Who Framed the Vegan Vampire (The Immortality Curse Book 3)

by Peter Glenn

  Maybe that only happened when vampires didn’t drink blood?

  “Humph,” Viktor said. “Well, I certainly do wish we’d met under better circumstances, Damian, but it is all your fault.”

  My eyes grew wide, and my face flushed. “My fault? You broke into Donald’s apartment, too!”

  “Yes, well, I didn’t very well think I’d be attacked for investigating the crime.” He gave me his best indignant stare.

  I started to feel hot, and my eyes flitted from Charmaine to Viktor and back. “Well, what was I supposed to think the way you were skulking about?” I groaned. “Look, we’re getting off track. Admit you murdered the guy so we can free Charmaine’s husband.”

  Viktor shot me a derisive glare. “You twit, what do you think I’m trying to do?”

  “Trying to what now?” This was a day for surprises, apparently. I certainly hadn’t been expecting that. My hand eased back over to Grax’thor’s hilt, and I tried to look menacing. “Explain yourself.”

  “Please move away from the sword. We all know you couldn’t swing it worth a damn right now if you wanted to.” He glowered at me as he spoke, folding his arms over his chest.

  “Just do it, Damian,” Charmaine said. “I want to hear him out.”

  “Ugh. Fine.” I dropped my hand to the side. “Now spill.”

  “Very well.” Viktor uncrossed his arms and let them drop, as well. He looked at each of us for a moment and took in a deep breath. “As I’m sure you’re aware, I am a vampire. Not just that, I’m a well-known and well-connected vampire. Surely you’ve heard of Viktor Green?”

  The color drained from my face. “The Viktor Green?”

  Viktor nodded.

  Now that was a shocker. I’d heard of Viktor Green, all right. Everyone had. He was a Wall Street shark that had retired to the Pacific Northwest after amassing a fortune rumored to be in the billions through risky business moves. He had commendations from three different presidents and supposedly sat on the board of several global companies.

  And I’d pissed him off. Go me.

  “Okay, so you’re some big shot. That doesn’t mean you didn’t kill anyone.”

  Viktor rolled his eyes again. “And tell me, Damian. Why would I kill one of my best investors?”

  A light went off in my head as a new thought dawned on me. I’d heard the name Donald Thurgood somewhere else recently in the news, before his murder. Something about how he was backing some investment firm in Seattle. Was that Viktor’s firm? It would have to be.

  “Now several investments are ruined, no thanks to whoever killed Donald,” Viktor huffed. He let out an exasperated sigh. “Besides, if I had killed him, I wouldn’t have wasted all that delicious blood.” There was an odd, greedy gleam in his eyes as he said that last part.

  I ignored Viktor’s obvious bloodlust. He was a vampire, after all. “Okay, I’ll grant you that killing one of your investors would be an odd move.” I mean, it was a valid point. If someone wanted to give me money, you could be damned sure the last thing I’d do is kill them. However… “But then, why were you skulking about Donald’s apartment last night, and again this afternoon at the warehouse?”

  “Like I said before, I’m trying to clear Daequan’s name, you nincompoop.”

  Valid point. “Okay, but how did you know where the murders occurred?”

  “Do I really have to sit here and listen to this drabble?” Viktor sneered. He let out another sigh. “I have friends on the police force. Seeing as Donald was a very good friend of mine, and I might know something about his recent dealings, they were only too happy to share what they knew.”

  Okay, that was believable on all counts. But it still didn’t sit quite right. There had to be more. “Fine, you wanted to know what happened, but that doesn’t explain why you’d skulk about on your own instead of letting the police do their work. Why the personal touch to the investigation?”

  Viktor gave me an incredulous look. “Why? Because I’m a vampire, that’s why!” He patted his chest. “Could you imagine the bad press if people thought there was a vampire serial killer on the loose? It doesn’t matter that I’m innocent. The public backlash against all vampires would be astronomical. It could ruin me financially.”

