We raced down the block in my black ‘69 Mustang Fastback trying to catch up to Tain.

Charice clenched the shotgun door hard but knew better than to tell me to slow down. Nehemiah and Rob remained silent in the back. They all knew the dog held a special place in my family.

Mom loved Tain. After Dad died, she fell into a silent sorrow. Tain arrived on her doorstep wounded and needy. Nursing him back to health grounded my mom. It prevented her from falling into self-pity and wallowing beyond the necessary grief period. She’d entrusted Tain’s care to me. It went unspoken, but he was all Mom had by way of closure. If anything happened to him, the pain would pierce Mom’s heart.

“Sorry about your dog, Sean,” said Nehemiah.

I shrugged. “I almost blasted him too. Plus it seems to have made him stronger. It was the vampire’s fault.”

“Seems like Takahashi was still butt-hurt from us whooping him last week,” said Nehemiah. “Went out of his way to track us down.”

As I raced down the city streets I reached out, sensing for vampires. I noticed a foreign aura that was at the same time familiar. It had to be Tain. I locked on to that sensation and sped towards it.

I eyed Nehemiah, then Rob. “Either of you ever heard of a dog turning into a werewolf? Are their Irish werewolves?”

“Yeah,” said Rob. “They’re known as Faoladh. But I’ve only known them to shift from men to wolves. Not from dogs to werewolves.”

I’d seen a lot of weird things as of late. My dog turning into a werewolf, or possibly a Faoladh, was not that strange considering. But still, having your family dog go full Underworld was surreal. “Well, no one had seen a Ban-he Keening curse halt a vampire bite until last week. And I proved that is a thing. Of course a blast of Bad Luck would turn my dog into a ravaging bat-hunter. It seems like anything is possible now.”

“Speaking of,” said Charice, “what the heck is up with that pale vampire? The rest were tough to deal with, but he seemed way stronger.”

“The longer a vampire feeds on humans, the less human they become,” explained Nehemiah.

“They are like bloodsucking bat-erpillars that turn into ugly bat-erflies,” said Rob. “First they are only one step away from normal humans with fangs and a thirst for blood. But after years of feeding and draining other humans they become more bat-like. That pale guy was the Dearg Due’s right hand man. I’d bet my immortality on it.”

“What’s to stop them from continuing to come after us? We only ended one of them,” said Charice.

“Exactly,” said Nehemiah. “That’s why they suck.”

Rob rolled with laughter. “Good one wizard. You’re growing a sense of humor.”

Nehemiah grunted. “A little leprechaun humor rubbed off on me.”

“So if Oakland is the Dearg Due’s turf, that’s where Tain is heading now,” I said.

“Yeah. I’ve stomped out any vampire activity here for the last year. But right after we met, Sean—Takahashi started showing up again. Vampires are strong, but werewolves are stronger. Problem is, they are like wrecking balls. They can only demolish. And it seems like Tain has a one track mind. He might be able to take one or even four vampires head on. But going up against all of ‘em. And on their turf...”

“How can they be stopped? Garlic? Holy water?” asked Charice

The wizard scratched his head. “Some things the movies get right and other things are just terribly wrong. Like for instance, there’s no such thing as holy water. That’ll do nothing to a vampire.”

“Lemme guess,” I said, “staking them like Buffy won’t make them explode?”

“Not explode, but it will kill them.”

“What about silver?” asked Charice.

“To the best of my knowledge silver bullets kill them. Weapons of any sort can harm them, but they’re pretty invulnerable to physical attacks. They heal too fast.”

Rob held up a finger. “Unless you pop their heads off.”

Charice’s eyebrows furrowed with curiosity. “What about the whole daylight thing?”

“Yeah they don’t do daylight. When they’re first bitten they simply hate it, but the more vampire they become, the more deadly it is to them.”

Charice frowned in contemplation. “If they continue to transform over time, that means we could tell the stronger vampires by how non-human they are?”

