Case 20: Entry 5

I just got back from a full checkup. I have bruises on my everywhere, but for the most part I'm fine. As soon as I got home I sat down on my couch and started to pray. I don't mean as part of a ritual or to bless something or anything like that. It was just...prayer. And as soon as I started I realized it had been a long time since I last did it. I was ashamed, as if I were a gambling addict checking his bank accounts, but I needed to repent almost as much as I needed help.

I'm pretty sure that was my first real fight I've ever been in, and there's a reason for that. I'm a nerd, I've done some self defense training but it's only ever gotten me far enough to balance out my natural incompetence in that area. When I have to face something nasty in my work, I usually play to my strengths. I lay a trap, or bring along some trump card, or frame the struggle in terms that give me an advantage. I never just rush into a genuine, straightforward fight. And I'm pretty sure it was more than just outrage that pushed me into that course. There was more than vengeance and righteous fury, there was also...territoriality. There was a touch of some hero complex. There was pride. Vices and virtues aren't just some meaningless abstractions or words used by stuffy, repressed people to keep everyone else from having fun. Vices are toxic, they are weaknesses, they make us do stupid, hurtful things. And there is no vice as toxic as pride.

After I prayed I talked to the current guard (until the vampire is gone there's a full rotation of neighbors making sure my house is always ready to take in someone in need of shelter...and to make sure the vampire doesn't use some human pawn to blow it up or something), sat down in front of my desk, and let everything I know about the case just sort of shimmer up in there. Which brings this entry up to the present moment.

Really, the one major difference in the situation is that now the vampire knows I'm gunning for it. Which means he'll either leave town, or try coming straight at me. If he decides to come to me, I'll have a much easier time laying a trap. I'm beginning to get some ideas. I should probably start by scattering some of my cards around Rancho Cordova marked with something he'll pick up on easily enough. I suppose that's have to be blood. I'm partial to the idea of using it to scrawl Genesis 9:6 on the back. It's always been a favorite of vampire hunters.