Page 9 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

I rolled my eyes; so much for being quiet and sneaking up on anything.

Suddenly Shadow yowled and backed up so that his short tail was touching me. He was staring into the woods. ‘Sidnee!’ I called. She was only a few meters away from me but she heard the panic in my voice and started to run to me – just as the woods in front of me exploded into a mass of thick brown fur.

Fuck!

Chapter 6

A bear! An actual fucking bear! I squealed, dropped back and lifted my service weapon to face the enormous creature in front of me. It took one look at my gun and slid to a stop, then it lifted its paws. It would have been comical if I hadn’t just nearly shit myself.

Clearly this wasn’t a normal animal so it had to be shifter. I dropped my weapon down to my side but didn’t re-holster it. ‘Who are you, and why are you tormenting Hayleigh?’ I yelled.

Sidnee joined me, her breath ragged with exertion and panic. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the bear too. It shrank into itself and morphed from a huge beast into a thin, scraggly, middle-aged looking man. I kept my eyes firmly on his face since he was butt naked; I still wasn’t accustomed to the nonchalance of shifter nakedness and I really didn’t want to see a strange man’s junk. The only dangling equipment I wanted to see was Connor’s – not that I got to see it dangling all that often.

‘I’m not tormenting her,’ the man said hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck. He had pale blond hair and looked as though he’d been trying to grow a beard but couldn’t find enough energy for the hair to appear. He seemed a little shy – not about his nakedness, since he made no move to cover his meat and vegetables – and didn’t meet my eyes when he spoke. He was tall, but his nervousness made him seem much smaller than he actually was. But that bearhadn’tbeen shy; he’d been prowling through the woods intent on doing who-knew-what to Hayleigh.

Much to the man’s alarm, Shadow stalked around him. I slapped my leg in a half-arsed effort to call him to me fully expecting nothing to happen, but Shadow promptly came and sat next to me as though he were a trained dog.

Huh.

I put my gun back in its holster, stroked my cat for a job well done and folded my arms. ‘Hayleigh thinks a bigfoot is going to ravish her. But it’s you she keeps seeing, isn’t it?’

Looking ashamed, the man nodded his head.

‘So start explaining or I’m taking you in for stalking and intent to cause bodily harm.’ I was bluffing because there wasn’t really anything I could pin on him, but the threat seemed to scare him.

He looked at me, eyes wide with panic. ‘Please don’t!’ he blurted. ‘I’d never hurt Hayleigh. I love her. I’m her husband, Ray Farnsworth.’

Sidnee snorted derisively. ‘Her husband left her. That doesn’t sound too much like true love.’

The bear shifter seemed to collapse in on himself even further. ‘I–I did leave, but it’s not because I don’t love her. Things had grown stale between us. She’s … bored with me. She loves these smutty romance books – she spendshoursreading them and I can’t compete with that.’

As he gestured down at his junk, I followed the gesture then berated myself for looking. Ack. I couldn’t unsee that. I tore my eyes back to his face, wondering how I’d got sucked into this fiasco.

He continued, ‘I told her I’d leave her unless she gave up reading those books. She didn’t, so I went.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s important to follow through so people know you mean what you say.’

‘Sure,’ I interrupted. ‘So maybe you should be careful about what you say!’ His shoulders slumped. I held up a hand. ‘Let me just make sure I’m clear on the situation. Your wife likes books and you made her choose between you and them?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you were surprised when you lost?’ I shook myhead in disbelief. What an idiot. I glared at him. ‘Everyone deserves books. Books are knowledge and fun and escapism. It’s not okay for anyone to dictate what books someone reads and when.’ I paused. ‘Except school teachers – I guess they have to specify books to read for exams. But apart from that, fictional dictatorship is an absolute no-no. Do you hear me?’

Ray nodded mutely.

Sidnee huffed. ‘Good Lord, this is an easy fix. Are your clothes nearby?’ Ray nodded and pointed to a tree. ‘Well, go get dressed,’ she instructed, shooing him with her hands.

He went and dressed; when he returned, he was wearing fishing gear: brown Xtra-Tuf boots, jeans and a sweatshirt with a rain jacket slung over it.

‘Now, we’re going to talk with your wife.’ Sidnee’s tone brooked no argument. He slumped further but followed us obediently.

I stopped to put Shadow in the vehicle, which the cat protested loudly about, then we all walked to the front door and knocked. Hayleigh flung it open again. ‘What…?’ She stopped dead when she spied her erstwhile husband. ‘Ray!’ She looked gobsmacked, then she burst into tears and ran inside the house.

We followedher and guided Ray firmly to the sofa. ‘You stay here,’ I growled. I prowled down the hallway to find Hayleigh, leaving Fluffy and Sidnee guarding him in case his crimes were far greater than the bookish sins he’d confessed to.

I knocked lightly on the bedroom door. ‘Hayleigh? Are you alright?’

Uncontrolled sobbing was the only response. I sighed and opened the door. She’d wanted the police and now she had them; I was solving this damned mess so that I could tick it off my list. ‘Has he hurt you physically?’ I asked gently.

She stopped mid-sob. ‘Goodness no, never! But he,’ her lip wobbled, ‘left me!’

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