Free Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck

definitely would have known too. Because of Kat’s past with vampires, she kept closer tabs on them than on any other supernaturals in the area. Hatred will make you obsessive sometimes. “In fact, just the opposite has happened. The vampires have been really quiet the last few weeks.”
    A lull in vamp activity? Normally the vampires mind their p’s and q’s. They are evil, but with the plethora of victims that can be seduced into giving blood, they rarely kill anyone. Usually they stay involved in their crimes and misdemeanors, keeping themselves occupied.
    It’s almost like a game for them. Because of this, the cops actually keep them in check pretty well. They don’t know what they are dealing with usually, but it just works itself out somehow. It also keeps them out of my line of fire for the most part. I am just one gun in a war, so my focus is always on the monster at hand. For an area the size of Metro Atlanta, vampires are almost like a rat problem. They are there, and they need to be exterminated, but you don’t see them, so they fall to the bottom of the priority list.
    Well, tonight’s attack changed all that. Vampire equals top of the priority list.
    Number one with a silver fucking bullet.
    â€œHave there been any reports of vampire activity on our Web site?” Kat shook her head no. Larson looked over at me.
    â€œYou have a Web site?”
    I snorted through my nose. “Of course.” Who doesn’t, I didn’t ask. “It’s how we get work to do sometimes.” I turned back to Kat and she shook her head. “The problem as I see it is that there is a ton of stuff we don’t know.” I ticked my points off on the fingers of an upraised hand. “We don’t know who the bad guy is, why they tried to kill me, how they accomplished the setup, why Larson here was used as bait ... In fact, all we know is that the problem is a vampire-related one, and someone tried to take me out.” I stroked my goatee, thinking. “Does anybody know of any big happenings in the vampire world, anything that maybe doesn’t have anything to do with us yet, but will?”
    They all looked at me. I could see them reaching for conclusions and could also tell that they were not going to come up with any. Time for a different tack.
    â€œOkay, Kat, find out if there is a major vampire player that may have recently dropped off the radar. Maybe the person setting me up has had a new development in their unlife and they are blaming me for it.”
    Kat’s quick typing caused the screen to change to the Internet. Web sites popped up and dropped off as Kat searched the net the way only she can. She would stop on a Web site for a second, rapidly read some bit of information, switch screens, and go off on another search. It really would be amazing if you could keep up with it. I couldn’t, so I just let my eyes go unfocused and dropped into my head to think about the problem at hand.
    A lot of folks get scattered when someone is trying to kill them. I don’t. Panic does no one any good, except for the people who are trying to kill you. I only care why someone was trying to kill me so I could figure out who was trying to kill me.
    One problem at a time.
    Also, since I know and have come to grips with the fact that I will not live to a ripe old age and die in my sleep, I was going to be proactive. Find the bad guys, kill their ass. That was my goal, figuring out why was just a means to an end. I had a plan forming in my head to smoke the bastard out. I just needed a name and a place to start. For that, I waited on Kat.
    Looking over at Father Mulcahy, I saw that he was sitting still and quiet, like he normally did. Years of monastery training ensured he could sit like a rock. That and being an army sniper somewhere in the world that had gone to shit before joining the priesthood.
    Larson was also sitting stone still, enraptured by the screen as Kat