“Yes, but they can still retain a human form. They love hiding their true self behind a mask. I think they get their jollies off of the surprise and the terror they cause in their victims.”

I caught sight of Tain finally as I turned around the corner and got on Sonoma Boulevard. Up ahead was a large intersection sporting a McDonald’s surrounded by car dealerships and the local breakfast diner, Buttercup Kitchen. Wolf-Tain galloped on all fours through the intersection taking no heed of the red light he blew through.

A mid 2000’s gray Honda slammed on its brakes, trying to screech to a halt, but collided headlong with him. The hood crumbled around Tain’s body.

No sooner was Tain knocked to the ground did he scramble back up and bark several times at the car before sniffing the air, circling until he found the vampire trail. Then he was off.

Traffic stopped due to the car accident, but it looked like the people were all right, despite the state of their car. I was sorry, but I couldn’t stop. Not wanting to lose him, I gunned it, racing through the red light myself. I had to catch up to my dog before I lost him for good.

Whoop-whoop.

Flashing red and blue lights washed over my Fastback.

“Uh oh,” said Charice.

I grunted, gnashing my teeth. “I can’t afford a ticket, but I can’t lose Tain. I’m gonna have to ditch these guys.”

Nehemiah patted my shoulder. “You can’t afford to not pull over. We’ll have all of Vallejo PD on our butts if you don’t. We can catch up to Tain. Let me handle this.”

For a second I wanted to say forget that, but then I felt Charice’s hand on my arm and veered off to the side of the road.

Two officers exited the car, flashlights in hand with their other hands at their hips. They weren’t messing around, especially since they saw four silhouettes in the car. I rolled down my window as the cop, Officer Yates said, “License and registration.”

I sighed complying.

“Do you know why we pulled you over?”

I clenched my fists. We were losing precious time to keep up with Tain. “I think so.”

“You completely ran through a red light back there after that lady hit that dog.”

Glamour made the police see Tain as just a dog, not the massive hulk-like werewolf form he’d become. “Yeah I’m trying to catch my dog before anybody else runs into him.”

“Man, one heckuva mutt. Got hit by a car. Just got right back up and running. Even if it was a Honda.”

“He’s a special breed,” I said.

“But he is your dog?”

“Yep,” said Sean.

Yates flashed a light in my eyes. “Step out of the car please.” He proceeded to ask me some basic questions to see if I had been drinking. While that happened, the other officer went and checked on the Honda that hit Tain and got their information.

“I’m gonna write you a ticket for running a red light, and also a citation for not having a dog on a leash, and for having a pet damage someone else’s property.”

I ran my fingers through my hair inhaling deeply. This was going totally bad. I put my hands on my hips looking to my right to my left, seeking some way out of this predicament. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I looked in the car to get some support from Nehemiah but he and Charice were talking.

I pleaded with the officer. “Come on man. Cut me some slack. I’m obviously trying to catch my dog and stop him from causing any more trouble. He could be really hurt.”

Yates shrugged with raised eyebrows. “Just doing my job kid.”

I knocked on the window motioning for Nehemiah to help me. He held up a finger, mouthing one second.

There was nothing to do but sit there and wait as the officer’s pen scratched on the pad, scrawling on and on.

I heard the second officer, Walton, scuffling behind me on the other side of the car. “Hey!”

Yates dropped his pen and pad and reached for his gun. “Get back in the car, sir.”

On the other side of the vehicle Charice leaned her seat forward letting Nehemiah squeeze out onto the sidewalk. “Gentlemen, no need to be alarmed, I just want to talk.”

“Get back in the car!” Yates yelled at Nehemiah.

What the heck was the wizard doing? I wanted him to give me advice, not put the cops on edge. We could go from a simple stop light violation straight to jail if the officers looked in my trunk. In the state of California, when riding in a car the ammo needed to be in the glove compartment while the gun itself needs to be in the trunk. And that’s if you owned the gun legally. I still had José ’s Glock. And if you paired that with Nehemiah’s .357 Magnum, the Mossberg, and my two swords, it looked bad. Really bad.

