‘Not over the phone,’ he said gruffly. ‘Come to the office and I’ll fill you in. I’ve called Sidnee.’

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