Vampires 101 (Twilight Hunters Book 1) A Vampire Romance (10 page)

“No kidding? Johnny’s a ghost?”

Chaz nodded.

“What happened to him?” I couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

“He had a little too much to drink one night and fell down the stairs. I guess he was trying to get to the second floor. Broke his neck,” Chaz added, tilting his head at an awkward angle and letting his tongue hang out of his mouth.

“I really didn’t need a visual on that,” I told him, drawing my brows together in what I hoped was an ugly scowl.

“You asked,” he said, shrugging his huge - burly shoulders.

My eyes strayed to the little schooner shaped clocked that hung on the wall, near the stove.

Holy crap! Where did the time go?

It was already after 8:00 and I still had to make the drive to Salt Lake so I could talk with Taft, the spook expert. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to stop by the hospital and ask them to do another MRI on my head. I was fairly certain they’d missed something the first time around, and now my bruised brain was dreaming up some really weird stuff, like off the wall guys appearing in my bedroom.

Even supposing Chaz was a ghost, why was I seeing ghosts? And if he was really a ghost, that would mean the other stuff I’d experienced was also real. I wasn’t sure which scenario I preferred.

“Ok Ghost Guy. I kind of have somewhere to go, so I have to get dressed. It’s time for you to go haunt someone else.”

Seeing how I’m a multitask kind of person, I was telling him to go, while at the same time, searching my bare fridge for something that might resembled breakfast. All I could find was a mostly empty tub of cottage cheese.

It would have to due. Grabbing a spoon, I started digging into my breakfast. Chaz was still sitting at my kitchen table, and it didn’t look as if he had any intention of going anywhere.

He had ignored pretty much everything I’d just said. Alive or dead, men were all the same.

“Excuse me! I have to get dressed.”

“I know Dude. You’ve already told me that.”

“So go then,” I pointed to the door, though I doubted he’d actually have to go through the door to leave.

He shook his head. “Not happening. You’re the only person I’ve found that can open the door. The way I see it, if I want to get to where I need to be, I need to be hanging out with you.”

Great! Now I had an annoying vampire and a pesky ghost to deal with. Could my life get any more bizarre? I would soon find out that it could.

After a quick shower and a stop by the mini-mart for an extra strong latte, I was on the freeway and headed to Salt Lake City. Of course Chaz was tagging along. Good for his word, he’d barely left my side all morning.

I’d showered so quickly that I hadn’t even had time to shave my legs. Showering was awkward when there was a ghost standing on the other side of the shower curtain. I had to threaten him with a ghost buster just to get him to turn around while I dressed.

Actually, I was beginning to think that finding someone who specialized in paranormal pest control might not be such a bad idea. I could kill two birds with one stone - get rid of a vampire and a ghost. Of course, I was also thinking that a shrink and some meds might do the job just as well.

If Dad found out I was talking to vampires and ghosts, I had no doubt that I’d be getting a new coat, namely a straight jacket.

With Chaz in the car, there was so much electrical interference that all I could get on the radio was static. He didn’t seem to mind. My new ghost buddy was rocking out to some phantom music that only he could hear. Either that, or he was just plain tripping. If I hadn’t been able to see him, I wouldn’t have known he was there throughout most of the forty-five minute drive.

I was using my GPS to guide me to the address that had been listed on Sean Taft’s website. Unfortunately, the device seemed to be taking me into a secluded area in the foothills east of Salt Lake. I was beginning to think that having Chaz in the car was also messing up the GPS navigation.

Finally the GPS announced that I’d reached my destination. Slowing the car, I pulled to the side of the road. As I stared up the dirt drive at the dome-shaped metal building, my forehead wrinkled in confusion. The house more closely resembled some new fangled storage shed, than someone’s residence.

Seeing his house, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person Sean Taft was. Hopefully he wouldn’t be so far out there that he’d prove to be no help at all.

“Are you going to go knock on the door, or just look at it all day?” Chaz asked.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at him. “Don’t you have some kind of unfinished business to attend to?”

“You are kind of wasting time,” he said, lifting his hands.

“Well it’s not like you are short of that,” I told him before easing my car onto the dirt driveway.

“You wait here,” I instructed, as I was getting out of the car.

“Now why would I do that?”

Before shutting the door, I leaned down to look in at him. “Because I doubt you’re into dealing with ghost busters, and that’s what this guy is.” I wasn’t exactly lying. After all, as far as I knew, he could be.

Chaz gave me a sour look and then went back to zoning.

A few seconds later, I was knocking on the silver metal door that matched the rest of the house beautifully. I was just ready to knock again when the door opened a crack, just enough to allow the barrel of a shotgun to fit through.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Sean Taft was making every effort to sound intimidating, but his voice squeaked too much to be all that scary. Though I have to admit, the shotgun was doing a good enough job of that.

I tried putting him at ease with my charming smile - at least I hoped it was charming. “Hi Mr. Taft. My name is Cassie Jordan. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about one of the articles you published online?”

“You can ask from right where you are.”

Ok then
.

I wasn’t about to argue with someone on the other end of a gun, although I was way curious about anyone who would live in a house that resembled an upside down bowl.

He was waiting, and not too patiently. I decided it was probably a good idea to state the purpose for my visit. “Well after reading your article, it seems that you believe the ancient gods of myth were really the first vampires. I was just wondering why you think that?”

“You couldn’t have asked that through email?”

