The Last Inn

  “Well, the previous owner chose the name and I’m not really sure— What is it, Kota?” Erin asked, pushing him away when he tried to pull her to the side.

  “Why did you invite him in?” Kota asked, not even bothering to keep his voice down.

  “Why did you shut the door on a guest?” Erin replied. She smiled at the young man and said, “I’m sorry, he’s really not like this most of the time.”

  “Yes, well, I’m sure I can understand,” the young man said. He was still smiling, but to Kota it seemed to be mocking him. “Although I am impressed. Most people can’t recognize a vampire that quickly.”

  Entry 11: The Inspector

  The revelation that their latest guest was a vampire did not get the reaction from Erin that Kota expected. There was some surprise, and a brief expression of unease, but the young woman recovered quickly.

  “You’re registered, right?” she said.

  “Of course,” the vampire said and pulled a set of documents out of the side pocket of his bag, which he handed over for Erin’s inspection.

  “Oh, so your name’s Miles?” Erin said as she skimmed over the legalese.

  Kota looked from Erin to Miles and back again, but when no explanation came he said, “Registered?”

  “All vampires were required to register with the government a decade ago,” Miles answered, not even trying to hide his smile at Kota’s discomfort. “Rather than trying to hunt us down, the emperor decided to put us to some use. I’m actually here on government business right now.”

  “This says here that you’re a bounty hunter,” Erin said, the sound of the pages turning loud in the following quiet.

  “That’s one way of putting it, yes,” Miles said. “More like I go and retrieve people for the government, take them to the capital for one thing or another.”

  “Even if they don’t want to come?” Kota asked.

  Miles shrugged. “When does anyone want to deal with the government? But at the moment I’m just here to inspect the inn, look around, and wait until my next assignment.”

  Erin nearly dropped the papers. “Inspect the inn? Why?”

  “Well, originally I was supposed to come here and look it over before a replacement for Daniel Sollis could be found to take over the place, but then your mayor sent word that someone finally reopened the inn.” The vampire noticed their confusion. “Didn’t you know? The capital’s been putting pressure on your mayor to find a replacement for months. It’s a hindrance to travelers and to business. A town this close to the capital trying to shut itself off from the rest of the empire? I don’t think so.”

  He scuffed his leather shoe on the floor and walked around the common room, looking up at the walls while this sank in.

  Erin spoke first. “Well, you can see for yourself that the Last Inn is open. We have several guests here at the moment, actually—”

  “And one more,” Miles interrupted. “Did you know there’s something living in this chimney? You may want to deal with that before winter.”

  “What?” Erin shot a terrified look at the dark space under the mantel, now populated by a horde of creatures thanks to her imagination.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll pay upfront,” Miles said. “This should cover a week, right?”

  Erin squeaked at the sight of the money and Miles nodded.

  “That’s it?” Kota asked. “You just show some papers and money, and we’re supposed to ignore the whole vampire thing?”

  “Well, it is a lot of money,” Erin said. She pulled Kota to the side when that failed to sway him and whispered, “Look, that’s just the way it is. Didn’t you hear him? He’s here to inspect us, and one of those papers says he has the authority to turn the ownership of the inn over to someone else ‘with enough reason.’ I swear, if you lose this place for me...”

  Kota nodded, his eyes still locked on the vampire casually examining the available room keys.

  “Good,” Erin replied. “And you’re on night shift, so you take him to his room and make him comfortable, got it? Tomorrow we’ll talk about whatever is in that chimney.”

  Kota swallowed back a growl and they walked over to Miles, who held up a key.

  “I think I shall take this room, if that’s okay with Miss Smith,” he said.

  “Sure, sure,” Erin said quickly. “I hope you enjoy your stay here. If you need anything tonight, just ask Kota.”

  Miles bowed and wished Erin a good night while Kota mimed gagging behind him. When the vampire turned around, Kota stopped and Erin returned the gesture with one of her own that warned him to watch it.

