The Vampire Keeper by Sabrina Street

Disturbance
    Red and blue lights flickered against the wall as Jezalyn sat on a stretcher with a compress firmly secured against her neck. Two officers in black stood in front of her. She heard the older man say, “Go talk to the store owner while I talk to the victim.” The officer nodded his head, took out a little dark green leather notebook, and strolled over to Wyler.
    “Hey, Wyler, how’s your shop doing now that y’all are settled?”
    “I still have a lot of inventory to put out, but business has picked up.”
    “That’s good to hear. Well, I have to ask you a few questions.”
    “Okay.”
    “So, what happened here?” asked the officer ready to take Wyler’s statement.
    He gazed at Jezalyn’s neck before answering the question. “I am not sure. I wasn’t up here when it occurred. I was downstairs.”
    “Okay, so you didn’t see anything.”
    “No.”
    “Did you hear anything?”
    “I heard a loud thud, so I ran upstairs.”
    “What did you see after coming upstairs?”
    “I saw Jezalyn on the floor and Larkin was bent over her…” Wyler was finishing his statement with Rex Wheeler, the local deputy, when he overheard Jezalyn giving her statement to Lloyd Ellison, Transylvania’s detective and chief of police. The town truly only needed one authority, but Lloyd appointed Rex to be his deputy after Lloyd fell violently ill. The town would not hear of Lloyd’s removal, and Lloyd was too kindhearted to get rid of Rex, so now both enforced the law. This incident was the most action either of them had seen in this small town of less than a thousand in over a decade. Unlike most towns, Transylvania did not have petty crimes, much less attempted murder.
    Wyler heard Jezalyn report, “He jumped over the counter and flung me onto the floor.”
    “And what happened next?”
    She slowly placed her hand up to her injured neck and said, “Then… I felt a sharp piercing pain in my neck.”
    “I see. Is that all?”
    “Yes, that’s all I remember; I must have fainted from the assault. When I awoke, Wyler was holding my neck.”
    Deputy Wheeler returned interrupting the interview and said, “Hey, Cap, you got a moment?” He glanced back at Jezalyn and said, “Let Ray, the paramedic, check you out. I’ll be right back.” She shrugged her shoulders with a little nod as the paramedic approached her and removed the bandage that Wyler placed on her neck.
    While the authorities were huddled in a corner and Jezalyn got her wounds treated, Wyler eased back over to Larkin. “What are we going to do?”
    Without even a cursory glance he said, “Nothing. You told your side. I will tell mine, if asked.”
    “But what are you going to say?”
    “I will tell them what happened.”
    “You can’t! How are you…” he finished the rest of his thought in his head, going to explain her neck?
    He turned to Wyler, looked into his eyes, and replied, “Stop worrying. It’s covered.”
    Wyler watched Deputy Wheeler walk outside as Chief Ellison return to Ray and Jezalyn. Wyler had his suspicions that Larkin had bit her, but was not sure why. He thought, If he wanted to change her or kill her, he would have told me first. Maybe he just wanted a little taste. No, that can’t be it. He would never compromise… so why then? He finally said, “Okay, but at least tell me what happened up here.”
    Larkin said nothing as he watched Lloyd talk to Ray. They were speaking low out of Jezalyn and Wyler’s earshot, but not his. He listened to Ray give an inconclusive report as to the cause of how she sustained her injuries.
    “Larkin!”
    “Later,” whispered Larkin, never taking his eyes of the chief as he approached them.
    A moment later, the chief stood confidently in front of them. “So you are the owner correct?” he said as he pointed at Wyler. Without waiting for a response, he redirected his finger toward Larkin, “And you’re the one who flung himself on top of Ms. Williford?”
    The latter responded,