Today was a slow day at the precinct. Arthur sat with his legs kicked up on his desk, sipping at a fresh cup of coffee letting the sun warm him through the window. He felt like falling asleep, but that would be going a little too far. Dot sat across from him, like usual. She was staring intently at her computer screen, clicking her mouse once every twenty seconds or so. Arthur didn’t need to see the screen to know she was playing online chess. Despite her outwardly brutish and tough appearance, she had quite the sharp mind and often like to exercise it by playing chess. Arthur was the one who’d actually gotten her interested in it when they first became partners. But for Arthur the interest in the hobby began to fade once Dot had surpassed his own online rating. At first Arthur had made up excuses to soothe a bruised ego, but eventually made peace with the fact that Dot was simply better at the game than him.

  Thinking about those old days was nice. Arthur breathed out a sigh, eyes wandering around the rest of the station. Donovan was staring at a second brewing coffee pot like it owed him money, and Arthur couldn’t imagine how more caffeine would somehow make his irritable temperament better. Donovan’s partner, Oscar, was thumbing through case files in an old cabinet apparently not finding what he was looking for. In the past, Arthur might’ve felt a twinge of anxiety that it was one the case files he’d messed with, and maybe forgotten to put back. But anymore, he didn’t have to worry about that. In fact, Arthur couldn’t help but think how primitive and disorganized they all were compared to Benny. He was like a master. Storing, filing, organizing and logging information both digital and physical, faster and more efficiently than anyone he’d ever seen. He almost wondered if they could contract Benny to clean up the department’s files, but then figured that was a bad idea seeing how much sensitive information he’d undoubtedly siphon in the process. Not that it wasn’t anything Arthur hadn’t already done.

  Arthur’s gaze wandered. There was a new detective whose name he didn’t remember, who worked with Hudson. Hudson was old, and probably should retire, but carried long years of knowledge with him. So his slowness in the field was more than made up for by his case knowledge. The rest of the detectives were out and about, so it was pretty quiet today. Surprisingly, things at work had begun to pick up. Arthur had made numerous connections on old open cases. Over the course of a month or so, he and Dot had closed the majority of them and all their current, open cases were waiting on backfill processing and evidence. Arthur wasn’t really sure how that had come to happen, considering he barely slept anymore and his brain felt so fried most of the time that quiet moments like these were a godsend. He chalked it up to the fact that working with Saint had somehow sharpened his mind, allowed him to see from new, fresh perspectives.

  In the past, Arthur had justified his time as a detective by convincing himself that putting bad people away would make society better, even if incrementally. Anymore, he didn’t really care about that. He was just happy he’d had a stroke of good luck and wasn’t going to get fired. He was just happy he was getting a break for once. It was tough trying to keep a relaxed attitude when he knew Persephone was out there, looking for him. Waiting to strike. Being locked in a race to see who could kill each other faster against a vampire who was stronger, smarter, and more resourceful than him, was not a good feeling. The stress had been eating at him. So while he danced around shadows during the night, he used the day as time to relax. He could take comfort in the fact that the sun was his ally.

  And because of the turn in fortune for his cases, he wasn’t worried about sitting here in the middle of the day with his feet kicked up watching Dot click away at her game. It was the first time in a year they’d had any kind of lull during work, and weren’t dragging themselves around town all day, and night. Arthur took a deep breath and let out a deeper sigh, leaning back in his chair.

  The afternoon sun beamed down on him from the window, warming his skin, and the smell of Donovan’s fresh brewed Colombian roast dark coffee felt like just the tiniest little slice of heaven. It also helped clear his mind. At this point in his life, Arthur was trying to decide what exactly he wanted, and what his trajectory was. He’d wanted to be a cop for forever, but at this point it felt like a part-time job. He also didn’t necessarily want to work for Saint forever, but the money was too good. He didn’t even need the cop job anymore, so part of him wondered why he stuck around. Habit, maybe. The fact of the matter was the he was being drawn into the vampire side of this world faster and faster. And like he’d been told; most humans don’t last long down there. They’re simply too fragile. What Claudia had asked him slowly filtered into his mind, and Arthur wondered what it would actually be like to be a vampire.

  “Man I’d miss the sun,” he muttered.

  “Huh?” Dot asked, looking past her computer screen.

  Arthur realized he’d spoken out loud. “Er. Nothing.”

  She stared at him, then went back to her chess match. “Whatever.”

  It felt very strange for Arthur knowing that there were actual vampires skittering about during the nights, wreaking havoc, causing problems, running businesses, living their own strange, undead lives. It felt strange knowing that he was one of the very few mortals in Longley who knew. And somehow, him knowing didn’t put him at ease anymore. In fact, he felt like the ignorance of the average man or woman was like a safeguard. All the vampires really seemed to care about was each other. Everyone says that knowledge is power, but in this instance, it felt like to Arthur that knowledge was danger.

  He stared at his own kicked up feet for a while, then said, “Dot, what do you want?”

  “Huh?”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Like, out of life, you know?”

  Dot didn’t bother to look around her screen this time. “Arthur why do you ask me stupid shit all the time?”

  Arthur made an exasperated motion with his hand, letting it fall loudly on his desk. “Come on, it’s not stupid.”

  “What I want out of life is to get, ‘Kronosmm89’s fucking pawn out of my left side so I can move my rook safely.”

  Arthur let out another sigh. “I’m being serious.”

  Dot finally looked around her PC. “I am too, Arthur. What the fuck do you want me to say, I want to travel? I want to be successful? That shit’s cliche as hell.”

  “Well do you? Want to see the world?”

  She stared at him. “Sure, I guess.”

  “I want to go visit my mom and dad,” Arthur said.

