The Psychic and the Vampire

Chapter Three

Ant knew he was being watched. One advantage of having the powers he did meant he usually had someone from the other side letting him know if he had attracted unwanted attention, if his magic didn’t do it for him. His dog Able, who was his almost constant companion, was another source of alarm for Ant, keeping him safe and making most people think twice before they tried to give him a hard time.

As he went about his days, doing his own thing, Ant wasn’t particularly worried. People who were antagonistic toward him gave off a completely different energy to someone who might be attracted to him or simply curious about who he was and what he could do. Ant couldn’t get a definitive handle on what his stalker was feeling – the energies seemed to fluctuate between attraction, curiosity, and something else Ant hadn’t come across before.

It was tempting to talk to Bridget about it. She would be furious if she found out Ant had kept something like that to himself for longer than an hour, but gut instinct had Ant holding back. It wasn’t often he had something going on that was totally personal to him, and while other people might scoff, he did have confidence in his abilities to keep himself safe.

Bridget helped him out with the legal and administrative sides of his business, and Able was his four-footed companion and security guard. But Ant was an independent and fully functioning adult – despite what Bridget said at times.

So he went to a luncheon with friends he used to study with, where he had an agreeable time.

He also conducted a couple of lectures at the local branch of the Mage Academy, explaining to students how their exam results would impact their future employment. Ant didn’t do that sort of thing very often, but as he was a level twelve mage, he was expected to contribute back to the magical community.

Privately, a couple of the other tutors suggested if he spoke more about the work he did for the police, then his classes would be attended by more students, but there was a good reason Ant smiled sweetly at their advice and kept doing what he was doing. He didn’t want students following him and pestering him with questions about cases he didn’t have the right to discuss. Far better, in his opinion, to keep his lectures dry and boring, talking about test scores and the wide range of good works mages could do once they had reached certain levels of proficiency.

“Do you deliberately set out to bore you students to tears?” Bridget asked as they left his last class. “Two of the students in there were half-asleep and the others were watching your ass as you left the room. They’re not learning anything.”

She’d swung by to pick him up for dinner. She had a new beau, or rather she had a gentleman friend she wanted Ant to meet. In other words, she wanted to know what sort of vibe her brother got from her prospective love interest. It wasn’t the first time she’d asked him to do that, and Ant hoped her new friend could keep any negative vibes to himself until after they’d eaten. He was hungry.

“Students need to learn that life as a working mage is not all police chases and murder scenes,” Ant said, clicking his fingers at Able who was walking by his side. “Go on, boy. I know you need to stretch your legs.”

Able took off at a run, and Ant and Bridget loitered by the edge of the grass area while he did his business. “These students, they come into school with visions of what life could be like if we were in a fictional novel. The young men dream of sweeping some woman off her feet, rescuing her from a murderous fiend. The women who attend the classes all believe they’re going to form partnerships with police officers, and while I’m not saying some of our local police officers aren’t cute, because they are, they are also usually married, and a lot of them prefer to investigate their cases following clues instead of calling in a psychic.”

“The books you’ve been reading are outdated.” Bridget laughed. “The romances now feature billionaires or European mafia bosses, swept away by the young common girl with her innocent smile.” She showed her teeth. “Do you think I’d pass?”

“As innocent?” It was Ant’s turn to laugh. “No. Please don’t tell me your new friend thinks you’re an angelic sweetheart. Bridget, don’t do that to me. I won’t be able to last through the dinner without blowing your image.”

“No, Gregory doesn’t think that at all. He admires my intellect.” Bridget was blushing. “We met at the library. He offered to reach for a book on a high shelf for me.”

Ant stepped back and looked his sister up and down. In heels she towered above him at six foot. “And you believed that excuse? How cute is he. On a scale of one to five, how cute is he?”

“He’s not cute, he’s very handsome.” Bridget was blushing. “He told me he’s in his early thirties, and the men in his family all go gray early. That is a thing, you know.”

“What does he do?” Ant leaned over slightly and clicked his fingers. Able, who’d been avidly sniffing a patch of grass came flying back over to him. “Good boy.” Ant scratched his dog behind the ears – Able’s favorite treat. “You are a good boy. Come on to the car.”

“Gregory’s in finance,” Bridget said as she hit the key fob for her car, unlocking it. Ant felt a shiver run down his neck and grinned as he got into the car. His stalker might have to move fast to work out where they were going to dinner. “What are you grinning about? You’ve never found finance funny before.”

“What? Er…no and I don’t find it funny now. Hop in, Able.” Ant closed the passenger door behind his dog, and slid into the passenger seat. “I was just thinking about something else. Is Gregory the type to spend hours talking about his work? Only I can tell you now, if he is, then he’s not for you and we can skip dinner altogether. I have got a reading to do later, yes, for the police this time, and no, I’m sure no romance will be involved. I’m working with Mike Casey.” He closed his own door carefully.

“Why do the police think that psychics like you can only work at night?” Bridget got into the driver’s seat and started her car. “Don’t they realize you can read a scene just as well during the day and it’s often more comfortable for you.”

“Less people around?” Ant guessed. “I think in a lot of cases, especially if it’s a criminal case I’m helping with, the police don’t want the general public to know they are using a psychic unless that magic user gives them tangible evidence they can use. I don’t mind going out at night.”

“Still not sleeping well?” Bridget glanced at him and Ant could feel she was concerned.

“It comes and goes.” Ant shrugged. “That’s something else those students of the Mage Academy never learn either until it’s too late. Some scenes, or visions depending on the magic user’s skills, are not easily forgotten.”

“You can stay with me for a while if it helps.” Bridget touched his knee briefly.

“Then neither one of us would sleep,” Ant teased. “It’s fine. I have Able, and I get caught up on a lot of my reading when the dreams won’t leave me alone. Face it, I only have to see the traumatic scenes. For my victims, they lived it and I’m sure that would be far worse.”

“Perhaps we don’t mention any of that in your first meeting with Gregory,” Bridget mentioned. “I think he’s a bit squeamish.”

“I know how to be quiet,” Ant said, mentally shaking his head. If Gregory was squeamish then he wasn’t going to last long with Bridget anyway. “Does he know about your love of horror movies?”