The Accidental Vampire(5)

senses.

"Can I help you, boys?"

Victor glanced down at the man who had approached. Five foot eleven or there about,

the man was a good six inches shorter than Victor himself, and three or four inches

shorter than DJ. He carried himself with the authority that his badge and uniform

afforded him, obviously the local police. Possibly the only one, Victor guessed. It was a

small town after all.

"Well?" The officer demanded, his voice and expression going hard in response to

Victor's silent examination.

"No," he answered simply and started to move past him, pausing abruptly when he

found his arm caught in a firm grip.

"This is a private party," the officer said grimly, and Victor understood why their

entrance had drawn attention.

"I was invited," Victor announced. The answer seemed to echo in the room, making

him realize just how quiet the restaurant had become now that the talking and music

had stopped. Suddenly uncomfortable, he shifted as the officer studied him more

closely.

"Victor Argeneau?" he finally asked, his voice uncertain.

Victor nodded, wondering how the man knew his name. He had a brief horrible

memory of a T‐shirt his computer geek nephew Etienne had favored for a while. It had

been plain white with the words "I'm the teenage nympho you've been talking to on‐

line" or something of that ilk. For one moment he feared this was Elvi Black, but then

the man smiled faintly and said, "You don't look much like that picture Mabel showed

me. Your hair was shorter and you were wearing a suit and tie."

Victor had no idea who Mabel was and didn't care, but the picture in question was the

one DJ had said he'd e‐mailed to Elvi Black.

"And you brought a friend," the officer went on, his gaze turning to DJ with an

appraising quality. If Victor looked scruffy compared to his photo, DJ just plain looked

scruffy. He had developed something of an allergy to shaving about a year earlier and

now resembled a young grizzly Adams. He too wore jeans and a T‐shirt, but his jeans

were blue and his T‐shirt bore the name Alexander Keith's and a logo for the popular

brand of beer. DJ wasn't much into fashion.

"He drove me," Victor said as explanation, and was immediately annoyed that he

offered one.

"Don't you have a car, son?" The officer asked suspiciously.

Victor's mouth tightened. It was always seen as a bit less respectable not to have a car

in Canada.

"I have several. I don't like to drive cars," Victor answered shortly and then asked,

"Where is Elvi?"

"She isn't here yet. I'm supposed to keep you company for a bit."

When Victor raised an eyebrow in question, the man shook his head and held out his

hand. "I'm forgetting my manners. Teddy Brunswick, police captain of Port Henry, at

your service."

Victor accepted the hand and shook it, his attention on the wide grin now on Captain

Teddy Brunswick's face. The expression made him look like the sheriff from an old

black‐and‐white series he used to watch. It made him wonder if there wasn't some

goofy, geeky idiot deputy running around somewhere. Victor was a big television buff

and had no problem imagining a grinning idiot Don Knotts‐type following this more

intelligent, mellow man around. He managed to refrain from asking.

"Captain Brunswick." Victor gave a nod, then, since the man already knew his name,

simply turned to gesture to his younger companion and said, "DJ."

"DJ what?" the officer asked bluntly.

The question made the younger immortal smile. "DJ Benoit. Gonna run me through the

system and see if anything pops up?"

"Yes," Officer Brunswick said unapologetically.

DJ actually laughed, then glanced to Victor and announced, "I like him."

"He just insulted you," Victor pointed out with amusement. The lad often made him

smile, which was a rarity. Little made him smile these last three centuries, but he

found working with DJ similar to working with an overexuberant puppy. Victor actually

enjoyed him for a partner more than the many morose men he'd worked with before,

and was growing rather attached to the lad. Still, the day the boy peed on someone's

carpet, he'd be asking for a new partner.

"You shouldn't really be insulted," Captain Brunswick told DJ. "I've already checked out

Argeneau and the names of the others coming here looking to date our Elvi."

Victor decided then that Captain Brunswick was a man who needed his memory wiped.

So would this Mabel by the sounds of it. And then what he'd said registered and Victor

frowned. "The others coming here?" he echoed, scowling at DJ. "There are others

coming?"