“We’ll see what you’re finished with when I say so.”When Tabby laughed, she tried to think what it was that she said that was so funny.When she couldn’t think of a single thing, she stood up close to the bars.“Come closer to me so that I can show you what it is to deny me what I want.You’ll see that I’m going to get what I want when I want it, or you’ll be dead.I don’t even care if I have to live off of welfare for the rest of my life.You’ll be dead and I’ll be much happier.”
“But broke according to you.”She hadn’t thought of that, and it pissed her off.“I’m going home now to the man that I love.You might want to think about that when you’re spouting off your accusations about what I can do and not do for you.I’m in love and I’ve never been happier.The only thing that could make me happier is if you were sent away to prison for the rest of your life.”Then she turned and walked away out of the area.
“Come back here right now, or so help me I’m going to kill you right where you stand.”The laughter again had her seeing red, and she had a headache as well.“I swear to you, Tabitha Williams, I’m going to kill you as soon as I’m out of here, and I will be getting out.You just wait and see.”
She heard the big door slam shut, and she grabbed the bars and screamed while shaking them.It didn’t make her feel any better, but it did give her a pain right behind her eyes that hurt like hell.She wanted her daughter dead, and she wanted her to suffer.While she didn’t believe that Carl was dead, she’d not been able to get in touch with him for several days now.That was when someone nudged at her mind like they were asking permission to talk.
“Who is this?”She thought for sure it was going to be Carl, and that was just one more thing she was going to be pissed off at Tabby about.Lying to her own mother was about as bad as her telling her no, she wasn’t going to help her.“I said, who is this and I want you to answer me.”
“It’s Sirous Smith, husband to your daughter.I’m going to murder you if you upset her one more time, and I won’t make it easy either.”She told him she wasn’t afraid of someone who would marry her daughter.“You should be.I’m an old and very powerful vampire.I will—”
“There is no such thing as vampires.I asked around and people said that they’re a myth from some books that authors tell to sell books.I know better.What are you?Some kind of mouse or something?That would be the only type of person she could get to marry her.”He said he’d come to her.“Sure, you will, and I’m going to win the next beauty pageant that happens around here.”
A man suddenly appeared to her on the other side of the bars.He didn’t look like he could shift into a mouse, but then she didn’t know any mousey shifters.As he stood there, dressed from head to toe in black, she thought that he’d read the same books that she had.Where all vampires wore a custom black suit so they’d look scary.This man only looked like a young handsome man that might have been in his mid-twenties or thereabouts.He certainly didn’t look like someone that she should be afraid of.
“What is it you want?”He told her.That was when she saw the fangs.“I’m not going to leave her alone.She’s my daughter, and I’m going to do to her what I want.And what I want right now is for her to be dead.The sooner the better.”
“It’s not going to help you to have people thinking that you’re talking to yourself.”She asked him what he meant.“While I’m here, I’m not being recorded.Just you are.And they do record you when you’re in the jail system.”
“You’re nuts.If I’m talking to someone, then they have to know that there is someone there.What is it you really want?I have money.Or I will have it when Tabby gets off her high horse and gets it for me.She’s got her some powerful magic that tells me when the ponies are going to win their races.Can you imagine the amount of money I’m going to win when she gets around to telling me who they are?It’s going to be millions.”He said, not if she didn’t want to help her, she wouldn’t.“She’ll help me, or I’ll kill her.If I can’t get her to do what I want, then I’m going to have her killed so that nobody can have any of the riches that she can claim for me.”
“Do you ever listen to what you’re saying?You sound like you have no idea what you’re talking about at any given time.This is the second time I’ve spoken to you, and it’s twice that you have made no sense.”She told him to fuck off and felt good about herself for telling him that when he looked so shocked.“Great comeback.I’m sure you threaten everyone that way.It’s not going to do you any good to get out of jail, which you’re not, because I’ll be watching you.”
She felt a breeze of air around her body, and she swayed slightly.The pain in her throat had her putting her hand there, and it came away with blood.Just a little bit, but it was enough to have her thinking she might have been wrong about what he was.Linda looked to where he’d been standing and asked where he’d gone.
“I’m here.”He was sitting on her cot now, and he looked bigger than he had standing in the hallway.“You should really believe me when I tell you what I am.I have a taste of you now, so I’ll be able to know what you’re thinking all the time.Also, where you are.You’ll never be able to hide from me.”
“Like I care.”Slightly dizzy, she went to the wall furthest away from her cot and leaned against it.She wasn’t going to let him know that she felt off, but she did have to hold onto it so that she’d not fall on her ass.“I’m no more afraid of you than I am of my daughter.She’s a whimp just like you and your little mousey friends are.”
