Page 43 of The Vampire and the Barista

“A large black coffee and your phone number,” the man says smoothly, a contrast from his demands of yesterday.

Jamie rang his drink up, and as the man paid, Jamie made his drink. When it was ready, he turned back and handed it to the man.

“You forgot your phone number,” the man pointed out.

“No, I didn’t. Enjoy your drink,” Jamie replied, turning his back on the customer. He cleaned his machine and wiped down the side until he felt the man walk away. Jamie realised he hadn’t gone far when he could feel his eyes staring into his back.

He turned round and walked around the counter, cloth in hand and started to collect the rubbish and wipe down the empty tables.

Jamie saw Max standing off to one side, looking worried and walked over to him.

“You okay?” Max asked in concern. “Weirdo man’s back.”

“Yeah. He asked for my number, and I ignored him. But have you looked at him? His eyes look dead.”

Max shook his head. “I’ve tried not to look at him. Why don’t you phone Ivan and ask him to come early?”

Jamie shook his head. “No. It’s not the first time we’ve had to deal with weirdos. Plus, Gavin and Hunter have just walked in.”

Max turned and watched the two men walk over to them, smiling.

“Hey, Jamie, Max,” Hunter greeted.

“Hi,” they both said at the same time.

“Can I get you guys a drink?” Jamie asked

Gavin frowned and signed.

“Sorry, Gavin, I didn’t get that,” Jamie said.

“Gavin asked what was wrong,” Max translated for him.

“Just a weirdo who does nothing but creep me out and stare at me. He’s the guy dressed all in black, sat at the back table.”

They all turned to look at him. The man smirked, drank his coffee, got up and strode off, passing them. “See you tomorrow, Jamie.”

“Not chuffing likely,” Jamie muttered. “I have the day off tomorrow.”

Gavin signed.

“We will,” Hunter said before looking at Jamie. “We’ll stay here until Ivan turns up, so yes to the drinks, please.”

Ivan searched and found Jamie’s bank account and hacked into it. He was surprised to see Jamie only had a few pounds in it. He looked through the account and was shocked at how Jamie survived on so little money. Making a note of Jamie’s banking information, Ivan logged out and opened his banking app. He set up a monthly direct debit for Jamie and dumped a chunk of money in there. He’d wait for the right time to tell his human mate, as he was sure Jamie would object, but tough.

He looked online to find out Karl and Kitty’s details. Once he had them, he then opened two bank accounts, one for Karl and the other for Kitty. Again, he put money into their accounts and set up a monthly direct debit for them. Their accounts came with children’s credit cards, so he ordered them as well.

Now Ivan was researching everything he could about Derrick. He started with the mental institution he was sent to for life. The institute closed in the early 1900s, so there were no records online. Next, he searched for his date of death, but again found nothing. He jumped onto genealogy websites and searched their records. He found everything he needed, except a date of death.

“There’s no date of death,” Ivan told Olly.

Olly spun round, looking at him. “That could be for any reason. It doesn’t mean he’s still alive.”

“I know,” Ivan said.

“I hacked the traffic cams from earlier. I found the man you saw. Come see.”

Ivan rolled his chair over and looked at the screen. “Yeah, that’s him. Can you zoom in?”