Stepping out of the dry cleaners, my head jerked up at the sound of blaring horns. I’d just barely caught sight of the tail light of a tiny car that appeared to have cut off a much larger truck. My phone chose that moment to ring. Juggling the dry cleaning into one arm, I struggled to get the cell phone out of my back pocket.

“Albert.” I answered a little breathless after the struggle to get the device.

“You’re needed at Stone’s Parking Garage.” Came a curt reply from my boss.

“I’ll be there in ten.”

Finally reaching my car, I struggled with getting the phone back into the back pocket of my jeans to fish the car keys out of the front pocket, hitting the button for the trunk. I laid the dry cleaning within — as flat as possible — then got behind the wheel. Stone’s Parking Garage: Burnstone’s largest and most popular parking garage is strategically situated between uptown and downtown. The two districts are distinct by their age. Downtown is what made Burnstone. It is also home to the first police station this town has seen, and it’s where I proudly work.

I parked my car just before the crime scene tape and reached over to the glove box to pull out my gun and badge. Stepping out of the vehicle, I attached them to my hip. I reached back into the car and pulled out two coffees from the car’s cup holders. The officer manning the tape line to prevent civilians and journalists from crossing over lifted the tape for me.

Officer Kyle Anderson rushed over to greet me. He’s been an officer for two years now, always cheerful and eager to help. I like Kyle. His thirst for learning is refreshing to see in such a younger officer. Standing a couple of inches taller than my 5’3”, he felt like my shadow as he rattled off some basic information about the crime scene as we neared the body. I can’t help but smile at the twenty-two-year-old man — especially when his face lights up with that smile of his.

“The victim is female. Unfortunately, we found no identification on her. There aren’t any witnesses, but we are trying to fill in the gaps by contacting everyone who has parked on this level in the past 24 hours.” He flipped through his notepad. “I’m trying to track down the manager of this parking garage. Maybe we can get lucky and catch the killer on the CCTVs.”

“Thank you, Kyle. Any evidence nearby?”

“Nothing obvious. If there’s anything, forensics will find it.” He glanced in the direction of the body with a frown. “She looks so young.”

“Anderson!” An older officer called out.

“I have to go. If you need anything detective, let me know.”

“Kyrie.” I corrected him yet again as he left.

His lips quirked. I am determined to get him to call me by my name. One day, he will.

“There you are.” My partner, Mario Zuberi, strolled over to me.

“I wasn’t hiding.” I looked up at him. A head taller than me with matching brown eyes and hair, he smiled down at me cheerfully. “You got here before me. What do we have?”

“A murder.”

Irritated with his teasingly obvious answer, I pinned him with a deadpan look. He only laughed, not fazed in the slightest by my seriousness of the situation.

“You’re going to have to see this one for yourself.”

“Okay, what’s the catch with this case?” I raised a brow.

He walked me the rest of the way to the body.

“It’s not a gory scene.” He explained while taking the coffee I offered him. With a quirk of his lips, he continued the sentence. “It was a vampire attack.”

“There’s no such thing as vampires.” I told him flatly.

He stopped at the body. The killer had staged this scene. The victim’s hair was swept neatly over her shoulders as she lay on the cold concrete ground with her hands folded over her stomach. I couldn’t tell if the killer dressed her after killing her or if he just straightened the clothes she was wearing during his kill. To a passer-by, she looked as though she was sleeping peacefully.

“Then how do you explain the victim’s body being completely drained of blood?” Mario questioned.

“That is up to Mark to figure out. We are tasked with figuring out who killed her.”

“And the other bodies, too.”

My head snapped up to look at him. “What other bodies?”

“There were two bodies found last week.” Mario is almost never annoyed, yet his tone holds an edge of annoyance. “Apparently, with no clue to the killer or any connection to either victim, the files got shuffled around. I only just found out about those other murder victims.”

“Idiots.” I mumbled. “We’ll have to track down those case files when we get back to the station.”

“All ready on it.”

I bent down closer to the body of our current victim. “Why dump the body here? The parking garage seems like an odd spot.”

“Check the neck.” Mario urged, ignoring my question.

Tilting my head to the side, I angled my view to see the victim’s neck. “Two puncture marks seemingly equal in width and possibly an inch apart. I wonder what kind of tool could do that.”

“None that I know of, logically, of course.” He shrugged, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “I bet those marks are equal in depth, too.”