He stood up then, and she could see that he was much larger than she’d first thought, like several feet taller than she was at just under six feet.When he put out his hands, they elongated into fingers that stretched out several inches beyond the fingertips.Then she looked at his face.
His boyish charm was gone, and in its place was a face that nightmares were made of.His eyes were the color of blood, and his fangs were now the length of her smallest finger and extra sharp.Backing up more against the wall, she turned her head and closed her eyes when he took two steps toward her.Christ, he was a monster.
“I am a monster and you’ll never forget that.”He ran a finger down her cheek, and she whimperedsoftly.Fear like she’d never felt had her toes curl up and her fingers clinch.“I will not allow you to treat my mate the way that you have.Do you understand me?You’ll leave her alone, or so help me, I’ll kill you so that there isn’t enough of you to look for when I finish.Have I made myself clear to you?”
“Yes.You’re not right in the head.”He laughed, and even it sounded scary to her ears.“Leave me alone before I call the police on you.They’ll come running too when I yell for them.”
“You can try that, but they’ll never see me.”He was standing on the other side of the bars just as normal as he’d been before.“I’m leaving you now, Linda Ann Williams.You remember that I know all there is to know about you, and you might just live a bit longer.Doubtful that you’ll heed my words, but I’ve said all I’m saying to you before I come after you again.I will strike, and you’ll be dead.I promise you.”
He was gone after that.She stood where she’d been standing for a long time, fearful that he’d be back.When one of the officers came to bring her the meal that she’d ordered yesterday, she told him about the man.He told her to behave herself and not try to get out of going to the courthouse tomorrow.That was when it occurred to her to expose him too.Vampires were real, and she knew just where one was living.
“Stupid old fool.He just gave me what I wanted without me having to threaten him.”Laughing out loud, she even enjoyed her meal of a hamburger and fries.The meat was just a little underdone, but she found that she liked it.Yes, she was going to expose the idiot, and that would mean a great deal more money for her when it came out.“People will want to know my story, and I’ll give it to them for a price.”
When she went to bed that night, she was actually happy.It wouldn’t be long now before she’d be in the courthouse telling it all.He’d made a mistake, and she was going to profit from it.And they’d let her go because she was special enough for a vampire to have exposed himself to her, too.Linda was going to be a millionaire, and she’d not have to work all that hard at becoming one, either.
~*~
Sirous liked it when a plan came together.He knew what Linda was going to try to do tomorrow, but it would backfire on her.Everyone in town knew that they were vampires, but kept it to themselves because of the help they did for the town.Money had a way of keeping the best-kept secrets quiet, and he was hoping that was true for him as well.He told Brew what his plan had been before he left.
“They really couldn’t care less until something happens.”He asked him what that would be.“People turning up dead for no reason.Drained bodies hanging in the rafters.I know we don’t do things like that, but so long as it’s not happening, they don’t mind keeping our secrets.And so long as when they need something, we’re willing to pay more than our fair share of it to be fixed or replaced.”
“Like the schools?”He said that was only a small part of what they did for the town.“I noticed that several projects are going on at once around here.Like the renovation of the courthouse.Is that something that you’re involved in?”
“Only slightly.But yes, we have a hand in just about anything that goes on around here.I like it that way too.They don’t tell the newspapers what we are, and we can live in relative quiet while the town does well.”Sirous asked if he was upset that the woman would be exposing them.“No.She’s only one person who thinks that she saw something while under arrest in our jails.I love the fact that you made it so that you weren’t recorded.She’ll just look like a fool talking to herself.I love that plan.”
“Thanks.I wish I could take credit, but it was Kenneth who gave me the idea.He said that he used it once when he’d been being blackmailed by someone, and it had worked.The man was shipped off to the loony bin, and everyone made out well because he put in all the new sidewalks in the town.He said it cost him very little in the long run and was happy with the results.”Brew asked him if he’d been blackmailed by the priest.“He didn’t say.Maybe that’s it.But like I said, he didn’t give me those details.You’ll have to tell me about that sometime.Or I’ll ask him.It sounds like a good story.”
“It is.It’s an old one, but a good one too.The priest had been doing some underhanded things with the church money, and he wanted Kenneth to pay it all back.As you can imagine, it’s much longer than that, but you get the idea.Ask him about it.It’s a good story to hear.”Sirous said that he wouldand soon.“We are all planning to go to the courthouse in the morning.In support of the two of you.It might be funny to hear her going on about a vampire when there will be six in the room with her.I do wonder sometimes if humans knew about us for sure, if they’d be so generous with their time.I have some good friends who are humans now, and I’d hate to lose them because of some woman.”