  An innocent man was staring death in the face, and he was worried about his bank account? Humph. The nerve. Still, after spending a few minutes with the guy, I could believe it. He seemed like the kind of guy that would value money over life.

  Besides, I believed him. His story made sense.

  “Okay, fine, so you’re not the killer.” I let out a sigh of my own and relaxed a bit, then started to sag as exhaustion hit and thought better of it. “Then who is?”

  “Tch.” Viktor crossed his arms again. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t still be investigating the crime scenes, now would I?”

  “Valid point,” I said, a sheepish grin on my face.

  The vampire turned his attention to Charmaine. “Look, we could stand here all day, but that’s not going to save your husband. What do you say we let the past slide, and we investigate the new scene together. Maybe Wonder Boy over here can actually make himself useful for a change.”

  Wonder Boy? I wanted to hurl an equally powerful insult at him, but something akin to a nervous laugh came out instead.

  “Let’s do it,” Charmaine said a moment later, before I had a chance to come up with something good.

  That stopped me short. “Are you sure?” I gave her a good, long look as my vision started to cloud over. The anger and resentment in her face were gone and her frame had gone slack. It seemed angry Charmaine was gone for the moment.

  She shrugged. “Maybe he’ll spot something we don’t. It’s worth a shot.”

  I turned my attention back to Viktor and gave him a broad smile. “Well, Viktor, welcome to the team.”

  Before he could say or do anything else, my legs finally gave out, and I fell ingloriously to the ground.

  10

  I woke to flashing lights all around me. Something soft was underneath my head. Soft, but a little cold and clammy. I jerked open my eyes and tried to raise my head to get a better look, but Charmaine shushed me and pushed my head back down.

  “Easy now,” she said. She stroked my forehead a little. “You’ve been through a lot, and I probably took more of your blood than I should have. So it’s kind of my fault.”

  I realized then that I was laying on the ground, which meant my head was probably in Charmaine’s lap. Which made me a little uncomfortable. I’m all for physical contact, but that was a little more than I really wanted from her.

  “Umm, are you sure I shouldn’t… lay somewhere else or something?” I said, peeking up at her.

  Charmaine giggled. “You can be so weird about things, sometimes, Damian.” I saw her bright smile shine down on me as I looked up into her big doe eyes. “But suit yourself.”

  She moved my head to the side and set it down on something that was less comfortable, but at least it wasn’t a vampire’s lap. I thought maybe it was a bunched up jacket or something.

  The lights all around me kept flashing, all blues and reds, with a little strobing white thrown in for variety.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Where… where are we?”

  “You fell on your ass. I caught you and took you back to the cars,” Charmaine said with another slight giggle.

  Everything came flooding back. “Tell me Viktor didn’t see my fall, at least?” The last thing I needed was more reasons for that guy to think less of me.

  “Oh, he saw it all. Laughed good and hard, too.” She sighed a little. “But like I said, it was all my fault. I haven’t had real blood in years. I guess I… forgot what it could do to me. I’m sorry.” She lowered her gaze, and I saw the hint of a tear in her eyes.

  “Meh. It’s all good.” I waved a hand dismissively. “Just help me up, will you?”

  “You’re too nice to me, Damian,” Charmaine said cryptically.

  “Nah. I’m just
nice enough.” I beamed at her and raised my arms.

  She stood, then gave me a weak smile and grabbed onto my outstretched hands, pulling hard. It had the intended effect. I vaulted upward into a standing position a little quicker than was likely prudent.

  As a result, my head swam, and my brains felt swishy as I swooned on my feet a little, but with Charmaine’s help, I remained upright. I silently thanked my slightly faster than normal healing. If I were a normal human, I’d probably be in a hospital right now.

  “Hey, at least I kept you off the stretcher,” Charmaine said, nodding toward the nearby ambulance.

  My lips cracked into a wry smile. “Thank heaven for small miracles.”

