Turning around to head back to the bus stop and check on the girl, I saw her leaning against a man who had his arms around her. And then I saw his face. Blair stared at me with a shocked expression.
“Hi, Lieutenant,” I said. “Can I borrow your guillotine? I seem to have forgotten mine.”
He seemed to choke, then took a deep breath. “Ms. McLane. Do you think you can take this young lady to my car while I handcuff the man you just brained?”
“Sure.” I walked up, put my arm around her shoulders, and guided her toward the bus stop where a tan sedan sat with its lights on and its engine running. I opened the back door and guided her into the seat, then glanced back at Blair and the vamp. It looked as though Blair handcuffed him and left him on the ground.
“Where are you coming from?” I asked the girl.
She named one of the strip bars and said she worked there. Blair reached the car at the same time as a regular cop car pulled up. He spent a couple of minutes talking to the cops, who then dragged the vamp to their car and put him in the back seat.
“I need to take a statement from you,” Blair told me after he finished with the uniformed policemen.
“Yeah. I heard noise in the bushes when I came to the bus stop,” I said. I pointed to the broken street light. “He had her pinned down and was biting her neck.”
Blair nodded, making notes in a little book. “And what did you do?”
“I kicked him a couple of times, then dragged her away from him.”
“And picked him up and bashed his head into a tree,” Blair said.
“I didn’t want him to attack me.”
“Of course not. Do you mind telling me how you managed to pick up a two-hundred-pound man and swing him around like he weighed nothing?”
“I work out. He doesn’t weigh nothing. He’s actually pretty heavy.”
He stared at me as though waiting for me to say something else. Finally, he said, “You work out.”
“Yeah. I like to stay in shape.”
Chapter 7
Blair took the stripper to the emergency room on the south edge of downtown, then drove me home. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that he didn’t ask me my address, but I was. Obviously, he was watching me. But it didn’t explain why he drove right past my apartment while taking the stripper home, then back the way we’d come to take me home.
“I’ll need you to come down to the station tomorrow and give a formal statement,” he said when he pulled up in front of my apartment building.
“I gave you a statement.”
“Yes, but I’ll need one on the record. I may have more questions for you.”
I glanced at him, trying to figure out whether he was just trying to get more time with me or what he really wanted.
“He bit her on the neck,” I said, and watched for his reaction.
“I noticed that.”
“I didn’t see his mouth,” I said. “Was this one of your guys with funny teeth?”
He gave me a long look, then said, “Do we have to play these games?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re what, five-seven, five-eight, and a hundred thirty-five, forty pounds? You kicked a two-hundred-pound man’s ass. Picked him up like a child and slammed his head into a tree. That’s not normal. Men with fangs biting women in the neck is not normal. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“I’ve been in this city less than a week, and you want me to tell you what’s going on? If you’re so smart, I think you can figure out what’s normal and what’s not. I’m tired, Lieutenant. Unless you have some basis for keeping me up all night, I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Good night, Lieutenant,” I said, opening the door and getting out of the car.
Blair watched me unlock and go through the door of my building. I climbed the steps to the second floor and stopped to watch through the window on the landing as he drove away, then I continued up to my apartment.
As I crawled into bed, I wondered if every city on the continent had a rogue vampire problem, or if I simply got unlucky in my choice of a place to live.
It felt as though I had barely fallen asleep when the cheap alarm clock started ringing. At first, I couldn’t figure out what the noise was. When you don’t go to work until five o’clock in the evening, you usually don’t have a problem getting up on time.
When I turned it off, the little Disney girl on the clock face reminded me of Lizzy and her brunch. Blair had dropped me off at five-thirty in the morning and I’d only had four hours of sleep. I considered rolling over and going back to sleep. But Lizzy had reached out twice, offering friendship. So, I dragged myself out of bed, took a shower, and put on my one dress.
I took a good look at myself in the mirror as I brushed out my hair and decided I should set aside a little money for some makeup—just for the eyes and some lip gloss.
When I walked into the restaurant, I spotted Lizzy immediately at a table with about a dozen young women. She saw me at the same time and waved, then jumped up and came to meet me.
