The killer is also a vampire? I mean, it makes sense to a certain degree; who else would know how to kill a vampire? I stared at the laptop screen, once again reading the email that Argir had sent as my cereal began to grow soggy. It didn’t matter anyway; my appetite was shot.
I toyed with the pendent that Michael had given me – the little silver cross with forget-me-nots – as I thought about what we’d been told. Antun had gotten photos from the latest crime scene, and the incinerated faces and limp bodies of the victims were burned into my mind. He and Syla had gone to the scene themselves that morning while Michael and I were headed to work. I think that particular morning, Antun had had the foresight to not tell us about the crime scene until after we got home from work – there was no way I’d have been able to work if I had known about it.
We had to get the mortals away from this – there were only other vampires involved. It seemed that we had our work cut out for us, because how could we still use the SPD as a resource to find this guy without getting mortals involved in supernatural affairs?
A hand landed on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Michael reading the email over me. He squeezed it as he glanced down at me, giving me a small smile. “You alright?”
I tried to give him a returning grin, but it faltered. “You know the poster next to the water cooler at work?” I asked.
“The one that says, ‘Hang in there’ with a cat hanging from a branch by its front paws?”
I nodded, “That’s the one.” I lifted my cereal, scooping a bite and grimacing at how soft it had gone. I set it down and get it a little push away as if it had offended my tastebuds. “Anyway, that’s how I’m feeling.”
Michael bent over and wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. His face turned so that his mouth brushed against my cheek in the lightest kiss before pressing his cheek to mine, eyes going back to the email. “A way to measure mana. When do you think he figured it out? How?”
“He’s got a full medical facility with the ability to do full blood panels; it makes sense that after centuries of study he’d find it.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “ Ugh, just so much going on. How am I supposed to keep everything straight?”
“If you figure that out, let me know – I’m struggling too,” Michael murmured near my ear.
I leaned against him, my hand coming up to caress his face. He turned into my palm and placed a kiss right in the center, before muttering, “We’ll figure this out.”
He stood back up, straightening his tie. “You ready to go?”
I nodded. “I’m going to take care of my dishes; I’ll meet you at the car.”
He gave me a small smile – one that told me that he knew I was still scramble-brained but he loved me anyway – before leaving the room. I heard the jingle of keys next to the door downstairs as I took my bowl to the sink, dumping the remainder of my breakfast into the garbage disposal and turning it on briefly.
Dish taken care of, I went back to the table to retrieve my laptop. It was still open to the email, but I just closed it and put it in my bag. Meeting Michael at the car, we drove into the city. Holding hands as evergreens blurred by, eventually replaced with buildings and cement, I kept thinking about the email.
The recent murders floated around in my head, too. No commonalities besides being vampires… and the locations are all over the place. How on earth are we going to catch this guy?
My mind continued ruminating as we pulled into the parking garage. We rode the elevator to our floor. As the doors opened, Sarah was standing there with a pleased grin. Looking straight at me, she said brightly, “Just a heads up, I got transferred to your floor. Apparently having someone go on maternity leave opens up opportunities to move.”
Shit. Paula only just went on leave like a day ago. I thought I was going to get to pick, or at least have a say in the matter if anyone were to transfer to our floor…
But there she was.
“It’ll be fun working with you guys. I’ll see you both later,” Sarah said with a little wave of her fingers as she strode off.
I looked up at Michael as he glanced down at me. He shrugged helplessly, then motioned me forward away from the elevator. I walked over to my office, opening the door numbly and going over to my desk.
I unpacked my laptop, setting it beside the desktop monitor before opening it. As the laptop lit up, Argir’s email was still pulled up on it. Why didn’t I just exit out of this before closing it? Not that I won’t be thinking about all this all day anyway.
But still, instead of clicking the red X in the upper right-hand corner, I continued to stare at it. What even is the next step? Do we keep interviewing Davor’s progeny in hopes of figuring out if any of them did it? What can we do to prevent another murder from happening?