  “Please follow me,” Kota said. He waited until they were halfway up the stairs and Erin was in her own room before asking, “How did you know Erin’s last name?”

  “It was in the report the mayor sent,” Miles replied. “Tell me, why is it that you did not know about registered vampires?”

  Kota’s reply did not come as fast, and it failed to come before they reached the room, 1F. By this point it did not surprise him to find the room was next to his own.

  Miles spoke then, taking his time about unlocking the door. “Of course, someone who didn’t grow up in the empire wouldn’t necessarily know about that sort of thing. Where are you from, Kota...?”

  The door clicked open and Kota bowed. “Is the room to your liking, sir?”

  “Now that’s just rude,” Miles said, and chuckled. “Fine, I won’t push. Will you at least let me show you something?”

  He gestured and then placed a hand on Kota’s shoulder and steered him into the room when he failed to go. The vampire carefully placed his bag on the bed and pulled out the case that filled most of the space inside, which he reverentially laid on the desk.

  “In the capital more than a few blood banks are willing to sell to registered vampires, and donors can always be found for the right price,” he explained. “Since I work for the government, I receive an allowance.”

  He opened the case to reveal three packed and sealed vials, the contents of which Kota did not have to guess at.

  “One of these can sustain me for a month,” Miles said. “And if there’s an emergency, my status means that I can go to any farm or butcher for my needs.”

  Kota struggled to look away from the case. “Why tell me this?”

  “So you’ll understand that I am not here to harm you or the girl. Believe me, you’re not worth the paperwork.”

  Miles shut the case and turned on Kota. His hand moved up and out, and before Kota could react the vampire pushed back the hair covering the left side of his face and examined the mark emblazoned there like a sunburst.

  “Besides, it seems to me you have so much more to be worried about, wolf.”

  Entry 12: Just Curious

  Kota and Miles stepped back at the same time and the vampire shook his hand while Kota fumbled with the doorknob. He opened the door only for Miles to shut it before he could escape.

  “Stick around, won’t you?” he said and shook the hand not holding the door closed again. “Geez, I didn’t expect it to be hot like that.”

  “What?”

  “That thing on your face, it felt like it was on fire,” Miles said. He blew on his hand and shrugged. “Stop pulling on the handle like that, you’ll break the door before you get it open.”

  Kota released the door handle and stepped away from the door. His eyes flickered toward the window.

  “Really? We’re on the second floor, man.”

  “How did you know about this?” Kota asked, pointing at his mark. “And about...”

  “The turning into a wolf thing? Easy, I saw you.” In response to Kota’s surprise, he shrugged and said, “I was in the deep woods today, doing what little traveling I can during the day when a wolf runs by with three men on its tail. I followed, just to see what would happen, but the others gave up before the big reveal. What did you do to them?”

  Kota hesitated and then explained about his little field trip to the farm. Miles listened, the
corner of his mouth twitching into a smile when he heard about the cow and then again with the shotgun.

  “So, does your girlfriend know about the wolf?” Miles asked once Kota finished.

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” Kota said.

  “Oh, that’s good. You’re not really her type, you know.”

  Kota decided not to ask. “I arrived around a week ago, looking for Master Sollis. Erin offered me a job here when that didn’t work out.”

  “Thank you for not answering my question there.” Miles leaned against the door and crossed his arms. “Will you at least tell me why you were looking for Sollis?”

  Kota considered it for a moment and then said, “A witch told me the innkeeper held the key to breaking my curse.”

  “Not up on current events though, was she? And the curse?”

  Miles drummed on the wood behind him with his fingers while he waited, and continued to do so even when it became apparent Kota wasn’t going to answer.

  “What do you want?” Kota asked quietly.

  “Me? Oh, I’m just curious.” Miles marked the disbelief on Kota’s face and said, “I’m just here to inspect the inn, remember? I don’t have any active assignments aside from that.”