“Most of these girls are norms,” Lizzy said as she gave me a quick hug, “so be careful what you say.”
She led me over to the table and pulled a chair in beside her while she introduced me. A waitress came and handed me a menu. I ordered coffee and orange juice.
I really didn’t know what to expect, but the group was friendly, and other than a few questions that didn’t get too personal, I was able to simply watch and listen. The conversations were mainly about their work, boyfriends, and things to do around town. Before I knew it, two hours had passed and some of the women started asking for their checks, paying, and heading out.
“So, what did you think?” Lizzy asked as we walked out to the parking lot.
“Seems like a fun crowd,” I said.
“Yeah, they can be. I go out dancing with some of them occasionally, but we mostly see each other here on Sundays. With my classes and all, I don’t have a lot of spare time.”
“So, you’re in school?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m working on my doctorate in Astrophysics at the university.”
I must not have kept a very good poker face because Lizzy laughed. “Yeah, Dizzy Lizzy can actually add two and two and integrate the sum into Einstein’s theories,” she said. “And I can cast a horoscope like nobody’s business.” Her expression grew somber. “One of the girls said there was a vampire attack near Rosie’s last night.”
“Yeah. He attacked a stripper at that bus stop a couple of blocks from Rosie’s.”
“Wow. Did she survive?”
I nodded. “The cops caught him. Do you know what they do with a supernatural?”
“They have a special jail,” Lizzy said. “You know that detective who comes into the bar? The one who’s got the hots for you? He’s head of the Paranormal Crimes Unit.”
I felt my face warm. “Blair?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Sam said he didn’t have any magic, but that he’s sensitive to it.”
Lizzy shrugged. “He doesn’t seem to have any problem pushing through the veil. Maybe his magic is just dormant. Do you need a ride?”
She led me to a pink Mini-Cooper and unlocked the doors. “It matches my hair. Don’t you think that’s cool? Where to?”
I gave her my address, and she pulled out into traffic like a racecar driver pulling out of the pit.
“So, how did you know about the stripper?” Lizzy asked. “Did you see it?”
“I got to the bus late, or maybe it was early, and I heard something. When I checked it out, I found the guy biting her in the neck.”
“Oh, wow.” Lizzy shook her head. “You’re brave. I would have picked up the phone.” She glanced over at me. “Oh, yeah. No phone.” Her eyes widened. “What did you do?”
With a shrug, I said, “Kicked him in the head.”
We pulled up at a red light, and she turned to inspect me. “Yeah, I can see that. You don’t have any soft magic, do you? It’s all dominance.”
She was right, I didn’t have any soft edges. I was the girl the Illuminati sent out to pound their enemies into submission. I bit my lip, then said, “Not really. I don’t have any talents, as people call them. I just tap a ley line and apply power to what I want to do. So, what are your talents?”
She chuckled. “I’m clairvoyant. A seer. But I see more than the future.”
When my eyes met hers, I realized the depth that was in her, disguised by the pink hair, wild clothes, and colorful makeup.
“And that frightens people,” I said.
She nodded.
“Truth is the most powerful weapon,” I told her. Then I had a realization. “The cards. You really don’t need them.”
Lizzy blushed. “Well, they give me a medium to help express what I see. And it’s less intimidating, I think.”
“Don’t look too hard at me,” I said. “I’ll just confuse you. Past, present, future—none of it is real. Even I don’t know who I am.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Blair showed up shortly after I took over the bar that evening.
“You know, when I looked at that guy last night, half his head and his face was crushed,” Blair said. “But this morning, all he has is a nasty bruise.”
I nodded. “Vampires heal fast. You can find a lot of books about them at the library. Check the fiction section. Need a menu?”
He opened his mouth, and then closed it. I waited. Finally, I asked, “Coffee or a beer, Lieutenant? Menu?”
“You told me that you knew as much about vampires as you did about werewolves, garden gnomes, and leprechauns.”
“Yes, I do. Tell me about the Paranormal Crimes Unit. What do you do? Investigate people for using a Ouija Board without a license?”