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He bent down to check his hair in one of the bike’s mirrors and winked at himself. “Oh, you know. I like to know a little bit about a lot of bit. Zombies included. And that vacant expression in their eyes was a dead giveaway.”

“Undead,”I murmured, unable to help the small smile that played at my lips. Leave it to Drake to bring his signature levity to any situation.

“Why were they attacking you, anyway?” he asked with an inquisitive gaze, turning his full attention to me now that he knew his hair still looked the way he wanted.

“Um…” I started, then immediately stopped.

Because seriously, how could I even begin to explain? Earlier, he’d seen Virginia’s ghost and found out that my cats were magical and could talk, but we’d given him a special potion to wipe his memory and cover our tracks. Despite our best efforts, though, he refused to attribute all the strange things that had happened that night to a wild dream as we hadplanned. He knew something was up, which meant I had to tread lightly here.

But how could I possibly explain away a homicidal squirrel hoard?

Mr. Fluffikins saved me from having to explain myself when he hopped away from the bike and rounded on Drake.“Why, if it isn’t just the man I was looking for,” he said with an unhappy smile splashed across his face.

“What’s up, little cat dude?” Drake asked with a laugh, leading us all through his garage and into his home.

Fluffikins kept his tail low and curled at the end.“I’m here to get you registered with your local supernatural board. It seems you’ve been creating quite a few issues during your nocturnal wanderings.”

Drake stopped inside the doorway and stared at the bossy black cat through squinted eyes.“Come again now?”

Fluffikins entered behind him and then hopped up onto the counter, refusing to break eye contact with Drake.“Have you registered? If not, I’m taking you in right now.”

Luna, Merlin, and I stood just outside the door, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes. I think we realized what was happening before Drake did.

“Why would I need to register?” he asked with a nervous chuckle. “You said this was for a supernatural board? That’s great and everything, like, fine I’ll register, but I’m not supernatural.”

Mr. Fluffikins sighed.“Please don’t tell me you don’t even know what you are.”

Drake dipped his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels.“I’m just an average-ish guy living off his trust fund and keeping busy.”

The boss cat let out a dry laugh.“Average guy? Not even close.”

All eyes were on Mr. Fluffikins. Nobody spoke. We were all waiting to see whether Drake would figure this out on his own.

What a revelation. I’d always known something was off about Drake, but this?

My friend shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.“Sorry, I don’t follow.”

Fluffikins shook his head and sighed. When he looked up again, he spoke slowly, as if to an imbecile.

If Drake was offended, he didn’t show it.

“You are a supernatural creature and need to register with the board.”

“Oh yeah?”

We all nodded.

“And what kind of supernatural creature am I, Mr. Pussy Cat?”

“A vampire,” Fluffikins said around a growl. “And don’t you dare ever call me Mr. Pussy Cat again.”

9

Drake took a step back and leaned into the wall.“No,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s not possible. I mean, I think I would know if I were a vampire.”

I glanced toward Merlin who was rolling his eyes.

Luna at least showed some compassion but didn’t speak a word.

“It’s okay, Drake. Really. You’re still you,” I offered with a small smile.

Drake groaned and shook his head.“No. I’m not. I can’t be.”

Mr. Fluffikins lifted a paw and extended one claw.“Looks like I need to convince you, so here we go. Let’s start with the easy stuff. Do you ever just know something that you shouldn’t? Like memories of things that haven’t actually happened?”

Drake nodded mutely, and Fluffikins extended a second claw.

“And do you ever wake up somewhere with no recollection of how you got there?” he pushed further.

Drake nodded again.

Fluffikins added a third claw to his furry fist.“Do you have an insatiable craving for wealth and knowledge?”

Drake said nothing.

“You know a little bit about a lot of bit,” I said, quoting him back to himself. “And you do live off a trust fund.”

Drake’s entire face had drained of color by now, giving him a much more vampirish appearance than before. Honestly, I’d never seen him look so unsettled, not even when Virginia’s ghost was actively trying to murder us. I watched now as his hands groped at the wall, unable to gain purchase.

When he spoke again, his voice came out broken and pitchy.“B-b-but I don’t drink blood. I would never ever do such a thing!”