There was a dinging noise as the bell above the door signaled Cadence’s presence, and right away, she knew something was wrong. Behind the counter, an older man with a scraggly beard and unkempt graying hair stood, a nervous smile on his face. “Morning, miss,” he said, his fingers rapping on the counter before him.
“Hi,” Cadence said, looking around the rest of the store. There was no sign of anyone else inside, which couldn’t be right. Also, the fluttering feeling in her stomach told her that either this cashier was a Vampire or one was hiding nearby. She turned to look more closely at him and realized his eyes were a very dark green. He must have been wearing colored contacts. He was definitely undead.
At this point, there was no reason to suspect he had done, or would do, anything wrong, even though he appeared to be untagged. She kept an eye on him as she walked to the back of the store. Having lost her appetite, she decided to survey him for a few moments. She wasn’t sure if he knew who or what she was, but he was very fidgety.
She walked past the hall that led to the restrooms and heard a faint knocking sound coming from what appeared to be a closet. It was very uneven, but it almost sounded like someone banging their head against a far wall. She took a step closer, and suddenly the cashier was at her side.
“Can I help you find something?” he asked, and as he forced a smile, she could tell that he was doing his best to control his fangs and his grimace.
“What’s that sound?” she asked, squaring up to face him.
“Hot water heater,” he explained. “Makes a bit of a racket.”
Cadence nodded. “Mind if I look?”
“Why would you need to do that?” he asked, nervously crossing his arms in front of himself.
“Why aren’t you tagged?” she asked.
The realization of what she was seemed to hit him full force, and as his eyes grew wide in recognition, his fangs grew long in self-preservation. But rather than lunging at her, as Cadence assumed he would do, he turned tail and began to run.
Even though it would have been quite easy to pull her gun and end this with no trouble, Cadence was tired of relying on the Glock, so rather than shooting him, she dropped her helmet and flung herself into the air, landing hard on his back. He fell, knocking over a candy display, and the force of the contact made her lose her grip. The Vampire pulled away from her, sliding on spilled candies as he struggled to regain his footing.
Cadence was up faster, but as he scrambled away, he began to pull items off of the shelf and fling them at her. She found herself dodging motor oil and engine cleaner. It was enough to let him get to his feet, but not enough to let him get away. She closed the distance between them, but he managed to make it around the corner into the next aisle, which he shoved over at her, and Cadence had to leap out of the way to keep from getting pinned beneath the rusted metal shelving unit.
It had been his last line of defense, and since it missed, his only other alternative was to come at her. If he tried to run for the door, she would definitely get there first, so rather than fleeing, he bared his teeth, elongated his head so that his mouth opened nearly three feet, and lunged for her, claws in the air.
Cadence wasn’t the least bit frightened. She delivered a round-house kick to his midsection, sending him back a good three feet into the debris from the shelving unit. He went down hard amidst the spilled goods, but he didn’t stay down long, and when Cadence reached him, he was already on his feet, though in a squatting position.
She realized his balance would be off from climbing back up so quickly, so she kicked him from the right side, sending him tumbling to his left. Before he could react, she was on top of him, her knees pinning him to the pile of cereal boxes and granola bars. He attempted to bring his arms around and push her off, but she grabbed ahold of his right arm, the freer limb, and with a yanking, twisting motion, she pulled it off and tossed it across the room. The Vampire screamed in anguish.
Before he could even consider harming her with his left arm, Cadence scooted forward so that his shoulder was now pinned beneath her right knee. Then, with both hands, she grabbed ahold of his head, careful of his gnashing teeth, and twisted. Within seconds, his head was off, and he let out the blood curdling scream of a dying Vampire.
It took her a second to catch her breath, but when she did, she dusted her hands off and stood, watching as the Vampire turned to dust there in the rubble of mac and cheese boxes and ketchup bottles.
Climbing over the mess, she hurried to the closet where she’d heard the noise. The door was locked, but that didn’t stop her. She forced the flimsy lock open, and flipping on the light, she spotted a woman in the back corner, sitting on the floor, her hands and feet tied together, duct tape over her mouth.
Cadence hurried over to pull the tape off of her mouth. “Are you okay?” she asked.
The woman, who was crying, asked, “My son? Did you see my son?”
“I think he’s still in your car,” she replied as she tore through the ropes on the woman’s hands and ankles. She could tell by the expression in her eyes that the woman was shocked that she could free her so easily, but Cadence didn’t bother to explain. Once the ropes were gone, she helped the woman to her feet.
“Where is he? The cashier?” She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, with mousy brown hair that hung in loose curls around her face. Her forehead was damp with sweat, and she wore the wrinkled outfit of a tired mother.
“He took off,” Cadence replied, clearly unable to tell her the truth. “He went out the back.”
“I heard you fighting. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Cadence assured her, checking the woman over for any signs that she had been wounded by the Vampire. Even the tiniest scratch could lead to infection and change. “How are you?”
“I think I’m okay,” the woman replied.
“Good,” Cadence said, and with a deep exhale, she led her out of the room. The woman gasped to see the mess, but Cadence was more interested in checking for surveillance cameras. She didn’t need what she had just done to be on film that other law enforcement or YouTubers could access. Since she didn’t see any recording devices, she decided that this establishment must pre-date the invention of videotape, and gathering her helmet, which appeared to be unscathed, she followed the woman through the dusty debris on the floor.
She saw the lady look out the window to make sure her son was still there and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Should I call the police?” she called to Cadence over her shoulder.
Cadence, who still needed gas, went around to flip on the correct pump and dropped a twenty onto the cash register. Even if the store happened to belong to the Vampire, that didn’t make it okay to steal. “You can. If you want. But I won’t be waiting around. I got no time for cops.” She said it in a way that might make the woman assume she was on the lam herself.
“Oh, okay,” she replied. She was rubbing her wrists where the ropes had begun to cut into her skin. “It just all happened so fast. I asked to use the restroom, and he came up from behind me. The next thing I knew… I was in the closet, tied up.”
Cadence nodded. “That’s terrifying. Well, you’re okay now.”
“Thanks to you,” she smiled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cadence said with a shrug as she approached the door. “Go see your son. He’s gotta be scared.”
“Right,” she said, a tear in her eye. “Is there anything I can do to repay you?”
“Nope, I’m good,” Cadence assured her with a smile. “Take care.” She patted her on the shoulder and headed out the door, happy to be out in the fresh air again.
Cadence was suddenly in a huge hurry to get to Cale’s. She needed to talk to her teammates and see if anyone else had noticed this peculiar behavior. It made sense that this Vampire operated out here in the middle of nowhere and was willing to go after people in broad daylight. She wondered if he intended to take the mother back to save for later, an idea she’d been introduced to with Giovani in Philadelphia. Perhaps he had planned to come back for the child. She watched the woman pull her son out of the car and throw her arms around him in a long embrace before they both climbed into the Chevy and hurried away.
Cadence started filling her tank, not really worried if it went slightly over the twenty she’d left behind. She could be compensated a little for her trouble. Hanging her helmet on the handlebar, she slipped out of the backpack and checked to make sure Elliott was okay. She was relieved to see the tape had held, and he hadn’t been crunched out of his new container when she’d fallen. Checking the other compartment showed that her conditioner hadn’t been so lucky. Thank goodness it was in a baggy or else all of her clothes would’ve been covered in a lovely film of white.
Her bike full, Cadence replaced the pump handle and climbed aboard. She should be in Reno soon. Perhaps it was time to let Cale know she was coming.