  Now standing, I reviewed the full scene that was playing out in front of me. Thankfully, the black sedan was no longer smoking, so I could make out everything. There were a handful of police cars surrounding us, which is where the lights were coming from. That and an ambulance, which looked to be empty. Two black-clad police officers were currently talking to Viktor, who if I overheard correctly, was trying to convince them that he’d spun out of control, and we’d been the unfortunate victims of his lack of skill.

  A tall tale, and one easily put to rest by traffic cams if the police bothered to check them—which they rarely did, in my experience—but hopefully, it’d get us out of most of the trouble for the moment. At the very least, hopefully they wouldn’t check for my driver’s license, seeing as I didn’t have one.

  Driving without a license could mean an instant trip to a holding cell these days. And while I liked Daequan, I wouldn’t be very helpful to his case if I were right there next to him.

  Several other officers were milling about. One had a large camera and was snapping multiple photos while a few others were putting up caution tape and warding people off.

  My heart sank. It looked like this was going to take hours to get out of. Hours that Daequan and Charmaine didn’t have. I was desperate to do something to change it, but fresh out of ideas. I did my best to avoid the police, not work with them.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled to Charmaine. She, like me, was busy watching everyone and taking everything in.

  Charmaine shrugged. “You did your best, Damian.”

  “Yeah, but if I hadn’t crashed your car, we would be off exploring the other crime scene right now.”

  Charmaine let out a sigh and kept staring at all the commotion. “I suppose, but it is what it is.” She paused for a moment, the flashing lights reflecting in her eyes. “If my long life has taught me anything, it’s that railing against the past won’t do you any favors.”

  I had to admit, she had a good point.

  “Fair enough. Still sorry about the car, though.”

  “I can take it out of your fee if you want.” She grinned a little at that one.

  “Umm, I’m not that sorry…”

  We both giggled at that, which broke the dour mood. As the laughing died down, I watched Viktor talk with the cops for a good while, wondering how he was handling this all so well. I’d wrecked his car, too, after all.

  A slight breeze picked up, and I started to shiver. I rubbed my arms and looked over at Charmaine, but of course, she seemed to be completely unaffected. Being a vampire had its perks, after all.

  Several moments later, Viktor shook one of the officer’s hands. “Very well, gentlemen,” he said, nodding his thanks.

  The officer he’d thanked mumbled something into his radio at his shoulder, then miraculously, all the officers got into their cars and left the scene without a further word.

  My eyes grew wide with wonder as he walked over to where I was, while I stood there with my mouth slightly open, dumbfounded.

  “That was unpleasant,” Viktor said slowly, a slight grimace on his face.

  “Wh-what did you say to them to call them off like that?” I asked.

  He looked behind him at the fleeing officers. “Who? Jason?”

  “You know the officer by name?”

  Viktor shrugged. “I know several of them, yes. It helps to expedite things when you need a favor in this town.”

  He said it like it was nothing, but I sat there staring with my mouth open anyway.

  “So they bought your story, then?” Charmaine asked him.

  I was still speechless.

  Viktor nodded. “Police will believe a lot when you’re friends with the police chief.” He slid his hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a sleek phone. It looked like one of those foldable smartphones I was super jealous of. The really nice ones. “Now, let’s be on our way, shall we?”

  “But… the cars, they’re…”

  “Totaled?” Viktor finished for me.

  I gave him a sheepish grin. “Yeah.”

  Viktor rolled his eyes. “That’s why I’m calling a car service, nitwit.”

  He just loved to dig at me, didn’t he? But whatever, a car service sounded nice right now. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything.

  “Yes, Tracy?” Viktor hollered into his phone. “I’m afraid my usual car is…” he glanced at the wreckage then back at his phone. “Indisposed. I’m going to need a replacement sent over right away. Yes, I know it’s an odd part of town. Just get them over here fast, will you? Thank you Tracy, you’re the best.”

  Viktor hung up his phone a moment later, practically slamming it shut, and shoved it back into his pocket. “There. That should do it. They’ll be here in three minutes.”

  I did a double take. “That fast?”

