"I see you're finally afraid," Isaiah said in his irritatingly arrogant voice. "That's the reaction you should have had from the beginning."
Kenzie's heart should have been gripped with fear. Instead, she felt angry. What was this guy trying to do? Lie to her to get her to leave to cover up his own crimes?
She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
"You're insane," she told him lividly. "You're a vampire? Again, vampires don't exist. You're just trying to scare me away so you can keep killing people. I'm calling Chief Tobias."
But as soon as Kenzie withdrew her cell phone, it was suddenly out of her hand. It had disappeared, almost like magic.
When she looked up, she saw Isaiah clenching it in his closed palm.
"Give that back!" she demanded.
"Why don't we make a deal?" he suggested instead. "You're a detective, so you look for proof of claims. I prove to you that I'm what I say I am, and you allow me to help with the investigation. Because, if I do manage to prove my claim, you'll need it."
Kenzie gripped the stake in her hand. She was seriously considering plunging it into Isaiah's heart. But that wouldn't get her anywhere except in prison, because any rational person would see it as she murdered an innocent human. And that wouldn't look good on her job record.
Maybe Isaiah was being sincere. Besides, if he didn't prove his claim, she'd know for sure that he was crazy, so she wouldn't be in danger. She'd call Carson and have Isaiah picked up.
"Fine," she said at last. "Enlighten me."
"Let's start at the beginning. What legends do you know of vampires?"
"Just the basics – they drink blood, they can't go out during the day, they don't have reflections, and they hate garlic. Which, by the way, already proves that you're not a vampire. It's daytime now and you're standing outside."
"True, but how do you know those stories aren't just myths?"
"Like I said, enlighten me."
Isaiah crossed his arms over his chest as he contemplated this. He looked back at her and said, "Have you noticed what the weather is like in Bridgeport?"
"Yeah, there's hardly any sun. It's a rare occurrence and the place is always dark and gloomy. And if there is any sun, the tall skyscrapers usually hide it, so all you see are shadows."
"Exactly. The perfect place for vampires to reside, don't you think?"
"That doesn't prove anything. The coroner's daughter said the same thing and she's very much human."
"Fair enough. But as I mentioned before, all the victims so far have been drained of blood with puncture wounds in their necks. Those wounds are consistent with fangs."
"You don't have any fangs."
"Again, myth."
"Oh, so vampires don't have fangs? What next? They glow in the sun?"
"No, we can control when our fangs are visible, and we can only stand in the sun for short periods of time before it begins to burn us. We can see our reflections in any surface and we don't sleep in coffins or turn into bats. Garlic doesn't smell too appealing but it's harmless to us."
"I still don't see any solid proof."
"You want the physical proof rather than the intellectual."
"That would be better."
"As you wish."
Isaiah got closer to Kenzie, but not so close that he was invading her personal space. Still, she felt like he was when he opened his mouth to show a set of perfectly even white teeth.
She was about to protest until she saw the two canine incisors began to elongate right before her very eyes. She couldn't help it when her jaw dropped open and the fangs completed their descent from Isaiah's gums. His lower incisors then followed suit so that he looked more like an animal than a human when the transformation was complete.
But that wasn't the grand finale. Isaiah was standing right in front of her, long enough for her to see this happen, and then he vanished. Kenzie spun around like a top until she saw him hovering above her in a tree. When she laid eyes on him, he disappeared again, this time next to a bush. He had a smug but cautious grin on his face, his fangs still showing.
But that still wasn't the finale. The finale came when he darted to Kenzie's car and held it up with only one hand above his head.
That did it. Kenzie's eyes bugged out and she screamed, "Put that down!"
Isaiah obliged, and as soon as Kenzie's car was safely back on the soft terrain, she herself collapsed onto it and began hyperventilating.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Isaiah said as he sat down dangerously close to her.
Kenzie curled her legs closer to her chest in a futile attempt to protect herself. Then she remembered the stake.
But did she really want to kill Isaiah? He'd warned her from the beginning that remaining in Bridgeport would be dangerous, and she hadn't believed him. He'd had to resort to this to prove to her what he meant.
"Now do you believe me?" Isaiah prodded. Kenzie nodded wordlessly, her eyes wide with trepidation. She’d come to Bridgeport looking for a rational explanation, and the truth was that she had none. Vampires really were responsible for all the recent deaths in the city, but how in the world could she prove that? People would think she’d lost her senses.
"So...you're a vampire," she finally said to break the silence.
"Last time I checked."
"How long...?"
"Since 1902."
"And...you drink blood...?"
"Not exactly. I don't kill people if that's what you mean. There are ways around everything."
"Like what?"
Isaiah stood up and offered his hand to Kenzie. She didn't take it. She continued to look at the ground, perturbed.
"I won't hurt you," he assured her. "I gave you a weapon that could be used to kill me, and I saved your life. I understand that you don't trust me right now, but at least give me a chance to prove my sincerity."
Kenzie wordlessly stood up and put the stake into her waistband, hiding it under her shirt. She then saw that Isaiah was heading toward her car.
