I woke up, startled, and splashed the water as I flailed my arms around, except that I was in my bed. My arms were quickly caught and Mikki and Natalie whispered into my ears. Apparently, I had fallen asleep in the bathtub while in their arms and after a short while, they bathed me and dried me off, then took me to bed.

“Did I hurt you?” I asked, worried my flailing might have struck them, and they both laughed under their breath. They cuddled into my sides and purred as they nuzzled my neck on each side. I was flooded with relied and relaxed, then let out a purr of my own.

Mikki and Natalie caught their breath as their beast hearts reacted to a male calling to them and they couldn't help react to it. Their purrs intensified and the vibrations sent pleasurable shivers down my spine. I turned my head to Mikki and kissed her, then I moved my head down slightly and bit her neck. She froze solid and didn't move a muscle as I growled.

“Ohhhh!” Mikki moaned and came.

I let her neck go and she stared at me in surprise, then I turned my head to look at Natalie. She already had her neck exposed and was eager for me to do the same thing. I let out a low chuckle and kissed her neck, then bit her. Natalie froze and let out a moaning purr that was so cute, I had to bite her harder.

“Mmmmm.” Natalie moaned and I tasted blood. My necromancy power perked up as her blood rolled over my tongue and I sucked on the bleeding teeth marks on her neck.

What... what am I doing? I asked myself as I licked her neck and I saw the perfect set of bloody teeth marks that I had left in her skin. What am I becoming?

It took me several moments to rally my common sense and I fought my instincts, just so I wouldn't hurt Natalie more than I already had. She must have sensed something was wrong because she stopped moaning in pleasure and turned her head to look at me.

“David...” Natalie started to say and then she kissed me with her own blood still on my lips. “...thank you.”

“What?” I stared into her eyes and my power receded in my confusion.

“You claimed me, too.” Natalie said as a happy smile appeared on her face. “You could have stopped at just Mikki and I wouldn't have said anything, because you both love each other so much.” She said and kissed me again. “Instead, you gave me the same mark and included me, too.”

“I...” I looked at Mikki and she had a happy smile on her face, too. “You approve.”

“Of course I do.” Mikki said. “I know Natalie loves you just as much as I do... and you love her, too.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“I knew it!” Natalie said excitedly and gave me several quick kisses. “You love me! You love me! You love me!”

I couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, then Mikki got in on it and they both took turns giving me kisses. This lasted for several minutes, then the alarm went off for us to get up. They stopped, albeit reluctantly, and we all got dressed. I let Mikki help me into my wheelchair and I didn't complain about it. She gave me a kiss for not arguing about it and caressed my cheek.

I went out into the kitchen and the coffee maker was already on and warming up. How did Natalie do that? I asked myself as I poured a cup for myself, Mikki, and Natalie. She must have been in bed since last night and the coffee looked like it had been done for several minutes. I guess that was one of the mysteries of the universe. I thought in amusement.

Natalie came over to me and gave me a big hug, accepted her cup, passed one to her older sister, then she sat down at the table. “You better call Joe and make sure he can meet us at the station for your statement.”

“Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that.” I said and reached for the phone. Just then it rang and I continued the motion and picked it up. “Hello?”

“David? It's me, Joe.”

“Hi, Joe. I was just going to call you.” I said.

“I wanted to touch base with you and make sure you knew that I'll be at the station at ten o'clock.”

“Thanks, Joe. I appreciate it.”

“Not a problem.” Joe said, then he whispered. “Hey. Stop that, dammit.”

I thought I heard soft giggling in the background.

“Melanie says hi.” Joe said.

“I'm pretty sure that's not what she said.” I said teasingly and Joe laughed. “You've been married a few years now and you still act like love sick teenagers.”

“David.” Joe started to chide me.

“Hey, I'm not knocking it. In fact...” I reached out to the table and both Mikki and Natalie hopped over and snuggled me. Mikki nuzzled the back of my neck and then bit gently. It gave me a shudder down my spine and I took a sharp breath. “...I've got a bit of that going myself.”

“Good for us.” Joe said seriously, then we both laughed over the phone over the shared intimate moment. I told him I would meet him at ten. Mikki left for work and Natalie put me into the jeep. I had been tempted to call a bodyguard to keep us company, then thought it was the middle of the day and I would be at a police station. If anything was going to happen, I should be perfectly safe.

Joe and I met Sanchez at the station in the ‘statement' room. They could call it whatever they like; but, to me it always was and always had been an interrogation room. I didn't even give a real statement. It was a full blown interrogation. Sanchez asked all the questions and I answered as best as I could.

