“There usually are.”
I step away from Jacques, glad to stand on my own but missing his body heat. I’m so incredibly tired of being wet and cold tonight. Bodies lie on the forest floor. What am I going to say to the crime scene investigators?
“Those things are vampires?” I ask in disbelief. “If you tell me they sparkle in the sun, I’m going to puke.”
“They die in sunlight,” Jacques says seriously. I don’t think he’d know sarcasm if it came up and bit him in the ass. He turns his attention back to me. “Are you ill?”
“No,” I say, though there’s a good chance I’ve gone insane. Gargoyles. Vampires. What’s next, fairies?
“Are they still eating bone?” Gilbert nudges a body with his foot.
“Yeah…how did you know?”
He looks at his fellow brothers. “When they’re first turned, blood isn’t enough. They eat the bone as well for the first few years. Once the transformation is complete, blood is all that’s needed to sustain them.”
The implications of his words hit me hard, and I’m dizzy all over again. “Something is out there turning people into vampires?”
“Yes.”
“Lovely.” I pull my hood up over my head, but all it does is dump wet leaves down my back.
“You need to warm yourself,” Hasan tells me gruffly. “Before you fall ill.”
Should I tell him it’s been proven cold doesn’t actually make you sick? The entire concept of medicine and disease will be foreign to them.
“I plan on taking a long, hot shower when I get—fuck. I need to get back to work.” I put my head in my hands.Don’t lose your shit, Ace.I rub my eyes and look back at the gargoyles. “How did you find me?”
Jacques looks at me as if it’s obvious. “You summoned us.”
6
“Ididn’t summon anything,” I insist. “I don’t know how to.”
“We heard you,” Thomas says, and taps the side of his head. “In here.”
Being able to telepathically communicate with the gargoyles is crazier than the dead vampires feet from me. “You heard me summon you?” I repeat, needing to hear it again.
“Not quite like that,” Gilbert explains. “It’s more like we could sense you were in danger.”
“How?”
Jacques’s brow furrows, and he considers his words before speaking. But as soon as he opens his mouth to talk, static comes through the radio.
“Shit,” I say, and pull the walkie from my belt. “How the hell am I going to explain this?”
“You don’t,” Hasan says.
“I have to say something about the bodies out here. You said they were turned. So that means they’re people. Missing and murdered people who could have families and friends and pets waiting to be fed at home. I can’t just leave them.”
“The people from our time were unaccepting of dark forces,” Thomas starts. “From your reaction earlier, I think it’s safe to say they still are.”
“Yeah, they’re not at all and are probably a lot less accepting now. We don’t blame demons for half the problems people did back then.” I bring the walkie to my face and tell whoever is contacting me I followed a dead lead and am on my way back.
I’ve never lied like this at work before.
“We will handle the vampires,” Jacques says, putting his hand on my shoulder. His touch is warm and sends a pulse of heat through me, right to my core. “We’ve sworn an oath to do God’s will. It is our duty.”
“Right,” I say, remembering the little history I know about Templar Knights. They fought in the name of Christianity, which is something I’ve struggled to get behind my entire life. If there really was a higher power, why does so much bad shit happen? I see the worst of humanity on a daily basis.
