Dive into Books This Weekend!

9/4/2025

The man stepped inside and stayed on the first floor, where he would likely have a good view of the second floor. Blair picked out a denim jacket. On a table near the stairs was a locked display of hunting knives. Blair considered buying one of them.

“Now I’m nuts,” he mumbled. “What do I need a knife for? I’m a damn vampire.”

After purchasing the jacket, Blair decided to go to the local electronics store. Being followed and not having a phone was freaking him out. Good selection or not, Blair needed a phone. As he walked, he kept glancing around but didn’t spot his follower. The store, though small, was well stocked. Blair got caught up in examining his options and started when he felt someone behind him.

Blair turned, expecting a salesperson. Instead, it was the man who’d been following him. “Are you knowledgeable about these things?” the man asked, a smooth smile warming his face.

“I… yeah,” Blair said. The guy looked geeky, but he wasn’t or he wouldn’t have to ask a stranger in a store about a smartphone.

Human bodies make a lot of noise. Forge’s off-the-cuff statement screamed in Blair’s head. Pay attention to what a body does. There was the distinct sound of fluid rushing through the man, but no heartbeat. He gave off none of the heat a vampire, human, or werewolf would have, though it varied from creature to creature. Moose was hotter than them all.

“I think these people work on commission. Ask them.” Blair pushed past the man. He’d need ID to get a phone activated anyway.

Blair was at the store exit when the thought hit him that the man hadn’t drawn a breath. Or exhaled. He hurried from the store to the parking lot. Blair unlocked and scrambled into Lucas’s Jeep. He saw the man sitting on a bench not too far from the lot.

Ben had written down directions to the police station. Blair glanced at the paper as he drove. Half a mile from the electronics store, the man was standing at a street corner, watching the Jeep. Blair’s heart was racing in his chest by the time he reached the police station. The enclosed garage had a big sign over the entrance informing him authorized personnel only. Blair doubted having sex with a detective gave him authorization, even if he was said detective’s soulmate.

The visitor’s lot was out in the open, between the main building and the employee parking garage. There were security cameras everywhere, and Blair wondered if he was tense enough to show up. He spotted the man on the sidewalk in front of the station. Blair hurried up the steps and into the building. Once inside he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

There was a desk with thick glass separating it from the room Blair stood in. He stepped up to it and smiled at the officer on the other side.
He hadn’t done anything wrong, or broken any laws, and still he was nervous when he asked, “Is Detective Forge here? Or Dr. Coate? I’m a friend, Dr. Coate lent me his Jeep. Sorry to bother them at work.”

Blair would clearly never make a good criminal, he blathered out everything.

The officer, an older man with a wide, grayish mustache, smiled broadly. “Dr. Coate is like that. Good guy. He’d give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. They were out on a call. I’m not sure if they’re back, but you can wait here, and I’ll check. What’s your name?”

“Blair Turner.”

“Got some ID?”

Blair’s heart sank, and his panic ramped. “My wallet was stolen. Detective Forge knows about it.”

The cop nodded and tapped his hand against the counter. “Coffee’s free if you want some, there’s bottled water, too.” He motioned to a spot on the opposite side of the waiting area. “You sit tight, and I’ll find one of them. Let us know if you need anything.”

Blair sat on one of the chairs and glanced out the door. He was in a police station. Certainly, whatever it was that had followed him wouldn’t do anything in a building occupied by trained people armed with many weapons.