  Viktor shrugged. “I only pay for the very best.”

  “Oh, naturally,” I said in a mocking tone. Though I don’t think he caught it. Charmaine chuckled a little, though.

  Exactly three minutes later, a stretch limo pulled up in front of us. Viktor pulled on the door handle. “Ladies first,” he said, smiling broadly at Charmaine and beckoning her onward.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” she replied. She ducked and got into the back of the car.

  “Well, get on with it,” he groaned, glancing at me and past me at the same time.

  My mouth still hung partially open with both the speed and quality of the vehicle he’d produced, so I said nothing while I piled into the car. The inside was no less impressive than the outside had been. Plush leather seats with automatic seatbelts rimmed the interior. In the middle was a mini bar that looked to have the top shelf stuff stocked in it and a variety of glasses, and there was TV up against the far wall that was playing some financial channel.

  Definitely riding in style.

  It was a bit too much for me, really, and I started to feel a little uneasy, worrying I’d scratch the leather and have to pay for it or something. How was I supposed to repay that? I could barely pay my own rent most months.

  Glancing at the mini bar, I poured myself a small scotch to ease my nerves. It was no Manhattan from Mei’s, but a good scotch was hard to ignore, and it’d been hours since my last drink. Besides, I wouldn’t be driving anywhere anytime soon with no car, so it was all good.

  “Are you sure you should be doing that?” Charmaine asked, pointing at the drink.

  I waved a hand dismissively. “Viktor won’t mind, will you Vick?”

  The vampire gave me a death glare. “Quite.”

  “See?” I said. “He’s cool with it.”

  Charmaine rolled her eyes, but said nothing further.

  I took another few sips of the scotch—it really was quite good—and sat back while the driver took us to our destination. Sitting there in comfy seats with a stiff drink, the voyage took less time than I would have thought possible. Soon enough, we were back at the warehouse, and Viktor was growling for us to get out of the car, mumbling something about how he pays by the minute or something.

  The sky was starting to darken by now, but it was still another hour or so until nighttime, and the fog had mostly cleared, so I could see the warehouse in all its sordid glory. It was every bit as foreboding as an old, abandoned warehouse on the docks shoul
d be. The yellow caution tape on the door did nothing to lessen the effect.

  “Shall we?” I offered.

  Charmaine and Viktor both nodded, and we headed over to the door. It was locked, of course, but I’d expected that. I reached into my fanny pack for my lockpicking kit, but Charmaine pushed me aside.

  “I’ve got this. You just wait here a moment.”

  “Oh yeah,” I said. “I forgot you could do that whole fog thing.”

  Charmaine chuckled. “You’re cute, Damian.”

  A moment later, she started to shimmer and she faded into fog, then disappeared entirely as she went past the door and into the building.

  “How come you didn’t think of that?” I asked Viktor, nudging him on the arm with my elbow.

  Viktor scoffed. “Not all vampires have the same powers, fool. That is not one of mine.”

  “Really?” I looked up at him, his face was stoic. “What kind of powers do you have, then?”

  He gave me a derisive look that wiped the easy smile off my face, and I let the matter drop. It didn’t look like I’d be getting an answer to that question anytime soon.

  Just then, I heard the locking mechanisms disengaging, and Charmaine threw the door open. “Easy peasy,” she said in her bubbly tone. “Come on, I think the murder scene is just ahead.”

  “At least one of you has manners,” I said, glaring at Viktor. Then I followed after Charmaine.

  The inside of the warehouse was in as sad a state of repairs as the outside had been. There was rust on almost every surface, and trash littered the hallway. It was a wonder someone as esteemed as Donald Thurgood would have deigned to come to a place like this, no matter the reason.

  Along the right wall, I made out a couple of doors. The first was hanging half open and at an odd angle, like it had been partially torn off its hinges. The glass in the door’s window was broken, and only the bottom half remained. I glanced into the room beyond that door, but it held nothing of note. Just piles of rusted tools and a few broken chairs. Certainly no murder.