Free Dark Moonlighting by Scott Haworth Page B

of caffeine,
but partook in the ritual for a sense of camaraderie.
    “Your turn to buy, right?” Jasmine asked as
we exited the parked car.
    “Nice try,” I countered. I motioned towards
the entrance of the convenience store with my thumb.
    Jasmine shrugged her shoulders in defeat and
entered the store. I remained outside and braced myself against the
biting wind. Vampires are not cold-blooded like many people think.
The virus actually helps to keep our body temperature more constant
than a normal human being’s. We are, however, still susceptible to
the cold weather. I pulled on the zipper of my official police
jacket and buried my chin in my chest. Since I was technically in
my patrol zone, I glanced around the vicinity to make sure no one
was getting murdered in the immediate area. It was, not
surprisingly, all quiet in this particular neighborhood. Though it
was still early in the night, the area was almost completely
deserted. It was for this reason that the man who crept around the
side of the convenience store stood out to me.
    He had come from the dark alley on the side
of the store, but my keen eyes were able to pick him out
immediately. After a few paces I could tell that he was not so much
creeping as he was staggering. He was an elderly gentleman, or at
least looked old due to the self-inflicted damage to his body. As
he emerged into the area illuminated by the lights in the parking
lot, he slowly rolled his head towards me and locked on my eyes. I
did not need my heightened senses to smell the drying vomit that
covered his clothes. His body odor was pungent enough to put a
skunk to shame. This bum was more disturbing than most, and I would
have recoiled in disgust if not for my police training.
    “Are you all right, sir?” I asked. It was
more of an accusation than an inquisition.
    The homeless man opened his mouth and hissed
at me through rotting teeth. “You reek of death!”
    “Okie dokie,” I responded. A rational
conversation with the mentally ill man was clearly out of the
question. “I’m going to have to ask you to move along. There’s a
shelter two blocks down on 16th Street. Why don’t you head down
there and get a good night sleep?”
    The bum turned his gaze towards the ground
and started to waddle past me. I held my breath and turned my head
to avoid the stench as he passed. I was just starting to feel
guilty about unloading the hideous creature on the good people at
the homeless shelter when he suddenly lunged at me. Having not
expected the decrepit man to be able to move so quickly, I was
momentarily caught off guard. He grabbed the collar of my jacket
and pulled me within an inch of his face.
    “The creatures of the night feed on the
vermin who walk the streets of Starside!” he shouted into my face.
“Your loneliness is a lie. Your brother and sisters who share the
sickness also call this town their own. The streets can’t run red
when the red is all consumed!”
    I froze in fear as I processed the man’s
words. He continued to glare into my eyes for a few seconds before
suddenly being pulled away from my face. Jasmine grabbed the bum by
the shoulders and threw him into the side of the store with more
force than was necessary. He groaned pathetically, crumpled to the
ground and grabbed his right arm in pain. Jasmine pointed her
canister of pepper spray at the man as she glanced back at me.
    “You okay, Nick?” she asked with concern.
    Still focused on the man’s eerie message, I
did not respond immediately.
    “Officer Whittier?” Jasmine said a little
more forcefully.
    I snapped out of my daze and moved quickly
towards the old man. The intensity he had shown earlier was gone.
He sat on the ground and quietly whimpered, making no effort to
defend himself as I got closer. I grabbed him under the armpits,
lifted him to his feet and pointed him in the direction of 16th
Street.
    “If you don’t go to the shelter you’ll be
spending the night in jail,” I shouted at the man.