Maria: A Maria Rodriguez Mystery

CHAPTER THREE

As soon as Maria got home, she blocked her front door with her couch, put a bandage over her bite mark, and fell into her bed. Thankfully, her ankle wasn't anything more than banged up. Other than some scratches from Emerald's five inch claws and a sore ass from landing on the table, she was fine.

Physically, anyway.

Mentally, she was a wreck.

She lost track of how long she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling with her mouth hanging open. She was vaguely aware of the screaming parrots, and all she could think was this used to bother me? Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that horrible face, those glowing blue eyes and that hideous long tongue licking her face.

She had always been a skeptic. She liked saying that her refusal to take things at face value was part of what made her a good journalist. She had been best friends with David for over a decade, constantly hearing him talk about this cryptid or that alien, and the only thing she had shifted her opinion on was she now thought the Patterson Gimlin bigfoot film showed something that looked better than gorilla costumes from the same time. She had always held firm to her principle that if she couldn't see it or touch it herself, then it wasn't real.

What was she supposed to do now, after seeing and touching the impossible?

Staying in bed for the rest of her life felt like a good start.

The worst part was that Emerald had been completely human. There was no tell that showed her real nature. Even as a horrible scaly monster she had been painfully human, complaining about her brother and his failure to do his chores. How many times had Maria heard Sunny say the same things about her when they were growing up?

So Emerald was completely human, but completely other. And that meant that Maria could have met hundreds–no, thousands of vampires and never known. This entire street could be full of vampires. And if vampires existed, what else was real? What kind of nightmare had she found herself in?

It was while she was sinking further and further into despair that something inside her said no. She couldn't figure out what it was at first, but then it hit her. For every story about monsters, there were monster hunters. If these things existed, they could be fought against and even killed. One centimeter further and Emerald would have been so much dust on the floor in front of her. This was no different than panicking over the fact that murderers existed rather than taking steps to protect yourself.

She would fight back.

Maria suddenly realized that she was starving. She glanced at her bedside clock. Three in the morning. That meant she'd been mentally shut down for over twenty four hours. She hopped out of bed. Jack in the Box was still open, and they served a great breakfast. She wasn't in the mood to cook, and she wanted french toast or pancakes or something.

She got as far as the front door when she felt a knot in her stomach. She couldn't go back outside in the dark. Not when things like Emerald were out there.

After taking a few steadying breaths, Maria felt a wave of exhaustion hit her. She yawned deeply. Breakfast could wait. She needed sleep. Then, first thing tomorrow she'd put her investigative skills to use and find out how to fight monsters. Maybe she could even write another book. How To Kick Serious Vampire Ass, by Maria Rodriguez had a nice ring to it.

*****

"And what did you do when you figured out your girlfriend was a vampire?"

"Well, Jack, I told her she was not welcome in my home, and she disappeared! Then, I started the incantation to summon the protection of the Light Deities that you taught me and–"