It was pretty clear from the way they looked at me that they disagreed with my assessment of the vampire I’d gone up against.
"Why don't we go ahead and start from the beginning. I want you to tell us everything that happened tonight. Starting from when you started your shift and going through to when you ran into the vampire. Tell us everything."
I sighed, but I’d gone over the story so many times this evening that I figured it wouldn't hurt to go over it one more time. I practically had my monologue about fighting off a fucking vampire memorized, and at least this time I’d be telling it to someone who believed me.
At least I thought they believed me. You could never be too sure with intelligence pukes.
"Let's be clear on this," I said. "I tell you all about my encounter with Vlad the Bitch and you make all of this go away?"
"We are prepared to make that offer, yes," Anderson said.
“Wait. You’re prepared to make that offer or you’re prepared to fucking do it?”
I’d been around the block often enough to know you didn’t make a deal with what you thought a government type was promising you.
"Fine," I said.
Anderson pulled a small digital recorder out of his jacket and set it on the table. I looked at the thing and then looked at its giant ancestor that was easily twenty times the size of the digital thing and shook my head.
It must be nice to work for an organization that thought technology was an asset rather than an expense.
“So I started the night casing the local liquor joint. There are always underage kids there trying to score booze at the beginning of the night, and I sort of have a soft spot because of an incident in my own past…"
I went through the entire long and fucked up story of how I’d started the evening doing regular work as a campus cop and ended the evening fighting off a vampire. The agents leaned forward and listened intently, taking notes occasionally.
By the end I actually felt pretty good. It was good to talk to somebody who actually sounded like they believed me.
"And that's all Mr. Byron?" Anderson asked.
"That's it," I said. "I kicked him over that railing, he fell and got impaled on one of the bits of railing, and then his whole body rapidly decomposed until it was nothing but dust and bone."
“Did you happen to get any samples of that dust and bone?” Hooks asked, leaning forward with intent.
I resisted the urge to lean back. I didn't want these guys to know just how creeped out I was by their routine. Let them know you were creeped out and they’d as good as won.
"You're going to have to ask our forensics guy about it," I said. "Last I saw he was sweeping up bits of vampire dust with a broom and a dust pan he grabbed out of the back room in the girl’s house."
Hooks let out a disgusted noise.
“Fucking campus cops."
Anderson looked like he was inclined to agree, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He reached out and flipped off the small digital recorder.
"All of that was on the record," he said.
I looked between the two of them warily. "And I have a suspicion you're about to tell me something that stays off the record?"
I didn't like the sound of that. Off the record with these types was never good. Yet I was completely at their mercy. If they could make all of this go away then I needed them, and so I’d have to play along.
For the moment.
"What you did out there tonight was fucking impressive Byron," Anderson said.
"Really fucking impressive," Hooks echoed. "We weren't kidding when we said anyone else on this department would’ve been killed going up against a vampire. Even one that was a "little bitch" as you so eloquently put it."
I looked between the two of them. Wondered why they were suddenly buttering me up. In my experience guys like this buttering up a grunt like me, I still thought of myself as a grunt even considering some of the stuff I’d done, usually meant they were about to ask me to do something equal parts stupid and dangerous.
"Is there a point to this?" I asked.
“The point is you’re wasted here as a campus cop Byron," Anderson said. "With your experience, with what you did tonight…"
I laughed as I realized what they were getting at. I held my hands up and shook my head.
"I'm going to stop you boys right there," I said. "I'm not interested in going off and joining Mulder and Scully or signing up for the men in black or whatever the fuck it is you guys do. I like my job here. It's nice and quiet, the occasional vampire notwithstanding, and I don't want anything to do with the supernatural after what I saw tonight. No thanks."
Hooks and Anderson exchanged a final unreadable look, but there was something about the sudden mood shift in the room that left me with the feeling they were disappointed.
Well they could go ahead and be disappointed. I’d done my time for king and country, and now I was interested in fading into obscurity. I was over going out and doing bad things to nasty people to protect someone who may or may not even need protecting.
Even though a voice in the back of my head whispered that the girl I saw tonight sure as fuck needed protecting.
No. I was all about me and my family, and nothing more. I wasn't going to put my wife in a situation where she had to worry about where I was or whether or not I was going to come home.
Never again, and going up against supernatural creatures that could kill anyone on the campus police department but yours truly seemed like a recipe for trouble.
"At least consider it Byron," Anderson said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card. Slid it across the table.
I didn't bother to look down at the thing. I reached down, picked it up, and tore it into as many tiny little bits as I could before those bits got too small for me to continue tearing them apart. When it was done I held them out and let them sprinkle all over the table like a little snow shower.
"Do you guys get the point now?" I asked. "I'm not interested in what you're selling. I have a nice quiet life here and that's how I like it."
“Suit yourself Byron," Hooks said. "But this is your last chance."