How are we going to get Jones to back down? I think he’s started to take personal offense to these cases. And that very first death, the bloodless corpse – it didn’t fit the pattern at all, yet that symbol… I could tell it bothered Antun, an if it bothers someone as unflappable as him…
I rubbed my hands over my face, my fingers dragging down my skin. I feel like we’re missing something, that all the clues we’re needing are right here…
A knock on the office door shook me from my thoughts, and I gave a slightly distracted, “Come in,” before Sarah was opening the door and coming inside. She closed it behind her softly, her grin showing her perfectly straight teeth. I couldn’t help but quickly glance at her canines as she did so. They were normal – for the moment. As if she knew what I was thinking about, her smile widened.
“How can I help you?” I asked with my internal work mask on. I swear, if you’re here just to bother me during work—
“The printers are out of paper, and the supply room closet is locked. Would you mind unlocking it and helping me grab a few reams?” She asked it with such nonchalance that if I didn’t know any better, she could’ve fooled me into thinking she was completely normal.
Nevertheless, I grabbed the keys and began to lead the way to the storage closet. Sarah’s heels made her even taller, making it feel like she was looming behind me. Considering what she was, I felt a little uncomfortable with the idea of her back there – she could pounce at any time.
The walk to the storage closet felt forever long, and when we finally arrived, I unlocked it with quick efficiency, stepping aside to let Sarah grab what she needed. She grabbed a couple reams of paper, then a couple more, then surprised me by grabbing even more paper. That has to be getting heavy, right? But she stacked it all neatly in two columns on the ground in front of her.
“Are you trying to supply all of the printers in the building or something?” I asked in confusion. “What’s with all the paper?”
“No one wants to have to go all the way to this supply closet to get more paper. That’s why the printers ran out in the first place; no one bothered getting more paper when they were running low.” Sarah’s voice was matter-of-fact, not in the least malicious. And that was… creepy.
“So, you’re literally carrying all the paper for all the machines? You know you can do multiple trips, right?” I said with incredulity. I glanced back at the closet and saw a single ream of paper left.
Sarah looked blandly at me as if I had just suggested the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. “Why make multiple trips when one will do? Besides,” she managed to get her fingers under the bottom edges of the stacks, and in a sure, swift motion, she managed to stand and lift the double stacks. “I want to show Michael how much stronger I am than you. Do you think you could carry all these reams?” I opened my mouth but then she added, “As easily as I can?”
What the hell was wrong with this woman? Michael was obviously not at all interested in her, yet she kept trying to get his attention anyway. It was really starting to piss me off.
“Cool, you’re super strong, so what?” I shrugged and feigned as much nonchalance as I could muster as I locked the supply closet door.
The bitch still grinned. Turning around to leave, Sarah threw over her shoulder, “When he decides he’s done with you, I’ll be waiting right there for him.”
❖ 🩸 ❖
Fucking Sarah with her high heels and perfect face. I glared at her through my office window, the blinds helping to hide my expression. Mine and Michael’s relationship was solid, but every time I saw her talking with him or chatting and laughing with other co-workers, I felt jealous. Why can’t I be that outgoing? And why can’t she fucking stay away from Michael for more than a few minutes? Even when we worked on the lower level, she hadn’t been this insistent.
Thoughts plaguing, I grabbed my old mug and headed to the break room to wash it and get fresh coffee. I didn’t stop this time when I passed Michael’s desk; with Sarah here, I felt like every single move I made was being watched.
As I washed the mug at the sink, I let my thoughts take over. When, she’d said – when he’d leave me… Is it inevitable, us… nope, no I’m not going there right now. I started prepping the machine, trying to shove those horrible thoughts away as I replaced the pot and pushed the start button.
As the coffee began to slowly drip into the pot, I heard the door open behind me. The cadence of the steps was so familiar that I didn’t need to turn around. “Hey,” Michael said casually. “How’s your day going so far, Drew?” He was holding an empty mug, his own excuse for being here.
I gave an automatic, “It’s going alright, thank you for asking,” turning around and meeting his eyes.
Those eyes of his asked, How are you really?
I gave a slight shake of my head, Not now. I’ll tell you later.
And right on cue, Sarah came in, holding a mug as well. “Well, it looks like we all needed a refill. How funny.” She gave a too-white smile, teeth gleaming and making me think of her other form.
