Page 8 of Midlife Vampire Unexpected

The woman who owned the house, the one Sheriff Ted called The Hayes whenever he referred to her, answered the door. I knew her name as it was written in the reports about the killings.

“Hi, Mae,” I said.

The tall brunette’s mouth formed a slight oh before she recovered her composure. “Deputy Chloe, how are you?” She stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind her. “And who is this?” She was looking at Antonio.

“Do you remember when we were in the cemetery?” I asked, trying to jar the memory back into my brain.

“I’ve been in the cemetery many times,” Mae said.

“No, the most recent time. Something happened,” I said. “Something happened in there. There was a man, and he lost his arm. I followed him.”

Mae’s skin went pale. “No,” she said, looking from me to Antonio.

“Yeah,” Antonio said.

Mae reached behind her, quickly opening the door, and holding it as she stepped inside. “You must come in the house. Please.”

I glanced at Antonio, but I didn’t need his approval. It had been his idea to come here and it was definitely the right decision. I needed answers and these women had them. I moved past him as I slipped into the dark interior of the house.

“Go straight ahead.” She pointed to a room with red painted walls and a large fireplace on one wall.

Te room was separated into sections made up for different activities. There was a gaming corner, a table with a bunch of plants on it, and another table with jars of liquids and a Bunsen burner.

“Have a seat,” Mae motioned to us both. “I’ll get the others.”

Antonio didn’t look like he was in any mood to sit down at all. He paced up and down, looking through the door toward the rest of the house. I knew somebody on edge when I saw it. But there was more. He seemed to be expecting something.

I suddenly felt anxious. What if he was here to hurt these women? What if he had an ulterior motive in helping me? I stood up and moved toward Mae as she came in the room with her two friends. Antonio whirled on them and in seconds he was standing by the side of the curvy one with the red curly hair, if I remembered my notes correctly, she was Bianca.

What happened next was so fast I barely understood it. Purple and green sparks flew out of Mae’s hands and bolted Antonio in the chest. He was pushed across the room and slammed into the wall, crashing down on the table full of beakers and potions which went scattering across the floor, glass shattering everywhere.

“Stay back,” Mae said.

A tall dark woman hurried in the door, quickly tying Antonio up with a slim silver string.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Antonio grimaced in pain as the silver string burned his wrists which were already bandaged from feeding me.

I suddenly felt torn. The guy had saved me. I had to stick up for him even though I didn’t know him one bit myself. “He rescued me.” I offered the words to Mae, but she was on guard.

Her hands went up toward me, purple and green lightning sizzling in her palms.

I held my hands up and backed away “Hey, I don’t have any powers and I don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” My voice shook a bit.

The lights in her hands suddenly went out. “Sorry, deputy,” she said. “We know you, but we don’t know him. Who is he? Do you know him?”

“No. Not really.” I admitted. “I was hunting Xavier when this guy-”

“You hunted Xavier?” Bianca asked incredulously.

“You remembered him?” Jane frowned. “My compulsion didn’t last.”

“Could be something to do with the demon fire,” Bianca shrugged.

“I only remembered his name, but it doesn’t matter anymore. This guy, Antonio,” I pointed at the werewolf, “he killed Xavier.”

“Xavier’s dead?” Bianca and Jane spoke in unison, shock on their faces. I had no idea why they cared so much about this random vampire.

Mae chewed on her lower lip. “If Xavier’s dead…” Her voice faded as she grabbed the chain around her neck and pulled out a pendant.

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