When we got to the sidewalk, Jack slowed down to a walk, allowing me to catch up to him. After I joined Jack, he didn’t quicken his pace.

He must have caught my questioning expression, because he said, “Less suspicious.” He pulled out a cellphone and called a contact as we walked to the corner. “Jack here.” Pause. “Yeah, sorry.” He glanced at me. “I got caught up with an incident at my apartment building. I’ll be there soon. Oh, and I’m bringing a guest with me.”

Another pause as Jack listened to someone on the other end. I tried to overhear, but either vampire hearing wasn’t as great as the movies made it out to be, or Jack had the volume turned down really low.

“No, I can’t help it. Look, I have a favor to ask while I drive over there. Some cops were at my building, at the apartment of Everett…” He trailed off and looked at me, one eyebrow raised.

“Boesch. Everett Boesch,” I said, finally catching on to what Jack needed. I spelled it out, which Jack dutifully repeated into the phone.

Jack listened to the person on the other end for a moment. We turned the corner and Jack pulled out keys with his free hand, and pushed a button on the key fob. The lights on a Toyota Camry four-door sedan blinked. Jack stepped off the sidewalk and walked around to the driver’s side door.

I opened the passenger door, sliding inside in time to hear, “Yes, that does have to do with why I’m late. Look, find out anything you can. Thanks.” Jack pulled the phone away from his ear and ended the call.

“You didn’t tell them about my, uh…vampire thing.” I looked at him expectantly as he slid his key into the ignition.

Jack grimaced and pulled away from the curb. “Yeah. That was on purpose. If I did, he’d tell the head of the city and they’d whisk you away. But we need to find out who is after you first. It wouldn’t do for me to save your life and then accidentally end up turning you over to the very people who might be after you.”

“You don’t trust the vampires?” I cocked my head and looked at Jack, keeping half an eye on the road, trying to work out where he was taking me.

Jack snorted. “I’m a lycanthrope; we never trust vampires.”

“Okay, now that you’re on the way to work, will you please tell me more about what is going on?” I twisted in my seat to look at Jack, realizing I didn’t need to watch the road. Where we were going didn’t really matter. I was a fugitive from the law, probably didn’t have a job anymore, and had no family to turn to—they’d almost all turned their backs on me when I’d announced my transition. Then there was the whole vampire thing that I still needed Jack to explain to me.

Jack grimaced. “It’s complicated.”

“Like a cop,” I said, making air quotes with both hands. “So how is it complicated? Get talking.”

“We don’t work directly with the human police, although we do have contacts and plants on the force. I used to be a cop…” He sighed. “But I’m not anymore.”

I stayed silent, waiting for the rest, but apparently Jack had said all he wanted to say. Jack’s expression and hunched shoulders told me I shouldn’t press him about what changed.

“Are you alright?” Jack asked me quietly in an abrupt change of subject, glancing at me as he drove through the quiet streets of southeast Portland’s neighborhood towards the freeway.

“Besides scared out of my mind?” I let out a strained laugh. “I’m doing great.” I felt panic bubble up, but pushed it down and plastered on a smile.

“I mean after seeing your roommate like that… Were you two close?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to think about that now. Can we talk about something else? I need a distraction. Like, what now?” I asked. I realized I had started to babble, and my hands were shaking. I snapped my mouth closed and took a few deep breaths to try to calm myself. Now that Jack had brought it up again, I couldn’t help but remember the way Lindsay’s eyes had blankly stared up at me.

“Now? You’re my newest client.” Jack sighed again, deeper this time, and paused to take a left-hand turn. “I help acclimate new shapeshifters to the change, introduce them to the new rules they’ll have to follow, that sort of thing.”

I stared at him. “Seriously? You’re a supernatural shapeshifter with jaw dropping good looks, and you’re a social-worker?”

Jack let out a startled laugh. “Jaw dropping, huh?”

“You heard me,” I stammered. Crap, I couldn’t believe I’d said that out loud. I reddened, but set my expression to be as neutral as I could manage and nodded. The way Jack’s eyes sparkled as he flashed a quick smile my way made my stomach flutter.

“What would you have me do? Run around Portland in tights rescuing damsels in distress?” We’d stopped at a light so Jack turned his head to smirk at me.