Walton dropped a few expletives. “He said put your hands up.”

Nehemiah complied. After Walton had Nehemiah rest against the back of my car, he patted the wizard down. My stomach churned, but I tried to keep my face neutral. I sighed when they did not find Nehemiah’s revolver. Even if he owned it legally, it would make things a whole lot more complicated. Thank goodness for his magic trench coat.

Yates eyed Nehemiah, then me. “What are you boys up to tonight anyway? Before the dog got out?”

I ignored the question and whispered to Nehemiah through clenched teeth. “We should’ve just dipped, Nehemiah. I thought you said you got this?”

“Can I show you gentlemen a magic trick?”

All eyes slowly turned to Nehemiah.

“What did you say?” asked Yates.

“Do you guys like magic tricks? I’m an amateur magician,” said Nehemiah. “If I show you a magic trick and you can’t figure out how I do it, will you let us go? We really just want to catch the dog.”

“It would have to be some magic trick,” said Yates, not really serious.

Walton shrugged. “Let’s see how good this trick is.”

“Oh, it’s good. Believe me.”

“Let’s see it then. I ain’t got all night.”

Nehemiah held up one of his palms. “Let me get your word that you won’t freak out and turn me into Swiss cheese with those pistols.”

Yates and Walton looked at each other, then Yates nodded. “But you,” said Walton, grabbing me by the shoulder, “Go sit on the curb while Copperfield works his magic.”

I shook my head at Charice in the car. She frowned, flashing me her teeth, exacerbated.

“Okay, watch my hands. I’m gonna make a flame appear. Don’t freak out okay?”

Yates face was like a stone while Walton cracked the barest hint of a smile.

Nehemiah rubbed his palms together taking longer than I’d ever seen him to conjure Bad Luck. He was really hamming up the moment.

“If you’re gonna do the trick, do the trick,” said Yates.

“Don’t rush him,” said Walton. “I want to see this fail.”

Nehemiah rubbed his hands faster and faster until he stopped suddenly, the faint spark of a purple glimmer shown his palm. Yates stepped forward peering into the wizard’s palm. Nehemiah let the tongue of fire grow slowly until it was the size of an amethyst tennis ball.

“Whoa,” said Walton raising his eyebrows, smiling. “How’d you do that?”

Yates looked from Nehemiah’s palms to the rest of his person, circling around trying to find some sort of device that Nehemiah used.

“Okay don’t miss this,” said Nehemiah. “Look right to the center of the flame and tell me what you see.”

Entranced, the officers looked deep into the fiery magic, their pupils aglow with amethyst flame, flickering purple light danced across their faces. No longer curious as to how the magic worked, but succumbed to it.

“Good. Now cast all your doubt and anxiety into the flame. Throwing everything you remember about tonight. The dog, the car accident, Sean and his Irish American appearance. His black ‘69 fastback Mustang. Me, the weird black guy, excuse me, African-American, with the purple magic trick.”

I watched the entrance too. Almost.

But then another set of blue and red flashing lights appeared down the block. “Hurry up dude! There’s another cop car rolling up.”

But my interference caused the two officers to break concentration. Nehemiah coaxed them back to the fire and threw me a stone cold glance.

The new cop car parked behind the first one.

“Dude,” I whispered harshly.

Nehemiah extinguished the amethyst flame and stood up straight, placing palms on either of the officer’s shoulders as if they were long-time friends, just as the newly arrived officer exited his car. Nehemiah put on a sloppy grin and acted as if he had been in the middle of telling a joke. He laughed hard at nothing. “Well you boys stay safe now. It was good catching up.”

Yates and Walton offered nervous smiles as if unsure what just happened.

Not wanting to raise any suspicion with the third officer I slowly leaned on my car all casual like.

The new officer, whose badge read Jackson, did not buy any of it. He saw right through Nehemiah’s ruse.

Jackson’s gun jumped from his holster. “Okay pal. Make one move and I put you down.”

“For what?” pleaded Nehemiah.