Page 20 of Midlife Vampire Unexpected

“Suit yourself,” Antonio said, stepping out of the car. “Call me if you need some food.” He held up his wrist toward me. I shook my head.

“No thanks.” I said curtly before I stepped on the gas. I drove forward, slamming the passenger car door shut. It didn’t take me long to get to my house. When I’d moved up from Indianapolis, it’d been pretty easy to go from owning a house in the city to owning a one-bedroom old wooden house in Cougar Creek. A community of houses ran up narrow streets on the east bank of Cougar Creek and up along the hillside. From the neighborhood you could look across the small valley and see The Estate and the cemetery on the other hillside.

I walked in my house and took a deep breath. It was an old one-bedroom small Victorian cottage like almost every house in the region. There was a loft with a small deck that I went up to in the darkness. My eyes pierced the darkness across the creek. I could easily see the cemetery. It had a faint glow about it. The light must have been the wards. I wondered if every supernatural could see them. If it was something to do with being a vampire, being a member of the coven, or if it was something to do with this thing Antonio had called the pulse.

I went into my garage where I kept all my sporting-goods, my rowing machine, my elliptical trainer, my weights and where I also kept my whiteboard. I hadn’t really used it. I hadn’t been working on many cases. The last case in Indianapolis had kind of worn me out, but I hadn’t been able to let go of my whiteboard. I had spent so many hours of my life sitting there staring at it, that now it seemed crazy to let it go into a dumpster. So many memories of so many cases were tied up in the stupid white thing.

“Let’s get you out of here,” I said, moving aside some of my workout gear to make a path for the whiteboard to go into my living room. I spent the next few hours on the Internet printing out photographs and newspaper articles and taping them to the whiteboard. I printed out everything I could find out about Cougar Creek; the murders and strange phenomenon happening in southern Oregon. Then I expanded my search, looking for odd occurrences in other places. It wasn’t until sunset I realized I had gone far down the rabbit hole and was looking for supernatural events in the most unlikely of places.

A knock on the door got my attention and had me focused in seconds.

My pulse was going off, so it was a supernatural creature. These old houses didn’t have eye holes to look through, so I just had to open the door and hope for the best.

I sighed with relief when I saw Jane jogging in place in the front yard.

“I was up for a run,” she said, taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat off her forehead. “I thought I’d stop by and say hello and see how you’re doing. It can be a bit much, huh?”

“A bit?” I asked. “Have you ever had to suck blood?”

“No,” she said. “But if you need something to eat, you can feed on me.”

“No!” I stepped back and motioned her in the house. “I’d rather go hungry. I can’t feed on you and I can’t continue to feed on Antonio. I can’t. No. I just can’t.”

“But you have to,” she came inside. “You can’t not eat and now you’re a vampire you can’t not drink blood. It’s your thing.” Jane shrugged and gave me a sideways smile.

“It’s like you’re telling me eating moldy monkey brains is my thing now.”

“Does it really taste that disgusting?” she asked.

“No,” I said, grabbing a glass out of the kitchen cupboard and filling it with tap water for her. “In fact, it’s really kind of good, but that’s not the point. The point is I must get it, but who I have to get it from or what…I haven’t got it all figured out yet. It’s like I’m still trying to figure out who murdered these kids and how do we stop them from murdering again.”

“Look, we appreciate the need to find the demon,” Jane smiled, and took the glass of water. “We’re also concerned about you and your ability to transition into becoming a supernatural. It’s not easy and you’re taking it in your stride. You just became a vampire. Now you’re already showing up for work and trying to solve a supernatural case using human tendencies or human methods.” She motioned towards the white board. It was now covered in articles and string and tape and photographs.

“I found him,” I said.

She looked at me, her gaze wide and dumbfounded.

“You found the demon?” she asked, looking over the whiteboard.

“Yes,” I said. “I did what the sheriff told me to do, which was strangely the right thing to do in this case. It isn’t always, but this time it worked.”

“What happened?” she asked. “You don’t look dead or anything. Well, now actually you do look dead because you’re already dead, but he didn’t burn you out of existence which I think he’s probably pretty capable of doing.”

“He’s dying,” I said.

“Oh, really. So ’s a good thing, right? I mean, I feel bad for him and all, but he did kill two people, so he kind of deserves to go back to Undirheim. He’ll be made to answer to Thrain.”

“I have a slightly different take on it,” I said. “He has something we need.

“How can he have something we need?” Jane asked.

“He didn’t come up with the whole idea of attacking the coven all on his own in the cemetery. He’s just a demon looking for a deal. You guys have said it yourself. He’s the only link we have to the person or being behind this, so if we let him die without him telling us who it is, then we’re not any better off than we were before.”

“What are you saying?” Jane asked. “I’m capable of reading someone’s mind, but out of respect I’d rather just ask you the question and let you answer it.

“I think we need play his game,” I said.

“What do you mean, play his game?” Jane put her hands on her hips and cocked her head toward me. “He wants to stay alive. We can’t help a demon stay alive.”

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