  The vampire stepped away from the door and opened it.

  “Go on, then, if you have nothing else to say.”

  Kota hesitated and then walked out of the room. He did catch one passing remark from Miles before the door closed:

  “Of course, if I find out that you have stepped out of line, in any way, then that will change.”

  The threat didn’t bother Kota much. Miles would be hard-pressed to beat Erin to the punch if that happened.

  Downstairs in her own room, Erin checked her door and window again to make sure that both were still locked. She knew the law, but there were stories, about vampires who couldn’t taken the ban anymore, who just snapped...

  Erin shuddered and pulled her blanket up and over her head. Of course, they were just stories. She kept telling herself that until she finally drifted off to sleep, and then again every time one of the small night sounds woke her up.

  She ended up oversleeping, and when she finally dragged herself out to the front desk Kota looked up from his game of cards and said, “Wow, you look awful.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Erin muttered. “Where’s everybody else?”

  “The sellers are doing the last of their business today. I think they’re planning on leaving tonight or tomorrow morning, since the others have been packing up all day. Your vampire’s still up in his room,” Kota said. He flipped over a card and carefully laid it on a stack of others. “Guess he didn’t feel like breakfast.”

  “Are you going to be like this the whole time he’s here?” Erin asked, in between muffling yawns.

  “Probably.”

  Erin sighed and looked around the room, her gaze eventually stopping on the fireplace.

  “I think I know what you can do today.”

  Kota soon found himself standing in front of the fireplace, armed with a broom, a trash can, and a bundle of handkerchiefs. Erin stood by, or at least stood on the stairs and looked down over the banister at him.

  “Are you sure about this?” Kota asked.

  “Yeah, everyone else is gone, so this is the best time to do it,” Erin replied. “Just get whatever is living in there out, okay?”

  “And what are you going to be doing?”

  “I’m...uh....”

  “She’ll be showing me around the inn, of course.”

  Erin and Kota turned to look at Miles, who stood a few steps above Erin on the stairs with a fresh, crisp attitude.

  “I will?”

  “Well, the parts of it that are on the inside, of course,” Miles said. “Why don’t we start at the top and work our way down?”

  “Uh, yeah, I guess that will work,” Erin said before she realized what he meant. The attic, the one place in the inn she and Kota hadn’t ventured into yet.

  Kota watched them go up the stairs and turned back to the task at hand. He cautiously stuck the broom in, stick first, and froze when he heard a hiss.

  Up the stairs and around the bend in the hall to the smaller staircase that led up into the attic, Erin tried to hint to Miles that she had no idea what was up there without using those exact words while she found the key to the door and unlocked it.

  The door opened with an ominous creak and a wave of warm air came down, bringing with it a strange smell of neglect, dust, and a vague hint of lemons.

  Behind her, Miles said, “Well, this looks promising.”

  Entry 13: The Attic

  Erin’s hand immediately reached out for a light switch and found a cobweb instead.

  “Ugh!”

  “Here, let me look around,” Miles said and brushed past her. Erin watched the vampire walk into the attic, unfazed by the dim lighting. He soon returned with an old candle and some matches. “Here, you can use this.”

  “Thanks.” She took the candle and held it, if somewhat unsteadily, while Miles lit it. “What are you looking for up here, anyways?”

  “Looking for?” Miles blew out the match and stepped back. “I’m not looking for anything. I’m just here to inspect.”

  “Right.” Erin walked out into the dim attic, candle in hand. It illuminated the immediate area, revealing a small walkway that went the length of the attic and branched off here and there. On either side a strange assortment of items piled one atop another covered the rest of the available space. “What is all of this stuff?”

  “I heard that the previous innkeeper took in a lot of...interesting guests, not the sort of people who carry money on them,” Miles said. He flipped open the lid of a box which proved to be full of seashells. “They probably paid him in other ways, with food and stuff that he could sell to the traders. People in the capital will buy just about anything.”