"If there's nothing else boys, I probably have a very worried wife I need to get home to. I’ll let you sort things out here."
I arched an eyebrow and waited for them to say anything else, but there was nothing forthcoming. They stood, straightened their jackets, and nodded to me.
"I'm disappointed Byron," Anderson said. "But I can understand where you're coming from. After some of the shit you did…"
"You did a good thing tonight," Hooks said. “We’ll take care of everything on this end. You don't have anything to worry about there. Trust us."
"Known too many secret agent types to ever do that," I said with a smile. “But it was nice meeting you guys, and I don’t often say that about your kind.”
"Nice meeting you Mr. Byron," Anderson said.
He nodded one final time and Hooks did the same as they filed out of the room.
I waited for a moment after they left before letting out a long sigh. I felt the tension draining. That had almost been more difficult than dealing with the vampire.
I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. I frowned. Rachel was going to be worried sick, a habit she’d picked up when I was overseas, but there was nothing I could do about that. It's not like I could help it when I had to work long hours.
I sighed, put my phone away, and went to grab my stuff so I could get the hell out of here.
Hopefully I’d never have to worry about vampires or the fucking supernatural ever again, though as I left I couldn't get the things that vampire said about coverups out of my head.
I tried to tell myself that if Anderson and Hooks were sniffing around then they were on it, and therefore it wasn’t my problem. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. That I should do something about it, no matter how many times I tried to smash that thought down and tell myself I was a man with a f
amily and I didn't do that kind of hero bullshit anymore.
13
Homecoming
Where the hell were you?"
I took in a deep breath and let it out. I tried not to get too upset with the missus when she got upset like this. After all, she'd been through a lot when I was overseas and out of contact. Sometimes for weeks or even months at a time.
I never thought I’d be out of contact like that back home, but they hadn’t given me my one phone call while Hendricks grilled me and I’d been too wrapped up in my thoughts on the ride home to think of calling then.
Big mistake.
“Something came up at work and I had to stay a little late," I said.
There was a part of me that thought I should tell her everything. A part of me that I ignored. I was in it deep enough without her thinking I was making up stories to cover for something.
"They kept you late?" she asked. "What happened? They've never kept you late in two years! Were you in danger?"
I launched into a practiced routine that I thought I’d finished when I was done with the service. I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. I pulled her against me. Felt the familiar sensation of her body stiffening.
It was a sensation I thought I was well over with. She even tried to push away and I held her tight.
Just like old times.
"I'm fine," I said. "We had some trouble with some drunk kids. Nothing big, just more than usual."
"You promise?" she asked, looking up at me with the beginnings of tears in her eyes.
Again I considered telling her the truth, but didn't. I couldn't bear to tell her I’d been in danger. I couldn't bear to tell her I’d been in a situation where I genuinely feared for my life.
Well, maybe I hadn’t genuinely feared for my life too much. It’d been touch and go at the beginning, but ultimately that vampire had been a pushover.
She'd been through so much in the days before we had our daughter, and I couldn't imagine putting her through that again. One of the reasons she'd been okay with me taking a job as a cop, pretty much the only work in civilian life I felt like doing, was because it was a job as a campus cop where I wasn't going to run into too much trouble.
Plus I figured she’d think I’d gone batshit insane if started spouting off about vampires. I still had trouble believing everything that had happened tonight. I believed it, for sure, but I had trouble believing.
So I lied. I wasn't proud of it, but I figured it was okay as little white lies went.
I ignored the nagging voice in the back of my mind that told me if there was one vampire out there then there could be others. That there might be danger. I pushed that unpleasant thought away.
After all, I’d never heard of trouble from vampires before, but then there was that vampire’s claim that things had been covered up…
I shook my head. Pushed those thoughts away. That was somebody else's problem now. I was going to get back to my nice normal quiet life.
"Listen baby," I said. "I had a long night and I'd like to kick back and relax. Is Zoey going to be up soon?"
Rachel smiled. "She was already up earlier and I told her to go back to bed. She was asking where daddy was. You okay taking care of her for a bit?"
"Always," I said.
To be honest I’d been worried I’d miss this. It was my favorite part of the day. Rachel worked days and I worked nights and whenever I got off I got Zoey up and helped get her ready for daycare.
I hated that she had to go to a daycare, but sometimes those things couldn't be helped. I also hated that she’d be starting at an actual school here in a few months.
My little girl was growing up, and like fathers all over the world I wasn’t sure I liked that idea. It was a hop, skip, and a jump from my little girl starting kindergarten to my little girl bringing home some no-good son-of-a-bitch who was exactly like me when I was a teen.
The thought was more terrifying than the vampire.
"You go and get ready for work. I’ll worry about making sure she’s good to go."
Rachel paused and locked eyes with me. I hated when she did that. It meant she didn't believe a word I’d said.
"You're sure nothing happened out there tonight? Nothing I need to worry about?"
