St. Clair Ch. 02.5: Succubus

"Nope."

"So vampire girl back there and a false alarm?"

"Yeah, Harlan and Ellie were out for a drive, she got sleepy and laid down in the back seat, somebody's imagination ran away with them. That's pretty much it."

"Yeah, Swede reported it. Pain in the ass. Still explaining that to the Highway Patrol."

Ray pulled a sheet of paper from the pile on his desk. "A guy got his ear bit off in Springfield. Seems somebody sold him something they said was GHB to use on a girl. It wasn't and she went berserk. We're thinking our little monster might have been given something like that and wandered away before it took effect. So the Doc took blood from our creature of the night. Maybe LSD. Maybe one of those synthetics. Maybe PCP. Her vitals are good, he's been checking on her regularly. Said to keep her here till it wears off, too dangerous to try to put her in an ambulance. I'll send Terry along T Highway to see if there's a car there, she got there somehow."

"Any plans to charge her?"

"Not unless something else comes up."

Ray went back to his paperwork while TJ continued on down the hall.

"Excuse me. Miss, uh, Officer?"

TJ turned to the holding cell.

A bewildered blonde girl sat strapped to the restraint chair.

She started a bit when she noticed TJ's eyepatch. And probably her expression.

"I'm sure there's some reason I'm here, but could you tell me what's going on?"

TJ sighed. Night shifts on the full moon suck.

***

Two Days Later

"Thanks for coming by."

"No problem, Tammi wanted to come too, but she's stuck pulling soil samples."

Ellie slid TJ's plate onto the table and put her own coffee down on the other side and sat down, wincing a little. Catching TJ's hint of a smile she responded with her own broad grin and wicked glint in her eyes. "Ass hurts. Inside and out."

"So I guess everything went okay?"

"As sore as I am, Harlan can barely walk. I think I about wore him down to a nub after he let me loose. Rode that man like a two dollar pony. I think we kind of shocked each other."

TJ tried to stifle a laugh at Ellie's cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. She wasn't entirely successful. "I'm glad we could fix what we screwed up."

"That was our fault. Next time we'll borrow a van."

"So there's going to be a next time?"

"We settled on a special date night once a month." She shifted her butt, wrinkling her nose "Need time to recover." She cocked her head to the side. "I just wanted to tell you for me and Harlan that we really appreciate everything... Oh, wait."

She fumbled with her purse for a second and pulled out a paper bag that gave a definitive metallic clink as she slid it across the table to TJ. "Your handcuffs. I cleaned them and oiled them."

"Thanks." TJ didn't even want to ask why they had to be cleaned.

"Seriously, if you ever need anything, let us know."

"Thanks, we will."

Ellie rotated her coffee cup for long moment.

"Can I have one more favor? Do you... do you have an extra eye patch I can borrow for a little while?"

TJ was very, very glad she'd just put her coffee cup down.

***

Post production notes: The Vampire and Abduction stories are actually based off true events. In the abduction case, the Highway patrol was apparently much more of a pain in the ass about letting it go once it became apparent what had really happened. They wanted to see somebody charged with something, but had to learn to live with disappointment. In "Vampire" case, a college freshman girl at her first party was dosed with LSD by a guy who thought it was date rape drug. In the real case it took six deputies and jailers to restrain her, and there was truly spectacular damage to the police cruiser, and the deputies and jailers were pretty banged up, although none seriously. There were plenty of charges filed, just not at her.