Officer Mills laughed again at my mention of nightwing flying abilities.  “I guess, but it’s not like we exactly get to fly around in a city this size, anyway.  Where are you from, by the way?”

“Nowhere in particular.  I wander around a lot.  Kind of a normal techno vampire thing – we gravitate towards energy flows, but we don’t like to interfere with our own kind, steal their resources.  There’s enough out there, we just have to find our spot.  Eventually at one spot, though, the energy starts to feel stale.  Like we’ve tasted all this before, it’s time for something new – a new group population, different energy trends, new spikes in taste.”

That seemed to intrigue him.  “Energy has a taste?”

“Yep.  Everyone tastes a little different, depending on what they’re doing and how they feel about stuff.  Even one person can alter from day to day, although their overall flavor is the same.”  I leaned back in the chair, stretching my arms out in front of me.  “In theory, we can use the taste to identify anyone online, even super hackers who can hide their identity from humans.  If we taste their energy, we can identify them in real life.  It takes some practice, though, and some of us are better at it than others.”  I was not great at it.  Mostly because I never bothered trying.

“So,” he mused quietly, “if there is some online connection to these people, you might be able to trace it back to the source?”

“In theory.”

“Hmm.”  Officer Mills seemed thoughtful.  “Have you gotten a chance to look at the other files, or are they too old to provide you with any energy traces?”

“Too old,” I confirmed.  “plus it’s kind of corrupted.  I mean, yeah, I have.  When Cap Dennis decided to bring me in as a consultant, he had me review all the evidence from the earlier disappearances.  I looked at the electronic stuff they had, but it’s too far removed from the source now.  Too many copies to too many computers and too many people inputting the data.  It’s all corrupted – I’m more likely to taste whichever police person copied it over than the original person.  We can’t usually trace stuff more than a couple weeks, anyway.  It fades.  That’s part of the reason Cap Dennis wants me here now, looking at stuff – the closer to the action, the better.”

A thought occurred to him.  “You said you avoid interfering with your kind’s territory, of sort – you know, then, when one of your kind is in the area?  So you know there isn’t a techno vampire here?”

I tapped my fingertips together.  “Tricky question.  Yes, we know.  We can feel the energy flow and tell if it’s being fed to a techno vampire.  If so, we try to take as little as possible and move on.  But…this area’s weird.  Avenglade’s a pretty big city and with the other cities nearby, with energy of their own?  I’d expect a techno vampire to be in the area.  I mean, it’s not like there’s tons of us, so we aren’t in every hotspot over the world, but this is like prime real estate, right?  But the energy here is weird.  Like it’s been messed up, not just by the disappearances.  I can’t quite tell what it is though.  Can’t tell if there was a techno vampire who was here and either died or left, or something else.  It’s just – off.”

“You think the energy disruption is related?”

“Hard to say yet.  Maybe, especially if the disappearances are related to a techno vampire in some way.”  I watched as he parked in front of an expensive-looking duplex.  “But I only got here yesterday, so I’m still getting a feel for it.”

Officer Mills didn’t get out immediately.  “Something bothers me – only humans have disappeared.”

“Okay?”

“And…your kind feeds more off humans than supernaturals.”

I blew and popped a bubble before answering, giving me time to think.  “Yeah, that does kinda give credence to the whole idea that the disappearances could be related to someone trying to affect a techno vampire, since they’d know we don’t get much energy from supernaturals.  And if the vampire died as a result, then maybe that explains the weird energy flux.  Thing is, a techno vampire shouldn’t die from the disappearances.  Be weakened, have a lot harder time doing stuff, sure.  But there’s other energy here – it’s like going from a feast to a simple sandwich.  You’d survive, but it might be an adjustment.”

“Hmm.  Any chance – any chance just weakening the techno vampire would be the goal?  And somehow that could explain the energy warp?”

I shook my head.  “Yes to the first part, I guess, but no to the second.  If the vampire was weakened, it wouldn’t feel like this.  Even when one dies, it doesn’t feel exactly like this, either.”  I’d been to places where techno vampires died before.  More often than I’d have liked, to be honest.  It…it was different.  This was something new, something I hadn’t seen before.

