Bad Vampire by Lauren Dawes (read aloud books txt) 📕

I found a computer monitor where I could see real-time black and white versions of Mr. Kapur and Sawyer. I glanced to my left to see the camera that was streaming, then watched the pattern.

Back left corner. Back right corner. Front right corner. Directly in front of the doors. The front left corner camera was just a dummy. I’d heard about it being done before. A lot of places only had one camera and placed dummy ones around the store in order to save money. Having all but one was strange though.

Using the keyboard, I scrolled the footage back to two o’clock that morning and hit play. A kid—or what looked like a kid—strolled casually inside. Dressed in jeans, a jacket and a sweet set of kicks he walked directly up to two-o’clock-Sanjeet and talked to him for a moment. Sanjeet, who had been stocking some shelves, stood up, towering above the child. The kid looked directly into the back, left corner camera, winked, then attacked without warning.

I would give Mr. Kapur credit—he was an absolute kick-ass fighter. I watched the pair of them grappling, the baby vampire wrapped around Sanjeet’s upper body. It looked as if the vamp was trying to get them to the floor, where he could dominate. Whether Mr. Kapur knew that or not, he didn’t let his attacker do that.

I pressed my face closer to the video when there was a faint glow coming from under Sanjeet’s shirt. It got brighter and brighter, and the vampire was reacting. It tried to claw at his chest, but Sanjeet was raining down punches on him.

“Such a badass,” I muttered under my breath.

Full respect to Sanjeet and his mad skills.

Eventually, the vamp just disappeared. One minute, he was there. The next, he was gone. I rewound that bit and played it back, frame by frame. That’s when I realized he didn’t just disappear, he moved so quickly it was just a blur. To the naked eye, it looked as if he’d poofed from existence.

When I stood up again, Sawyer and Mr. Kapur were still talking.

“What did you see?”

I gave him the run down, leaving out the part where the vampire actually winked at the camera before launching his attack.

“I must say, Mr. Kapur, I am very impressed with your fighting skills.”

The older man blushed. “Thank you. It’s been so long since I’ve had to use them.”

“Right before the vampire fled, there was a glow from under your shirt. Do you know what happened?”

Reaching into the top of his shirt, Sanjeet pulled out a necklace with a gold Khanda pendant hanging from the bottom. It consisted of three swords, with a circle around the middle weapon.

“The circle or Chakra surrounding the Khanda is a metaphor for the eternal God,” he told me.

“It’s a symbol of your faith.” I glanced at Sawyer, and he nodded.

“Symbology carries a lot of power in the supernatural world. This Khanda would have the same effect as any Christian symbol, or any other religion for that matter.”

“Where did you learn to fight, Mr. Kapur?” I asked, because I had to know.

He puffed out his chest a little, standing taller. “Twenty-fourth Battalion, Sikh Regiment. I retired in 2001.”

I grinned at him. “You’ve still got it.”

Bowing in thanks, he smiled back at me.

“Alright, I think we have everything we need,” Sawyer announced. “If we have any additional questions, I’ll be sure to get in contact, Mr. Kapur.”

“Thank you both for coming.”

As we walked from the minimart, Sawyer murmured, “What did you find out from the surveillance tapes?”

“That Mr. Kapur is a badass.”

“Anything else, other than hero worship?”

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Sawyer,” I said sweetly. “But yeah.” I took the helmet he handed me and slid it over my head. As soon as Sawyer had his on too, I heard the coms crackle to life in my ear. “The fangy bastard winked at the camera before he attacked.”

He swung his leg over the motorcycle and got into position. “Winked?”

I slid on behind him, wrapping my arm around his waist. “Winked. How many cameras do you think are in that store?”

“Maybe one functional one. The rest are probably dummies.”

“Nope. He has five cameras. Only the front left is a dummy. The vampire looked directly at the camera that was on the cycle and winked right before he attacked.”

He started the engine, and I scooted even closer. Easing out of the parking lot, he didn’t talk again until we were on the road. “Okay, so it was premeditated.”

“You’re goddamn right it was. I don’t know why Kapur was the victim, maybe it was just bad fucking luck, but he was. The E-Z-Mart, however, was not a coincidence.”

“How do you figure?”

“It’s just within our jurisdiction, right? One more block over, and it becomes Reynard PD’s problem.”

“Right.” Sawyer’s agreement of my assessment didn’t fill me with confidence. “But why? Why attack anyone? Whoever is making these kids is creating them, then kicking them out of the nest right away. They have no idea of the rules.”

“Or they’re creating them to break the rules…”

“What do you mean?” Sawyer slowed the bike as he approached a red light. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking what if these baby vamps are being made on purpose? Not a late nineties Britney, ‘Oops I Did it Again’ kind of thing, but an actual reason.”

“And what would that reason be?”

I shook my head, feeling like the answer was just out of my reach. “I don’t know.”

He touched my knee. “We’ll figure it out, pussy cat.”

My stomach lurched when he accelerated once more, blowing past the oncoming traffic almost recklessly. When we arrived back at the station, we walked back into the office.

“I’ve sent you the voice clip,” Sawyer said, just before I heard the notification ping on my phone. “Would you mind taking notes while I go and follow up some other leads?”

If it meant I didn’t have to get on the back of Sawyer’s motorcycle again, I’d take his clear dismissal of me. Taking a seat at my desk, I