Usually Joe had to chime in and defend me when I got badgered with questioning; but today, he just got to sit there and listen to all the details, mainly because he needed to hear them all, too. After about an hour and a half, I had pretty much told Sanchez everything in my life that had to do with the people on the list, except for Mr. Spelmann. All I said about him was that I had only made the appointment the day before the body was found. I didn't know him personally or professionally.

The others on the list were an old girlfriend, my first boss, someone I had met in Mexico while on a case with Edward, a college friend, my next door neighbour when I lived in another city about ten years ago, and the bar owner from there. Mr. Spelmann didn't fit into that personal of a list at all.

Sanchez sat there and stewed on that information for several minutes and didn't say anything, then he let a huge grin show on his face. “Thanks a lot for coming over and giving all of this to us to follow up on.” He said and a moment later, a woman came into the room and gave him several sheets of paper.

He hadn't been thinking about it at all. I thought with a smile. He had just been waiting for the paperwork.

Both Joe and I signed my 'statement' and Sanchez walked us out to the waiting room. Natalie had waited patiently for us in there and she, Joe, and I headed down to the parking lot together.

“Thanks for coming down with me, even though it turned out that I didn't really need you for much, except as a witness.” I said with a slightly amused tone to my voice.

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“That's okay. I needed the money, anyway.” Joe said with a laugh.

“It's true, then! You only love me for my money!” I said with a tone of righteous indignation and a huge smile.

“Oh, the horrible truth is revealed at last.” Joe said and shook my hand. “Feel better, David. It's been really nice seeing you again.”

“Yeah, it was.” I said, genuinely surprised that was true. “Say, maybe we could get together sometime. I've got a lot of free time that I have no idea what to do with now.”

Joe had to laugh at that. “You know, that would be nice. Just a guy's night out. Melanie's going away next week to visit her folks, too. I'll give you a call on the weekend to set something up.”

“Sure.” I said. “See you later, Joe.”

Joe waved to us as he got into his car and then drove away.

_______________

You have a choice that could change how things progress. Do you want to go home and relax, or do you want to do some investigation on your own?

A) Go home. B) Look into the murders. C) Find some information about Mr. Anders' ancestor.

Well, I could try to look into the murders, except that I don't have a clue where to go to start looking. I thought. Hmm. Home or research? I asked myself and nodded. Research it is.

_______________

I figured since we were in town anyway, we might as well pay a visit to the library. I had to track down the town records for the Anders family, assuming the records still existed. There was no way that Thomas' story added up. Natalie brought me to the library and after a talk with the librarian, she led us into a large back room that was full of old newspapers and things.

“Please be very careful with these. Most of them haven't been transferred to storage film yet.” The librarian said. “I will stay with you for as long as I can to help.”

“Thank you.” I said sincerely, and we got to work.

It took about an hour of research for us to find what I needed and I discovered that Thomas wasn't telling me the whole truth. Some of the headstones in that particular graveyard had been replaced after the cemetery was ransacked in the early 1800's. Although the names of the people buried there had survived, a lot of the dates were mixed up in the original records and the 'new' headstones were completely wrong.

I thanked the librarian for her help and asked if there was a donation jar or something for me to leave her something. She chuckled and led me back to the desk and held her hand out.

“Okay, I deserved that.” I said and gave her a fifty dollar bill.

The librarian caught her breath. “Mr. Drake!”

“Call me David.” I said. “Thanks for the help.”

“You're welcome.” The librarian said. “Very welcome.”

Natalie and I left the library and I called the number Thomas Anders gave me as soon as I was in the front seat of the jeep. I had to let him know that his story had a few holes in it. Big holes. The journal he gave me was real; but, it couldn't have been from the ancestor he believed it was from. That is, the one currently residing in the grave. If it was, his timeline was also wrong, since the body was fifty years older than he told me.

A calm and cool soprano voice answered the phone on the second ring. “Anders and Sons Realty.”

“Thomas Anders, please.”

“Just a moment.” The man said and put me on hold.

“Thanks.” I said to myself, since the man hadn't heard me.

“Thomas Anders.” Thomas said in a disinterested voice.

“Mr. Anders? It's David Drake.”

“Ah, yes. Could you wait until I get to my office phone? I'm in a boardroom right now.”

“Sure.” I said.

“I will only be a moment. George, transfer Mr. Drake to my office.”

*Click.* Before I could even counted to ten, he was back.

“Mr. Drake? How can I help you?” Thomas asked.

“Do you remember when I told you that if I found anything different about your story that my price would double? Well, guess what happened.”

“Oh, dear. What did you find out?”

