Witness

“This is the witness?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay miss...”

“Sam.”

“Okay, Sam. I need you to be totally honest with me now...”

“If you are about to ask if I'm on drugs; medicinal, legal or illegal, I'm going to hit you. For the thirty seventh time, NO.”

“She does seem perfectly lucid, sir. A little tetchy and shaken but if she saw what she claims...”

“Which I did.”

“...then that's understandable.”

“Still I'd like a medic to take some blood, just in case the crown needs proof.”

“I'm sure that will be no problem, sir.”

“Take as much as you need, it won't change what I saw.”

“Which was what exactly?”

“A vampire.”

“What makes you think it was a vampire?”

“I'm not entirely certain. It could have been the fangs, digging into the victims neck, or maybe the way it flew off when it sensed me. It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment.”

“No need for that tone.”

“Apparently there is.”

“If what you say is true, where's the body? Did it get up and wander off?”

“Now who's being sarcastic? As I was saying, the first one flew off although in hindsight perhaps it was the other one it felt, not me.”

“Another vampire?”

“Would you like me to go a little slower? You seem to be having trouble keeping up?”

“No, I'm just making sure I'm getting it down correctly.”

“To answer your question, yes, another vampire. He checked the victim and said something.”

“What?”

“If I knew that do you not think I would have said? Can I get this over with?”

“By all means do.”

“The second vampire picked up the dead body and flew off, seconds later it was back, telling me I hadn't seen a thing...I agreed, but then who wouldn't?”

“Whom indeed.”

“I phoned 999, and you know the rest. Now, somewhere not too far off is a dead body, I doubt you can arrest the vampire, but at least you could give the family some peace. That is why I called you.”

“Okay constable, thank you for witnessing this, I can take it from here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sam, what you saw seemed very real, but it was just a trick of the light. There is no dead body, there were no vampires involved.”

“Yes, there were. The second vampire said much the same thing in a very similar tone...”

“The killer was a renegade. He has been dealt with, his 'victim' was a fledgling, already buried and mourned by his mortal family. Now please, just drop it.”

“Why?”

“If you do, you'll never have to worry about being attacked, I'll see that you are looked after. If you don't...well let's just say we are very protective of our secret.”

“When you put it like that...it was very dark. I could have been mistaken.”

“Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I've a constable and a dispatcher to hypnotize, not to mention a tape to erase.”