He was still thoughtful, but apparently decided we’d spent enough time sitting in the car outside our destination.  “Come on, let’s get started.”

When we approached the door, I was surprised to see it opened without him needing to unlock it.  “That supposed to happen?”

“Yeah, Arthur’s vet is supposed to be here to collect the dog, I think.  Captain Dennis warned me.  Since we don’t have to worry about evidence collecting, it shouldn’t be a problem – plus he’s aware of the case.  His mom’s on the council and his family keeps up with all the major stuff going on, so it’s safe to talk around him.”

Kinda weird, but okay, whatever.  The vet must be a supernatural and it sounded like his family was something like city royalty?  Or whatever they wanted to call it.

“Dr. Woodson?”  Officer Mills called as we entered.  “It’s Drew.  You here?”

We could hear some noises from what appeared to be the direction of the kitchen and then a man appeared in the doorway.  Fairly tall, shoulder-length auburn hair pulled back from his face, nice build.  Pretty, for a guy, but his face was closed off.

“Drew,” he greeted Officer Mills, but his eyes were on me.  I could see the surprise in them.

“This is Claire Blanchet,” Officer Mills explained, “she’s, uh, consulting with us on the case.  Claire, this is Sorrel Woodson, he’s Arthur’s vet.”

“Right, vet, sure,” he didn’t look like a vet to me, but then, I didn’t exactly deal with vets a lot, so what would I know?  “Why exactly are you here?”

I got the impression he’d rather ask me that, since I clearly was not dressed like one would expect a police officer or police consultant to be.  Striped stockings, thick heels, Lolita skirt, and barmaid style top.  In purple and black.  Oh and let’s not forget the twin black ponytails complete with purple streaks.  When I do a look, I go all in.

Nevertheless, he did answer.  “Arthur’s family have agreed to let me take his dog in until he’s found.  I see him weekly already and it’d be best not to disrupt his medical care.  My clinic has boarding so I can keep him there and make sure he’s with people he’s used to.”

I raised an eyebrow as I blew another bubble.  “Aaand when he’s not found?  You okay with being stuck with the dog forever?”

His brows furrowed.  “Well, I thought the police were planning to find him,” he pointed out.  “What makes you so sure they won’t?”

“None of the other victims were ever found,” Officer Mills explained quietly.  “We’re trying, but…chances are low.”

“Right, whatever, your neck at stake here, none of my concern.  Okay, where’s this computer?”  I spun around, looking for the machines.

Officer Mills pointed towards another room.  “He’s got an office, most of it’s in there.  We weren’t able to crack his password, though, and his stuff is heavily encrypted.”

I gave him a cheeky smile.  “Not a problem.”

Both of the men followed me into the room as I plopped down at the desk chair and booted up the machine.  Officer Mills, I could understand – he was openly curious, plus he was supposed to document stuff.  The vet dude, I didn’t.  This didn’t have anything to do with the dog.

I spun around in the chair to look at him while the computer booted up.  “Aren’t you supposed to be finding a dog or something?”

He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.  “Baxter is already at my clinic.  I’m here for his stuff.  But I’m curious to see what kind of consultant you are.  I wasn’t aware the police were consulting anyone on this.”

I looked at Officer Mills.  “He allowed to be here?  It is like an active case or whatever.”

Officer Mills actually looked mildly alarmed that I was challenging the vet’s presence.  “Yeah, like I said – his family keeps tabs on things in town, especially a case like this.  Actually most of the patrol answers to Violet Woodson, his mom.  It’s fine if he’s here.”

“Cool, then, I guess.  Whatever.”  I spun back around, the computer now at the password page.

“We tried several combinations,” Officer Mills volunteered, “things we thought – how did you do that?”

I hadn’t even typed anything, just held my hand over the keyboard and let my magic do its thing.  “Hey,” I threw him a sassy smile and stuck out my tongue at him, “there’s gotta be some benefit to being a techno vampire.  We can use energy for stuff like this.  Hackers got nothin’ on techno vampire magic.”

“Techno vampire.”  The vet’s tone was even, but seeped in disbelief.  “That’s – not a thing.”