  “I didn’t ask, but since you’re telling me anyway, why?”

  He shrugged, “I dunno. I was thinking about what I want out of life and they came to mind.”

  “Maybe you just want kids,” Dot said.

  Arthur considered it. Having a girlfriend, much less a wife, working two full times jobs all during the day and all during the night seemed impossible. In fact, it was impossible. The last girlfriend he had left him for being ‘distant’, and that was before he got wrapped up with the vampires. At this point he was a ghost, even to his usual companions.

  “Nah. A girlfriend, maybe,” Arthur said anyway, knowing it was probably impossible.

  Silence from across the desk. “Arthur, I’m only gonna say this once, no.”

  “Jesus, Dot,” was all he got out before she snickered. He made an annoyed grunting sound. “I dunno. Wife seems like a lot. Girlfriend, I could do.”

  “Sounds like you have commitment problems, dude. You’re thirty-two. The hell are you waiting for?”

  He shrugged, “Just doesn’t seem like a good time.”

  “It’s never a good time.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s never a good time to do anything, because you’ve always got this going on, or that going on, or whatever. So just do whatever it is, because it’s never a good time. I’ve lived by that.”

  “And how’s that working out for you?” Arthur asked.

  “Well I’m not lonely and single like you are.”

  That was news. Arthur peeked around her computer. Dot was ignoring him, getting ready to rebuff his next question. But a voice called out their names before he could pry.

  “Arthur, Dot, office.”

  They both got up out of their chairs, Dot swearing under her breath about her unfinished game, and they made their way to the office at the back of the floor.

  “Chief?” Arthur asked, as they entered the office and sat down. Across the large, lacquered desk was a middle aged man with neatly combed hair, wearing a button down white shirt and was in far better shape than his clothing might’ve suggested. He wasn’t actually a police chief, but a captain. Everyone called him chief anyway. Harry was kind of like the antithesis to Saint; Saint was short, and a little bit squat, an ex-Cartel member and particularly ruthless, maybe even a little murderous. Harry was tall and lean, caring, had been a lawyer before a cop, and loved the law. But they wore almost the same outfit. It was uncanny.

  “Hey guys,” Harry looked up from his laptop. “So look, I’m going to cut to the chase. We have a high percentage of solved cases this year, and this quarter seems to be keeping that trend. We’ve made a lot of arrests as well. The Deputy Chief has approved some promotions. In other words, things have been going really well around here lately. And because of that, we’ve got a Sergeant slot open, and I need to make a decision.”

  Dot and Arthur looked at each other apprehensively. “So…” Arthur began.

  “So, I want to hear your opinions. We have a lot of good detectives, including the both of you, and I want to know what everybody thinks. Not only who’s qualified, but who would be the right fit. Be a good leader. And be ready to take on more responsibility. That means taking care of the other detectives, fielding complaints and input from citizens, and generally being out in the field less, and spending more time here doing admin.”

  Dot visibly grimaced at the final part. Chess was great. Paperwork was not. Everyone knew that about Dot, not just Arthur “I take it that means you’re not interested,” Harry said. “Arthur?”

  Arthur shrugged, “I’ve never really thought about it, you know. I feel pretty content where I am.”

  “Except that he needs a girlfriend,” Dot cut in.

  Harry raised an eyebrow at him, “Unfortunately I’m not in a position to give you a girlfriend, Arthur, but what I can do is put you in for the ballot.”

  “I just said…” Arthur mumbled.

  “I know, but you’re a good cop, and I think you’ve got good leadership qualities. But, I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want. If you get chosen, it’s still your decision. Obviously it’d come with a pay bump too.”

  “I’ll have to think about it,” Arthur said, knowing full well at this point it would be impossible given his current situation.

  “While you’re thinking, tell me who else you think might be a good fit.”

  Arthur sucked in a breath, considering the rest of the detectives. “Why not Avery? He’s young, but he knows his stuff. A real go-getter,” even as the words came out of Arthur’s mouth, they felt like a canned response. “Or,” he said, before Harry could reply, “Why not Oscar? Everyone likes him, he apparently likes paperwork, and he’s got the experience.”

  Harry nodded, contemplating. “Not a bad recommendation. I’ll put that in my notes.”

  “Dot? Thoughts?”

  She just shrugged lazily.

  “Great, thanks,” Harry said with the slightest hint of sarcasm. “Well I’ll let you guys know more in the coming weeks. Anything you need from me?”

  They both stood, “Nope, thanks Cap,” Dot said.

  “Great. Keep up the good work. And stop putting your feet on the desk,” Harry said, going back to his laptop.

  “What do you think about that,” Dot asked. “Sergeant Rowe, reporting for duty,” she said, mock saluting him.

  “Eh, not sure if it’s my thing,” Arthur said. That much was true. Maybe he’d make a good Sergeant, maybe not. But it meant he’d have to dedicate even more time to his day job and time away from his work with Saint. The work with the organization that technically didn’t specialize in crime but definitely was no stranger to it, who got him into more trouble than he’d been in for most of his life, and was full of torturers, thieves, spies and murderers. The fact he than he felt more fondly about that organization compared to his job as a detective made him grimace. What was even worse was that he’d been contemplating quitting his detective job for a while now, and somehow this potential promotion was only going to making that decision easier. He definitely wasn’t the right fit. And this wasn’t the type of job he’d do whatever he felt like at before leaving and letting them clean the mess up. He liked these people. Liked his partner. They were all good people. So he didn’t want to muck it up, even if at some point he was going to leave.

  As Dot sat back down and continued her chess match, Arthur sat back down and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

  It suddenly seemed much clearer what he actually wanted, and being a cop for much longer wasn’t part of it.