“Mario.” I groaned, begging him not to give in to this foolishness. “Don’t say it.”

“Vampire attack.” He grinned childishly as if all of this was just entertainment for him. “There’s no other explanation.”

“There is no such thing as vampires.” I stated each word slowly and clearly.

Mario extended a hand to help me up. “You have no proof of that.”

“Neither do you.” I countered while dusting off my jeans. “Out of all the years that these vampire stories have been around, there has never been any scientific proof of the existence of these creatures.”

“Okay, okay.” He chuckled at my statement. “Here’s a fact for you: I heard that those bodies I mentioned earlier also had a bite mark on their neck.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, unimpressed that he was still pursuing this crazy vampire thing. “This serial killer has a vampire fetish.”

Mario heaved a sigh, running his hand through his mid-length hair. He knew he wouldn’t win this debate. I hid my smile behind my coffee. As fact-driven and stubborn as I can be, Mario never ceases to amaze me with his patience.

“Did you get a chance to talk to Mark?” I looked around for the medical examiner, a little surprised he wasn’t at the body already.

He scowled, all previous amusement gone. “You know how much he likes me.”

“Possibly more than his new assistant.”

I caught sight of Mark berating a young girl who twisted her fingers together nervously and flinched away from him at specific points of the speech Mark was clearly giving her. I watched, wondering what she did wrong to get the typically collected medical examiner riled up. She caught me watching and pointed my way. He turned, saw me, and with a scowl, he waved her away. I waited until Mark was closer to comment on the scene I witnessed.

“You’re going through more assistants than I am with partners.”

Mark laughed, his irritation vanishing in my presence. “I’m sure my number is still lower than yours.”

“Keep berating them, and you’ll surpass me in no time.” I gestured to the body at our feet. “I’m assuming you’ve already given the body a preliminary. What can you tell me about her?”

“Not much.” He crouched down, turning the victim’s head with his gloved hands. “I’m sure these marks were pointed out to you. They are just a distraction, though. Her neck has been snapped.”

“You sure?” Mario sounded disappointed.

“I’m sure.” Mark glared up at him, irritated at being questioned on his professional observations. “She died last night around midnight. Now that you’ve seen the body, Kyrie, I’ll have her moved to my table and let you know when I find more.”

“Killed around midnight.” I mumbled, spinning slowly in a spot, taking in the lack of cars on this floor of the parking garage. “Yet not found until twelve hours later.”

Mario growled low, trying to cover the sound by clearing his throat. “It is Wednesday. The higher levels of the garage don’t get used as often if it’s not the weekend.”

“True. Maybe we’ll get lucky with the CCTVs that Kyle is looking into.” I offered Mark a soft smile. “Thanks, Mark.”

“One more thing.” Mark held the victim’s wrist, revealing a faded red mark in the shape of a teardrop. “This mark was also on two other bodies that have shown up in my morgue recently. Which I’m sure you’ve heard of.”

“Very recently, yes.” I grumbled, irritated.

Mario scowled at the medical examiner. “Why didn’t you bring this to our attention?”

“It’s all in my reports.” He responded haughtily. Mark continued speaking directly to me, completely ignoring my partner. “It’s a stamp, possibly for a club. The mark came off the other victims when I washed them before the autopsy. You can find an image in my reports, though.”

“Blood Drop.” Mario said after getting a better look at the stamp. “It’s a popular club for the goths and vampires. The club owner is a vampire himself.”

“There is no such thing as vampires.” I was getting tired of repeating myself. “I will bet you anything that the owner is just a wealthy man who has used this vampire craze to its fullest.”

“Okay, Kyrie, I’ll take that bet.” Mario responded with a sly grin, his playfulness returning now that we were walking away from Mark. “I’ll go to the club and search from that end while you go back to the station and find the connection between the three victims.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Where is the ‘bet’ part in all of this?”

“Let’s look at this case from both of our perspectives.” He guided me back to where our cars were parked. “The first person to prove their theory on vampires wins.”

“Then what do I get as my prize when I win?” ensuring to emphasize the pronoun.

He chuckled. “The winner can give the loser all their paperwork for both this case and the next.”

I grinned triumphantly, pulling out my car keys. “I like the sound of that. I’ll meet you at the club.”

“You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

“I honestly don’t care, Mario. This is a murder investigation.”