I didn’t really want to admit that I hadn’t thought of emailing him, so I did the next best thing next to lying. I skirted around his question. “Mr. Taft. Do you mind if I come in? The sun is reflecting off the tin on your house and blinding me.”

“Are you alone?”

I couldn’t exactly tell him I had a really weird ghost guy waiting for me in the car, so this time I lied. “Yes. I’m all alone,” I said, hoping I sounded convincing enough.

The barrel of the shotgun disappeared and I heard him sliding a chain lock. After swinging the door open, he stuck his head out. “You sure you’re alone?”

“Unless the invisible man is standing next to me … then yes.”

Sean Taft was nothing like what I’d imagined he would be. Instead of some grouchy old man in a three-piece suit, Sean Taft was a grouchy, thirty something guy in jeans and an old T-shirt. With his shoulder length blond hair and plastic framed glasses, he looked like a cross between a beach bum and a nerd.  If his appearance wasn’t enough to throw me off, then the interior of his one-room house did it well enough.

Aside from a couch, a small table, a stove, and a portable fridge, the entire place was furnished with computers. There must have been at least ten computers against the walls, not to mention the two laptops sitting on his table.

The couch was covered with a mountain of laundry, so I guessed that sitting there was out of the question. Not that it mattered; he hadn’t offered me a seat anyway.

“So what’s your interest in vampires anyway?” he asked, cocking his head to one side.

I decided there probably wasn’t anyone better to tell my story to, especially since he looked just odd enough to believe it. 

“Do you have any coffee or tea?” I asked.

“What?” His head wrinkled in confusion.

“It’s a long story.”

A pot of coffee and a good hour later, I finished my story. I sat quietly, studying him from across the small kitchen table where we’d been drinking coffee. I’d even admitted to lying about not having anyone with me, given that I had a ghost in my car.

For several minutes he just sat there, staring at me through the thick lenses of his glasses. He was probably trying to figure out if I was for real, or just an escaped mental patient.

Finally he leaned back and clasped both hands behind his head. “You’re story sounds just wild enough to be true.”

“So you’re not going to call the police on me and tell them you have a crazy woman in your house?”

“I don’t know about this ghost thing, or the other dimensions, but what you are telling me about the vampires, and your experiences with this Damian … it could fit with what I know.”

“And that is?” I hated to be pushy, but finding out what he knew was the reason for my visit in the first place.

“It would be my guess that you are an abductee. Everything you’ve told me fits.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You mean as in, alien abductee?”

He nodded.

I shook my head. “No … you’re not understanding. I’m talking about vampires.”

“Who is to say that they are not vampires?”

“But Shadow is just a regular vampire. You know … like Dracula.” I insisted, not real comfortable with his theory. Maybe the trip had been a waste of time after all.

Unclasping his hands from behind his head, he sat forward and took a drink of his coffee. “I can’t say I’ve ever believed in the horror movie vampire, but if they are real … your friend may have a point. It’s always possible that these ancient gods created them somehow.”

“Ok … so what do you know about these ancient gods that’s not online?” I was getting frustrated. Mr. Taft had only given me more questions.

I saw suspicion leap into his eyes. “How do I know you’re not working with the government or something?”

“Seriously? Do I look like one of the Men in Black?”

He was quiet for a long time. I was just thinking about slapping him across the face to snap him out of his paranoia spell, when he stood up and slid the chair beneath the table.

“If you’ve lived around here long … I’m sure you’ve heard rumors about tunnels under the city.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard something about it,” I shrugged. “There are also supposed to be tunnels under Pine View. I guess they were used for brothels and gambling houses during Prohibition.”

Sean smiled. “That may be true of
those
tunnels, but the ones under this city lead to a network of tunnels that run all the way to the Four Corners Region, and an underground base.”

“Really?” I tried - I swear I did, but I couldn’t keep the amusement out of my voice.

Arching one brow, he asked, “Why is that so much harder to believe than vampires?”

“Well I don’t know. I guess because it would be too hard to hide something like that from the world.”

“I doubt it would be any more difficult to keep secret than vampires roaming dark city streets,” he pointed out.

Ok … he had me there.

“So why don’t more people know about this base then?” I asked, still trying to wrap my mind around what he was saying.

“It is only one of several bases … and people do know. It’s just that they don’t let on that they do. This kind of knowledge could be dangerous.”

“Oh … is that the reason for the shotgun and the tin house?” I still wasn’t sure that he wasn’t just a nutcase, but since what I’d told him was just as crazy, I was trying not to pass judgment.

He nodded. “You never can be too careful. The metal keeps them from being able to abduct me.”

“So, even if there is a base … how will that help us?”

“I’m just saying … you might find some answers there. As far as I know, no one has actually made it inside one of these bases and lived to tell about it. They just disappear.”

“Really?” Now this was getting interesting, especially since I’m not one to ignore a little intrigue. “What happens to them?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, but over the last few years there have been reports of human mutilation victims that match the cattle mutilations.”

Yuk. I’d heard of cattle mutilations. Cattle would be found dead, with all their blood gone, not to mention a few body parts. It was all done with such precision that the only thing that made sense was some kind of laser surgical tool. It was always the same body parts missing, and there was never a drop of blood found around the body. In fact, they’d never been able to find tracks near the bodies. But this was the first I’d heard of human victims.

The whole idea of human mutilation was like something straight out of a horror movie, considering that with the cattle, all evidence pointed to the fact that they’d been alive when their body parts were taken.