  “Oh.” Erin looked around and bit her lip. “What are we supposed to do with all of this stuff then?”

  “I don’t know. Yard sale?” Miles closed the lid of the box and set off across the attic. “I guess you should look around and see what it is, first.”

  Erin sighed. Maybe they could just leave it all up here and let the next innkeeper deal with it. What would someone want with a patched-up tailor’s mannequin? Or with a stuffed bear with one arm and three eyes?

  She moved across the attic and down one of the rows, looking through the piles while trying to avoid touching anything for fear of sending it all toppling down. Near the east corner she bent down and picked up a book lying alone in the middle of the cleared space. As soon as she touched it something rustled in the darkness and Erin jumped back and into a pile of instruments which fell with a loud, discordant crash all around her. The candle hit the floor and went out.

  “Ow...”

  “Erin? Are you okay?” Miles called from the other side of the attic.

  “I think I’m sitting on a trombone.”

  Erin stood up with a few jarring notes and nearly fell back down again when she found Miles standing far too close for comfort. She hadn’t even heard him move, and being this close to a vampire in the dark made her skin crawl.

  “What happened?”

  “I thought I heard something,” Erin said, trying to hide her unease. “Do you think you could back up?”

  “Uh...” Miles looked over his shoulder and carefully sidestepped around her, keeping his eyes on a patch of sunlight that was leaking through a hole in the roof. “You might want to fix that.”

  Erin looked up at the hole and sighed. One more thing to take care of.

  “Well, I don’t hear anything now.” Miles turned his head this way and that and Erin thought she saw his ears move a little. “What’s that in your hand?”

  Erin looked down and realized she still had the book, its red, leather bound cover smooth in her hand. She held it under the sunlight and found the pages covered in a slanted scrawl.

  “It looks like a diary or somet
hing,” Erin said. She checked the front cover and added, “Yeah, it used to belong to Sollis.”

  “Should make for some interesting reading,” Miles said and saw her blanch. “Or maybe not. You’re not curious about the guy who used to run this place at all? There could be some useful advice in there.”

  “Look, I’ve got the place running, which is more than everyone else said was possible. The inn’s bringing in money, and soon I’ll have enough to—” Erin hesitated and saw that Miles was watching her with a thin, knowing smile.

  “Let me guess: you want to make enough money to leave town, go to the capital, get a real life, that sort of thing?”

  “Er, yeah.” She wouldn’t have put it like that, but it was close enough to the point. “I only picked the inn because anywhere else in town I would have had to agree to an apprenticeship, and it takes years to get out of one of those.”

  “Plus you get to be your own boss here.”

  Erin nodded, unashamed. “I figured it would be good practice for living on my own, and if I messed up no one would really be that surprised.”

  Miles poked around in the pile of instruments for a couple of minutes without replying and too late she realized that she had told the inspector, of all people, this. He would be sending out for a replacement as soon as they went downstairs.

  “Huh, this guitar just needs a new string,” he said and straightened up. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at the guest rooms next, then the kitchen.”

  “Uh, sure,” Erin said and followed Miles to the door. He took a circuitous route to avoid the patches of sunlight, giving enough time for Erin to gather up the courage and say, “It’s not like I’m just going to run out one day. Once I have the money, I can stick around until you find a replacement.”

  “I know.” Miles stopped at the door and glanced at his wrist, where a strap held a small, square box in place. “Huh. It’s supposed to cloud over this afternoon. Perhaps the three of us could take a tour around town then.”

  Erin wondered if the device predicted the weather. “The three of us?”

  “Yes, you, me, and Kota. You haven’t forgotten him, have you?”

  A crash came from downstairs followed by a shrill yell and the sound of tables turning over.

  “What was that?!”

  Miles tilted his head at the noise. “Sounds like Kota got that nest of squirrels out of the chimney.”