"Don't you dare pick up my car again," she warned.
"I won't. I was going to offer you a ride to my place."
"Your...house?"
"Yes, I know you have a lot more questions for me, so perhaps somewhere more private would be better."
"You're not driving my car."
"Fine, then you drive. I'll navigate."
That was how Kenzie found herself in a mindless stupor, with a vampire sitting in the front seat of her car, guiding her toward the large mansions of Bridgeport. When they came to a stop at last, it wasn't in front of one of the extravagant castles. It was a pretty subtle little home that almost looked inviting despite the one occupant that lived there. The place was also pretty isolated, being off the main road and near the river.
Isaiah led Kenzie inside, and to her great surprise, the house appeared normal. She didn't see any coffins or any other evidence that the occupant of this seemingly normal home was a vampire.
"Have a seat." Isaiah beckoned to a nearby chair tucked underneath a long glass table. Kenzie obliged and continued to survey the room. Still, she couldn't help blurting out, "Where's your coffin?"
Isaiah actually chortled as he said, "Honestly, in the basement. I've got my own man cave under the garage. I go there to think...and sleep. Well, sleep very deeply, I should say. I've also got...food down there and some books to keep me occupied."
"Do you sleep in a regular bed too?"
"Yes, and I only use that coffin when it's deemed necessary. And contrary to popular belief, I don't sleep inside it; I hover above it. It helps regenerate my strength. Now, enough about my lifestyle. Let's get this interrogation over with so we can get back to solving the case." Isaiah withdrew something from the fridge before sitting down across from her.
"How did you know I had more questions? Can you read minds, too?"
"It's possible but it takes a great amount of strength. I try not to waste my time on that. Let me just come right out and say that this isn't a life I chose for myself. I never wanted it, but it was chosen for me. I want to be as normal as possible."
Kenzie almost fell out of her chair. Isaiah was a vampire but he hated it? That wasn't something she was too familiar with. All the stories and movies of vampires she knew of involved the vampire wanting its eternal life and embracing the power that came with it.
"As I said before, there are ways around everything," Isaiah continued. "For instance, my diet. I work at the hospital, which has a blood bank. I know it's technically stealing, but that blood bank helps to quench my thirst. But there's more than blood to drink. I prefer plasma juice and plasma fruit."
"Uh...what?"
"That's what this is." Isaiah held up the cup he was drinking out of. "This is plasma juice. Essentially, it's just plasma, drained from a dead body that no longer needs it, converted to liquid form. Plasma fruit, on the other hand, is more solid. Think of it like an apple. My friends and I make it covertly."
"I'd rather not think of it at all."
"Fair enough. But I swear to you that I don't kill people, and I'm not responsible for all these recent murders."
"But you've killed people before."
"We didn't have blood banks in the early 1900s."
"Uh huh."
"But all the people I killed, they were all criminals. Thieves, murderers, men that took advantage of women. Never a good person."
"Do you want a medal?"
"I don't expect you to understand."
"Well here's something else I don't understand. Why are you telling me all this? Isn't one of the first rules of being a vampire, or any supernatural creature, to keep it a secret?"
"Yes, but in this particular case, I had no choice. I don't want anyone getting too close to discovering the truth. The closer someone gets, the more dangerous it will be for them. I've read all about you, Ms. Howell. You don't just stop an investigation. You're stubborn, and you keep going until a case is solved. I knew it was only a matter of time before you discovered the truth about me and vampires. But you're right, it's not something that can be broadcasted. You have to keep this a secret."
Kenzie leaned back in her chair. This was a lot of information to absorb. Vampires were real, and they were responsible for all the deaths in Bridgeport. But why had they left the bodies out in the open if their intention was to remain a secret?
Then she remembered something else.
"What about that latest body?" she asked Isaiah, who was still slurping his plasma juice. Kenzie was glad the container wasn't transparent. "It was hidden, and it had been dead longer than the ones that were left out in the open. Plus, not all of that blood was drained."
"Very sloppy work for a vampire," Isaiah agreed. "I don't think the same vampires are responsible for that death."
"You keep saying vampires, like there are more than one. How do you know that?"
"It's just a guess."
Kenzie didn't buy it. The way Isaiah insisted that she leave, how he gave her a stake to protect herself, and his knowledge of all the victims...it was all clear now.
"You know who the killers are, don't you?"
Before Isaiah could respond, Kenzie's cell phone rang. Isaiah withdrew it from his pocket, since he hadn't returned it yet, and Kenzie stood up and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Ms. Howell? This is Chief Tobias."
Kenzie glanced at Isaiah, who put a finger to his lips to indicate to her that she shouldn't tell Carson anything yet. She was appalled that he expected her not to tell the chief of police the new leads she'd found in the case, but like he'd said, vampires weren't supposed to exist.
So she settled with, "Oh, hello, Chief. What's going on?"
"I think you'd better get down to the station. We just hauled in a suspect."
"Really? Who?"
"It's no one you know, but he was found draining blood from a recently killed corpse."
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