Page 56 of Starved Until Sunset

“Yeah, they weren’t raised right.” She ducked her head to look in the cab, then back at him. “Demetrius waiting for you at the garage?”

“No.” Cody knew his tight expression and raised shoulders were giving him away, so he told her about the disagreement. Lucia nodded and looked a little sad, which Cody thought was nice. For her.

“Yeah, you two have really racked up the monster frequent flyer miles. And you’ve both sacrificed a lot. I know I give you some shit…”

“Some?” Cody couldn’t help saying. “You’ve arrested us multiple times, and kept us overnight for questioning so often I’ve lost count.”

Lucia smirked. “Yeah, those were the days, weren’t they?”

“Not really.”

“Anyway, I know I give you both shit about it, but I also know this town would be dead, literally, without you.” She fixed him with sharp blue eyes. “And together, you’re a great team. You always have been.” She turned away to get back in the cruiser, then stopped and looked back. “Go home and apologize. You know it was your fault, so don’t try to logically explain yourself. Just tell him you were wrong and you’re sorry. A lot of lives depend on the two of you working together, Zenona’s most of all.”

“Yeah.”

“We owe her the effort,” Lucia said. “We can all catch up on sleep later.”

“I know.”

Cody watched her drive off. The smell of exhaust mingled with the odor of gasoline from the pumps around him. A car full of twenty-somethings pulled up on the other side of the pumps, drum heavy music with screaming guitars ruining their hearing. A guy got out and talked to himself a bit as he fumbled with the cap on the gas tank. The smell of crappy weed drifted to the other side of the pumps.

“Fucking kids,” Cody mumbled, then he got into the truck and left the station.

He parked in the assigned spot by the garage. The sight of Pete’s motorcycle sent another jab of loneliness into him. The sun was low in the sky, but at least an hour from setting, and the orange light gleamed like fire off the bike’s chrome. Cody transferred the shawarmas to his own truck before making sure he’d locked the city vehicle. John’s truck was still in the lot, but Bill had already punched out and gone when Cody entered the garage.

“Who’s that?” John shouted down from his office at the top of the metal stairs.

“The monster in the basement,” Cody called back.

John’s big shape filled the doorframe of his office. “You’re not funny, Bower.”

“Not the first time someone’s said that to me.” He hung the keys on the pegboard and signed the truck back in. Looking up into the shadowy area that surrounded John’s elevated office, Cody said, “Need me for anything else before I punch out?”

“No. Go the fuck home.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

The thump of the time clock stamping his card sounded loud in the open space. It was a satisfying sound, but his heart ached at the absence of a second, answering thump from Demmy punching out as well. Time to get home and fix what he’d broken that morning. He turned for the door, but then stopped and looked up toward John’s office. Had he heard someone?

“You call me?” Cody asked.

John stood in the doorway again, seemingly made up of shadows and smoke. “What?”

“I thought I heard you call me.”

“You’re hearing things. Must have caught whatever your… friend has. Go home and go to bed.” John waved a hand, apparently uncomfortable with mentioning ‘bed’ and ‘friend’ in the same sentence, less he be considered gay. “Get some rest.”

“I’m touched, John. Almost sounds like you care.”

“Fuck you, Bower.” John turned away again, and Cody could plainly hear him say in a low voice, “Pain in the ass.”

“And now we’re back to our regularly scheduled program.”

Satisfied he had properly annoyed his boss, Cody left the garage and got into his truck. He sat for a moment and looked at his phone. No word from Demmy. It wasn’t typical for them to go a full day without some kind of check in. Hell, a few hours was unusual. That coupled with the hurt expression on Demmy’s face as he’d gotten out of the truck that morning fed the ache inside him. He hated that he’d been the one to make Demmy feel that way. But, vampires? How the hell were they supposed to go up against vampires? And how many people in town had that dick Aldrik already turned? How many were they going to have to fight? And what if he knew any of them personally?

The memory of Aldrik revealing himself from inside the body bag made him shiver. Right on the heels of that, however, came the memories of walking past other body bags as he’d stopped in to visit Felicia. He sat back and dropped his hands in his lap as realization hit him. Holy shit. Aldrik been turning the old folks all this time. He’d been building up his forces without raising the alarm by taking those voted most likely to die any time soon.

Associations began clicking together, lighting up different areas of his brain. Zenona had left the cross hanging in his grandmother’s room after Demmy had run into her there. She had left it as protection because she’d known what was happening in town thanks to Dr. Graham, vampire medical examiner. And the woman who had caused Amelia to swerve off the road was now a vampire, not a zombie. And who knew how many others in town that woman had turned. Or killed.