Page 36 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“We require it here,” Ezio says. “I apologize, but you’re given no choice. I’ll need blood and fingerprints.”
Phil glances over at Casimir like he thinks he might be able to persuade him. “I’m just here temporarily.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Casimir tells him. “Everyone who steps in here gets registered.”
Phil nods. “Alright. Where do I do that?”
Ezio hesitates and I glance over at him.
“Ezio handles that,” I say, wondering what the hesitation was about. This is something we’ve always done together. Does he just not want to be around me? “I don’t have to be present.”
“It’d be best if we do it together,” Ezio comments, confusing me more.
“I’ll go too! It sounds delightful!” Yorick says. “I want to be a detective when I grow up.”
“At the rate you’re going, it’ll take a few hundred years,” Casimir observes.
“Casimir is such a kidder,” Yorick tells Phil. “He’s actually one of my best friends.”
“Sure. Best friend, please come to this dark and isolated forest where no one will hear your screams,” Casimir says, obviously planning on hunting him.
“Ah ha ha… screams of joy, I assume! I wonder what you have planned. Is it a water balloon fight? I’ve always wanted to have one of those. Julian, please?”
“Sure, next time we’re over we’ll do a water balloon fight.”
“Can I fill mine with holy water and garlic?” Casimir asks, even though neither does much to vampires since it’s folklore. “Maybe little nails.”
“Hon, please don’t forget that there are others around who might not… realize how funny your sense of humor is when you joke with your best friend,” Julian says. “They might… weirdly think you’re evil and should not be running our district.”
“Oh… yes. It’s fine. Just an inside joke between me and Yorick here. He loves my inside jokes, don’t you?”
Yorick smiles. “Ha… ha ha. I sure do! His jokes are delightfully sweet.”
Phil doesn’t look convinced.
I clear my throat. “Let’s head out, then. We’ll go to the local station to get everything. Your prints and information will go into a specific database that only those who are in charge of the vampires and werewolves have access to.”
“Okay. I have my car, so I’ll just follow you to the station?”
“That’d be great,” I say.
I get into my car and see that Ezio is heading over to it, but before he can get into the passenger seat, Yorick hops in, so Ezio gets in the back.
Yorick turns his bright smile on me. “Can I be a detective? It sounds delightful.”
“Sure, you just have to get a degree,” I tell him.
“Oh… no, I was thinking just like… you hand me a badge and a gun.”
“That’s not quite how that works.”
“Does Ezio have a degree?”
“No, but I’ve been doing random detective work for years,” Ezio says.
“He couldn’t even detect that this Zach guy was into him. I heard all about it from Julian after Ezio cried about it for?—”
Ezio’s hand wraps around Yorick’s mouth while his other hand rolls the window down. Since I’m currently driving about sixty as I head toward the station, the wind is whipping Yorick’s freshly done hair all around.