“Like you don't know.” I said, a little coyly.

“I sincerely don't, Mr. Drake. I paid a private firm to trace my family tree and find my ancestors. I gave you everything they gave me. What is it that you've found?”

Maybe he doesn't know. I thought. It's time to go fishing and find out for sure. “The biggest thing I found was that the headstone was replaced after the cemetery was vandalized.”

“Oh, my. Was it the right one? It was still my ancestor though, wasn't it?” Thomas asked, flustered.

That sounded like genuine nervousness and panic, which means he doesn't know. “Yes, it's still your ancestor; but, there's another problem. The date on the headstone was wrong as well.”

“What? You must be joking. The journal and the ledgers clearly state the times and dates of their last entries.”

“I'm not disputing that. What I am saying is that the ancestor they found is older than your books.”

“Really? How much older?” Thomas inquired.

“About half a century older. I figure they must have mixed up Alfred's name and his son's, or maybe even his grandson's name.”

“Oh dear, oh dear. That's not good, is it? If you are the only one who can raise an almost two hundred year old corpse, who could possibly raise a nearly three hundred year old one?” Thomas asked, worriedly. “He's the only one that the firm could find that was actually buried.”

That last statement stopped me. “What do you mean by actually buried?”

“Three were cremated and one was interred. Alfred Anders was the only one buried below ground.”

“How old was the interred one?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Hold on.” Thomas said and I heard him rustle some papers in the background. “Here we are. It says here that his funeral and burial rights were performed in twelve hundred and ninety-seven.”

I let out a slow whistle and he caught my meaning.

“It's not going to be possible to raise either of them, is it?” Thomas asked.

“I didn't say that.” I said and I could almost feel his curiosity peak.

“Could you explain that?”

“Well, I went out to the cemetery last night to examine the grave site. That's how I knew the date was wrong when checked with the library's town records. The only Alfred Anders listed died during the seventeen hundreds. Plus, when I'm close to a grave I can feel how old they are. I can usually tell if I can raise the subject or not, too.”

“Your voice has quite a serious tone to it, David.” Thomas said, without commenting that his did as well.

“To be blunt, I can still raise him. There's just one problem. Because he's so old, it's going to take a lot of preparation time and energy. The cost will be a bit more than my original estimate, at about a hundred thousand.” I said and he was quiet. “That's not including my 'if the story doesn't fit, my fee doubles' rule, either. Technically, it wasn't your fault that the story wasn't accurate, so I can't in good conscience penalize you for someone else's mistake.”

“That is still quite a high price, Mr. Drake.” Thomas said.

“You don't have to give me the job, since it's turned out quite a bit different from both of our expectations.” I said. “I've only done a little footwork and some background checking, so I can return most of the deposit you've already given me.”

“No, not at the moment.” Thomas said. “I would like to think about it and decide if I want you to finish the job. It is quite a bit of money for only a single transaction that may or may not produce the results I wish.”

“I know.” I said. “Tell you what, discuss it with your wife and decide together if it's worth it to have this ancestor raised. Like you said, there's no guarantee that this is the ancestor you'll need, and it will cost you a bundle of money to find out if it's not. You can let me know when you decide.”

“Very well. I will contact you again in a few days.” Thomas said.

“I promise not to spend all the money you've already given me.” I joked. “Goodbye, Mr. Anders.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Drake.” Thomas said and hung up.

Whew! I thought in relief. Well, at least I let him know the bundle of crap he's in for.

I just hope he decides soon. I would hate to have to raise the dead for my own purposes; but, if I don't raise something soon, all hell's going to break loose. I don't mean that literally, though. It was just that one time I tried to ignore what I could do and I turned out to be something like the Necromancer Pied Piper. Instead of mice, it was roadkill and anything else that had died that I walked past. Believe me, that was not something I wanted to go through again.

Since I was sitting in the parking lot and on the phone, I called Jeanette to see what she had wanted. I couldn't in all honesty keep putting it off. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that it was still the middle of the day and she was dead to the world. Luckily, her secretary knew all about what she had wanted to tell me and filled me in.

She told me that another guard vampire had gone missing from the family. I asked who it was and I didn't recognize the name, nor could I place a face to the name. It was the third vampire to disappear during the last few weeks and the secretary also said that a were-cat hadn't shown up for work either.

I held onto my temper, because Jeanette hadn't said anything about two missing people in her message. By the looks of it, someone was chipping away at Jeanette's hired help, at least on the surface. All I had to do now was connect the dots and find out who was doing it and why. Of course, I had no clue whatsoever about those answers and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to find out much if I did start asking around.