I was surprised at how easy the lie came to my lips, but the last thing I needed was her freaking out. Either because she suddenly had a rude awakening finding out that creatures of the night were real, or because she’d surely think I was losing it. Either way it wouldn’t make for a pretty conversation.
"No babe," I said, leaning in for another kiss. "I can promise you there's absolutely nothing to worry about."
And yet. As I went up to the munchkin’s room I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something I should be worrying about.
The vampire talked about covering things up which meant there were more of them out there. I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe there could be a problem. What if they decided to come after me for killing one of their own?
After all, Anderson and Hooks had been pretty clear. I was a rare case actually killing one of them. I’d seen how people reacted in the bad old days when one of their fellow villagers was killed, even if the son of a bitch deserved it, and I could see the same thing happening in a small community of vampires.
Even if the son of a bitch had it coming.
I put those thoughts out of my mind. The sun was about to come up, after all, and if there was one thing all the stories agreed on it was that vampires and tanning didn’t go hand-in-hand. I had a whole day to sleep on it and think it over.
Besides, right now I had far more important things to think about.
I paused just outside the munchkin’s door. I reached my hands out and made a small scratching noise against the doorframe. I was greeted with squealing from inside.
Oh yeah. She was awake and she knew what was coming.
I got down on my hands and knees, put my hand over my mouth, and made a low growling noise.
"There's a little munchkin in there, and I'm gonna get her!"
I was greeted with more squealing and giggling. It was the kind of noise that melted my heart every time I heard it.
Yeah, I might have seen some shit with the work I did overseas. Heck, I’d seen some shit tonight, but everything was right in the world as long as I heard that little girl giggling.
I heard tiny feet hitting the ground and scrambling towards the door. Not the sort of behavior you’d expect from a kid who thought there was a monster waiting out in the hallway, but then again the munchkin knew exactly what sort of monster was waiting for her now.
Not the sort of monster I’d tangled with tonight. That was for damned sure.
She appeared around the corner and threw her arms wide, slamming into me like a tiny ballistic missile.
"Daddy!"
I smiled and pulled Zoey in for a hug. A hug that was maybe a little tighter than usual as I thought about someone else's daughter who’d never be able to hug her parents again, and felt guilty that I was trying to play it off as not my problem when I damn well knew that it was.
"Hi munchkin," I said, fighting back tears. "It's really good to see you."
She pulled away and looked up at me. Cocked her head to the side and stared into my eyes in that oddly knowing way kids sometimes had.
"Something wrong daddy?"
"No honey," I said. "Everything's just right."
14
Deadly White Lies
I woke up later in the day from a fitful sleep. I hadn't been able to get a good day’s sleep no matter how hard I tried. No matter how many times I tossed and turned.
There'd been a couple of times when I considered going down to the medicine cabinet and raiding the cold medicine, but I wasn't a huge fan of medicating my problems away.
It was the sound of activity downstairs more than anything that woke me up fully. I’d never been one to need much sleep. It was a skill I’d learned in my previous life. So I sto
od and got ready to go down to see something that was a hell of a lot better than anything I’d known in that previous life.
I paused at the entrance to the kitchen to watch Rachel getting dinner ready. Though it would be breakfast for me. It always felt a little odd that I was having cereal when they were eating dinner, but Zoey had stopped commenting on it a long time ago. She understood that I worked a different schedule than most of the other mommies and daddies and left it at that.
Rachel looked up and I could tell she was still annoyed about last night. Or, rather, what happened earlier this morning.
I’d discovered that working nights could really mess with your perception of time.
"How was work?" I asked.
"It was fine," she said, her voice cool.
Oh yeah. I was still paying for what happened earlier. Not that I could help it, and not that I was going to explain a damn thing to her. Not when explaining would raise more questions than I was willing to answer.
So I sat down and had my Fruit Loops while they had their dinner. Chicken nuggets and tater tots for the munchkin and a sandwich for my wife. It was strangely quiet, though the munchkin kept up with a steady stream of chatter that pierced the awkwardness between me and the missus.
Finally I finished and put my stuff in the sink. Turned to my wife. "So I'm going to get ready for work now.”
"That's fine," she said.
Damn. She really was annoyed. I guess she'd gotten so used to me not getting into trouble at my job that finally having a night where I didn't come home at the normal time had done a number on her.
I could sympathize after everything she'd been through, but it didn't make it any less annoying that she was giving me the cold shoulder.
When I got to the shower I enjoyed the warmth and thought about the dreams I’d had. Nightmares, really. Visions of fanged creatures with glowing red eyes breaking into my house and killing me and my family. Visions of vampires descending on my squad car in the middle of the night.
I’d known guys who caught a case of PTSD overseas, and I really hoped the same wasn't starting to happen to me. That would be a real irony if I managed to avoid getting it over there only to get vampire-induced PTSD back home.
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