“Is too a thing, I am one,” I exclaimed loudly without looking around, my fingers moving quickly on the keyboard now as I began to scan the victim’s computer system, “witch and vampire hybrid, no witch magic, low percentage of happening, blah blah, not well known but we do exist.  Now shut up, I’m working.”

I don’t think anyone had ever told him to shut up before, or maybe it was the part about telling him he was wrong, but either way I could almost feel the hostility rolling off him and the worry off Officer Mills.  I mean, technically, I kind of did, I do feed off energy after all.

But all the hostility he was putting off did give me something – he was a fairy.  Kinda unexpected, but then, maybe expected, too.  Fairies were into animals and all that.

“If you’re gonna just stand there being mad, go do it somewhere else,” I ordered.  “Kinda messing up my tasting.”

“Tasting?”  The word was almost dripping in distrust.  This dude really didn’t care for me, did he?  Good thing I didn’t care what he thought.

“Energy.  I taste it.  Now out before you mess this up.”

He actually listened this time, though I doubt it was from my tone.  I talk big, but I can’t really do that much, especially against someone like him who has physical magic.  My magic only works on technology, which is useful in many ways, but in a physical fight…yeah, not so much.  It’s more likely he decided to cooperate either from some unspoken look from Officer Mills that I didn’t see, or he was just actually trying to not hinder the investigation.  He seemed to care somewhat about the victim, so maybe that was his goal.

Officer Mills waited for several minutes after the vet left before saying anything.  “What exactly are you doing?  I thought you were just going to be looking at emails and stuff.”

“Nah, those are easy enough to get from anywhere.  I’m looking at the computer itself – seeing if there’s anything hidden on it, whether he knew it was there or not.  Looking for something that shouldn’t be there, or something that should be but isn’t.  That kind of thing.”

He hesitated as he watched things flash across the screen.  “You – you don’t seem to be taking time to read it.”

I chuckled fiendishly.  “Techno vampire powers, dude!  It’s part of what we can use energy for – processing electronic information at higher speeds than any other species.  I only need to see it for a second, and I got it.  That’s why,” I paused briefly to lean my head all the way back so I could look at him upside down, “anything electronic is our domain.  Can’t keep us out.”

“That’s kind of impressive,” he murmured quietly.  “Seems useful.  Do you – do techno vampires often work for people or supernaturals helping with hacking or whatever?”

I paused for a moment to check something out, but decided it was nothing.  “I mean, we could, I’m sure some do, but we like being independent.  I’ll help out on a consulting basis like this, but it’s not like I’d want a regular job of it.”  I made a face like the word “job” was evil.

I reached the end of what I wanted on the computer and took a look around the room.  “Phone?”  I asked.

Officer Mills shook his head.  “Not here.  Actually, all of the victims had their phones on them, from what we can tell.  They only took the clothes they were wearing and whatever was in their pockets, so the phone specifically doesn’t seem to be intentional.  None of the phones were ever used after or even turned on.  We’ve tried tracing them.”

“Hmm.”  Another potential connecting piece.  I mean, I could understand some of them having their phones in their pockets, but all of them?  Most women carried theirs in their purses, for instance.  Women’s clothes didn’t even always have pockets.  I didn’t have an answer for it, wasn’t even sure if it was important to the case, but it was curious.

I was also curious as to why this hadn’t been in the information Captain Dennis had given me.  Anything electronic should have been mentioned to me, even if it was just that they had their phones with them at the time.

“Okay, well, I’m gonna go play with the TV for a bit then.”

Officer Mills trailed after me, confused.  “We’re not – I mean, um, is this, uh, related?”

I rolled my eyes.  “No, dude, I’m just gonna play games at random while at a job.”  I noticed the vet, who was at the other side of the room, give me a questioning look, but I didn’t bother to enlighten him.  “Of course it’s related.  Not as likely to give info as the computer but it could, some of these are hooked up to the internet and all and he’s got high-end stuff, so it’s likely more than just a plug-and-play.”

“Right.”  Officer Mills sounded a bit sheepish.  “That makes sense.  Um, anything else you need to look at?”

I didn’t answer.  Some electronics were a little harder to dig into, so I was focusing my magic on the TV and taking a look at the entire wiring of the house while I was at it.  My eyes closed, my attention focused, feeling every strand of electricity as it flowed through the house.