“You rescued me,” I said without thinking. Jack’s smirk deepened, and I realized what I’d just implied. “I mean,” I backpedaled furiously, “you should use your powers for good, to help people—”

“I am helping people, the best way I can.” Jack’s voice hardened and raised as he spoke. “I was a cop for five years before, well, before I had to retire. Trust me. Keeping the newbies off the cop’s radar and out of the public’s attention is a very important job.” Something about what I had said struck a nerve. Another topic I made a mental note to avoid.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Let’s get back to the topic at hand. You said you help shapeshifters, but according to you, I’m a vampire. So how can I pretend to be your newest client?”

Jack shrugged. “We’ll just say you’re a shapeshifter. No one will notice.”

“But won’t your office-mates smell that I’m a fraud?”

“Let me ask you something. Since you turned, how much has your sense of smell increased?”

“What?” I stared at Jack, but decided to humor him. I took a tentative sniff of the air. The car smelled like Jack and the pine air freshener that hung from the rear-view mirror, nothing more. “Seems the same. But you’re a werewolf. Jackal, I mean,” I amended hastily when Jack shot me a side-glare without taking his eyes off the road.

“My jackal form may have better senses, but my human senses didn’t change. I’m just a little stronger and faster than I was. Same with you. You’re just slightly deader than you were. Maybe a little paler. Just don’t try to eat anyone and no one will catch on.”

“But you sniffed in the hallway, I saw it.”

“Human noses are more sensitive than you might realize.”

“That’s disappointing.” I slumped in my seat and turned my head to watch the raindrops rolling down the window. “I died and became a vampire, and all I got was really thirsty.” Okay, thirstier. I licked my dry lips. The few gulps I’d gotten from Jack and the other man earlier had helped at the time, but all this running around had brought the parched feeling back.

Jack chuckled. “What’dya want, a T-shirt?”

“Seeing as how I’m currently not wearing a shirt under this jacket, that’d be a nice start.” It had been soaked with blood, so I’d tossed it before walking home.

Jack made a coughing sound, and I thought I saw Jack’s cheeks darkened. Or felt it, more like. I almost swore I could see the glow of his blood in his veins. “I can find you something at the office. We keep spares for the shifters. Seriously though, Everett.” Jack glanced at me again. “How thirsty are you?”

“Not as bad as it was when I bit you,” I said, licking my lips again, “but enough to be noticeable. Why? Are you worried?”

Jack frowned. “A little. You were thirsty enough to attack that other man and me, but you didn’t get much from either of us. I don’t know much about new vampires, and that worries me. I do know that the vampire clans keep the new ones sequestered at first, and during that time they are only allowed out while supervised by an elder, which makes me think they’re dangerous. But you seem rational, mostly. If the feeling gets worse, tell me.”

I nodded, and then, realizing that Jack might not have seen the gesture because he was driving, said, “I will.”

We drove in silence for a bit. I sat back, thinking about what Jack had just said, squashing my disappointment that Jack couldn’t tell me more about my new state. After the events in my apartment, I was now more inclined to believe him.

The silence was broken by Jack’s phone ringing as we exited the freeway just north of downtown. The sound came through the car’s speakers and was loud enough that I jumped.

Jack held a finger to his lips. I nodded and made a zipping motion across my lips as Jack pressed a button on the steering wheel.

“Hello, Stacy. Sorry I’m running so late, but I’m almost at the office.”

“Well, turn right around.” The woman’s voice came through the car’s speakers, loud and clear. “Dave just intercepted a call about a confused fox approaching people out east near that outlet mall in Wood Village.” She rattled off an address.

“Got it,” Jack said. We were in the industrial area of town north of downtown, and at this time of night the streets were all but deserted. Jack flipped a quick U-turn and we sped back the way we’d come. “I’ll call and give you an update when I get there,” he said, and then punched a button on the dash to end the call.

“What was that about?” I asked. “Why send you off to chase after a fox? Shouldn’t animal control take care of something like that?”

“If we determine it’s just a regular fox, sure, we’ll leave it to them. But it could be a newly-changed shapeshifter, and if it is, I need to get them somewhere safe and get them help.” Jack pressed the accelerator and the car shot forward—much different than the leisurely pace he’d driven at before.

“And if it is, but animal control gets there first?” I asked.

“Let’s hope you don’t have to find out.”

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Continue on to Chapter 4

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