Marcus sighs loudly just to make sure we all heard him. “I’m not saying I’m done with the case. I’m merely stating that I’ve seen similar things happen before, only to find out it was a human who was mad about something.” He throws up his hands. “I’m not going to win,” Marcus realizes. “No matter what I say, I’m not going to win when Finn is around.” Then he growls but Finn smiles lovingly at him.
“I’m glad you understand.”
“I’m glad I’m single,” Alexei says.
“No one could handle your attitude, Karsyn,” Marcus says.
“Children. Children. Let’s please focus,” Finn, the actual child of the group, says.
Marcus folds his arms over his chest but nods. “Alright, I’ll see what White says about the paper and ask to do a body check.”
“He might have stuffed it up his anus, so you need to check everywhere,” Finn says with a grin.
Marcus steps in front of him, cutting him off from us, like he’ll make him disappear. Weirdly enough, he kind of does. But even if Marcus’s body can block Finn, it can’t stop his voice.
“Don’t just ignore me, Marcus. You have to be thorough. One finger will probably be enough.”
“Can you two follow the scent again?” Marcus asks, ignoring Finn.
“Of course,” I say.
Alexei and I head outside, following that horribly thick smell of cologne again. “You think this is just some human trying to get back at vampires?” Alexei asks curiously.
I shake my head. “I mean… unless he’s wanting attention and that’s what this is all about… I don’t think so. I think something’s going on, but he just needs to report it to the police instead of doing all this. So maybe it is for the attention.”
When we reach the parking lot of a shopping center, the smell dissipates. None of the shops are open, so we’ll have to come back in the morning to check if any have cameras.
When I step inside the little café shop, I see River standing near a bookshelf. He must have been waiting for me because he looks up the moment I enter. He smiles, then stops smiling, then looks uncertain. It’s almost like he’s embarrassed about smiling.
But I give him a smile anyway. “Hey,” I say. “I’ve come to collect my bat slave.”
His grin returns. “Shush. Sometimes I have the absolute worst pickup lines, but I suckered you into coming back for a drink.”
I couldn’t exactly say how he suckered me back, yet here I am, and I’m not even sure why. Maybe it’s because I’ve been upset lately, and I need something to distract me? I need something good in my life, and at the moment, it doesn’t even matter what it is. “Nah, I love being compared to a bat. It’s actually a bit of a bummer I have to use my legs to get anywhere, but I’ll make do.”
River’s cute, especially when he has that mischievous look on his face. His brownish-black hair is on the longer side, falling in light waves down to the collar of his blue button-down that looks good against his golden-brown skin. His dark brown eyes seem to reflect his teasing. But he’s young, probably late twenties, and I haven’t been interested in anyone in years, so why I’m back here, I’m not sure.
“Alright, let’s get our drinks. I actually brought my wallet this time, although I thought about leaving it behind again so you’d pamper me some more,” River says as he heads up to the short line. “Now… I’ve always wondered. Doesn’t blood just taste like blood? I mean, you have a lot of choices for just… blood.”
“It has different tastes.”
“Is it like in Sweeney Todd where you can tell if it’s a poet or a priest?”
I shake my head as I grin. “No, don’t make me sound like I’m into meat pies.”
“You kind of give me a meat pie guy vibe, if I’m being honest.”
“Maybe a bit less honest, then?” I suggest. “I’d like to keep some of my dignity intact.”
He has a playful grin as he shrugs then steps up to order before moving aside for me to order as well. I do, then slip my credit card right into the lady’s hand before River can pay her.
He pauses for a moment as he processes it then looks at me. “Hold on a minute! I was returning the favor,” he says as the lady hands me the card and receipt.
“I forgot about that,” I lie. “I guess you’re still in debt to my bat.”
“Fine,” he says with a smile. “Thank you. You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know. Do you want to go for a walk or do you want to sit here?”
“This is it, isn’t it?” he asks as he watches me closely.
“What?”
“You’re fattening me up then leading me off to eat me. You wanna make me into meat pies.”
I grin at the ludicrous idea, then reach out and press my finger against his wrist. While he watches me curiously, I pick up his hand and examine it. “Hmm… How’s your red meat intake? Let me get you some spinach.”
“Are you trying to make me taste better?” he asks.
“Well… yeah, I mean if I’m going to buy you a smoothie and then take you on a walk through a highly populated park to eat you, I want to make sure it’s worth it, you know?”
River grins at me. “Fine, fine. I’ll trust you not to eat me. But I’m warning you, when I was five, I was in gymnastics for two months. And when I was seven, I was in karate. I’m well on my way to becoming Catwoman.”
“Ah, agile as a cat, then?”
He winks at me, which makes me laugh as I turn away to grab my drink that I don’t actually need. I generally drink blood a couple of times a week, not two days in a row, but here I am, sucking it down just because of some random human.
Once we both have our drinks, I follow him to the door where I slide my sunglasses on. It’s overcast enough that the sun won’t bother me too much, but my eyes are still rather sensitive.
“Now I can’t see if you’re checking me out,” he says.
“Would you rather me burn my retinas?”
“If it’s not too much to ask,” he jokes as I hang a left since the park is about a block down the street from here.
“I guess I have to, then,” I say as I pull them off.
River looks alarmed. “Oh my god. Don’t! I was joking.”
“It’s too late. I have to do what you ask. Are you happy now that my eyes are bleeding?” I blink rapidly even though the light isn’t bothering them much. “Ignore the tears. Those are just tears of joy at getting to walk beside you.”
“And you thought I was bad at pickup lines,” he teases as I slip the sunglasses back on.
“That’s true, meat pie.”
“Are you now calling me a meat pie?”
“Is that a problem?”
“It might be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever called me, bat boy. You have to be married, right?”
“No, oddly enough. The last person I called meat pie didn’t seem fond of it for some reason.”
“What a stick in the mud,” River says.
“Tell me a little something about yourself.”