at a message from an unfamiliar number. I had a chat with Peter Damien. He’s a clan elder. He wants to talk to you. He frowned at the nonsensical text. Then it clicked.
“We’ll get the coffee to go,” he told Zoe. “Our vampire librarian has a friend who wants to talk.”
The door was painted black, with the store’s name, Night Fangs, in red. The paint on the letters trickled down, as if it had been written in blood. Underneath, someone had written in Gothic letters, Go out with a FANG. Tatum rolled his eyes as he pushed the door open.
The interior of the store was in surprisingly good taste. Tatum had half expected a coffin or two, perhaps some fake skulls on shelves, and cobwebs everywhere. But instead, it was a small brightly lit room with a few pictures on the wall and a large wooden table. A lanky young man with long blond hair sat by the table, frowning at something in his hands. Tatum came closer and saw the man was carefully applying a sort of clay onto a mold of teeth.
“Welcome to Night Fangs,” the man said, glancing at Tatum and then at Zoe. His eyes seemed to widen. “Oh, wow. I know you said you want the troll fangs, but can I suggest you reconsider?”
“What?” Zoe sounded incredulous.
“Your boyfriend, he’s definitely troll material. But with you, what I’d aim for is a seductive vampiress. Trust me, with your eyes and small fangs, you’ll be like the real-life Drusilla. I’d be willing to give you a discount if—”
“We’re not clients.” Tatum flipped his badge.
“Oh,” the man said, startled. “You’re the FBI people Carmela mentioned. I thought we’d talk on the phone.”
“We figured talking in person would be better,” Tatum said. He felt miffed about being tagged as troll material. “You’re Peter?”
“Yeah, but you can call me Damien, whatever.”
“I’ll call you Peter.” Tatum looked around him. “You sell fangs?”
“Custom-made fangs and claws. Vampires, trolls, orcs, werewolves. I just did some dragon teeth for a client in China.”
Tatum walked over to the pictures on the wall. Each one displayed one of Peter’s customers as they showed their fangs to the camera. A man snarling, a mouthful of razor-edged teeth. A girl in a black cloak smiling mysteriously, the hint of fangs at the edges of her grin. Another girl with two tusks curving over her bottom lip and chin. “You actually make a living doing this full time?” he asked, amazed.
“Yeah, I guess? I have orders from all over the world, and I have some famous clients. You know the Bloody Barnacles?”
“No.”
“Did all of their fangs. Now every time they have a concert, I get a few orders. And by March I’m always totally booked for Comic-Con. I am the fang in fangirl, you know? Ha ha. Cosplayers are half my orders.”
Tatum had a vague idea what the man was talking about at best, but he let him go on. Peter was clearly nervous, and Tatum wanted him to relax.
“So are you a vampire?” Tatum asked, trying to keep the snark from his voice.
“I’m like, a psychic vampire, so I don’t actually drink blood, you know? But I’m like, the head of my clan. I mean, sort of. It’s complicated.” Peter ran his hand through his hair. “I feel weird telling this to like . . . law enforcement. You aren’t here to arrest me, right?”
“As incredible as it may sound, vampirism is not a federal offense,” Tatum said. “But Carmela said you had something you wanted to tell us, right?”
Peter shifted uncomfortably. “You guys are investigating that woman’s murder from last weekend, right? And Carmela said you think one of us did it.”
“She mentioned you knew all the vampires in Chicago,” Zoe said.
“I mean, I guess. I’m one of the elders, right?”
Tatum’s poker face was having a hard time staying straight as the pimpled twenty-five-year-old called himself an elder.
“We need a list of all the Chicago vampires.”
“I can’t give you that.”
Tatum leaned over the table, got close to Peter’s face. “Listen, Damien, a woman was killed. If you don’t give us that list—”
“It wasn’t one of us, I swear!” Peter’s voice squawked. “But I think I might know who it was.”
Tatum’s eyes widened. “Who?”
“We have this forum, right? Where we all talk. But, like, some of the members aren’t vampires. Some of them just want to learn more, so they lurk, or they ask a question. And some are donors. We’re doing our best to cultivate a sense