The smell of cheese, garlic, leeks, chives, lemon, and onions leaked out from the innards of my flack jacket and made me want to puke. My eyes watered, I continuously dry heaved between intervals of stomach clenching and wiping sweat from my brow. But the chief had said we were hitting 1/72 Milford Lane this morning.

And I had to be prepared. Because that was my ex-wife's house -Merry Stewart. I'd made the phone call myself, told them she was hiding all sorts of drugs. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but there was no better way to bypass a restraining order.

"Get in position, Carlos you take the point," the chief told me.

The door ram, which was usually like a twig in my hands, felt like a twenty-foot pole today. I stomped across the cobblestones of her garden pathway, only to hesitate at the front door.

There was something that none of my squad knew about me. A secret of sorts, which judging by this quiche, Merry had guessed at. I was a vampire, bone, blood, guts and all. And despite the brute power of the ram in my hands, I couldn't smash down this door any more than a cat could turn into a dog.

Vampires weren't allowed in uninvited, that's the way things were.

I rested the ram on the ground and knocked three times on the door. The rest of my SWAT team had taken positions up around the house and now they were giving me funny looks.

"Hello?" a sweet voice said from inside. The moment her scent hit me, my eyes nearly rolled back into my skull. It was garlic ground down with a vampire stake until it could be applied as a perfume.

Disgusting.

But underneath the stink, there was the sweet smell of blood that had me licking my lips. Merry had a different flavour to her, something like strawberry ice cream with a glob of cream on top. And I just couldn't get enough of it, it's why she broke things off with me.

"Merry, it's me, Carlos," I said. "Can we please talk?"

"Have you been following me again?"

"That was just once," I said, "I've changed."

"A dog can't change into a cat, any more than you change from biting on the neck to the foot, Carlos."

I peeked over my shoulder to check if anyone was within ears reach. They weren't but the chief gave me a hand signal that was much like: hurry up, asshole.

I sighed. "I'm a vegetarian now."

There was a pause.

"So you're asking for steak flavoured lettuce instead of real steak?"

I figured she wouldn't believe me. "I've baked you a loaded vegetarian quiche, to prove the truth."

I dry heaved as I pulled it out and held it near the door. Merry sniffed on the other side.

"You know you're bypassing the restraining order, I could call the cops."

"I'm here on business, Merry. I just needed to talk, that's all."

She sighed. "No biting and no talk about blood, okay?"

"Deal."

"Two minutes," she said, "that's all."

I gave the thumbs up to the chief and we steamrolled that house like any other job. I was in charge of apprehending the suspect and when they found her unconscious I was in charge of hospital duty. Of course, I never took Merry to the hospital, instead, we went far away. To a place where we could be together again.

It was the blood that made me do it. . . I swear. Just thinking about the flavour makes me shudder with excitement.

I guess when evil comes knocking you should keep the door locked at all costs. But I’m just happy that we have plenty of time to work out our differences.

That we’re going to be together again.

Forever.