But instead of cringing away, I gave a genial smile before grabbing the pot and filling my mug. I lifted it towards the two of them. “All yours,” I said, placing it back in the machine and walking toward the door. As I walked past, Michael grabbed my hand and gave it three quick taps with a finger before letting go. It was so brief that I wondered if Sarah had even noticed, but at that second, I didn’t care. Those three taps – I love you – warmed my soul.
I closed my office door behind me, setting my mug on my desk before sitting. I noticed a notification on my phone – Antun, and not in the group chat.
Antun: I have a thought, but I wanted to run it by you first.
Okay… random, but I’ll bite. Please don’t be awful…
Drew: What’s up?
Antun: Something I meant to ask Sarah the other night and totally spaced. We don’t know what kind of powers werewolves have. I’m wondering if she might have a skill of some kind that we could use in the case.
I thought for a moment before replying.
Drew: Are you wanting me to ask her or something?
Antun: No, I was thinking more like inviting her over again for all of us to have a discussion. But I know how uncomfortable she made you last time, so I wanted to run the idea by you first.
I began to type, trying to think of how to reply to his request. She had made me feel pretty miserable in my own home, but we needed to know.
Drew: I appreciate it. I’ll ask her when she can come by and let you know. She might bother me (a lot) but if there’s any chance she could help in the case, we need to take it. We can’t let anyone else die.
Antun: Thank you Drew, it means a lot to me that you’re willing to do this. I’ll think of a way to make it up to you.
I set my phone down and sighed, putting my face into my hands and groaning. “ Ugh, I don’t wanna,” I whined to myself as I stood up and walked to my office door. Upon opening, I saw that Sarah was talking to Michael yet again. “Sarah, can I talk to you for a minute?” I called out. And after a half a moment of thought, I added, “Michael, you too if you have time.”
They both looked at me, momentary confusion playing across both of their faces before they walked to my office. Michael closed the door behind them. “Is something wrong, Drew?” he asked immediately.
“Nothing more than usual,” I replied. I turned to Sarah. “Antun wanted me to invite you over so that we could learn more about you.”
“You mean so you can learn more about werewolves,” Sarah corrected.
I glared at her, “Whatever. Will you come or not?”
She stood tall in front of my desk – damn high heels – peering down her nose at me. “Well, you’re being rather rude about it,” she complained. “What if I don’t want to share my secrets, huh?”
I stood so fast from my chair that it wheeled backward. “People are dying, Sarah. We’re just trying to make it stop. And if there’s even a slight chance you have a gift that could help us catch the killer then don’t you think you ought to—”
“Why are you attacking me, Drew?” Sarah’s brow furrowed and she turned to Michael, “Why’s she being so mean to me?” She looked close to
“She has a point, Sarah. If there’s anything in your wheelhouse that could help us catch this guy, I’d really appreciate it,” Michael replied.
You’d really appreciate it? I knew that he had used that phrase on purpose. How could Sarah refuse him?
Sarah crossed her arms and shifted her stance. “Well, I suppose I could come over and talk with you all for a little while. When?”
Antun hadn’t suggested a day, and I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. “Are you busy after work today?”
“I know my schedule is open,” Michael added quickly to the end of my question.
“I should be able to make that work,” Sarah said with a broad smile at him, as if he were the one who’d suggested it in the first place.
I cleared my throat, getting Sarah’s attention. “Then we’ll see you tonight. That was all, you may both return to your tasks.” I would’ve said return to what you were doing, but Sarah had been talking with Michael just before this, and I wanted her to just do her damn job. If she was going to be a bitch to me: whatever, but I didn’t tolerate slackers on my floor.
I watched Sarah turn toward the cubicles and her own workspace and let out a sigh of relief. At least she didn’t follow Michael back to his desk. She really is crazy about him. Michael turned as he got to his desk and pointed at the computer, mouthing Check yours.
I returned to my desk just as a message pinged on it. From Michael: “You sure about this?” he asked.
I caught his eye through the window and only shrugged. I typed a reply. “I guess we’ll see.”
