Free Shot Through The Heart (Supernature Book 1) by Edwin James Page B

rare of cases will require entrapment - in Scottish folklore, a cairn is usually piled on top of the coffin.
    Be careful when dealing with vampires - if threatened, they will try to get an innocent accomplice to move their coffin to a more secure location. The old story about seeking permission to enter a building is partially true - vampires are dependent on people and will try to exert contractual pressure on them by formal and informal means.
    Further reading on real world vampires is available from Avartagh's Esoterica, either in person in our shop in Inverness's Culloden Arcade or through our Amazon and eBay stores.
    Mark put the book down on the desk.
    It was a work of genius - it almost had him going, until it was apparent that it was just a sales pitch for the freaky Esoterica shop near Buffy's comic shop.

seventeen

    Pushing the bowl and coffee mug aside to start working, Mark was becoming aware that he desperately needed to get through some serious word count.
    He had woken at ten, tired from oversleeping. He'd slept through the breakfast service but had managed to persuade Harris to get a bowl of Bran Flakes and a strong coffee sent up from the kitchen.
    He needed to speak to Harris about the rattling - worse the previous night than before - but decided that complaining at the same time as angling for breakfast wasn't the best idea. The state of the windows was beyond a joke - he'd never encountered anything like it. He was half tempted to take a second room, maybe he'd get some sleep and still be able to work.
    Headphones on, he typed up the transcript from the interview with Lady Ruthven. He focused on her voice as he typed - it sounded so alluring, even above the background noise in the gardens. In person, he'd concentrated on how she looked and carried herself, while avoiding physical contact. Hearing her talk, he appreciated how strong and rich her voice was - almost a purr, smooth like silk, rolling over the vowels.
    He still wondered what she saw in him. His long face, ginger hair, non-designer glasses and pot belly were not exactly Hollywood A-List features, with the exception of maybe Simon Pegg or Ricky Gervais.
    Her dress had been revealing. And the way she kept on touching him.
    He caught himself. He wasn't a single man any longer. He was married. He had a daughter. A family.  
    He smiled to himself as he remembered a Hall and Oates song his dad would play when Mark was growing up, something along the lines of a family guy being propositioned by a woman and trying to fight her off, but acknowledging that there may come a tipping point when he couldn't resist. To a disco beat.
    That wasn't Mark. He knew he'd be strong, that he could resist anything.
    The phone on the desk rang. Mark felt a cold trickle of sweat down his spine - he wondered if his thoughts had somehow leaked out and Sarah had found out.
    It was Harris. "I've got a man here to see you," he said, the phone line crackling.
    Mark was thrown. Who could it be - the blacksmith or John Rennie? Someone else with news of Kay's fate? "Who is it?" he asked.
    "A gentleman called Adam Mathieson," said Harris, then hung the phone up.
    Mark gave a deep sigh as he stopped the tape, though he knew that he'd have to wind it back at least five minutes to recover from his reverie. Locking the door securely, he headed down to the reception.
    Harris was grinning from ear-to-ear, chatting to a tall, handsome man in his mid-30s who was wearing army surplus clothes.
    Harris looked over at Mark approaching and straightened up his tie. "Mr Campbell," he said, voice almost too loud, "this is Mr Mathieson."
    Mark shook hands with Adam, who had a firm and cold grip.
    "How can I help?" asked Mark.
    Adam smiled. "You've no idea who I am, have you?" he asked, in a broad Glasgow accent.
    "Is this a game or something?" asked Mark, shaking his head.
    "I'm your photographer," said Adam.
    "I didn't know I had one," said Mark.
    Adam frowned. "Well, Kay said you'd approved it,"