Page 13 of Midlife Vampire Unexpected

“Wouldn’t it be the same people trying to break open the cemetery?” I asked.

“That would be the obvious choice,” Antonio concurred. “However, the price on a werewolf in this neighborhood has been around for centuries. It’s why there are no werewolves here.”

“Well, it’s got to be a Fae or a demigod. They’re the only ones who live that long,” Mae said.

“Exactly.” Bianca agreed.

“So, we’re either dealing with one or two perps,” I said.

Antonio shrugged and motioned towards the door. “Either way, it’s not safe for anyone to be alone, so I’m going to the police station with you two.”

I wasn’t sure what annoyed me more. The fact he was coming with us or the fact he wasn’t coming with us to take care of me.

Chapter 8

Bianca and I went to the police station together. We told Antonio to stay in his truck because he couldn’t sit in the waiting room staring at us. He didn’t see why not, but he agreed once Bianca told him to. It was also starting to get a little bit annoying. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but being able to feed off Antonio had made him feel a little bit like my private property.

He wasn’t. He was a lone werewolf with a personal mission to protect the underdog, Bianca. I just happened to be here.

“About time you ladies got into work,” Sheriff Ted greeted us. His jowls wobbled where they hung out under his sparse gray beard. “I’ve set up a board in the conference room and we need to start looking a little closer to what’s going on here. I made a lot of changes to it last night. “

I looked with concern over at Bianca. She’d been here a lot longer than I had and she knew Sheriff Ted better than I did. She gave me a slight shake of her head, letting me know I probably didn’t have too much to worry about.

I grabbed a coffee, but when I took a sip, it tasted disgusting.

Bianca shrugged. “I guess you don’t drink coffee anymore.”

“Get in here,” Sheriff Ted shouted through to us from the conference room. We trudged in, Bianca with her coffee still in hand. I’d thrown mine in the trash. The board was set up starting with a map of the forest around us and a mark where the bodies were found. He showed tracks drawn on the map of where we went out looking for animals.

“The best I can figure out is something tore them limb from limb and marked them with strange symbols. It looks like we’re going to have to talk to every crackpot in the neighborhood, and the woods of Southern Oregon there’s, well, there’s a lot of crackpots.” Sheriff Ted explained.

“Who are the people in the photos?” I asked.

“We have cameras up around town, so we’ve started to gather pictures of new people in town. You know, strangers, people we haven’t seen before.”

“You can do that around here?” I asked.

“We need to start checking the tourists at the Crown Hotel and anyone who signed the guestbook down at the little museum by the Hot Springs.”

“I guess that’ll be my job,” I said.

“You guessed it,” Sheriff Ted nodded. “Hey, are you feeling okay?”

“Um, yeah,” I replied cautiously. “Why?”

“You look really pale,” he commented. “I hope this work isn’t too stressful for you. It’s an active case and all.”

I looked over Bianca. When I left Indianapolis, it was for a quiet life in southern Oregon. I’d thought I was going to be writing out parking tickets and getting cats out of trees.

“I’m fine,” I responded.

“Well, this is more excitement than I’ve seen in the last forty years I’ve been on the job,” Sheriff Ted said. “It’s a quiet little town. Something strange is happening recently and we have got to figure out what.”

“Have you noticed there are a lot more tourists coming to town?” Bianca asked.

I shrugged. “I imagine murders in town like this will get some attention. Everyone’s always looking for the next mass murderer.”

“That is something we should probably consider,” Bianca nodded towards me.

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